I, for one, have no interest in buying shoes online without trying them on first. The same with a mattress – I want to lie on it myself. (Lay? Lie?) It seems that somewhere mattresses are always on sale, and that includes on the internet. The U.S. mattress market is about $14 billion. Two years ago, about $300 million of that was online. With an explosion of players in the online mattress space, this year online sales could reach $1.2 billion. Real estate agents and LOs wonder about their jobs - are mattress sales jobs endangered?


Agency News

Doing anything with Fannie or Freddie, aka government sponsored enterprises, is way down the Congressional agenda, but as an industry we keep trying. Transforming & reforming the GSEs continues to be needed, and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae came to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Annual Convention & Expo last week to discuss their "transform and reform" stories. The GSEs also discussed initiatives to simplify the loan origination process and make the housing finance system stronger and smarter.

Fannie will implement an update to Desktop Underwriter (DU) 10.1. The release includes an update to the logic that determines the number of financed properties, as well as multiple DU message updates. The changes in this release will apply to DU 10.1 loan casefiles submitted or resubmitted to DU on or after the weekend of Dec. 9: release notes.

Regarding a piece I ran recently on "tiny homes," for site built homes, Fannie Mae does not specify minimum size or living area requirements for properties with the exception of manufactured housing. For Manufactured Homes, the manufactured home must be at least 12 feet wide and have a minimum of 600 square feet of gross living area. Fannie does not purchase Chattel loans today. The borrower must own the land on which the manufactured home is situated in fee simple, unless the manufactured home is in a co-op or condo project. For co-ops, both the land and dwelling must be owned by the co-op. For condos, both the land and dwelling must be subject to the condo regime. Mortgages secured by manufactured homes located on leasehold estates are not eligible.

As previously announced by AmeriHome, for all loans with Note dates on and after 9/25/2017, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are implementing new UCD Data Point requirements. Its Seller Guide Section 8.9.10. Uniform Closing Dataset Requirements will be updated shortly with the following clarification: The latest CD matching the UCD file submitted to the GSE(s) must be included in the Closed Loan Package delivered to AmeriHome: This includes any post-consummation CD(s). The Date/Time Evaluated on the Freddie Mac LCA Feedback Certificate and the Last Submission Date on the Fannie Mae UCD Findings Report must be dated on or after the latest CD Date Issued, including any post-consummation CD(s). Sellers are not required to assign the UCD/LCA file to AmeriHome. 

Effective Oct. 15, a new line item (Sales Tax for Legal Costs) will be available in the Fannie Mae LoanSphere InvoicingTM for loans originating in Hawaii and New Mexico. Reference the Servicer Expense Reimbursement Line Items in LoanSphere Invoicing job aid for a list of servicer expense categories and subcategories for conventional loans that are available in LoanSphere Invoicing.

Building on Day 1 Certainty, Fannie Mae Introduces Single Source Validation, New API Platform, and Servicing Marketplace for Servicing Transfers.

Customers participating in the Desktop Underwriter (DU) validation service will have new choices for income, employment, and asset verification. DataVerify, Finicity, and NCS have been approved to provide verification reports

As a component of Simplifying Servicing, Fannie Mae is adding new 300 series remittance codes in the Cash Remittance System (CRS). An updated CRS User Guide, containing the new 300 series remittance codes with clear descriptions for their purpose, will be published on the CRS page in early November.

Plaza's Fannie Mae DU Refi Plus Retained and Freddie Mac LP Relief Refinance program guidelines have been updated to reflect FHFA's new application expiration date of December 31, 2018.

Look up HomeReady income limits using the Fannie Mae recently enhanced Income Eligibility Lookup tool. You can still search by property address or by FIPS code, and now you can easily search by area. For example, the enhanced tool enables you to view an entire state and quickly pinpoint census tracts with no income limit. Visit the HomeReady page to access the tool, find more resources, and register for the Oct. 19 live webinar.

Mortgage brokers doing business with United Wholesale Mortgage are among the first in the country with access to a more streamlined origination process, as they can validate income, assets and employment using bank account data from only one asset report. The improved capabilities stem from UWM's participation in Fannie Mae's pilot offering of Single Source Validation, a program that Fannie Mae has introduced as an enhancement to its Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) validation service. "Pushing the broker channel forward through innovative technology and enhanced services is what we're all about, so Single Source Validation is a big win for our clients," said Mat Ishbia, President and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage.

PennyMac Correspondent Group has posted a new announcement in response to various Freddie Mac updates.

Citi Correspondent Lending published bulletin 2017-08.

Fifth Third Mortgage Company has eliminated the Soft Market Policies from all product guides.

Mountain West Financial has added several more eligible 1st TD loan programs for the Mountain Combo product. In addition to the CF30 and CF30J programs, conforming 25-year, 20-year, 15-year and 10-year terms are now available. The PATH, High Balance and Super Conforming versions of these programs are also available. The product matrices and pricing engine have been updated with these changes. 

