“Rob, would you happen to have a suggestion as to where I can find information as to the number of HUD loans done on manufactured housing last year, or by month?” Ah, the ol’ Title I activity query. The MBA’s Mr. Michael Fratantoni recommends that anyone needing that kind of thing take a look at these monthly production reports from HUD. For example, Table 3 tracks Title I activity.

 

Originator Events

Does your company have a corporate rate for Sales Mastery 2018: Game Changers? In less than four weeks, Todd Duncan’s Sales Mastery Event kicks off in San Diego, and it’s not too late to secure your seat at a discounted price! Leaders that register 20 or more attendees save $300 per ticket and each attendee will receive Free Digital Access FOR LIFE to Sales Mastery 2018 sessions. Don’t miss the chance to revolutionize your business and your life by becoming a Game Changer! Register for Sales Mastery 2018 today: www.salesmasteryevent.com

If you’re a leader, contact info@hightrust.com to secure your company’s discounted rate!

On Saturday, October 20, 2018 more than 1,500 independent mortgage brokers, loan originators and processors will join together at the AIME Fuse 2018 National Conference to learn from industry experts about how they can access the best technology, originate more loans each month and become a marketing expert for their own business. AIME Fuse will unite the nation’s most passionate mortgage professionals around a singular focus: to celebrate and enhance the value of independent mortgage brokers. This is the inaugural national event for the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) and will be held at Bellagio Las Vegas.  Register for AIME Fuse 2018 here.


Disaster Updates

There are worse things than being in the mortgage business. For example, if you were a hog farmer in Florence’s path, you’re working overtime to prepare since the storm poses a risk to livestock and environment, and your waste lagoons could fill with rainwater. There aren’t too many mortgage bankers who have to grapple with waste lagoons. Lenders, however, despite the lessening of the storm category, are dealing with the suspension of fundings leading to over-loaded appraisers scrambling to complete 1004d’s and stressed lock desks dealing with extensions.

Freddie Mac “is monitoring the approach of Hurricane Florence and will be ready to work with Servicers to ensure mortgage relief is available to impacted homeowners. If the hurricane causes property damage, borrowers whose homes or places of employment have been impacted may experience disruptions in their ability to make on-time mortgage payments. Servicers must be responsive to requests for assistance from affected borrowers using options available through our Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) and/or other temporary requirement changes tailored to address specific disasters, if applicable. Servicers should begin working with impacted borrowers as soon as possible and leverage our forbearance programs to provide immediate relief. If the Federal Emergency Management Agency makes a major disaster declaration with individual assistance offered, then our disaster relief options become available for affected borrowers in the eligible disaster areas (see Guide Chapter 8404). Sellers are encouraged to review the following applicable sections of the Guide together with their own procedures for inspecting properties to ensure the mortgage remains eligible: Guide Section 5601.2 (c) – Requirements for properties affected by disasters, and Guide Section 5601.9 – Seller representation and warranties regarding the Mortgaged Premises. For more information on Freddie’s natural disaster relief policies, please visit the Natural Disaster Relief webpage or contact your Freddie Mac rep.

Fannie Mae (aka Fannie, FNMA) “is reminding those impacted by Hurricane Florence of the options available for mortgage assistance. Under Fannie Mae’s guidelines for single-family mortgages: Homeowners impacted by Hurricane Florence are eligible to stop making mortgage payments for up to 12 months, during which time they: will not incur late fees during this temporary payment break or will not have delinquencies reported to the credit bureaus. Servicers are authorized to suspend or reduce a homeowner's mortgage payments immediately for up to 90 days without any contact with the homeowner if the servicer believes the homeowner has been affected by a disaster. Payment forbearance of up to 12 months is available in many circumstances. Servicers must suspend foreclosure and other legal proceedings if the servicer believes the homeowner has been impacted by a disaster…. Homeowners can reach out to Fannie Mae directly by calling 1-800-2FANNIE (1-800-232-6643).”

Seeing how the agencies reacted to Hawaiian volcano events are a good indicator for the expected flooding. For example, FHA issued a waiver of its policy on the timeframe for completing the inspection of properties prior to closing or submitting the mortgage for FHA insurance endorsement in the May 11, 2018, Presidentially-Declared Major Disaster Area (PDMDA) on the Big Island of Hawaii, stemming from the Kilauea Volcanic eruption.

Plaza Home Mortgage has reinstated loan funding in the state of Maryland. There is no change to the suspension in funding for South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia at this point.

Pacific Union Financial sent, “Clients and Pacific Union employees continue to be responsible for monitoring the FEMA Website, their lending areas and pipeline, and ensuring impacted properties meet agency, investor and Pacific Union requirements. Please see the Pacific Union Disaster Area Policy for detailed requirements. Once impacted areas are identified, standard agency, investor and Pacific Union requirements apply for properties located in these areas to determine whether there is an impact to the property and value.  In addition, all types of issued insurance policies (hazard, flood, windstorm, etc.) must have binding authority on the subject property. Any uninsured loans in states within the threat territory must to be insured as soon as possible.”

Keeping up with lenders whose names start with “P,” the PennyMac Correspondent Group has posted a new announcement: 18-36: Disaster Policy Implementation: Hurricane Florence. (You can access all announcements for the PennyMac Correspondent Group on its website: www.gopennymac.com/announcements.)

Ditech Financial LLC sent out a note to its approved correspondent clients. Ditech is temporarily suspending the funding of all loans in the following counties: North Carolina

(Beaufort, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Hyde, Jones, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington), South Carolina(Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Chesterfield, Colleton, Darlington, Dillon, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Jasper, Marion, Marlboro and Williamsburg), Virginia  (Accomack, Chesapeake, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northampton, Northumberland, Surry, VA Beach and York). FEMA has not yet declared a disaster. Please review our complete Disaster Policy and Guidelines in Chapter 18 of the Client Guide.

