« DELICIOUS IRONY: Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Dumps Headquarters In Short Sale »

The MBA bought at the market top 3 years ago, and lost $40 million on the recent sale.

The Washington Post reports that the Mortgage Bankers Association, the trade group that represents about 2,400 real estate finance companies, has sold its Washington, D.C. headquarters for $41 million -- just over half what it paid for the building three years ago.

When the MBA purchased the new ten-story building in 2007 for $79 million, the organization said it would finance the property in part by leasing the space it didn't use to other companies. "We have come to the inescapable conclusion that owning our own building [is] the smartest long-term investment for the association," the group's CEO at the time, Jonathan Kempner, said.

Comments

[InTheMortgeIndustry]

It is just astounding, the trade group for mortgage lending is such an embarrassment to the industry.

It only goes to further prove the MBA should have no input to the remedies to this housing debacle. They promoted it, they endorsed it, pushed it on the Hill, caused it, and then ultimately fell for it themselves. How are you supposed to respect an organization touting buy, buy, buy, interest only and Option ARMS when they themselves have to dump their own place, screwing their own lenders (who are members of the MBA to boot) who financed the deal.

Of course they will expect their members to foot the bill. They have lost all credibility. Idiots.