“The next time you dislike your life, remember it’s all about perspective. I know someone who reads 2-3 books a week, works out twice a day, has no financial worries, and has people who want to have sex with him all the time. Yet he constantly complains how much he hates prison.” Being “locked up” with a 3 percent loan on a home is misleading and is certainly not imprisonment. In fact, people are indeed selling. “’We can’t just let our kids grow up while the Fed figures out what they think about inflation,’ said Luke Bolton, who listed his home in March and expects to close soon on a purchase.” Perhaps the “lock in effect” is ebbing ahead of the summer purchase season. Some of it is geographical… Midlife crises are alive and well, as Miami is officially the city in which Gen Xers made up the largest share of potential homebuyers. (I don’t know how a generation moved down to only being 14 years, but Gen X are those born from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s.) Lenders are coming up with creative solutions of home affordability issues, like LoanSense. Or found here, this week’s podcasts are sponsored by Calque. With The Trade-In Mortgage powered by Calque, homeowners can buy before they sell, make non-contingent offers, and tap their home equity to fund the down payment on their next home. Today’s has an interview with influencer Ally Carty on carving a path in mortgage as a young person in the industry.

Lender and Broker Products, Software, and Services

ICE is driving innovation in servicing technology by developing mortgage solutions with empathy in mind. Sandra Madigan, executive vice president of servicing product innovation at ICE, knows that you can only measure the success of a piece of technology by how much it helps the people using it. For ICE, that means purpose-building each new solution to simplify and streamline the complicated world of servicing. To hear how an empathy-driven approach can help servicers bring new features to market faster, increase efficiency in the back office, and lower the total cost of servicing, listen to Sandra’s discussion on a recent podcast.

LoanCare helps you build long-lasting customer relationships and propel your business success. Take your mortgage servicing strategy to the next level with their latest eBook, "The New Era of Mortgage Subservicing: 4 Smart Moves to Excel in Homeowner Satisfaction," for actionable insights to navigate the digital future of the mortgage industry. Ready to unlock new opportunities, streamline operations, and deliver exceptional customer experiences? Download your copy today! The LoanCare team will be at the MBA Secondary & Capital Markets conference next month. Contact us to meet in NYC or on a call.

Ready to experience next-level service? TMS Correspondent and Servbank subservicing teams will be attending MBA Secondary and Capital Markets Conference in New York City from May 19–22. Discover how TMS' CAREspondent team can boost your loan closures with our agency direct credit box, DPA programs, and comprehensive renovation options. Learn about expanding your builder business through our builder forwards and extended lock program. Find out how Servbank’s subservicing delivers a superior borrower experience with their 99 percent customer satisfaction rate, 91 percent first-call resolution rate, and 86 percent Net Prompter Score. Benefit from unmatched transparency with our proprietary award-winning SIME platform, offering real-time and complete portfolio surveillance. Schedule a meeting with us by emailing Servbank: subsales@servbank.com or TMS: carespondent@themoneysource.com.

Ask yourself this question: How are you currently acquiring real estate data? A one-size-fits-all approach to property data won’t work for every business; there needs to be multiple options available. This is why we highlight First American Data & Analytics: they understand that businesses must access data in multiple ways. First American’s industry leading DaaS solutions do just that, with delivery methods tailored to fit your business needs, whether it’s an API integration, bulk data licensing, or a hands-on approach working directly with one of its data experts. As a nationwide, single-source provider, it proudly provides a repository of more than 8 billion recorded property document images covering 100 percent of U.S. housing stock. This means you will find your needle in a haystack. Have confidence in your ability to execute your business strategy. Learn more and get a sample of the data.

STRATMOR’s Consumer Direct Workshop

The Fed has indicated that it plans to cut rates later in the year, but even though the timing remains unclear, to remain competitive, Consumer Direct lenders will have to stay on their toes and prepare for the effect it will have on mortgage rates. The time to develop a strategy for attracting, nurturing, converting, and closing purchase business to hold or grow your market share is now. STRATMOR Group will host its semiannual virtual Consumer Direct Workshop on May 7, 8 and 9. STRATMOR experts and peer lenders will discuss how to better understand the needs of purchase borrowers, craft marketing messages that will appeal to them, tweak your processes for purchases and train LOs to close this business. Register up to three executives from your organization today.

