Comments on: Weighing in on Wall Street

By: Mike Rausa

Mike Rausa — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:27:42 +0000

It’s unbelievable how much fraud took place during the real estate boom. Many of my clients are struggling to get back on their feet from the real estate downturn. I offer free consultations to people nationwide that just need to understand Loan Modification, Short Sales, Bankruptcy, and Credit Repair.

Mike Rausa (760) 402-8690

By: Kris Berg

Kris Berg — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:25:44 +0000

LH – Not an uncommon sentiment, and sentiments are certainly running high this week.

Sven – Fortunately, I didn’t run out and invest my retirement fund based on your advice. Welcome to the real world. None of us truly has a clue what is going to happen next if we are entirely honest, because few of us have seen anything like this perfect storm in our lifetimes.

By: Sven

Sven — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:26:56 +0000

Turns out I was very wrong about WaMu. It’s funny that things are going so far south that a slightly bullish prediction from me (mr pessimist here) was still way to bullish.

By: Links Back to the Week That Was 9/21

Links Back to the Week That Was 9/21 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:06:33 +0000

[...] financial mess, and this is one of the best for tying it together with real estate. I found it on Kris Berg’s San Diego Home Blog. Kris’ lead-in is also funny, so read her post if you get a chance. If she were much [...]

By: Lake Homes

Lake Homes — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:52:22 +0000

I think the only victims in this were the hard working people with honest loans who knew what they were getting into and could afford what they were getting into. AIG was not a victim… huge payouts to top execs….. this mess was caused by greed at all levels and a government that did not do their job. Welcome to 2009….. the second great depression!

By: Sven

Sven — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:31:24 +0000

There used to be an old saying in the mortgage industry: “All mortgages end at Lehmann”. Lehmann and Bear Sterns were the two top securitizers of mortgages during the real estate boom, and they basically dictated the lending standards. In other words, people always say don’t blame the mortgage brokers because they were just working off the standards they were given… well Lehmann and Bear (and other investment banks) wrote the standards they were given. It wasn’t just the two of them, but they hold significant responsibility in the whole subprime mess and the overinflated housing prices of today(or yesterday I guess). It actually is nice poetic justice to see a 150 year old monolith of greedy, old people with money crumble to the ground. I feel bad for AIG though. They were a victim in all this, but that’s the insurance business.

That being said, I actually made a nice chunk of cash investing in puts for Lehmann a few months ago when all the wall street analysts were putting “buy” ratings on it. I’ve been really spot on with my predictions so far. Here’s a positive prediction.. I don’t think WaMu is going bankrupt. If they do get to that point, I’m positive they would be acquired because the retail banking side of their business is so valuable. IndyMac had an average account size of something crazy like $50,000 would made them very exposed to people fearing the FDIC limits. As long as WaMu has such a massive quantity of individuals with much smaller accounts, the stable potential for borrowing with their assets is still huge.

How can you make money on this? Well, I sure as hell wouldn’t buy any of their stock, but a WaMu bond probably has like a 80% yield right now. It’s definitely a high risk play, but, if you got some money lying around and feel like rolling the dice with it… (all possible disclaimer’s apply here, i.e. check with a financial professional, blah blah blah)