Many company's doc drawers and funders are coming back to work after Veteran's Day and realizing that there are only 18 funding days in November. (Eleven left including today.) Something tells me some are going to be working on the day after Thanksgiving - which is pretty harsh given it is a Friday - to pull out another day and make it 19.

JPMorgan said it will cut 3,000 jobs this year in its mortgage and credit card divisions and 4,000 in other divisions as it seeks to eliminate 7,000 positions.

By the way, the IAMP is growing and changed its name to the Greater Midwest Lenders Association to reflect its growth into 11 additional Midwest States. It sent out a reminder to LOs saying, "Your Mortgage Call Report for Q3 data (July 1 - September 30) is due November 14th."

"I continue to hear about pricing and comp plans that are on, shall we say, the 'aggressive side' of regulation interpretation. Does certain loan pricing comply with Reg. Z but potentially run afoul of Fair Lending statutes? Apparently so as put forth in this article from Ballard Spahr.

What does Michael Bloomberg think of the set of Dodd Frank laws? He doesn't pull any punches.

Hey, we're coming up on the holidays, but that won't stop the events and training.

The Association of Mortgage Professionals in the San Jose area (also known as Silicon Valley CAMP) is holding its annual holiday luncheon at Maggiano's Little Italy on 12/4/14 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. The featured speaker is David Luna who has made Continued Education fun and informational! He is also recognized by NAMB as Affiliate of the Year 2014! Register here.

Ellie Mae is providing a Complimentary Webinar on November 19th regarding RESPA-TILA: The Closing Disclosure - Part 1. Register now as space is limited click here.

Ellie Mae is hosting a one-hour webinar, New Best Practices in Online Lending, on Thursday, November 13th at 11:00 AM Pacific Time. To register, click here.

MBA's Accounting and Financial Management Conference is also offering Online Virtual Sessions. For more information, click here.

If you are interested in registering for MBA's Independent Mortgage Bankers Conference scheduled for December 3rd-5th in Coronado, click here. Should be a great time!

MBA's National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo in Dallas will be held in February 2015. For details, click here.

The New Jersey Bankers Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association of New Jersey have joined together to present the 2014 Joint Mortgage Lending Conference. If you would like to register for this event on November 19th, click here.

New Mexico Mortgage Lenders Association (NMMLA) luncheon on November 13th is featuring Mark Tobiassen. Registration closes on November 11th, to sign up, click here.

Respa News is providing an exclusive 90-minute webinar guiding participants in the assessment of current and prospective Marketing Services Agreements (MSAs). If you would like to register for the November 18th webinar, click here.

Texas Mortgage Bankers Association (TMBA) is hosting two concurrent events; separate registration is required for the two events. The Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending will be having their 2nd annual Mortgage Industry Day on November 19th at 2:00 pm. This meeting is complimentary but seating is limited. For information, click here. TMBA will also be hosting its annual Warehouse Conclave also on November 19th from 2:00-5:00 pm with guest speaker, Brian Webster with the CFPB and many others. For session information, click here.

Texas Mortgage Bankers Association (TMBA) Annual Mortgage Servicing Forum brings together hundreds of real estate finance professionals in the servicing industry. If interested in registration for the December 1st and 2nd event, click here.

United Wholesale Mortgage is conducting a webinar on November 12^th discussing strategies to increase broker business. Attendees can also submit questions after the webinar that will be promptly answered by a UWM account executive. Interested parties can sign up for the webinar by clicking here.

Arch MI has a variety of complimentary training's available throughout the month of November. Topics include Loan Processing Using the 1003 as a Roadmap and Underwriting Foundations and Fundamentals both on November 13th; Seizing Market Share in a Purchase Market on November 17th, Navigating and Evaluating Personal Tax Returns on November 18th, and Understanding Self-Employed Borrowers and Business Tax Returns on November 19th and 20th. To sign up for a training topic, click here.

Colorado Association of Mortgage Professionals CoAMP is offering a Regulatory Webinar Series The initial webinar on November 19th at 10:00 AM MST is free. If you are interested in CoAMP's Overview of all Compliance Essentials webinar click here.

Compliance4All is taking registrations for its December live webinar with instructor Miles Hutchinson on How to Analyze Financial Statements. If you would like to sign up, click here.

FHA is providing a Conference Call on its Revised Changes to the HECM Program Requirements announced in Mortgagee Letter 2014-21 on November 18th from 2:00-3:00 p.m. (Eastern) time. Dial-in Number: (866) 233-3852 and Participant Access Code: 343916.

FHA's conference call review of the Financial Assessment and Property Charge policies outlined in Mortgagee Letter 2014-22 is scheduled for November 20th from 2:00-3:30 p.m. (Eastern) time. Dial-in Number: (866) 233-3841 and Participant Access Code: 343917.

If you are interested in learning about MSR market activity, MountainView Servicing Group is conducting a 60 minute webinar on November 13th. To register, click here.

