February
already? Ah, Valentine's Day - remember as a kid when your classmates
would hand out a 5 word card to every classmate and you received 20
pieces of candy? Those were the days; now we wonder how much really goes
into "manufacturing" Valentine's Day. The Census Bureau tells us there
are roughly 1,200 U.S. manufacturing establishments that produced
chocolate and cocoa products which employee 38,717 people. The estimated
value of chocolate and cocoa product shipments for manufacturing
establishments that produced these products in 2014 is $14.9 billion.
And there are 14,161 florists around the States, about 23,000 jewelry
stores.
Here
is something different from the production side: "originators, is your
current company introducing you to the people who actually do
real-estate? We're not talking about purchased leads; we're talking
about actual face to face introductions. If the answer is no, maybe it
is time to talk to someone who can: FortuneBuilders Inc.! We'll be in Houston at the Crown Plaza February 17th -21st
for a real-estate event, come meet a qualified national network of
investors that buy and sell hundreds and thousands of real-estate deals a
year who are looking for professional mortgage bankers to finance and
educate them on their next deal. Think about where your production is
going to come from this year. Contact Jon Mekeal to set up a meeting for this event.
Mortgage Builder and Bodman PLC are conducting a free webinar on February 10th to discuss some of the most vexing issues facing lenders when preparing TRID disclosures. Sign up now as space is limited.
And NYCB Mortgage Banking spread the word to its table-funding clients about its 1-hour LE/CD eDelivery Training, all offered at 1PM EST: Tue 2/02, Thu 2/04, Wed 2/10, Fri 2/12, and Wed 2/17.
The Georgia Real Estate Fraud Prevention & Awareness Coalition (GREFPAC) is excited to announce its 2016 Fraud Prevention Conference at the Cobb Galleria on Wednesday, March 2nd. GREFPAC
is a nonprofit dedicated to providing education and resources to combat
real estate and mortgage fraud in Georgia and is an organization that
serves both its members and Georgia communities by identifying best
practices to prevent and detect fraud and by providing a safe space to
identify and analyze fraud trends. The conference is open to real estate
agents, mortgage professionals, appraisers, regulators, law
enforcement, and community leaders. Come hear the latest from HUD,
Fannie Mae, the FBI, regulators, and more! Attendance is only $50 per
person, and if you register by February 15th you can bring a colleague for free.
The residential legal machinations continue. Attorney Phil Stein (Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP)
wrote, "Rob, six victories that clients of mine had won over Lehman and
Aurora in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado were
affirmed by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver after
hotly-contested rounds of appellate briefing and oral argument. In the
37-page opinion the appellate panel unanimously affirmed the loan
originators/sellers' victories on statute of limitations grounds. In so
doing, the federal appeals court rejected, among other arguments, Lehman
and Aurora's contentions that their claims were really
'indemnification' claims that did not accrue until they paid Fannie Mae
or Freddie Mac with respect to the loans at issue. The court agreed with
our argument that the claims in fact accrued as soon as the loans were
sold (in 2006 and 2007). This obviously has potentially significant
implications for loan originators and sellers across the country facing
buyback or 'indemnification' claims from their investors."
And no, the CFPB is the not the only regulator out there. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released a list of orders of administrative enforcement actions
taken against banks and individuals in December. No administrative
hearings are scheduled for this month. "The FDIC issued a total of 41
orders and one notice. The administrative enforcement actions in those
orders consisted of seven consent orders; one amended consent order;
eight removal and prohibition orders; four restitution orders; five
voluntary termination of insurance orders; six Section 19 orders; four
civil money penalty orders; 10 terminations of consent orders and cease
and desist orders; one order terminating supervisory prompt corrective
action directive; one termination of restitution order; one adjudicated
decision; and one notice."
FHA & VA news and adjustments continue for lenders and investors around the nation.
Did you know that there are only three available phases remaining for onboarding to the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) Electronic
Appraisal Delivery (EAD) portal before the June 27, 2016 mandatory use
date? To register for an onboarding phase, a mortgagee's designated FHA
Application Coordinator should follow the steps outlined on FHA's EAD
Portal Mortgagee Onboarding Process web page.
Somewhat
recently the FHA announced it will cut insurance rates for multifamily
mortgages, designed to stimulate production and rehabilitation of
affordable rental housing. The MBA did a nice write up: Full Story.
VA has published Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to the Qualified Mortgage Interim Final Rule in Circular 26-16-3.
Mountain West Financial
has a new Case Number Services portal. The new portal will provide easy
ordering access to various case number services, including FHA Case
Numbers (new, cancelations and transfers), VA IRRRL LIN Number Requests,
CAIVRS Authorizations and FHA Refinance Credit Queries. The new portal
can be accessed from the BOLT menu located on the MWF internet, mwfwholesale.com.
Effective for loans with commitments taken on or after Monday, February 1, 2016, AmeriHome's fees are changing as follows: Tax service - $75.00, Admin fee (Agency
- Fannie Mae,* Freddie Mac,* FHA, VA, and USDA) - $295.00, (Non-Agency -
Core Jumbo, Non-Agency Hybrid ARM, and Expanded QM) - $295.00, Standard Service Level and $775.00, Enhanced Service Level. *Reminder:
If a Fannie Mae Property Inspection Waiver (PIW) or Freddie Mac
Property Inspection Alternative (PIA) is used, then a $75 PIW/PIA fee
also applies at delivery.
