Our Blog

Ok, you’ve probably seen enough analysis about this week’s midterm elections to fill your head for years.  So one flack’s humble opinion about the results is probably not at the top of your reading list.  (Wow, what a way to grab my readers!  Who wants to read more?).

However, I do work for the mortgage and real estate industry.  This election will have a huge impact upon the people I work with…and the best part is, we have no idea how or when.

With that, I’m asking myself a few questions today as to what it all means.  Only time will provide the answers.

1. What does this election mean for Dodd-Frank and the CFPA?  Remember, the real wild card is the regulatory scheme to be determined, and the back-alley brawl most of us will never see as they’re formulated.
2. What happens at the state level for the next two years?  Will the new attorneys general and governors have the same zeal for rounding up the villagers, distributing pitchforks, and heading up the hill to the house of Frankenstein (also known as the mortgage industry)?
3. Is this the beginning of the end of the massive uncertainty paralyzing the industry for over two years now…or the beginning of more?
4. Will the markets begin to settle?  No confidence=no jobs.  No jobs=few mortgage originations.  And I’m not even an economist!
5. Are we merely setting the stage for another Democratic sweep in 2012? The Republicans swept the field, but most agree this was more a repudiation of the job the government has done the past two years than a resounding mandate for the GOP.  Remember, it’s the economy, stupid!  After all, I’m pretty confident NO party can turn everything around in two years, and patience is not a virtue known by the American electorate.
6. Did a common pleas judge in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) under Federal indictment really get 45% of the vote?  Really?  Is anybody thinking at all out there?  Did you vote for her because of her first-hand experience at all levels of the criminal justice system, including as a criminal defendant?
7. At the very least, will the likely gridlock to occur in DC over the next two years give the mortgage industry a chance to catch its breath and move forward in any way?
8. Wither the GSEs, and what will they look like, if they continue to exist at all?
9. Will the vilification of MBS continue, or magically disappear?  Or, perhaps, get a catchy new name…
10. Having (seemingly) survived a close brush with death over the past two years, will the mortgage industry finally learn that if it doesn’t fix its own flaws, someone will try to do it for them, without their input?  (And likely someone with no understanding of the industry.)

I’d love to hear other thoughts on the issue…what do you think?