Lewis Poretz - - Maryland Mortgage Expert -

I have a question for everyone out there. This question is not just directed at consumers who own a house and are upside down, or people who are overextended on credit because that was what they had to do to survive, or anyone who's job has been terminated. Yeah - they need help. We all need help.

But this question is also directed at the small businees owners who supposedly are the backbone of what America is all about. --- 4.5% interest rates, tax credits and everything else you poiliticians are squawking about are just fine.... but what happened to the money for small business? i am telling business owners in my community every day, owners i hvae respected for years, i am sorry - i cannot approve this loan for you. These business owners need a loan to stay alive because the banks have shut down their lines of credit.

Anyone have a comment on this? Anyone mad?

Let’s say you’re the typical middle to upper middle class American. You have worked your butt off for years, always paid your bills on time and even have some equity left in the place you call home. The economy was great a few years back, you were making plenty of dough and you decided to buy a condo in Florida or a place on the slopes or even an investment property or two.

All of a sudden your purse strings have really started to feel the pinch. Your credit cards are whacking you with late fees, over the limit fees, membership fees etc…. By the way, this is still happening every single day. Consumers are getting clobbered by intolerable fees and charges from the very banks our trillions in taxpayer money is going to save.

So the pinch all of a sudden gets out of hand. Something has to give. The condo in Florida you own is now 50K upside down and you anticipate ten years before it will even be worth what you owe on it. Take away that ball and chain of an investment and you can survive. Your family can survive. You can eat and pay the utilities. You call the mortgage company who holds the note and they give you the old we can’t help you until you are two months behind routine. Of course when you call back after becoming two months behind they tell you your credit is no longer any good and they can’t help you. This advice is being told to consumers by banks every single day! Amazing!!!

So I would like to ask Barack, Mr. President, if you found yourself in the situation of the example above – wouldn’t you have to consider the best financial decision for you and your family may possibly be to walk away from your condo in Florida? Guess what – it is happening! And until you pass some new rules to help underwater homeowners out, foreclosures rates will continue to skyrocket. And you know what, the stigma that has always been around someone with a foreclosure or bankruptcy just somehow doesn’t matter anymore. It may just be a very wise financial decision………

ANNAPOLIS MARYLAND MORTGAGE EXPERT

I have a client with a fixed rate of 4.375%. I have ½ point in the loan - which for all you non mortgage people reading this is a razor thin profit margin. His loan has been clear to close for over 2 weeks now. His rate lock has been extended two times already. I have no room to pay for it. My client paid $250 up front to Bank of America for what they claim to be a 10 day turn around. The subordination agreement was FedEx Jan 13^th with a signed receipt from B of A. They have not looked at it yet.

Read below from the bottom up – you can see the B of A guys response to my original email. This guy is in customer service. The subordination department does not even answer the phone calls from their own customer service department. That is exactly what I was told today by a supervisor. I went off on the phone today because I have been told every single day when I call, which has been over the past two weeks, that a manger would call me back within 24 hrs. It never happened and I was not going to listen to the lies any more…… I was told today the head guy there was on a conference call but will call me back before the end of the day with a status update. I left the office after 5 30 - no calls

I joked earlier today with a customer service rep from the bank that i was going to create a web site www.bankofamericasucks.com he laughed and claimed he has heard that more than a few times already. Funny thing is - it is a real website!!!! check it out www.bankofamericasucks.com

Why is the government ... i mean tax payers ..... i really mean our kids who are going to be burdened with TRILLIONS in debt - why do we allow these idiots who can't complete a simple task to borrow billions?????? Someone help me out here. I own a small mortgage company. Where is the help I am supposed to get? Where is the help for all the callers who are upside down in their mortgages who I have to tell - "sorry, the goverment is looking into a solution for your problem"... in the meantime printing dollars by the billions of which most of them are totally unaccounted for ----- what is going on in our country???? We are still allowing these banks to charge outragous fees and get away with it. These banks are charging 31% + interest rates on their credit cards....... how do we loan these criminals money??? who is making these decisions?

HOW CAN I GET THIS POST TO PRESIDENT OBAMA?

he needs to read this.... he needs to be a mortgage broker for a day and tell people... good people who have never been late before in their lives that do not qualify for a loan........

I did a blog previously about the bank and you should check it out below --- it is unbelievable..... we need to go back to the way of doing business when you would visit your local mom and pops store, get some good honest advice and service or products and pay a reasonable fee....... How long are we going to allow this to happen? This is certainly not the only bank that operates horribly inefficient but the are for sure one of the worst....... i will update this post daily as to the progress of my subordination agreement... which at this moment has not even been reviewed!....

check it out ---- i promise you will at least chuckle... unless your an employee or a stock holder--

http://activerain.com/blogsview/615411/Credit-Card-ripoffs-Bank-of-America-does-not-care

and this blog asks the question screw the banks - what about me?

http://activerain.com/blogsview/714044/hey-what-about-me

this is not just a slam on Bank of America. This is the problem with big corporate america today. They do not give a sh1t. They are corrupt. They are mismanaged. They are unaccountable. They are killing our childrens quality of life for many, many years. And we continue to give them billions...............

