The whole shake-out of lenders is something that I believe we’ve needed for quite some time. Same is true for real estate agents. And have you noticed that banks are no longer clamoring to get into the real estate sales side of things?
I’ve written before about how the real estate shake-out was real and that it was hitting close to home. But yesterday it went beyond the mortgage officers and real estate agents. It hit one of my clients. 
Mike Mueller wrote A slightly different approach about IndyMac Bank’s reorganization. You can read about it from Mike. The thing that hurts for me is that several years ago I sold a half duplex to a single mom who works at one of IndyMac Bank’s service centers here in Kansas City. She’s admin. Like every other admin person she goes to work, moves her paper and tries to do the best job she can do.
And now I believe her job is being eliminated. I hope and pray that she finds work quickly. I’ve called her twice but as of yet have not heard back. To know the shake-out is necessary doesn’t lessen the pain of change that so many are going through right now.
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Brian Brady // Jan 16, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Chris:
It is getting personal. I made friends with many Alt-A admins; most of the reps became good friends (READ: drinking buddies) of mine.
I played softball with the First Franklin crew. I go to Church with 3-4 unemployed mortgage admins.
Most have moved on to other employment. Sadly, a few haven’t found new jobs. In SoCal, it seems like every 3-4 people worked in RE or Mtg, in 2004.
It IS personal, now.
2 Chris Lengquist // Jan 17, 2008 at 7:49 am
Brian, I’m sorry to hear about your friends. The wildfire continues to spread. We can only hope for the best and count our blessings.
3 Ann // Jan 31, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I am so sorry to hear of your friends job loss. I can certainly relate to things getting personal. Looking for a house it is hard not to be offended by the comments of \’smart\’ people know it\’s a great time to buy a house, or you just want to \’steal\’ someone\’s house, thinking they are just going to \’give\’ it away. I read yesterday that the people who were qualified to buy but weren\’t actually \’caused\’ this mess, they actually referred to those people as \’greedy pigs.\’ Just simple little things, like being a \’consumer\’ instead of a citizen. Definately starting to get personal, I\’m glad someone else noticed.
4 Franklin // Feb 1, 2008 at 3:11 am
Personal it is, and it hurts even more when billionare CEO’s create the mess and then ordinary people are left holding the bag. Let’s hope we don’t see a really bad fallout like Enron.
5 Chris Lengquist // Feb 1, 2008 at 7:20 am
Ann - don’t let people’s ignorance keep you from purchasing a home. It’s generally the best economic advice you can get. Especially if you are buying under market. Of course everyone’s situation is unique, but in general you should press forward.
Franklin - That’s a whole other post, my friend.
6 Ann // Feb 1, 2008 at 8:56 am
Thanks for your concern, Chris! That is so sweet and encouraging! It isn’t stopping us, prices are. It’s just adding insult to injury, we’re trying to do the right thing, (save every dime, live in an apartment, FICO over 800) and are told ‘we’ll let our house go back before we’ll take less’ by someone who’s owned the house for 25 years? They let it go back and take a trip to Greece? Then we seriously question whether our offer is even submitted to the bank by our realtor, for reasons I won’t go into. Actually I am looking for REO’s that would not require dealing with a realtor and stumbled across your blog. If you’ve any ideas? Hope you’re having a great day!
7 Erma // Feb 1, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Ann, I feel your pain- I have been discouraged by both the price and quality of homes we’ve been shown ! I looked at one home, advertised as “Bottom Dollar” on the price, only to find it did indeed sell for less than advertised, after the realtor assured us it was impossible to make an offer lower than what was asked! Another home priced at $200,000 was described as a “Starter Home” ! I have seen “fixer uppers” priced at $350,000! Somehow I cannot get excited over paying that price for a home and then having to do the work and spend the money required to make it liveable! The realtors and Bankers do not seem negotiable on the price of the homes offered, yet I get a long list of foreclosures mailed to me regularly! I keep looking, meanwhile I pay to keep roomsful of furniture in storage, and like Ann, make a very small apt my home.
8 Ann // Feb 2, 2008 at 8:38 pm
How do you get the foreclosures mailed to you? I have realtors who say they will mail them to me but they never do? I do not understand that at all! I get these emails about ‘buying frenzy’ and if you don’t have a contract by April 1st (April Fools) you’ll basically be living under a bridge! I’m about ready to just find a very nice rent house for a couple of years, they are renting brand new houses here by where I’m staying. The quality isn’t something that I would want to buy but for a rental it’s starting to look very good!
9 Chris Lengquist // Feb 3, 2008 at 8:35 am
Ann - welcome to the real estate world. Here in Kansas City we have about 11,000 agents. That’s down about 2,000 from just two years ago. I suspect it will fall even further. You see, most just don’t know how to do their job.
Anyway, I need to know more to answer your question. For instance, many bank repos and all HUD homes that are on the market here in the middle part of the country can be found online, at your convenience, without the help of a real estate agent.
http://www.firstpreston.com
You can go to the above url and see if your state is listed. If it is, congratulations. You can look at your own liesure and contact an agent when you want to see something.
All houses have to have an agent involved. It’s just the rules they have set up.
I would also invite you to call or email me directly. 913.568.1579 listwithchris(at)kw(dot)com. Then I can find out more about where you live and if I can probably find you a competent agent with which to work.
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