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192-TNG Radio – Ivan Choi 9-18-10

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Ivan Choi

President of REOMac


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September 17th, 2010, The Norris Group returns with its award winning event I Survived Real Estate 2010. The Norris Group has assembled an incredible line up of industry experts to discuss the state of REO from the inside. Topics will include regulatory intervention and aftermath, bulk buying, myths and facts, and opportunities emerging for real estate professionals. 100 percent of the proceeds support the Orange County affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. This event would not be possible without generous help from the following platinum partners: Foreclosure Radar and Sean O’Toole, the San Diego Creative Real Estate Investors Association and Bill Tan, Investors Workshops and Shawn Watkins and Angel Bronsgeest, Invest Club for Women and Iris Veneracion and Bobby Alexander, Claudia Buys Houses, The Business Press, Frye Wiles, MVT Productions, and White House Catering.

This week Bruce is joined by Ivan Choi. He is a fifteen year veteran in mortgage banking with a background in finance, technology, retail loan origination, and servicing. He just started his own company called Savia Home Loans. Also, he is president of REOMac; a national non-profit trade organization.

Ivan currently lives in Corona, and previously lived in Irvine. For the last 15 years he has been working in retail mortgage banking. For 14 of those years, he worked with Countrywide Home Loan, which was acquired by Bank of America. He worked with Bank of America for another year, and then decided to start his own mortgage banking company. He has a second job with a national REO outsourcing company.

Mortgage banking is different than mortgage brokering. A mortgage broker originates loans, and puts them through to a major bank for funding. The broker attempts to find the best possible fit, and best possible pricing, for the homebuyer. The mortgage banker is fulfilling loans directly out of their own funding capacity. The money that a mortgage banker uses is essentially his or her own.

Presently, it is very difficult to start a mortgage banking company, because of the meltdown. Another prominent mortgage executive, who worked with one of the big banks until 2008, decided to start his own mortgage banking company. The biggest warehouse line he was able to get was worth about $700,000. That is not worth a week’s worth of loans.

Once your loan money is entirely lent out, you can try to keep that loan in your books, or you can try to sell it to an investor. That investor will provide you with liquidity to buy and sell another loan. You can either sell the underlying note and service the loan yourself, or you can sell both the note and the servicing rights. This is not understood by all people, but servicing rights to the loan has a certain monetary value as well.

In 2006, mortgage bankers were amazed by how generous loan guidelines were. On the flip side, when the mortgage market melted down, Ivan could not believe how difficult it was to obtain credit. We swung the pendulum from allowing too many people to obtain credit, to now allowing too few to obtain it. What is traditionally observed as a “makes sense” loan is now very difficult to obtain.

The present model of mortgage banking is that an originator makes a lot of loans for home buyers, they then package those loans into securities and sell them on the secondary market. Unfortunately, the demand for those securities in the secondary market has dried up, so we no longer have the liquidity that mortgage originators relied on to make loans in the first place. That is why many of those “makes sense” loans can no longer be made today. Currently, Fannie, Freddie, and FHA make up over 70% of the business for mortgage originators and lenders.

New Vista Asset Management Company is a San Diego-based company established 4 years ago by two veterans of the mortgage banking business. The two partners, Jim Park and Jerry Acosta, have a lot of connections both in the mortgage industry and the political world. New Vista serves as an REO asset management company. Any bank that cannot handle REO inventory can hire a company like New Vista to offload those REOs. New Vista is special because it is a multicultural company. Normally, Ivan does not pay attention to the cultural differences between companies, however, this is currently a significant difference because the government is more willing to work with culturally diverse businesses.

Inventory levels have changed pretty dramatically over the last couple years. Foreclosure inventory has been building up for the past couple years. This is because the foreclosure process has slowed down. Ivan believes it will take another 6 to 12 months before we can feel that we are in a foreclosure market. This will be a big relief for real estate agents, because many of them were hurt in 2007 and 2008.

Ivan defines “shadow inventory” as the backlog of foreclosures that have not yet finished the foreclosure process. When people use the term shadow inventory, they often use it to imply there was some evil conspiracy by big banks and the government to artificially hold in properties from the market to do 1 of 2 things: 1) to hold properties back and parcel them out, on a limited basis, to preserve valuations and earn a better return than what they would have received. 2) Mortgage bankers are holding inventory from the market to play magic accounting on the backside, which enables them to put out good quarterly earnings reports, so that their stocks won’t drop. As a former worker for Countrywide and Bank of America, Ivan believes these theories to be untrue.

