big short

JP Morgan Employee: Ted had asked me to do some meeting prep but I couldn't find any marketing material on you guys.

Charlie Geller: Oh, we just moved here from Boulder.

JP Morgan Employee: Yeah. Well, can we see your offering documents

Charlie Geller: Well, Brownfield is its own money.

Jamie Shipley: It's our money.

JP Morgan Employee: Well, can you tell us how much you manage?

Charlie Geller: Of course. We're doing 30 million right now, uh, but we started four years ago with 110 thousand. So, as you can see, that's pretty phenomenal returns.

Jamie Shipley: We want to get an ISDA agreement so we can deal in long-term options.

[subtitled: ISDA Agreement: An agreement that lets an investor sit at the 'big boy table' and make high level trades not available to stupid amateurs.Trying to be a high stakes trader without an ISDA is like trying to win the Indy 500 riding a llama]

JP Morgan Employee: [in a slightly condescending tone] That's really cool. That is SO cool.

Charlie Geller: Thank you.

JP Morgan Employee: But, uh... you guys are under the capital requirements for an ISDA.

JP Morgan Employee: By how much?

JP Morgan Employee: [thinking] Uh... how much? One billion, four hundred seventy million. So... a lot.

Charlie Geller: This makes us look bad, doesn't it? That we didn't know what the capital requirements were?

JP Morgan Employee: Uh... it's not great. But keep up those returns and give us a call way down the line, you know. Okay?

Mortgage Broker: So, is Morgan Stanley recruiting us? Is that...

Porter Collins: Oh, no. No. The bank owns our hedge fund but we're not really a part of it. We invest in financial service companies and we're trying to understand the residential mortgage business.

Mark Baum: How many loans do you write each month?

Mortgage Broker: Pffft! About sixty.

Mark Baum: What was it four years ago?

Mortgage Broker: Ten... maybe fifteen.

Mortgage Broker: Yeah, I was a bartender. Now I own a boat.

Danny Moses: You own a boat? So how many of these are, uh, adjustable rate mortgages?

Mortgage Broker: Well, most. Yeah, I'd say about ninety percent. The bonuses on those skyrocketed a few years ago. Adjustables are our bread and honey.

Danny Moses: So do applicants ever get rejected?

Mortgage Broker: [laughs] Seriously? Look, if they get rejected, I suck at my job.

Danny Moses: Even if they have no money?

Mortgage Broker: Well, my firm offers NINJA loans - no income, no job. I just leave the income section blank if I want. Corporate doesn't care. These people just want homes, you know, and they just go with the flow.

Danny Moses: Good for you.

Mark Baum: Your companies don't verify?

Mortgage Broker: If I write a loan on Friday afternoon, big bank will buy it by Monday lunch.