Mortgage Solutions Financial noted that, “FEMA Emergency Declaration EM-3401 and EM-3400 were declared September 10th, 2018. In preparation for the landfall of Hurricane Florence, MSF has suspended closing & funding” in select counties (63 of them) in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Until further notice, Citadel Servicing is will be “temporarily suspending loans with subject properties in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. This is due to Hurricane Florence and the potential impact that it could have on properties in these states. Please notify your borrowers immediately about the funding delay. If you have already scheduled a signing, please cancel these appointments until further notice.”

Chase correspondent has standing disaster policy requirements.

“Until further notice, Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. is temporarily suspending the closings of all loans with subject properties in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. This suspension is due to the potential impact of Hurricane Florence on properties in these states. If you have already scheduled a signing of closing documents, please take steps to cancel those closings until further notice and inform your borrowers as soon as possible of the funding delay.”

Banks are posting branch closure notices. For example, SunTrust has a slew of them.


Capital Markets

Wednesday was another snoozer in the bond market, a good thing for secondary marketing departments everywhere. The U.S. 10-year closed -1bps to 2.96%, the largest news of the day the release of a worse than expected PPI for August. Other news included reports of a delegation led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin inviting its Chinese counterparts for another meeting to talk about trade, for what that is worth. Fed Governor Lael Brainard suggested that gradual rate increases should continue for the next year or two, and an acceleration in inflation would require more aggressive action on rates. Internationally, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with China's President Xi Jinping at Russia's Eastern Economic Forum.

Today’s calendar has already seen two central bank decisions by the BoE (unchanged) and the European Central Bank with ECB President Draghi’s press conference. The August Consumer Price Index report (+.2%, core +.1% - tame) and weekly jobless claims (204k) kicked off the US calendar, which is where things end in terms of scheduled economic news of any importance although there is a $15 billion 30-year auction. Rates? Versus last night’s close they’re not doing much with the 10-year at 2.96% and agency MBS prices better a smidge.


Lender Services and Products

It’s tempting for lenders to think they know everything about credit scores especially when they’ve been in the industry for a long time. However, sometimes it’s worth having a fresh set of eyes review your applicant’s credit report. With Lending Hand from Credit Plus, you can receive an in-depth, low cost review of each credit file so you can share helpful insights with your borrowers. You can even target increases of 5 or 105 points to qualify your borrower for a specific product, lender or rate tier, for the highest probability of a successful rescore. To learn more about Lending Hand, click here.

“100% LTV Home Equity Loans Are Back. Are you looking for an alternative to high rate Cash-out Refinances? Do you need a piggyback loan to avoid MI or Jumbo Pricing? Spring EQ, the nation's premier non-bank home equity lender, is now offering its broad home equity product guidelines to brokers. Brokers will now have access to expanded home equity loan options to help customers get cash with FICO's as low as 640 and CLTV's as high as 100%. Spring EQ has developed an innovative process that typically requires only 4 documents (proof of income, mortgage statement, proof of hazard insurance and a photo ID) and customers can get their money in as little as 2 weeks. Ken Turner, Director of Wholesale Lending, is overseeing Spring EQ's wholesale channel. Become a broker partner and offer your customers standalone or piggyback home equity loans." Just contact Ken Turner at (215-515-4109) to sign up today.”

Conquering Shifts is a must read. The book goes well beyond teaching the proven success principles included from some of the most respected and tenured originators in the country. All share what their life looked like before and after the mortgage meltdown, and how they tapped into their own unique skill sets. Regardless of the insurmountable odds they all faced at some point in their career, they all grew their careers-admirably. Greg Frost (Primary Residential Mortgage), Drew McKenzie, (TIAA Bank), David Jaffe (OnQ Financial), Jeff Lake (Guaranteed Rate), Julie Miller (Broadview Mortgage), Larry Bettag (Cherry Creek Mortgage), Michael Deery (Citywide Financial), Michael Smalley (Waterstone Mortgage), Ralph Massella (Retired), Tom Ninness (New American Funding), Mark Raskin (PrimeLending), and Karen Deis, (Founder of loanofficertraining.com).Industry leaders and best-selling authors, Todd Duncan and Daniel Harkavy, give the book Conquering Shifts a big thumbs-up, along with many others. To purchase visit www.conqueringshifts.com.

CALCAP Lending, LLC, a private money direct lender based out of southern California, is pleased to announce the launch of its Correspondent Lending Services program targeting the purchase of Business Purpose Loans. CALCAP’s program provides liquidity to originators who provide financing for rental and fix and flip transactions. “CALCAP’s growing team is well-versed in correspondent lending and we view this new business channel as a natural expansion of our current platform which includes both retail and wholesale lending capabilities,” stated Len Israel, CEO of CALCAP Lending. To learn more contact Mike Falce (657-289-2569), CALCAP’s SVP of Production and a 26-year industry veteran, who is leading the growth of this platform for CALCAP.

Do you work with self-employed borrowers like hairdressers or consultants, or people with seasonal income like freelancers, tax-preparers, or artists or other professionals with an irregular income stream? If so, Sierra Pacific Mortgage - Bank Statement Program may be a perfect fit. How does it work? Simple. Instead of requiring years of tax documents, W-2s, or proof of regular payroll checks, Sierra bases the lending decision on a combination of bank statements and profit & loss statements. Contact a Sierra Pacific representative today to learn more.