Lou Barnes

Contributor

After five years as Marketing Manager of a mountaineering clothing and equipment manufacturer and retailer (a great way to enjoy your 20s), Lou Barnes built 45-broker, two-office Spruce Real Estate in Colorado from 1978-83, spending most of his time guiding the firm through extremely high interest rates. The world of money was more fun for him than real estate, and Barnes sold Spruce and joined investment banking ranks for five years as Managing Partner of RCM Government Securities, a broker-dealer working on the early flow of mortgages to Wall Street and their related derivatives. Two of those years involved work on the heart of the savings and loan meltdown -- one of the "consultants" commuting to Texas, Arkansas and other Southwestern garden spots (fortunately, he spoke the language: his family were Okies), he was asked to figure out how deep the hole was going to be. He wrote one of the earliest accurate estimates of the ultimate cost in 1986, and was one of the first to address the necessary asset workouts. Some people thrive in a career on airplanes, and Barnes was not one of them. In 1988 the homebody began another career as a mortgage banker in Boulder, just in time to catch the terrible peak of foreclosures afflicting the greater "Oil Patch" and "Savings and Loan Belt." The firm, Boulder West, survived and thrived as a small mortgage bank -- very old-fashioned, strictly "A" paper, and based on long-term relationships with Realtors and past clients. Even with that strength, Boulder West closed in 2009, and Lou and many of his colleagues joined far-larger Premier Mortgage Group. As a marketing tool and for sanity, Lou has written a weekly column on the financial markets every Friday for 20 years.

Opinion

Today's mortgage rate was set yesterday by China

Nothing matters for interest rates now except US tariffs and trade war. Nothing

Aug 9

Opinion

Did Fed know tariff threat was coming before it cut rates?

In the time since Donald Trump's tariff announcement Thursday, low-fee mortgages have fallen below 4%

Aug 5

Opinion

On earthquakes and interest rates, expect some ripple effects

The Fed will struggle to explain the need for more interest rate cuts after Wednesday's expected reductionape

Jul 31

Opinion

Big changes are coming to Fannie and Freddie ... beware

The odds are against the June plan, no matter what it is, it will be likely to raise the cost of borrowing or exclude segments from credit

Jun 10

Opinion

The week in financial markets: Dow jumps following midterm elections

The stock market is easily excited by good economic news, and later considers consequences

Nov 9

Opinion

The week in financial markets: the 1970s word nobody wants

It's too early to start talking about stagflation, but a yield curve inversion is becoming more and more possible

Jun 30

Opinion

The week in financial markets: the hikes are starting to matter

We’re not saying when we’re going higher because we don’t know, but mark your calendars for June 13, 2018 for the day the Fed flipped from stimulus to leaning against the economy.

Jun 15

Opinion

The week in financial markets: 5-ring circus ahead

We can hope that the tax bill was so badly crafted that it does not stimulate, but rather just lines the pockets of the lucky

Jun 8

What you need to know about the big rate drop

Will rates fall more? Sometimes the table is set for deeper, but this time take the chicken in your hand!

May 29

Opinion

The week in financial markets: two moves

In a globalized world, the Fed tightens for all

May 19

Opinion

The week in financial markets: Fed going higher, mortgages holding

An old friend used to say that the Fed’s job was to carry an immensely valuable crystal orb balanced on a flat silver tray without edges, while refereeing a hockey game

May 4

The week in financial markets: no recognizable housing cycle

The Fed has already made cash the most expensive in ten years, but no sector reports that loans are harder to get

Apr 20

Opinion

Will iBuyers like Opendoor face a sudden backswing?

Not a lot of sellers will play, and worse: housing markets can plod along in predictable fashion for years and then... stop.

Apr 19

Opinion

Is Zillow fixed or flipped?

Explaining the stock tumble after real estate giant's big iBuyer announcement

Apr 17