Fannie and Freddie have double the REOs from last year, but the REO agents do not. Fannie expects approximately 1 million properties to finish the foreclosure process between the 4th quarter of 2010 and the 1st quarter of 2011. Asset management companies and banks can only process so many of those properties. Ivan believes that California cities are probably not capable of getting rid of that many properties with their current level of staff.

In 2008, Mike Novak-Smith had 900 REO listings. Today, he has 105, yet Fannie has double their amount of REOs. There does seem to be a disconnect between their ability to get properties onto the market. Perhaps the players have shifted, and the GSEs are understaffed.

On another topic, delinquencies are very high. In California, delinquency numbers have gone from 5% to 12% in the last 18 months, yet foreclosure numbers have gone down. Bruce believes that lenders do not actually own all these properties. Bruce believes that banks are refusing to foreclose on properties.

The government is involved in the foreclosure process now. There is a huge motivation for the federal government to modify loans or do short sales. The major servicers are now paranoid about going through the normal foreclosure process now, because if they do not fully document everything without offering ever possible solution to the borrower, the government will attack them. If the government believes the lender could have offered a loan modification but chose not to, then the lender gets dragged through the mud. There is a lot of pressure on the lenders to find other solutions.

REOMAC is having an educational event in October in Hollywood, Florida. The title of the event is “New Challenges, New Approaches”. The industry is preparing for a very different new year. Banks and servicers must satisfy their homeowners and their loan investors. At the same time, the government is beating up the banks. The end result is that we have a lot of government initiative and legal changes. The servicer must still find a way to make everyone happy, including the loan investor who has ultimate responsibility for the underlying note. Ivan believes many of the changes in 2011 will be legal related. Ivan does not believe there will be much of a change in public perception, because now everyone has had their shot at beating up people involved in the real estate industry.

The REO business is a very low margin business, and you must have a big team to run a lot of volume. REO inventory has decreased so dramatically that many professional REO broker shops have had to lay off people in the midst of the impending surge in inventory. All the good REO brokers are trying to figure out ways to scale up rapidly, because they don’t want to get caught with their pants down. It’s a Catch 22, because you can’t staff up too far in advance, but you still want to be ready when the opportunity hits.

HAFA guidelines were released on April 1st. Those guidelines were a game changer, because it caused the government to be heavily involved in mortgage servicing and foreclosure processing. Ivan does not believe that short sales will pick up to the high degree that we need them to pick up. Short sale numbers are increasing right now, but when you compare the overall number of short sales to the number of foreclosures, you can see that short sale numbers are still very small. REO is where all the business is going to go.

The event for REOMAC is taking place on October 20th thru the 23rd in Hollywood, Florida. It is the 25th anniversary of a very worthwhile organization.

For more information about The Norris Group’s California hard money loans or our California Trust Deed investments, visit the website or call our office at 951-780-5856 for more information. For upcoming California real estate investor training and events, visit The Norris Group website and our California investor calendar. You’ll also find our award-winning real estate radio show on KTIE 590am at 6pm on Saturdays or you can listen to over 170 podcasts in our free investor radio archive.

Thank you for being a Gold Sponsor for I Survived Real Estate 2010: Adrenaline Athletics, Benton Investment Group, Community RE-Invest Group, Delmae Properties, Elite Auctions, Entrust California, Everlast Photography, Inland Empire Investors Forum, Keystone CPA, Landwood Title, Las Brisas Escrow, Leivas Financial Services, Mike Cantu, North San Diego Real Estate Investors Association, Northern California Real Estate Investors Association, Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine, Realty 411 Magazine, San Jose Real Estate Investor Association, Rick and LeeAnne Rossiter, San Jose Real Estate Investor Association, Starz Photography, Summit Solutions, Tony Alvarez, Wealth Point, and Westin South Coast Plaza.

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160-TNG Radio – Philip Tirone 2-6-10

Friday, February 5th, 2010

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Philip Tirone

The Mortgage Equity Group, Inc. and www.7Stepsto720.com

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This week Bruce is joined by Philip Tirone. Philip is the president of the Mortgage Equity Group, and author of Seven Steps to a 720 Credit Score.

