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Subprime Blogger Goes Full Time Starting July 4th

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:35:19 +0000

For those of you that were unaware, Subprime Blogger is owned and written by one person…..me. For the last eight months, I have been writing, marketing and performing SEO for this website coupled with being a full time retail manager. If you would like to know how I feel about my retail management job please read Why Retail Management Sucks. I recently put in my two weeks notice and decided that I will pursue something I love to do which is research, writing and internet marketing. My employment as a retail manager ends July 3rd and I will commit my time to Subprime Blogger.

I am very excited to do this as I throughly enjoy everything about writing for and promoting websites; for more on this read How to Make Money – Do What You Love, the Subprime Blogger Story. Now that I will have the ability to update this site during business hours, I will try to be more on top of up-to-date issues like the Case-Shiller home price index, job reports and other government released pieces of data. I will not write an obscene number of articles a day as I would rather write a few quality articles than several mediocre articles.

Being the owner of this website, I will also do all the marketing and SEO for the site. This will take up part of my day which will reduce the amount of content I can write. If any of you would like to submit a guest article, feel free to send it to jwojdylo@subprimeblogger.com. I will be more than happy to post your article with a few adjustments to help it with rankings.

With that being said, here is to a full time Subprime Blogger. I hope you enjoy reading the content half as much as I enjoy producing and marketing it. If you have any topics you would like to read about, feel free to let me know. I will be more than happy to branch out and research other financial related topics. My first article as a full time blogger will be Why Retail Management Sucks, Part II so please return the weekend of July 4th to enjoy this humorous, yet honest depiction of the retail management position.

Subprime Blogger vs President Obama Investment Challenge

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:16:23 +0000

For those of you who were not aware, I started the Subprime Blogger vs. President Obama Investment Challenge on March 22nd, when President Obama made the statement, on National TV, that the “dollar was still strong.” I completely disagreed and since then, our investment return results are as follows:

Subprime Blogger
DBA – Up 3.67%
DBB – Up 19.23%
DBE – Up 18.61%
DBP – DOWN 2.19%

President Obama
SPY – Up 17.38%
USD – Down 4.07%

I think it is safe to say that my call on buying commodities and getting out of stocks and the dollar has outperformed. I realize that our president has a four year term, so I am quite excited to see myself put quite a huge gap in our investment returns. Looks making the correct inflation investments might be the way to make money in the next few years, I sure think so!

Subprime Mortgage Crisis – Is it Old News?

admin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:14:39 +0000

Subprime has been a buzz word for what seems like forever in the mortgage industry; well, its really only been about three years, but with as much mortgage news coverage as there has been on it, it does seem like forever. I have started to hear that some analysts are predicting that the “subprime” part of the mortgage crisis is over. Well, that may very well be the fact, but I think the overall subprime mortgage crisis will resonate for years!

I sure hope it helps America to realize that we should not attempt to buy everything we want rather than what we need. The idea that everyone should own a home is just ludicrous. Not only own a home, but an extremely nice home. I think that this financial disaster we are going through will make sure this does not happen again.

Thank You to all the Subprime Blogger Readers

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:11:36 +0000

I would like to personally thank all of you who read and contribute to this blog. When I first created Subprime Blogger, I hoped to make Mortgage Rate Predictions and inform readers on the truth about the mortgage and housing market. Way too many people were snowed over with inaccurate facts and media bullshit. I honestly think I have done that and the website has been a huge success. The reason it is a success is because of you the readers. THANK YOU!

I urge you to tell your friends and family about the site so I can continue to get information out to as many people as possible. If you own a financial website, please contact me as I am always looking for good content to read and link to. I will do my best to produce some great content over the coming weeks. I am planning on doing many articles this weekend so please check back in. If visits continue to increase to this site, more articles will be produced for your enjoyment.

Once again, thank you for reading and please tell others so we can spread the word on the truth about the mortgage and housing market. I will be sure to have a rant sometime soon as it has been awhile; in the meantime, check out this one: Subprime Will End Bank of America.

Daily Mortgage Rates News – Subprime Will End Bank of America?

admin — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:26:14 +0000

Over the last six months I have been very harsh, yet honest, in my thoughts about Bank of America. In January I posed the question “Will Bank of America File Bankruptcy?” This was prior to main street realizing just what was going on behind closed doors in Charlotte, NC. Just before the mention of bankruptcy I asked the question “Last Honest Bank to Please Stand Up.” Obviously Ken Lewis and his boys were sitting behind closed doors, no pun intended. Most recently, I made the statement “Ken Lewis, you are a worthless, greedy asshole. You pumped up Bank of America stock to make money on your recent purchases and now you are stepping down. I hope that every single penny you made goes to the destruction of your normal life.” in this article.

Well, Mr. Lewis, I hope you enjoyed your reign as the most unsuccessful Chief Executive in the history of big banks. You not only drove the nations largest bank into the ground, you repeatedly lied to the American public. In March you told us that you were going to pay back TARP funds by the end of the year and today we learn that Bank of America will need another $34 billion? I’m not good with numbers, but how the hell are you going to pay funds back when you need more?

