Darren Meade's, Top 7 Mortgage Meltdown Questions (?)

Darren Meade
What is the Mortgage Market Meltdown?

This refers to a culmination of factors that has led to massive tightening in credit standards among lenders. This tightening is due to an excessive number of mortgages that are both delinquent and in default. As a result of tighter credit standards and the devaluation of mortgage-backed securities, global investors are shying away from purchasing additional pools of loans, causing over 100 lenders to close and leaving many homebuyers and homeowners unable to locate financing alternatives.

Why should a real estate SELLER be concerned?

The pool of potential buyers will shrink as many individuals find it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain mortgage financing. Experts have speculated that the number of potential buyers will contract anywhere from 15%-30%. Sellers should also be aware that increased foreclosures can depress community values and result in a glut of local inventories, which could further drive down home prices.

So how many foreclosures are there?

According to http://www.foreclosures.com , there are currently 1,447,451 homes in pre-foreclosure; 832,281 homes are currently set to go to auction; and 1,217,885 homes have already been taken back by the lender. The number of homes in the foreclosure process as of July 2007 is double what it was as of July 2006.

What types of loans have been most impacted by credit tightening?

Subprime and Alt-A have suffered the greatest setback because these borrowers are at greater risk for defaulting. Subprime loans are those loans which have typically been taken by borrowers with poor credit. Alt-A type loans are for borrowers that typically have good or excellent credit but are unable or unwilling to provide documentation for income and/or assets.

What is the impact on the real estate market?

The National Association of Realtors estimates that home sales nationally will decline by nearly 13% in 2007. Median home prices nationally are projected to fall by 1.2% in 2007. According to the PMI Group, Inc., however, many local markets are experiencing price declines well in excess of that, up to a high of 11.44% in Miami. States that have experienced and will continue to face the greatest declines are California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada.

What should sellers and buyers do now?

Sellers should be realistic about home prices – the high prices of 2004 and 2005 are a distant memory. Home prices have taken a fall, and for those with houses currently available for sale, reductions may be in order to generate activity and offers. Sellers should demand that any offer from a buyer be accompanied by a pre-approval from a local mortgage professional.

Buyers need to be pre-approved – and frequently – as mortgage availability can change drastically, in some cases even daily. This is particularly true for those borrowers who have poor credit or are unable to provide income and/or asset documentation. Buyers should meet with a mortgage professional today to seek a pre-approval. They should be prepared to provide income and asset information including: two years of tax returns, including all schedules, W-2s, 1099s, up to three month’s worth of liquid asset statements, and their most recent pay stubs.

What types of loans are NOT being impacted by this crisis?

Loans that are offered and treated as conforming type loans, traditionally under $417,000 in most states, although that number may be higher in some states. In addition, government loans including those offered by FHA and VA have not been impacted to date. For these loans, it is typically a requirement that a borrower provide full income and asset documentation
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Darren Meade

To share with you a brief history, I was homeless as a teenager for two-and-half years where I lived in the streets begging for food and change. As you can imagine, my life was filled with a great deal of uncertainty.

By divine grace and guidance, I took shelter in the parking lot of a gym. The owner of the gym noticed me camping out there and after several weeks took me in. Pretty soon I had been adopted by the group of bodybuilders there and was given the nickname 'Pup'.

However, it was after the very painful experience of my father committing suicide six months after getting off the street that I began my personal journey into spiritual growth and began questioning how I could affect a greater number people in a more loving, profound and personal way.

Over the course of several years I went from being homeless to living in a condo on a golf course and representing the United States in international events culminating in winning the middleweight title of the IFBB Mr. North America bodybuilding competition. At the same time I co-founded a nutritional which exploded in the nutrition market and by age 27 I made my first million. Being young, I then squandered my first 3 million to turn around and build it again and again...slow learner at times!

Many of my lessons learned through out my spiritual path have been in the face of adversity. While "crisis" has often had its own way of waking me to the moment and reminding me of what is important to me now, it is not a requirement of this journey.

Just when I thought I had a handle on life, the handle broke.

I've learned another new lesson about life; including truly releasing and forgiving those whom hurt you. In April 2008 my aorta (main artery from your heart) ruptured in three (3) places.

I was given less than a 10% chance of survival and I was on life-support for 3 weeks. During this time the charge nurse spoke to a family friend and informed them they were going to amputate my leg, and that I was to young to die and they needed to transfer me to a new hospital (UCLA).

While I lived, my personal relationship ended within 10 days of my being discharged from the hospital. To be fair the doctors said I might never walk again, and that they believed I would be on a catheter for the rest of my life. I lost 50lbs of muscle. So she was leaving someone who might never be able to walk; make love or be able to return to work. However I've always been an over-achiever.

For instance I went off diaylisis, my bladder which had nerve damage returned to normal, the catheters out and I the leg another hospital wanted to amputate is responding and I'm learning to walk on it once again. I no longer use my wheel chair and am learning to walk without crutches.

The only suffering came from my own thoughts, believing this person would be with me to over-come these issues. I now realize that was the largest blessing of all.

EXECUTIVE BIOGRAPHY OF DARREN M. MEADE


Darren Meade, of Kairos-Meade, has a life, which exhibits the quintessential triumphant story. He was abandoned by his parents and homeless at the age of 14, weighing less than 100 pounds and today negotiates multi-million dollar agreements.

His business career developed initially from his passion for body building. As a youth, after being homeless for two-years, he was taken in by individuals who allowed him to utilize their company gym. Darren focused that passion and successfully won several awards in competitive body building, culminating in winning the Mr. North America title for the middleweight division and represented the United States in international events. His extensive exposure in competitive body building assisted in developing relationships with industry leaders in the medical device and nutritional supplement industries.

As Darren rapidly progressed in
professional endeavors, he designed a new business model not yet used in the industry for a then unknown nutritional company. The retail experiment led by Darren worked, and within two years he drove sales from $1 million to in excess of $40 million.

Moving forward to his next success, Darren proved that he could do it again and took another company to $35 million in a single year. He diligently oversaw all facets of assisting an international research organization´s quest to gain acceptance in the U.S. biotechnology sector by partnering with one of the world´s largest biotechnology companies within only five-months. This was accomplished after the organization had tried for years and used over 50 consultants and development personnel without results.

A key to Darren´s success is his passion for each new business he enters. He specializes in building profitable long-term relationships with clients, vendors and staff.
He has proven that success is contagious.

In addition to his business accomplishments, Darren has actively participated through service of time and finances to homeless shelters and civic community organizations. He is a Deputy CEO of the Invisible Youth Foundation. Darren recently volunteered on Arnold Schwarzenegger´s successful run for Governor. Due to his efforts, he was offered a position in Sacramento. He was selected by the Orange County Register to write columns regarding the process of the campaign through to the inauguration and planning for policies.