BOA completes CWC aquisition

By now this is probably old news. Good thing I bought BAC at what I'd thought was the bottom. Oops. How low is this thing gonna go? On a mortgage note - will CWC continue to do wholesale?
The upcoming changes will be interesting to say the least.

$4 Gas and Countrywide CEO's Special Mortgages to Fannie Mae Peeps!

Interesting news weekend to say the least. The national average of a gallon of gas has reached the $4 dollar mark - not a big surprise but sure to rattle the Monday morning markets.

On the mortgage front there was an interesting article in the WallStreet Journal about Countrywide's CEO Angelo Mozilo playing favorite's with a couple bigwigs from Fannie Mae. Yes, you read that right. Furthermore, one of them is an advisor to the Obama campaign.

Excerpt:

Countrywide Friends Got Good Loans

By Glenn R. Simpson and James R. Hagerty

Countrywide Financial Corp. makes mortgage loans through a vast network of offices, brokers and call centers. But a few customers have gotten their loans a special way: through Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo.

These borrowers, known internally as "friends of Angelo" or FoA, include two former CEOs of Fannie Mae, the biggest buyer of Countrywide's mortgages, say people familiar with the matter.

One was James Johnson, a longtime Democratic Party power and an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, who this past week was named to a panel that is vetting running-mate possibilities for the presumed nominee.

This brings a couple things to my mind:

1. Is Bank of America sure they want to buy Countrywide?

2. Do You Want to Vote For Someone who's campaign employs advisors with less than credible ethics? Brings to mind that old saying "You Are Who You Hang With".

3. Why hasn't Mozilo been subject to some hard core scrutiny. Mark my words where there's smoke there's fire. I'm sure this isn't the last we'll hear about his questionable business ethics.

Market-share Spike if BOA sticks with the Countrywide System

If this Bank of America - Countrywide deal goes through it will certainly maneuver BOA into a more competitive position as far as the online mortgage lead marketplace. Not sure how, or if they will continue to use the generation systems that are currently in place at CWF or not. But, it would certainly appear to be an improvement to there current generation systems. Countrywide is in the top 5 and Bank of America is generally bringing up the rear of the top 10. You can bet BOA was aware of this when they made the offer for Countrywide.

I find this interesting for several reasons. From a small brokers perspective it re-enforces the need to have an online lead-generating system in place. It's gotta be part of the marketing plan no matter what size shop you run!

BOA - Countrywide Deal

I've been a bit hesitant to discuss this as I am not really sure what it's going to mean from a brokers perspective. I think the picture will become a little less fuzzy as we move along in 08. Sound like the deal will probably come to fruition somewhere in Q3 of this year.

Questions running through my mind?

Will BOA put the cabash on Countrywide's Wholesale activities like they did their own?

Will this help the economy? Is it better than if Countrywide had to declare BK?

How many more radical changes can this industry take?