They Made How Much?!

Here is an interesting news item about the mortgage loan bust in Orange County (Southern California): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21276970/

Call me naive (and I'm sure you have already), but I really didn't think that mortgage brokers made soooo much money. Money, yes, but the amounts they mention seem outrageous to me. I suppose in sales, the sky is the limit.

I can't wait for the opportunity to mention this to the broker who we use in California. He usually moans to me about not making any money off of my deals because I always negotiate his fees down to almost nothing. I would get that "car sales" feel sometimes (sales people on the car lot are known to use that line). I knew that his cut from the lender would more than compensate him for his efforts, but 2-4% on each loan? The disclosures never had that much listed. Could he have been making money from lenders which was not required to be disclosed? Or maybe the commissions quoted were not common.

It's also interesting to note that the article claims that Irvine "has been ranked by the FBI as the safest large city for the past three years." Irvine?

Gosh, I guess I learned TWO things today!