The Milford Real Estate Scene

I opined yesterday in this blog about the new bill that Congress is now considering to reform mortgage lending and pointed to the unintended consequences that oft accompany the well meaning, if misguided attempts by our fearless representatives to save us from all manner of evil, including ourselves. Then I saw a discussion of the new HVCC law that is due to go into affect in June. This is the law that is saving us from bad appraisers who, in cahoots with bad mortgage lenders, set up mortgage mills to crank out bad mortgages to people who couldn’t afford the homes that they bought. These are part of the clown posse that caused the mess that we are in today.

There doesn't appear to be anything all that threatening in the HVCC itself (read it at http://tiny.cc/uLrH8 ), however the devil is in the details of the implementation of the law and the lack of preparation on the part of the parties most involved top actually manage the process. Of course the customer is once again screwed in the process, because the process adds cost and who do you think pays for that - not your loyal Congressman.

What a classic case of Congress coming along well after the fact to solve a problem that has already largely solved itself by blowing up the market for it's services. The clowns who got the mortgage industry and it's clients into such a mess are now all working for short sale or mortgage loan modification companies, with promises to get them out of the mess that they put their clients into in the first place.

And what about the sleazy appraisers who were a part of that game? Many of them have now set up mortgage appraisal management companies, so that they can take a scrape by managing other appraisers. Many of these companies are reportedly run by ex-appraisers who lost their licenses due to fraud or other shady practices. Great qualification for setting up an appraisal management company; but then, there are no rules for that, so the wild, wild west just moved up a notch in the management stream. You gotta love the American entrepreneurial spirit.