Get Poor Quick

Posted on July 9, 2007 by grim

From the Houston Chronicle:

Real estate guru ‘in a pickle’

J. Michael Ledman nurtured the smooth-talking image of a savvy and successful real estate investment guru.

He solicited investors on his Web site. He charged $2,900 and up per person for how-to training.

He ran ads in the Yellow Pages and in the newspaper. And he dished out advice on his weekly radio show about everything from credit scores to how to buy and sell distressed property with no money down.

But a year ago, the bottom fell out.

The investment guru who taught others how to profit from foreclosures is himself facing serious financial and legal woes. They include a charge of felony theft in which he is accused of bilking an 80-year-old woman out of her home of 38 years, causing her to lose $150,000 in equity.
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Ledman’s story is another cautionary tale that in today’s boom-and-bust real estate market, what seems too good to be true probably is.

The once highflying investment counselor acknowledges his financial troubles, but he denies any wrongdoing. He blames it on the real estate market’s collapse, which caused profits to fall, overhead to rise and investors to run for cover.

“Have I got myself in a pickle? Sure, I have,” Ledman said, but added: “I’m not ready to throw in the towel.”

Yet Ledman also has left in his wake unhappy sellers, buyers and investors who lost money in his debt-repair and get-rich-quick programs, the Kansas City Star found. This year he was evicted from his office, and a bank foreclosed on his $500,000 home.

In April, he lost his radio show when he ran out of money to pay for it.

Ledman declined to discuss details of his criminal case or failed land deals. Still, he said, “I had honorable intentions. My show was about showing people how they could acquire real estate. My intent has been to help people avoid making the mistakes I’ve made.”

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 1 Comment

Weekend Open Discussion

Posted on July 8, 2007 by grim

This is the time and place to post observations about your local areas, comments on news stories or the New Jersey housing market, open house reports, etc. If you have any questions you wanted to ask earlier in the week but never posted them up, let’s have them. Also a good place to post suggestions, requests for information, criticism, and praise.

For readers that have never commented, there is a link at the top of each message that is typically labelled “[#] Comments“. Go ahead and give that a click, you might be missing out on a world of information you didn’t know about. While you are there, introduce yourselves to everyone.

For new readers that have only read the messages displayed on the main page, take a look through the archives, a substantial amount of information has been put online in the past year. The archives can be accessed by using the links found in the menus on the right hand side of the page.

Posted in General | 471 Comments

“I’m telling you, it can’t miss,”

Posted on July 8, 2007 by grim

From the Baltimore Sun:

Subprime snake-oil salesmen promised a quick flip

Mom and apple pie may be next.

The answer is it seemed such a tried-and-true concept that it fell victim to the same unbridled optimism that fueled the 1990s technology boom: Invest in a sure thing before it is too late and don’t sweat the details.

“I’m telling you, it can’t miss,” a taxi driver in Northern Virginia said a couple of years ago, as he told me about the development where he’d bought a condominium under construction. He intended to sell it for a hefty profit immediately upon completion. “My buddy bought two.”

My guess is both of those flippers wound up long-term condo owners with honest-to-goodness mortgage payments that weren’t of the two-week variety.

The subprime mortgage market provides home loans to the least creditworthy borrowers, including those with troubled credit histories. Subprime is investment-speak for “loans you probably shouldn’t make, but what the heck.” Many of those loans have gone sour, which should be no surprise.

The extent of the subprime market had been talked about only in whispers and generalities. Lack of details from financial institutions has heightened the anxiety over its potential impact.

But the cat is out of the bag. That low-end market has whacked even high-end Wall Street.
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Think back to real estate agents who urged clients to buy quickly. Think of aggressive lenders. Think of investment firms that snapped up mortgage portfolios.

Think of the people who yearned for a home or profits from a quick flip and were led to believe that paying their financial dues was unnecessary.

Most of all, think of your own family and resolve never to let it fall prey to optimism manufactured by others.

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 7 Comments

Ownership out of reach

Posted on July 8, 2007 by grim

From the Philly Inquirer:

Squeezed out of a house

For just about all but people in the top income brackets, there is a crisis of housing affordability in the United States, observers say.