When Ken Lewis and Bank of America decided to sink their money into Countrywide and Merrill Lynch, I think any right minded American citizen knew this company was doomed. Countrywide was eyeball deep in the subprime mortgage crisis yet you decided to buy it outright? That makes perfect sense. Then after you have made this enormous mistake, you decide to buy a company who’s CEO spends $80,000 on area rugs for his office.

Honestly Ken Lewis, I can’t say that I didn’t see it coming. I hope you enjoy your infamous reign as the supreme misfit CEO. I guess we should thank you though as you are part of the reason mortgage rates will stay below 5% for quite some time.

Subprime Lending Changed the Mortgage News Industry

admin — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:58:43 +0000

Prior to February of 2007, “Mortgage News” was a keyword that was searched at a rather consistent rate. There were seasonal peaks and valleys as there are with many keyword searches, but there were rarely extreme peaks that showed national interest. In February of 2007 that all changed! When the subprime mortgage crisis became national news, mortgage news saw a 200% jump in searches; “Subprime” saw a 500% jump! Since the beginning of the subprime mortgage crisis, mortgage news searches have increased consistently month vs. month of the previous year.

Part of the jump in searches is due to the lowest mortgage rates in modern history, but what caused that? Subprime lending! If subprime lending did not occur during the housing boom, we would not be in the financial predicament we are in right now and mortgage rates would not be under 4.8%. Now that mortgage news is a heavily searched keyword, many corporations are going after this trend. Several websites have been created solely for mortgage news. These resources did not exist before the subprime mortgage crisis.

Now that subprime lending changed the mortgage news industry, it is your chance to gain valuable information at no cost. You have the opportunity to gain information that was once never available as mortgage brokers do not want you to know how the industry works. Well, too bad for them, because you have an amazing amount of information at your fingertips and I hope you use it wisely to get the lowest mortgage rate in your lifetime.

Subprime Loans are What Caused the Financial Crisis?

admin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:48:03 +0000

Subprime loans are one of the main reasons we are in a global financial crisis. When loans for over $250,000 were given out to people who made less than $50,000 a year, you knew a problem would eventually arise. There is no way that someone can afford to pay a loan that is FIVE times their annual salary before taxes. These subprime borrowers grew in great number during the 1990s and early 2000s. There were a few economist who saw this coming but many laughed in their faces; “the price of a home never drastically declines.”

The mindset that something that goes up will not come does has caused the global economy to wither. After decades of allowing loans to the wrong types of borrowers, the whole world is suffering. When the largest economy on the globe takes a hit everywill will see the effects. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a “hit” that America took, it was repeated haymakers to the jaw. While the entire meltdown was not the fault of subprime loans, much of it was.

Subprime loans kicked off the global meltdown when subprime borrowers could not make their payments and were foreclosed upon. It was then a ripple affect that accelerated causing the stock market to fall off a ledge. A large amount of the money on Wall Street was involved in real estate in some form or fashion. With the value of homes dropping like a rock, it was only time before we saw everything else take a nose dive. That is where we are today and ultimately, we can blame the beginning of this financial crisis on subprime loans.

Subprime Mortgage Brokers – Will They Get You Lower Mortgage Rates?

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:41:28 +0000

To be completely honest, subprime mortgage brokers do not have the authority to get you a lower rate. Your rate is determine by the risk of default. If you are considered a subprime borrower, your risk of default is elevated due to the financial troubles you have had in the past. The best option is to work on improving your credit score and to start building up your savings. This may take several years, but could save you over $100,000 over the course of your lifetime.

The easiest way to improve your credit is to make sure all your bills are paid on time no matter what. If you are having trouble paying your bills, you need to find a way to scale back so your are more comfortable financially. Maybe you should downsize your current living arrangements or not eat out as much. There are many ways to save money to make sure that you can pay your bills on time. After several months and years of paying bills on time, your credit score will increase which will cause the mortgage rate you are quoted to decrease.

Yes, there are subprime mortgage brokers out there that will claim they can get you a lower mortgage rate, but this is not true. The brokers themselves do determine the exact rate you are going to get. Unless you must have a home right now, it would be advisable to increase your credit score and save some money before applying for that mortgage.

Will the Subprime Mortgage Crisis Cause Retailers to Go Out of Business?

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:29:02 +0000

Prior to 2006, subprime mortgage and crisis were rarely, if ever, uttered in the same sentence. It was the American dream to own a home and EVERYONE should have that right. It did not matter if they made $6 an hour of $600 an hour, they still deserved to own a home in this great country. During the housing bubble, that really took off in the 1990’s, we started to see individuals living above their means. Buying a $240,000 home with a combined annual income of $60,000 was the norm. Even if you were a subprime borrower who was extremely risky to lenders, you still got the loan you desired. If you had any income at all, you deserved to own a home, right? Wrong! Unfortunately, it took one of the most severe financial crises in the history of the United States for us to fully understand this.

