Author: Brian Brady (page 11 of 27)

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Rod Blagojevich tried to sell the Illinois Senate seat, recently vacated by President-Elect Obama.  Blago is to public service what Bernard Madoff is to investment advisory; a modern day pirate, raping and plundering.  Their sociopathic behavior is exacerbated by their belief that position implies entitlement.  If you’re a believer, there is a special place in hell for them. You’ll hear Blago take the stand and offer this defense, in a classic Midwestern dialect,

“I didn’t do nuttin’ wrong. Daat’s how things get done in Chi-caago. ”

He’ll walk and that will be that.  How do I know this?    He wants to fight the charges:

“I’m not going to quit my job. I’m not going to do what my accusers and political enemies have done and that is talk about this case in 30 second sound bites. I am dying to show you how innocent I am. I intend to answer every allegation that comes my way.”

I think Blago’s DYING to speak out because he’s got the dirt on the whole Illinois political machine.  It’s a festering wound, oozing pus from a century of infection and I believe it’s reach extends from the freshest of aldermen to the highest office in our land. You shouldn’t care about this because “Daat’s the Chi-caago Way”.  Illinois voters price corruption into the market when they vote because they have no choice.

Here’s why you should be pissed off; Banks are refusing to disclose the uses of TARP funds:

Goldman:  When pressed for what the TARP money was being used for, Goldman Sachs replied that it is spent to “facilitate client activity in the capital markets.”

Morgan:  Of the 16 banks that were contacted by ABC News and asked how they were spending the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, only one bank pointed to a specific loan that it made with the cash. That was a $17 billion loan that Morgan Stanley made to Verizon Wireless.

Keep in mind that both Goldman and Morgan relinquished their status as securities firms and applied for Federal bank charters.  The brokers became bankers; members of the 3-6-3 club.    Did you expect this to Read more

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

From Constant Contact:

ConnectUp!^SM Poll

Less than 4% of the Constant Contact community polled (a tech-savvy group of entrepreneurs), claimed to use anything other than Facebook or LinkedIn (not limited to but including Twitter).  Twitter’s been around for over three years and while it’s an awesome service, the hoi polloi just ain’t using it.  This means that potential homebuyers aren’t using, what Greg Swann once called “modern-day CB radio”.

I caught hell from my buddy Todd Carpenter for my defection from Twitter to the glamorous world of Facebook.

Nota Bene:  Neither Todd nor I sell houses to the public.

I recognized that while 140 characters is beautiful in its simplicity, all the world loves a winner.  In my opinion, Facebook is, without a doubt, the best social network to brand yourself today.  That’s where alll the customers are….and that’s where soccer moms are headed en masse.

Why is Facebook growing in popularity? I call it Twitter with pictures.  Take note of that last word; pictures.

From my question on LinkedIn:

Which is the most useful tool, on social media, to engage your audience and create offline conversations?  I’m most interested in how you engage the community with an intent to start an offline conversation. (ie- Answers on LinkedIN, Twitter, Status bar on Facebook).   Have conversations, started online, resulted in offline sales/deals.contracts, etc. ? I would consider a weblog a social medium

When asked how many transactions were generated, directly from Twitter or from relationships forged on Twitter, there was silence.  There was talk about the POTENTIAL of Twitter conversations and the wonderful relationships from Tweet-Ups but no transactions (from REALTORs).  Okayfine.

Let’s see what IS working, from the pros who answered the question.  Here’s Teresa Boardman, who says she loves Twitter… BUT… watch what results in money for her:

However I’ll mention Flickr because it isn’t on your list and it has been a great tool for meeting people off line. Conversations start online Read more

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I’m glad that Greg Swann addressed the whole blogging question.  Today, I’m going to share with you,  the members of the CyberProfessionals group, the genesis of the Bloodhound Blog Unchained University of Online Marketing Event, in Phoenix, on April 28-May 1, 2009.    I also want to tell you about the Bloodhounds and how this rag-tag group of agents and originators transmogrified from a pack of swaggering bloggers into some of the most nimble marketers on the web.

I think it’s important for you to know who we are …

…and why you should listen to what we have to say.

My online marketing game started on LinkedIn, in 2003. I had just moved from Phoenix to San Diego as a National Sales Manager of a start-up mortgage bank.  As start-up was the key word, I had to retain some personal production to pay for the higher cost of living, associated with the SoCal Lifetsyle.  I was invited to LinkedIn by a buddy in the tech field.  With the soon to be enacted “Do-Not-Call Legislation” on the horizon, a platform filled with high earning geeks was a phone-dialing, mortgage originator’s dream.  Rates were under 5.25% and LinkedIn was the “Online Chamber of Commerce” meeting…and I was the only mortgage guy in the room.