Middle-income American service workers, especially those earning between $20,000 and $50,000 a year, have suffered the most, said William Hudnut 3d, an Urban Land Institute fellow and ex-mayor of Indianapolis.

“Workforce housing is a touchy topic that generates a lot of talk but not a lot of attention – except that it should be built somewhere else,” Hudnut said.

Workers in need of such housing are often referred to as “those people.” But that’s an unfair categorization, Hudnut said, because they are providers of critical services – dental assistants, auto mechanics, schoolteachers, police and firefighters – “the backbone of our economy who are getting squeezed by the housing-jobs imbalance that permeates our country.”

In many cities, there is no affordable housing close to employment centers, which forces people to live far from where they work. “Those of us in land use know that the disconnect is a real problem, with major social, economic and environmental implications,” he said.
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Although a lot of commuters are willing to live farther out in the suburbs, Hudnut said, “they don’t factor in the cost of that commute . . . as a rising expense.”

“This suggests a lingering gap between perception and reality,” he said. “These moderate-income workers probably don’t know that desirable affordable housing close to jobs is an option. It can be developed close to jobs in a way that can provide a high quality of life in proximity to amenities and work.

“Far-flung suburban living is not sustainable in conserving land and energy,” he said.

Posted in General | 4 Comments

“They put people out on the streets”

Posted on July 8, 2007 by grim

From the Herald News:

Shoddy repairs raise homeowners’ concern

For roughly a decade, three men running home improvement and financing companies allegedly defrauded dozens of North Jersey homeowners who could least afford the financial hardship.

Companies associated with the three men canvassed low-income neighborhoods for homes in need of work. They pitched “affordable” repairs but did shoddy work, and saddled homeowners with mortgages at unaffordable, double-digit interest rates.

In at least one instance, after some angry homeowners filed suit, one company stopped doing work and another started up.

The men kept doing business.

“I just paid off everything. I didn’t want to deal with it anymore,” said Arnett Fraser, a hospital worker from Paterson who got a high-interest loan and poorly renovated kitchen from one of the companies. He eventually refinanced with another bank.

At best, homeowners like Fraser absorbed the financial burden and moved on. At worst, some former clients had to sell their home or lose it to foreclosure.
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During a 12-year period, Demetris Michalaki, John Michael, and Lazaros Charalambous – alone or together – started at least three building companies, two lending firms, a titling agency, a real estate company and an appraisal firm, all connected to 383 and 544 Washington Ave. in Belleville, according to state incorporation records.

The chain of companies began in 1995, when Michalaki and his wife, Margherita, incorporated D&M Financial Corp. They bought 383 Washington Ave., a large, two-story building on Belleville’s main commercial strip, to house the mortgage company, and a smaller office six blocks north at 544 Washington Ave.

A year later, Michael, who is listed as Yiannakis Michael on the state incorporation papers, established Monet Builders. The company was housed at 234 Franklin Ave. in Nutley, but Michael listed his personal address as 544 Washington Ave. – the same Belleville business office owned by Michalaki.

Monet Builders provided home-improvement services such as remodeling, driveway repair and boiler replacement. It found its clients — primarily low-income homeowners — by soliciting those with a visible need for repair. Their representatives promised affordable work and easy access to financing, through Michalakis’ D&M Financial.

The homeowners they solicited often had limited income or poor credit. They would struggle to pay outright or qualify for a traditional loan.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate | Comments Off on “They put people out on the streets”

Subprime guidance “won’t make a dent in the subprime crisis”

Posted on July 6, 2007 by grim

From the Baltimore Sun:

New U.S. guidelines curb but don’t ban risky home loans

It won’t mean the end to no-income verification or high-risk mortgages for subprime homebuyers, but new guidance from federal financial regulators will almost certainly cut their availability sharply.

In a long-awaited policy statement on loans to borrowers with imperfect credit histories, federal financial regulators a week agourged banks, credit unions and their mortgage subsidiaries to verify income, assets and employment on all loans except in special cases where borrowers could demonstrate substantial financial reserves.
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The policy guidelines, which took effect immediately nationwide, also instructed lenders to underwrite adjustable-rate subprime mortgage applicants at the “fully indexed” interest rate, not at a deeply discounted teaser rate. During the housing boom years, many lenders had lured credit-impaired homebuyers into “2/28” and “3/27” adjustable-rate mortgages featuring discounted fixed payments for the first two or three years.

