HAPPY NEW YEAR

I have been on blogger holiday, I will be back on the 2nd. Have a great New Year and don't get in any trouble.

More to come

Lonny

THE NEWS FROM PAKISTAN

No doubt you have heard the news about the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. She was running for political office in the country and one of her platforms was getting rid of the terrorists. She said in a recent interview that she was the terrorists worst nightmare. She was assassinated during a rally in a part of Pakistan that was a hotbed for terrorist activity. I have learned her Father was killed there many years ago speaking of the virtues of Democracy. Like Father like Daughter as they say. My guess is she knew her days were numbered and no doubt hopes her death brings change and gets the people in Pakistan to take up the fight and help rid the country of terrorism.

Now I am certainly no scholar on these things and doing a Blog like this gives me the ability to keep my mouth shut about such things but I just can’t seem too. I think if history shows us anything it shows us that these type of events have gone on and will continue to go on for more than my life at least. I believe for things to ever change they must change with the generations who teach their children not to hate and not to condemn those who don’t believe that hate and killing are the thing to do. That I fear is a long time to come sadly enough.

The one thought I did have as I heard the news was how glad I was that we have a military that is in the middle of all this mess. As mad as I am at President Bush for ignoring the immigration problem, today I am thankful he has stayed the course in the Middle East. There is no way we can simply walk away and I think everyone knows that. I also get the feeling the people of Iraq have finally started taking the fight in their own hands because they believe they have no choice.

I pray that the events of yesterday in Pakistan inspire the people to take the fight to the terrorists who have only one hope and that is for democracy to fail. The fight is real and worth fighting.

God bless the brave young men and women of our military who know the fight is worth it and keep us safe.

More to come

Lonny

LEE IACOCCA PART 2

Enjoy the rest of Lee's comments:

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "The Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at
our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope I believe in America . In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the "Great Depression", "World War II", the "Korean War", the "Kennedy Assassination", the "Vietnam War", the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: "You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to "Action" for people who, like me, believe in America It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had "enough."

Excerpted from "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?".
Copyright (c) 2007 by Lee Iacocca. All rights reserved.



More to come



Lonny

LEE IACOCCA PART 1

This is worth the read, part 2 tomorrow:

Remember Lee Iaccocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it's death throes? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.
_____________________________________________________________
Lee Iaccocca Says:
"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say,
"Stay the course"

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned "Titanic". I'll give you a sound bite: "Throw all the bums out!"

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the " America " my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

The Biggest "C" is Crisis !

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess

So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense?
I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

More to come

Lonny

A CHRISTMAS THOUGHT

One of my customers sent me this and I thought it was a good topic too consider at this time of year. Enjoy:

Subject: Christmas Wishes

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.

During their visit the conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups.... and then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. The type of cup one has does not define, nor change the quality of life a person lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your coffee.

May each of you have a blessed Christmas.

More to come

Lonny

WORTH READING

Now that the lending/sub prime/mortgage meltdown/financial crisis is well along and gaining speed daily, for todays Blog, I wanted to post some really good articles for you to read if you so choose. We have not seen the reality of what is going to happen as yet and will no doubt feel this mess for years to come.

I am not one who is a gloom and doomer, my business really is not bad at the moment and I am looking for a good 2008 because home prices are down and those who are qualified can and will buy.

I encourage you to read these articles if you are in mortgage lending or if you are not. I too have been writing and teaching on the Predatory Lenders and what would happen if they were left unchecked and now we are living it. The articles below are varied, I don’t agree with everything said, but they are worth reading. Perhaps when we are done with this cycle history will be less likely to repeat itself.

http://business.smh.com.au/fed-repeatedly-warned-by-own-staff-of-looming-crisis/20071220-1ibm.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004083696_mortgages20.html

http://xeniagazette.1upmonitor.com/main.asp?SectionID=17&SubSectionID=452&ArticleID=157755&TM=38815.62

http://www.mexiadailynews.com/opinion/local_story_354094027.html?keyword=secondarystory

http://losangeles.injuryboard.com/class-action/mortgage-lending-fraud-class-actions-the-best-answer.php?googleid=13947

More to come

Lonny

FHA SECURE FLOPS

Remember the FHA Secure Loan? It was the Bush Administrations loan that was to help borrowers with sub prime loans refinance their property into a safe FHA loan? Well the report is in and it is a flop of major proportions.

If you remember to qualify for this loan you have to be in a sub prime loan and all payments would have been made on time until the interest rate reset. When it reset you would not have been able to make the payments and at that time got behind on the payments. You would have to qualify for the FHA loan in all other areas of income, job stability etc. Sub prime loan, qualified for a prime loan; seems to be a disconnect here. You must have been behind, you would not qualify if you were current at the time you applied for the refinance. Something a bit discriminatory here don't you think? Why not help the rest who are trying to stay current? You must have equity in the property of at least 2.25% to qualify or the lender who had the mortgage could take a second lien on the property for the difference. Lets see, loan fraud, sub prime, 100% loans, inflated appraisals, doesn't seem to go hand in hand with having equity. The phrase designed to fail comes to mind for me.

When this loan was announced the mortgage lending community just scratched their heads and wondered how in the world anyone would or could qualify. The confusion has now proved to be on the money. With all the money spent and all the borrowers who might qualify not applying and all the hype and BS associated with this Government program the numbers prove once again the Government is here to help is just not a reality. What were they thinking?

I don't remember what the exact estimates of the FHA Secure program were but as I recall it was projected to allow some 250,000 families to refinance and the actual # of closings to date is less than 290. In my book that is a failure of major proportions and just proves again in my opinion the more Government tries to help the more it gets screwed up. All of the news of all the laws and all the politicians coming to help hopefully won't make the problems worse than they already are going to be.

I wouldn't bet on it come to think of it.

More to come

Lonny

FED TO THE RESCUE.....AGAIN

To start, the city mentioned yesterday was Grand Prairie, not Fort Worth, thanks Paul.

I read an article about the Fed trying to clean up mortgage lending and protecting home buyers from fraud.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jRjPX04ZFVg1uLmis-Cb57TwWtRA

Why are they so concerned? Well it is because the US is in a rather deep housing slump. Fed Chief Bernanke explained that “market discipline” had broken down. I had not heard it put like that but “market discipline” I agree did break down not to mention things like ethics, greed, criminal activity and the list goes on.

One thing he is trying to control is sub prime loans. If no one has noticed sub prime loans are gone and not likely to come back so he is probably beating a dead horse on that subject.

He also is trying to get language in the proposed new rules regarding deceptive advertising which frankly I hope he does. It still happens multiple times a day on my radio and TV and it should be stopped. Things like no cost refis, payment rates being represented as the interest rate, and there are more. Good luck on that, if you can’t deceive the consumer who can you deceive? Someone could enforce the current rules already in place; that could help!!

He wants to ban no doc loans. These are loans that require exceptional credit and started out (at least) requiring a large down payment. If you look at no doc loans I am sure you will find the no doc loans that don’t perform are those that were made to people who should not have them in the first place. No money down, loan fraud was rampant etc. He will probably throw the “baby out with the bathwater” on this one if he gets it.

