Foreclosure Victims Can Use Funny Website to ‘Get Back’ at Mortgage Brokers
Real estate news from the we buy houses team
Move over lawyers, mortgage brokers have joined the ranks of the most hated professions. With millions of homeowners falling into foreclosure, many people believe the mortgage industry is at fault.
At least that’s what Lisa LaShawn** believes. Her company, Outrageous Enterprises, LLC owns http://www.IHateMortgageBrokers.com and http://www.AngryMobTshirts.com. Both websites feature funny T-shirts and other products aimed at the mortgage industry. Visitors can also sign an online petition to demand stronger regulation of the mortgage industry.
“Victims of the foreclosure crisis are getting slammed on the TV and radio,” Lisa says. “If I had a dollar for every time Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck said ‘It’s not my fault they bought homes they couldn’t afford,’ I’d be a millionaire.”
She says radio icon Mark Levin calls foreclosure victims “idiots” on a regular basis. Lisa admits to being a fan of these conservative media personalities, but feels they are being unfair on this subject.
“Many foreclosure victims were duped into bad loans by unethical mortgage brokers,” Lisa says. She speaks from experience, having worked in real estate for several years and having even done a one-week stint at a mortgage firm … before quitting in disgust. She says that mortgage firms are operated like “boiler rooms” where salaries are usually commission-based.
“People were steered toward ‘risky’ Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) with low teaser rates, because most brokers got higher commissions on these loans.” Lisa says buyers with bad credit were a huge target. Brokers told them if they got ARM loans and made their payments on time, they could refinance later and get low “fixed rate” loans.
Even people with good credit got lured in; ARMs were a way to save money for a couple of years: “You can always refinance later ….” Lisa says mortgage brokers fed everyone this line, over and over again. Never mind all the hidden pitfalls of these loans: negative amortization, prepayment penalties, etc.
Unfortunately, when home values started to plummet NOBODY could refinance. Millions of people were suddenly stuck with “exploding mortgages” that skyrocket after the teaser period is over. “These loans are like financial quicksand,” Lisa says. “They should have never been sold to people in the first place.”
Lisa hopes the websites will provide some comic relief. The most popular design on the website features the phrase “Mortgage Brokers Suck!” She says signing the online petition should be “cathartic” for foreclosure victims; they can “get back” at the mortgage brokers who got them into this mess. Lisa’s goal is to obtain 1 million signatures by December 31st.
The public can go to http://www.IHateMortgageBrokers.com to see the T-shirts and sign the petition.