Turning to the markets, suddenly there is a lot going on in the secondary markets. And we all know that demand for product helps drive rates, which in turn helps borrowers. A Bloomberg article by Jody Shenn goes into detail on Redwood Trust and jumbo mortgages. "After joining FHLB, REIT can now use lender's advances to retain mortgages, 'an alternative to selling or securitizing jumbo loans that we also plan to utilize,' President Brett Nicholas said on Redwood's earnings call." Redwood began financing $236 million of jumbo loans with the Chicago Federal Home Loan Bank in the third quarter. In fact Redwood's jumbo loan acquisitions nearly doubled over the 2^nd quarter to $1.8 billion and its pipeline ended at $1.3 billion. Many lenders are seeing the most profits from selling whole loans (rather than spending the money to securitize products) given the strong bank demand although most say that the securitization market is in good shape as well. Redwood sold $456 million of securities from its portfolio to free up capital. But many see continued problems with jumbo securities. The market is suffering from illiquidity and nobody likes an illiquid market which in turn creates a wide bid-ask spread (no surprise there) and volatility.

Sellers issued $2.28 billion of private-label residential securitizations in seven deals in the past two months. The mini-surge signals the possibility of a healthier market next year. Redwood Trust last week sold its third deal of the year that included non-QM collateral, which made up 1.5% of the pool. Those loans increased the expected loss on the most senior ranked bonds by 90 basis points, to 5.7%.

On the non-QM supply side of things, banks, large and small, are rolling along with portfolio products. (Remember Wells dedicating 600 underwriters to the effort earlier this year?) In the independent mortgage banker arena, California's RPM Mortgage spread the word that it passed the $10 million mark in nonqualified mortgages, and purportedly has a large contract to sell such loans to a large asset manager who is committed to buy $2.5 billion of RPM's loans. As this commentary has mentioned several times, QM or non-QM investors want yield, and RPM's mortgages are in the mid 4s to high 5s.

Silvergate Bank is buying loans from JMAC, private-equity firm Lone Star Funds has committed $1 billion to purchase nonqualified mortgages from Caliber Home Loans, and so on. Bond manager Western Asset Management Co. planned up to eight commitments with lenders across the country, its chief operating officer told Bloomberg News in June. Warehouse lenders are skittish. Many lenders continue to be hesitant to offer the product due to legal risk: the fear of a flood of lawsuits in the event of default, with borrowers trying to escape their debt by citing violations of the new CFPB rules. Proponents remind us that anyone can sue anyone else at any time.

The bond markets are open again here in the United States today. Looking back to Monday, it was a quiet start to the week. There wasn't much buying, or selling, of agency MBS happening. Is production slowing down? This morning the MBA told us that apps last week were down about 1% with refinancing apps about 2% but purchase apps increasing about 1%.

For excitement today we will have...a $24 billion 10-yr note auction. Yippee. The 10-year had a 2.36% close on Monday and in the early going today we're at 2.34% and agency MBS prices are better by a smidge.

Jobs and Announcements

For originators exploring options, "We hear a great deal about the challenges facing both borrowers and lenders over availability and ease of obtaining financing. With yesterday's observance of Veteran's Day, it is a great reminder that we shouldn't lose sight of the VA Home Loan Program. In some ways, it is a throw-back to the days of common-sense underwriting.  In a number of markets, no down financing is available to over $1 million. iServe Residential Lending is one lender who continues to impress, and has taken it upon themselves to spread the word throughout the lending and real estate community - and directly to our veterans and service members. Taking advantage of its national presence, earlier this year iServe introduced its National VA Tour which provides free VA Home Loan Seminars in every community that it serves." (Having been a host for their recent national webinar on this topic, I can speak first-hand to iServe's commitment.) "Co-CEO Ken Michael makes it clear that iServe offers a complete menu of products with a company-wide 'can-do' philosophy. But the VA Home Loan Program is near and dear to his heart. As Ken states, 'It is important to educate not only active military and veterans but also our Loan Officer and Realtor partners about the advantages of the VA Home Loan Program.'" I have been following iServe for some time and encourage anyone considering a move or just wanting more information on their programs to make contact.  Email Allen Friedman for information.

On the product side, Roadrunner Solutions is an exciting new (and free) service to help connect LOs and their pre-approved borrowers with local Real Estate professionals. "Roadrunner has a large network of Realtors that will respect the relationship between you and your borrower. Roadrunner will improve your closure rate and help deliver a high level of customer service required for the purchase money borrower. If you are a Call Center LO, run a Call Center Platform, or originate loans outside of your local area, Roadrunner is a great service for you to try.  And there is no fee or cost for you or your borrower to take advantage of our program.  Roadrunner has also added website design and support to their product offering.   If you would like to find out more, email RoadRunner and see how they can customize a solution for you.