Tuesday, March 06, 2007
A Small Window (01-28-07)
My cell has a 4” window, which is my only view outside my memory and imagination of the outside world. This view is a constant source of light in the darkness. Currently there are about a half dozen variety of weeds one of which has a bright orange flower much like a daisy. I view this through a web with a 1/4” fat bellied spider parked patiently and majestically in the center of the window. My life has been put on hold and is slowed down to a point where these things are noticed. How about yours? I can’t look at that flower without an instant owe of my creator. It blows in a wind I cannot feel but see the effects of. The spider also vacillates in a rippling web. This is a very small package of intellect and instinct that brilliance has designed. One can’t help but think that a God of this infinite detail truly is mindful of me and knows every hair on my head. I think distraction is one of the best weapons of rebellion. We get lost in the labyrinth of the daily grind and are unconscious of the gift of each breath or heartbeat sustaining us. My window is a light unto this darkness within me. What beautiful leafs, blades and colors, soil, and the unseen conversion of nitrogen into oxygen. The glass and cement diverse expressions of the same silicate. I’ve learned to gain great respect for the master behind every masterpiece I encounter. Each work of art bringing Him glory. As swiftly as the wind blows through these plants my fears are blown away. I know of your suffering and share in them but is there not a window of hope in your life? Is there not an answer to your fears all around you? If God is mindful of a spider or flower will He ignore your prayers for deliverance? Do you study to show yourself approved. Put your hand to the plow to profit from your labors, but don’t forget to look into that small window of your soul that reflects all the handiwork of the master.
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One reason to be very fearful of what's ahead for the economy is not just the move of many countries away from the US dollar, but also the 'shock and owe' that's coming to so many people in adjustable rate mortgages this year. A couple of shocking facts to consider: 70 percent of all real estate loans have originated since 2000 and 75% of the sub-prime loans have originated since 2004.
Then we have lawsuits arising from the mortgage lending business. A $74 million settle for First BanCorp makes headlines. Coldwell Banker Burnett has been sued in Minnesota. Lots of work for lawyers as this all works out. To generalize, it appears that on the investor side, the focus will be accuracy of financial reports, while on the consumer side, ethical practices seems the issue.
Then there's the rate change problem: One press release out today says:
"With $1.5 trillion in Adjustable Rate Mortgages expected to reset rates in 2007, homeowners will want to review their current ARMs, determine their adjusted payment and assess their mortgage options, reports GuideToLenders.com. The popular fixed payment loan or option ARM with payments based on rates as low as 1 percent will present special problems as homeowners face increasing payments, rates and loan balances due to the negative amortization feature of these loans."
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The financial indices which drive many ARM rates are predicted to rise in 2007, and the Financial Forecast Center predicts an increase in the one-year Treasury Securities yield of 0.35 percent to 5.3 percent by April 2007. In her article, {GuideToLenders.com columnist Gina Pogol ] states that most borrowers with loans resetting in 2007 will be making higher payments by the end of the year. How much higher depends on the financial index to which the loan is tied and the margin added to that index by the lender. For example, a hypothetical borrower with a one-year ARM carrying a 2 point margin could expect to pay 7.3 percent if its index rises as predicted to 5.3 percent. Those with negative amortization ARMs may face a triple threat of increasing rates, payments and loan balances as the teaser rates expire and the fully-indexed rates kick in.
Hmmm...not a pretty picture, eh? While the markets, and the metals and oil stocks bounce back a git today, tuck that number away in the back of your mind: Loans equal to 1-10th of the entire US GDP are going to be resetting this year at higher rates.
If you think the collapse of the housing bubble is complete, think again. The New Standard headlines "'Subprime' loans leading to mass foreclosures in Massachusetts" and although foreclosures were down a touch in February, they are still running 65% ahead of year earlier levels. And that's before the April 1 resets start going off. My best guess is that we're not out of the foreclosure problems yet - not by a long shot - and that the housing collapse will happen like a staggering drunk - in fits and starts, but ultimately collapsing in a heap.
