This, as the expression goes, should be interesting.

Teutul is likely to be a strong competitor because — whether a fan or not — he’s an actual, real-life entrepreneur, someone who started with nothing and went on to create several working businesses as well as a TV franchise. His American Chopper series on Discovery has been a major cable TV hit and ended the season strongly with a three-way bike build-off between Jesse James, son Paul Jr. and himself. In the end, Paul Sr. and his Orange County Choppers finished a distant third in the motorcycle design contest with the winner being his son and PJD Designs

Teutul has also known his share of adversity, including an impoverished and difficult childhood, as a mortgage borrower who faced the foreclosure of his headquarters building by the lender, and as a father who has been publicly estranged from his sons Dan, Paul, Jr., and Mikey.

As much as his successes, it’s probably his faults and failures which make Teutul interesting — and human.

Each of the contestants vies not only for Trump’s adoration but also for a charity. Teutul will use his winnings to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization which provides grants to support the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

Questions

Having Paul Sr. on Celebrity Apprentice raises several questions.

First, did the Celebrity Apprentice get the right Teutul? There’s an argument to be made that Paul Jr. would have been the better contestant because of his popularity and success.

Second, does the appearance on the Trump program signal that Paul Sr. will have a different role on the next edition of American Chopper; that is, will the program be more focused on his son? Will there be an expanded role for Jesse James or no role?

Third, which program benefits more — American Chopper or Celebrity Apprentice — from the appearance of Paul Sr?

Fourth, can anyone see a Trump cycle in the future? Even better, can anyone imagine Trump riding down Fifth Avenue on such a creation, hair blowing in the wind….

Fifth, what happens if Trump gets involved in a contentious political debate? How will that impact Celebrity Apprentice? Will there be higher instant ratings but less long-term appeal?

Contestants

For the 2012 edition of the show, NBC Entertainment says the new cast will be the largest ever with 18 contestants waiting to hear who will be fired by Trump on each segment.

The men are: late-night legend Arsenio Hall, pop star Clay Aiken, radio host Adam Carolla, the “Incredible Hulk” Lou Ferrigno, magician/comedian Penn Jillette, rock star Dee Snider, actor George Takei, IndyCar legend Michael Andretti, and star of “American Chopper,” Paul Teutul, Sr.

The women are: supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, pop star Debbie Gibson, actress and multi-Grammy winner Tia Carrere, author and reality star Victoria Gotti, comedienne Lisa Lampanelli, former Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, singer and actress Aubrey O’Day, actress and model Patricia Velasquez, and star of “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” Teresa Giudice.

American Chopper’s Paul Sr. To Join Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice is a post from: OurBroker.com -- Refinance, Home Mortgage Loans & Rates, Home Equity Loan

Technorati Tags: American Chopper, bike, bikes, builders, building, Celebrity Apprentice, chopper, cure, custom, Donald Trump, foreclosure, headquarters, Jesse, Jesse James, junior, lender, loan, Mikey, mortgage, motorcycle, OCC, Orange County Chopper, Paul, Paul Jr., Paul Sr., payments, PJD, president, presidential, Rick, rightsizing, senior, short sale, son, Teutel, Trump

“If somebody wants to buy a house,” he told CNN’s Piers Morgan, “it’s virtually impossible to get the money from a bank. And it’s — even if they have good credit. Even when mortgages are coming due, and people that have been paying a mortgage for 10 and 15 and 20 years, they can’t get money or they can’t get an extension from a bank. So the banks are really not behaving properly, that can I tell you.”

Really? I’d argue that mortgages today are widely available, as millions of people in just the past year can attest.

For instance, the National Association of Realtors says existing home sales were running at an annual rate of 4.97 million units in October — that’s up 13.5 percent from a year ago. If people can’t get mortgages then how are they buying homes? Yes, some buyers pay cash — 29 percent — but that means 71 percent got financing when they bought and 71 percent of 4.97 million existing home sales tells us that 3.5 million existing home transactions involved a mortgage.

Of course, people use mortgage money not only to buy real estate but also to refinance. The Veterans Administration, as one example, reports in fiscal 2011 that the government guaranteed 357,600 VA loans, including 186,600 purchase money mortgages and 171,000 refinances. Obviously, for these folks, mortgages were not “virtually impossible” to get, they are instead entirely accessible.

The same is true with FHA loans. In fiscal 2011 the government insured 777,521 purchase money mortgages and 420,561 loans to refinance, a total of 1,271,211 FHA loans.

Not everyone got an FHA loan. But roughly four out of five applicants did. There were 1,603,669 FHA mortgage applications in fiscal 2011, meaning 332,458 did not go through. But in any year some portion of all loans applications are declined or withdrawn, often for reasons which have nothing to do with the financing — think of a home with a structural problem or title issue.

And surely the mortgage business is not so bad for mortgage bankers. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that “independent mortgage banks and subsidiaries made an average profit of $1,263 on each loan they originated in the third quarter of 2011, up from $575 per loan in the second quarter of 2011.”

In addition, said the MBA, “average production volume was $237 million per company (or 1,114 loans per company) in the third quarter of 2011, up from $174 million per company (or 866 loans per company) in the second quarter of 2011.”

You have to ask: If mortgages are “virtually impossible” to get then why have origination profits more than doubled? Why are originations up?

Loan Rates

It’s hardly a tough time to get a mortgage because home prices are about 19.1 percent lower nationwide than in April 2007 and mortgage rates are in the dumper. In recent weeks Freddie Mac has reported that both fixed rate mortgages and ARMs have been at record lows.

