America's national debt topped $30 trillion for the first time, according to figures from the Treasury Department on Tuesday. Why might it matter for mortgage rates? When one combines a record amount of red ink, an aging population, elevated healthcare costs, and a tax system that doesn’t bring in enough revenue to cover spending, and a government that has become known for kicking fiscal cans down the road, well, you can see why there are worries about the long-term economic health of the country. Ignore at your own peril.

Something else plenty of people ignore is climate change, natural or manmade, until it impacts their business model and profits. Mortgage analytics firm RiskSpan has collaborated with Verisk to create a first-of-its-kind solution for measuring and mitigating the risks of climate change to the housing finance industry. Dismiss the impact of climate if you like, but when leading insurance, re-insurance, corporate and government entities, and investors in mortgage-backed securities are pricing it into their demand for assets, well, it impacts borrowers. “The risk to the housing finance industry from extreme events is significant. According to Verisk, 62 million residential locations are at moderate to extreme risk of flooding alone.” 

Broker and lender services & products

OptiFunderSM helps mortgage bankers simplify and streamline funding and post-closing activities to reduce costs. Now, the industry’s only Warehouse Management System (WMS) is integrated with Fannie Mae Connect™ Whole Loan Purchase Advice Seller API enabling auto delivery and reconciliation of Purchase Advices for easy LOS updates. It also automates funding & shipping requests, confirmations, and balance reporting to reduce hours of manual work to a few clicks. OptiFunder’s proprietary decision engine factors the various new benchmark rates and multiple dynamic elements to optimize line allocation decisions, while delivering aggregate business insights for all connected warehouses to the WMS dashboard. The industry is taking notice. OptiFunder supports 60+ warehouse lenders, is integrated with every major LOS and counts many of 2021’s top 100 originators as clients. Contemplating M&As, product migrations or increased competition? Want to streamline and save? Obtain the tools to optimize in 2022, contact Carmel York or visit optifunder.com.

Yes, Vendor Management is still a hot topic for regulators, investors, and auditors alike. Due to Covid, the adoption of FinTech vendors was accelerated and forced the innovation the mortgage industry has craved. So how has this shift towards Fintech vendors impacted your business and your vendor oversight efforts? Don’t forget, your organization is responsible for compliance and needs to be proactive in mitigating risks which include implementing and maintaining a strong vendor management program. Your fintech vendors are often classified as high-risk and critical to the operating success of your business. Our Fintech Vendor Management Whitepaper will provide you with vendor management best practices and guide you through the unique considerations of working with fintech vendors to help you build upon your existing vendor management program. Schedule a meeting to learn more about how MQMR can help you meet your vendor management oversight requirements.

Flagstar Bank has always been an innovator in the mortgage space. And now with its third MortgageTech Accelerator, that innovation is more powerful than ever. The first and only accelerator of its kind in the mortgage industry, this program prepares late-stage fintech startups for market readiness in every facet of the mortgage business, including origination, processing, marketing, servicing, compliance, sales, underwriting, credit, and quality assessment. Startups benefit from one-to-one guidance from Flagstar executive leadership, product testing opportunities within a large and established customer base, access to partnerships, and Flagstar’s industry-leading tech. If chosen, your company will get a customized acceleration roadmap based on its growth stage and maturity in the product development cycle. Apply by sending a pitch deck to fintech@flagstar.com by February 18.

Income+ from Service 1st quickly migrates your manual income calculation to a validated and automated income calculation. Standardize your income determination methods for successful regulatory audits. Empower your underwriters with messaging and alerts from our robust rules engine. Driven by IRS tax transcript and VOE data, save up to 40 FTE minutes of redundant calculations all while participating in Day 1 Certainty for VOE & TRV data. Upcoming OCR enhancements from the IRS provide significant turn-time improvements… transcript data in hours, not days. Improve productivity and remove tedious, re-keying of information with Income+. Contact us today to learn more.

“We get to Conditional Approval 14 days faster,” Travis Rulle, COO, FBC Mortgage. At 1 bps per day, these Candor clients add massive margin to every loan. For a bullet proof underwrite whiplash fast they use Candor’s Loan Engineering System. “We’ve cut our cycle time in half,” Kenny Parkhurst, COO Get A Rate. The Machine as an Underwriter conducts: OCR, 1100 data crosschecks, income calculation, information scrutiny, condition generation & condition clearing. It renders decisions and backs each one with a warranty. How much profit could a faster manufacturing process Do the math. You can be a raving client in just 30 days. Schedule a demo.

