Auto Industry Drives - Real Estate Industry is Parked

The New York Times announced today that a big reason for much of the recovery of the auto industry has been due to the aggressive nature the banks are taking to issuing auto loans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/business/28autos.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

Really.  What an incredible idea.  Make money available to consumers to refresh an industry.

No big government sponsored bailout programs, no TARP, no bull, just purchase money made available to move product - in this case - off the car lot.

I am in the process of refinancing my primary residence and it has taken more than four weeks and so many documented accountings of what I am and what I have that it is almost unbelievable.  Not to mention two wasted FedEx packages with duplicated Truth in Housing Statements and duplicate Disclosure Document booklets weighing in at a total of 4 pounds of paper and counting.

Note: Trees beware - I am refinancing my home and you may soon die!

The crazy part is this is a refinance of my current mortgage - a mortgage I have been paying "perfectly" for more than 20 years with the same bank.  Not a purchase loan or even the injection of a new lender into the process.

One month into the process - still no word and still no approval.  My refinance is "parked" at the bank.

In contrast, three years ago I purchased and financed a new vehicle that was almost equal to one third of the amount of my current home mortgage and the total time from qualification to drive-off was less than 2 hours.

Go figure.

My expensive car habits aside, the payment on the vehicle is only $600 less per month than my current home mortgage payment.  And yes, not one of those payments missed to date either.

And get this. 

In retrospect, maybe what I needed was a loan modification and not a refinance.  That's it stop paying, and then get some one's attention.

Anyone out there wondering when rewards will start being paid by the government for a loan paid on time or am I the only one?

Once again, from the New York Times article on the auto industry today:

"Nobody is suggesting an imminent return to the heady, reckless days of the housing boom, and any one of a number of factors — like the recent surge in oil and commodities prices — could set the  (auto industry's)recovery off track. But the gradual expansion of credit in virtually every area except real estate is an important sign that the American economy is returning to health."

Except for real estate?  Have we not been punished enough as an industry?  Time for a refresh of the home mortgage industry? 

I think so.

The housing market will improve right after the extremists of the banking industry quit penalizing individuals for the sake of proving something to the masses.

What's so reFreshing?

In the residential real estate industry - actually nothing.  And that's the core of the challenge for this industry that continually masks the unrealized opportunity.

After 33 years in this business I have witnessed many types of change and lots of attempts at doing things differently.  I call those attempts beta changes.  You know what I mean - those well-planned strategies that are destined for certain greatness but fail at the first sign of industry resistance.

How many times have you heard, "good idea but that would never work because . . ."?

It seems in this industry that the status quo, the stale stuff that we do and have always done is the downward pressure that is placed on the fresh ideas that suggest change.  What a shame, what a loss of opportunity.

So why this blog - why reFresh?

The thought of writing in this space was motivated by my frustration with the stale stuff in this industry.  It was also motivated by all those people who have worked so hard to squelch new ideas,  You know these people that are the ones that always drive head-on into the face of new fresh ideas with great potential in favor of doing it the same old stale way.

I hope that I am able to use my experience, my words and lots of examples in the real world to inspire others in this industry to become more effective, and take a closer closer at the most important gauge of all change - what the consumer is doing in the real world surrounding the residential real estate industry. 

That is where the key for future success lies, and that is where all things fresh are tested and in most cases are literally changing the world as we "knew it".

So what now?
 
So if you're game you will need to lose that traditional thinking and conventional wisdom you bring to this blog.  If you can't or don't I will guarantee you that this reFresh experience be a very painful and uncomfortable one.

We're taking out sacred cows here - and we're making burgers.

So get out of that rut, clean off that slate, prepare your mind for some new thinking, accept that nothing is impossible - and let's work together to freshen up this industry with a world of new possibilities.

Game?