All Forum Posts by: Corey Dutton

A Kansas man could face up to 120 years in prison, as told by MPAMag.com. Terrence Matthew Brown purchased 10 homes in Kansas City, all of which ended up in default. He also received over $200,000 in kickbacks as a result of the scheme. The jury came back with a guilty verdict for 5 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The example made of this individual is just one of thousands of these types of crimes that were committed between 2005 to 2007. This means that thousands of people got away with the same type of crime! I hope these stories are shared more readily to educate people about what happened during those crazy years of free credit during 2005 to 2007, so that history will not repeat itself again. Please share this.

(Source: http://www.mpamag.com/mortgage/kansas-man-convicted-in-2-7-million-scam-18067.aspxhttp://www.mpamag.com/mortgage/kansas-man-convicted-in-2-7-million-scam-18067.aspx )

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton

A Kansas man could face up to 120 years in prison, as told by MPAMag.com. Terrence Matthew Brown purchased 10 homes in Kansas City, all of which ended up in default. He also received over $200,000 in kickbacks as a result of the scheme. The jury came back with a guilty verdict for 5 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The example made of this individual is just one of thousands of these types of crimes that were committed between 2005 to 2007. This means that thousands of people got away with the same type of crime! I hope these stories are shared more readily to educate people about what happened during those crazy years of free credit during 2005 to 2007, so that history will not repeat itself again. Please share this.

(Source: http://www.mpamag.com/mortgage/kansas-man-convicted-in-2-7-million-scam-18067.aspx )

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton

I discovered a great speech, corresponding post, and a video summary by the editor of the Financial Times that discusses the complex issues in the banking industry. Lionel Barber, the Editor of the Financial Times, seems to have mixed feelings about the true effects of new banking regulations. He suggests that the regulation of banks has served to create even bigger banking giants, and has thus increased the “too big to fail” problem. He also suggests that complex banking regulations have also inadvertently created a higher barrier to entry for new competitors in the banking industry.

Barber asks the question, “Risk does not disappear, so the question is, where is it going?” This refers to the new regulatory world in which banks now live. This world is completely foreign to the world they (banks) formerly operated in leading up to the crash. Some examples of these profound regulatory changes in the banking industry include:

1.Higher Capital and Liquidity Buffers

2.The Ever-Evolving Dodd-Frank Act

3.The Volcker Rule

4.Ringfencing of Investment Banking from Retail Banking

If this topic is of any interest to you, I suggest you read the entire speech and corresponding post right on FT.com by clicking on the source link below. But for now, what is your opinion on this topic? Can banking “clean up its act?”, and is the new regulatory framework solving the problem that many say is to blame for the financial meltdown in 2008?

Source: Financial Times: http://blogs.ft.com/businessblog/2014/05/can-banking-clean-up-its-act-a-speech-by-lionel-barber/

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton

The biggest complaint of commercial real estate investors these days is not being able to obtain commercial financing. Prior to the real estate meltdown, commercial real estate investors were not readily utilizing bridge loan financing because they were easily able to qualify for loans at the bank. Commercial real estate investors are now turning to bridge loan financing to accomplish their investment goals. But why bridge financing? Why are investors having problems at the bank? Read more of this article on our main, hard money blog here: http://privatemoneyutah.com/commercial-r-e-investors-turn-to-bridge-loan-financing/

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton

Think your business struggles with its website? Imagine being a realtor and dealing with a website which must “talk to” and integrate with the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is a website headache that most of us don’t even want to imagine as it’s ongoing maintenance and endless problems with SEO (search engine optimization). Realtors have long had headaches integrating their websites with the complicated network of MLSes in the U.S. and getting their SEO up to par at the same time. There is no standardized method for retrieving and updating property data between the over 900 MLSes in the U.S. But the number one complaint for realtors has been not having control over their websites. Depending on a third party developer who may not understand the complicated nature of MLS integration and SEO, can mean costly updates and ongoing website-related expenses for the realtor.

Matt Barba, a realtor himself, identified this problem for fellow realtors and in 2009 he solved it by launching Placester, a web-based solution for realtors. According to a Techcrunch article, "Placester's solution is to offer realtors maintenance-free websites based on WordPress and optimized for SEO, which are also mobile and tablet-friendly. The sites include the set up, hosting and MLS fees. Placester also uses its own technology to retrieve and update the MLS data to keep the sites current." This article on Techcrunch does not divulge any revenue numbers for the company, but it did say that the company is experiencing rapid growth. (Source: Techcrunch.com: http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/22/real-estate-marketing-platform-placester-scores-5-5m-series-a-plus-a-deal-with-hearst/)

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton

With heavy competition in top tier markets for both commercial and residential properties, investors are targeting badly hit real estate markets such as Spain and Ireland in search of value. This according to a forecast from the ULI and PwC. The report details that Dublin has risen in their “City Investment Rankings” from 20th place in last year’s report, to 2nd place in the 2014 report. The report also identified Spain as another hot market in Europe. However, the forecast points out that the lack of availability of commercial financing and slow rental demand in Spain is making the wheels turn a lot slower there, than in Ireland.