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Lawsuit focuses on affiliated companies
Brokers steer buyers to their firms for fees
Kenneth Harney
Sunday, March 4, 2007
03-04) 04:00 PST Washington -- A class-action lawsuit is focusing fresh attention on a long-festering issue in real estate: the alleged steering of home buyers to affiliated title, settlement and mortgage companies by large realty brokers, sometimes costing consumers hundreds of dollars compared with fees and services offered by nonaffiliated competitors.
Two buyers in Minnesota filed suit Feb. 21 against Coldwell Banker Burnet Realty Inc., one of the largest realty firms in the state, charging that it breached its fiduciary duties under state law when it steered the buyers to its own title and settlement affiliate, Burnet Title, despite knowing that the affiliate's fees are significantly higher than those of nonaffiliated firms.
A spokeswoman for Coldwell Banker Burnet said the company had no comment on the allegations and does not discuss pending litigation.
The class action, filed by Kenneth and Dylet Grady in state district court, potentially has national significance because many large real estate brokerage firms have financial relationships with one or more affiliates in the title, settlement and mortgage businesses. Properly structured, these affiliate relationships comply with federal anti-steering and anti-kickback rules, and have withstood numerous legal challenges.
Real estate brokerages increasingly rely on income from their affiliates and often seek to increase the percentage of home-sale transactions that use the affiliates' services. They also argue that even if the affiliates' fees or mortgage rates are not the lowest available, the quality and dependability of the affiliates' services more than compensate for any price differences.
In the case of a broker-client relationship, fiduciary duty means that a real estate broker is bound to put a client's best interests ahead of the broker's and must not profit from the fiduciary relationship unless the client consents. A fiduciary is also supposed to disclose material facts that may affect the client's best interests.
The Gradys level charges in their suit that could be duplicated in other states: When real estate brokers or sales associates knowingly steer clients to higher-cost services that benefit the broker financially, they violate the fiduciary responsibilities to those consumers.
The Gradys also allege that Burnet Realty failed to disclose that its affiliated title company "retains at least 75 percent of each insurance premium" or that the title affiliate's fees "are among the highest, if not the highest, in Minnesota." On a typical $250,000 home purchase, according to the suit, the title affiliate's fees "can be several hundred dollars more" than those of nonaffiliated competitors.
Among other alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, according to the suit, the real estate broker did not "disclose that it pressures its sales associates to direct their clients' closing and title insurance business" to the affiliate. Nor did the firm disclose that it offers financial incentives to sales associates who cooperate, including a program that pays agents' commissions at closings, rather than at a later date, provided the closing occurs at Burnet Title.
The suit also charges that other incentives include a "partnership compensation plan" that pays for retirement-plan contributions, marketing expenses and "bonus pools" that are "tied, in part, to the direction of clients' business" to the title affiliate.
The Gradys' class action -- which asks for what lawyers estimate to be millions of dollars in refunds and damage awards to more than 10,000 clients -- can be seen as part of a backlash in a number of states and in Congress against title insurance and real estate industry practices. In a congressional hearing last spring, Colorado's then-deputy insurance commissioner, Erin Toll, criticized "the pervasiveness of kickback schemes" involving realty and title firms in her state.
An independent title insurance agent from Minneapolis, Douglas Miller, president and CEO of Title One Inc., testified that in Minnesota "The title insurance industry and the real estate industry have locked up almost the entire marketplace" through affiliated business relationships. The arrangements take multiple forms, Miller said, but they all add up to the same result: "steering real estate consumers into overpriced ancillary services for secret profits."
Miller told the hearing that his firm refuses to participate in affiliate relationships with realty firms or lenders, and charges the lowest insurance premiums in the market. But Miller's company still finds it difficult to attract business from home buyers because realty agents won't send customers his way.
Remember that federal law guarantees you the right to shop for the lowest cost title, closing and other services. Check out the competition to be sure you're getting the very best possible deal.
Hey Mogal
Did you get a chance to find that info you mentioned in regard to audits. if so could you e-mail me with?
Thanks
Wisdom is divinely bestowed.
According to Jesus, both knowledge and wisdom are directed by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would give them understanding:
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13).
Spiritual understanding is also available to us, if we will seek it. It is a wisdom that sees the Bible from an eternal viewpoint, rather than simply looking for practical applications. It is a wisdom that helps us understand God’s grand plan — as given through the prophetic implications of biblical passages.
mogel said...
