Corporate Blog

October 1, 2008

“We Were The Cool Guys.”

Watching the credit crisis destroy Wall Street this week, it was hard not to think of the mortgage episode of “This American Life,” which aired many months ago.

Clarence Nathan: I wouldn’t have loaned me the money. And nobody that I know would have loaned me the money. I know guys who are criminals who wouldn’t loan me that and they break your knee-caps. I don’t know why the bank did it. I’m serious … 540 thousand dollars to a person with bad credit. 

Glen Pizzolorusso (a mortgage broker in upstate New York): We rolled up to Marquee at midnight with a line, 500 people deep out front. Walk right up to the door: Give me my table. Sitting next to Tara Reid and a couple of her friends. Christina Aguilera was doing some, I’m-Christina-Aguilera-and-I’m-gonna-get-up-and-sing kind of thing. Who else was there? Cuba Gooding and that kid from Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive. What was that kid’s name? Fabian Barabia? We ordered 3, 4 bottles of Cristal at $1,000 per bottle. They bring it out, you know they’re walking through the crowd, they’re holding the bottles over their heads. There’s fire crackers , sparklers. You know, the little cocktail waitresses. You know so you order 3 or 4 bottles of those and they’re walking through the crowd and everyone’s like: Whoa, who’s the cool guys? We were the cool guys. They gave me the black card with my name on it. There’s probably 10 in existence. 

Thanks to Peter Cochran and my twin brother Wes for reminding me about this episode, nearly simultaneously.

I searched for a picture of Glen Pizzolorusso but he’s nowhere to be found…

Posted by Glenn Kelman on October 1, 2008 12:15 PM | del.icio.us | Digg

  • s it a good idea to purchase Fifth Third Bank stock right now?
    Is it a good idea to purchase Fifth Third Bank stock right now? Why or why not?
  • Bellrang118
    Mr. Pizzolorusso and many others that were in his same position are NOWHERE in life right now. So many of these uneducated, scum sucking animals that were BDRs and BDAs at WMC are now working in retail shops at the Garden State Plaza Mall, and others in the area. Most have little education and were allowed the pass all of there fraudulent loans through because they greased the palms of the managers, especially Darren Hagan, Kathy Lipps, Paul Ciarfello, Bill Conologue, Tammy Nugent, and others. The subprime mortgage debacle was the ONE AND ONLY chance any one of these lowlifes will ever have to make money. And they talk about others being losers and bottom feeders. I can't WAIT until the results of the subprime files (which are being audited by banking authorities for fraud) are fully reviewed, We will see more and more of these people indicted for banking fraud!!
  • Fantastic Blog! Keep up the top work!
  • BDR
    Bell You are a LOSER! Go to hell. You are filled with hate and anger because you could never make it and you never will. You are a bottom feeder, probably rummaging though dumpsters. You have a shitty attitude and the fact that you wish hardship upon others says a lot about the person you are. I'm sure we will cross paths again and I will be on top while you are still a little insignificant bottom feeding idiot.
  • to my friend at WMC, your lack of correct grammar, knowledge of staff, and off the wall comments tells me you did not work alongside me at WMC, you were most likely an underpaid secretary, and were jealous of the money we were making.

    Anyone who would like to know a little bit more about what really happened can read here:

    http://glenpizzolorusso.blogsp...

    You may be surprised that NPR (the media) doesn’t give the full story, shocking I know...
  • Bell
    Glen many of us worked beside you at WMC Mortgage and thought you were a total loser, but acted like we respected you since you had so much money in your pockets and would pay for all of those dinners, limousine rides, champagne and cocaine that went right up your nose at all those parties. You, Gian Russo, Marty Bronfman, Darren Hagen, Rob Aversa, Travis Bowens, and most of the other Account Executives were and are nothing better than a human garbage bags. Glad to hear that you are finally getting back what you gave out - financial hardship to homeowners and fraud. Look forward to seeing you sleeping in the street in a cardboard box. When I pass by and spit on you, maybe you can sign one of your fraudulent loan applications for me.
  • I wonder how the rest of the world's real estate markets are holding up in light of the international crashing of the equities and stock markets. It seems natural to me to conclude that since the economy is truly global, then so too are the crashes. I hope I'm wrong New Zealand!
  • It's impossible for anyone to make predictions in the space. As a supporting consultant for the RE market, even in Canada where things haven't been hit as hard yet, things are incredibly precarious. I think ultimately it'll be a great proving ground for the best agencies to excel.
  • Is this a genuine question?

    When evaluating alternatives to Redfin, our clients most often mention Windermere, Alain Pinel, Coldwell Banker and Prudential. Beyond the blog comments submitted under false names, no one has ever mentioned any of the brokers you list except for Zip.

    We are hiring, albeit cautiously. Conditions were far worse last year than now. We are optimistic but we cannot say what will happen next; the markets are very unstable.

    My guess is that the business will likely perform to within 5% of our 2008 revenue projections, and exceed our earnings projections. It is hard to say what our future capital requirements will be but we feel confident that, within reason, we will have access to capital as needed.

    I have no idea what our exact cash position will be in three years. No business does. We try to spend our money as carefully as we can.

    We also want to preserve the privileges of a privately held company: to invest in projects that may take a long time to pay off or not pay off at all, to take risks, to screw up.

    So we want to be an open business but we are not ready to be held accountable to the standards of a publicly traded company in which grandma has invested her retirement account.
  • Danny
    Glenn, assuming the mkts continue as they will for the next 3 years what is your Cash on hand projection at the end of 3 years?

    How much will you need to infuse from investors?

    Will you let some Agents go to keep costs down?

    How do you see the expansion of companies like 500 Realty, Shop Prop, Iggy's, and Zip?
  • Great comment Trevor! But let's be very, very clear about one thing: Christine Aguilera is NOT a B-list celebrity.
  • Glenn,

    This was hands down my favorite episode of This American Life. I just about fell out of my chair when I heard the Cristal/B-list-celbrity bit.

    The other moment when I about fell out of my chair was when the guy who got the NINA loan actually looked at what his loan officer put on his loan app for his income:

    Kerry Campbell: Here it's saying your base employment income is 16,250 a month.

    Richard Campbell: Laughs. Wha?!

    Kerry Campbell: That means your salary, on a yearly basis, would be $195,000 to be exact.

    Richard Campbell: I wish. In 2005, right, and they used my 2005 taxes, I was making $37,000 that year.

    Adam Davidson: Did you know that number until now?

    Richard Campbell: no

    Adam Davidson: To me, that is shocking. It's not shocking to you?

    Kerry Campbell: That’s outrageous. But it's a common thing. It's worlds apart, reality and what's on these documents.
  • I agree Rob-I had to listen to that episode a couple of times in order for it to sink in.
  • That was an excellent episode. My favorite part was when they were discussing the ridiculous amount of money a car salesman turned mortgage broker was making out of the gate. I thought to myself that is pretty good money, but not that insane...then came the Ira Glass double take with Ira saying "that is per month, not per year." Then I was in disbelief.

    Here is a picture of Glen Pizzolorusso from LinkedIn: http://media.linkedin.com/mpr/...
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