At the beginning of the second quarter of 2010, the Fed may not be the MBS-arm. This role may go back to the private sector. If this happens, Philip believes it would cause a disaster which would lock up the entire industry. The Federal Reserve has been helping the problem. The Fed will go from buying nothing to buying $800 billion in order to prop up the economy. Philip believes the Federal Reserve will reach a time in which they will no longer be able to continuously buy. However, both Bruce and Philip agree that the Fed’s limit will not be reached before April.

Right now, people have the mentality that they should not refinance unless they can get a value under 5 percent, but rates are at their lowest in over 60 years. Philip believes that if the rates increased to 6 percent, then the public would have a significant shift in their desire to buy. Philip thinks that if this increase occurs, some people will simply wait for rates to return to the previous low value. Unfortunately, if the government removes its influence from the market, Philip thinks there is a chance that the rate may return to a rate much higher than 6 percent. Bruce believes this sort of change would be very harmful.

We do not currently have enough buyers in the market, because the government is still paying people $8,000 to buy homes. This tax credit has helped realtors greatly in making deals.

For every 1 percent increase in the mortgage rate, the buying power is reduced by 15 percent. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are maxing out the back end ratio at 45 percent. The government is trying to stimulate the housing market by keeping rates low, and by buying billions of dollars of debt.

Philip thinks the back end ratio is preventing more loans than the front end, because the front end is simply like a point of interest, but the back end is like a deal breaker.

In Riverside, the home payment does not typically exceed rate. You would think this would make it easy for these citizens to qualify, but many of them have car payments and credit card debt which takes away their qualifying ability. This sort of problem is not something you can change over night, and it is causing a large number of losses in the number of home buyers.

The media has done a good job at scaring people into believing that they are underwater. In Philip’s area, with FHA, you can buy a $750,000 home with only 3.5 to 4 percent down. The problem is that people have now been conditioned to believe that they are incapable of qualifying for a loan. Some people believe that loan qualification currently requires a 30 percent down payment.

Philip has seen many people make strategic defaults on their payments. Philip recently talked to a man who had $150,000 in debt, and was underwater on his payments by $5,000. This man decided he was going to negotiate with all of his money lenders. He stopped paying his debts with the realization that his credit would go down. He then called his lenders and told them that he was will to negotiate for 15 cents on the dollar, payable over six months. He then began to receive threats from the lenders. His home lender threatened to get him put in jail. Nothing happened for 5 or 6 months, but later on he was able to settle for 22 cents on the dollar with his credit card debt. He later said that everyone he talked to about modifications was giving him a different story. Each industry had something different to say about modification. Philip doesn’t even think that the major banks like Bank of America currently understand everything about loan modifications.

Two years ago, strategic defaults would have been looked down on, but now many people consider it acceptable. Bruce has even heard that some college campuses are encouraging people to strategically default. Presently, about 11 percent of people are delinquent on their payments, but if we allow people to strategically default, then things could get worse. Philip thinks that the problem is that we are rewarding people that are behind on their mortgage payments. Those people gave their lenders their word that they would pay, but they have not kept their promise. Philip thinks that people who are current on their payments are getting angry, because they feel like all bad borrowers are being rewarded, but they are being damaged for doing the right thing. Philip thinks some of these good borrowers want to take revenge on the banks via strategic default. Bruce can understand that mentality, but this debt that is being incurred from these defaults is hurting us all in the future.

The fact that it is sometimes significantly cheaper to rent can be demotivational for some home owners. Another problem is that lenders are not being aggressive in foreclosing on properties. For example, Bruce knew someone who had not made a payment for 2 years, and their property went to sale. This person bought the home for $400,000, and then refinanced for $800,000. After the two years without payment passed, the lender opened the trustee sale at $400,000, but no one bid on the property. The lender then canceled the trustee sale and contacted the severely delinquent borrowers in attempt to make a deal. In the end, these two-year delinquent borrowers had all of their back debt forgiven, a $400,000 principal deduction, and a 2 percent interest deduction. When people hear those kinds of stories, it encourages people to strategically default as well.

Philip has asked people, through his blog, about whether or not they know someone who is not making payments on their home. Philip has received many comments from these people. When Philip hears people tell these stories he thinks, “Would you treat your kids this way?” Now that he is a father, he frequently thinks about the values he is teaching his children. Considering this, he would not want to encourage his children to damage other people through strategic default.