What justifies getting out of my Mortgage agreement or having the mortgage discharged? Or where is the justification of the Dorean Process? It all revolves around the promissory note & what is done with it.
We all grew up believing that a loan was money at risk to the Lender and that it should be repaid, so it’s difficult to accept that the banks and Mortgage companies would have crafted a scheme of such monumental proportions to take advantage of that basic trust. It also explains why this scheme has been so successful. We are basically trusting people who believed that a financial institution in this country would deal honestly with us.
The Mortgage Debt resolution professionals like the Dorean Group, have simply learned how to use those remedies to get you out of a very unfair and dishonest agreement.
When you sat down at closing after the nerve-wracking run-up to this moment, you experienced it as a success, the culmination of a lot of effort to prove you were a credit-worthy client deserving of a loan to purchase a home or property, the biggest investment most of us ever make. Consequently, it was so far out of your thinking that the documents placed in front of you could be deceptive, but they were. Very deceptive. In a court of law, the judge, who understands legal language would say that full disclosure and equal protection under the law were available in the Mortgage documents, but the average citizen is so ignorant of legal terminology that without really astute legal counsel at closing there is no way for him to have known what really was about to transpire. After all, think of all the attorneys who have purchased homes and signed such documents themselves without fully understanding what they meant.
Here’s how it went:
· First you signed a promissory note, a promise to pay principle and interest over a period of time. You expected to do this.
· Second you signed a Deed of Trust or Mortgage agreement wherein you repeated the promise to pay under rather confusing terms that you did not understand and did not question.
· In this agreement, you irrevocably granted and conveyed title to the property in question to the Trustee (title company) acting on behalf of the Lender. How could you do this unless you owned the property, and if you did, how did you manage to acquire it?
· You acquired it by signing the promissory note, which is legal tender in our economy. The banker turned the note into cash through the Federal Reserve and used it to pay off the previous property owner. You just funded your own loan on the power of your signature and the banker doesn’t tell you up front that you now own the property free and clear, but it clearly states in the Deed of Trust that you do, only you didn’t catch it.
· At this point, you entered into the Deed of Trust or Mortgage agreement as sole owner of the property, bringing tremendous value to the table. After having confirmed that you were in sole possession of the property ("Borrower covenants that he is fully seized (in possession) of said property and that it is free of all encumbrances."), you immediately sign away title to the property ("Irrevocably grant and convey") to the Trustee (title company) who holds the title to secure the "loan" for the Lender, except that no loan has been made because the Lender did not use his money to pay off the property. He used yours.
· An alternative scheme used in many Deed of Trust states is the tenancy agreement wherein you enter the Deed of Trust agreement as both the Tenant and the Principal (owner of the property) and agree to rent the property from yourself with the Lender acting as the servicer of the loan, mandated to take payment from the Tenant (you) and disburse it to the Principal (you), except that they keep the payments. Know anyone that ever got rent payments from himself back from his Mortgage company?
· You have just signed an agreement wherein you promised to pay the Lender principle and interest for a property you owned free and clear and then surrendered title to. Did you know that you did that? Of course not, or you never would have agreed to this in the first place.
· To add insult to injury, the Lender can fractionalize your note through the Federal Reserve, expanding its value up to nine times the note’s face value ($100,000 can become $900,000), tax free money he can invest or spend as he pleases. Did you give him permission to do this with your promise to pay? You thought that piece of paper was just a commitment to pay back a loan, but to the banker, your signature was worth hard, cold cash. For these reasons and others, not the least of which are the sense of personal empowerment and the surge of economic prosperity that would result from all the Debt relief, we feel it is ethical and justified for the Dorean trustee to discharge these unjust Mortgage agreements especially since the lender agreed to their fraud by not rebutting the charges in the presentment.
2:00 AM
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Gosh, moogie, it must have taken a lot of time and effort to think that out, compose and type it.
Good job.
Oh, oops, looks like you simply plagiarized it and just personalized it to Dorean.
http://www.the7thfire.com/debt_elimination/frequently_asked_questions_about_Mortgage_Elimination.htm
Who woulda thunk it?
Hey, thanks for all your concern for the welfare of the REI Resource forum.
I guess we'll stick around a bit longer.
DOREAN VICTIMS UNITE
N.D. your wrong again.
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