Yes, this commentary posts job and product announcements, and there are some today. But here's a tip, job-seekers: be careful about what you send to HR. Speaking of being careful, I received this note: "I really look forward to self-driving cars. As a Boston driver I know I can play chicken with them and I'll win 100% of the time."

On September 15, ATS Secured is hosting a webinar, "Realtors and New Regulations: Ensure a Timely Closing," presented by Charles Cain, EVP-Agency at WFG National Title Insurance. This webinar will highlight how new regulations will affect the role of the real estate agent in a closing. Mortgage lenders, compliance professionals, settlement agents and especially real estate agents will benefit from this event. Sign-up for a free ATS Secured account to view this webinar for free, or click here to register for $49. By the way, the ATS site has an extensive "Ask the Expert" FAQ section and many of the Q&A entries are TRID related. There's also a spot for people with questions to get answers from the ATS experts.

Radian National Training is now offering the "The Simple Scoop on the 1084 Changes" to walk lenders through the updated 1084. The sessions are scheduled for 30 minutes and are free and open to all.  Visit www.radian. biz/training to see the full training calendar or to register for a session. In-depth sessions on Analyzing Income for the Self-Employed Borrower with the updated 1084 are also available. If interested, contact your Radian rep or Kelli Brookman to schedule a session for your team. 

Is your marketing TRID compliant? Learn how to effectively market within TRID guidelines. Join marketing expert Caleb Guillory to discuss compliance issues and how you can implement some TRID friendly marketing strategies. Caleb will discuss new credit data regulations, how credit data overcomes TRID's downfalls, as well as other marketing compliance issues. Attend this free webinar hosted by National Mortgage Professional Magazine and sponsored by TagQuest, Inc. Thursday, September 10 at 2PM EDT.

What is going on in capital markets? First off, folks should know the basic difference between "secondary marketing" and "capital markets." So if you know the difference, let me know! Seriously, secondary marketing is primarily focused on selling loans into the secondary markets, and also taking bond market & investor prices to help establish rates. Capital markets typically includes not only that but also working with investors, broker-dealers, coordinating communication with the production staff, overseeing the lock desk, and warehouse relationships.

Bloomberg reports NYC has been the first city to finance a real estate hotel condominium project using a large piece of crowdfunding. Investors put in amounts as small as $100 for a total of $12mm overall of the $95mm project (or about 13% overall). Bankers should be aware, as money to fund projects can come from anywhere as you ponder the longer term implications of this.

Speaking of trends in finance, this commentary always discusses securities backed by mortgages. And it tries to be specific about "Agency" MBS, "residential" MBS, "commercial" MBS, and so on. But what about securities backed by ag loans? They certainly exist! Agricultural Mortgage Backed Securities (AMBS) are backed by either Farmer Mac Farm & Ranch or Farmer Mac 2 loans, and if you'd like to learn more there is plenty of information.

This headline caught some attention recently: "Liar Loans Redux: They're Back and Sneaking Into AAA Rated Bonds."

Matt Scully writes for the American Banker and noted, "One might assume that Wall Street developed, at some point in the seven years following the housing collapse, distaste for new subprime mortgage-backed securities. Think again....Angel Oak plans to offer bond investors a securitization of all newly originated subprime, nonqualified residential mortgages...The $100 million deal, underwritten by Nomura, would be issued in the second quarter...Angel Oak has acquired most loans through its wholesale affiliate, Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, but the agreement is not exclusive). The parties ultimately agreed to a short-term, 364-day facility.

The MBA's Capital Markets Committee noted that last year saw many new regulations and policy initiatives implemented or finalized in a way that impacted secondary market considerations. Its attention was, and is, on things like compliance with the risk retention rule, understanding the GSE rep & warrant changes, credit risk issues, including structuring and execution-related issues (including LLPAs, g-fees, etc.), secondary market considerations for affordable housing products, Common Securitization Platform development issues, and emerging trends in the secondary market (for instance, new PLS deals/structures, new GSE programs, etc.).

Recall that the Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF) Program announced the issuance of its first security guaranteed by Ginnie Mae. The MPF Program allows community based financial institutions to effectively compete with mega banks for homebuyers in their communities without having the burden of having to individually obtain and maintain Ginnie Mae approval. The MPF Program is currently eligible to the FHLB Chicago and the FHLB Atlanta; other FHLBs are in various stages of approval.

Things have been evolving all year although anyone using the jumbo securitization market as a proxy is disappointed. (Big banks are happy to sit on that product until the proverbial cows come home - why pay for the cost of securitizing it?) For example, earlier this year Citigroup went to market with $377 million of bonds backed by loans originated through Prosper Marketplace Inc. That certainly helps to fuel the online-lending industry. Peer-to-peer, or marketplace, lenders once set out to bypass big banks by directly matching borrowers with individuals who wanted to fund them. The loans created on platforms run by Prosper and LendingClub Corp. have since gained popularity on Wall Street as fund managers chase higher returns and bankers seek new assets to package into bonds that can be sold to other yield-starved investors.

And don't forget that JPMorgan Chase & Co. brought a residential mortgage-backed securitization to market this year backed entirely by adjustable-rate mortgages. Trust 2015-IVR2 was backed by 382 loans from First Republic Bank with a total balance of approximately $372.4 million, or about $1 million each on average. Each of the underlying loans was a 7-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage. Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Moody's Investor Service and Fitch Ratings all saddled up to the trough and issued presale reports on the offering: AAA ratings to the majority of the offering's classes. All three agencies cited the quality of the collateral as a positive for the deal: the pool's weighted average loan-to-value of 64.7% and WA combined LTV of 66.5%," KBRA said in its presale. "Approximately 36.3% of the mortgages have a CLTV of 75% or greater," KBRA continued. "There are no loans with a CLTV greater than 80%, although 83 loans (20.0%) have CLTVs of exactly 80%."