Bruce thinks there is big moral problem that develops when you reward people for making bad financial decisions. If a person loses a home, they will learn to not over borrow. When we reward people who are losing their homes, they will learn to expect someone else to take care of the problems they create. People view the real estate bubble busting in a different way that they view the stock bubble busting. Bruce knows people who lost 90 percent of their stock value within 6 months, but they couldn’t complain to someone about receiving bailout money. We have not treated our real estate problems in this way.

Some people did not put money down on their homes, so they did not truly have a financial commitment to their house. The lenders are the people who are really taking the hit on foreclosed homes. Bruce thinks many of those lenders deserved to take that hit, but rather than paying for the foreclosure problems out of their own pockets, they are making tax payers cover their mistakes.

Bruce asks if lenders are doing loan modifications for jumbo loans with the same program as Fannie Mae, or if they are making individual decisions. Philip says that the banks are making individual decisions for jumbo loan modifications, and he does not understand the reasoning behind their choices. Philip believes that banks are lying to borrowers, because they are giving different explanations for their decisions to different people.

Bruce was recently on a debate panel for REOMAC. He asked a lender about a specific trustee sale result. In this trustee sale, there was a $1.1 million loan go to sale for $400,000. After discussing this trustee sale, Bruce asked the lender, “When did you have to realize that loss?” Bruce asks Philip when lenders have to acknowledge a loss, because right now there are a huge number of delinquencies that are not in the default process. Bruce wonders if banks are allowed to keep loan amounts at the same value until a certain time. Banks get concerned when they have REOs on their books, because that causes their reserve requirements to expand dramatically. Banks can have a loan that is delinquent and not have to expand their reserves. So if these banks have an audit coming up, they have to get REOs off their books, but if they do not have an audit, then they are less concerned. This is why people are being allowed to stay in their homes without paying for over a year.

Credit scores dramatically affect your loan rates. Philip is doing a refinance for a man who makes over $500,000 per year, and he has a credit score of 685. The only reason why he has a credit score of 685 is because his credit card company will not report his proper credit limit to the bureaus. This credit card company is affecting his credit score by somewhere between 40 and 80 points. The money he owes is very insignificant.

Philip’s website is www.philiptirone.com. His phone number is 310-453-1901. He will handle any kind of mortgage throughout California.

Join us next week as we interview Christopher Thornberg!

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159-TNG Radio – Philip Tirone 1-30-10

Friday, January 29th, 2010

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Philip Tirone

The Mortgage Equity Group, Inc. and www.7Stepsto720.com

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This week Bruce is joined by Philip Tirone. Philip is the president of the Mortgage Equity Group, and author of Seven Steps to a 720 Credit Score.

Philip got in the business in 1997; near the beginning of the boom. For the first 9 years of Philip’s loan career, he continuously saw regulators loosen the business guidelines. The people that he worked with were making substantial incomes from 2004 to 2006. There were some loan agents in Philip’s office who were driving Bentleys. Most of those people are now out of Philip’s business, because they matched their income with their expenses, and they lost their wealth during the recession. This reminded Bruce of a recent trustee sale he attended in which many of the homes being sold were previously owned by mortgage brokers.

Three years ago, a mortgage banker was someone who lent their money to property buyers. The second tier of mortgage banking in which a regional firm lends their own money through a warehouse line. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Washington Mutual portfoliod their high risk loans. These high risk loans were what caused other big banks to fail.

Mortgage brokers are individuals who can go to banks and take loans. Many banks have retail divisions, in which people can walk off the street, and they have whole sale divisions, in which banks would sell mortgages at lower rates to people who could sell mortgages. Whole sale mortgages allow mortgage banks to sell their loans at a lower rate to people who will bring them business.

Presently, 99 percent of loans being done right now are going to the government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie and Freddie are the mortgage backed security outlet. Because loans are being heavily regulated, there is little difference between mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers. This is because there are no longer a large variety of loan programs with different fees; everyone is selling the same product.

The value of a mortgage broker is more appreciated for large mortgages, because they know how to get the deals. Unfortunately, those loans have dried up. The amount of financing being done over $729,000 has probably decreased by over 80 percent. This is partially because mortgage brokers could use stated income loans. There were some scenarios where stated income loans were not a bad idea. For example, a company owner with $5 million in the bank, who wants to buy a $3 million property with 30 percent down, is a good applicant for a stated income loan. Stated income loans did not always mean “no proof” loans. When Philip first got into the business, bankers would check out bank statements. Little by little, stated income became a no document program.

