With only one week until Halloween we are reminded that time flies. Dating back 2,000 years to the Celtic festival of Samhain, Halloween is an ancient tradition associated with images of witches, ghosts and vampires, though it has been taken over by children and drunk adults, and rivalries like the shipping department versus accounting for bragging rights in mortgage companies across the land. Our pals at the Census Bureau tell us that there were 41 million children ages 5 to 14 in 2018, all potential trick-or-treaters, and potential borrowers starting in ten years. And that there are 122.4 million potential stops for trick-or-treaters to occupied housing units for the 2nd quarter of 2019.


Lender Services and Products

United Wholesale Mortgage has introduced Brand 360 — an all-new client retention and marketing portal that helps promote your brand and grow your business. Client Connect alerts you when it’s time for you to reconnect with past clients (or opt in to have UWM do it for you automatically). Brand Builder lets you create customized marketing materials with your own branding. And Marketing Calendar allows you to select and schedule pre-built social media posts for up to 30 days. You can also use their built-in analytics to measure your marketing’s effectiveness. Contact UWM if you’re interested in joining their broker network. 

For those of you heading to the MBA Annual, this is a reminder to make sure you check out Tequilatopia. Hosted by your friends at TMS and South Street Securities, it’s a party that promises to be as unique and weird as the city of Austin. Indulge in tequila tastings and delicious Mexican food while enjoying the company of friends. It all happens on Monday, October 28 from 5-8 pm at Café 605 in the Hotel Van Zandt. Spots are filling up fast so register here to get on the guest list today!

Thrive Mortgage knows how to stand out from other lenders. Standard loan programs are easy. How about an entire in-house division dedicated to construction lending! Given the recent changes to FHA Condo guidelines, there’s no better time to talk with them about CondoAssist, Thrive Mortgage’s, In-House program to help with condo approvals on new developments. “Working in the builder space is unique and requires a firm understanding of the process, needs, and goals of those we partner with,” stated Brian Hurd, VP of BUILD, Thrive’s National Builder Division. Thrive built its reputation on being the most innovative lender in the industry, and its partnership with the Builder and Developer community is proof of that. “We become an extension of our builder partners, providing a high level of sales and operation support well beyond the mortgage itself.” To learn more about partnerships with Thrive’s BUILD division, please send inquiries to Brian Hurd.  Brian.Hurd@ThriveMortgage.com.

MCT has launched a new program designed to improve the lender experience in selling whole loans to correspondent investors. Dubbed InvestorMatic™, the program is comprised of two components: 1) a technology certification process that reviews investors based on the convenience and depth of their whole loan sale process. 2) a suite of software that assists investors in elevating the seller experience in key areas. This combination results in a more efficient, streamlined, and secure whole loan trading process. “InvestorMatic is another step we’ve taken to move the mortgage industry forward in the secondary marketing space,” stated Curtis Richins, President at MCT. “Part of our long-term vision is to digitize the entire secondary marketing process, and InvestorMatic will help our clients and the investor community get another step closer to achieving this goal.” Read about the program details and register for the upcoming webinar on November 7th, 2019 to learn more.

“Ever wanted to peek inside the digital mortgage platform most loved by LOs? SimpleNexus cordially invites you to schedule a showing of the mobile-first point-of-sale technology most loved by lenders, borrowers and real estate partners. Easily configurable to your unique tech stack, branding and business model, our mobile app and online dashboards digitally guide borrowers from home search to closing disclosures, and streamline origination so LOs can fulfill their role as trusted advisor rather than task chaser. To boot, real estate agents love sharing our co-branded tools with homebuyers, bumping you up on their shortlist of lending referral partners. Check out our updated website and find out why 21,000 active LOs have relied on us to connect them to 1.3 million borrowers and 89,000 real estate partners to date.

Blend, the digital lending platform, has published an ebook that details how to integrate home equity into your growth strategy. The guide teaches you how to create branding tools that keep you top of mind and deliver your message at the right time in the customer journey, when and where it matters. Get started here.

Do you find yourself declining more and more applicants due to low credit scores or scores that come close but still don’t qualify? Credit Plus’ scoring tools can help improve your chances for more qualified borrowers. Watch this video to find out how.

Flooded by emails that don’t contain any actionable information? If you’re struggling with the volume of dinging alerts and scribbled paper lists, then multiply it by all the LOs, Ops people, marketers and managers across the company and you can see that you need a solution to this information clutter! Most BI systems can send you reports on a schedule, but what takes your BI system to the next level is the ability to set contextual alerts. Your data should tell you when it’s time to act. If your BI tool doesn’t serve you, check out our approach to these 4 high-impact reports for mortgage leaders and contact Richey May Technology Solutions for a demo of RM Analyze today.

In two short years, QLMS has tripled the number of partners it serves. And today’s 6,000 partners will become 12,000 by 2021. To deliver a world class experience to such a large and thriving partner base, Paul Yatooma has been promoted to VP of Partner Innovation. Paul and his team will travel the nation to work closely with partners to deeply understand their local opportunities and challenges. That intensive listening will be the foundation of the ideas, products, process and innovation the QLMS team will execute on to make our partners stronger. Click here to grow stronger together with QLMS.


Vendor and Trade Organization News

With any luck some actual lenders will show up in Austin for the MBA’s conference. But you know that there will be hundreds upon hundreds of vendors, MI companies, and the like filling the exhibition halls and offering wonderful social events. Let’s take a random sample of what vendors are up to besides combining two words into one to come up with a name.

