With millions of homeowners falling into foreclosure, real estate agent and Web site creator Lisa LaShawn is taking aim at the mortgage industry with two Web sites that put a humorous spin on an otherwise serious problem.
LaShawn created IHateMortgageBrokers.com and AngryMobTshirts.com; both sites carry humorous T-shirts and other products that target the mortgage industry. The T-shirts at IhateMortgageBrokers.com have slogans on them that read,” Mortgage Brokers Suck!” and ” Beware of the Mortgage Broker.” Visitors to the site can sign an online petition to demand stronger regulation of the mortgage industry.
“Victims of the foreclosure crisis are getting slammed on the TV and radio,” LaShawn says. “If I had a dollar for every time Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck said ‘It’s not my fault they bought homes they couldn’t afford,’ I’d be a millionaire.”
“People were steered toward ‘risky’ Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) with low teaser rates, because most brokers got higher commissions on these loans,” said LaShawn. Brokers told them if they got ARM loans and made their payments on time, they could refinance later and get low “fixed rate” loans.
When home values started to fall refinancing became a problem. People were stuck with mortgages that significantly increased after the teaser period expired. “These loans are like financial quicksand,” LaShawn says. “They should have never been sold to people in the first place.”
LaShawn’s goal is to collect 1 million signatures for the petition by December 31st and send it to the U.S. Congress.