Land Home Financial Services (LHFS) advantageous FHA
Streamline product includes: Non-credit qualifying streamline requires
no appraisal or income documentation, mortgage rating credit report or
mortgage only rating allowed with no credit scores, and employment is
not required to be verified, borrower current contact information is
required. In addition, LHFS has a new TRID Closing Doc Request, which is
now posted under Forms and TRID - (Click Here For Form).
Freedom Mortgage has updated its FHA and VA LLPAs effective February 1st, FHA
FICO 550-619 (Includes Jumbo): 1.5, FHA FICO 620-639 (Includes Jumbo):
0.75, VA FICO 550-619 (Includes Jumbo): 1.875, and VA FICO 620-639
(Includes Jumbo): 1.0.
Effective Wednesday, January 13, Ditech
changed its loan level price adjustment (LLPA) for FICO scores greater
than or equal to 740 on all Government to +.125%. Also noted, Ditech
has changed its calculation process in determining VA High Balance loan
eligibility. Moving forward, loan eligibility is permitted to be
determined by using the base loan amount excluding the funding fee.
Switching
gears to take a look at the markets, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage
Corporation has ended publication of regional breakout figures in its
weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey for 30 and 15 year fixed rate
mortgages and 5/1 hybrid and 1 year ARMs. The publication of both
average regional and national breakout figures for 1 year ARMs has also
be terminated. The 1 year APOR distributed by the Federal Financial
Institutions Examination Council will then be used to decide if a loan
with a fixed rate of less than three years is subprime.
Recently
I spoke with a small mortgage bank regarding secondary marketing
pricing on FHA/VA production. The question comes up from time-to-time,
"Why can't we be more competitive in government pricing?" Nine times out
of ten it's because they're getting beat by banks who are GNMA issuers.
Over the last few years issuing GNMA securities is the litmus test for a
well-run Secondary Marketing department....and it shows in recent
issuance numbers posted by GNMA. The last five years, in billions: 2010: $399.75; 2011: $329.36; 2012: $424.90; 2013: $417.39; 2014: $313.49; 2015: $454.32.
We had quite a rally (in both stock & bond prices) Friday after
the Bank of Japan cut its main policy rate from 0.10% to -0.10%. Yes,
one must pay the bank to keep their money there. We also had a big jump
in the Chicago Purchasing Manager's Index although the advance estimate
for GDP growth in Q4 2015 came up short at 0.7% and Michigan Consumer
Sentiment was finalized at 92.0 in January. The increase in personal
consumption expenditures (2.2%) accounted for 1.46 percentage points of
GDP growth, which was offset primarily by the negative contribution from
net exports (-0.47 percentage points) and the change in private
inventories (-0.45 percentage points). The FOMC meeting came and went
with little market reaction. The rates market remains subdued, helping
mortgages outperform. The Fed statement reflects a more dovish outlook
on rate hikes, MBS should benefit and they have modestly outperformed
this past week.
But
all of that was so... last week. I head to Houston for a TMBA event today
realizing we have a "ton" of news coming out. Today are December PCE
Prices & December Personal Income and Personal Consumption (7:30
CST), December Construction Spending, and January's ISM Index. Tomorrow
we take a breather and then pick up again with the MBA's mortgage
application index, January ADP Employment Change, and January ISM
Services.
Thursday:
the January Challenger Job Cuts, Initial Jobless Claims, and also Q4
Productivity and Unit Labor Costs, December Factory Orders, and Durable
Goods. As with most first Fridays of the month this Friday we'll see the
January Employment numbers, and also the December Trade Balance. We
wrapped up last week with the 10-year yielding 1.93% and in the early going it is hovering around that level with agency MBS prices roughly unchanged.
Jobs and Announcements
In Ops news, Carrington Mortgage is now hiring in Westfield, Indiana.
"Discover the opportunities with the Mortgage Lending Division Open
House of Carrington Mortgage's Westfield Indiana Operations/ Regional
Sales Center on Thursday February 11th
from 12PM to 7PM. Carrington Mortgage a dynamic and entrepreneurial
Mortgage Company is expanding its footprint with its new state of the
art Regional Operations/Sales Center in Westfield Indiana and we are
looking for Top Talent! If
you are a Licensed Mortgage Loan Officer, DE Underwriter, Funder,
Document Specialist, or Loan Processor we would love to meet you! Enjoy
some refreshments and meet our leadership team. At Carrington Mortgage
Services you'll discover an open door to opportunity. Exceptional
financial strength, products and geographic scope - combined with
comprehensive training programs, diversity initiatives, competitive
benefits and a commitment to work/life balance we can open up a world of
possibilities. We have cultivated a fun team work environment where
there is opportunity to learn and develop within both the company and
your career. With hard work, you'll reap benefits both professionally
and personally." To RSVP please contact Carlos Fernandez at 949-517-7204.
And congrats to Denise Neely who has joined Valuation Partners,
a national appraisal management company with access to over 20,000
independent fee appraisers in all 50 states, as the VP of the Southwest
Region. In her new role Neely will be responsible for overseeing
business development and new client services in Arkansas, Alabama,
Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and
Texas.