On this day in 1971, the technology-heavy NASDAQ index was introduced. More than 50 years later, the pace of technological advancement continues to accelerate, providing ever-growing opportunity in business. FeeWise™ is doing its part by empowering mortgage lenders to automate their disclosure process. This critical business process is typically manual, error prone and therefore, costly for lenders. FeeWise allows for complete control over a lender's unique fee and disclosure workflow needs, creating a compliant, intuitive, and scalable solution. Join the growing list of progressive lenders who have positioned themselves for success through disclosure automation technology. Email info@mortgagecto.com to schedule a live demo and connect in person at kiosk #23 next month during the ICE Experience User Conference in Las Vegas.

Attention brokers! TPO Go is excited to announce its addition of USDA Renovation to its already expansive renovation product selection. With today's limited housing inventory, you need renovation lending in your tool belt to win more business. TPO GO, with over 30 years of renovation experience, has packed all of their knowledge into a “Renovation Toolbox” to help you become a Renovation expert! TPO GO offers the largest product selection of any wholesale lender in the renovation space. Their In-house, White Glove renovation division handles all underwriting, draws, servicing, and appraisal management which ensures a consistent and efficient process. Additionally, with TPO GO’s network of experienced Inspection Consultants, you and your borrowers will have a smooth transaction from start to finish. For more information, please contact Account Executive/Team Lead, Trey Van de Bogart.

“Are you looking to reach borrowers outside of agency guidelines with Non-QM but don't know where to begin? First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation's (NMLS #2917) Maverick Solutions™ product suite and partner resources empower you to work smarter, not harder. We believe in collaborating and sharing knowledge to grow your business while telling the unique stories of today's borrowers. Let our experts take you under their wings with access to white label marketing collateral, realtor lunch and learn sessions, free Non-QM webinars, and more! Ready to partner? Contact Tom Davis to get to know FGMC and start expanding your product offering and knowledge today! Ps. Did you miss FGMC on the HousingWire Daily podcast last month? No worries! You can still catch the Non-QM-focused episode here or wherever you listen to podcasts.”

Sometimes the industry standard is substandard. LERETA’s tax and flood services go beyond what is considered “industry standard” to get it done right, every time. Whether it is setting up meticulously accurate tax lines or using our ParcelPro technology to identify contiguous parcels, we take the necessary steps and care that other tax service providers don’t. Our streamlined implementation process onboards portfolios quickly and our experienced associates leverage our advanced technology to identify potential issues before they become problems. Isn’t it time to work with a tax service designed to support diverse business rules and at the same time solve for vendor diversification? Experience the LERETA difference, contact Kelly Hebert to set up a meeting at MBA Servicing and come visit us at booth 701.

Accenture's QA / QC experience goes beyond managing risk. For example, a top bank in North America worked with us to modernize its QA / QC channel. Our program brought together: our global delivery model, process mining, enhanced job-aids, workflow automation and closed-loop reporting. Outcomes delivered: 40% cost savings, 50% improvement in post-close quality, proactive root-cause detection, and rapid change control. Tap the link to learn how Accenture can make your QA / QC future ready.

Training & events

A lead sculpture that spent decades collecting dust in a farmer’s home is now scheduled to be auctioned after being identified as the piece "Mother and Child" by 20th century sculptor Henry Moore. The rare sculpture, which lived virtually unnoticed on the farmer’s mantle since the 1970s, is expected to fetch up to $70,000 at auction in March. Much like this unwitting farmer-turned-art-dealer, many lenders don’t realize they are sitting on a gold mine of profitable opportunities waiting to be uncovered in their database. For more insight on this issue, join Black Knight's Nick Belenky, Ryan Minard and Wes Horbatuck on February 17 at 1pm EST as they share strategies to help mortgage leaders leverage data, automation, and their current database to find opportunity and drive additional loan volume. Register now and master the art of driving volume using the power of your own customer database.

"There are a few things we can count on - death, taxes and constant changes in the mortgage industry! To stay up to date, join Audrey Boissonou and Kevin Casey every Tuesday at 11am PT! We cover everything from the latest industry news, guidelines, compliance questions and tips for your business. This week, Dave Luna, President of Mortgage Educators is our guest. We hope you'll join us!" Here is the link for today’s 11AM PT session.

Upcoming event on Thursday, February 10th, register for Angel Oak Product Focused Webinar Non-QM In Action.

This Friday is the next edition of The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown with Rich and Rob. Rich Swerbinsky, the COO of The Mortgage Collaborative, and I will be covering current events in the mortgage market for 30 minutes starting at 1PM MT in “The Rundown with Rich and Rob.”

February 15 - New Year, New Tech to Get More Business. Get introduced to Quick Pricer, Telegram and AD Studio: new and enhanced technologies from A&D Mortgage to help you grow your portfolio.

