Tue, Jul 19 2022, 10:53 AM
From Salt Lake City, Rich B. sends, “My mind is like an internet browser: 17 tabs are open, 4 of them are frozen, and I don’t know where the music is ...
Mon, Jul 18 2022, 11:08 AM
Everyone is watching the value of their 401(k) plan go down. You should be watching it go down from “across the pond,” sitting at a sidewalk café in P...
Fri, Jul 15 2022, 11:32 AM
Dang these five-day work weeks seem long! My cat Myrtle doesn’t seem overly concerned with work, days or weeks, as long as that line-caught ocean salm...
Thu, Jul 14 2022, 10:27 AM
Real estate agents love it when loan officers give them referrals. That’s not always easy. Is giving a real estate agent a book on becoming a producti...
Wed, Jul 13 2022, 11:34 AM
Sue W. writes, “After I say, ‘That’s crazy’ twice, please wrap up your story.” There are a lot of stories out there now as residential lenders tighten...
Tue, Jul 12 2022, 10:39 AM
I mentioned yesterday that 4 out of 3 people have trouble with math, but it doesn’t take a genius to do subtraction. 6 - .2 = 5.8, right? Wouldn’t you...
Mon, Jul 11 2022, 11:13 AM
Did you know that 4 out of 3 people have trouble with math? I do too, as suggested by my capital markets background, but I know enough to understand t...
Fri, Jul 8 2022, 11:08 AM
Dang, is there any good news out there? Japanese ex-Prime Minister Abe was tragically assassinated. Rates stink, especially compare to 2020 and 2021, ...
Thu, Jul 7 2022, 10:42 AM
Many youngsters don’t know the “Shave and a haircut? Two bits!” knock, or musical notes. Some things are timeless, like British Prime Ministers coming...
Wed, Jul 6 2022, 10:55 AM
“I'm a multitasker. I can listen, ignore, and forget all at the same time!” We won’t, however, soon forget this part of the business cycle. “Rob, than...
Tue, Jul 5 2022, 11:34 AM
“What do you get when you cross the Atlantic Ocean with the Titanic? Halfway.” We’ve crossed the halfway point of 2022, and where’s everyone’s attenti...
Fri, Jul 1 2022, 9:58 AM
This morning, at the beginning of the third quarter of 2022, I learned about this morsel: The most common national holiday around the world is indepen...
Thu, Jun 30 2022, 10:49 AM
“Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels… Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields.” Yes, at the end of today we’re halfwa...
Wed, Jun 29 2022, 10:39 AM
We’re all trying to save a few pennies. We have the increase in postal rates coming soon and perhaps pick up a roll, or ten, of Forever Stamps. It’s n...
Tue, Jun 28 2022, 10:59 AM
You can rest assured that no animals were harmed in the making of this commentary! But the harm felt by stockholders during the last several months ha...
Mon, Jun 27 2022, 10:56 AM
“I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.” Management teams at lenders and vendors can’t be indecisive in this environment. Who’s going to be rig...
Fri, Jun 24 2022, 11:23 AM
Knocking on wood is an apotropaic (averting bad luck) tradition of literally touching, tapping, or knocking on wood, or merely stating that one is doi...
Thu, Jun 23 2022, 10:24 AM
Crypto and blockchain technologies have some valid applications but when it’s just for investment, there are tons of scams. (And what would we do for ...
Wed, Jun 22 2022, 11:45 AM
One topic of conversation at the MBAH conference is the quote making the rounds, “Marry the house, date the rate,” a nightmare for capital markets and...
Tue, Jun 21 2022, 10:56 AM
Here in Honolulu, talk among those gathered for the MBA Hawai’i annual conference includes the rise in adjustable-rate mortgage lending by depositorie...
Fri, Jun 17 2022, 10:30 AM
There are strange things going on out there. Revlon filing for bankruptcy. Atlanta’s mayor calling for limits on investors buying homes. Delta Airline...
Thu, Jun 16 2022, 11:14 AM
If you can't think of a word or phrase, say, "I forgot the English word for it." That way people will think you're bilingual instead of an idiot. It i...
Wed, Jun 15 2022, 10:26 AM
“Do you know that humans eat more bananas than monkeys? Think about it, when was the last time you ate a monkey?” Words and terms are important. At th...
Tue, Jun 14 2022, 12:03 PM
While we await FEMA to declare the Yellowstone area a disaster (page down and spend 40 seconds watching the video) is “niches to riches” the new infor...
Mon, Jun 13 2022, 10:03 AM
Life is too short to waste time matching socks. Yes, time flies. Remember a year ago, when a) the announcement of Juneteenth, the new Federal holiday,...