Now that we have seen over half of the invested capital in the United States disappear, it is making Americans think twice about even owning a home, no less living above their means. Anyone that is considered subprime is doing everything in their power to just stay afloat. Second homes, extra vacations and weekend vehicles are a thing of the past. The subprime mortgage crisis has jolted America back into reality. Is this a bad thing? Well, it is according to how you look at it. If you were smart with your money and made strong financial decisions through this mortgage crisis, you are sitting pretty right now.

President Obama and his administration created the Making Home Affordable Refinance Plan to reward those who made the smart financial decisions. Those of you who made your mortgage payments on time and have continued to save money for a rainy day will get to refinance under 5%. That could save you over $100,000 on a mortgage over the term of the loan! The one good thing about this struggling economy is that only the strong survive and their stars will shine brighter than ever. The financial savings are not limited to your home loan, they are everywhere!

This is the first time in my entire life that I have seen so many deals. When you go into any department or retail establishment, sale signs litter the entrance. Buy one get one free; half off a second purchase; 75% off your next purchase with a purchase of $100 or more. I could go on and on. If you have money saved and a little extra money to spend, now is the time to do it. It is almost silly not to spend money in this economy.

Brand new vehicles are being sold for under $15,000. When a friend of mine told me that he bought a Dodge Magnum for $13,000 I didn’t believe him. Four years ago, Dodge would not have sold you ANY vehicle for under $18,000. Today, car salesmen are almost begging you to take cars off their lot as they cannot give away a vehicle in the current economy. Once again, you are literally getting the deal of the century when you walk on a car lot. What is even better, it is whatever car your choose.

Working for a retail establishment that sells only the necessities and staple products leads me to believe that things are going to get worse. Each day, over $200 of coupons are brought into our establishment. To put this into perspective, less than a year ago, we received about $30 in coupons a day. Everyone is trying to find ways to save as they realize that this subprime mortgage crisis could resonate for years to come. I must admit that this retail establishment does not cater to the high income families, but does have a large demographic of average income Americans.

It is scary to see how hard people are working to save thirty cents. If this epidemic has only started within the last year, we are going to start to see retail sales decline drastically. As this economy worsens, I have seen the amount of sales and ads increase. The bottom line is that retailers will make less money. If they are making less money, there will be less jobs. Less jobs means that this economy is going to continue to spiral downward.

I wish there was better news, but I am just being honest. Everyday I debate if this economy can recover in the near term. All signs point to this not being the case. If home prices are declining, retail sales are plummeting and the unemployment rate is increasing, where is the money going to come from. Yes, there are those select few that we talked about earlier who are going to get the amazing deals, but there is a big problem.

Those who did save money are financially intelligent and they are not going to spend in excess or above their means. They are going to continue to be smart with their money and not throw their entire paycheck into a stereo system or a Nintendo Wii. Will this help the economy? Not at all! What it will does is cause the financially smart to be even richer.

The individuals that were spending above and beyond their means are the ones that are now trying to save 30 cents on each item they purchase. They are the ones who complete a transaction for $23.54 and have $18.00 in coupons. While this is $23.54 in sales it is REALLY only $5.54. How much money are the companies going to lose by giving away from merchandise? The answer, they are losing money hand over fist. Not only are they losing money on the sales, they have to pay people to give customers their free merchandise. They also have to pay all the costs of running an establishment such as heating/ac, electricity, technological equipment and on and on.

This begs the questions, will the subprime mortgage crisis really cause retailers to go out of business? The answer is YES! The subprime mortgage crisis which caused steep declines in home prices and huge increase of foreclosures will have a huge trickle down effect. You will see retailers going out of business left and right in the next few years. We have already seen it with Circuit City. Who is the next to go? No one knows, but one thing is for sure, a company can only give away so much inventory before it decides to close it’s doors. Guys and girls, it is going to get worse before it gets better so please be smart with your money.

“Not Everybody Can Own a Home”

admin — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:17:55 +0000

“It is ridiculous to think that everybody in this country can own a home. Many of you are not mature enough, not smart enough, you don’t earn enough, you are not responsible enough. Most of you are, some of you are not. It does not mean you are bad people. I have somebody in my family; not an owner. Tried it; ehhhhh. Somebody else ends up paying the bill. YOU pay the bill for that person in my family. But they are good people and they mean well. They just want a roof over their heads. Its called renting! Move across town. People need candor!” This was a quote from a radio host today and it is the entire truth. This is the reason we are in the subprime mortgage crisis.

The American public needs to gain perspective on owning a home. Many are not capable of this responsibility. It does not mean that you are unsuccessful. At certain points in everyone’s life, they should not own a home. For some reason, every single American feels like it is their “right” to own a home as soon as they get a job and sometimes before they get a job. To compound this problem, most Americans are told that they can own a home. Be honest with yourself and everyone else; encourage your friends and family in bad financial situations to rent. Those that demand that it is their “right” to own a home and cannot pay it are being bailed out by all of you who have made the correct financial decisions.

Ultimately, it is the psychology of most Americans that they can and will own a home. Please step back, be honest with yourself, look at your financial situation and have some perspective. If you cannot own a home at this time, accept it now, it will make your life MUCH easier in the future.