After the discount period, payments sometimes soared 50 percent or more, putting homebuyers in serious financial jams. Large numbers of those borrowers are now delinquent on their loan payments and at risk of foreclosure.

The new guidelines target other once-popular lender practices, but do not ban them outright. For example, many subprime 2/28 and 3/27 adjustable mortgages also carried heavy prepayment penalties – up to six months of interest – designed to discourage borrowers from refinancing before the end of the discounted rate period.
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The federal regulators also stressed that lenders should only approve subprime adjustable loans “based on the borrower’s ability to repay the loan according to its terms.” That doesn’t amount to a formal “suitability” test, but it does require lenders to determine that the loan is appropriate to the applicant’s financial status and capacity to handle payments.

The guidelines also instruct lenders to make certain that every subprime applicant understands the risks built into the loan itself, including higher costs in connection with any reduced documentation, prepayment penalties and the borrower’s responsibility to keep track of tax and insurance payments if the loan lacks an escrow account.

Consumer advocates generally welcomed the new guidelines but were quick to point out that they won’t make a dent in the subprime crisis or prevent lenders from issuing new mortgages with toxic features.

Not only must state financial regulators adopt mirror-image guidelines to cover mortgage brokers and independent lenders, but even then the guidelines “do not have the force of regulations” or law, said Allen Fishbein, director of housing and credit policy for the Consumer Federation of America.

Adoption of the new guidelines state by state “is going to take months, and in the meantime, a lot of consumers will still be getting loans with the same old harmful features,” said Fishbein.

Posted in National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 1 Comment

Frank targets hedge funds

Posted on July 6, 2007 by grim

From the New York Post:

HOUSE SET TO HOLD HEDGE FUND HEARINGS

Hedge funds will come under scrutiny next week when two separate House panels hold hearings on the government’s oversight of the lightly regulated sector.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said he will hold a July 11 hearing on hedge funds to learn how federal overseers “monitor systemic risk related to hedge funds and how that process might be improved.”

A separate July 11 hearing planned by a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee may yield more pointed questions. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who chairs the subcommittee, told CNBC last month that “when you have this huge amount of capital that is unregulated, there is a potential that investors could end up losing mightily because no one asks.”
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Turmoil in the market for subprime mortgages may be fueling new questions. One area of concern for the SEC is how hedge funds value their assets. Hedge funds sometimes invest in complex packages of loans known as collateralized debt obligations, which can be difficult to price because any valuation involves making estimates.

Posted in Politics, Risky Lending | 2 Comments

“We need to bring a sheriff to town.”

Posted on July 5, 2007 by grim

From the Wall Street Journal:

Mortgage Mess Shines Light on Brokers’ Role
Job-Hopping Mr. Shaikh Left Trail of Lawsuits, Failed License Exams
By RUTH SIMON and JAMES R. HAGERTY
July 5, 2007; Page A1

In 2005, World Savings Bank honored Secure Financial Inc. with a “Top Broker Award.” It was a tribute to the sales prowess of Zak Khan, who arranged more than a hundred mortgages out of the small real-estate firm’s Union City, Calif., office.

But Mr. Khan, a onetime professional cricket player, wasn’t all he seemed. For starters, his real name is Altaf A. Shaikh. Contrary to California law, he never held a license to broker mortgage loans. Still, he managed to find jobs at a variety of mortgage firms since 1997, leaving a trail of unhappy borrowers and a lengthening list of criminal charges and lawsuits filed against him.

As defaults pummel the home-loan industry, Mr. Shaikh represents an extreme case of one of the big vulnerabilities in the business: mortgage brokers. In recent years, these middlemen have assumed a crucial role in handling surging volumes of business for lenders. Today, mortgage brokers are involved in about 58% of home loans, up from 40% a decade ago, according to Wholesale Access, a research firm in Columbia, Md.