There's collateral, but also credit. The underlying borrowers also had strong credit profiles. "The weighted average original FICO, annual household income and total assets reported were 758, $733,777 and $2.13 million, respectively," Fitch noted in its presale. "In addition, all loans in the pool were underwritten to the originator's full documentation standards."

Interest only? No problem: approximately 39% of the underlying loans also carried a 10-year interest-only period. "Mortgage products that include adjustable interest rates or IO features expose borrowers to the risk of fluctuating or increasing monthly payment obligations, which can result in payment shock," KBRA said. "The payment shock to the borrower for hybrid ARMs and IO loans can be significant, particularly in a historically low interest rate market. In such an environment, rate increases are likely and refinancing opportunities may be limited."

Geographic concentration? A footnote! First Republic is in California, and JPMMT 2015-IVR2 has significant geographic concentration in California (57.7%), specifically in the San Francisco (37.3%) and Los Angeles (11.2%) areas. In addition, 87.9% of the properties are located in the pool's top five metropolitan statistical areas in California, New York, and Massachusetts." Fitch noted.

And don't forget the FirstKey Lending 2015-SFR1: US$241 million multi-borrower securitization from Deutsche Bank. And the Blackstone Group's B2R Finance deal. Similar to single-loan SFR deals, the bottom three junior-most classes on the B2R was retained in order to comply with European risk retention rules.

Turning to the daily bond markets, up a little, down a little - so go rates. Tuesday investors "added risk" in equities and currency markets and abandoned "safe-haven assets" like fixed-income securities. About the only news from the US was that the $24 billion 3-year note auction was met with modest demand.

Today we've had the MBA Mortgage Index (-6.2% last week with refis -10% and purchases -1%). Later is the forgettable July JOLTS - Job Openings number, and we'll also have a $21 billion 10-year auction. We wrapped up Tuesday with our buddy the 10-year at 2.19% and in the early going it is up to 2.22% with agency MBS prices worse .125.

Jobs and Announcements

In retail news Angel Oak Home Loans is currently seeking highly motivated retail loan originators in the following states: FL, GA, AL, SC, NC, and TN. Angel Oak is "a full service retail mortgage lender who focuses on operational excellence, client and referral partner satisfaction, and strategic production growth. Ranked as the 23^rd fastest growing company in the Atlanta metro area by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, AOHL continues to offer an increasing amount of new career opportunities with its quick expansion across the country. AOHL's expansive capital markets and non-agency expertise has enabled us to enhance our non-agency portfolio products which include products such as; Home$ense and  Portfolio Select." If you are seeking an opportunity to grow your career please contact President Whitney Fite (404.844.5553) or Chief Production Officer Richard Staley (404.637.0409).

A well-capitalized, and rapidly growing, privately held mortgage lender is looking for a dynamic individual to lead its Compliance Department. The southern California based company will consider a relocation package. The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 8 years of current mortgage experience including management at the corporate level.  They will work alongside in-house counsel and must be comfortable reporting to the executive management team. Excellent communication skills and a depth of practical industry knowledge/experience are required. If you are interested in a rewarding change, please send a confidential resume to me at rchrisman@robchrisman. com.

"Have you heard? Flagstar Bank is getting the band back together and is once again cranking out hits. The nation's 10^th largest residential lender and top 5 wholesale lender is interested in auditioning sales rock stars including retail regional managers, branch managers, loan officers, and experienced consumer direct professionals nationwide, along with wholesale and correspondent account executives in select markets. To support these sales growth strategies even further, Flagstar needs a strong backbeat supported by government underwriting staff from coast to coast. Flagstar offers the stability of a well-capitalized bank with an experienced leadership team committed to ensuring each employee's professional growth. Come join Flagstar-they're jammin'!" Candidates should visit Flagstar (just hit "cancel") to apply or email their resume to careers@flagstar. com. Flagstar is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Disabled/Veteran Employer. Equal housing lender. Member FDIC.

Vendor management is the name of the game. "Have you conducted adequate oversight of your subservicer as required by the CFPB and other regulators? If you are an agency seller/servicer, or GNMA issuer, you are fully responsible for monitoring and overseeing your subservicer's performance. Richey May & Co, an accounting firm that is heavily specialized in the mortgage industry, has developed a comprehensive subservicer oversight review program that includes loan-level testing and a thorough review of the subservicer's policies and procedures and internal controls on behalf of multiple clients at the same time, thereby sharing expenses and creating cost savings that are passed on to participating clients. Richey May has already completed reviews over Dovenmuehle, Cenlar and LoanCare for calendar year 2015 and companies can still participate in those reviews. If you are interested in learning more about Richey May's subservicer oversight review program, or participating in the Cenlar, LoanCare or Dovenmuehle reviews, please contact Kurt Blohm.

Speaking of products, Sierra Pacific Mortgage partnered with Simplifile for its TRID solution. "Sierra Pacific is taking the next steps in meeting compliance requirements for the CFPB's TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID) rule, which will take effect October 3.  "Collaboration with closing agents is crucial to deliver accurate Closing Disclosures in a timely manner. Having this ability through Simplifile's collaboration service promotes not only compliance but also good customer service," said Jim Connell, Chief Information Officer at Sierra Pacific Mortgage. "Simplifile is a well-designed solution with a clean interface that follows the Closing Disclosure (CD) format and will be easy for our staff to use. Simplifile also has a large market share that most settlement agents are already familiar with and have integrated into their platform. This was a real differentiator as we feel it will drive adoption of our process with numerous settlement agents across the country." (Since 2000, Simplifile has grown the nation's largest e-recording network with over 17,000 settlement companies.)