I should have explained my comparison of 9/11 to these predatory lenders. I was speaking in strict economic terms--not loss of life. You remember how 9/11 hurt the economy. Bin Ladin had said,at that time, that their desire was to cripple the United States monetarily since he knew he couldn't do it militarily. So after this crisis, then corporate America cooked the books on their businesses. That sent the economy down. We were just recovering from THAT when the banks started subprime mortgages. What were they thinking? Didn't they remember the lesson of Japan doing the same thing during their high-flying economy of the 80's? They had so much money flying around that they felt they could float all the riskier loans because they felt there was no end to the economic boom. We were just starting to recover from the book-cooking schemes when the subprime loans started appearing. ALL these people just seem like terrorists to me because they are attacking us and the economy for their own self-serving purposes. An analysis of how this got to be so prevalent in the lending business was done on Nightly Business Report. One lender followed another because they knew if they didn't, they wouldn't make any loans. Even the mono-line insurers followed!!!!! You turn your computer on and the computer terrorists attack you with spyware. Everywhere we turn today the only purpose we serve, to this evil segment of society, is our pockets. Ole Joyful sure has it correct in what he said. He was very careful in choosing his words so as to not offend. He should have just said it like it really is. This country is losing its specialness in the world because it has replaced its value system with the value of money alone, and above all. Very sad. There is nothing wrong in MAKING money. But it does matter HOW you make it. And scamming people is not MAKING money---it is only GETTING money. Thru MAKING money, you provide value and service to people. You make the world a better place. In GETTING money, you are little better than a drug dealer. All business people need a strict course in ethics, for they know not what they do.

There are many states that are coming out with regulations pertaining to reduced document loans, qualifying ARMs, prudent underwriting of loans, etc. These regulations are often vague and open to all kinds of interpretation. Because the regulations are so vague, many lenders legal counsel advice them to discontine doing business in those states until the states provide more specific guidance. Unfortunately for borrowers, it limits their choices of lenders. I'm not sure about what's going on in Colorado, but I know Mass. just came out with some restrictive legistlation.

OUCH OUCH OUCH!!!! This is all making my head hurt!!! The MOST FINANCIAL CONTROL you can ever get in the mortgage origination process is in the selection of your actual PROVIDER. The E in Good Faith ESTIMATE stands for.... well.... ESTIMATE!!! An ESTIMATE is "NOT" in any way a BINDING QUOTE! The law does not recognize any estimate as a binding quote. The INDUSTRY does not recognize any estimate as a binding quote. Trying to shop mortgage financing as though it were a commodity is a complete waste of effort, time and resource. Your results will NOT be related to the "research" of advanced estimates!!! While one is searching the numbers, IF THEY ARE RANDOMLY LUCKY they will accidentally happen to select a trustworthy service provider who is competent and handles your process well, which will result in whatever the eventual numbers end up being. If they end up happy with the final numbers, they'll hold that out as supportive evidence of the "magical thinking" that the initial snipe-hunt was worthwhile. If they end up unhappy with the final numbers they'll make up some accusatory reason why the provider was predatory, etc. THE TRUE CAUSE OF THE RESULTS; The competence of the specific individual who is controlling the origination and managing the process. Choose your provider by any other means, and you may as well go to Vegas and have some FUN along the way... your results will be equally stacked against you. Luck! Dave Donhoff Strategic Equity & Mortgage Planner

Lots of us just changed to 80% for second homes because the Mortgage Insurance companies changed their guidelines. If I remember correctly, out of 4 insurance companies, there is only 1 left that will insure a second home. And all the mortgage insurance companies are making major changes right now. Fannie Mae is changing to allow people to own more than 4 properties, which was the maximum. But there are many more restrictions.