Bruce Norris estimates that over 1,000 foreclosures will occur within the next 30 days on houses valued above $1 million. It is not easy to refinance a bill that expensive, and there are not enough people to buy expensive homes like that.

Another presently occurring problem is poor appraisals. Philip refinanced for a man who bought a loan for $850,000. The value of his property increased to over $1 million. When he ordered the appraisal, the appraisal value came in at $850,000. The borrower was very frustrated with his property’s devaluation, but he didn’t choose to try and sell the property immediately. Later on, he asked for another appraisal, and the appraisal value came in at $1,170,000. These mistakes are making investors want to pull their hair out. We are bringing in appraisers from outside areas who don’t know about the areas they are working in. The AMCs are supposed to behave as a wall between lenders and mortgage bankers, but the reality is that the lenders who were defrauding the banks are not in the business any more.

Bruce asks Philip to discuss the different regulations that have come into the industry. The regulation in the loan industry is so overdone right now; it is literally causing people in the industry to do 2 to 3 times as much work. Regulation X states that mortgage bankers must give extremely precise estimates. These estimates must be so precise that if the escrow fee comes even $200 above the estimate, then the lender must pay for it. This need for precision in estimates is causing people to require over-disclosure. People are complaining about how expensive the fees are, and Philip has to explain that we are in a terrible scenario with over regulation. Any time new regulations come out the loan process is slowed down. For example, one month ago Philip submitted a loan on a $2.5 million property with a 5 year fixed loan, but he later decided that he wanted a 3 year fixed loan. Once he chose to make that change, everything in the loan process had to stop. The underwriter couldn’t underwrite it. If you send the corrections through email then you have to wait at least 3 days. If you are an investor selling a property, you will not be able to sell any faster than within 30 days.

Throughout Philip’s career, refinances and purchases have equally dominated the industry. Currently, more people are doing refinancing because of the great rates.

In 2005 and 2006, about 85 percent of the people who came to Philip were able to get loans. In 2009, only about 15 percent of Philip’s potential customers were able to get loans. Bruce asks what happened to those people who made them incapable of getting loans. Philip says that it is a combination of bad personal scenarios and bad lending policies. Some have severely damaged their savings. In the majority of the cases, the lending guidelines are the cause of trouble. Philip could get great approval for a buyer with a statistically low default risk, but now mortgage bankers are not allowed to back anyone with a default ratio over 45 percent. These policies also prevent refinancing for people who could safely take on extra debt. Some people are being restricted from getting a loan, because they bought a car that slightly tipped them over the 45 percent risk scale. A great borrower could increase their lease by 42 dollars, and then disable themselves from getting a loan. Philip advises people who are looking for a loan to not put anything on their credit card. Even paying off a collection account can damage your credit score.

Jumbo loans include anything over $729,000. These loans do not have typical 30-year fixed loan rates. A five year fixed loan will have an interest rate in the low 5s, and ten year fixed loan rates will be in the high 5s.

Philip’s website is www.philiptirone.com. His phone number is 310-453-1901. He will handle any kind of mortgage throughout California.

Reserve requirements for banks have changed significantly for those involved in jumbo loans. Jumbo loans must be backed by six months’ income or 12 months’ payment, but this can vary depending on the situation. Reserve requirements are not as black and white as credit scores.

Bruce and Philip will continue this discussion next week.

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101-TNG Radio – Stephen Blank 12-20-08

Friday, December 19th, 2008

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Stephen Blank

Urban Land Institute – Senior Resident Fellow, Finance

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Bruce Norris is joined this week by the Senior Resident Fellow of Finance for the Urban Land Institute, Stephen Blank.

Bruce asked about the ULI Emerging Trends report and how long it’s been around. Stephen says it’s been around for 30 years and has always been national in scope. The report has gone through different partnerships but the report is now a joint venture between the Urban Land Institute and Price Waterhouse Cooper. The report interviews 100s of people in the real estate business and compiles their opinions. Interviewees include developers, private and public owners, advisors, institutional investors, service providers and lenders.

