Tony D. Howell's (tonydhowell) Blog

                                OK, so I know there are plenty of people out there with more, but I just hit 20,000 points and I thought that it was pretty darn cool!  I never thought I would see even 10K when I first got started on here, but wow...I'm just amazed!  I've learned a lot and hope to...

Just a recap of what's changing this past week.  If you have some deals going on, these changes could affect you.Bear Stearns changed their product offerings on Friday. They suspended "No Ratio", NIVA, and "No Doc", all second home and investment loans, and their "No MI" programs.Citi (at the ris...

You've seen this game on every table at every one of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores.  I don't know the actual name for this little thing but it's a triangular piece of wood with 15 holes and 14 golf tees that is designed to frustrate and make us all fell like morons.                       ...

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How many of you Realtors have heard the phrase, "We offer the BEST rates and customer service"?  I'm sure you all have, but how many loan orignators can back that statement up by reliable third party validation?  Olympic Mortgage Consultants, Inc. can!We were recently "shopped" by someone from th...

On 8/3/2007 ActaiveRain hit 41,000 members.  In just 5 days over 1,000 new members have been added to our community.  The popularity is growing folks!  I truly believe that we are seeing exponential growth here and will see 50,000 in less than 2 weeks.  I also think we will see that figure double...

In the wake of all the mortgage gloom and doom, National City has also ceased to accept new loan applications.  This latest news adds to a list of major players out of the business.  OwnIt Mortgage, Fremont General Corporation, Ameriquest, H&R Block Mortgage, SouthStar Funding, Flick Mortgage/Mor...

Well as they say, "Another one bites the dust!"  Aegis Mortgage has folded because of the weakening secondary market.  Here is an article from http://www.chron.com confirming the latest news.Lenders that focused on mortgages enjoyed tremendous growth during the housing boom, but now a credit crun...

Yep, I hate to admit it, but today has just been one of those days. So I'm getting ready to pull out of this bank parking lot and there was a SUV in front of me.  We were both turning right onto a busy street.  As I looked at him, he pulled forward and to the right.  I assumed he was going on int...

Here is a video briefly explaining what happened with American Home Mortgage last week.  http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=456595341In short, it talks about the secondary market that funds Alt-A loans and how Wall Street investors just stopped buying those types of mortgage backed securities....