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.

Risk and rewards in Fed's plan

Perspective: A QE2 Q-and-A

Oct 29

Economic how-to: the Brits and Okie grit

Commentary: 6 lessons from across the pond

Oct 22

'Robo' scandal lacks substance, victims

Commentary: 'Nation of scorpions in a bottle'

Oct 15

Fed putting all its chips on the table

Commentary: 'QE2' coming Nov. 3

Oct 8

Is the Fed getting fed up, too?

Commentary: Meet the new 'Lords of Finance'

Oct 1

Banks play 'hot potato' with loans

Commentary: Despite public outcry over 'bailouts,' help is needed

Sep 24

The people have spoken, but are the parties listening?

Commentary: 'It's quiet out there ... too quiet'

Sep 17

'Just let housing go'

Commentary: Taking stock of housing market woes

Sep 10

Economic genie is out of wishes

Commentary: Welcome to the political fun house

Sep 3

Shadow inventory's invisible spectrum

Commentary: A state of non-recovery

Aug 27

Don't buy Fannie-Freddie 'Big Lie'

Commentary: Politics, propaganda at play in mortgage market debate

Aug 20

Big chickens, Chicken Little come home to roost

Commentary: Is there such a thing as a 'Modest Depression'?

Aug 13

Policy fail: the economy

Commentary: 'Who is in charge and what to do?'

Aug 6

Can we borrow our way out of debt?

Commentary: Mob mentality supports deleveraging

Jul 30

Housing first, and the rest will follow

Commentary: War on recession more like 'sitzkrieg'

Jul 23

Financial reform filled with empty promises

Commentary: Counting the days to the next 'Great Predicament'

Jul 16

Tax credits hid ongoing real estate slide?

Perspective: Homeownership rate plunges toward 'sensible' level

Jul 9

Fighting flatline after stimulus

Commentary: Housing comeback is key

Jul 2

Looking for leadership

Commentary: Financial markets struggle against 'vacuum'

Jun 25

'No taxpayer bailout!' rhetoric wears thin

Commentary: Who else can foot the bill in financial disasters?

Jun 18

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