My Perspective

I saw this headline and small news piece yesterday:“ The National Science Foundation held an online conference with three economists. Among the panelists was Yale University’s Dr. Robert Shiller. "I’m optimistic that we will have securitized subprime loans again, but done better so that we don’t have a crisis like this," Shiller said. "They will come back, whether securitized or not."

You may know him from The Case-Shiller U.S. Home Price Indices - I shot him an e-mail about his observation and why it took him this long to say these things, hopefully he’ll reply … we’ll see – being such a Big Shot he may not have time though.

I’m still focused plugging away at getting the new organization up and running.

I apologize for posting so rarely lately here on my blog; I know many of you come here on regular basis, and recently not much new from me!  

I have become all consumed by putting together what I hope to be the largest nationwde subprime wholesale operation you’ve seen in some time – Common Sense Lending at it’s core. Those of you that remember subprime for the decades before 1998 – that’s pretty much what you have to look forward to from us. THAT sort of lending works well in all economic climates and industry cycles. 

The rate sheet’s done, as is the matrix, the underwriting gudelines (these were the first items to get completed), the key people for the most part have been engaged, software’s been lined up, as has our CPA, compliance resources … so as I’ve said before - lot’s been done.

The way the wind is blowing in Washington with potential new regulations, the future of the Government’s continued involvement in related industries and ours as well, etc. are all things that I know you’re all concerned about, as am I. Everyone reading this knows, good quality full-docs customers, with decent credit histories who can afford the proposed new loan is smart – that’s the Government’s thinking as I see it, so they won’t be our enemy.

I’ll give you a quote from our new underwriting guidelines, this is how I think and what’s at the heart of the new company; so if you’re thinking about possibly doing business with the new firm look this quote over, if it fits with how you operate and the type of customers you can attract, then we want you:

"In a nutshell, we like applicants who have a satisfactory credit history, with no recent significant credit problems, who can document their ability to repay the loan in a timely manner, and who appreciate the sanctity of their payment’s due date."

One thing that I do know, is things will get back to normal (except the stupid reckless lending standards of the past decade), so the end of the world for our industry is not near. We’ll be on the streets just as quickly as is humanly possible!

I’m seeing a series of news articles this week, showing several clues new life is being breathed back into our industry – all be it slowly, but it’s happening!

A great deal of it’s platform has been completed and is ready, as are the key people; therefore it’s prepared to "Hit the Ground Sprinting!" 

Since the initial exciting announcement, the lag-time so far, surrounds working with the appropriate investment banking firm and the required equity funding.