We've heard a lot of talk lately about financial institutions that are "too big to fail". I don't know how the rest of the country looks, but here, in Virginia, that's not how things seem to have worked.

The clients who had the best mortgage experiences and who are less likely to be in trouble are those who did business with small local banks. A lot of these banks lost a fair amount of mortgage business during the crazy years to fly by night outfits who promised the moon. These were the guys quoting ridiculous rates and finding a way to get a mortgage for anyone who could fog a mirror. The small guys who did this aren't around any longer.

But there were plenty of big financial institutions who couldn't resist the lure of all that money and jumped right into the mud. Countrywide is one that comes to mind. While the company name still exists, it's only because they were rescued by a savvier financial institution that took fewer risks.

From a real estate agent's point of view there were always a lot of advantages to a local institution. They were accountable for the loans they made. If something went wrong during the mortgage process it was a lot harder for them to duck me! I could walk into their office and ask what the heck was going on!

Small, local banks also take risks, but they're a different sort of risk. It's the "George Bailey" school of risk-taking. Yes, they look at credit scores. But some of these smaller, local institutions will also look at the individual and know that risk is also about integrity.

When this current financial crisis is over and someone writes the book on what happened with banks, there's going to be a recognition that our small, local banks made better decision and suffered less.

Maybe "too big to fail" should instead be, "too big to save"?