I do agree that the Fed Chief is trying to help and maybe he can, but as government will tend to do they penalize the good guys and still fail to stop the bad guys. The fraudsters will overcome and probably flourish no matter what laws are in place. The big companies with money will get the law watered down in their favor with their check books and keep the ads going.

What we need, and still no one is trying to figure out, is how we qualify people who want to buy homes that don’t qualify under today’s rules. If you have followed my writing it really gets back to somehow bringing those folks back in the market to buy the homes that need to sell. No one seems to really spend any time on that one. What we need are more buyers who have access to fair loans to help start the turn around.

Some of what Mr. Bernanke wants does make common sense, but as we know Government and common sense just don’t seem to go together! Good luck Mr. Bernanke, you are going to need it.

More to come

Lonny

WELL I FEEL SAFER

I was watching the news on Channel 8 last night and saw a story about a local law enforcements effort to keep us safe/make money. I didn't catch exactly which city but my guess it was Fort Worth. Sounds like a Fort Worth project. They were perched on bridges along I20. Anyway a rather portly police officer had in his hand what looked like a regular radar gun. He was pointing this device at the cars below which were no doubt just filled with criminals. He was not clocking the speed the cars were traveling in hopes he could catch us speeding. He explained that his radar gun had a program in it that calculated the distance one car was from another. Yes you heard correctly they were catching people who were following the car in front of them too closely.

Somehow this gun would take the speed of both cars and tell the officer that one was to close to the other by the number of seconds it took to travel the same distance or something like that. When the gun caught the criminal then the police force would chase them down, explain why they were giving the ticket and race off to catch more law breakers. I am finally relieved that the police department is solving this problem as it is one that has been concerning me. I don't know how often I have been concerned that there was an epidemic of people following too closely on our highways. Or is it that I haven't noticed that because I have been looking out for those bikers who are going about 1000 miles per hour and putting their life and my life in danger. I wonder why they don't chase those guys down. Oh I remember they can't catch them so they come up with a new reason to catch us.

I am thinking well since this group of police officers are now doing this I must be more careful because I know the cities goal is to keep us safe and not just to get more of our money. They are worried about our safety aren't they? It is not about the money is it??? Anyway how is one to keep ones self protected from those who protect us? I think the law says, (at least according to this officer) that you must be at least two seconds behind the guy in front of you and that depends on the speed you are both going. I guess if the guy in front of you is slowing down and you don't slow down as fast, then you could be breaking the law. I am sure there are other ways to break this law that we haven't thought of.

I guess I am going to have to get me one of those guns so I can tell how far I am away, or maybe figure out how the calculation is done and get out my cell phone and do the calculations. Oops that is probably against the law as well. What's a person to do I ask. I know; I think I will just send the city some money as it appears they will get me for something before it is over. Who knows they might just catch a criminal while they are chasing us down for following too close. One thing is for sure I feel much safer than I did.

More to come

Lonny

THE REST OF THE STORY

I read an article over the weekend entitled Illinois Probing Top Home Lender. In the interest of good taste I will not name this lender. If you want to see the article be my guest.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri_countrywidedec14,0,2728675.story

During the feeding frenzy that all big Lenders including the one in the article just finished a lot of Pay Option ARM type products were made. I believe this is the type of loan mentioned in the article. A significant percentage of them were made by Mortgage Brokers and Mortgage Bankers and sold to the lender mentioned and many other lenders who were just like them.

The whole industry turned a blind eye to the quality of the loans and to the real ability of the borrowers to repay them. Pay Option ARMs are not bad loans if they are made to educated, qualified borrowers who understand how to manage them and are of the financial mind to not allow the loan to destroy them. It is my opinion the lender mentioned in the article made loans to borrowers, made by people who brokered loans to them, where the borrowers were not qualified as they should be, not educated and had no business getting this type of loan. Greed and Profit were the incentives no doubt.

Predatory Lenders who now have perfected mortgage loan fraud to an art sold plenty of loans to them. Did this lender know these loans just might be made to people who should not have them? My opinion is yes. Is a lender like the one in the article guilty just because they were doing what other big banks and other lenders were doing? I say yes but you go with what's going on so to speak. As I mentioned before all lenders were originating Pay Option Arm type products.

What was really interesting to me was that just below the article this lender had a Google add touting among other things a no closing cost loan. I have been around the business a long time and if you are going to refinance your home you will pay to do it. There are numerous ways to pay the cost but there are costs. There is not a free ride, trust me on that one. I have talked to many former employees of this company and the real story on this lender and other just like them may never be known. The magnitude of Predatory Lending and Loan Fraud is yet to be discovered.

More to come

Lonny

TOO FUNNY

Karren sent this to me and it is really a classically funny thing. I thought it was too hard to pass up for this weekends Blog.

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=ubAxWIfcE5I&mode=related&search

More to come

Lonny

MORE ON IMMIGRATION

This past week we spent a couple of days in some incredibly interesting meetings at our office. Two men were there designing a system that would help us take an initial inquiry from a customer and put it in a specific system that worked for our industry that could service their initial needs while we made them their loan, track and communicate everything during the initial process, and market that person for as long as we wanted after they closed. Even I can see how great that would be.

They talked about how we could join a community of other service providers who had credibility within that community and thereby get leads for loans from folks who weren’t just trying to beat us out of every nickel. What a concept, sign me up, how much is it, me getting credibility, what a concept.

The second day I asked, “Where you boys from”? One of them said, “Vancouver”. I said, “Canada”? One of them said, “Duh”. I said, “I been through there going up to that resort, I can’t remember the name of it”. One of them said, “Whistler”. I said, “That’s the one”. One of them said, “You must be from Hereford”. I said, “Well how did you know that”?

Unlike the guys who do my yard, these guys looked like me, (so to speak), they talked like me, and they wore the same kind of cloths as me. I was surprised they were not from Texas or at least the good ole USA. I assumed they were here legally but had no proof and could really have cared less; they had a service and ideas that I wanted. Could they have been illegal aliens? I suppose. Could they have been people who were employed by an enemy of the country to come in and look like us, sell us a service and then imbed a secret virus in our computers that would spread to all the computers in America and blow them up. Well maybe, and a little ridiculous . And no these guys are completely honest and legitimate, I am confident, I think.

I guess what became so real to me at that time was the fact we really don’t know who anyone is anymore and everyone that may be here illegally is not going to stand out like or look like the guys doing our yards. If our government is not going to or can’t close our boarders to those who look the part, what chance do we have they can stop the people who are really here to harm us. Pretty scary stuff if you ask me!

If our next President and Administration can’t or won’t control our boarders then it may be a matter of time, until we find out what really bad things can happen. We need to make sure with our vote that we get the boarder problem solved.

More to come

Lonny

RUDY AND MITT ON IMMIGRATION

In one of the last Presidential Debates, Rudy G. and Mitt R. got into a tiff over Mitt hiring illegal aliens to work in his yard. Rudy described it as a palatial mansion or something like that. I am not sure which debate was the last one or which ones I have missed lately. For some reason there seem to be plenty of debates that are not ready for prime time so to speak. The one I was watching was on CNN and was billed as a You Tube Debate, (or something like that). I may have been the only person watching that particular one.