But first, many of these companies are acutely aware of yesterday’s announcement from Freddie and Fannie concerning the Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA). Updates to the GSEs’ automated underwriting systems are expected to be announced next month, followed by the release of an interactive PDF version of the URLA in early 2020. Open to suggestions, the GSEs expect to announce the updated implementation timeline by the end of this year.

One will see changes to the Borrower Information, Additional Borrower Information, Lender Loan Information, Continuation Sheet, and Unmarried Addendum components. One won’t see the borrower the borrower language preference question included on the mandatory portion of the form. But hey, read it from the source by using the links above.

Azimuth GRC LLC has entered a strategic partnership with Andromeda Systems, Inc. The partnership includes a $2.5 million capital investment from ASI, which will serve to fuel the company's growth, expand its software capabilities, and reinforce its status in the governance, risk and compliance (GRC) market. The investment will also be used to develop a new application for automated compliance testing.

Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey issued a statement on the National Credit Union Administration's final rule on commercial real estate appraisals. strongly opposes the National Credit Union Administration's final rule that quadruples the threshold at which credit union commercial real estate transactions are exempt from appraisals. By increasing the appraisal threshold for tax-exempt credit unions from $250,000 to $1 million, this captive regulator has doubled the banking industry’s $500,000 CRE threshold—once again pushing the envelope to benefit the industry it is charged with regulating”. More information on ICBA’s ongoing advocacy on credit union issues is available on the ICBA website.

Supreme Lending partnered with Cloudvirga to digitize the “Mortgage Experience.” [Editor’s note: when did a “process” become an “experience?”] Cloudvirga announced that Supreme Lending, a full-service mortgage lender operating in all 50 states, will provide Cloudvirga’s technology to its 600+ LOs and consumers to power the digital mortgage process.

Somewhat recently the Community Mortgage Lenders of America has joined forces with the American Land Title Association in the fight to stop real estate wire fraud. The Coalition to Stop Real Estate Wire Fraud aims to raise awareness of and educate homebuyers, real estate and mortgage professionals, and policy makers about the urgency of the problem, provide concrete steps that people can take to prevent the risk of fraud, and identify and empower those who have been victimized to tell their story and advocate for solutions.

LBA Ware™ announced that Guaranteed Rate Companies has implemented CompenSafe™. “One of the largest retail mortgage lenders in the United States, G-Rate has deployed CompenSafe nationwide to improve its automated compensation process for nearly 1,500 LOs and other bonus-eligible employees.”


Capital Markets

Interest rates? Zzzzzz…. But no one in capital markets likes mortgage rate volatility, so that’s fine. A little intra-day up a little, down a little, spreads between coupons, securities, and maturities gently fluctuating in the breeze. It seems that the markets have become bored by trade talk volatility, Brexit, Turkey/Syria (ceasefire?), and Ukraine. We did, however, have some news yesterday: disappointing guidance from Caterpillar and Texas Instruments, a decent 5-year Treasury note auction, and the FHFA Housing Price Index for August being +.2%.

The 10-year T-note yield, which ended Tuesday at 1.77%, ended Wednesday at 1.76%. We’ve already seen central bank decisions from the Riksbank, Norges Bank, and an ECB statement (it left rates unchanged) followed by ECB head Draghi’s last press conference at 8:30am. Here we’ve had durable goods orders (-1.1% but ex-transportation only -.3%) and weekly jobless claims (212k). Ahead are Markit manufacturing and services PMIs at 9:45am ET, September new home sales (forecast to decline), and a $32 billion 7-yr Treasury note auction. We begin with rates a little lower than Tuesday and Wednesday with the 10-year at 1.75% and Agency MBS prices better by .125.

 

Jobs

Supporting the front-line production teams at Thrive Mortgage is paramount to the company’s success. Few define that success better than Denise Donoghue, aka “The Mortgage Nerd”. Recently, Donoghue was featured in D Magazine, Scotsman, is a frequent contributor to industry broadcasts, and was nominated for Collin County Woman of the Year. When asked what the support at Thrive means to her and her team, Donoghue replied, “Thrive gives me ALL the loan products and technology I need to serve my clients and partners the best. But the thing I value most is how the entire Thrive team makes me feel and how they treat my team.” With cutting edge technology, an industry-leading manufacturing process, and top-tier coaching, Thrive Originators are provided everything they need to dominate their local market. For more information on how you can #THRIVE in 2020, please visit join.thrivemortgage.com.

“Are you ready to experience real growth in your business? Then the thriving PrimeLending Southeast region is the place to be. We’re looking to grow even more in Nashville, TN, Jacksonville, FL, Raleigh/Durham, NC and Savannah, GA, and we need loan officers just like you to help make it happen. If your goal is to set personal or team records every year, PrimeLending can make it happen – and our momentum is at an all-time high and getting stronger. Seriously, our teams are rolling into the fall and winter months with blazing production levels, and it’s easy to see why: We have the operational expertise, the next gen technology and the streamlined tools to help you maximize your production in any season. Brian Corder, Southeast Regional Recruiter, and Brad Arendt, Southeast Regional Manager are here to help answer any questions and make your transition smooth, simple and quick. If you’re ready to discover your best, make the move to PrimeLending.”