Mortgage brokers originate about half of loans made to borrowers with good credit. Their presence is even greater in other segments of the mortgage market where defaults are rising. Brokers originate about three-quarters of subprime mortgages made to borrowers with scuffed credit, according to Wholesale Access. They also originate 70% of so-called Alt-A mortgages, a gray area that falls between prime and subprime. World Savings, which gave the award to Mr. Shaikh’s employer, made prime and Alt-A loans.

Mortgage brokers didn’t set the standards for the many aggressive loans that are now going sour. But they provided the low-cost sales force that made it possible for lenders to quickly ramp up production without hiring employees. As business surged, some brokers put borrowers into loans they didn’t understand, couldn’t afford or were otherwise ill-suited for, one reason defaults have skyrocketed. In the worst cases, brokers have been known to falsify information and resort to other fraudulent means to get mortgage loans approved. Critics say regulators and lenders haven’t done nearly enough to insure the quality and integrity of this independent sales force.

“The mortgage brokers are the wild, wild West of mortgage finance,” Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, says in an interview. “We need to bring a sheriff to town.”

Posted in National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 173 Comments

“It’s naïve to assume the worst is past us…”

Posted on July 5, 2007 by grim

From Bloomberg:

U.S. Subprime Defaults Set to Rise, Credit Suisse’s Parker Says

Delinquencies and defaults on U.S. subprime mortgages will keep rising as problems in the housing market persist, said Robert Parker, vice chairman of Credit Suisse Asset Management.

The share of U.S. subprime mortgages entering default in the first quarter was the highest in almost five years, according to the U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association, as the country suffers its worst house-price decline since the 1930s.

“It’s naïve to assume the worst is past us in the U.S. subprime market,” Parker said at a bond market conference today in Hong Kong. “At least over the balance of this year, the subprime default rate will rise.”

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 7 Comments

Does the guidance go far enough?

Posted on July 5, 2007 by grim

From Inman:

Loan predators remain safe

If there was ever a time when federal regulators should be knocking heads it’s now. The plain truth about the subprime meltdown is that investors got greedy and lenders began looking the other way. There’s plenty of blame to go around but now the blame rests with those who should pass rules that stop the industry from manipulating the system.

Final subprime underwriting guidelines were released recently by the patchwork of federal regulators charged with overseeing the soundness of our banking system. (See FDIC press release from June 29, 2007.) Guidelines aren’t rules, they are suggestions. And they apply only to those lenders under jurisdiction of the federal agencies. Calling this a ho-hum approach is charitable.

It was almost predictable that regulators would emphasize the need for even more arcane disclosures to ensure that consumers will receive information they need about the features of these loans. They didn’t disappoint us. We’re headed for more mandatory disclosures that attempt to simplify what is a very complex transaction. Worse, lawyers – the last people who should be writing a simple explanation for anything, will write them.

The feds decided to sidestep any call for increased regulation of third-party originators, leaving that issue in the laps of wholesale buyers of loans from brokers. Not a good idea. Why? Nearly all of the disclosures are made at or within three days of loan application. That occurs long before a lender or investor sees the loan. Add to this the fact that some mandatory disclosures are so out of date they actually contribute to misleading borrowers.
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What the agencies failed to address was that many loan servicing agreements prohibit the servicer from modifying loan agreements entirely, or limit such modifications to no more than 5-10 percent of a total pool. Further, loan modification may run afoul of FASB Rule #140, which says that if a bank alters the terms of a loan it has pooled, it cannot keep the loan off its books. It must repurchase the loan, return it to the books, set aside a reserve for losses, and actively manage it. The industry is asking for relaxation of this rule.

Two years ago, these agencies wanted to tighten this rule to keep predation in control but were shouted down. Endless hearings will keep the issue on hold for a long time. Meanwhile predators who’ve survived the upheaval will design new and improved loan programs complete with premiums for delivering above par rates. How will this be resolved? By the entity that pumps the most money into congress for re-election campaigns.

Posted in National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 1 Comment

Real Estate Pornography

Posted on July 4, 2007 by grim

Came across an interesting piece out of Sydney. The piece is mainly about the Australian real estate market, but I thought the lead in was an interesting question and could make for an interesting discussion.

Are real estate ads ‘house’ porn?

Some say cooking magazines are ‘food porn’ because people love to look at the sexy dishes for titillation, but have no intention of taking it any further.

