“Rob, are you hearing that the sudden increase in lock volume is from borrowers who had a lock with one lender moving to another lender?” Not yet, and let’s hope not, loans are “stickier” now, and that this practice was just something unscrupulous parties did in the past. But speaking of past events, Baby Boomers now own about 32 million homes (out of 137 million housing units in the U.S.). One issue in some Sunbelt real estate markets is that the design of those homes is out of style with younger folks who’d conceivably purchase them. So there’s a glut of big and pricey homes on the market in areas that cater to clusters of retirees, and let’s just say those who’d ideally buy them aren’t exactly known for being particularly liquid or liking enormous living spaces very far from city centers. But hey, if you want a home for free go to Japan – they’re giving them away.

Lender Products and Services

Roughly six out of 10 first-time home buyers are millennials, and the millennial generation is expected to form 20 million new households by 2025. Millennials are changing the market faster than we even realize, and the lenders who will lead the industry in the years and decades to come will be those who can empathize with the mil­lennial plight and tailor the mortgage process to their unique preferences. But where to start? A new eBook, “The Millennial Playbook” lays out the financial implications and plan for lenders to win with the generation that makes up the largest market for new homebuyers today. A must-read for all mortgage leaders and their teams, and an exclusive to Rob Chrisman subscribers today, download your complimentary copy here.

Hey Loan Officer! How great would it be to have an expert underwriter available 24/7 to answer all your loan application questions? Sounds like a dream come true, right? With The Rule Tool, now you can! The Rule Tool was built with YOU in mind, designed and updated daily by knowledge experts to answer all of your questions anytime, anywhere! This amazing software gives you agency guidelines, tips, and more. Updated daily, this amazing tool might just be the best thing you’ve been missing! Now you can stop wasting time hunting down answers, everything you need to succeed is just a click away! Sign up today!

Congratulations to this year’s MBA Tech All-Star award winners, including LBA Ware’s Founder and CEO Lori Brewer, who has dedicated her career to transforming the elephant in the room: LO compensation. Her passion to solve this problem has reverberated throughout the entire mortgage industry from the start with LBA Ware’s flagship product, CompenSafe. Imagine a platform designed specifically for mortgage lenders that automates incentive compensation and sales performance management, providing your team with the richest source of compensation and performance data. This is CompenSafe. Schedule a demo today to see how CompenSafe will help you address the elephant in the room.

If this challenging market environment has you searching for answers on improving your profitability and competitive position, why not tap into insightful benchmarking that is trusted by the industry and is based on current transaction level data specific by channel? Informa Financial Intelligence’s LendersBenchmark™ analytics platform delivers the actionable insights you need while there is still time to impact your performance. Insights on your competitive position and relative results in the marketplace are easily gained across product, risk and geographic segments by benchmarking your production and pricing versus the market. Focus less on trying to access and process data for reporting and spend more time understanding the actions you can take to positively impact your performance. Contact our VP of Client Success, John Sayre, to gain your competitive edge.

Since TMS is now open for business in the eMortgage market, we wanted to share some insight on the new frontier of eMortgages, eClosings, and eNotes. Do you know what an eVault means? What about eNote? This TMS CAREspondent Connection blog breaks down the ins and outs of eMortgages, so you can confidently enter this new type of technological lending. As one of the first-to-market with eNotes, TMS company is now approved and equipped to buy eNotes through its correspondent channel or via bulk purchases, and to act as a servicer or subservicer for mortgages using eNotes. Learn more about CAREspondent Lending here.

Brokers should know that if they’re looking for a Lender that can do loans for your DACA borrowers, look no further than Parkside Lending. We have you covered. Come experience the Power of Caring with Parkside Lending. We have a great selection of products (Non-QM I/O, Alternative Documentation, FHA, VA, USDA, Jumbos to $4,000,000, Concurrent 2nds), common sense underwriting and accessible underwriters, easy to use broker interface with automated broker disclosures, we partner with you to meet the needs of more borrowers with less work. Contact your AE or Sales@ParksideLending.com.

Comp News

In the 2018 STRATMOR Compensation Connection Study, lenders reported that 50 percent of their LO incentive/commission compensation was based on a tiered bps structure. In a challenging employment market where top producers are in high demand and unemployment is at an all-time low, are your compensation plans competitive to recruit and retain these valuable resources? STRATMOR’s Compensation Connection Study provides compensation information for all roles, including those that are unique to the mortgage industry, from sales to post closing and for both Independent and Bank-owned lenders. “And, because there is more to compensation than salary, we provide details on incentives and benefits paid, like bonuses, educational allowances and time off, giving you the information you need about the market and your peers to build a compensation plan to attract and keep the right people. Don’t miss this opportunity to have the most mortgage-specific compensation information available. Sign up for the 2019 Compensation Connection Study today.

Disaster Updates

How’s life at FEMA? Its announcements trigger lender policy & procedure changes. A government inspector general found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency inadvertently shared the personal information of 2.3 million disaster survivors with a housing contractor. The survivors gave the information to FEMA as part of its program that finds hotels for people after disaster strikes.

First Community Mortgage Wholesale posted updated information for FEMA Declared Disaster Counties in Nebraska with Announcement 2019-07.