Stephen says the people that were interviewed in 2007 actually said they were expecting 2008 to be difficult. Emerging Trends is unique because of the process and the one-on-one interview process. These interviews tend to be very frank in nature. There is one writer and three editors to help put the report together. The real estate industry has been very supportive in being involved in this report.

Bruce asks Stephen where the blame is in his opinion. Stephen says there was a period of unparalleled liquidity. With that liquidity came an increasing need for income-producing assets and increased competition to lend money so interest rates were forced to low levels. Increased liquidity increased leverage pushing down rates of return.

The subprime market was unregulated and obviously became an issue. Mortgage bankers took these loans and then passed them on to Wall Street. Some argue the models that were used were too old and relied to heavily on ratings. There was a failure to do due diligence and it’s created a big mess. People ended up day trading condos.

Bruce says there’s been some confusion between investor and speculator. Now, we’ve assured ourselves the downturn because the investors are limited to the number of loans. Investors can’t 1031 exchange and investors can’t buy rentals due to limits put in place by lending institutions. Purchase prices are being driven down even further because of this issue and the government isn’t addressing it at this time.

Bruce asks if Stephen thinks the residential problem will move to commercial and if it will be as severe. Stephen says he doesn’t think they’re related and that an economic downturn needs to happen. Commercial is a lagging indicator. Residential could cause a downturn in the economy which would then spill over to commercial. Stephen says we didn’t build as much so we’re not going to have over supply meeting under demand like the last down market. Only some areas like Las Vegas and Florida will have issues because of over building.

Bruce asks if he sees commercial lenders taking back a glut of properties in the coming years. Stephen sees sharp increases in foreclosures for loans adjusting in 2009-2010. The loan-to-value ratios are going to be an issue unless their income has increased a great deal. Bruce and Stephen discuss if lenders could leave a loan in place to avoid taking back a building, also known as performing non-performing loans. The debt is still being paid. Lenders, if they can, would rather nurse these along until the market improves. Not all lenders can do that unfortunately.

Bruce asks if commercial lenders did the same kind of stated income programs that we saw in residential. Stephen says that as competition increased, banks started looking at other factors to base loan amounts on. Reserves were lowered. If the markets had continued to go up, the property could afford this new method. In a decline, it’s an issue.

Stephen sees cap rates going up. 15-20% price decline could occur because the cap rates are changing. Not as much personal guarantees are on commercial. Moving forward from now, more lenders are requiring personal guarantees.

Historically loans had an amortization with ten year term assuming a 25 year amortization period. In ten years you would historically amortize 12-13% of the loan which added protection for the lender, even if prices declined. As the market was more competitive, amortization period was eliminated and the loans were interest only. As these are refinanced, no equity exists.

Bruce asks about unemployment and commercial. Stephen says it will be an issue and vacancies will increase. Declining lease rates will also be an issue. Stephen says REITs are not originators of loans but purchase already existing debt. They may originate mezzanine loans but are not conventional lenders. REITs are owners of income producing properties. Primary lenders are commercial banks (40% of markets), insurance companies (20% of market), and commercial mortgage-backed securities (40% of market). Stephen says that the mortgage backed system is on life support. Insurance agencies are a major source now but it’s taking more time and they have the pick of the market.

For more information on the Urban Land Institute, visit uli.org.

Stephen R. Blank joined ULI-the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in December 1998 as Senior Resident Fellow, Finance. His primary responsibilities include: expanding ULI’s real estate capital markets information and education programs; authoring real estate capital market commentary for ULI’s web site (www.uli.org); participating as a principal researcher and adviser for the Emerging Trends in Real Estate series of publications; researching and authoring papers and articles on finance issues for Urban Land; and organizing and participating in real estate equity and debt capital markets programs at ULI’s Fall and Spring meetings, the McCoy Symposium on Real Estate Finance, District Council meetings, and ULI’s European, Asian, and Latin American Conferences, as well as participating in real estate industry meetings, seminars, and conferences.

Prior to joining ULI, Mr. Blank served from December 1993 to November 1998 as Managing Director, Real Estate Investment Banking of CIBC World Markets, the successor to Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. His responsibilities included: structuring, underwriting, and executing corporate financings including initial public offerings of common and preferred shares, unsecured debentures, and convertible bonds; property acquisitions, dispositions, and financing; and financial advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and recapitalizations.

