The Mortgage Cicerone - The Loan Attraction Coach - Con

Greed, Fraud and Ignorance

A New Post By The Mortgage Cicerone
A Guide for Mortgage Professionals
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A few months ago, Richard Bitner mailed The Mortgage Cicerone his recently finished book, Confessions of a Subprime Lender - An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud and Ignorance." Truthfully, I thought it was going to be another pulp-sensationalized Housing Bubble book...boy was I wrong!

The further I got into the book, the more I was struck with Richard's thorough understanding of the subprime mortgage industry and his excellent explanation of how the overly simplistic/optimistic financial models and presumptions of both lenders and investment bankers brought about the current market environment we are now experiencing.

While Confessions of a Subprime Lender - An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud and Ignorance." is only 195 pages, Bitner will provide you an in-depth and behind the scenes view of what impacted the real estate and mortgage markets.

Bottom line, this book is well written and a “must read” for those people who really want to understand what is currently happening to the mortgage market and its effect on the national economy. In my humble opinion, if you don't read this book, you are not serious about understanding the industry and market in which you are currently employed.

Can McCain Compete with Obama Online?

A New Post By Bill Rice
Marketing & Lead Generation Expert
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You thought this post was about politics, didn't you?

Not quite, but I have ripped a headline from the our daily dose of political buzz. This article from Politico.com caught my eye this morning and every mortgage broker and real estate agent should read it this morning.

It is, of course, about the political campaigns of our Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama, but you could simply replace McCain with old-line/off-line mortgage brokers and new generation/on-line community leaders. The burning question in the article is, can McCain can compete with Obama's new media strategy?

I really want you to read the article so I am only going to highlight two important factors your should think about:

• Are you command and control, top-down mortgage broker? Or, are your a community builder, giving your clients the control to make their own intelligent choices?
• Have you done so much business, and been in the business so long that you are trying rely on what has worked? Or, are you acting like an underdog and realizing big success means fresh ideas?

Actually, I want you to think about a third important thought:

• Which of this two approaches looks more like the customers you are serving today?

I think today may be a good day to think about your online mortgage origination strategy.