Hanging Out With HUD

Well, expect to see refi volume go through the roof in the next couple of weeks, thanks to the brains over at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

HUD said it wanted "to discuss current and proposed refinancing options, and how those options can help responsible homeowners take advantage of today’s low interest rates." So naturally, it turned to social media and Google +.

Yes, that’s right, Google +, the new-ish social media network that isn’t Facebook, has about four users and hosts things like "a hangout" with HUD.

The Teller wonders if HUD’s decision to use Google + for this effort was just to demonstrate that it was hip and willing to speak in a language that young, or perhaps inexperienced, homeowners and borrowers would understand. In which case, sorry. Or did HUD really have no desire to teach any borrowers about refi options that might suit them?

HUD’s partner in the "hangout" was Zillow, the real estate information firm from Seattle.

That may explain a couple of things. One can visit Zillow and get pretty geeked out on numbers. You can make things complicated on yourself pretty quickly on Zillow, and the whole thing never really seems to work properly.

HUD is a mammoth government bureaucracy where The Teller imagines things get pretty complicated for no good reason at all, sort of like a giant, residential real estate version of the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

So, the Teller thinks it’s only natural that these two would choose to hit social media on the social media site for the geekier-than-thou set and its need to prove itself on Rube Goldberg-type interfaces.

We can almost hear them squealing with joy as they recount all the stuff people will have to click to get to the "hangout." Hey, maybe that’ll get the two or three borrowers who show up ready for all the crap they’ll have to sign when they decide to refi.