Want a good statistic to demonstrate how tight the housing market is? 57% of all realtors have been involved in a sale with at least 10 offers on a single property in the past year. In fact, only 2% have not experienced a bidding war in the last year. In many areas Baby Boomers aren't moving, being perfectly happy where they are. The move-up buyer can't find (or afford) a better place so they are staying put, and we all know what that does to first-time home buyers. Of course, a certain percentage of those are all-cash buyers. That's only part of the problem: appearing before the House Financial Services subcommittee, Dave Motley, president of the Colonial Savings FA, said increased federal regulations and resulting constricted availability of credit in recent years have affected the ability of the mortgage industry to provide financial products and services to consumers and smaller lenders.

New Products

The Capital Markets Division of MIAC Analytics continues to expand its whole loan trading desk. MIAC placed $600 MM of whole loans in 2016 and continues to grow their trading volume. MIAC's Whole Loan Brokerage Team specializes in leveraging MIAC's advanced pricing analytics for Re-performers, NPLs, non-QM, S&D, and CRA mortgages. Synchronized with the whole loan brokerage capabilities, MIAC is the largest independent provider of fair- market values for residential, commercial mortgages and consumer loans. "We're proud of our success in 2016. MIAC's brokerage services complement our risk management solutions, MIAC Analytics, which is our mortgage pricing and risk-management software suite. Our goal is to provide clients a seamless solution for their participation in the whole loan market," says Steve Harris, managing director of the Capital Markets Division. For more information on MIAC's services and current loan offerings, please contact Steve Harris. To learn more about MIAC's sophisticated mortgage pricing and risk management software tools, please visit www.miacanalytics.com.

United Wholesale Mortgage announced a fully digital mortgage. The new offering, BLINK, which stands for "borrower link," allows mortgage brokers to be on an even playing field in the digital mortgage space, according to UWM.

Independent mortgage banker Castle & Cooke Mortgage, LLC announced the launch of its new Consumer Direct team, designed to improve retention of clients in the company's expansive servicing portfolio and ensure the mortgage needs of all Castle & Cooke Mortgage's current borrowers are being met. In addition to portfolio retention activities, the new consumer direct team will originate loans to consumers across Castle & Cooke Mortgage's extensive nationwide footprint. The new, rapidly-growing team of highly experienced loan originators is led by Matthew Keyworth.

The team at Arrive Home Mortgage created a technology, called BeLoanReady, a leap forward for tech-savvy mortgage consumers. "BeLoanReady, running on mobile and desktop, is a cost free and obligation free technology 'designed so the consumer can bypass the typical sales funnel,' said Dan Cutaia, Arrive Home Mortgage President. BeLoanReady works similarly to tax preparation software, providing the consumer with personalized calculators, helpful videos, current personalized rates, closing cost details specific to the consumer, access to an expert Mortgage Mentor (a NMLS licensed underwriter via chat, phone or email), pre-qualification and ultimately to a loan application. The consumer is able get the answers to their questions and make an application without ever having to leave the app or sacrifice privacy. BeLoanReady is so consumer friendly that a consumer can even take their BeLoanReady findings to another lender and Arrive Home Mortgage would never know it.

"Is BeLoanReady designed to eliminate the MLO? "Think of BeLoanReady as a cyborg MLO of sorts, combining automation of the MLO's function with the expert help and decision making authority of a seasoned mortgage underwriter, our Mortgage Mentor,' says Brad DeBroux, Arrive's CTO, 'And, no, it will not eliminate MLOs. It was built as an alternative to traditional models and designed to give consumers more choice." BeLoanReady can be accessed at www.beloanready.com  or for Apple and Android devices on iTunes and The Google Play Store.

Mother Lode Holding Company (MLHC), one of the largest independent title agencies in the West, announced today significant expansion of its Texas operation via opening retail branches branded Texas National Title in several Texas markets beginning in April 2017 under the direction of industry veteran, David Tandy. MLHC hired David last year to be the President and CEO of Texas National Title, a wholly owned subsidiary of MLHC.

Guild Mortgage has launched MyMortgage, a digital mortgage portal designed to combine a paperless loan application with a personalized mortgage experience. It was designed to deliver an unequaled personal touch. Guild has partnered with Roostify, a secure, cloud-based technology platform, to create a more intuitive and streamlined mortgage process for lenders, agents and homebuyers. MyMortgage is fully integrated with the company's proprietary systems, allowing for faster and more accurate analysis and recommendation of the right loan for the borrower.

Angel Oak Companies named four new executives to its leadership team: Matt Henson (Chief Human Resource Officer), Al Stanley (Chief Information Officer), Steven Winokur (Chief Marketing Officer), and Nick Mantia (Vice President of Training). In addition to naming new executives, affiliates of Angel Oak Companies increased staff 27% in 2016 with plans to grow on a similar trajectory in 2017. Since its inception in 2008, Angel Oak Companies' growth story has included assets under management for Angel Oak Capital Advisors growing from $10 million to over $6 billion, loan production across its lending platform reaching an all-time high in 2016 of over $1 billion from loans originating in 33 states.

Ditech has expanded its Home Equity Closed End Fixed Rate product terms to include 30 years. This program can be used as an alternative to monthly MI or the higher interest rates associated with jumbo products.

Flagstar Bank has increased the aggregate loan amount it will finance to any one borrower from $2,000,000 to $4,000,000. The maximum number of loans to any one borrower remains at five.  When determining if the limit has been met, new loan submissions for a borrower must take into consideration any of that borrower's outstanding loans with Flagstar Bank that are: non-closed, Closed and currently serviced by Flagstar Bank, or Closed but the servicing rights have been sold within the last 24 months.

