Community Commentary - All Comments

re: 'Realtor' Is 2 Syllables

Truett Neathery — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:20:10 GMT

Yes, and it needs to be appended by the little circle with a c in it, too - may even need to be capitolized. When I first started in real estate as a salesman in 1969, REALTORs needed to be a broker and be vouched for by other REALTORS in their town, not just send in a fee to the NAR.

re: Attention Real Estate Pros: 'Realtor' Is 2 Syllables

Liz Freeman — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:26:56 GMT

Some of the worst offenders, however, are Realtors. Listen to those real estate shows on Sunday mornings and you'll see. However, re-al-tor is correct, I think, because as a previous poster pointed out, real does have two very subtle syllables. But reel-uh-tor is always wrong.

re: Attention Real Estate Pros: 'Realtor' Is 2 Syllables

Julian Hebron — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 23:11:19 GMT

Brett, super funny about non-NAR members. Will have to pass that one around in my office as an exception to the rule!

re: Attention Real Estate Pros: 'Realtor' Is 2 Syllables

Brett — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:28:59 GMT

Al tissues are Kleenex, all bandages are band-aids, and when I was a kid in the southeastern US, every carbonated soft drink was a Coke, even if it was a Pepsi. Funny how that stuff works.

re: Attention Real Estate Pros: 'Realtor' Is 2 Syllables

C S — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:26:55 GMT

Bless you... hoping for a big increase in correct pronunciation. I would fire a realtor who pronounces it with 3 syllables. Could you work on teaching people that 'irregardless' and 'orientate' are not proper either?

re: Attention Real Estate Pros: 'Realtor' Is 2 Syllables

Brett — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:20:54 GMT

I call the non-NAR members real-uh-tors.... You know, since they're not really realtors.

re: Attention Real Estate Pros: 'Realtor' Is 2 Syllables

Scott Hevel — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:21:01 GMT

Agreed. However, real is actually a 2 syllable word. So, Realtor is actually a 3 syllable word when pronounced properly. :) Had to give you a hard time...Ha

re: Loan Disclosure Reform Incomplete without Borrower Education

Jeff Wirsing — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:00:18 GMT

Frank...My last post was intended to be a reply to your 7/2 post asking the question of how we as an industry can educate and protect Consumers. I certainly hope that the industry will resume some semblence of commonsense and normalcy. But even with what you described...somewhere in there is the "Borrowers" experience (what you described is more the LO experience)...which I know is important to all Originators. So the question becomes...what experience does the industry want the Consumer to have? As such...I believe that it is possible for the entire industry to embrace a business model that says the client, the Loan Originator, the mortgage company and Wall Street are better served when the mortgage strategy seeks to put the Borrower in the safest possible financial position.

re: Loan Disclosure Reform Incomplete without Borrower Education

Brett — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:19:06 GMT

Perfect analysis, Jason.

re: Loan Disclosure Reform Incomplete without Borrower Education

Jason Harris — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:45:36 GMT

Any body closing any real volume in today's market has been through the same things you mention above (in one variation or another) and it is enough to make you crazy. I am all for enforcement to ensure that we don't head down the wrong path as an industry...I am all for supporting change that benefits the consumer...but the current environment that we operate in is essentially a HUGE game of CYA by every party involved in the transaction. Everyone is trying to keep up with the myriad of regulatory processes and even more afraid of a re-purchase request based not on any merit of the file itself, but on some "gotcha" technicality. What you end up with is the very system designed to help the consumer results in a more costly, cumbersome, and ineffective process where it takes truly Herculean efforts (mixed with a bit of luck) to deliver on the product you have sold and that the customer qualifies for.

