Sometimes we find inspiration and encouragement from the most unlikely places.
Last month, I was invited to a casual lunch and talk by a colleague. Even though my schedule is packed with meetings and .
“People would learn more from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying them.” Here’s a little trivia for the compliance folks in the coffee room: The CFPB handles 20,000 consumer complaints per week, and given that financing a home, and then servicing the loan, is the largest financial transaction most individuals go through, you gotta figure a chunk of the 20,000 involve mortgages. While we’re on the CFPB, Director Chopra addressed issues related to refinancing in a hearing on Capitol Hill last Thursday. But the headlines have been grabbed by interest rate improvements in our free market economy, and the economics calendar this week will be highlighted by the U.S. jobs report on Friday, arriving just five days before the Federal Reserve's December 13 meeting. (Expect payrolls growth will rise to 200K in November from 150k job additions in October, and the unemployment rate to stay steady at 3.9 percent.) Today’s podcast can be fo
“Yesterday I completed a chore I’ve been putting off for four months. It took me 20 minutes. I will learn nothing from this.” That sums up a lot of my tasks. But that was then, and today I head to Austin, the capital of Texas and where they just voted to approve a wide-ranging property tax reduction bill. Which is good, as Texas residents will need the money for air conditioning in the 106-degree heat forecast for today. What if you’re the owner of an office building with few tenants, absorbing that AC cost yourself? Say what you will about slow times in residential lending, commercial lenders are very anxious. Rumor has it there is 1 billion (with a “b”) square feet of empty space. That’s 4.44 million 15x15 square foot offices. Word has it that landlords are very concerned about when the leases are due in commercial real estate around the nation, and world, as some percentage of people have shifted from office to WFH (working from home)