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Editor’s Note:  I don’t do this very often, but today, I’m pleased to turn my little corner of the Internet over to Kevin Breeland.  Kevin is the general manager of Residential Mortgage of South Carolina, and the current chairman of RESPRO.  He’s also a dedicated champion for compliance and innovation in the mortgage industry. I’ve attended the RESPRO conference he speaks of, and it’s a must-attend for anyone interested in knowing what the blizzard of reg/leg changes means to the industry.  Kevin, take it away! more

As I prepare to attend a few trade shows over the next few weeks, I’m reminded of the things I like about them.  Let’s quickly dispense with the things folks don’t like about them first.  more

The sky is falling.  Wait, no it’s not.  Oh, I guess it is, just slowly.  Nope, strike that.  It’s in a free-fall.  And now it’s scraping along the bottom, awaiting a double-dip, but with a possibility were almost out of the woods. 

Until it falls again. more

(The following memo is facetious.  It is based in no small part on a delightful experience I had recently with one of the tone-deaf legacy airlines…) more

We do this from time to time in the settlement services industry.  A negative article runs in INSERT YOUR FAVORITE MAINSTREAM, CORPORATE-OWNED PUBLICATION HERE which glibly mentions the surprise of a settlement services fee, the injustice of a HUD-1 which looks little like the GFE provided weeks ago or the poor attitude of the closer at the table.  Suddenly, a few who don’t actually do real closings spring up, screaming (with lots of exclamation points, of course) “IT’s TIME TO ENGAGE THE BORROWER.” more

This blog’s metrics will never be mistaken for those of Google.  I wax loquacious in my little corner of the Internet to show prospects, clients, friends, family and spammers what I do and how I think.  It doesn’t take a lengthy review to realize that, if my posts do inspire conversation, they aren’t being recorded here.  (Unless I’ve inspired multiple Canadian pharmacies to offer really cheap prescriptions…) more

There is a dramatic change taking place across the mortgage and settlement services industry.  It concerns how professionals take in, and disseminate data, information and knowledge.  

Why don’t many of the trade organizations and publications serving the space get that? more

It’s hard to believe that today marks the ninth anniversary of the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the foiled effort over the fields of Pennsylvania.

There are still many lessons for us to learn from that tragedy. And I still think my posting from last year’s anniversary is relevant to the topic.

You can read it here.

This is not a call to take sides in the red herring that is the Trade Center mosque issue.  And there will always be a moron somewhere willing to burn Quarans for attention.  Nor is it a call to pick your favorite crappy political party and bash the efforts of the other.  Instead, it’s a call to never forget.

We owe at least that much to the heroes who emerged from the rubble of that day.

It’s amazing for me to think that my little consultancy is almost two years old.  Funny thing is, I didn’t set out to be a consultant.  It just worked out that way.  Today, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. more

Saw a great cartoon today in The Oatmeal lampooning the world of social media and its self-proclaimed experts.  You can see it here. Pay close attention to #5.   more