Training, Webinars, and Events This Week

“Over 70 percent of applicants could improve their credit score by 20 points or more within the origination cycle. The problem is that most don’t know how to improve their score in the short run. See how lenders use CreditXpert, the predictive credit score insight platform, to leverage credit to extend better, more compelling financing options to every applicant while improving profitability in their lending operations. Join us today for an OriginatorTech Deep Dive at 2:00 pm ET / 11:00 am PT. The New CreditXpert makes it easy for originators to quickly generate a detailed improvement plan outlining the steps a borrower needs to take to reach a target score. Learn more about this 20-minute webinar/collaborative demo of the tech that’s helping originators close more loans and secure more referrals by registering here.”

Ops leaders, you don't want to miss this event if you care about improving your operations! Join Femi Ayi, EVP Operations at Revolution Mortgage, Brooke Smith, Senior Manager, Loan Sourcing Digital Solutions at Fannie Mae, and Jodi Eberhardt, Strategic Integration Director at Freddie Mac, and Richard Grieser, VP, Marketing at Truv, as they highlight different strategies to provide customers with a more transparent, efficient borrowing experience. Freddie Mac's Loan Product Advisor® asset and income modeler (AIM) and Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) validation service play a critical role for lenders committed to streamlining origination processes and improving loan quality. However, the key to optimizing borrower verification workflows and ensuring compliance is partnering with the right provider that helps lenders improve loan quality and save hundreds of dollars per loan compared to traditional verification providers. Come join us! "Minimizing Risks with GSE Borrower Verifications", April 24 2:00 PM ET Use code TRUV100 to participate FOR FREE, even if you are not an MBA member! Register now.

One place for longer term conference planning is to start is here, and click on “Conference List” for in-person events in the future. There’s only a week left in April, and May begins next week already, and vendors and lenders are taking a critical look at travel & entertainment budgets.

Grow your knowledge this Spring with Plaza’s April training calendar featuring the latest in Plaza’s products, along with invaluable tips and tricks to navigate today’s mortgage cycle. Topics include: Evaluating & Calculating Rental Income, Seeking Solutions? Let non-QM be an Option, and Plaza’s Conventional Renovation Loan Programs. Even if you can’t make a session, sign up anyway and we’ll send you a copy of the recording.

Looking for more in-depth commentary on weekly mortgage news? Register here for "Mortgage Matters: The Weekly Roundup” presented by Lenders One. Every Wednesday at 2:00 PM EST/11:00 AM PT join Robbie Chrisman and Justin Demola for a dive into a range of mortgage-related topics, including market trends, interest rate fluctuations, innovative mortgage products, and industry advancements. Tomorrow’s features Jeff Juliane and Brett Ludden of Sterling Point Advisors discussing the current MBS and servicing market capital flows.

Interested in learning how retain/release MSR decisions can be included in your best execution strategy? Join MCT for a webinar on April 24th at 11:00 AM PT titled Complete Best Execution – Now Including Fully Integrated Retain/Release MSR Decisioning. In this webinar, MCT will review the current state of the MSR market and discuss more comprehensive retain vs. release strategies, in addition to our recently introduced fully integrated Enhanced Best Execution (EBX) solution.

Join CoreLogic for a webinar on Wednesday, April 24, noon CT tailored for lenders to delve into the Valuation Modernization Initiative. Dive into the innovative redesign of forms and the cutting-edge UAD (Uniform Appraisal Dataset) initiative, poised to revolutionize the sector. Explore the significant effects that this initiative is exerting on the broader industry, encompassing alterations in Loan Origination Systems (LOS), effective management of appraisal fees, performance SLAs, and other aspects.

The Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) is offering free, in-person training to its lending partners. The training will offer one and half days of loan origination training and one day of loan servicing training, April 24th, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm in Glenn Allen, VA. This is an in-person event only and will not be streamed live.

