I'll Give You $1000 For Boardwalk And Park Place

I know that the housing market has us all pretty tense, but who knew it would carry over to Monopoly?

World's Most Amazing Architecture

From MSN Travel

What Does An Out Of Work Subprime Loan Officer Do?

Move on to questionable loan modifications. Somehow, I don't think many of us are surprised.

And if you weren't sure about the intentions of loan mod companies that collect thousands of dollars upfront, here's what one former sales agent says: “Our job was to get the money in and then we’re done." Heartwarming.

When Is Free Not Free?

When it's freecreditreport.com. Yeah, the commercials are cute and that darn jingle just sticks in your head. "Free Credit Report dot com, tell your friends, tell your dad, tell your mom..." But freecreditreport.com (notice I won't hyperlink it for you) is free in the very minimal definition of the word. You get one free report from one credit bureau one time once in your life. After that, it's all about the sales pitch. The government website, www.annualcreditreport.com (this one I will link for you), is where you go to get a free credit report from all three credit bureaus once every 12 months. You get the full report, minus the actual score. To get the score, each bureau charges around $5. So tell me, do you want the sizzle or do you want the steak?

Another Problem With E-Signings

I completed an e-sign on Friday. At first, the borrower's spouse thought an e-sign sounded kind of cool. By the end of it, she was not so impressed. Trying to read their note on a laptop wasn't very easy. The county was wrong on a few docs but we couldn't make the corrections. She wanted a hard copy of the online docs, which meant she'd have to print them out herself after the signing. But near the end of the signing she asked me a very interesting question. "What real proof is there that my husband and I are really here doing the e-sign and clicking through all these documents? You could just sit at home and click through all of this without us being here, couldn't you." Umm, good point. I hope most borrowers would realize when they signed the hard copy docs that certain docs were missing, such as the note. But how do you prove anything? Will e-signs stand up in court?

A few months ago, I did an e-sign where the lender omitted the spouses name on several e-docs. When I called from the signing, my instructions were to proceed as is and that they would make the corrections themselves later. I finished the closing and informed the borrower that the lender would make the needed corrections. As I was leaving, the title company called back and said the lender decided they needed to correct the docs and have the e-sign redone. So later that day I had to drive 30 minutes back to the borrower to e-sign the same docs. What if I'd been lazy? What if I'd thought, "what's the point in driving all the way back just to redo the same docs?" I could have just sat in my office, logged on, and clicked through all the docs to re-sign them electronically. Who'd have known? The borrower already saw all their docs, already e-signed once, and were told the corrections would be made. Really, what proof is there that this was or wasn't done in front of the borrower? There's none.

Reason number 41 why e-signs are flawed.

Happy 4th Of July

Addison Oaks fireworks by Erin Rosebrugh of Anthrophotology.