Diane Gerdes's (dianegerdes) Blog

The American Economy should take lessons from our 2010 Olympic champions.  The American athletes are playing with injuries that would put the rest of us in a hospital for an extended stay. At the very least you would find our battered bodies sequestered in our hot tubs (or in my case, a warm bath...

Bail outs are taking a whole different meaning in today's world.  A few short years ago bail out meant contacting Dennis, the bail bondsman to borrow money to get my irresponsible brother out of jail.    Now 15 members of the Euro Zone have gotten the call to bail out their financially reckless s...

Question: Is it true you can purchase a another home immediately after a short sale? I just received a flyer and it says my former short sale client can now buy another home.     Answer:  Well, maybe.   If your client sold his primary residence utilizing a short sale, the following are the FHA gu...

The new moon next week (no, not the one with beautiful blood sucking teenagers or ripped hairy guys) begins the Chinese New Year celebration of the Year of the Tiger.   Fireworks are a tradition: a call for the Dragon to come ward off evil spirits.     But the recent sparks between China and the ...

One day after President Obama's State of the Union address with the promise of adding more jobs, the City of Phoenix announced they are cutting 1379 positions including police officers and firefighters to offset the $242 million deficit. Instead of eliminating necessary personnel, the following a...

2010 is bringing unprecedented changes to lending. Our squabbling, not talking parents, HUD and the FED have put new regulations into place to monitor home loans. (They don't even meet for coffee. More on that at a later date)  In the old days (2005-2006) if a buyer was using an unethical  lender...

The housing market continues to cloud our economic recovery throughout the United States. The Obama administration has finally admitted its $75 billion program to stop foreclosures may need some more tweaking. According to the New York Times only Ocwen Financial, a subprime lender, can claim succ...

  "Is that liquid nitrogen in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?"  took on a  new meaning over the holidays.   Personally, I like to travel in silence, read a good book, or work on my computer.  But now I will need to take an airline sponsored course "The terrorist sitting next to you". ...

As the sun gets ready to set on 2009, reflecting over the past decade’s economic habits could cause a hangover. Eleven years ago Brooksley Born, then the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, tried to sober up the financial markets by warning that credit derivatives, convoluted in...

Need extra money to purchase those expensive Christmas presents for your friends and family?  Don't say Bah Humbug! Instead, buy a real Prada purse for your wife instead of the fake one you make her carry. Take the kids on a road trip to Sunrise.   Drink a few bottles of wine not encased in cardb...