Irony at it’s best……

Back in February the Mortgage Bankers Association struck a deal to sell its headquarters building. But like many Americans with real estate that has plunged in value, the trade group is getting much less than it owes its lenders.

The buyer….CoStar Group Inc., a provider of commercial real estate data, agreed to buy the MBA’s 10-story headquarters building in Washington, D.C., for $41.3 million.

That is well below the $79 million the trade group agreed to pay for the glass-walled building in 2007, near the top of the property bubble, while it was still under construction.

Can you say double standards….?

The trade group, which represents the real-estate finance industry, is at best in an awkward position. Its chief executive, John Courson, said in an interview late last year he believed “under-water” borrowers—those owing more on their mortgage than their home’s current market value—should keep paying their loans if they can afford to do so.

Defaults, he said, hurt neighborhoods by lowering property values. “What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?” Mr. Courson asked. On Saturday, Mr. Courson declined in an interview to say whether the MBA would pay off the full loan amount. “We’re not going to discuss the financing,” he said.

The message could not be any more clear….

Selling for less than owed on your property is a viable means to foreclosure!  Ask Mr. Courson.  I wonder what he was thinking when he made the deal????  Do you think that even for a second his own quote entered his mind!  “What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?”

We get it Mr. Courson, these are tough economic times, and when  faced with making life altering decisions there are valid concerns that out-way what our neighbors might think of us…….

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