That brings up an initial question for me: Why would any intelligent Republican candidate show up at CNN to participate in a debate where someone could get on You Tube (whatever that is) and pose a question to them. One guy actually was asking some idiotic question on something and had a rebel flag in the background. Our candidates were trying to respond to this guy in an intelligent way. Hopefully a lesson was learned, not to show up to a liberal TV network whose goal (probably) was to make the candidates look less than Presidential if not totally ridiculous.

Anyway back to the point of today’s message. What Rudy was doing was trying to make Mitt responsible for the continuing immigration problem by pointing out that it was his fault somehow that the guys working in his yard were illegal aliens and that he should have done something about it. Mitt was taken aback with the attack and really looked a little embarrassed that Rudy had got him. Mitt responded by saying; it really was not the American way or the responsibility of a home owner to go out into the yard and ask to see documentation that would prove a contractors workers were or were not legal. I know on the days I have been at my home and the men who do my yard have been there I have had no real desire to check them out so to speak. Unless I had discussed the issue with my yard contractor (who assures me his guys are legal and pay taxes) my assumption would have been those workers were probably not here legally. They looked like illegal aliens would look, and they were doing a job that would require a lower paid, harder working laborer which again seems to type cast them into what I think would point to an illegal worker.

I agree it is absolutely not my job to enforce the law of the land and it seems that the authorities don’t either. I have an interesting twist to all this for tomorrow.

More to come

Lonny

3/4 LIFE CRISIS

The question then becomes when do you have a ¾ life crisis???? It is when you are too old to have a mid life crisis of course. Think of it this way if I am 55 and am not going to live to 110 (trust me on that one) then how can I be having a mid life crisis? In fact if I have some shot at living to 73, I plan on making that # then I would be truly into a ¾ life crisis. The good news is that I am not sure I am in a ¾ life crisis but the signs certainly point to it.

What might be some signs one might be in a ¾ life crisis:

When you go to the Doctor you are the oldest one in the waiting room.

Everyone, I mean everyone calls you sir.

People start holding the door open for you and give you a look like, what a handsome older gentleman. Change the last part if you think that may not be what they are thinking.

You may have ED and don’t care.

You have to write down everything that ails you so won’t forget anything when you get to the doctor.

The only thing the doctor gets excited about is that your Triglycerides are the highest she has ever seen.

You take not one kind of Cholesterol medicine but two.

You have a private bin at CVS.

You actually have 3 doctor appointments during one week, two planned and one unplanned.

You know your customer care rep by name at your insurance company, and they are actually nice and helpful because they feel sorry for you.

When you are in the waiting room you choose to read the AARP magazine.

Your doctor starts everything they say with “Well at Your Age”.

You can’t get all your prescriptions in your pocket anymore.

You have to have a line item in your budget for insurance co pays.

Insurance benefits at your job are more important than the job itself, and one major illness can ruin you financially.

When you go to a job interview you take a form letter from your lawyer that reminds the company that age discrimination is illegal.

Your friends, (Paul W more than any) remind you that you should be retiring at your age.

The waiter at Denny’s insists you get the Senior Slam and does not ID you to make sure you are old enough. When you suggest they call it the Champion Menu (golfers will get that) they think you have really lost your mind.

Your kids call to check in on you to see how you are feeling. God love em we do have that going for us.

I am sure there is more, I just can’t think of them.

More to come, unfortunately

Lonny

MORE ON THE FREEZE

I found an article that was written in the National Post. I am pretty sure that is a Canadian Publication. It spoke of the Moral hazards in a Bush bailout. It was another article on the recent rate freeze put into place by the Bush Administration. I would not be surprised if you are just not totally absorbed in the sub-prime rate freeze news but I think this article does bring out some interesting things to think about.

It speaks of the lack of respect for contracts, the political side of the bailout, and it does bring up a good point that if you bail out those who don't deserve to be bailed out, is a lesson going to be learned?

I have not read any article as yet that gives any hope of the rate Freeze working. The good news is that the delinquencies are mostly in sub-prime rather than prime loans and it seems pretty clear the problem is based in the adjustable rate sub-prime loans. That tells me that when the mortgage lending industry gets back to basics that basics still work. From my chair at least it looks like we are back to basics. The free market has taken care of that.

Do morals or the lack of have anything to do with the problem or was it just a lot of greed and profiteering in the something for nothing society we seem to have today. Come to think of it the lack of morals may have more to do with it than we think.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=156965

More to come

Lonny

THE FREEZE IS ON

President Bush did announce the Rate Freeze the other day and I am not really sure if I get it. As you recall there are a group of sub-prime loans that have interest rates that are set to reset. The President is trying to somehow convince Mortgage Lenders and Investors to freeze the teaser rates on these loans for 5 years. There are a lot of qualifications before you are eligible and bottom line I just don’t think it is going to work. Too many contracts signed too many investors who won’t agree, too many people left out who really need the help. I will be surprised if the freeze makes much difference at all in the end.

If you have a loan you think might apply get with the lender you are making payments too and get started and good luck.

I ran across an article that seems to make some real sense to me. I don’t necessarily agree with all the points, especially when he attacks the real estate community, (someone needs to focus on the good news) but for the most part it does frame the problem quite well from a realistic problem/solution point of view.

Like it or not, worth a look if you have any interest in the RATE FREEZE.

http://scottsdale.injuryboard.com/business-disputes/mortgage-rate-freeze-a-flimflam-scheme-to-recharacterize-billions-of-fraudulent-mortgages-and-trick-investors.php?googleid=13702

More to come

Lonny

HELLO DADDY

Josh sent me this link this past week. When I originally heard that Ellen had put Jenna up to calling The President I thought it was a pretty dumb thing to do. When I saw the actual clip I agreed with Josh that it was priceless. The look on Jenna’s face and the anticipation in her voice is really special.

You can just tell by this that President Bush is just really a great Dad doing an impossible job during a hard time. When his presidency is over, Jenna and Barbara will still have a great Dad and hopefully we won’t have the Clintons for 4 years.

If you have seen this it is worth another look. If you haven't,

Enjoy:

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=192078

I hope you have a blessed Sunday, Go Cowboys!!!!

More to come

Lonny

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

Always trying to stay on both sides of the issue: Yesterday we spent on Aging, so this morning certainly HOW TO STAY YOUNG needed to be our Blog topic. For those of you who are interested today I am feeling much better. I know Paul will be relieved. Here we go:

George Carlin would suggest: Except for #11:

HOW TO STAY YOUNG:

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them."

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop. " And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

11. If less is smarter, choose less, if more is more then go for it.

Well there you have it, today I am working on Staying Young, if you choose to do the same, good luck.

More to come

Lonny

AGING

After spending yesterday afternoon with some old buddies of mine, they were customers as well, today I am feeling my age a bit. I thought this might be appropriate for this Friday, enjoy.

George Carlin's Views on Aging:

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids?

If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions."How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five!

