The Utah Association of Mortgage Brokers annual conference is coming up in October (the 25th, to be exact). It’s a free event for loan officers and brokers and should be a good time. Here’s a link to more info and registration.

If you are planning on going drop me a line so we can say hello.

I was very interested to read a story in a recent edition of Business 2.0 magazine about a guy that works remotely as he travels the world - he calls himself the working nomad. This was particularly interesting to me because it’s been somewhat of a dream of mine to try this exact thing at some point in my life. Perhaps someday I will pack up and wander off but until then thank you WM for rekindling the dream!

On an unrelated note, I saw Stardust yesterday and must give a glowing recommendation (pun intended, I guess). See it if you haven’t, it’s a great show.

I know, I know, I haven’t posted much mortgage-related material lately but what can I say… the industry is sort of in free fall right now and I’d rather think/write about happier things.

Soooooooo… that being said, check out the Utah Pig Crew Bus a group of die hard Utah fans are converting.

WOOOHOOOO!!!

Gads I haven’t posted in quite some time. Summer has flown by. The wholesale mortgage landscape is going crazy right now - subprime lenders are dropping like flies. It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

In other Utah news… football season is almost here and this year should be a fun one for Utah fans. Sorry BYU fans - you’ll most likely be back to another losing season

Home prices here haven’t started falling, that I know of, but I suspect it won’t be too long til we catch up with the rest of the country. Hold on tight kids it’s going to be an interesting ride.

For those of you who aren’t already aware, the mortgage business is going through a period of self-correction right now. By that I mean there are several loan programs that have drastically changed or gone completely extinct over the past month or two. This is both good and bad news.

Many have criticized the biggest lenders for accepting borrowers over the last decade or so that were too risky for traditional tastes, without making adjustments for more equity or mortgage insurance. Some even believed this would ultimately create a “credit bubble” that would eventually burst and cause widespread turmoil in housing both for businesses and homeowners. Well, we’re sort of seeing that right now. Foreclosures are way up and lenders are dropping like flies. The stock market has taken a beating because of all this as well.

The bad news is that it’s now harder for people with bad credit to get home financing and/or refinance their current loans. The good news is that hopefully the industry will learn a great deal from this experience and be able to prevent such a situation from occurring again in the future.

So, more than ever, if you want to buy a home be sure to make your payments on time, save up a little money for a down payment, and try not to overextend yourself with debt.

It’s only fitting that I follow up my last post about Ray Giacolletti leaving Utah with a post about his successor, Jim Boylen, Utah’s new men’s basketball head coach. It will be interesting to see how Boylen does as a first-time head coach, but so far all indications point to him being a top-notch coach.

I don’t spend all my time working on mortgages, and can often be found cheering on the University of Utah in football or basketball. The last two basketball seasons have been particularly frustrating for Utah fans, and today Coach Ray Giacoletti resigned from his post as head coach.

The news is bittersweet because Coach Giac did take the Utes to a sweet sixteen in his first year, though it appears now that was mostly thanks to the player Bogut turned out to be. For that season anyway, it appeared the Utes had another fine coach that would continue the legacy of Utah Basketball.

At any rate, it will be exciting to see who Dr. Chris Hill brings in as Giac’s replacement. And now it’s back to work…

Somehow, I doubt there will ever be a satisfactory answer to the question “why?” relating to the killing spree last night at Trolley Square.  Words fail to express what one feels and thinks at times like these, yet a desire to reach out to victims and families of victims won’t allow for comfortable silence.

I live two blocks from Trolley Square, and though safely hidden behind locked door and (as it turns out) far from any danger, the beat of helicopter blades overhead and sirens two streets away made the surreal images on the television a tad more real.  I can’t even imagine what the experience must have been like for those in the mall.

To those around Salt Lake who are now struggling with loss from last night: God bless you!  Though I probably don’t know you, I feel for you and hope the best for you.

A fellow loan officer from Delaware has created his own mortgage blog, patterned largely after things I did with this site.  It will be fun to watch his new site ascend the ranks of Delaware Mortgages and begin to bring him (more) fame, fortune, and most importantly new friends (otherwise known as clients).  Good luck, John!

Inman News published a report that we may be seeing some new legislation that would mortgage fraud a second degree felony here in Utah.  We’re currently the second worst state in the nation for mortgage fraud (source), per capita.

As it stands now, the bill would view mortgage fraud much like racketeering, which would allow the state to seize illegally gotten assets in order to provide restitution to victims.

This would be a welcome change, in my opinion.   I’m not big on bigger goverment, but this is clearly a case where the goverment should be involved because it involves the enforcement of property rights.

Rep. Paul Ray from Clearfield is helping push this through - thanks Paul!