"Greed is good." Those are the now famous words spoken by Gordon Gekko, one of the lead characters in Oliver Stones movie, Wall Street. We have all experienced both the good side of this motivational tool and the bad. Before we entered into the new century, the mortgage industry was embargoed from making loans to borrowers with a poor credit history and lack of supportable income because we were all operating under the guidelines established by the consortium of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA. ...read more

Subprime lending has many faces: the first time buyer reaching for a home of his/her own, a speculator riding the crest of rising real estate values, the real estate agent or broker discovering ways to close more deals, a homebuilder to liquidating inventory, Wall Street finding a plethora of new products, and more and more and more. All this based on credit standards that reached beyond credit guidelines proven safe over years of experience. In many ways the artificial exuberance of the dot comm. boom/bust is being replayed...read more