Prior to joining Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., Mr. Blank served from February 1989 to November 1993 as Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.’s Real Estate Corporate Finance Department, where he was responsible for property acquisitions, dispositions, and financings, as well as providing financial advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and recapitalizations.

From August 1979 to January 1989, Mr. Blank served as Managing Director, Real Estate Investment Banking, of Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc. where his responsibilities included property acquisitions and dispositions, placement of mortgage financing, financial advisory services, and corporate financings. Additionally, Mr. Blank served as President of KP Realty Advisers, Inc., the firm’s real estate investment advisory subsidiary.

From August 1973 to July 1979, Mr. Blank was a Vice President, Corporate Finance, of Bache & Co., Incorporated, where he was responsible for transaction origination, due diligence, and structuring, marketing and closing, and post-offering supervision of SEC-registered and privately placed direct investments in real estate and other industries.

Mr. Blank is a member of The American Society of Real Estate Counselors (CRE designation), the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, and ULI-the Urban Land Institute, and serves as a member of the board of directors and Chair, Audit Committee, of MFA Mortgage Investments, Inc., a member of the board of directors and the Audit Committee of Home Properties, Inc., and is a member of the board of trustees of Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust where he serves as the Board’s Lead Trustee and Chair, Audit Committee. Additionally, Mr. Blank is a member of the Advisory Board of the Real Estate Research Institute, the editorial board of the Journal of Asia-Pacific Real Estate, and the Editorial Board of RERC Industry Outlook, a publication of the Real Estate Research Corporation. Further, Mr. Blank acts as ULI’s representative to the Green Building Finance Consortium.

Mr. Blank has participated as a Guest Lecturer at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design Advanced Management Development Program, the Boston College Graduate School of Business Administration, and the Cornell University Program in Real Estate.

Mr. Blank received his B.A. degree from Syracuse University and was awarded a M.B.A. degree from Adelphi University.

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76-TNG Radio – Philip Tirone 7-12-08

Friday, July 11th, 2008

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Philip Tirone

The Mortgage Equity Group, Inc. and www.7Stepsto720.com

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Bruce Norris is joined this week by president of 7 Steps to a 720 Credit Score, The Mortgage Equity Group, and panelist for I Survived Real Estate 2008, Philip X. Tirone. Bruce and Philip discuss his term mortgage lifestyle dilemma, the consumer and disposable income, people trying to get out of loans, the percentage of people now able to get financing, the speed of the credit dry up, issues funding even with a large down payment, risk level exaggerations, the current state of home equity lines of credit, credit cards becoming the next line of liquidity, credit limits being reduced if a consumer’s credit score is not good, credit card companies looking into a consumer’s industry where they work, certain industries falling out of favor with credit issues, the Universal Default Clause and the interest rate associated with this clause, the different types of lenders, wholesale brokers, how the collateralized debt was put together, the main liquidity in the market, the price difference between a fixed and unfixed home, how lenders feel about unfixed homes, the national and local bills being discussed to help, who people are blaming for this mess, non-owner occupied financing, solutions being aimed at the wrong crowd, how lenders are dealing consumers looking to walk away even though they are current, ISurvived2008.com

Philip’s commitment to educating homebuyers prompted the “7 Steps Licensing Program,” which allows mortgage brokers nationwide to become licensed in the 7 Steps and in turn help improve their clients’ credit scores. He is also developing the 7 Steps Foundation, a charitable foundation that will allocate funds to help low-income and underserved Americans increase their credit scores and buy homes.

Philip has been featured in articles on credit and mortgage trends in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times.com, Wall Street Journal, Newsday, Woman’s World Magazine, San Jose Mercury News, Bottom Line Magazine, Bankrate.com, and several others.

Philip created the Complete Financial Navigator™, a tool to analyze his borrowers’ needs and financial picture, thereby helping borrowers overcome barriers to achieving their real estate goals. As a frequent guest lecturer at the University of California Los Angeles, Philip has authored and delivered numerous speeches regarding the “Mortgage Lifestyle Dilemma,” a phrase he coined to describe an emotional buying decision that results in overextension and a life that revolves around high mortgage payments. By analyzing industry-specific buying trends, he has devised a series of questions to help borrowers avoid this dilemma.

Philip was named Arizona State University’s Man of the Year upon graduating with a real estate degree in 1994. Since then, he has continued to receive acclaim, most recently in the New York Times best-seller, Secrets of the Young & Successful.

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