Today’s real estate quote of the day is from an article on the front page of The Wall Street Journal:

If there is a scenario where the government talks about raising down payments to 20% on conventional loans, you would absolutely crush the housing market

- Peter Norden, chief executive of Real Estate Mortgage Network

The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage — the bedrock of American home ownership — but for how long?

Here’s an NYT op-ed where the writer compares a 30-year fixed-rate loan to a “financial Frankenstein’s monster.” And here’s a look at 3 possible scenarios for the U.S. mortgage market.

Your thoughts?

First the good news: The larger U.S. banks are coming back, and the banking system as a whole is slowly getting healthier.

According to  FDIC’s latest report.  81% of banks were profitable in the third quarter — the highest percentage since the middle of 2008, before Lehman went bust and everything fell apart.

Now the bad news: The number of banks on the FDIC’s “problem bank” list continued to rise — to 860, the highest number since the early 1990s. Most on the list are small to medium size banks.

Click on real estate banking chart to enlarge.

The big question: What impact will the rise in “problem small banks” have on Boston real estate buyers obtaining a mortgage?

Boston real estate agents in my office, are telling me that several of their buyers are jumping through hoops to obtain their mortgage approval. What do you see out there?

Did you know …. The average time it takes to get a home loan processes is about eight weeks now – two weeks more than it used to be, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The local mortgage industry implosion has hundreds of Massachusetts mortgage brokers fleeing the industry. In late 2007, Massachusetts Division of Banks reported 1,511 licensed mortgage brokers on the books. In December 2008, it was down to 1,006. As of December 1, 2009, the numbers were down to 600 licensed brokers in our local area.

So are you like me, wondering where hundreds of these former mortgage brokers are working now? Well, Banker & Tradesman tracked a few of them down. The following are excerpts from B&T:

Craig Good, formerly of Norwood-based Mortgage Results, became a small-time fruit and flower peddler in downtown Boston,” he said. “My stand is awesome.” (See picture above).

The pay is about a third of what his mortgage business was, and the work is tough. Good now has to unload trucks and deal with the elements, although his stand is strongly sheltered and moderately heated. But the simplicity of the work appeals to him.

I heard that Graig Good is a “good apple.” Okay, here’s my favorite one:

Souza, a former wholesale mortgage representative, left her job after the real estate bubble imploded. But she’s now riding a completely new bubble, as a kind of Mary Kay of cash-for-gold. Her new business, Boston-based Gold to Green, organizes home parties where groups of women gather at a friend’s house, bring their old gold jewelry and exchange it for piles of cash.

“We’re growing like crazy,” Souza said. “It’s fun, no stress, everybody’s making money.”

Looking forward to your comments.

File Under: You can’t change a Zibras’ stripes