Best of times, Worst of times

It's a closing week, which means that we're occupied here with four loans we expect to close by Friday (though it appears one of them might push to Monday). That leaves little time for blogging, so I'll just present a really good article about the credit markets that I read today. Here is a salient part:

The great risk is that the overall credit market freezes because lenders are afraid to lend.

And that's why recent news has been encouraging. The Federal Reserve has made extra short-term credit available to banks and is clearly willing to do more. And the Fed aggressively cut short-term interest rates in September, which greases the wheels for more lending.

In addition, the new fund that the major banks are proposing will ensure that the hardest-hit investors will be able to sell securities when necessary. Equally important, the fund will allow solid securities to be separated from those that are iffy.

There is good news out there. There is bad news out there. I believe that the hardest part of this market will be waiting for people to get some confidence back. Winter won't help.

Meantime, we're here and we answer any question you have, any time. No charge. 801-787-2162 or just email me at chris@thechrisjonesgroup.com.