That's the keyYou get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead."How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!

And then the greatest day of your life .. . You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away.

Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70!

After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92.

"Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

Staying young tomorrow

More to come

Lonny

VERY INTERESTING

My friend John, better known as El Monte Slim sent me this link the other day. I am not sure where the information and facts originated from. I am not sure they are correct or what I would do with such information, but one thing is for sure, it is Very Interesting.

Enjoy!

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/shifthappens

More to come

Lonny

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

Micah sent me this, definitely worth a look.

This may not be the opinion of this Blog….!!!

TRADITIONAL VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer! The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case.The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow.The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2008

Author Unknown

More to come

Lonny

FREEZE RATES? BRRRRR!!!!

There has been a lot of press over the last couple of days in regards to freezing interest rates on Sub Prime loans where the rates are scheduled to reset (increase) in the near future.

A little background may be in order:

A lot of people got Sub Prime loans in the last lending cycle. Sub Prime loans were very profitable to the lenders and others when they were made. Sub Prime loans are loans made to borrowers who had credit issues and could not qualify for regular Prime loans. If you read the Wall Street Journal 12-3-07 you can read an article about how people with good credit were given Sub Prime loans by lenders who were not exactly working in their customers best interest. The Wall Street Journal would suggest that was not a nice thing for those lenders to do. I certainly would not disagree.

For the most part these loans had teaser rates that are below market rates that are scheduled to reset at the end of two years at very high above market rates. In some cases the interest rates would more than double from the low teaser rates. Many buyers are not able to pay these rates or don’t want too pay them to the point they might let the home foreclose. The Bush administration is proposing some requirement for lenders to simply keep the rates at the low start or teaser rate. There are plenty of problems technically speaking with doing an across the board fix on this problem. The Bush administration actually put an FHA loan (FHA Secure Loan) into circulation so people with ARM loans could refinance and the reality of that fix is it is not working. In my opinion there are too many loans with too many variables to make it a workable program in practice. The type of new program President Bush is proposing to require the lender not to reset the rates will have the same problems if you ask me.

Do I agree with what The President is trying to do? There are a couple of ways to look at it I guess. On the one hand I can say hey, the borrowers should have known what they were getting into, let them crash and burn. On the other hand I can say that many buyers did not know what they were getting and mortgage lenders did not represent the buyers properly and therefore should be held to some higher standard, not do the reset and take the loss. I guess bottom line is this: If there is a workable plan to give some relief and keep homes from foreclosing then I think full speed ahead. I just don’t think the idea in practice can or will work. We will see.

More to come

Lonny

LIGHTS AND MORE LIGHTS

Yesterday was a beautiful 80 degree December day in North Texas. It was the day that most of the men in the neighborhood finally had to give in and put up the Christmas Lights. I am not sure if the unusually warm day was attributed to global warming, usual weather patterns or just plain dumb luck. I suppose Christmas Lights are partially to blame for global warming, needing more electricity to turn them on, lights give off heat, more power to generate, more coal, you get the drift.

The lights went up later this year it seemed, I usually use the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving to help Karren put up our lights. This year it rained those two days and Karren told me Thanksgiving was a week earlier this year so it worked out well for everyone that it rained. I don’t understand how Thanksgiving can be a week earlier. I am not sure when Thanksgiving is supposed to be. I use to think it was always on the 24th of November for some reason. I do know it is always on Thursday. I don’t know why all holidays don’t fall on Thursday so we could be assured of a 4 day weekend. Christmas on Wednesday is not good.

Our tradition calls for Karren to make the plan, handle the cords and the plug ins and I am in charge of outdoor labor. I climb the ladders and wrap the trees and I must say if you do something long enough you can get fairly efficient at it. I like getting done before the neighbors and then as they give you dirty looks for being early you can imagine how fun it will be to make fun of them when they are slaving with their chore.

I must admit, I like taking the lights down more than putting them up. You don’t care if they don’t work, and it is the end to the season and I like looking forward to the New Year more. I tried to take Lainey (my new granddaughter) around this year to give her a personal tour of the lights and she cried. Lainey is very particular what she does at 3 months. She is either happy or mad; there is very little middle ground for her. Growing and tying to hold her head up seems to be what she spends her time doing. She is not really into Granddad yet but that will soon change. I will spoil her as soon as she is ready.

I wonder sometimes if putting up the lights really matters. Our lights look the same every year and I doubt that anyone would worry too much if we didn’t. Traditions at our house mean a lot more to me as the years go by. I hope you got your lights up (if you put them up) and that you have a great Christmas season.

More to come

Lonny

SONS

My friend Ted sent me this:

Interesting things you find out when you have sons, like ...

1. A king size water bed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they ignite.
3. A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on . When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9. A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.
10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4- year old Boy.
11. Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. "PB & J" sandwiches will not eject from a Video Recorder.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that smell is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department in Austin , TX has a 5-minute response time.
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.
23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24. 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.
25. 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

(Hey, cool! It does make lots of smoke!)

I have a son, there is more than this!

More to come

Lonny

FHA Loans, What is Needed

As promised the plan to bring buyers back into the market.

If you have been following the past few days Blog the real estate and mortgage industry needs a tool to solve a problem that exists today. The problem is that in my estimation about 40% of would be buyers have no access to mortgage loans because of credit and cash down. A basic belief needs to be these buyers deserve the chance to own a home and with proper training and motivation, they will pay on time.

Simply stated, a person who is otherwise qualified in regards to job stability and income but who has credit issues and little or no money to put down and who does not qualify for any legitimate loan program available could enter a FHA program and earn the ability to get an FHA loan. Let’s call it “The Revamped FHA Loan”. Or not, call it something.

The parameters of the program are:

1. 100% loans are available.
2. The buyer would have to pay an elevated mortgage insurance premium based on the fact the lender and FHA is taking more risk. 2 tiers of insurance cost exist, one with and one without a down payment.
3. The elevated cost is fair and the money is refunded in the form of a mortgage principle reduction when the first 24 months payments are made on time.
4. At the end of 24 months the insurance premiums charged are the normal FHA premiums.
5. The buyer must attend 6 counseling sessions provided by a HUD approved counselor over a 6 month period where the buyer learns budgeting, credit basics, credit management, and comes out better prepared to succeed.
6. During the 6 months the buyer may not acquire any more debt or make any late payments on existing debt.

The plan is pretty simple. The buyers come out educated and protected from the predatory lenders and toxic loans with a solid FHA loan in hand.

The politicians will say you should not charge more to those who are already struggling. I say buyers who want the chance to own will jump at this. Let the people decide ignore the politicians.

Some will say these people don’t deserve the chance. I say it is time to give them the chance it is a win win for the economy and society.

Some will fear no matter what this group of people will fail, HUD approved counselors say they will not fail and even as bad as the loans were in the last lending cycle a surprisingly large percentage of people are making their payments on time.

The benefits are obvious; we have more people to buy the homes on the market. More people experience pride of ownership and accomplishment. The economy recovers faster, fewer foreclosures, and the list does not stop there.

“The Revamped FHA Loan”…………What do you think, I know it will work.

