Frank Louis
Housing double dip: I could'a told you that... in fact I did!
(And who really are the "Undocumented Workers" in this country anyway?)
By Frank Louis
Recently the Case Shiller Home Price Index on the status of America's failing housing market (You know, the market where mortgage brokers, realtors, appraisers, banks... well, you know... all scammed the market with sub prime mortgages so that they could sell and resell and insure and reinsure Mortgage Backed Securities- that eventually all failed) has entered a second dip in what is being called a "double-dip." A "double-dip" is what I expect when I buy an ice cream cone... not a house.
I know, I know, the market has its ups and downs. I was and am prepared for that just as I am willing to accept the second scoop on my cone to fall off on a hot summer's day... but this was fraud. Of course, these genius PhD economists add that the "major downturn in real estate values are behind us." Well, I would agree with that; housing values are now lower that the cost of construction in many areas and in some places they are tearing them down. Tearing down new homes that no one ever even lived in, in some instances. Great way to prop up values, I say.
However, just as I have reported for several years now, in a Salon.com report I recently read, more fraud is being investigated and prosecuted by "the Feds," now against Deutsche Bank (a foreign bank, not pronounced "douche bank" I am told). The fraud is pertaining to... you guessed it, "mortgage fraud." And still more of those pesky old "flawed documents" the industry seems to use as a regular way to do business.
The article reported that the US Attorney prosecuting the case stated that the charges did not prove "criminal intent." Yep, just the good ol' "civil suit" level where some fines are paid to the gov. (who is really us) and the dirty word "flaws" comes up again as always. Yep, these "flaws" are killing us, the economy, and the nation but that's OK guys... after all, it is just a "flaw." (Read some of my past articles on this topic.)
With Memorial Day recently passing, I realized that surviving economically in this ethic-less age of business practices is not all that much different from surviving my year as a pilot in Vietnam. No matter how well you trained, flew, preformed... did your due diligence so to speak, some jerk out there with an AK-47 could just happen to make a lucky "pot-shot" and ruin your entire day by knocking you right out of the sky- in flames; just another "flaw" in the process of getting through another day.
And that is how this crisis all came down as well. The banks were not keeping records of sub prime failures... they didn't want to know. Your mortgage broker or realtor did not tell you that property was being virtually given away with cash back at closing schemes for the people who walked in unprepared to buy property. No, if you had saved, worked hard, had cash and good credit, and actually really "qualified" your money was taken, the appraisal (bank approved mind you) came in and you bought something that, as it turns out, was worth nothing. Gone were your good credit score and life savings as well and no one reports on this. Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time... another "flaw."
I have begun to call the people who were robbed in this manner "America's true Undocumented Workers" because no one reports on the people who made down payments, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars at closing in down payments (never mind that the "investments" are worthless). Yes, these Americans are truly "undocumented." No one in the media, political arena, or especially the banking and legal (most lawyers, it seems, work for the banks) industry want to know about them. Fact is, many of them — despite never having credit card debt- will just go to the grave "owing." Fancy that.
Now, in addition to the housing market entering the second dip in what, I predict, could well be a multi dip process, we hear how foreign "investors" are rushing in to buy so they can rent to us... the people who lost tens of thousands of dollars because they made down payments on fraudulently appraised real estate. Just more "flaws," not a crime. Wait a minute... foreign investors, foreign straw buyers, devalued dollar, foreign banks...? Is this leading somewhere? Can you say "one world government?"
At a recent National Association of Realtors (the association of professionals who sold property to straw buyers), I read in another article on housing bubble blog, how sad Senator Jeff Merkley (Oregon) is over this mess stating "lawmakers need to act now and put housing at the top of the national agenda." No Jeff, you need to stay out. No more stupid convoluted schemes like HAMP: "Making Home Affordable," or the "Community Reinvestment Act." Just return our down payments and void these business transactions, as they were fraudulent.
The article focused on some woman in New York State named Nikkie who was underwater in her 100% financed mortgage. How she will have to keep the property for several years before she can sell it. Isn't that what the Mortgage Bankers Association tells us? We have a moral obligation to hunker down and ride out this, perhaps endless storm... even beyond death? You know the MBA... the association that defaulted on their 81 million dollar mortgage? Yeah, that group.
Nikkie... SO WHAT! You DID NOT LOOSE ANYTHING! Nikkie, you did not pay ANYTHING to take out the mortgage... Your property is underwater and you did not loose a penny. In fact, I am willing to bet a large coffee that your mortgage was for even more that the price of the property, included closing costs and more likely than not gave you "cash back at closing." Your credit score was probably low to begin with too. No reports on that folks? No, just "tear jerker" stories that is supposed to pull at our heartstrings.
Nikkie... You are part of the problem, you and your realtor and mortgage broker! I want to stop hearing about these people and hear, for once, about the people whom I write about... The people about whom no statistics are kept, Americas' "Undocumented," the people who actually made down payments and were robbed. Let's report on them for a change. And Happy Father's Day!
