Tue, Sep 28 2021, 12:29 PM
Seen on a chalkboard outside a bar: “Beer shortage coming soon. Panic buy here!” Moving from booze to bonds, thinking that the Fed would buy $5 billio...
Mon, Sep 27 2021, 10:28 AM
I could tell that my cat Myrtle was miffed Sunday. I’m sure that she, given her position at the top of the food chain, believes that I shouldn’t be wa...
Fri, Sep 24 2021, 10:37 AM
First off, my apologies to Ernest Hemingway whose name I mistakenly wrote as “Earnest.” Thank you to those who pointed that out. Second… Okay… I see m...
Thu, Sep 23 2021, 11:05 AM
This morning the Mortgage Bankers Association's Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA) released, The Impact of Climate Change on Housing and Ho...
Wed, Sep 22 2021, 10:35 AM
Once a week it is Wednesday… but this one is noteworthy. An equinox is the instant of time when the plane of Earth's equator passes through the geomet...
Tue, Sep 21 2021, 10:41 AM
A sign in the window reads CURED MEATS. Inside, a salami takes his first steps since the accident. A prosciutto learns to forgive. There are all kind ...
Mon, Sep 20 2021, 10:46 AM
Someone asked me if I had plans for the fall. It took me a moment to realize they meant “autumn,” not the collapse of civilization. Lots of folks are ...
Fri, Sep 17 2021, 11:19 AM
Some things stick with you , some don’t. Many of the topics covered here in Atlanta’s NAMMBA Connect 2021 will stick with folks since they mirror what...
Thu, Sep 16 2021, 11:01 AM
I’m getting old. I can remember the lyrics from a Steppenwolf song that I haven’t heard in 20 years but I don’t remember what I had for lunch yesterda...
Wed, Sep 15 2021, 10:25 AM
How ‘bout some random Q&A for Hump Day? Did you know that almost 2,400 of your co-workers are already registered for the National MBA conference next ...
Tue, Sep 14 2021, 10:41 AM
When Miley Cyrus licks a hammer and dances around naked, it’s considered “art.” When I tried it, I got kicked out of Home Depot. Go figure. How is you...
Mon, Sep 13 2021, 11:23 AM
On HGTV, people can flip a whole house in a month. Meanwhile, I’ve been “getting ready to vacuum” for a week now. There isn’t a lot of mirth in reside...
Fri, Sep 10 2021, 11:11 AM
Thank you to Virginia’s Marc A. who, after reading my comment about companies keeping customers on hold due to “higher-than-normal call volume,” sent ...
Thu, Sep 9 2021, 11:18 AM
I don’t think I’ve ever made a call, in recent years, to any number that wasn’t “experiencing high call volumes…” Owners of lenders are certainly fiel...
Wed, Sep 8 2021, 11:21 AM
If you wait long enough to cook dinner, everyone will eat cereal. Follow me for more recipes! It’s a good time to be long real estate, and one recipe ...
Tue, Sep 7 2021, 11:13 AM
Yes, it’s Tuesday already. Good morning to everyone except my wife who, at 2AM, mid-dream, sat bolt upright in bed and terrifyingly shouted into the d...
Fri, Sep 3 2021, 12:11 PM
“It was the third of September that day I’ll always remember … Papa was a rolling stone… Wherever he laid his hat was his home. And when he died, all ...
Thu, Sep 2 2021, 11:07 AM
“Yeah, I think I’ll put up some plywood and buy some water and just wait out this supposed hurricane. Those scientist/weather people are just exaggera...
Wed, Sep 1 2021, 11:12 AM
Overheard recently: “I just want a man who will make me laugh as we count his family’s money on his rock-hard abs.” Lenders are doing okay, money-wise...
Tue, Aug 31 2021, 10:48 AM
I received some exciting news that I wanted to share with my readers. I received an invitation from a mortgage periodical to receive an award, if I pa...
Mon, Aug 30 2021, 11:01 AM
The Texas Mortgage Bankers Association conference is in full swing. Folks tell me that servicing is a big topic in informal hallway discussions. MCT d...
Fri, Aug 27 2021, 10:53 AM
Last night, my wife asked me if I’d seen the dog bowl. I replied, “I didn’t know he could.” Words are important, and the press is spending plenty of t...
Thu, Aug 26 2021, 11:24 AM
What parent hasn’t heard, “Are we there yet?” from the back seat during a road trip? The same could be said about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Gove...
Wed, Aug 25 2021, 10:50 AM
In the various originator-centric conferences I’ve attended, I’ve never seen a session on, “How to beat up your capital markets group on pricing & ext...
Tue, Aug 24 2021, 10:57 AM
Worried about your privacy? You should be. Illinois’ Lemonade, an AI-enabled provider of homeowners and renters insurance, was hit with a privacy clas...
