Strong Lender = Strong Deal Normally, when Realtors think about financially qualifying a home Buyer, they think about what the listing agent — representing the Seller — does. Stuff like vetting the Buyer’s Pre-approval Letter (and making sure there is one!); interviewing the Buyer’s lender once an offer comes in; making sure the Buyer’s earnest...Read More
Revisiting the “‘They-All-Did-It’ Defense”They all did it, right? That is, all the big-time U.S. commercial and investment banks got swept up in the rush to cash in the housing market boom — issuing subprime mortgages, booking origination fees, and re-selling securitized debt as fast as they could create it. Right? Wrong. It turns out that,...Read More
Name the Country’s *Banking Capital See you how do on this quick financial quiz: In order of total market cap (“capitalization,” or entity value), calculated as of today (1/14/09), rank the following pairs of banks and their headquarters cities: —Citigroup and JP Morgan (New York City)–Bank of America and Wachovia (Charlotte)–Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank...Read More