“ The resurgence of investment in Ireland and how far the Spanish real estate market recovers, will be two of the key stories in 2014. Investor appetite in Dublin has been growing over the past 12 months with significant volumes of international capital chasing the best assets,” said Joe Montgomery, chief executive of ULI Europe.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton

(Source: Propertywire.com:http://www.propertywire.com/news/global-news/global-real-estate-investors-201401238707.html)

Years after the real estate meltdown, U.S. regulators are finally catching up to all of the loan modification companies that scammed these distressed homeowners out of millions. One such perpetrator just had his day in court. But was the punishment of 1 year in prison enough for this 37 year old, Maryland man?According the MPAmag.com, Brian Kelly was operating under the business name, ‘Home Owners Protection Economics Inc.’ or ‘HOPE’ and scammed innocent homeowners out of a total of $4 MM. The company would get homeowners who were underwater in their mortgages to pay upwards of $2,000 in fees, in the “hope” they would obtain successful loan modifications. The company would then send homeowners a “do-it-yourself application” that was essentially just a copy of the one provided by the government to homeowners for free.

I truly “hope,” no pun intended, that this is just the start of a wave of convictions for these types of individuals and companies who took advantage of distressed homeowners during a time of extreme uncertainty. These types of individuals and organizations are able to mobilize and set up shop quickly when they see an opportunity and an easy way to scam people out of money.

(Source: Link to the entire article on MPAmag.com:

http://www.mpamag.com/mortgage/maryland-man-sentenced-in-massive-loan-modification-scam-17971.aspx)

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton

Every hard money lender has a different set of terms, conditions, process, etc. Knowing when you are dealing with a scam is important. Is this a reputable lender that was referred by someone you know and trust? No money down seems to good to be true.

According to a recent blog post by Karen Firestone on Harvard Business Review Blogs, financial services companies are using more images of women in their advertisements, 20% more than just 5 years ago. This as reported by Getty Images. Although this next part is uncited, there’s a ton of search engine analytic data which indicates that website visitors are more likely to click on an ad showing a photo of a woman, versus a photo of a man. (This is likely a large contributing factor to the results reported from Getty).

The images of women have long been used in advertisements as a way to reel in buyers, or even seduce them into buying. And with the financial services industry taking much of the blame for the economic meltdown of 2008, financial services companies have had a tremendous need to gain the trust of the consumer again. Because images of women are commonly associated with trust, kindness, and compassion, to me it’s really not surprising that these companies are utilizing more photos of women in their ads. Read the rest of the blog on this topic at HBR.org here and leave your comments directly below: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/04/why-the-financial-services-industry-is-showing-more-women-in-its-ads/

What is your opinion? Do you agree or disagree that the association of women with a feeling of trust is a one reason that financial services companies have started using images of women in their advertisements? You may not really care but I liked this blog post on HBR.org and wanted to share. Thanks for reading.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton

Founded in 1988, BlackRock is an investment management company that started out as part of Blackstone Group. Within ten years of going public in 1999, BlackRock became the world’s largest asset manager.

Larry Fink, the company’s founder and CEO, prides himself on choosing his company’s leaders based on “merit and not pedigree,” according to a recent article published by the Financial Times. Most hedge funds and private equity companies are staffed solely by Harvard MBAs and Ivy Leaguers, whereas Larry Fink has sought to create a company culture that emphasizes diverse opinions, and performance and merit over prestigious degrees. From the FT.com article, according to an analyst at Gabelli & Co, “The company has a very strong culture, which he (Larry Fink) has built, and the people coming up through the ranks share those traits.”

Mr. Fink has been grooming leadership at his organization to take over the reigns. Although not expected to leave BlackRock anytime soon, Larry Fink has a keen eye for the longevity of his company, and is clearly working hard to promote those who will perpetuate the company’s culture he’s worked so hard to build. Read the entire FT.com article on Larry Fink’s Company Culture here: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f27eabfc-be65-11e3-b44a-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2z3cr0r97

This kind of company culture is exemplary for other leaders who get trapped in the ‘elite only’ mindset when selecting talent for their organizations. This deliberate strategy executed on by Fink has surely proven to yield quite an impressive return on investment for BlackRock.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton