Another hairy loan from New Century

This clip covers a story of a vulnerable old woman who was sold an inappropriate subprime mortgage. Who was the lender? It was New Century. The company is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. If New Century made a business out of selling loans to high risk clients like the one in this clip, it is not hard to understand why their default rate shot up.

You have to wonder what the financial market regulators were doing. Were they paying any attention to companies like New Century? Seems not.

Just another busted subprime lender

Here is an interesting clip following the demise of yet another subprime lender. At the moment, there are so many subprime lenders going out of business that it no longer is a newsworthy item.

Goodbye to all that



Here it is; the whole bubble story in one 6 minute video. At times, it gets a little tough to watch - there is just too much emotion here.

A timely reminder that the housing bubble was, above all, a human tragedy.

Steven Lockmillar presents another fine American home

Finally, we meet a realtor that we can love. Steven Lockmiller presents American River Fine Homes.

Personally, I would buy a home from this guy. Compared to the realtors I know, this guy seems like a model of respectability.

Enjoy....

Another offensive realtor ad

This ad might seem like realtors trying to be funny, but think about the underlying premise of this ad and you will quickly realise that there is something really nasty going on here. If you want to understand the just exactly how stupid realtors think homebuyers are, then you will will find it here. The premise of this ad is that the new homeowner can not distinguish a wardrobe from a toilet.

Realtors would like everyone to believe that buying a homse is so complicated and we Americans are so stupid that we can't live without them. In fact, we are so dumb that we need them to go to the toilet.

On that offensive and insulting basis, realtors justify their 6 percent commissions.

Realtor daycare

This is a really strange ad. It is from from a corporate real estate leasing company in Australia. The ad points out that the leasing company has set up a daycare center for its clients.

Of course, daycare centers are great things. However, I doubt very much whether any of the potential clients for this leasing company would have daycare centers high on their list of requirements. After all, isn't real estate all about location, location and more location?

The realtor company management probably weren't looking too closely when the ad company pitched them this idea.

Let's dance

Here is a home video from the Long Beach branch of New Century Financial, the subprime lender that went bust earlier this week.

It is not hard to see why these jokers went under. The loan officers were dancing and goofing around when they should have been checking out the borrowers. "You wanna no doc interest only loan. Sure, fill out this form, and hold on while I boogie around the cubicle to Michael Jackson".

Bizarre, totally bizarre.

Ms Mortgage broker

After watching this video, you will understand why ads are usually just 30 second long. Go on, test your endurance, how much crap can you absorb without pressing the stop button.

This clip tries to explain why home buyers need a mortgage broker. The basic point is that taking a loan out is "real complicated". Yet if it is so complicated, then why people with lousy credit were able to get 100 percent interest only loans? Moreover, if mortgage brokers really were as effective as the clip suggests, then why did so many people end up with inappropriate mortgage products? Or to put it another way, why are foreclosure and delinquency rates rising?

Could it be because of Ms. Mortgage broker?

It has got to be real

Here is one of those 30 second realtor ads that just leaves you in opened-mouthed shock. The target group is young women on the verge of selling their condo and moving in with some loser. The magical realtor "organised everything" and "worked around my schedule". Of course, the realtor manages to sell "her" condo before "his".

The ad finishes with the background singer bellowing out "it has gotta be real". However, there is nothing real about the phoney lifestyle portrayed in this nasty piece of realtor hype.

Jack is back

Here is another video clip with Attorney Jack Garson. The clip follows the story of a DC home owner to buys one overpriced house but fails to sell his existing home. He ends up with two mortgages costing $9,000 a month. Inevitably, his surplus housing is destroying his savings.

Rather than making you rich, housing is often a fast track to poverty and bankruptcy.

Could it happen again....?

Here is a nine minute reminder of the great crash of 1929. Doom, gloom, depression, and recession from another age. Over 5,000 banks went under, and GDP fell by 50 percent. The day was saved by Roosevelt and the invention of government financed entitlements.

Another subprime primer

Suddenly, the main stream media has discovered the perils of subprime lending. Here is a one minute guide to the beast that is now beating up Wall street.

The UK housing market - the experts speak


The UK property market is the maddest baddest one of them all. Prices aren't just unaffordable, are in the twilight zone of overvaluation. London is probably the most inflated market in the work. It may not even be a housing market as most normal people understand the term. Rather, it may have become one giant fraud perpetrated on over-wealthy foreigners, mostly new Russians, who have more money than sense.

This little video highlights the deep sense of confusion that characterizes the UK market. Everyone knows that the market is massively overvalued, but those prices just keep going up.

Where will it end? When will it end?

One minute primer on subprime mortgages

The delivery is a bit dry, but the content is clear enough; here is a one-minute primer on subprime loans. The main lesson is that if you are a realtor and you sell one of these loans, you get more money. What could be simpler? Well, you would think that people would take a look at the repayment capacity of people taking out these loans. Judging by the massive increase in subprime defaults, that simple point was not well understand by many lenders.