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5 Real Estate What If’s That Make Me Lose Sleep

From the NAR : NAR also has concerns about the proposed risk retention regulation under the Dodd-Frank Act that requires lenders that securitize mortgage loans to retain 5 percent of the credit risk unless the mortgage is a qualified residential mortgage (QRM). … Higher down payments do not have a meaningful impact on default rates; NAR supports a reasonable and affordable cash investment requirement coupled with quality credit standards, strong documentation and sound underwriting. 4c – Let’s not forget one of the main reasons we got in the mess we were/are in : (I originally noted this in 2007 ) The key reason the Subprime problem exists as it does today has to do with the wanton disassociation of risk inherent in the machine that churns out Subprime loans. … Just think about it…if you were a 20-something making mortgage loans in California using someone else’s balance sheet and being paid per loan (with no lookback to performance of the loan), how many dubious loans would you underwrite?

…The fact that HUD found extensive misconduct over a similar time frame as the Foreclosure Task Force, which Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr described as a ““11-agency, 8-week review of servicer practices, with hundreds of investigators crawling all over the banks” proves that the latter to be pure regulatory theater.

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Unbelievable.

“Effective immediately FannieMae will no longer accept electronic signatures.” … This is the sort of thing I’d like to see Congress and the National Association of Realtors address. The inefficiencies created by needing wet signatures are tremendous. … Only to be told at the last minute that the lender needs “original” signatures (faxed are ok), when an electronic signature can be far more secure than a faxed signature, which could be signed by anyone.

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Taking Vacation. And Stock.

I’m taking a vacation soon. I tell my clients that I am “grudgingly” going; but … after reading my friends’ Kris’ and Jay’s posts, I’m striving to readjust my priorities. I have systems in place, an extraordinarily competent agent poised to cover for me while I’m gone and I will have internet access. As much as I love, love, love what I do, I love my family more.

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Terremark in Culpeper Sold to Verizon

This news seems more interesting in light of the Fiberlight news from earlier today . (bolding mine) From Data Center Knowledge : Verizon will acquire colocation and cloud hosting provider Terremark for $1.4 billion in a deal that will accelerate the telecom provider’s push into cloud computing. Verizon will pay $19.00 in cash for each share of Terremark, about a 35 percent premium to the stock’s closing price of  $14.05 a share. Verizon (VZ) said the acquisition will accelerate its “everything-as-a-service” cloud computing strategy by adding a portfolio of secure, scalable cloud solutions, along with Terremark’s large base of business and government customers. Verizon also gets Terremark’s global network of 13 data centers,  including the NAP of the Americas in Miami, the NAP of the Capital Region data fortress in Culpeper , Virginia and facilities in Silicon Valley, Dallas, Amsterdam and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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See Charlottesville Differently Than Ever Before – Via Qwiki

Qwiki fascinates me, not only because it says “Monti- s ello”, and I’ve been playing with it for the past few weeks since it was in alpha. Now it’s open to the public and I can embed it here (finally!).

… Astonishingly, Qwiki picks up that the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle are separate entities , something that takes quite some time to realize for newcomers.

…Did you know that Albemarle has 4 square miles of water?

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