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From: Lewis Poretz [mailto:lewis@openmortgage.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 7:21 PM
To: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Cc: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: xxxxxxxxxxx subordination agreement per our phone call

xxxxxxx –

I appreciate your update. You are the only person at B of A who has ever returned my call or e mail. I know you don’t make the rules but I must tell you, I am so unimpressed and flat our disappointed with Bank of America that I am planning on closing my business and personal accounts with your bank and taking my deposits elsewhere. With the banking business on life support and every move being scrutinized, you would have thought a giant like B of A would staff their departments with enough competent staff to approve a subordination agreement in less than a month – especially after your customer paid $250 upfront for it. It is pathetic. And to think the government is lending you guys billions of dollars to stay alive. I have been promised a return phone call every day for the past two weeks and have never received one. I am told every single day that the request was just expedited. You have requested a 1003 be faxed back to you by the title company and it was done several times with confirmation the fax was delivered. Just complete incompetence!

I am going to attempt to send this email to your corporate executives, to my state politicians and especially to your stock holders and show them just how well Bank of America can complete a simple task and how they treat their customers. My client is going to lose a fixed rate of 4.375%. You are going to have to deal with it! Just pathetic!!!!!

From: xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@bankofamerica.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 4:22 PM
To: Lewis Poretz - Open Mortgage
Subject: RE: xxxxxxxxx subordination agreement per our phone call

Thank you for the contact information. I can assure you that our management team is doing everything possible to complete your request as soon as possible. My direct manager is currently on a conference call attempting to get this completed for you. I apologize for the delay and will contact you as soon as I hear word. Thank you.

MARYLAND MORTGAGE EXPERT - MORTGAGE IN MARYLAND - MORTGAGE - FHA EXPERT - MARYLAND MORTGAGE RATES

The media has done it once again. Trust me on this one. This past week has seen a surge of mortgage refinance applications as rates have dipped. This will help the beleaguered mortgage industry, the banks, the title companies, the appraisers and everyone else connected with the real estate market that has been functioning on life support for quite a while now. But there is trouble brewing. Trust me. I have received a few calls already from clients I have locked an interest rate in over the past few days saying they want to bail on the deal.

You see, they read in the paper or saw on TV that the Fed is going to make rates go to 4.5% and the world will become a better place. This could potentially be destructive. When a loan originator locks a loan with an investor, for ease of explanation, it becomes somewhat of a "forward commitment" where investors hedge their money on the future market. When rate lock fallout becomes large bad things happen. Investors judge mortgage shops on rate fallout and are actually terminating shops who exceed a certain percentage.

If you delve into exactly what the Treasury Department is attempting to do, you will notice the low rate target is aimed at the Purchase money market. It is also aimed at reviving the big banks. There is no certainty this would even be available for refinances as of yet. Besides, when or if this will ever take place is an uncertainty as well, especially with the new guns coming to Washington to take over in about a month.

Don't take the points off the board! Ever watch a football game where the team kicks a field successfully but there is a penalty and they choose to take the points off the board and try and score a touchdown. Do not fall into that trap. If you have locked into the low rates that are available this very second and are second guessing whether to bail and wait, you better think long and hard. If you have a deal in hand that makes sense, do you want to take the points off the board and risk losing the football?

Make believe loans never close –

Please STOP the stupidity people!

In the past month I have worked with a real estate agent with 20+ years experience in the business who supposedly teaches class in college on real estate fundamentals tell me that FHA loans are nothing but trouble. This seasoned realtor also has a cell phone that when it goes into voice mail says “ mailbox full “.

Then I had another supposedly seasoned agent of many years dispute the fact that a non occupant co borrower cannot own another house and sign on an FHA loan. He told me I gave him and his client bad advice. Funny thing is his client is ready to dump him and keep me.

I had another agent call after not hearing from him or the clients in a month wanting to know the status of his client’s loan. This is a short sale and the contract has been with the bank for 6+ weeks and is still not signed. This seasoned agent wants me to update him on the status of the loan. --- I have NO signed contract. You want me to do what and piss how many people off when the loan blows up because I didn’t do my job??? You want me to jeopardize my integrity because you know the loan will be ok… you promise it will…….

And then I have this agent who wants me to chase down his clients, who really aren’t certain they want to buy this house. I have told the clients what I need to write a commitment letter. I have told the agents I am not getting any response. But the agent wants me to continue to request his client send me the necessary income docs because he has a lot of kids and a full time job as well and just doesn’t have the time to chase them down. After all, he gave me the deal.

I have had it with part time real estate agents! I have had it with closed minded agents who refuse to let me sell an FHA or USDA loan because they know it all! I have had it with people that still remain in this business and refuse to put in the time and effort to become experts! I have had it.

I fired 2 agents today. They shouldn’t have lasted as long as they did. Sure it was nice to get looks every day at deal, but listen up close one more time.

MAKE BELIEVE LOANS NEVER CLOSE!

Agents, I will make this real simple. Get me last two years W 2’s ( tax returns if self employed ), 4 most recent paystubs, and three most recent bank statements or 401K statements or whatever you can get to back up the reserves and assets the client provides you. Don’t argue. Don’t underwrite. Don’t tell me why this is such a great loan. Just get me what I ask for. Because this is what the rules say. This is what the underwriter is going to ask for. I have the ability to validate the loan so when I send it to my underwriter it is typically good as gold. Do not ask me to send an incomplete file. Do not ask me to issue a loan commitment until I have all supporting docs and can back up my commitment

This is not a hard job. Just understand the guidelines and stop trying to re write them. It will never work. One more time, repeat after me - MAKE BELIEVE LOANS NEVER CLOSE!

Trust your MORTGAGE EXPERT to handle the loans for you. Make your life a lot easier.......

FHA MORTGAGE EXPERT