Mortgage Bankers Association Forced Into Short Sale: Today's Outrage

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- How bad is the mortgage crisis?

It's so bad that the Mortgage Bankers Association had to sell its headquarters at a loss.

Sounds like one of those jokes that make the rounds on the Internet, but sadly this one is true.

The Mortgage Bankers Association sold its Washington headquarters building to CoStar(CSGP), a commercial real estate data firm, for $41.3 million, a little more than half the $79 million the group originally financed in 2007 through a group of banks led by PNC Financial(PNC), according to the Wall Street Journal.

This is more than a little embarrassing for a group that represents some 2,400 lenders, loan brokers, commercial banks, thrifts and life insurance companies.

You expect more from a group whose directors include executives from JPMorgan Chase(JPM), KeyCorp(KEY) and other notable financial companies and whose sponsors for its 2009 annual convention included big banks such as Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC) along with Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE).

Surely someone affiliated with the Mortgage Bankers Association should have known better.

--Written by Glenn Hall in New York.

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