Fri, Jun 10 2022, 10:27 AM
Start the day with a little something non-mortgage? Ira S. with U.S. Mortgage, on his time off, of course, found “River Runner.” One can basically cli...
Thu, Jun 9 2022, 11:18 AM
Plenty of folks in our biz can be accused of having aprosexia. (No, I didn’t join some “Word of the Day” club.) But lenders and originators have to be...
Wed, Jun 8 2022, 11:06 AM
Yesterday in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, at the Indiana Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual conference, one of the non-mortgage conversations that I had was...
Mon, Jun 6 2022, 10:44 AM
As servicing rights continue to be sold, and residential lender layoffs are rampant, here’s a quick reminder that anyone displaced can post their resu...
Fri, Jun 3 2022, 10:10 AM
Vice President Dan Quayle sagely observed, among other things, “If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." Is our housing market in danger of f...
Thu, Jun 2 2022, 10:59 AM
If you see me talking to myself, just move along. I'm self-employed, and we're having a staff meeting. Self-employed borrowers are certainly a target ...
Wed, Jun 1 2022, 11:16 AM
This morning I head off to Orange County to the IMN Non-QM Forum where homeownership and home finance option discussions will be center stage. Did you...
Tue, May 31 2022, 11:09 AM
Yes, it’s already Tuesday. Are we at the top of the market? A pair of Goldman Sachs-backed ventures gobbled up an entire rental home community in Flor...
Fri, May 27 2022, 11:07 AM
What guy hasn’t wanted to usher a gal through to a club like Ray Liotta did, masterfully filmed without cutting away? Unfortunately, breaking the spel...
Thu, May 26 2022, 10:36 AM
Yesterday I visited Sacramento to speak to an audience of real estate agents and originators in a joint MGIC/Golden 1 Credit Union event. The mood was...
Wed, May 25 2022, 10:47 AM
All the stories that could be told, and so many that have yet to happen. And now 19 that never will be. It is very hard to go about one’s day, whether...
Tue, May 24 2022, 10:53 AM
The last pay phone was removed from New York City yesterday. (Heck, growing up I financed my baseball card purchases by looking for loose change in th...
Mon, May 23 2022, 10:52 AM
I recently opened my slang dictionary to the page that defined the origin of, “Different ways to skin a cat” and left it near my cat Myrtle’s water bo...
Thu, May 19 2022, 11:13 AM
“One minute you're young and having fun. The next, you're turning down the car stereo to see better.” Gone are the days when all loan officers wanted ...
Wed, May 18 2022, 9:21 AM
As the MBA’s Secondary Marketing Conference wraps up in Manhattan, and the 1,200 or so registered head home and face post-conference life, Rob B. asks...
Tue, May 17 2022, 10:40 AM
Keeping things in perspective, last Thursday the White House announced a raft of measures to alleviate the ongoing baby formula shortage, which has wo...
Mon, May 16 2022, 10:16 AM
Plenty of capital markets folks, senior management, and the usual cadre of vendors are here in Manhattan, doing the macarena until 2AM. Okay, just kid...
Fri, May 13 2022, 9:28 AM
English grammar… what a hassle. Is it "lay" or "lie"? - Are you sure you're using them correctly? “Than” versus “then?” One should use “than” only wit...
Thu, May 12 2022, 8:37 AM
Jobs & transitions Lender & broker software and services Tech Survey: who’s doing what Capital markets: rates drop
Wed, May 11 2022, 9:54 AM
Remember: April is National Procrastination Month! I could tell that my cat Myrtle was displeased the other morning. She’s very secretive about her fi...
Mon, May 9 2022, 9:59 AM
Recently in Reno I overheard someone predict, “Forget Wikipedia. How about someone create ‘Liquorpedia’ with an encyclopedia of alcohol and drink reci...
Fri, May 6 2022, 9:47 AM
Here’s a stream of consciousness paragraph for you. “Rob, what are you hearing about companies laying off, furloughing, right-sizing, whatever, employ...
Thu, May 5 2022, 10:09 AM
Life is complicated. Take the Black Knight purchase by ICE. Some vendors are out there licking their chops at their company’s valuation while others a...
Wed, May 4 2022, 10:11 AM
May the 4th be with you! Without the lisp, there are many forces tugging at lenders and vendors. Forget 2020 and 2021. Recruiters are asking LOs what ...
Tue, May 3 2022, 10:19 AM
With the yield on the risk-free 10-year Treasury note hitting 3 percent for the first time since 2018, you deserve some cutting-edge humor. Two hats w...
