Once again, things turned grim in mortgage banking. First, Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker went belly up. Not only did this impact their own employees, but its warehouse problems were widespread. In addition to that, it is rumored that hundreds of smaller banks either use/used TBW’s website help in originating mortgages on their website, or sold [...]

“Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.” Crime is everywhere! According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a division of the Treasury Department, they are notifying the mortgage industry that it is considering whether to move ahead with proposed anti-money laundering and suspicious activity reporting regulations. In other words, cash [...]

When I was in high school I was dating a deaf girl. One night I went to pick her up and found her in the arms of my best friend who was also deaf. I should have seen the signs.

I want to warn people from Nigeria that if you get any e-mails from Washington DC asking for money, it’s a scam. Don’t fall for it! Or maybe from Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s been a while since I have seen anyone use the word “hoodwinked” in a sentence, but this reporter did in describing a [...]

Stocks, Especially Banks, Rally On Stress Test Results I am the first to admit that if I had to make a living as a day trader, I would be bankrupt within a month. Yesterday was a perfect example. Bank stress test results have been leaked out, showing, for example, that Citi, Bank of America, and [...]

Thomas Jefferson said, “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” Maybe he would be proud of the demonstration that my daughter and I saw on the banks of the Savannah River yesterday in Georgia, which apparently was taking place in many cities around the [...]

GM wants $17 billion more. One trader from Cantor Fitz mentioned that, “GM seems like a pension plan that occasionally makes a car somebody occasionally buys.”

With lots of time on my hands, I decided to start a mink farm. Of course, I could never kill one of them, but letting them lose in the neighborhood – one per week – appeals to me. The first steps include acquiring knowledge of the mink, including life cycle, breeding cycles, vaccinations, and nutritional [...]

Life of an Ex-Mortgage Banker What do ex-Secondary mortgage guys do? One wrote to me last week and said, “Last night I placed an incendiary device in a bucket of water, in our living room. I wrapped it good and tight with electrical cords, plugged it in, then hung tin and wood figurines from it…………..for [...]

If you’re a skilled mortgage professional, don’t ever let anyone tell you that you don’t have options in life! “Your time is now!”