One of the most interesting facets of the early days of the housing crisis was the blame game being played out on a daily basis in Congress, in the media and on the internet.
The consumer groups blamed the banks. The media blamed the banks. The government blamed the banks. And vice versa. Plus, the banks blamed the investors. Everyone blamed Wall Street. It was vicious cycle with everyone looking for easy answers as the economy sank into recession.
My time at the Mortgage Bankers Association was critical to my career, but honestly I wasn’t passionate about the work. It was interesting and I worked with amazingly talented people, but I never felt a real calling there.
This “journey” I am chronicling is definitely going to focus more on my work after MBA, but I am going to write about a few select moments from my MBA experience that will put my later role in the housing crisis into perspective. Translation – this entry will be longer than normal.
It was at MBA where I really learned about the major players and the issues behind the recession, and their effect on the mortgage industry, the housing market and the nation’s homeowners.
My consulting career didn’t exactly start off so perfectly in December of 2007. It would be easy for me to blame my tardiness that day on the snow storm that rolled through the DC area, causing major traffic in my neighborhood.
But the truth was that I overslept. The snow, and its inevitable ability to turn bad Maryland drivers into absolute commuting nightmares on wheels, just made it worse.
In December of 2007, I sat in the conference room of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s office in Washington, DC. I knew nothing about the mortgage industry, or the impending housing crisis, and I didn’t care. I was taking my first shot as a communications consultant and I just wanted a job.
Housing Journey 