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Yes, Wall Street is BULL
Monday, while reading the New York Times I found myself quite ill. I guess I knew deep down this was happening but somehow seeing it in print confirmed what I and others thought was happening on Wall Street, STILL!
Money seems to be flowing for some while I continue as a short sale REALTOR® talking to homeowners who are having difficult making ends meet. Just gives me another reason to fight harder for my short sale sellers!!
Seems that $750,000 is the average BONUS for bank executives in order to keep them receiving competitive salaries! Yes, you heard that correctly, BONUS. Not pay per year, folks but BONUS! And the kicker here is that $750,000 is an amount that is considered to be 35% DOWN from last year! The average per the New York Times is between $650,000 to $800,000 for bonuses that bank executives will receive between December and February. Not too shabby!
According to the article, this windfall of money is disappointing and bank executives feel UNDERPAID! hmmmmmm… so sad, NOT! Oh, did I mention that these bonuses represent 1/2 of what the executive’s salaries are?
And on top of all this, the banks actually pay a Wall Street pay specialist or as some call them, compensation consultant to tell them what these bonuses should be. Can’t imagine what the bank’s pay these people, can you?
And meanwhile, the economy has tanked, people have lost their jobs, pay has been cut for the average folk and homeowners continue to loose their homes.
My Sacramento short sale sellers would love to hear that bank executives at Bank of America, Citigroup and more, make this kind of bonuses and are disappointed.
What are your thougths? Do you feel the bank executives should receive these bonuses? Do you think the bank executives are right and are underpaid? Please comment below.
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I don’t mind if Wall Street gets filthy rich as long as they do it the American way; safely, honestly and their products are real, valuable and created for the benefit of their clientele. Now, as to your short sale conumdrum; I don’t like short sales because they don’t really help homeowners. Why? Two reasons. One, most homeowners really just want to stay put if they could afford to do so. Two, Wall Street firms are getting filthy rich by defrauding the homeowner.
Just look at what Wall Street did. 1. Like drug pushers, they enticed millions of homeowners into teaser loans that they knew categorically would fail in short order because of loan resets. 2. They created mortgage backed securities and pawned this subprime junk off on trusting MBS investors as AAA rated investments. 3. They never delivered the original loan docs and notes to the trustee of the MBS loan pools and then had the audacity to claim that these millions of valuable documents were “lost”. 4. They replaced “lost” docs with forged robo-signed docs and said they were legit. Hmmmmmm. 5. They ruined chain of title with this ridiculous MERS debacle, leaving the homeowner and MBS investors wondering who owns what if anything. 6. Their sleazy loan servicers were instructed to foreclose on homeowers and put them out on the street with absolutely no real proof of ownership (try to find proper chain of title in the county records). And here’s the best part. 7. They took out 10 to 30 MBS default insurance policies (credit default swaps) and bet on the failure of the same property (multiplied by millions); properties they told their investors were safe investments; reaping rewards of 30 times the actual loan amount.
So, you still want to help banks with short sales knowing what you now know? I believe a better solution than short sale (IMHO) would be to force the banks into settlements that will help the homeowner maintain ownership with elimination of foreclosure and back payments, loan reductions down to fair market value and monthly payments that reflect today’s market rental rates. How is this to be done? Litigation. Sue for quiet title until a settlement is reached. This is my plan and it should be something the helpful agent should be telling their clients. Agents can still get full commissions on settlements.
First, let me thank you for taking the time to respond.
As far as Wall Street and the Bank executives making $600,000-$800,000 bonuses, I totally disagree and feel this is ridiculous as well as insane and yes, it makes me want to puck!
I must say, I disagree with you from a practicality standpoint on so many of your remarks. I assume you are an attorney based on your comment. I have been in the trenches for several years helping distressed Sacramento homeowners avoid foreclosure. Short sale for many is much better than foreclosure and I always recommend the homeowner speak with an attorney and/or a tax consultant. Many times, it is obvious there are some homeowners who would be better off taking bankruptcy. And although I am neither an attorney nor a tax consultant I do spend my time for FREE helping these homeowners get to the proper professional depending on their circumstance. Commission is certainly not the main focus.
Now, in terms of lawsuits, most homeowners do not have the funds, the time or the stamina to withstand all that. It’s hard enough to go through the process of the short sale or the inevitable foreclosure and bankruptcy. Perhaps, this would help some distressed homeowners but I haven’t met any in the past 5 years that would want to take on such a venture.
Lastly, I would ask that you not presume that a REALTOR® is not helpful if they don’t recommend to the distressed homeowner to sue. We are all doing the best we can and working very hard, sometimes free when all is said and done.
Again, thank you for responding and sharing your thoughts.