More to come

Lonny

BUYERS BUYERS BUYERS

As the news worsens on a daily basis in regards to the mortgage lending meltdown what we in the Real Estate and Mortgage Industries need are more buyers to buy the homes that are for sale. We know you are out there. In the midst of the problems there is a silver lining. The market will recover, the losses will be absorbed, and hopefully the industry will learn a hard lesson and do things for the correct reason instead of greed. Bargains on homes abound out there; it is a buyers market for sure. Mortgage loans are available to qualified buyers at very low attractive rates. 100% loans are still available at good rates and you can get an FHA loan easily in the 5% interest rate range. With some money down and good credit scores Stated Income loans still exist at very low rates. So if you are thinking about buying, stop thinking and start buying. Oh yes send me your loan.

That being said, the mortgage industry needs a tool to bring buyers into the markets who don’t qualify under traditional underwriting guidelines. If you read my Blog yesterday you will know that I think this is about 40% of the people who would be buyers. To restate a large % of people who would be great borrowers are shut out completely of any mortgage loan at all. This void is created because of poor credit, a credit system that is clearly set up to keep people from buying, and little or no money to put down.

FHA loans could be used to bring these buyers back into the market. There is current reform in congress in regards to FHA loans. It will be helpful but in no way will it serve those who are now left out. If the reform passes (my money says it won’t) it will help a few. It allows 100% loans to first time home buyers, it raises the loan amounts and gives lenders some ability to risk base price. That is where you charge more to mitigate more risk on different types of loan products.

The pure simple fact of the matter is that the way the industry has to qualify the 40% has to change. It can’t be based on credit or credit scores. Traditional Automated Underwriting Systems can’t be used and HUD has to think outside of the box and eliminate politics and special interests and do something to help those who are left out. That is the reason HUD and the FHA exists as I recall. There is a basic approach that will work. Tomorrow, the plan will be revealed. Pulitzer Prize people get your reading glasses out! Can you hardly wait?

More to come

Lonny

GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS

In the last insane mortgage lending cycle the BAD NEWS was that a lot of buyers got mortgages they should not have gotten. The GOOD NEWS was that a lot of buyers who should not have gotten them did. Just doesn’t seem logical for some reason.

The reason all these folks got the loans is sub prime loans were readily available to those with bad credit, lax underwriting standards, rampant mortgage fraud fueled by an industry that looked the other way, and products that allowed people to sign up for more than they could hope to pay for. The result of the BAD NEWS is that there are record foreclosures and more to come for some time to come. The result of the GOOD NEWS is that a lot of people who had no chance before of home ownership are now living the American Dream and will make their payments.

The unfortunate reality of all that has gone on is that an entire group of buyers are shut out of any type of mortgage loan once again. The lax loan programs are not coming back, sub prime loans are history and mortgage fraud is going to be harder to get away with and the industry has finally started looking for it instead of looking the other way.

A rather large percentage of today’s population has less or no money and poor credit which will eliminate in my estimation some 40% of people who would like to buy a home. These people would for the most part be good borrowers who make their payments on time. The real estate industry is seeing record inventories of homes unsold and pending sales down more than 20% from just one year ago. This in turn fuels more foreclosures and the cycle gets deeper and deeper.

Congress in now considering reforming the good ole FHA loan but the reform will not bring back the majority of this group of buyers. Help yes, substantially, no, and it is bound up in the political process and likely to fail altogether. Politicians are rushing to pass laws that will hurt the good lenders and do little if nothing to stop the bad ones. The result, harder credit and more buyers unable to access mortgage loans.

There is a solution to the problem. Problem is no one wants to listen. Imagine that. I was ranting and raving to my friend Larry the other day and I told him if the politicians would simply use their heads (and do what I suggest) they could really help the people they are supposed to represent. He reminded me that was not what politicians like to do.

More to come

Lonny

WATCH OUT

For some time I have been watching what has happened with the illegal immigration problem. God knows there is plenty of press about it and opinions are everywhere. I suppose I am like the next person when I observe what is going on. When the folks show up to cut my yard I am pretty sure they are not legal people. (My yard guy swears they are) As long as my yard looks good it is easy to look the other way. I do believe there are many jobs not wanted by the rank and file of us and that we do need a legitimate, monitored guest worker program. I do have sympathy for those who try to enter the country legally to work to find a totally corrupt system that is practically impossible to utilize. Trust me I know, I have experienced it first hand.

When I was a young man working in West Texas I worked around many illegal aliens. For the most part they kept to themselves, were very respectful of our culture and our laws and those who enforced them. They made sure they were hidden from the authorities and didn't stand out any more than they did. My how things have changed.

As I drive down S. Cooper street on my way to work I see every day 10s of illegals standing waiting for someone to pick them up for work. They have no fear of being picked up by the authorities, they could care less if a policeman drives by, they know that the border patrol is not going to come by. This lack of fear is underpinned by all the special interests who protect them and line the pockets of the lawyers and politicians. It is business as usual for those who could care less about our society and the problems that rampant disregard for the law brings. To me this is something that is as defining for our future as much as anything. If this law is ignored and no one cares why should anyone obey any law. What a great message we are sending. A solution must be found.

It all became very real to me yesterday when I was almost ran off the road by two men who I would bet were illegals. They did it on purpose and were laughing during the entire ordeal. They were openly drinking and no doubt drunk by the way the driver was acting and driving. I thought to myself has it gotten so bad that they don't have any fear of the law? Surely not. I have noticed quite an attitude change lately in those who appear to be illegals. They are rude, very disrespectful and the numbers are growing. These people are rewarded every day for coming into our country and breaking the law.

It is time something is done. Let your elected officials know that now is the time to do something and if they don't you will do everything in your power to see that they are voted out of office. Now is the time........and Please Hurry.

More to come

Lonny

BLOGGER VACATION

You may have noticed (or not) that I have been on Blogger Holiday for the past few days. It is concerning to me that I have been a Blogger for less than one full month and for some reason I hit a wall. Yes it is true my brain checked out on me and I had a problem coming up with anything that I thought was worth blogging about. There must be a real correlation between coming up with witty thought provoking comments and the amount of Pecan Pie and Miller Lite that is roaming in ones blood stream at any one given time. I did continue to hope that when most of the toxins were free from my body that I would have something that might be worth talking about.

Here goes:

Sunday morning I was relegated too, watching a little Sunday morning TV. I must admit I am one of those people who have almost entirely been convinced by Fox News that I can’t trust anything said on any of the other networks. Honestly I am almost there but from time to time I stray a bit.

The banter on the show I chose was the same as most days on most of the shows. First on the list was the war in Iraq, followed by the rest of the problems in the Middle East, all being commented on by a number of people who all have opinions some more convincing than others. Honestly the whole thing scares me quite a bit. I am not so scarred of the reality that I might get blown up anytime soon but in something that is entirely scarier.

When I look at the politics of the day in regards to the race for the President, I want to run for cover, move to Cancun, or wall myself up in a cave with enough food to last me till the end. Do any of us think there is anyone out there who can truly lead a country divided by Partisan Politics and special interests? I look at things like illegal immigration, the broken health care system, and the loss of ethics and family values and wonder how much trouble we are truly in. My guess is our enemies have a better idea than we would hope to imagine.

