So yesterday I came across a post in my Google Reader from Agent Genius that brought a smile, “Pictureass Setting” Sales pitch strikeouts and MLS fouls”, by Gwen Banta. Gwen is a real estate professional at Sotheby’s International Realty “on the world famous Sunset Strip” and among other successes, she also blogs for AG, Active Rain, and on her own blog Sherlock of Homes. In her “Pictureass …” blog post she shares some very humorous “typos” found in real estate ads and property descriptions found in the MLS. The typos are funny, but Gwen’s comments that follow each one are where the humor of her post hits home.
Wondering if this was just a one-time type of post, I scrolled down and found “Lender Loops and Hoops – Holding on To My Last Bit of Sanity”. Nope … it’s not a one-time event. For me, anyway, Gwen has a great sense of humor, especially in this post where she makes light of today’s sad state of affairs with many lenders and servicers when it comes to short sales, modifications, and new loan requests … And credit to her, too, for doing so.
As someone who has been a banker for over thirty years, today’s lending environment has gone way too far conservative. Now, I’m not even remotely suggesting that some of the No Income|No Asset|No Way programs made any sense, either; but we’ve turned the process into a “check the boxes” mentality, where common sense is no longer used. Here’s an example: Even though we have your personal returns, corporate returns, and YTD P&L, Ms. Self Employed, (… and oh yeah, your tax transcripts from the IRS, too), we’d like you to provide us with your W-2s, also. Are you kidding, me?
Gwen’s post is great feedback for our nation’s lending industry to stop the insanity. Underwriting loans is an art, not a science, and if we really want this economy to reach it’s full potential, we have a responsibility to stop checking boxes and start making intelligent credit decisions … and perhaps add some additional staff to the short sale and modification staffing, too!
I’d love to hear your insanity stories, and even more so, I would appreciate your suggestions on how as real estate professionals we can work together to improve the process.
Check out Gwen’s blog, and put a smile on to go with your weekend coffee …
photo credit and thanks to http://madrasgeek.com
1 comment
I really enjoyed reading this article. I’m actually committing Sin #2 ‘Waiting too long to comment’! However, I felt compelled to express appreciation, since I think many of these you enumerate are unconscious mistakes that can easily be rectified.