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.

Credit crisis moves beyond banks

Commentary: Market relief may cause rates to rise, but it's worth the pain

Feb 15

Why bailout may be the only saving grace

Commentary: Foreclosure fix ideas so far lack teeth

Feb 8

What Fed cuts really mean for mortgages

Commentary: Average rates on mortgages unchanged in recent surveys

Feb 1

Trailing market's wild ride this week

Commentary: Rates eyed as Fed cut, stimulus package unveiled

Jan 25

Fed's call for stimulus may be too little, too late

Commentary: Credit losses appear to have bankrupted system

Jan 18

Dramatic Fed cut would hike mortgage rates

Commentary: Bernanke must make choice as political pressure intensifies

Jan 11

'Oh, to be a fly on the oval wall'

Mortgage commentary: Fed meets with Bush today

Jan 4

Where are mortgage rates headed?

Commentary: Jobs report to shed light on economy, inflation

Dec 31

'Happy Holiday fix for The Crunch'

Commentary: New loans, bank bailout would thwart recession

Dec 21

Fed's next move: Stop inflation or stop recession?

Commentary: Surprising data twists up markets this week

Dec 14

How to really get out of foreclosure mess

Commentary: Current fix won't work

Dec 7

Credit crunch is worsening

Commentary: Let's restore supply of new capital before this gets ugly

Nov 30

Mortgage rates set to dip below 6%

Commentary: Spread between Treasurys, mortgages raises concern

Nov 16

Housing needs restoration of new credit

Commentary: Real fix rests with Fannie and Freddie

Nov 9

Credit losses too large to recognize

Commentary: Mortgage rates stay low while everyone struggles through economic data

Nov 2

Job gains only thing keeping mortgages above 6%

Commentary: Anticipation builds for next week's labor report

Oct 26

Fed cut expected on Halloween

Commentary: Renewed credit panic hits markets

Oct 19

Markets stall on housing questions

Commentary: Uncertainty rules recovery predictions

Oct 15

Another Fed cut may hurt housing

Commentary: Cheaper money would hike mortgage rates

Oct 5

Praying for lower rates and a refinance party

Commentary: Strong jobs report will stave off recession

Oct 1

Previous 1...30 313233 34...41 Next