My opinion is we had all better get active in the political process and be heard by those who represent us or claim too. If there is still something politicians are scared of is being voted out of office. I personally am not active enough in the process and should be. On the other hand I am more convinced than ever that the power still lies within the people who elect these so called leaders to power. Just look what happened when the people spoke up to defeat the last immigration bill. My challenge to you today is to be heard, loud and often. Whatever you choose to do…………. Please hurry.

More to come

Lonny

THANKSGIVING 2007

Karren rolled out early this morning to make the dressing. I went along to stir and cut and chop and make coffee. I am not real handy but sometimes I can even surprise myself. As I was stirring I was thinking about the day and my thoughts seemed to go back to the times I remembered spending when I grew up and the many times family and friends gathered at Thanksgiving. I thought really for me Thanksgiving is about the good times and the memories of the past and the anticipation of those to come.

These days it is easy to think of the multitude of problems we seem to have but when I think of generations past the problems of the day don't seem so bad. It is for some reason much easier to focus on the bad and not the good. There is a passage in the bible that says something like don't worry about the problems of the day, there will be plenty to worry about tomorrow. Good advice for me especially.

On this day I will do my best to give thanks for all those who protect us and for all those who care for us and for all those who love us past and present. Just think a minute, I bet your list is as long as mine.

God bless you and yours and have a great Thanksgiving.

More to come

Lonny

POLITICIANS TO THE RESCUE...

As is the norm I suspect after the cows are out of the barn is when someone starts worrying about closing the back door. So it is with the politicians who now are concerned about predatory lenders and those that they destroy. Lets keep in mind that predatory lending has been around for at least the last decade. The house passed a bill, house bill 3915, which is called the anti predatory lending bill, (I think). There are some good things about it but the in my opinion overall a big waste of time and effort. I doubt the crooks and thieves are sitting around stressing out over a law that has little or no hope of ever being enforced if it does pass.

In my opinion this bill has very little hope of becoming law. The reason you ask? There is no way to adequately define predatory lending and once all the well intentioned (whatever) politicians try to define it will certainly die a slow and agonizing death. Other politicians are now coming to the rescue with their own versions that try to fix what is wrong with the original version. Another problem is that it is hard to enforce the laws that are on the books that one can define like selling drugs, stealing cars, murder, etc. If a law is passed that has provisions that are open to interpretation then what is the likelihood anyone can or will enforce it. HB 3915 says for instance that if a lender refinances a home then that loan must have a “net tangible benefit” to the consumer. Now if you took all the possible combinations of why a consumer wants to refi their home and you let all the lawyers argue whether they got a net tangible benefit there would be no end. For instance if you wanted to refi your loan to lower your payment but you extended the term on the loan which over the long term made you pay more then would that be a net tangible benefit. I wonder what the odds are that the people who enforce such laws are going to sit around, look at every loan that is made and try to enforce a ridiculous law that no one can define.

The problem is that the lending process is so confusing that the predatory lenders will survive whatever law might be passed and the only group that will win in the end of this mess will be the lawyers who will always get paid.

The politicians need to be fighting the battles that do count and trying to enforce the laws that are on the books as a starter. But in thinking about it if they were to do that then they would not be politicians would they.

If you are getting a loan you better trust the person you are dealing with. Predatory Lenders are out to get you and they know what they are doing. Buyer beware.

If you are interested there is a great article that describes the reality of the Predatory Lender, click on this one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/opinion/20herbert.html?hp


More to come

Lonny

WHAT A DEAL

After dinner last night, Karren brought my attention to a solicitation we received in the mail. It was from our energy provider TXU Energy. It said many of their valued customers had asked if TXU offered a plan whereby customers could take advantage of energy prices when the cost of natural gas fell. For some reason they didn’t attach the list of all of us who had asked that. I tried to remember if I had but I don’t think it was me. They went further and said that customers who were on this plan were currently paying 12.0cents/kWh in November. They failed to say what the rest of us were paying.

Next they spoke of having the best of both worlds by saying if natural gas prices happen to rise (what are the chances) more than we would be comfortable with that we could switch to any of the other plans for free. For some reason they didn’t bother describing the other plans. One of the plans allowed you to lock into a lower plan and you were protected for a specific period of time. HMMMM wonder what that one is???

The greatest news of all it was all free, simply detach the handy form and sign up. There was some small print on the front of form that was not understandable to me. There was also some small print on the back of the form. Here is part of the part on the back. “Current pricing of 12.0 cents per kWh is based on the monthly natural gas price of $7.27/MMBtu in effect on November 1, 2007. Additional average annual prices shown are examples assuming natural gas prices of $9/MMBtu (14.4 cents per kWh), $7/MMBtu (12.4 cents per kWh), and $5/MMBtu (10.5 cents per kWh), respectively”. Man that sure cleared up my confusion!!

OH yes, Eligibility requirements, terms and conditions apply.

Is this the same energy company that while making record profits solicited the Texas Utility Commission for a 25% price increase on two occasions and, as I recall, got it?

I would suggest everyone who thinks TXU is working in the best interest of their customers and truly wants us to save money run, yes run, and sign up for this program. For the rest of us remember there is a sucker born every minute. As for me, I think I will take my chances and just let them “do me” per month as they have been.

If you visited the Blog today e-mail me at lcspeaks@yahoo.com and let me know.

More to come

Lonny

What A Mess

Unless you have just not been looking or listening you no doubt realize what a mess the Real Estate and Mortgage Businesses are in today. There are some good reasons we are in the mess we are in. At least a partial list is as follows:

1. Predatory Lenders and those Lenders who create and use loan fraud as a tool have created many loans to borrowers who now can’t pay them back and who can’t sell their homes for what they owe against them.

2. The mortgage lending industry created products that made loans available to people who should not have gotten the loans at all, and now for the most part those loan products are gone for everyone, even those who should have gotten them.

3. Pending sales are down because a huge number of people can’t qualify to buy the homes that are on the market, and the market is flooded with foreclosures that need to be purchased by the people who now have no access to mortgage funds.

4. Politicians are now trying to fix something that up until now they had no interest in and that they don’t understand. The result will not help but only create laws that no one has time to enforce and penalize the honest people in the business.

5. HUD, in using the FHA loan, is trying to reform an agency that is outdated and stuck in the past. HUD and the politicians are not going to get together for any fix that helps the people who want to buy homes buy homes.

Because there is so much going on in the mortgage lending and real estate industry that is relevant to the health and well being of the economy many of the daily Blogs you will be seeing over the next few days and weeks will be breaking it down as I see it. These are and will be my opinions and if nothing else hopefully will be interesting to you.

You know what they say about opinions?

Please post your comments, your feedback is appreciated.

More to come

Lonny

HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO IT

I wish the very best to you and yours on this Sunday morning. I think the group Alabama sang a song many years back that had a line in it that went, “Oh oh oh, I believe there are angels among us, sent down to us from heaven above”. I love that song!

