Diane Cipa

• Manage |RSSRESPA reform

I absolutely agree with Lenn. The same applies for title insurance and settlement fees. My customers know they are getting superior service. I don't negotiate because all of my customers deserve the best, including a level playing field with price.

"And what really galls me (and I tend to be a republican)is that the House Republicans got pissed because Pelosi tossed a few verbal bombs." I agree completely! Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but memory tells me strict accounting mark to market rules came out of the S & L crisis as a solution to prevent failure due to the overstated value of assets. I don't think we should take lightly any vacation of mark to market rules. The core and substance of the Paulson Plan - namely the creation of a reverse auction system in which the Treasury acts as the buyer of last resort for mortgage backed securities to help troubled institutions get this hard to value paper off their books - is a sound plan. I think the public and congress over-reacted and so I'd have to say the administration didn't do such a great job selling it. What we have here is a pricing mechanism failure. Rather than masking the problem with a mark to market vacation - which BTW might not be so easy to undo - the auction system could jump start a real market and other buyers might follow. That's a real fix in which taxpayers are NOT bailing out but buying mortgage backed paper that likely has value far above the purchase price. I would hope that policiticians could demonstrate leadership and good statemanlike qualities and help their constituents understand simple business concepts rather than the easy role of demagogue.

"The clock has turned back twenty years as far as what loans are now available. I highly doubt we'll ever see that level of subprime loans again." Mike: I agree on the first point and am hopeful on the second. The lending of 20 years ago was based on solid principles aka lend to borrower who can afford to repay, have demonstrated a willingness to repay, have some hard earned equity providing motivation to avoid foreclosure. Inman News: Great article. "When the market began to collapse in 2006, investors discovered a dirty little secret that local real estate agents and mortgage brokers had known about for a couple of years. Loans were being made to unqualified borrowers on property that was rising too rapidly and could not hold its value." Well, what happens to an industry refusing to police itself? Regulation and more regulation.