Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Urban Institute Info Graphic - Backsliding on Equal Housing Opportunity

New Info Graphic Paints a Sad Picture of How Far Lending to Under-Served has Fallen


The Urban Institute's Housing Finance Policy Institute launched a year ago with a commitment to bringing unbiased and factual information to the housing debate. This most recent release shows the progress made in understanding what is actually happening in markets today. This info-graphic is a stunning story of America's housing finance system's failure to serve minorities.

Visit the Urban Institute's Info Graphic to drill down 

According to the data, this may represent one of the contributing factors to the sluggish housing recovery.  Taking 13% of the market out of the equation could have that effect.

Interestingly, FHFA just announced the proposed affordable housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Aside from the fact that these "affordable housing" goals provide a politically correct subtext for lending to minorities, these goals do not increase current objectives substantially, except for targeting low income areas instead of individuals.

A 3% annual increase in Low Income purchases goals is not going to replace
the 13% of the population excluded since the crash. Source Federal Housing Finance Agency

For those involved in primary origination, perhaps this is the signal to develop business models that focus on minority markets. Failure, on the part of the industry, to provide a private sector solution to this problem in today's environment of regulated compensation and higher priced mortgage lending restrictions would acknowledge the real problem; today's regulatory scheme deprives a large segment of the population of access to home ownership.

This data show continued regulatory insistence on consumer protection by stifling private enterprise will ultimately hurt all Americans by creating wealth inequality, and depressing markets broadly.

Citations

Bai, B. & George, T. A new view of the housing boom and bust. (2014, September 10). Retrieved September 18, 2014, from http://datatools.urban.org/Features/mortgages-by-race/#5/39.809/-94.812

Russell, C., & Johnson, S. (2014, August 29). Affordable Housing Goals for 2015-2017. Retrieved September 18, 2014, from http://www.fhfa.gov/Media/PublicAffairs/Pages/FHFA-Proposes-2015-2017-Housing-Goals-for-Fannie-Mae-and-Freddie-Mac.aspx

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

LinkedIn Vulnerability - Group Posting Can Lead to Blocking

If you count on person-to-person networking through LinkedIn Groups, you should consider having a back up plan.  LinkedIn initiated a new protocol this spring where any member can flag any posts to group discussions as spam, which then blocks your posting in ALL of your groups.  This can have an adverse impact on your marketing efforts, as well as your distribution of information such as product bulletins to groups and individuals who have joined LinkedIn for this very purpose.



One of the beautiful aspects of LinkedIn includes the ability to identify people within your vertical market and initiate or join conversations with peers.  No other networking opportunity (with the exception of corporate blogs within an organization) gives you exposure to an engaged audience within your industry.

The problem arises when a competitor or other individual with an axe to grind decides to flag any post as irrelevant or promotional.  LinkedIn makes this easy to do by simply pulling down the carat on the upper right hand side of any post.  Once one post gets flagged, you instantly go into moderation status ACROSS ALL GROUPS, meaning your bulletins, comments, discussions and other contributions immediately go to a queue for manager approval instead of being posted.  This means that your response to a discussion won't post until approved sometimes days or weeks (or NEVER) after you write it, meaning your contributions become irrelevant and you miss participating in industry conversations.

LinkedIn support refutes this citing that group managers can override all moderations. That's LinkedIn's position regarding why they won't change this new approach. But you may find that many groups have a "self-policing" policy where the manager takes a "hands-off" approach. This means your contributions go into a black hole.  A bitter pill, if LinkedIn is an important part of your marketing.

Some alternatives, if you have been blocked - as I have been - might include:

  • Linking to your content in Pulse by following the instructions on LinkedIn's site
  • Use Issuu.com to create a print version of your content, and promote that link on your website and blog
  • Duplicate your content into powerpoints, and use SlideShare and promote that link on your website and blog

Of course LinkedIn designed this innovation to combat spammers. We all hate spammers. However, most people see spam and immediately recognize it. Those spammers get banned. When the spammer realizes he or she has been banned he simply creates a new avatar for himself and starts anew.  These are not people who have actively participated in LinkedIn earnestly and honestly for years building large networks of people.  It TAKES YEARS to add 500 people to your network. A spammer has a small network and a new profile. A spammer doesn't get top contributor status. WHY, then, is LinkedIn seemingly eliminating the utility it has created? For LinkedIn this represents a sad development. The company spent years making itself relevant using groups as a way for people to connect. This new protocol means that era is over.  

The good news is that you can now ban your competitors from posting!