Up to 58 bank failures

[Kevin Yeats]

We are up to 58 bank failures in the US (thru July 22). These banks represent approximately $19 Billion in assets including 4 Billion dollar banks and 1 two Billion dollar bank.

This also makes 10 failures in July after two slower months (4 in June and 5 in May).

I think we hit 100 again for the third year in a row.

[Bryan Hancock]

Good...let them fail. We need to get rid of the dead weight in the system.

[Jeff S.]

They are buying opportunities for the big boys, with a little help from their friends(taxpayers).

[Joe Delia]

Can't agree with Brian's statement. Just creates more "too big to fail" situations. We'll be in this same situation again in the next 20-30 years until true separation occurs again.

[Bryan Hancock]

No...the government bailing any of them out creates a too big to fail problem...as does a financial structure with GFE intervention. Letting companies fail is called CAPITALISM.

[Will Barnard]

Can we plug BofA on the future fail list!!!??? My new thread to follow . . . .

[Will Barnard]

Here is the new thread link:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92-ask-about-a-real-estate-company/topics/65985-stop-doing-business-with-bofa-

[Kevin Yeats]

Now up to 68 banks including another Billion dollar bank (almost $2 billion).

...from a book I recently read, the author intimates that Citicorp was nearly bankrupt at about the same time that Lehman's closed (failed).

I doubt if we will ever hear that B of A "failed" until well after the fact.

[Jason S.]

Wouldn't they all go under if they were forced to acknowledge true asset values?

[Will Barnard]

I think so. My opinion, based on info from a good friend of mine (stock broker) who believe that another big crash is coming and a financial meltdown potentially larger than the 2008 crash, this time it will be due in large part to derivitives. They are based with nothing securitizing them and since one side fails, there is no one to pay-out. The amount of these coming is thought to be 1.5 to 2 times what the banking crisis was and going short on brokerages may be the best play of all (such as Goldman Sachs, etc.)

[Kevin Yeats]

@Jason ALL is awfully inclusive.

I regularly speak with a banker/loan officer at a smaller bank. His bank makes safe loans (no greater than 65% LTV) to customers in their local area (and they have several branches so their area is sizeable) and they have consistently made profits.

His bank stays away from anything they cannot understand.

It works.

[Jason S.]

Kevin, Fair enough. I knew of a bank like that once, Merchants National Bank in Sacramento, I bet they are doing well too.

Will, the richest guy I ever met, billionaire and that is not an exaggeration, told me in 2005 that when the mother of all booms was over, there will be several major drops. Each drop will wipe out many people - particularly those that jump in thinking it is the last drop. He told me it is going to be a disaster beyond anything he has every seen by the time everything stops.

I am not certain one way or the other but his words reverberate through my brain daily, especially when I read posts like yours.

Clearly in CA - LA and OC have a long way down to still drop - I would be cautious making anything but short term investments in those markets. I figure this thing will have hit bottom when there are just 1 or 2 people at each trustee sale again. It will have hit bottom when everyone has given up and lost interest.

I really do not know - and that scares me daily.

[Will Barnard]

I hear that! I try to stay positive and not go doom and gloom, however, it would be incredibly irresponsible of me to not prepare and plan for how to name and not lose in such potential upcoming scenarios.

[Kevin Yeats]

No matter how much Coca-Cola I drink and tell other people to drink, the price of a share of Coke stock does not go up. I can conclude from many repetitions of this experiment that I have no control over the price on the stock.

If I work harder and find more deals to work on with willing and able customers, my income increases.

Bottom line: I can only control my own efforts and as long as I focus my efforts and work at improving what I do and making customers happy, I should be ok.

I also am aware that many things can change that are out of my control and so I think about other avenues of revenue (back up plans) and discuss these plans with those that I trust (mentors) and those that I may need to trust in the future (prospective employers). If I lack a certain skill or knowledge, then I work on those areas too as long as I am not distracted from goal #1 .... making money today.

[Bryan Hancock]

Yeah...I think that this is the first lesson most aspiring entrepreneurs learn Kevin...make money TODAY. Betting on the come is a sure-fire way to go broke as an entrepreneur. You can chase stuff down blind alleys and work yourself to death betting on long-term stuff.

[Will Barnard]

One of the many reasons why I love to flip. It is the incredible urge to "keep the needle in my arm" and make those big paychecks today as there may not be a tomorrow.

[Kevin Yeats]

With Four closures (no pun) on Friday, we have now hit 80 bank failures.

The four banks closed had 3/4 of a billion in assets.

I don't know the FDIC's reserves but they have to be getting low after this past 10 months.

[Jason S.]

From the discussion above it appears from this list

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

That the FDIC is not merging many of these into the large institutions.

I have also been reading lately that the Government has an overall plan to unwind and break apart the too big to fail institutions but that entire process is going to take years due to the complexity of unraveling the securtized portfolio, desecuritizing the MBS', etc . It's all on the table and being discussed. So there is a plan so that there will not be too big to fail institutions in the next crash.

[Syed Ali]

Mr . Yeats,

Do you broker these sfr and npn tapes

Syed

[Kevin Yeats]

No .... there are other people here on Bigger Pockets that do. Keep looking ... and welcome to this community.