I didn’t call it social networking then, I called it prospecting.  You see, I’m a lot like you.  I started my sales life dialing the phone 300 times a day, selling municipal bonds and mortgage-backed securities to widows and dentists.  I moved over to mortgage origination in 1995 and dialed homeowners with FHA loans, selling them savings of “over one hundred dollars a month”.  LinkedIn wasn’t about the conversation to me, it was about the contact. Online media wasn’t some “experience”, it was a chance to get in front of someone and sell them…and it worked…and I was hooked.

Do you remember how you felt when you tried something new and it worked?  It felt amazing, didn’t it?  That was me when I closed my first loan from LinkedIn.  Only two things felt better than that first closing:  the first time I kissed my Read more

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

“I demand that you refinance your home in three months and buy a bank stock“- Jim Cramer

Cheerleader Jim Cramer is now certifiably confident that housing will bottom in 2009 and the economy is saved because of the Fed’s recent action.

Cramer was, of course, ecstatic. This is exactly what he’s been calling for since his infamous “They know nothing!” rant on Aug. 3, 2007. The Fed’s move was so bold that he’s confident that his housing-bottom prediction for the third quarter of next year is virtually guaranteed. And the willingness with which the Bernanke seems ready to throw money at the problem – any amount of money necessary – has opened the door for the lending and borrowing that is so essential to a properly-functioning market and economy. Banks will open their coffers. Mortgage money will be available

Cramer finishes his monologue with the statement, “It’s raining Benjamins from the sky“.  That’s not inflationary, is it?

Check it out.

PS:  I”ve taken over 20 appplications, in the past three days, for refinance transactions; maybe 6-8 can fund.  If the FHFA and Bernanke abolish appraisals for rate/term refinance transactions, which seems like the next step, Bernanke will truly be “one of us”.

I”m not saying nuttin’ other than “operators are standing by“

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Mortgage-backed securities have been on a tear, improving more than a half a point in the last week.  This means that the 5.25% rate, offered at 1 point last Friday, should be offered at a half a point today….BUT….

…that isn’t the case at all.  Mortgage rates may very well rise while the mortgage-backed securities market improves.  I told you that the only relevant indicator of mortgage rates is the mortgage-backed securities market.  Why would I reverse my position?

This conundrum is a Freshman year Macroeconomics 101 case study; supply and demand.  Rates have improved since the Fed hinted at a 4.5% world.  Demand has risen, for mortgage money.  Lenders have cut back their workforce or disappeared altogether.  There just ain’t enough folks to process the paperwork so “supply” is down.

Lenders are making it clear that they just hate refinance transactions, because of nebulous valuations, in their pricing.  Expect refinance transactions to become even more expensive, in 2009. What this means is that your soon-to-be-neighbor , who is buying a home with a 3% down payment, may very well get a 5.25% rate while you, who has more equity (in a similar home), may be offered 5.75% for a refinance.

Lenders won’t get fooled into believing that business will pick up next year so they won’t be adding to the workforce.  Market volatility may encourage profiteering as long as rates stay low.

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

It’s deja vu, all over again.

Republic Window and Door announced it would be closing its doors next month.   Republic lost over $5 million YTD and $12 million in 2006 and 2007.  Bank of America suspended its line of credit.  Faced with the prospect of going it without any money, Republic rolled over and died.

Workers at the soon to be defunct Republic Windows and Door are staging a 60’s-style sit in to recoup some of their lost vacation and severance pay.   The union demands that the Company make good on its promise to its workers.  Remember, the Company wasn’t bailed out; it lost close to $18 million in the past three years and light isn’t appearing at the end of the tunnel.  President-Elect Obama supports the union’s effort.

Federally-detained Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias fired a shot across BofA’s bow, threatening to suspend State business with the Bank.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich said the state will suspend business with Bank of America Corp. until the lender restores credit to the shuttered Republic Windows & Doors company in Chicago where workers are staging a sit-in.

Blagojevich, a Democrat, spoke at a news conference today after meeting with employees who remained at the factory since Dec. 5, when it closed following the bank’s cancellation of its credit line. Illinois does “hundreds of millions of dollars” in business with the bank, he said. The Illinois Department of Labor will sue the manufacturer if Republic doesn’t respond to employee requests for vacation and severance pay, the governor said in a press release.

Cook County Commmissioner Mike Quigley follows suit:

Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley will introduce an ordinance to block the state’s biggest county from doing business with Bank of America, he said in an interview.

“I’m usually cautious, but this is an extraordinary example at an extraordinary time,” Quigley said. “When you talk theory, they nod and wink, but when you put in an ordinance, they know you are serious.”

Should the Bank be able to cut its losses and focus on less risky lending practices?  Not if it receives TARP funds figure the Cook Read more

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I must admit that I agree with Barack Obama.  I’ve been trying to keep my chin up and look for the positive aspects of his Presidency.  I remember thinking, on election night, that he would have an awfully tough time governing from the center with the Pelosi/Reid Politburo pressuring him.