NAR says that as a result of falling home prices and low mortgage rates that affordability is at its highest and best level in years — something that could not happen without the ready availability of FHA, VA and conventional mortgage financing.

For background and more information, see Four Foreclosure Financing Myths on RealtyTrac.com.

Why Trump Is Wrong On Mortgages is a post from: OurBroker.com -- Refinance, Home Mortgage Loans & Rates, Home Equity Loan

Technorati Tags: affordability, applications, candidate, conventional, debate, Donald, election, FHA, loan, mortgage, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Realtors, president, presidential, Trump, VA

We have red states, we have blue states and increasingly we have purple states, beat-up states with substantial and growing numbers of foreclosures, states that may well decide the next presidential election.

The foreclosure issue is being politicized because it’s too big to ignore and too many people are being impacted. Foreclosures are an emerging issue because they lead to reduced local home values and home values are one of the key measures of personal success. Foreclosures are front-page news, they’re effecting financial markets worldwide and for the first time in decades the lending system, foreclosure practices and bankruptcy rules may all be changed.

“The growing political importance of the foreclosure issue cannot be ignored,” says Jim Saccacio, Chairman and CEO at RealtyTrac.com, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties. “Conservative or liberal, democrat or republican, falling real estate prices caused by soaring foreclosure levels are an issue everyone can understand. If it’s true that all politics are local, nothing is more local than the home where you live.”

There’s a growing consensus in Washington that “something must be done” and a recognition that the present system is inadequate. With a need to capture the moderate middle to win the next election, politicians are now in a contest to see who can do more about the expanding foreclosure meltdown.

The Purple States: Foreclosed America

The political system is set up to assure that both large and small states are well-represented in Washington. Every state has two senators as well as a congressional delegation related to population size. By themselves, the top ten foreclosure states represent 20 of the 100 senate seats as well as 183 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives (42 percent).

The foreclosure states will play a pivotal role in the upcoming presidential election. In the U.S. we do not elect presidents by direct popular vote, instead we have an “electoral college” which consists one elector for each house and senate seat plus three for the District of Columbia, a total of 538.

To control the U.S. government you need 51 senators, 218 house members and 270 electoral votes. The number of house, senate and electoral seats represented by the 10 top foreclosure states are not enough, by themselves, to gain control of the government. But any candidate or party that wins the purple states will also win the next presidential election. Here’s why:

The Purple States Coalition

In terms of the presidency, the purple states represent 203 of the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. Seen the other way, of the 335 electoral votes outside the purple zone a candidate would need to capture just 67 votes to win the presidency — one-fifth of all other electoral votes. This could be done with victories in few as 13 states, the 10 purple jurisdictions plus New York (31 electoral votes), Illinois (21) and Pennsylvania (also 21).

A winning presidential campaign does not guarantee a house or senate majority but it surely helps those affiliated with a winning national ticket. The Founders shrewdly engineered a system where the states needed to win the presidency and the house are insufficient by themselves to control the senate. It’s entirely possible for one party to win the presidency and lose one or both houses of congress.

What’s important about a purple-based campaign is that a candidate with limited funds or a minority of national support could concentrate on the ten largest foreclosure states and still mount a competitive — and winning — presidential effort.

Possible Planks

There’s no single purple-states approach that guarantees a presidential victory, but according to the Mortgage Bankers Association we know there are some 50 million loans outstanding and that 35 percent of all residences are owned mortgage-free. The key issue that unites both those who are indebted and those without mortgages is the desire to maintain property values — something not possible with large numbers of foreclosures.

How could a candidate package a model foreclosure platform?

It’s fairly clear, as Mr. Einstein explained, that more of the same won’t work. As to what might work, candidates can pick and choose from a wide variety of possible planks and actions. Here are some of the choices that are readily available:

• Being the candidate who will “protect our property.”
• Creating localized “photo ops” by visiting homes being foreclosed as cameras roll.
• Advocating a six-month foreclosure moratorium — think of the banking holiday under Franklin Roosevelt.
• Advocating periodic and lifetime interest rate caps for all adjustable-rate mortgages equal to 1 percent per year and no more than 5 percent over the life of the loan.
• Requiring loan officers to be licensed and to have a fiduciary obligation to get the best rates and terms for individual borrowers.
• Banning negative amortization in all residential loans.
• Banning all prepayment penalties except to the extent that a lender pays cash at closing to reduce settlement costs.
• Requiring loan documents to include the name and license number of the loan officer who sold the loan and the underwriter who approved the documentation.
• Amending bankruptcy laws to provide greater equality between borrowers and debtors, specifically rejecting current rules which prevent a modification of residential mortgage debt.
• Creating federal laws against predatory lending. Right now there are no federal laws which prevent lenders from selling subprime loans to borrowers with better credit or otherwise overcharging.
• Allowing closing agents to offer rebates on title insurance. Title insurance commissions often equal more than 70 percent of premium costs, but laws in most jurisdictions prohibit rebates and the result is virtually no price competition.
• Permitting lenders to bundle and sell closing services. This would reduce settlement expenses because lenders are always in the market for closing services and have leverage in the marketplace; that is, they could get a better deal than individual borrowers. Bundle prices would have to be disclosed in truth-in-lending statements.

Are these “radical” platform choices? To many lenders, absolutely. But the majority of people with a vote are not lenders.
————————

Published originally by RealtyTrac.com during October 2007 and posted with permission.

Will Foreclosures Change The Presidential Election? is a post from: OurBroker.com -- Refinance, Home Mortgage Loans & Rates, Home Equity Loan

Technorati Tags: election, Foreclosures, McCain, Obama, president, presidential