I want to tell you about a young man who chose to help a family in need. It was Oct. 31, 2007 when he was watching TV and he recognized the name of a family who had lost their home to fire. Rather than simply listening and then going back to whatever he was doing he choose to send out an e-mail to his friends and family to get donations of furniture, food, clothing and whatever else might be available to help out. I got the e-mail and didn’t think a lot about it at the time. After all tragedy happens every day and we can do little about it.

If that wasn’t enough he knew of a remarkably generous family who he talked too who donated a home for the displaced family to live in for a few months till they could relocate. Yes you heard correctly, this young man arranged for a free house for the family.

What is even more remarkable to me is that this young man is in an industry that is having hard times and he does not have a lot of extra money to be spending but he spent a lot of time over the next few days driving around to pick up donations and taking them to the family. He could have simply done nothing and saved his money.

As he was helping he was seeing few pats on the back and asking for none. He worked for the purpose of helping this family. Diligently and without purpose except to do something for someone he barely knew because they needed the help.

No matter how we give thanks on this Sunday we should give thanks that there are people like him who care about us and will rise to an occasion to help. I should be more like my friend but one thing for sure is that I am comforted knowing that he will be there for me if I need him.

Thanks Josh!

More to come

Lonny

F I S H and BLOGS

Today Robyn answers the all important question to why FISH is on FISH trucks, thanks Robyn. The reason you did this is you couldn't help it, welcome to the club. You too have the right to remain silent, just not the ability.

Also Lee in El Paso asked what a Blog was; she thought it was like a personal diary. Lee was correct the genesis of blogs (it appears) came as a result of online personal diaries.

FISH and more than you ever wanted to know about Blogs. Enjoy

Robyn said...
I can't believe I'm actually responding to this......even more so, I'm embarrassed that I've spent so much time researching this FISH subject, but here goes!According to a trucker on the web who has spent many years hauling perishable goods in refrigerated boxes,trucks hauling fish are required to be especially identified because of the danger of cross contamination if the containers are used for other products, as well as odor control and other safety/hygienic issues. She said the FDA regulates this, as they do other food labeling/identification issues, and truckers hauling fish are subject to inspection by the FDA as well as the normal DOT authorities, and having the boxes labeled "FISH" facilitates this.I also found that the Texas Parks and Wildlife can fine a fish vehicle that is not properly marked.There you go Mr. Coffey. Do what you will with this useless information!Robyn

The Word Blog
The running updates of online diarists combined with links inspired the term 'web log' which was eventually contracted to form the word Blog.
Online Diaries
In online diaries, people write their day-to-day experiences, social commentary, complaints, poems, prose, illicit thoughts and any content that might be found in a traditional paper diary or journal. They often allow readers to contribute through comments or community posting

Blog
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) and are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts.
As of September 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 106 million blogs.[1]
Go to this link to find out more than you ever wanted to know about Blogs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog#_note-34

More to come

Lonny

B 22

First a couple of Blog enhancements. For those of you who have tried to leave a comment only to find that you had to register by getting a new g mail account that has been fixed. Now no restrictions, sorry, please comment; I value your participation. Also now you can e-mail the days Blog to a friend if you like.

Well as luck or destiny would have it I had the pleasure of flying back to Dallas last night on Southwest. I don’t know why I am struggling so with the new boarding procedures but I just had to follow up. I know what you are thinking: Lonny needs to get a life; he needs to tell someone who cares, good grief can he not find a better topic? The good news is I think I know why all the fuss on my end.

First the facts:

I was shocked out of a restful slumber at 5 AM and realized I had not got my boarding pass. I threw on my cloths, rushed down stairs and got my pass, it was B 22. I must have been having a nightmare about C 31-60.

At the airport and a veteran at the new procedures, I watched as the A 1-30 elite smugly board the airplane laughing silently under their breath at the rest of us, then the A 31-60 who confidently boarded knowing the dreaded middle seat would not be their fate on this day. The call came for the B 1-30 to line up. I stepped in my spot. I had to ask, “What do you think of the new boarding procedures”? The person next to me said I love it; in fact I refused to fly Southwest until they did this. Oh my God, was she kidding? I was dying to ask others and start a fight there in the B 21-26 box but believe it or not I said, “I was just curious, thanks”.

I sat (in an isle seat) next to a young lady who was a lawyer, we talked a bit and she said “I am not sure I like the new boarding procedures, I don’t know why they just don’t assign seats”. I wanted to hug her, but once again I was restrained and said I could not agree more. She graduated from SMU, law degree from Tech, quite a talented young lady.

My deal is this, I miss the world where I had more control instead of less, maybe the deal at Southwest is better but I think I prefer when I am a B to get their earlier, get in front and at least have a bit of say so. I think I will fly next with an assigned seat and get on when I want. I really don’t want the peanuts anyway.

More to come,

Lonny

If It Aint Broke (Too Bad) Don't Fix It

I had the pleasure of flying Southwest yesterday. I am a little miffed about their new boarding policy I must admit. When Southwest started (yes I remember) it couldn’t have been much easier as I recall but now things have changed.

I don’t remember what year Southwest started but it was in the early 70s I think. The first time I flew on Southwest I was on one of the first Southwest flights from Amarillo to Dallas. I remember walking up to the gate, paying my money, the person that sold me the ticket put my money in a cash register and printed a receipt and that was my boarding pass.

Then we all remember the colored boarding cards. If you got to the airport early you got the best boarding assignments. When the internet was well established then the in crowd went on line early and the higher tech you were the quicker you boarded. There were 3 lines, everyone crowded in and fought for the best seats. The airline was known as the cattle car or something like that. It used to be cheaper before the airlines started price fixing. (I can’t believe I said that)

Now someone at Southwest decided to fix something that was not broken (too bad). Now you still go online if you don't want to board last, but you get a group and a number. When I got to the airport (my boarding # was A33) yesterday there were electronic boards, high tech poles sticking up everywhere and the idea is that you don’t have to push your way in line, you can sit in your chair until your little sub group is called. Stay with me here, I was supposed to line up in the second A group where the 33 number sub section was. I was now a little clearer on why the electronic sign said A 1-30 for one line and A 31-60 in the other. Now I got why the poles had numbers on them. Like my place was between the first two poles in the line that said A 31-60. Now I get it but I don’t really get it, what is the point? Everyone still crowded in the different lines, I couldn’t get to my spot unless I cut through the line, (I’m not going to try that) the gate attendant didn’t care what your sub group number was and I still felt like I used too when I didn’t have to figure out so much.

I understand now Southwest is going to let you board even earlier if you pay more. Wow a no class first class. My guess seat assignments will be a Southwest revelation within 12 months. For me I think I will try to drive or stay home. But…..I still got my free nuts!!! Stale but free!!!

More to come

Lonny

ETHICS ETHICS ETHICS

I attended a Texas Mortgage Bankers conference yesterday and to say the least the attendees were not jumping for joy at the recent events in our industry and the prospects for the foreseeable future. There was a lot of talk about where we had been and the mistakes that were made. Plenty of banter about returning to basics in the way we approach our business and who we make loans too. One speaker actually told the audience that if we required a borrower to make a down payment we would have a loan that would perform better. Now there is a shocker I wish I had thought of that. He was lucky no one was listening.

