Andrew Cuomo

I have never heard of Wall Street Italia. However, this clip covers the Andrew Cuomo story and Jim Cramer's accusation that this New York attorney is a communist. It has been long time since that word has been thrown around as an insult.

Northern Rock - the movie

Here is a five minute news clip from the BBC giving background to the collapse of one of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK - Northern Rock Bank.

Boys making movies

I'm appalled by these do-it-yourself mortgage broker ads. The thought processes are so transparent. Most of these brokers are young men. They seem to think that the key to sales success is linking young partially clothed women with their mortgage products.

They end up producing crude, lewd, and offensive commercials, which are almost certain discourage any female clients. These guys might be mortgage brokers, but I sense they would prefer to be making specialist videos for an exclusively male clientele.

BTW, check out the mixed message at the end of the clip. Spot the family photos on the desk, which happen to be pointing towards the camera and away from the broker.

Will the real estate market crash?

Given the mountain of data out there showing that delinquencies are up, prices and down and inventory piling up like snow in winter, I thought that answer would be obvious.

However, I am wrong. The guy in this clip tells me that while prices might fluctuate a little, the market won't crash.

I am going to say something really hurtful about this guy; he looks like a realtor.

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.

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?

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.