“Register now for a MAXEX roundtable discussion Thursday, April 25 at 2 p.m. Eastern where we’ll breakdown how unyielding inflation, stubborn mortgage rates, an unpredictable Federal Reserve and a nearly two-year long yield curve inversion are affecting the mortgage world.”

FHA New Applicants are invited to join a free virtual webinar, April 25, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM (Eastern) conducted by FHA’s Office of Lender Activities and Program Compliance, will focus on the Lender Electronic Assessment Portal (LEAP) as outlined in the Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1. Content includes a detailed overview of the FHA lender approval application process, eligibility requirements, and required documentation for the various types of mortgagees (lenders). Common application deficiencies will also be addressed and tips for submitting a successful application will be provided. Q&A at the end.

The Mortgage Accounting webinar series is presented in collaboration with MBA Education and Mortgage Banking Solutions (MBS), a consulting firm servicing the residential mortgage lending industry. Delve into the fundamentals and complexities of mortgage accounting. The completion of this series will provide you with the information necessary to master this form of accounting. Anyone who desires to increase their knowledge of mortgage loan accounting will benefit from this session that is designed for business owners, executive management, accountants, and non-CPA accounting managers. Session one of this series will introduce attendees to the foundational concepts within mortgage accounting. Part I: Drilling into Mortgage Accounting: April 25th 2:00 PM-3:30 PM.

Hispanics are the only demographic that significantly grew their homeownership rates last year. How did they do it? And how can you better address the needs of this persistent demographic? Get the answers by attending MGIC’s webinar, “The Freshest Insights on Latino Homebuyers – Straight from the Source” featuring NAHREP and their newly released 2023 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report. Register for the April 25 webinar now.

Friday the 26th is the next episode of The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown covering current events in the mortgage market for 30-45 minutes starting at noon PT, 3PM ET, in “The Rundown”.

Capital Markets

World economies may be inextricably linked with geopolitics, but investors are starting to shift attention away from conflicts in the Middle East (to say nothing of lapsed interest in Ukraine) to focus on corporate earnings and future Federal Reserve actions. Without any further escalation between Iran and Israel following Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran late last week, the overall narrative is that the U.S. economy remains strong and Fed officials are in no rush to cut rates, at least until the fall. Some Fed watchers are even floating the possibility that the central bank might hike rates to reduce demand across a robust U.S. economy.

In terms of economic data, highlights this week will be the new homes sales report that is released later today, which is expected to come in up 1.2 percent on the month to a 670k annualized rate, durable goods tomorrow, forecast to come in up 2.5 percent, and the Fed's favorite inflation index, Personal Consumption Expenditures on Friday, with the headline up 2.6 percent annualized, and core up 2.7 percent. We learned yesterday that economic activity increased in March, according to the Chicago Fed National Activity Index.

Today’s economic calendar kicked off with Philadelphia Fed non-manufacturing for April (-12, whatever that means). Later today brings Redbook same store sales for the week ending April 20, final April S&P Global PMIs, new home sales for March, Richmond Fed surveys for April, and several Treasury auctions that will be headlined by $69 billion 2-year notes. We begin National School Bus Appreciation Day with Agency MBS prices about unchanged from Monday evening, the 10-year yielding 4.62 after closing Monday at 4.62 percent, and the inverted yield curve continues with the 2-year at 4.99.

Employment

“Exciting News! Canopy Mortgage posts profitability in Q1! (Queue AC/DC "Back in Black") In a market where numerous National lenders are grappling with operational losses, Canopy Mortgage is forging ahead with significant momentum. Join our dynamic team and be part of our success story as we continue to innovate, empower LOs, and build strong relationships in the mortgage industry. Contact Josh Neuamrker at 888-696-9076 for more information or to schedule a one of a kind Tech-Demo to see where the magic happens. Let's redefine mortgage lending together!”

Informative Research has expanded its team to add mortgage industry veteran Kurt Raymond, CMB as SVP and Borrower Journey Engineer. “Kurt's directive is simple: use his experience and connections to enhance the IR platform as a workflow management tool that pushes the right set of data to the lender at the right time and the appropriate cost point."