Register for MBA’s New Webinar, February 16 - Making the Purchase Pivot, or for MBA’s New Webinar, February 17 - CONVERGENCE: The 2022 Legislative Outlook for Affordable Housing.

February 22 - Helping Real Estate Investors with DSCR Loans. Learn how to use Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) loans to attract and qualify real estate investment clients.

Which non-QM products are originations curious about? On a recent National Mortgage Professional Magazine webinar, we asked that question. The two non-QM products originators wanted to know about most were DSCR and ITIN. So we asked Robert Senko, President of ACC Mortgage to host a “DealDesk Focus on ACC's DSCR and ITIN Products” on Wednesday, February 23, at 1 pm ET / 10 am PT. On this DealDesk, they’ll do a deep dive on DSCR and ITIN. Robert Senko will help you understand why DSCR is the easiest product in mortgage lending and how ITIN Lending makes the US stronger (and the Pitfalls to avoid)! Having the right Non-QM tools will allow you to have the ability to close more loans and separate yourself from the pack.

The MBA's Servicing Solutions Conference & Expo is February 22-25 at the Hyatt Regency Orlando. Start the New Year with solutions you need to improve your business operations. Marcus Buckingham, New York Times best-selling author, researcher, and founder of the Strengths Revolution will take the stage

Capital markets

Jobs and housing drive the U.S. economy, and last week’s news kept influencing interest rates yesterday. The main economic headline over the last week was certainly the BLS Employment Situation report which showed 467,000 jobs added during January despite the surge in Omicron cases. The unemployment rate rose slightly but is still below 4 percent as the size of the labor force increased by nearly 1.4 million workers. Total employment is now roughly 2.9 million below pre-pandemic levels and possibly near the point the Fed would consider “maximum employment.” Additionally, average hourly earnings were up 0.7 percent and there were 1.73 job openings per job seeker in January. A good sign for employers was that despite rising costs productivity rose at a 6.6 annualized rate in the fourth quarter which kept unit labor costs at a low 0.3 percent annualized rate. Meanwhile, residential spending increased 14.7 percent year-over-year in December as demand remained strong despite higher mortgage rates and new home prices.

There isn’t much to report from yesterday in the bond market, except to say that it was a snoozer. Lower rates lead spreads tighter versus Treasuries amid light volumes as the MBS market digested Agency prepayments from late Friday: some slowed more, some less, than forecasts. The elephant in the room is the prospect of the steepest monetary tightening cycle since the 1990s, with markets pricing in more than five quarter-point Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes by the end of the year in the wake of last week’s strong U.S. jobs report. That also comes as Americans say there’s never been a worse time to buy a home (25 percent, in a monthly Fannie Mae survey) due to surging housing prices, concerns about job stability, and rising mortgage rates.

Today’s calendar of events is already under way with the NFIB Small Business Activity Index for January (-1.8 to 97.1) and the December trade deficit ($80.7 billion). Later today brings Redbook same store sales, the Q4 Household Debt and Credit Report from the NY Fed, and a Treasury auction of $50 billion 3-year notes in the first leg of this week’s Quarterly Refunding. The NY Fed Desk will purchase up to $3.4 billion in conventional MBS and up to $1.8 billion 22.5- to 30-year coupons. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices worse .250 and the 10-year, after closing Monday yielding 1.92, is at 1.95 percent, the highest level since the summer of 2019.

Employment

As part of its commitment to provide more homeownership solutions to a diverse homebuyer market, Synergy One Lending is proud to announce it has joined NAHREP as a Premier Member in the Southwest and Mountain regions. This exciting partnership is led by Director of Strategic Markets Juan Cepeda, and positions the company to be a positive voice and influence in lending to the Hispanic community nationwide. Synergy One’s CEO, Steve Majerus, said “Joining forces with the NAHREP team is an important step for us in ensuring we meet the demands of the growing Hispanic home buying community and expand that opportunity wherever possible through financial literacy, education and access to information”. To learn more, visit with Juan at the NAHREP Regional Event in Las Vegas on February 23, or contact Synergy One’s SVP-Strategic Growth Ben Green.

FHA? One vacancy for a Director Homeownership Center in Denver, CO where you can make up to $176k identifying problems and trends and develop appropriate corrective strategies, interpreting regulations, policies, and procedures, and identifying resource needs and upon receipt of annual budget, identify, manage, and use resources. Job Announcement Number 22-HUD-727-P.

SitusAMC announced that Jeff Osheka has been appointed Director, Head of Residential Technology Sales, and Tom Costanzo has been named Managing Director, Head of Residential Services Sales, responsible for the strategic direction and operational oversight of SitusAMC's residential technology and residential services sales.