MWF announced HomeReady Enhancement for Fannie Mae Owned Properties. The maximum allowable LTV, CLTV and HCLTV ratios have been increased from 95% to 97% for one-unit limited cash-out refinance transactions underwritten by DU when the mortgage being refinanced is owned by Fannie Mae (in alignment with standard DU eligibility). The requirement that the existing mortgage being refinanced be owned by Fannie Mae does not apply when the LTV is 95% or less, or when the CLTV only exceeds 95% due to a Community Seconds loan.


Capital Markets

In product development news, Mortgage Capital Management (MCM) announced its "One-Time Close with Float Down Lock - Build It Advantage Loan! MCM "provides clients with Float Down pricing and hedging services through its Pipeline Risk Management services. In addition, MCM provides Spot Commitment and Forward Builder commitment pricing and hedging services. The One-Time Close float down is something every mortgage banker should have in their product offerings!"

Glancing back to Friday, agency mortgage-backed security prices did well relative to risk-free Treasuries due to solid buying from a wide variety of investors along with slowing origination supply. It's all supply and demand, and an informal Fannie trading desk survey indicated lock volumes were down 5-10% last week. MBS prices improved .250-.375, depending on coupon and maturity, while the 10-year T-note improved nearly .50. As expected, U.S. economic data continues to clean up after the August and September hurricanes. 

Unlike last week, where we had a dearth of scheduled, potentially market-moving economic announcements, this week we have an abundance. The latest indications had President Trump leaning towards Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell with his decision sometime this week - in addition to a FOMC meeting this week. We've already had the Personal Income and Consumption/Spending duo (+1.0% - stronger than expected), along with some Personal Consumption Expenditure figures (tame). Tomorrow we have the Employment Cost Index for the 3rd quarter, Chicago Purchasing Manager's survey, Consumer Confidence, and the winner of the economic released with the longest name: The Standard & Poor's CoreLogic Case Shiller 20-City Indices.

Wednesday, November 1, is the MBA's application data for last week, the ADP Employment Change number, something titled Markit US Manufacturing PMI, some Institute of Supply Management figures, Construction Spending, and the rate decision by the Federal Open Market Committee (no one is expecting a change to short-term rates). Thursday, we can wait with bated breath for the Challenger Job Cuts, Nonfarm Productivity, Unit Labor Costs, and Initial Jobless Claims. Friday look for the Big Kahuna: all the employment data for October (non-farm payroll expected up over 300k). We begin the week with rates down slightly from Friday afternoon, with the 10-year yielding 2.40% and agency MBS prices better by .125.


Employment and Recruiting

Building towards a strong Q4, Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions is continuing its aggressive growth, adding Wholesale Account Executives in markets across the country, specifically in San Francisco, San Antonio, Los Angeles and New Orleans. To build on their professional leadership, Angel Oak has also recently hired industry veteran John Wise to help expand their wholesale sales force across the country. Formerly, John ran all Sales and Operations for Oakmont Mortgage. Contact John (818.391.4131) confidentially if you are interested in the available opportunities at Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions.

Are you ready to explore exciting new career opportunities? Colonial Companies is growing and hiring for key operations and production positions. Their CU Members Mortgage division is seeking top talent for key positions: Processing Manager; CU Trainer; Executive Sales Consultant SW/SE; and Loan Officers in Las Vegas, Newport Beach, and Dallas.  And its Retail division, Colonial National Mortgage, is looking for the best of the best Loan Officers nationwide! Want to learn how you can turn these great opportunities into an amazing career...visit ColonialCareers.com and Apply today!

Texas Capital Bank, N.A. welcomes Thomas Helm as Northwest, Vice President and Relationship Manager, Warehouse Lending group. Thomas is an industry veteran and has served in various capacities, both as an independent mortgage banker and leading a specialty broker-dealer shop. He will be spearheading the bank's efforts to grow the northwest region made up of Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Texas Capital Bank is known for leveraging technology and is among the first warehouse lenders to embrace fully digital mortgages by accepting eNotes. For more information, contact your local account executive or National Sales Manager Bruce Karda. Texas Capital Bank's Warehouse Lending group is part of its Mortgage Finance division which specializes in supporting mortgage lenders nationwide with warehouse and MSR credit, liquidity and banking solutions. Texas Capital Bank is consistently recognized as one of Forbes' Best Banks in America and is a Member of the FDIC. 

Michigan's AmeriFirst Home Mortgage, a division of AmeriFirst Financial Corp., has hired mortgage veteran Doug Long as its Southeast Divisional President. Mr. Long is tasked with growing AmeriFirst's penetration of the Florida market, and he will work out of the company's Winter Park, Florida office.