Hello STEEMIT Community. I want to take a second to thank all of you who are viewing my introduction.
I am Henry from Long Island, New York. I have never been one to post or blog but find this social experiment exciting. I have been on Facebook since its inception and maybe I have had a handful of posts. I haven't signed onto Facebook in a while because I could care less about what this friend had for dinner or that this friends child went swimming because it was hot today. I mean really! So needless to say, I am out of my comfort zone when it comes to posting and blogging. I find this idea so revolutionary that I wanted to become a part of it. Sometimes you have to do out of the ordinary things to get out of the ordinary results.
About Me
I have been in financial services for the past 20 years. I was a stock broker for 7 years and have been a mortgage banker for the past 13 years. I have been lucky enough to be a part of some of the worst financial bubbles in the US over the last 20 years. I was a stock broker in 2000 when the NASDAQ crashed with the internet bubble. Then when we were starting to move forward, the next year 9/11 occurred. That further crippled the industry. I tried to rough it out for about another 2 years, but the market was done at that point, and many clients didn't want to trade any longer because they had been burned so bad. At that point a friend of mine was killing it in the mortgage industry and kept in my ear about moving over to that industry. That was one of the best decisions I had ever made. I went over by him to do sub-prime mortgages. The market was on fire and it gave me a few amazing years until the bottom fell out. In the next couple years we would see the banking crisis caused by all the sub-prime paper being bought by Wall Street. I can write a book on this as I was on the front line and working for the biggest bank in NY and safest one in the country. I saw what was happening and why it was happening. Those first few months of the financial crisis were so bad that bank were closing and all the mortgage companies were shutting there doors. I happened to transition from a sub-prime loan officer to a prime loan officer when I saw the writing on the wall with Citbank buying Ameriquest paper and then New Century collapsing because of all the buybacks. My other colleagues got let go when the subprime divisions were closed but since I had moved over to Prime I was still employed. The beginning of the financial crisis saw the darkest days for mortgage originations. The rates were in the 6's and the values of homes started dropping so no one was really purchasing or refinancing. Loan originations were at all-time lows. That caused a lot of lenders to go out of business and forced a lot of people out of the industry. Its always darkest before the dawn.
Then Came the Fed
The fed came to the rescue with TARP, but they couldn't save them all. RIP Lehman Brothers. The Fed started printing money like it was no ones business. And all their injections saved the banking system (that is to be debated). With the new economy came the low rates. I was lucky enough to stay in the industry for one of the greatest runs in mortgage banking history. The rates went from 6% all the way to the 3% range. Everyone wanted to refinance. And for those who couldn't, Obama promoted the HARP loan. It didn't matter if you had no equity in your home, no job or income or you had a bad credit score but as long as you were current on your mortgage with Freddie or Fannie then we could do a refinance for you. I didn't vote for Obama but I was grateful for that. Since then the mortgage industry has been a game changer for may people, myself included.
Broadening My Horizons
I try to get involved in different things and gain as much knowledge as I can. I recently took up painting and I have had a lot of positive feedback from my art work but I am not at the comfort level of accepting they may be good pieces. We are always our own worse critic. A few weeks ago a friend of mine introduced me to crypto currency. I tried to be a sponge and absorb all that I could from videos and blogs. I have a firm grasp on it now and that led me to STEEMIT. I do believe that this ecosystem can thrive and I want to be a part of something special.
OH Yeah Selling AMZN at $7
I have made many financial mistakes in my life, probably enough for 10 lives. Even though I get kicked in the balls, I always come back for more. I actually have an amazing record of making historical purchases but on the same token have a history of making the worse sells imaginable. After 9/11 I had decided I would buy some of my favorite stocks that I always traded at much higher prices and hold them long term, so I purchased 2000 shares of AMZN in the low 6's and a few others like NTAP and YHOO around the same area. I ended up making a few bucks and selling out. I totally went against my long term view and we all know where AMZN is today.
I also sold had a Facebook and took a loss when I sold it at $19 dollars a few years ago. I bought it at around $30 and then it tanked. The analysts were calling for about $9 dollars a share, however it turned around and went straight to $122. I didn't feel so bad when I heard Mark Cuban bought at like $38 and the sold it at around$32 for a 2 million dollar loss.
I have many more horror stories like that or should I say valuable lessons learned. I am going to make a long term investment commitment to STEEMIT and hopefully this will not be the one that gets away.
Henry