Can the same be said for those glossy real estate mags and newspapers – are they ‘housing porn’ by exposing your mind only to the fantasy of purchasing?

Posted in General | 53 Comments

NJ Legislators take aim at risky lending and fraud

Posted on July 4, 2007 by grim

From the Record:

Lenders: Mortgage proposals fall short

Lenders and investors are concerned over legislation taking aim at the mortgage industry in response to the subprime loan crisis.

A package of bills under discussion would require mortgage solicitors to be licensed, and lenders to better ensure that a mortgage applicant can afford the loan.

Two of the bills seek to protect financially distressed property owners from foreclosure consultants — private businesses that offer help in resolving the debt but in some cases defraud the homeowner and take their property.

The bills were sparked by concern at the number of adjustable-rate mortgages granted to high-risk borrowers who later couldn’t make the mortgage payments.

Representatives of mortgage bankers and real estate investors, however, say parts of the legislation are vague and overbroad and could hurt legitimate businesses. One bill could even scare investors away from bailing out distressed property owners, an investor group said.
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So far, only one of the bills — which were introduced in the last two months — has gotten committee approval. The bills include:

S-2646, which would impose more stringent licensing and educational requirements for mortgage solicitors, the middlemen who connect someone looking for a loan with a lender. Current law requires only that mortgage solicitors register with the state Department of Banking and Insurance. The bill would require them to be licensed by the department and to undergo a full background check, take at least 24 hours of training and pass an exam.

A-4213, which seeks to ensure that borrowers aren’t lured into a loan for which they can’t meet the payments. The bill — called the Teaser Rate Protection Act — would require lenders to make a “reasonable inquiry” into a borrower’s finances. It also would require the lender to determine whether an applicant can afford a mortgage by estimating the monthly payments using the interest rate over the entire life of the loan, not just in the early years when it is frequently lower. The bill also requires the lender to set up an escrow account to ensure that taxes, insurance premiums and other charges related to the property are collected and paid.

A-4214, called the Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act, which aims to bolster the rights of the homeowner in dealings with a foreclosure consultant, a private business that offers to help a distressed homeowner either by finding a loan or a buyer for the house. Parts of the bill also concern purchasers of distressed property.

S-2699, called the Foreclosure Consulting and Anti-Fraud Act, which would require foreclosure consultants to get a “debt adjuster” license from the Department of Banking and Insurance. The bill also would give the department regulatory power to define the licensing standards for consultants and would require applicants to undergo a background check. The proposed law also would enable someone damaged by a consultant who violates the law to claim punitive damages and attorney fees.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Risky Lending | Comments Off on NJ Legislators take aim at risky lending and fraud

Housing slump continues, contracts at 6yr low

Posted on July 4, 2007 by grim

From the Asbury Park Press:

Pending sales of homes hit hard in May

Pending sales of existing homes in May dropped to their lowest level in almost six years, a real estate trade group said Tuesday, demonstrating the persistence of the housing slump.

The 3.5 percent decline, compared with the previous month, follows a drop of 3.4 percent in April and a 4.5 percent dip in March. It leaves the National Association of Realtors’ index at its lowest point since September 2001.

Lawrence Yun, the association’s senior economist, said turmoil in the mortgage market is weighing on home sales, as lenders pull back from riskier mortgages to borrowers with weak credit histories.

“Some transactions are being postponed from mortgage market disruptions,” Yun said. While mortgage applications are increasing, some of that is a result of buyers seeking alternatives to subprime financing, he said.

The association’s index of pending home sales fell to 97.7 in May, from a downwardly revised figure of 101.2 in April. The May figure is 13.3 percent lower than the May 2006 reading of 112.7.

The index stood at 89.8 in September 2001. An index reading of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity in 2001.

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 1 Comment

Not always as they appear

Posted on July 3, 2007 by grim

From the Associated Press:

Housing data may mask crisis’ scope
It is possible that housing-market data is painting a brighter outlook than reality warrants.

Here’s a scary thought about the housing market: Things may be far worse than what’s already being revealed by the troubling government and industry statistics.

