The rest of the Headline from today’s DS News:  “…as Banks Loosens Credit Standards.”

The article, quoting Capital Economics, an analytics firm, goes on to say that banks are reducing their Loan-to-Value ratios for borrowers.  Gee, did I read about this causing a little problem a few years ago?  A problem so global that it now stands to take down the entire economy of several sovereign nations?

I can certainly rank on about the factors that contributed to the last world-wide economic meltdown, and the one before that.  What get’s me is that the people who create the policies, underwriting guidelines and programs must have inncreasing short memories. 

I’m an old-time private money equity lender.  I know that people can lie about their income and fudge their credit scores.  However, they two things that are going to the lender are: title to the collateral and EQUITY. 

Given that I filed what I believe to be the catalytic case, Estate of C. v. Wells Fargo Bank, et al., almost three years ago, I never though so much wreckage would result from the internal practices of lenders trying to be “efficient.” 

Concerning Nevada’s response to Robo-signing: I received a copy of a press release from a friend who received same from a Jennifer Lopez of Nevada’s Attorney General office. I presume this is a different Miss Lopez than the one who already seeks attention.

In essence, two persons were indicted by the Nevada Grand Jury of a scheme which alleges that thousands of document were fraudulently notarized and recorded between 2005 and 2008.  Press Release includes two perp photos. 

My original suit sought to reverse a sale whereby the robo-signer (in CA) purported via an SB 1137 Notice, to have affirmatively contacted the deceased trustor of a reverse mortgage which had been called due to what the industry calls a “maturity event.”  That means the borrower died, and they’re calling the loan.  I was Special Admin of that probate case.  As expected, Wells’ council was arrogant and intransigent. 

It was never my intention to start an avalanche of problems for the industry; I merely wished to hold this lender’s feet to the fire long enough for us to resolve the problem, which came to me the 11th hour. In reality, my suit was probably just a sideshow in the big scheme of things.

How do you other investors feel about the pendelum swinging in favor of defaulted homeowners who are yet given still more time?

OK. You may have noticed that I’ve been inattentive to updating this blog for the last six months. 

I have a good excuse (and a note from my Doctor). Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes, people will say ‘no’ when they really mean something else.  Here’s a case in point that probably cost me thousands of dollars in deals that I ultimately didn’t do because I took ‘no’ for an answer: Read the rest of this entry »

…includes the ability to make profitable deals on a serial basis, fairly consistently, over an extended period of time.

Many people talk themselves out of entering the real estate arena because they can’t forecast future real estate prices accurately.  Worrying about buying at the very bottom of the market may not be that important. Read the rest of this entry »

The CA Insurance Commission has responded to an outraged real estate industry by sending a letter clarifying the limits of their regulations and relaxing the interpretations to exclude basic customer services like providing title profiles, copies of recorded docs, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

As of July 1st, 2009, title insurance companies have responded to changes in insurance laws which restrict the services that they may provide, such as copies of recorded deeds, property descriptions and valuation (sales comparables). I think many investors, large and small, were caught off guard by this new legislation and are scampering to find alternative solutions. Read the rest of this entry »

Are parts of the California real estate market turning into Detroit-esque places where plummeting values have rendered some properties virtually worthless?  It’s beginnning to look that way in some of the tougher markets.

I walked away from a little deal earlier this week.  A woman contacted us by submitting an heir advance request form.  Read the rest of this entry »

Last weekend I attended the Miller/Schaub/Fortunato event in San Francisco, host by Michael Morrongiello’s Bay Area Wealth Builders group.  Had a great time and learned an awful lot, as this has become an expectation of mine. Read the rest of this entry »

I received several emails yesterday from someone who had attended my probate seminar this past April at LAX.  After beating around the bush with several replies back and forth, he finally got to what he was looking for.

It seems that his idea was that I would feed him deals that he would work and learn the probate investment business by, presumably, applying what he learned along the way on those leads.  Read the rest of this entry »