My goal is to make this Blog a light hearted place but I have warned you that I will be going off on the mortgage business and those who have tried and will continue to try to ruin it. The gentleman I work for (Bob) warned me not to get so opinionated that I would come off wrong. Bob has had to listen to me plenty and what I like about Bob is that he listens and he is an ethical, honest person. I do heed Bob’s advice as I have been known from time to time to let my mouth overload my brain. Ron White a comedian had a line in one of his bits that I should remember. I think he said, “I realize I have the right to remain silent, I just don’t have the ability”.

If you look at what happened to our business and what will continue to happen it just has everything to do with a loss of ethics and ethical treatment for the customers the mortgage lenders represent. The Predatory Lenders and those who boldly and brazenly create and perfect loan fraud (I call them the Crooks and Thieves) are imbedded in our industry are unfortunately here to stay. They have one thing in mind and that is to fleece as much money out of you as they can and they don’t mind destroying you in the process. They are out there and they are everywhere and they are all disguised as honest folks working in your best interest. There is a story about how someone asked Clyde Barrow (remember Bonnie and Clyde) why he robbed banks? His answer was because that was where the money was. The reason the MORTGAGE crooks and thieves are so successful in robbing so many for so much is because that is where the money is and you know what it is a lot easier than robbing banks or stealing cars.

I ran into my friend Sylvia at the meeting this day past and she said I wish the ethical people could get back to doing loans and the others would go away. Amen Sylvia, me too.


More to come,

Lonny

F I S H

Well I been a Blogger for only a few days and I have already been asked to blog on a specific topic. I tell you the sweet smell of success is ever present in the air. Hardly started and the demand for my opinions and thoughts is almost overwhelming. OK a bit overstated but take it wherever you can get it as far as I am concerned.

A young lady (Eden) I have the pleasure of working with would like our opinion on the trucks that carry Fish. I must admit I have wondered about the subject before on my own. Actually her request was not about the trucks themselves but on why they have a sign on them that say F I S H. It makes sense that trucks that carry hazardous material would say hazardous material as it is hazardous material and we should be aware of it. It would be helpful if those trucks that carry, say illegal aliens, would say illegal aliens. It would make it a lot easier for The Border Patrol to find them if they start looking more often. In the future we might insist that trucks that carry terrorists coming to blow us up would be labeled T E R R O R I S T S so we might run for our lives.

But why F I S H???? I have imagined that it might spoil faster and therefore the folks who unload it would certainly want to do it faster than say a truck that had, paper towels, laundry soap, brooms, mops etc, the list must be endless. But Eden (she is very smart) asks, and is on the mark by the way, why trucks would not need to be labeled, Chicken, Beef, Milk, etc. Do those foods not spoil and need to be dealt with? If I were unloading trucks I would hate to think I was unloading a truck that I thought was full of bottled water only to find a truck load of smelly gross spoiled Chickens!!!

My goodness Eden you might have just asked the question that can’t be answered. If anyone truly knows, please give us the answer or any helpful comments. Oh Yes I forgot to mention if you want to post a comment just click on comments at the bottom of this message, it is easy and who knows you might just win the prize.

More to come,

Lonny

State Government at its finest

As will happen from time to time we all have the opportunity to re register our cars. I am sure we would all agree it is a great way for the good ole state of Texas to get some more of our money. Must feed the monster, can't escape death and taxes, the "Show Must Go On", all the normal sayings come to mind. What I don't understand (and need your help) is the stupid form the sticker comes on.

In my day I have seen where you were actually sent a new set of license plates every year. Have you ever gone in an old guys garage and seen license plates hanging around? Now you know why. I for one liked getting them, once a year we got to take the old plates off and put the new ones on, one year the plates were white and one year they were black. That made it easier for the police to check you out etc. It was easy to do, didn't take much time, got to get out the ole tool set, the whole thing made me feel more manly some how. Texas inmates (I was told) made the plates, it gave them something to do now that they could not rob and kill us. Ah for the good ole days.

As I recall the government stopped sending us plates every year and we went to having a little sticker we would stick to our existing plate every year. Made sense, saved money, saved time, not sure what the inmates were going to do but who really cares what they are doing anyway.

Now as luck would have it the sticker is better, it has a blue backing, actually comes off in one nice piece, it comes in Spanish and English so that the illegals can understand it if they decide to register their cars. On the blue part it says "Check the date, love your state", that is only in English, guess the illegals don't have to do that. There is a web site, www.texasinyourcorner.com Whatever, I am afraid to go to that site! Here is what I don't get. There is still a sticker for your plate. It says VOID DO NOT USE/NO USE. Why is it on there if we don't use it? Can you tell me? I am calling the governor (Perry is it), and I will let you know what he says. My guess he doesn't know either?????

More to come

Lonny

Day 2 as a Blogger

This morning I am on my home computer, it is Saturday, 7:00 AM. Since the time changed, earlier to bed, earlier to rise. Not my plan just my reality. I have spent the last hour trying to turn my cookies on so I could get into the site to do my post. Bad news is I still don't know what a cookie has to do with anything in the computer lingo and why didn't whoever the smart people are call it something else. Couldn't it have been a web site enabler device or a if you don't have this on something won't work button. Whoever made whatever a cookie is called it a cookie is on my list because I think the youngster did it just to confuse me. The good news......I got the damn thing turned on!!!! Mark one up for the old guy. When I told Carole (my sister) I was doing a blog she asked why. I told her so people would know what I was thinking. She said finally maybe I will know what you are thinking. Who knows maybe she will, regardless my sister will continue to love me, (it is her job) and hopefully she knows I know.

My goal is to make this blog fun. I will be going off on the mortgage business and those who have done their best to ruin it but hopefully my thoughts will be more than that. I am mad at the government, I am mad at the oil companies, and the utilities and we will all get to go off on them. I will have some thoughts and some interesting facts and figures. Today my heart reminds me to count my blessings and thank the good lord for things like Karren who loves me in spite of me, for my kids who sitll want to come around, for my new granddaughter Lainey who is indeed a miracle of God, and for my new grandbaby who God willing I will meet in June. For those of us who are loved and blessed and still on this side of the dirt we should give thanks and praise on this Saturday in Nov. 07.

If you like the blog tell your friends, it is everyones forum. More to come.

Lonny

Me a Blogger

Well a couple of days ago I didn't know what a Blogger was and now as the old saying goes, I are one. As I read the news of the day I am amazed at how the consumer is being victimized by almost all businesses. I have been in the Mortgage Banking business since 1974 and have watched my industry go from a well respected business that worked in the best interest of the consumer to an industry where at the very least a significant percentage of the industry has no other business model than to skin the consumer out of as much money as possible. The problems associated with Predatory Lending and Mortgage Fraud are hardly a thing of the past and the average consumer doesn't have a chance in the hands of the Predatory Lender. Tell me your stories or what your opinion is. I hope my thoughts will be interesting to you. More to come. Lonny Coffey