At issue is what goes into sales price data and what does not. When those numbers are crunched, many of the incentives that sellers are using to lure buyers — including cash rebates — aren’t being included. That suggests prices may be falling faster in many markets than is now being reported.

The same goes for how the mortgage-application indexes don’t account for the implosion of lenders. That could have the effect of masking a slowdown in demand, which is why the housing market could be in for rough sailing much longer than most anyone anticipates.
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Since what happens in housing has a far-reaching effect — it has rattled financial markets, caused dramatic tightening of lending standards and shaken consumer confidence — every bit of data is scrutinized for hints of whether a recovery is near or more trouble lies ahead.

There certainly has been plenty of bad news, but it might not even be giving a full picture of how difficult things really are.

For instance, the Commerce Department reported last week that the median sales price of new homes fell 0.9 percent in May from a year ago, after tumbling 10.9 percent in April.

But those numbers don’t include the thousands of dollars in lavish incentives like pool installation and closing costs that sellers are increasingly using to woo buyers. That means a home selling for $600,000 gets reported for that price even though all those extras technically are reducing the net sale price.
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Over the last decade, the year-on-year change in the MBA’s ”purchase applications index” has shown a 76 percent correlation with the year-on-year growth rate of the combined new and existing single-family home sales, lagged by one month, according to Goldman Sachs.

That might not be holding true now, since the index fails to account for some of the turmoil in the mortgage finance business. The purchase applications index is now showing a 9.5 percent rise for June from year-ago levels.

For one, the MBA survey refers to mortgage applications, not originations, which legally bind borrowers to the mortgage.

That is not a problem when lending standards are stable, but in times when lending standards are tightening — as they have been in recent months — more applications are rejected, and therefore, originations go down, according to the new Goldman report.
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Another problem is the survey represents about half of all mortgage applications, but Goldman says that sub-prime is slightly underrepresented. Lenders who have gone out of business — a regular occurrence in today’s markets, with dozens of mortgage lenders having imploded in recent months — might not be included in the sample. That could overstate its results.

The MBA acknowledges that its survey includes only lenders offering mortgages through retail branches, and that most lenders that have gone out of business aren’t in its sample because they were primarily subprime lenders relying on mortgage brokers. They also weren’t included when applications were soaring a few years ago, notes Jay Brinkmann, vice president of research and economics at the Washington-based MBA.
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How that plays out could tell much about the state of housing today, and whether the problems in that market are a lot more troubling than appears on the surface.

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 259 Comments

PA Gov. warns on ‘teasers’, ‘payment spikes’

Posted on July 3, 2007 by grim

From the Pocono Record:

‘Teaser’ rates on mortgages expiring

Gov. Ed Rendell urges homebuyers with adjustable rate mortgages to prepare for likely steep jumps in monthly payments and to tap state resources if they need help keeping their homes.

Adjustable rate mortgages offer low introductory interest rates — typically for the first two or three years — followed by a sudden interest hike based on an index. ARMs accounted for more than one-third of all loan originations in mid-2005, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

“A vast number of homebuyers entered into adjustable-rate mortgages in 2004 and 2005 and the low introductory ‘teaser’ rates on those loans are beginning to expire,” Rendell said in a statement.

“Many working families are facing tough situations as their monthly payments increase,” he added. “Homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages should contact their lenders to confirm when, and by how much, their payments will increase.”
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In addition to issuing loans with adjustable rates, some lenders also assess prepayment penalties if buyers try to pay off the loan early by refinancing into a new loan. This makes it difficult for some consumers to seek an alternative.

“We want to change the regulations in Pennsylvania to require mortgage originators to qualify borrowers under the fully-indexed rate and amortized repayment schedule,” Rendell said. “This would help protect consumers from being put into loans they can’t afford to pay back. There also needs to be clearer disclosures to help borrowers better understand their loans.”
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The department supports six bills in the General Assembly aimed at curbing abusive lending practices, increasing oversight of lenders and brokers through expanded licensing, and improving state access to foreclosure data.

Those bills, in the House Commerce Committee, are expected to be considered when the House returns after its summer recess, said Stephen Washington, chief of staff to Rep. John Siptroth, D-189. Siptroth is a member of that committee and prime sponsor of one of the bills.

Posted in National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 2 Comments