Las Vegas real estate, mortgage, appraisal blog

At least if you're Senator Chris Dodd or Senator Kent Conrad you do. Each of the Senators as well as a member of Senator Barack Obama's campaign team received "sweetheart" loans for being in the "Friends of Angelo" VIP program with Countrywide. The campaign member resigned but not before it became known that it was Jim Johnson, a former CEO of Fannie Mae.

All are claiming they did not know of the special rates but when competing companies could not match, it should have been obvious.

An article in Appraisal Scoop brought some interesting information about Senator Dodd to the fore.

The Associate Press and Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, June 13, that Sen. Dodd reportedly received special treatment from Countrywide Mortgage when he refinanced both his Washington townhouse and his principal residence, saving about $2,000 a year in interest payments on the townhouse and $700 a year on his home in Connecticut.

The savings in interest for both home loans totaled about $75,000 over the life of the loans. How very interesting it is that a senator who is trying to flesh out a plan to rescue homeowners may have benefited from the actions of a leading offender in the mortgage meltdown.

1. Sen. Dodd, tries to ram regulation down appraisers throats in the form of a surety bond. How in the world could a man conceive of such a diabolical plan unless there was money to be made from it? The only thing of surety about that bond is that it would cost us all a lot of money and open us up to litigation. No money has changed hands yet, but I am willing to bet a USB flash drive that Sen. Dodd knows someone, or is related to someone, who would stand to make a lot of money on that little scheme.
2. Sen. Dodd received preferential treatment from Countrywide Mortgage, a leading offender in the mortgage meltdown and a company that is currently high on the implode-o-meter. Sen. Dodd is a "Friend of Angelo." Sen. Dodd has lately criticized Countrywide. Probably not a good idea. I wonder who outed him?
3. Sen. Dodd is the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. A high position of power, a mover and shaker. Nothing is going to happen on Capitol Hill concerning the mortgage meltdown if Sen. Dodd doesn't bless it. The stars are aligned,  pigs are flying, and the hounds have been loosed. It appears, yet again, there is no space between money and politics.

There is no place in our senate for such a duplicitous political player. This man is not in touch with what is happening in the real world, as evidenced on the one hand by the ignominy of the surety bond issue and on the other by profiting from special relationships with abusive lenders.