Ilan Awerbuch: Hi, I am Ilan Awerbuch of UniTrust in San Diego. I want to take a moment on behalf of myself, my business partner, Philip Aronoff, and all of the staff here at UniTrust to thank you for your patronage, for your business relationship and personal as well, and also to send you our best holiday greetings of this time of year. We appreciate our continued business and personal relationships and hope that it will grow in the future.
At this time of year, and in this year in particular, there are many among us who are in great discomfort and distress. This has been a very, very tough year for many, many people that all of us know and our hearts go out to them and fervent hopes that next year we will see some changes that will improve their lives. Though it's very, very difficult for many people, many of us have much to be thankful for, it's worthwhile for all of us to remember the many blessings in our lives.
We truly have much to be thankful for and any time of year is good, but this time of year, in particular, for us to say thank you in gratitude for all the blessings we have been given. That includes for us of UniTrust our continued relationship. We do want to also mention that there is going to be Refi way of coming in the beginning of next year. We look forward to getting a hold of you when the new year comes but if you haven't heard from us, please feel free to drop us a line or give us a call and we will look forward to working with you, again, in a refinance or purchase money situation.
Once again, our best wishes for this holiday and the New Year. Thank you!
Hello, and welcome to this week's edition of Mortgage Watch, I am Ilan Awerbuch of the UniTrust companies in San Diego. You know, the winter time, we have a saying, we usually say the frost is in the air, but given the past couple of weeks' experiences, I think it's more accurate to say there is a fraud in the air. I am referring to the two big scandals, not one but two, that are going on right now.
The one you have probably heard of is the one concerning Mr. Bernard Madoff and an amazing fraud involving probably about $50 billion and lots of well-healed, sophisticated people that you and I have heard of but not quite in this regard. There is another scandal going on as well involving a famous New York attorney named Marc Dreier, who I guess, is accused of forging documents, notes, and all kinds of other improprieties. Well both of them, kind of, follow on the heels of each other and I am sure there would be more revelations to come.
The amazing part to me is how this real fraud or both of each frauds were able to be carried out for so long. The famous showman, P.T. Barnum said, “You can fool most of the people most of the time” and I guess that's really, really truly. It's amazing that so many people were fooled for so long and really didn't bother to ask any questions. So, this is a good learning point. Of course, the response to a lot of people has been outright fear, don't know who to trust, don't know what to do, don't know how to act, and this is not the correct response to this situation.
The correct response is to take a look at how you deal with others; especially those in positions of authority, supposed experts, whoever they are and remind yourself that you are your own best expert and counsel. It doesn't mean that you can't use advisors, but it's worthwhile reminding ourselves that it's good to ask questions. If you don't know, the right thing to do is to ask.
Too many people felt insecure to ask or if they ask, they were told here is your investment money back. Folks, anyone who deals with you on that level, is either very strange for perpetrating a fraud. It is nothing out there that is that secret that with your money involved you should not know what's going on.
Here at UniTrust we handle private investments, Trust Deed Investments for our clients. We both make loans and we handle the investors’ and investors' funds going in. These are transparent investments and I always remind our investors to ask questions, to be sure that they feel informed about what's going on. There is nothing out there that is that esoteric that you shouldn't have a right to understand, basically, what is being done with your money.
Remember, if it's too difficult to understand, it's probably too difficult to really put into play. This is the lesson of the past year-and-a-half. All these esoteric mortgage vehicles, these collateralized debt obligations, these various investment schemes have all been proven to be fairly empty.
A good thing to remember is that a rising tide lifts all boats. Conversely, when the tide goes out, most boats do drop a little bit, so that investments tend to fall together in good times and in bad. But any investment should be transparent to you and basically understandable as to what is going on.
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You should certainly know what yout money is invested in and seems that many of Mr. Madoff's clients had no idea where there money was or what underlying investments were going on. They just got a very basic statement every month that just said this is what you have earned and it was consistent for month in and month out. The only thing that's not consistent is a CD, a money market fund, or trust deed investments.
In Mr. Dreier's case, the reason that his frauds came to light is because someone did take action to try and find out. He was forging promissory notes and he actually went so far as to use one of his client's conference rooms to try and stage a, kind of, a sham conference with someone and someone decided to ask questions and see what was going on. They weren't that overwhelmed by his position of who he was not to ask. Remember, it's always important to ask, it's always important to get an answer that makes sense for you. If it doesn't makes sense for you, ask further questions. I think that's very important in any investment that you do. Again, here at UniTrust we do private trust deed investments.
These are investments and notes secured by trust deeds and real estate that are pretty much steady and pay decent returns, but we always remind our investors to ask us questions to know what their investments are going into. I suggest that you do that with all of your investments. News like this doesn't mean you should flea for the sideline, but it does mean that you should remember basic good tactics and good things. I, unfortunately, speak with clients who have investments in the stock market and don't even know what they are invested in. They don't know what their money is doing or what it's supposed to do.
So if the market drops and their investments are shattered, they really don't know why or why they were in those investments. Remember, it's your money and you need to do whatever you need to, to protect it and to feel comfortable with it. If you are not suggest putting it in the bank, in a CD or money market account, these are great buying the opportunities right now and you know as the market is moving along in trying to repair itself, this is a good time to get in, in some way - small, medium, large, this is a good time to stay committed to investing.
We have many trust deed investments available and I suggest you go visit our website, UniTrust Realty Capital, for more information on a safe, secure, and steady investment stream that will pay between 10% and 12% to you.
I want to wish you a very, very happy holiday season and a New Year. There has been a lot of bad news this year, it seems to keep on coming, but this is part of the cleansing process that is going on right now. It started with large institutions, it started with large banks, it's filtered down to individuals who are also seeing things being cleaned up. At some point, all the cleansing will be done and we will be able to rebuild, it always happens. You know, winter is followed by spring and then summer. So you will see that there will be a time when there will be for everything to be regenerated and to come back. In the meantime, stay warm, stay dry, stay with friends and family and loved ones, have a great holiday season and remember - your own counsel is worthwhile.
If you have questions about investment strategies, you can contact us info@unitrustmortgage.com or visit our websites, unitrustmortgage.com or unitrustrealtycapital.com. We will look forward to working with you and answering all of your questions. In the meantime, best wishes. We look forward to being in touch with you next week on Mortgage Watch. I am Ilan Awerbuch with the UniTrust companies in San Diego.
Total Duration: 09 Minutes.