© Frank Louis
June 19, 2011
Recently the Case Shiller Home Price Index on the status of America's failing housing market (You know, the market where mortgage brokers, realtors, appraisers, banks... well, you know... all scammed the market with sub prime mortgages so that they could sell and resell and insure and reinsure Mortgage Backed Securities- that eventually all failed) has entered a second dip in what is being called a "double-dip." A "double-dip" is what I expect when I buy an ice cream cone... not a house.
I know, I know, the market has its ups and downs. I was and am prepared for that just as I am willing to accept the second scoop on my cone to fall off on a hot summer's day... but this was fraud. Of course, these genius PhD economists add that the "major downturn in real estate values are behind us." Well, I would agree with that; housing values are now lower that the cost of construction in many areas and in some places they are tearing them down. Tearing down new homes that no one ever even lived in, in some instances. Great way to prop up values, I say.
However, just as I have reported for several years now, in a Salon.com report I recently read, more fraud is being investigated and prosecuted by "the Feds," now against Deutsche Bank (a foreign bank, not pronounced "douche bank" I am told). The fraud is pertaining to... you guessed it, "mortgage fraud." And still more of those pesky old "flawed documents" the industry seems to use as a regular way to do business.
The article reported that the US Attorney prosecuting the case stated that the charges did not prove "criminal intent." Yep, just the good ol' "civil suit" level where some fines are paid to the gov. (who is really us) and the dirty word "flaws" comes up again as always. Yep, these "flaws" are killing us, the economy, and the nation but that's OK guys... after all, it is just a "flaw." (Read some of my past articles on this topic.)
With Memorial Day recently passing, I realized that surviving economically in this ethic-less age of business practices is not all that much different from surviving my year as a pilot in Vietnam. No matter how well you trained, flew, preformed... did your due diligence so to speak, some jerk out there with an AK-47 could just happen to make a lucky "pot-shot" and ruin your entire day by knocking you right out of the sky- in flames; just another "flaw" in the process of getting through another day.
And that is how this crisis all came down as well. The banks were not keeping records of sub prime failures... they didn't want to know. Your mortgage broker or realtor did not tell you that property was being virtually given away with cash back at closing schemes for the people who walked in unprepared to buy property. No, if you had saved, worked hard, had cash and good credit, and actually really "qualified" your money was taken, the appraisal (bank approved mind you) came in and you bought something that, as it turns out, was worth nothing. Gone were your good credit score and life savings as well and no one reports on this. Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time... another "flaw."
I have begun to call the people who were robbed in this manner "America's true Undocumented Workers" because no one reports on the people who made down payments, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars at closing in down payments (never mind that the "investments" are worthless). Yes, these Americans are truly "undocumented." No one in the media, political arena, or especially the banking and legal (most lawyers, it seems, work for the banks) industry want to know about them. Fact is, many of them — despite never having credit card debt- will just go to the grave "owing." Fancy that.
Now, in addition to the housing market entering the second dip in what, I predict, could well be a multi dip process, we hear how foreign "investors" are rushing in to buy so they can rent to us... the people who lost tens of thousands of dollars because they made down payments on fraudulently appraised real estate. Just more "flaws," not a crime. Wait a minute... foreign investors, foreign straw buyers, devalued dollar, foreign banks...? Is this leading somewhere? Can you say "one world government?"
At a recent National Association of Realtors (the association of professionals who sold property to straw buyers), I read in another article on housing bubble blog, how sad Senator Jeff Merkley (Oregon) is over this mess stating "lawmakers need to act now and put housing at the top of the national agenda." No Jeff, you need to stay out. No more stupid convoluted schemes like HAMP: "Making Home Affordable," or the "Community Reinvestment Act." Just return our down payments and void these business transactions, as they were fraudulent.
The article focused on some woman in New York State named Nikkie who was underwater in her 100% financed mortgage. How she will have to keep the property for several years before she can sell it. Isn't that what the Mortgage Bankers Association tells us? We have a moral obligation to hunker down and ride out this, perhaps endless storm... even beyond death? You know the MBA... the association that defaulted on their 81 million dollar mortgage? Yeah, that group.
Nikkie... SO WHAT! You DID NOT LOOSE ANYTHING! Nikkie, you did not pay ANYTHING to take out the mortgage... Your property is underwater and you did not loose a penny. In fact, I am willing to bet a large coffee that your mortgage was for even more that the price of the property, included closing costs and more likely than not gave you "cash back at closing." Your credit score was probably low to begin with too. No reports on that folks? No, just "tear jerker" stories that is supposed to pull at our heartstrings.
Nikkie... You are part of the problem, you and your realtor and mortgage broker! I want to stop hearing about these people and hear, for once, about the people whom I write about... The people about whom no statistics are kept, Americas' "Undocumented," the people who actually made down payments and were robbed. Let's report on them for a change. And Happy Father's Day!
© Frank Louis
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