Why is governing from the center important?  Well, that’s what Candidate Obama promised and that’s what 3 out of 4 of the voters wanted:

On the other side of the argument are the exit polls showing the Americans who voted Tuesday described themselves as 44 percent moderate, 34 percent conservative and only 22 percent liberal. That would seem to portray a center-right nation.

Here’s his first test:

Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama‘s refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin. “He’s going to have to be more assertive than he’s been,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday.

Make no mistake about it, Barney Frank is a member of the Pelosi/Reid Politburo.  He is at the center of the everything is fine with Franklin controversy that eventually blew up in our faces.  Today, Frank and others want to divert funds appropriated for banks to the auto industry.  Their colleagues aren’t buying it.  What happens when the Politburo doesn’t have the support of the Faithful?  It turns to its Messiah…but the Messiah is just a man… and that man doesn’t want to dirty his hands with axle grease.

Presidents-elect typically spend the transition period assembling their cabinets, their White House staff and preparing to take the reins of power. But this transition is occurring at an extraordinary time, with bad economic news mounting by the day and with one of the country’s major industries begging for a hand to keep from collapsing.

Two Democratic senators involved in trying to salvage the auto companies have said Obama could help move the process along and should become more engaged.

“The Obama team has to step up,” Sen. Christopher Read more

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Wholesale lenders, escrow companies and title companies are sending me e-mails this afternoon:

In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday and as a demonstration of our commitment to our core values, ABC Financial will be closed Thursday and Friday (and Saturday and Sunday).  We wish you and yours a joyous holiday season and thank you for your business.

WTF ?

Okayfine.  Rant over, captured in three letters.  Sermon begins:

Thanks, Dave.  The words of encouragement are appreciated; readers might look at the words of the song he quoted, though:

If you’re going through hell
Keep on going, don’t slow down
If you’re scared don’t show it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you’re there
Yeah, If you’re going through hell
Keep on moving, face that fire
Walk right through it

“Keep on moving, face that fire.”  A good reminder for us to persevere in the face of adversity.  What the title, escow, and mortgage companies are doing, however, is living in a 2005 world.  There are loans to be funded, resales to be recorded, and transactions to be closed.  There are, without a doubt, thousands of transactions that won’t fund, record and close on Friday…and thousands of clients who won’t be able to take advantage of the weekend to move.  Double that number if you count the chain reaction real estate transactions produce.

Complacency breeds contempt in my world.  I have always considered the last day of the month (which is Friday) to be a VERY important day.  If you can close ONE extra transaction, on Friday, instead of having it bleed over until Monday, here’s what you’ll gain:

1- One hour of phone time.  When the transaction won’t close because of the closed escrow company, we all have to make between 3-5 phone calls, explaining what happened and reassuring all principals that the transaction is fine.

2- One hour of e-mail time. Rushing to get last minute conditions in takes 30 minutes.  It takes another 30 minutes to get the weekend out of the employees’ minds, after their 4-day rest.

3- Four days of simple interest (or spending power).  When everyone gets their money faster, they can invest or spend it.

4- Points in the “Read more

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

European Leaders lauded our free-market system when they were making money.  Today, their answer is more regulation of financial markets in an effort to move our system towards the Euro-Socialist model:

Leaders from the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies are being hosted on Friday night and on Saturday by a U.S. president who will be out of office in little more than two months and who is under pressure from Europe to agree to stricter market regulation than he prefers.

A lame duck President, George Bush has a chance to make a stand for free markets at this conference.  European leaders will most likely tolerate his stand while they lick their chops for January 20, 2009.  Europe’s favorite American President, Barack Obama, will face intense pressure from our ancestors to conform to their models next year.

President Bush:

“While reforms in the financial sector are essential, the long-term solution to today’s problems is sustained economic growth,” Bush told a New York audience. He said critics were “equating the free enterprise system with greed, exploitation and failure” and objected to it.

“The answer is not to try to reinvent that system,” Bush said. “It is to fix the problems we face, make the reforms we need, and move forward with the free-market principles that have delivered prosperity and hope to people around the world.”

Germany:

German officials said before the meeting that it will discuss “a new balance between market and state,” possibly a more ambitious aim than the Bush administration favors.

France:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy sounded an aggressive note on Thursday as he prepared to head for the summit.

“I am leaving for Washington to explain that the dollar, which after the Second World War was the only currency in the world, can no longer claim to be the only currency in the world,” he said. “What was true in 1945 cannot be true today.”

Great Britain:

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed on Wednesday there was growing support for increased fiscal measures globally to help weather the crisis and indicated he might press that theme at the summit.

Monday-morning quarterbacking is one thing but over-regulation is how the Read more