Monday, March 17, 2008 - Subprime - American Pie Song

Sung to the tune of Don McLean's "American Pie"

Long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that yield spread made me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
Those mo-hos I could finance
And I could pay my bills for a while.

But February made me shiver
With every good faith I'd deliver.
Bad news on my e-mail;
I just lost one more deal.

I can't remember if I cried
When I saw the Fremont slide
But something touched me deep inside
The day the Subprime died.

So bye-bye, BC money supply.
Sent my package to four lenders
But they all asked me why.
And good old boys were on a crack induced high
Singin', "This'll be the day the loans die, This'll be the day the loans die."

Did you write some BC loans,
Did you blow bucks on the iPhone?,
Did that nut Cramer tell you so?
Do you believe in rate control,
Can FHA save your borrower's soul,
Why is underwriting today so damn slow?
 
Well, I know you'll have to cut those fees
And you're wondering who has
moved your cheese.
Bernarke's on the news.
You can't afford the MBA dues.
 
I was a semi-rich middle-aged broncin' buck
With a master plan and a lot of pluck,
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the Subprime died.

So bye-bye, BC money supply.
Sent my package to four lenders
But they all asked me why.
And good old boys were on a crack induced high
Singin', "This'll be the day the loans die."

And the three that I admire most, Fannie, Freddie and Indy's ghost....caught the last train for the coast...the Day the Subprime died.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008 - Doug Foster Appointed Commissioner of Texas Savings & Mortgage Lending Department

Pictured Left to Right:  Doug Foster, SMLD Commissioner, Jerry Rutledge, DREI, CREI, President Alliance Academy, Rachel McNamara, Vice President Alliance Academy, Gary Ackright, Texas Finance Commissioner.

We are pleased to announce that Doug Foster has been appointed as the new Commissioner of the Savings and Mortgage Lending Department.

Doug has been with the department for nearly 23 years, most recently as the Director of Examinations.  He has also served twice as the Acting Commissioner when former Commissioners Jim Pledger and Danny Payne resigned.

Commissioner Foster is well respected within the department and the mortgage broker industry for his honesty, integrity and capability.

Commissioner Foster spoke recently at the Dallas Association of Mortgage Brokers (DAMB) monthly meeting.  He presented a Texas Mortgage Market Update as well as providing the latest information about mortgage licensing in Texas.

Mortgage Broker Annual Reports, which were due at the end of March, included over 5600 filings completed.  Yet, 1500 had not filed their annual reports, of which it’s estimated that 750 of those are still active.  The Commissioner suggested, the rest are probably inactive “drop-outs.”  Failure to file an annual report could result in licenses being revoked.

In the Auditing/Compliance division of the Department, they are making changes to allow for an increase in their speed of responses.  Audits and enforcement cases are moving much faster now, which means they are examining more mortgage brokers.

Regarding loan production trends in Texas, the Department has released the following statistics based on Annual Reports.  In 2007, Texas Brokers generated 163,500 loans totaling $25,900,000.  That is down from 2006, when we generated 251,700 loans for a total of $38,460,000.  We hit a peak in 2003 during the refi boom, originating 341,100 loans totaling $49,130,000