re: Loan Disclosure Reform Incomplete without Borrower Education

Frank Ceizyk — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:54:29 GMT

Jeff--it is probably not the best time for me to respond to your post given the day I've just had but here goes anyway. Originators can only be a powerful army for change if there is some semblance of predictability to the service we provide, as well as by the services provided by those we do business with. A refinance deal that could provide supplemental cash flow for a borrower to build their emergency fund and pay down the principal faster can easily be crushed with a crappy appraisal that defies any AVM research done in advance. A purchase transaction that fits into a borrower's affordability threshold can be canceled if the borrower does not want to spend an extra $3000 to pay the difference between what the appraiser says its worth, and what the short sale creditor agreed to on the purchase contract. A borrower wanting a short term refinance with no impounds might find his breakeven is exceedingly long if he picks a rate too close to the "credit towards costs and actual cost cliff", mandating a forced lower rate at higher costs, even if his savings goal and break even target would be better served by a rate that features a credit that might exceed his actual costs by a fraction of a percent. A veteran who paid off too many credit cards might suddenly find his scores dropped from 750 to 710, reducing the cost effectiveness of his VA interest rate reduction, because the adjustment at this particular lender adds .375% for that atrocious "just over 700" score. A lender chosen title company on an REO can force us to shell out a post closing tolerance cure of $300, simply because the REO bank mandated title company never added the endorsement fees to the title fee sheet they were given to fill out PRIOR to closing. Extending a lock for 3 days to accommodate a signing in a foreign country by a borrower cashing out a property with 2%/5% debt ratios can delay docs just enough to create chaos when the extension, paid for by the loan officer who was told there would be no delay caused by the extension request, requires a disclosure delay because that "important" date is now extended by 3 days. I would love to help Americans hang on to more money and continue to do so in a constantly changing lending environment, but until the above insanity ends (all real life experiences the past month that required a solid "Plan B backup" amid a couple of dozen or so closings), or at least is replaced by some semblance of common sense standards that we can all agree upon and fight to implement without waiting for the next regulatory hurricane to change the who/what/when and where of the service and products we provide, it will be awfully tough to implement anything new.

re: Loan Disclosure Reform Incomplete without Borrower Education

Jeff Wirsing — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:55:03 GMT

The power to affect change is in direct proportion to the power of the individual. Power, in the case of individuals who live in a capitalistic society, is a function of financial self-reliance. The more financially self-reliant, and independent, American's become the more capable they are to affect change on all levels. If some one, or some industry, were able to offer a solution to truly help Americans to be self-reliant that would be a powerful value proposition. During the refi boom the mortgage industry was originating nearly 10 million loans each year. That was 10 million opportunities each year to make a difference. As an industry, Originators can be a powerful army for change. So, consider this...is it possible for the Mortgage Origination industry to incorporate into the origination service a means of helping Americans become more financially aware and self-reliant? How can the mortgage industry help Americans hang on to more money? What can the Origination industry do to help Americans become more powerful?

re: HECM Saver: Enough To Save the Reverse Mortgage Industry From Imploding?

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re: Understanding Reverse Mortgage Closing Costs

Jon Sime — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 21:17:26 GMT

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re: Loan Disclosure Reform Incomplete without Borrower Education

Brett — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:34:31 GMT

I guess only time will tell what will happen. None of us has a crystal ball or all the answers. I do agree that sitting on our hands, feeling hopeless is not a good strategy, but I think the only strategy that will really work is one that ultimately exposes bad policy and promotes free market capitalism (i,e, not more regulation and forced reform). I don't think enough average people will care about that until they start feeling the financial pinch in every aspect of their lives (i.e. drastic changes in their quality of life). When that happens, then enough people start to ask "why?" to actually make a difference. That's when we can actually do something that really matters by telling them the answers and empowering them to turn their anger and frustration into productive, grass roots reform of the real problem. So, maybe both Frank and Bobby have the right idea in different ways. Frank is right that we should keep hope alive and do our best without giving in to pessimism, and Bobby is right that we have to accept that there are some aspects that are so beyond our control that we just have to wait and let time sort them out until our actions will have meaningful results.