FEMA has declared the counties of Butler, Cass, Colfax, Dodge, Douglas, Nemaha, Sarpy, Saunders, Washington in Nebraska as disaster areas. For loans submitted with an appraisal dated on or before the incident period end date or for those submitted without an appraisal, Sun West will require an interior and exterior inspection prior-to-funding or purchase of any loans with subject properties that are determined to be at risk. The inspection must verify that the property is sound, habitable and in the same condition as when it was appraised.

Mortgage Solutions Financial posted Announcement 08-19W regarding the Nebraska Flooding, Announcement 07-19W regarding the Alabama tornadoes, announcement 06-19C regarding the Alabama tornado disaster declaration, and an announcement regarding the Alaska Earthquake Disaster Alert.

Mr. Cooper posted the Lee County zip codes affected by the recent Alabama severe storms per the FEMA advisory.

Sunday afternoon on May 5th at the MBA's Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Conference 2019 with three comprehensive sessions tracks, including the new Emerging Issues Track. Dedicated to issues growing in importance to legal and compliance teams, this new track covers topline topics that will help you get ahead of what’s to come. Topics include:

Alternative Home Lending Models, Fraud Issues, Lending to Nontraditional Borrowers and Flood NFIP in the Age of Extreme Weather Events.

Capital Markets

Optimal Blue’s digital loan trading platform, Resitrader, just announced the launch of the first in a series of robust APIs designed to create a “lights-out” integration with investors’ in-house systems and automate critical functions throughout the digital loan trading process. The comprehensive API is the first of its kind in the mortgage industry, allowing investors that operate at scale to embed and trigger the market-leading capabilities of Resitrader without having to leave their own internal systems. They can connect directly to the industry’s largest marketplace of engaged buyers and sellers to automate pricing, offer pick-up, bid tape retrieval, bid placement and return, seller assignment, trade confirmation, and commitment.

Recent economic data reaffirmed growth is moderating in the U.S., giving more reason for the Fed to have exercised patience at the FOMC meeting regarding policy changes. The Producer Price Index eked out a 0.1 percent gain in February and is up a modest 1.9 percent over the last 12 months. Even though energy prices spiked, they were offset by declines in transportation and warehousing services. Consumer prices also managed a small increase during the month with drops in utility, vehicle and medical care commodities offset rising energy costs. Several weak retail categories lead to a lackluster 0.2 percent gain in retail sales during January. Sales were impacted by the government shutdown which also weighed on consumer confidence. One bright note: small business optimism finally reversed its recent losing streak with a small gain in February as the government shutdown ended.

Turning to bond markets, rates have bounced this morning but last week’s U.S. rate rally continued into Monday, the 10-year dropping to 2.42% as the market did not receive any U.S. economic data, but key-exporter Germany's ifo Business Climate Index for March showed a continued deterioration of the manufact uring sector. Headline news revolved around the Mueller Report on Russian collusion with the Trump administration. Attorney General William Barr briefed Congress on the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, and news outlets were able to report the investigation "did not find that any U.S. person or Trump campaign official or associate conspired or knowingly coordinated” with Russia. In China, First Vice Premier Han Zheng said China will continue cutting import taxes to create a first-rate environment for foreign businesses and Finance Minister Liu Kun said that the government will speed up bond sales to boost domestic demand. Finally, U.K. Prime Minister Teresa May’s said she would not bring a vote to Parliament unless it would win support, increasing odds of a no deal Brexit.

Today, things pick back up with a heavy economic calendar. We have already had February housing starts (-8.7%, weak) and building permits (-1.6%, weak) and the March Philadelphia Fed Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey. Redbook Chain Store Sales for the week ending March 23 are next up at 8:55am and are followed five minutes later by January home prices follow at 9:00am. March consumer confidence and the Richmond Fed Manufacturing and Services Indices are next at 10:00am and then the Dallas Fed Texas Services Index for March. Today also sees three scheduled Fed Presidents speaking: Philadelphia’s Harker, Chicago’s Evans and San Francisco’s Daly. Also of interest to the MBS market, the Senate Banking Committee with conduct a hearing, "Chairman's Housing Reform Outline: Part 1" beginning at 10am. We begin today with agency MBS worse a few ticks and the 10-year yielding 2.43 percent.

Employment

“Tired of struggling with outdated technology or a support staff that leaves you hanging? There’s never been a better time to make a move. Citizens Retail Mortgage Lending division is at the technological forefront of the industry and we’re looking for motivated loan officers ready to take their careers to the next level. We recently introduced Blend, a new digital application that lets your customers fill out forms in minutes, anytime, anywhere. You’ll also get email marketing support, personalized customer loyalty programs, and a collaborative operations team to ensure that your transactions are a priority and your closings happen on time. If you’re ready to join a team that’s focused on your success, apply at Citizens Bank to get started today! For questions, please email HomeMortgageRecruiting@citizensbank.com.”

On the flip side, rumors abound that a top 5 correspondent investor has plans to shutter a “Sand State” operations site and relocate the jobs and have also scaled back its correspondent work force. (Anyone displaced can always place their resume, for free, at www.LenderNews.com.)