Mon, Aug 23 2021, 10:49 AM
Fires in California, floods in Tennessee, hurricanes in New York, COVID hospitalizations seemingly everywhere written up by the press. The “fun” never...
Fri, Aug 20 2021, 10:46 AM
Who wants to work on a Friday in summer? Not me! I was pleased to find the Type The Alphabet Game , which times you on how fast you type the alphabet....
Thu, Aug 19 2021, 11:02 AM
So you say that you never learn anything by reading this Commentary? How about Wile E. Coyote's middle name? His first name is an obvious pun on the w...
Wed, Aug 18 2021, 11:28 AM
Technology is nice (the latest bit being UWM’s goal of accepting bitcoin by year end; magnetic strips on credit cards are going away ), but our indust...
Tue, Aug 17 2021, 11:20 AM
The 10-year yield back down to 1.24 percent!? Watch those early pay off penalties. Along those lines, are you servicing loans? Mind your p’s and q’s, ...
Mon, Aug 16 2021, 11:04 AM
People ask me what I do when I finish the commentary and send it out. This will give you an inkling . I don’t know if folks at United Wholesale do the...
Fri, Aug 13 2021, 10:54 AM
As potential buyers of odd properties cogitate on Boston’s Skinny House (reportedly built to spite the owner’s neighbor & brother), and our industry m...
Thu, Aug 12 2021, 10:41 AM
“I hope that I never go to jail because I haven’t memorized a phone number since 2001.” (Speaking of numbers, investors are mulling over Guild’s 2 nd ...
Wed, Aug 11 2021, 11:29 AM
Lenders always have a lot going on. Like “significant competitive pressure and volatility in the capital markets,” as evidenced by Home Point’s $73 mi...
Tue, Aug 10 2021, 10:47 AM
It was one week ago that the “benchmark” 10-year yield hit 1.17 percent. Now we’re back up to 1.32, the same yield that we saw for much of early and m...
Mon, Aug 9 2021, 10:47 AM
Last week I was in Orange County at the Insellerate Experience Summit 21, and this week I am 2,500 miles away in Orlando, FL at the Lenders One Summit...
Fri, Aug 6 2021, 11:04 AM
We live in world of numbers. It has been 76 years since an atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Let’s hope nothing close, with its 140,000 instantaneou...
Thu, Aug 5 2021, 11:28 AM
“Why was the mortgage so depressed? Because it was a loan.” Yes, cutting-edge humor like that is why you read this commentary. No MLO should be depres...
Wed, Aug 4 2021, 10:51 AM
WalletHub released its 2021 Home Overleverage Report after determining where homeowners have the most unsustainable mortgage debts. WalletHub compared...
Tue, Aug 3 2021, 11:09 AM
As the industry digests Fannie Mae’s earnings announcement this morning with its $7.2 billion of net earnings in the second quarter of 2021, did you k...
Mon, Aug 2 2021, 11:10 AM
Who predicted that we’d be at 1.22 percent on the 10-year yield to start August? And 30-year fixed-rate mortgages still chopping around in the high 2 ...
Fri, Jul 30 2021, 11:23 AM
Yesterday I received this note from Tennessee. “Rob, thank you for the commentary, as always. Among several noteworthy items in yesterday’s, one thing...
Thu, Jul 29 2021, 11:12 AM
Mission Statements are so passe. We now have “long term vision statements.” For some, great literature consists of the Bible, or Moby . For others of ...
Wed, Jul 28 2021, 11:05 AM
I didn’t sign up for a 401k. I can’t run that far. Understanding numbers is important, as is accurately reporting them. For example, yesterday I mista...
Tue, Jul 27 2021, 11:18 AM
With Simone Biles injury at the Olympics, let’s shift our attention to lending & housing. Have you ever asked someone, especially a politician, for th...
Mon, Jul 26 2021, 11:17 AM
The headline this morning is seven people dying in a car crash caused by a Utah sandstorm. The damage caused by storms, including hurricanes in the Ea...
Fri, Jul 23 2021, 10:58 AM
How do you know when someone has too much money? How about when they pony up $16k for Tarzan’s 1932 loin cloth ? (“Gosh, if that loin cloth could talk...
Thu, Jul 22 2021, 11:26 AM
How would you like to compete against a company whose tagline is, “We Do It All, Guaranteed!”? The program is part of an existing Weichert Realtors’ o...
Wed, Jul 21 2021, 11:42 AM
Experienced mortgage loan originators (MLOs) know that a rate lock is a rate lock. The removal of the adverse market fee of .5 for conventional confor...
Tue, Jul 20 2021, 11:52 AM
t was bound to happen: My cat Myrtle and I came to blows. She wanted to spend her trust fund money, earned on the catwalk in her prime, to pay various...
