Chris Johnson - REALTOR Daytona Beach, Florida

Daytona Multiple Listing Service (MLS) inventory level for Residential properties remained flat between week ending Feb 21th to Feb 27th. Tonight Daytona Beach MLS has 5,726 residential real estate listings. This is up 7 properties from last Friday.

So far in February there have been 160 sidential home sales in the Daytona MLS. Up from 49 from last week.

I've decided to be a little more transparent today and dive into a little bit of my personal life to explain how I feel about the way some banks are treating their customers.

I been in real estate since 2004 and have been fairly successful. Real estate was a career move for me once I graduated college and not just some "Get it while it's hot" mentality. So, I positioned myself well by setting up a corporation as a pass through for my income. This enabled me to take out loans (ie credit cards and credit lines) through my corporation which kept it separate from my personal credit report. Over the past 2 years as sales have slowed, income has dropped off I've resorted to using my business credit cards more and more to float me through this slower period. Reluctantly, my balances have gotten pretty high, but I have never once been late with any of my creditors while I've been in business. Often times I would pay triple the minimum balance.

Now to be completely transparent, as sales have slowed it became increasing difficult to make my mortgage payments. In November 2008 and December 2008 I was unable to make my mortgage payments on my house and I feel behind. As a result, last month both of my business credit cards, (Capital One and Bank of America), reduced my available credit to just above my outstanding balances despite paying $1,000 on each card in January. I closed over $1,100,000 in sales in December 2008 and was able to catch up on both my first and second mortgages in January.

Today I received a letter from my Bank of America business card explaining they have closed my business credit card account based on my Nov and Dec mortgage delinquencies and my high balances. Now, Capital One hasn't done this. As a matter of fact, Capital One graciously lowered my interest rate to 0.0% on my card for 3 months to help me through this process. In response to Bank of America's letter, I called to at least have them activate my account and to lower my available credit to what I owe, so that I could pay down and still use the card. Of course they refused and also refused to provide any work out plan like the one I reference from Capital One.

So here's my point, you got a large bank like Bank of America who has received $20 billion in aid and $118 billion worth of guarantees against bad assets from our Federal Government. Who's paying these bailouts, WE ARE...THE TAX PAYERS...THE SMALL BUSINESSES! Yet, when we go to Bank of America, as customers in good standing for 4 years, we receive NO MERCY...NO GRACE...NO UNDERSTANDING! I'm furious about this!

It reminds me of a parable Jesus spoke about in Matthew 18 that reads:

23-25 "The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

26-27"The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

28"The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!'

29-31"The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

32-35"The king summoned the man and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy."

Bank of America...You're like this evil servant who was forgiven of it's debts and then goes out and beats your slaves and throws them in jail! I pray you govern yourselves more righteously as time moves on b/c if not, you will no longer be known as BANK OF AMERICA...But instead...BANK OF ROBBING AMERICA!

Quotes from Billionaire:

• Billionaire Wilbur Ross was interviewed by bloomberg and he was quoted saying the following:
• 12 Million US homeowners under water
• Since this housing crisis began, Americans have lost $5.5 Trillion in net worth.
• We have too many banks! I expect 1,000 banks to go away. We have over 8,000 banks in the US and That's ridiculous.
• No recovery in 2^nd half of 2009...it's going to take much long.
• The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) problem is much smaller than what we are dealing with today.
• The reason your not seeing sales isn't b/c there aren't people willing and able to buy, its that the products are not properly marked.
• Top 10 US financial institutions write downs is in excess of $500 Billion.
• This mess took years to build and it's going to take quite a long time to fix.

Watch more bloomberg

President Obama was in Mesa Arizona yesterday where he announced a plan to "Shore Up" the housing market by providing $75 Billion in direct spending. This effort may cost tax payers as much at $275 Billion in taxes. What's interesting is that they said it would help roughly 9 million people refinance and stay in their home. I watched a video earlier this week where Billionaire Wilbur Ross Jr said more than 12 million homes owners in the US are "under water". So, what will happen to the other 3 million US homeowners under this plan? How will they decide who gets to participate and who doesn't? I mean even Obama said "This plan will not save every home, but it will give millions of families resigned to financial ruin a chance to rebuild."

This article goes on to say (New York Times) "Almost one in 10 home mortgages is either delinquent or in foreclosure, and analysts estimate that at as many as six million families could lose their homes over the next three years in the absence of government action."

What's realy interesting is that last summer congress pass the Hope 4 Homeowner bill which was in an effort to "shore up" roughly 400,000 homeowners needing to refinance to stay in their home. Since that bill was passed, can you guess how many homeowners it helped? No not 10%....not 10,000...no not even 1,000. Only 25 homeowners nationwide have been able to participate in this program. So, will this new plan work...? I'm "shore" we'll see one way or another?

I read an article today that UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, agree to reveal the names of wealthy Americans whom the I.R.S. suspects of using offshore accounts at the bank to evade taxes. UBS settled and has agreed to pay $780 Million for it participation in tax evading activities.

One way to look at it is that we just got our first 1% covered on the bail out debt we'll be paying back through future taxes.

As a part of the settlement, pressured by indictment threats for UBS executives, they may ultimately disclose the identities of a few hundred American customers that have evaded taxes between 2000 and 2007.

If you want to read more, check at this add: Click the link. New York Times