Have you been looking for a No Income, No Asset, No TRID, No DSCR Calculation and No Financed Property Maximum? Loan Stream Wholesale has products that may appeal to you. Contact Loan Stream at 800-760-1833 or send an email to inquiries@lswholesale.com.

Capital Markets

Freddie Mac priced its biggest STACR to date: a $1.32 billion Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) debt notes offering, its second low LTV deal of the year. "Through STACR, its flagship credit risk transfer offering, Freddie Mac transfers a significant portion of its mortgage credit risk on certain groups of loans to private investors. STACR 2017-DNA2 has a reference pool of single-family mortgages with an unpaid principal balance (UPB) of approximately $60.7 billion, consisting of a subset of fixed-rate, single-family mortgages with an original term of 241 to 360 months acquired by Freddie Mac between July 1, 2016, and Oct. 31, 2016. The reference pool includes loans with LTVs ranging from 60 to 80 percent, Freddie Mac holds the senior loss risk in the capital structure and a portion of the risk in the Class M-1, M-2 and B-1 tranches, and also a significant portion of the first loss risk in the B-2 tranche. BofA Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo Securities are co-lead managers and joint bookrunners."

Rates aren't doing much, so I won't waste your time ahead of Friday's employment data. Sure, there was a little movement based on security, coupon, or maturity, but rate sheets aren't moving much. We did have the release of the minutes from the March FOMC meeting which showed most participants favoring a change to the current reinvestment policy later this year vs. in early 2018. There shouldn't be any surprises: The Federal Open Market Committee agreed that changes to holdings (the $1-2 they've been buying every day) would be "gradual and predictable." Most participants prefer to taper reinvestments (both treasuries and MBS).

We ended Wednesday with the 10-year yielding 2.36% and agency MBS prices roughly unchanged from Tuesday's close. This morning we've already had some job news ahead of tomorrow's employment data. Challenger, Gray & Christmas said job cuts in March rose to 43,310. Initial Jobless Claims also came out: -25k to 234k, levels not seen since the 1970's - the labor market is certainly healing. And that does it for scheduled news that matters. Currently the 10-year is yielding 2.35% and MBS prices are worse about .125.

Jobs and Announcements

In correspondent job news, "Market demand for our Bank Statement, Asset Qualifier, Investor, and Foreign National programs is through the roof, and has exploded the volume at Impac Mortgage Corp.: we're looking for AEs that want it ALL - products, channels, support, marketing, and income. You can sell all products across all channels (Wholesale, Correspondent & Non-Del). Claim your city! If you're in Atlanta, Austin/Houston/San Antonio, Charlotte, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Nashville, Orlando/Tampa, Philadelphia, or St. Louis/Kansas City, submit your resume to me to pass along for consideration."

On the retail side, Northpointe Bank continues to expand its retail lending footprint and is adding top mortgage sales managers and loan officers in the Midwest, Southeast, and Mountain states.  As a depository with its primary business as mortgage lending, Northpointe is consistently recognized as one of the top performing banks in the country.  With a completely customer-focused culture, Northpointe is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae approved lender that offers robust capital market and portfolio products.  Candidates must demonstrate success with developing strong client relationships and collaborating with co-workers to promote a superior customer experience.  Interested individuals can forward a resume to salescareer@northpointe.com or contact Sheri DuChemin, VP, Human Resources, Northpointe Bank (616-974-8490).

M&A has been in the news, and will be in the future. Dr. Rick Roque , Managing Director of Menlo Company, a retail mortgage banking and M&A firm, was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal this past week regarding the deal flow and consolidation currently under way. What trends are he observing? "Securing the acquisition is always about profitability, market share and manufacturing scalability - companies talk about culture and in reality, they are half correct; what gets a deal done are the numbers; what makes a deal successful, comes down to culture." Most sacrifice culture for the sake the numbers, and these deals suffer the longer-term consequences. "I am seeing an aggressive push for retail mortgage banks seeking to grow by acquisition - they are seeking firms doing $500M/yr. to $2B per year. I expect rates are going to keep production numbers at 2008 and 2011 levels, leaving 2016 the single greatest year to push for the greatest valuation for your mortgage firm - whether you are a small Full Eagle seeking to be acquired, or a successful $8M-$20M (in TNW) mortgage firm seeking a sales or capital partnership and to leverage this opportunity for growth." If you have a FHA Full Eagle Licensed in CA, NC or any other state, doing $60M to $1.5B per year, then, contact me for possible buyers interested in your company.

Personnel news

Parkside Lending, LLC, a national wholesale and correspondent lender, is pleased to announce it is now lending in New York. Katie Plezia, the new Senior Account Executive at Parkside with 23 years of experience in the industry, will head up that market. In addition, several other well-established Account Executives have recently joined Parkside's sales team: Sue Whitney in Arizona; Debbie Morales covering Orange County, California; Nancy C. Wright in Georgia; Missy Van Horn covering the central coast of California; and Paula Redmond in Houston, Texas. All six seasoned mortgage professionals will be instrumental in delivering the power of caring that Parkside Lending is known for, nationwide. If you are an exceptional account executive looking for a company that truly values long-term client relationships and does not have a retail channel that competes for your customers, send your résumé to rick@ParksideLending.com.

Secure Insight (SSI) announced that it has hired mortgage industry veteran Carolyn Covington as its new Regional Sales Director based in California on the West Coast, and will be focused on expanding SSI lender clients throughout the Western United States. Ms. Covington said, "I have observed first-hand the need for better closing table risk management.  The tools offered by Secure Insight are far beyond anything I have ever seen in terms of quality, accuracy, and reliability. I am confident that the company's products will be seen as an essential resource and operational asset to lenders in my region."