Just because something is interesting doesn’t mean it’s important. The demand for mortgages hit a 22-year low, which is both. And here’s an observation that is both: Sometimes “Wall Street” types think they’re the smartest guys in the room but not always, and thank you to Guy S. for sending along this story about how BlackRock recently lost $1.7 trillion of its clients’ money. No one has a crystal ball to predict the future with certainty. Lenders everywhere do doing what they can now to make themselves more efficient, fearing rougher times ahead in 2022. They are looking at cross-training skillsets: Prioritizing coverage and making sure to cross-train so people can play to their strengths. Analyzing what tasks they're doing, and the best people to do it. Workflow? Lenders are minimizing file touches, using a cheaper resource for parts of the file, and moving more duties from underwriting to cheaper personnel. Using checklists: Once a file hits intake, if there is enough information to make a credit decision, have it go right to the underwriter. V.I.P.’s Mike Metz observes that some lenders calculate income three different times, wasting more time and increasing the need for more processor bandwidth. (Today’s podcast is available here and this week’s is sponsored by EarnUp, an award-winning, consumer-first technology payments platform where originators and servicers can provide a borrower experience with flexible payment options that reduce risk and improves overall financial health.)

Lender and Broker Software, Products, and Services

A builder’s mortgage company seeks flow business purchase partners to acquire quality loans for their balance sheet. The builder has a nationwide footprint, and residential loans can be either purchased servicing retained or released, and coupon & underwriting guidelines are subject to negotiation. Products to include conventional fixed and adjustable, FHA/VA, and jumbo. Interested investors, principals only, should reply to me and I will forward their note of interest.

Hot off the press: the June 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows increasing foreclosure starts, filings, auctions, and repossessions! Mortgage foreclosure activity is fast approaching pre-COVID volume… Are you ready? Mortgage servicers must be positioned to handle mounting foreclosures while forbearance exits continue. CLARIFIRE® can help you minimize your exposure to foreclosure risk, and quickly modernize your approach to loss mitigation. Clarifire’s recent blog looks at how to effectively prepare for the next wave of foreclosures amidst an evolving market. Position your loss mitigation team for success with a revolutionary approach to business workflow automation, designed to deliver instantaneous, intelligent decisioning that is available to your borrowers with 24/7, no-touch, self-serve access. Conquer today’s challenges with CLARIFIRE®, seamless servicing and actionable results. Deliver a better approach, better software, and BRIGHTER AUTOMATION® with CLARIFIRE®.

Every lender wants to trade for optimal execution and minimal risk, but doing so requires an ongoing commitment. Whether you’ve just made the move to delivering mandatory, or you’ve been hedging and delivering mandatory for years, it’s always worthwhile to stop and consider your TBA trading strategies, processes, and counterparties. Don’t miss Optimal Blue’s recent blog post, Success With TBA Trading: Managing Counterparties, Executing Efficiently and Avoiding Pitfalls. This informative piece explores tips for selecting the right set of dealers, strategies for execution, and common mistakes to avoid. Read the blog post.

Intelligent automation, yes. But which platform? In the loan origination world, intelligent automation can be a game changer. But how can you sort through the hype to know which platform is right for your business? Before you buy, consider this: How intuitive is it for underwriters to use? Are there friction points for underwriters in terms of usability? Can they trust the results that are being returned? And keep in mind, spot solutions for underwriting, document management or warehouse line automation will only take you so far. The Mortgage Automation Suite brought to you by Richey May Automate and Zoral Group is a holistic, end-to-end platform tailored for the mortgage industry. It’s not only easy to implement and adopt, but it also makes your underwriters’ workday easier and more productive. Give your underwriters the tools to do their best work. Contact us for a demo of the Mortgage Automation Suite today.

Tired of manually entering purchase advice data back into your LOS? MCT recently connected with the Fannie Mae purchase advice API, allowing clients to pull purchase advice data to MCTlive! directly from Fannie Mae. Have a proprietary data repository? MCT can write back purchase advice directly into that as well. In MCT’s latest installment of Rasori’s Relentless Releases, Phil Rasori sits down with Robbie Chrisman to cover the unique features of the purchase advice API. Different purchase advices in different formats can now be automated and normalized, allowing you to get closer to the execution nirvana that we’re all looking for. And in case you missed it, MCT released their MCTlive! June Rate Lock Indices earlier this month, giving you the most up to date snapshot of origination patterns. Join the MCT newsletter for more data-driven analysis as well as market commentary, whitepapers, and the latest blogs on the mortgage industry.

Signing Bonuses: Pros and Cons

It’s no secret that our industry is experiencing a very challenging market right now. We are in a classic downcycle with too many lenders chasing too few loans, and operations executives are in survival mode, trying to maintain service levels while shedding staff. Even in challenging times, lenders still need and want high-producing, purchased-focused loan officers. But how do lenders recruit these sales superstars? Compensation is always a key part of the value proposition, and for high producers, signing bonuses have been a big part of the story. In the just-released July issue of STRATMOR Group’s Insights Report, Senior Partner Jim Cameron takes up the challenge of analyzing the industry’s approach to signing bonuses, offering insight into why some lenders pay and others do not, how signing bonuses are structured, and how new data and tools can help lenders understand more about the potential of the LOs they are hiring. In our rapidly changing hiring environment, you will want to read, “To Pay or Not to Pay: The Question of Signing Bonuses” in the July Insights Report.

Events, Training, and Webinars to Wrap up July

53 years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin blasted off from the moon for another “giant leap for mankind” that would have failed without a team of scientists helping them overcome every unexpected obstacle. When roadblocks like rising rates and limited inventory arise in the mortgage market, lenders should still shoot for the moon. Of course, guidance from mortgage industry experts never hurts. That’s why today at 12 pm ET I’m joining Sales Boomerang’s Alex Kutsishin, Mortgage Coach’s Dave Savage, MBA’s Mike Fratantoni and Success Mortgage Partners’ Owen Lee to discuss the latest economic forecasts, mortgage opportunities and capital market insights. Don’t miss out on this chance to hear industry leaders share actionable strategies for surviving skyrocketing rates.

With mortgage refinances disappearing, banks, credit unions, and mortgage companies are pivoting to focus on home equity lending. The question is, will they originate these loans as digital assets in keeping with the growing trend towards digital transformation? Or will they continue to generate and store paper documents? Join leading experts from Celent, ATTOM, Rocket Mortgage, and Wolters Kluwer on August 9th for an informative one-hour webinar as they discuss the latest trends, strategies, and solutions, that give lenders a consistent way of originating and managing digital assets across their entire organization. Register today.

Join your fellow industry colleagues who have partnered the MBA and are taking advantage of free MBA webinars, select research offerings, self-study education courses and more. With MBA, you will have the backing of a trusted name and endless resources. Your MBA membership grants you access to education, research, committees, and informational webinars that are important to you now.

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

Next week is the Western Secondary Market Conference! And the All-Attendee Party that is held on the first night, July 25th will include a variety of food stations for dinner, full hosted bars, and a night of fun listening to the band Yachty by Nature!

NYMBA is hosting a roundtable discussion webinar with New York counsel Wednesday, July 27, from 1:00-2:00 pm EST. to discuss hot topics and trends within the Foreclosure Environment. Multiple featured speakers will dive into current cases, the expected impacts of the "Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act," as well as trends across the state and within the court systems. In addition, Loan Servicing Committee Chairs Chip Nolan and Adela Martinez will present a brief update on the committee's continued work.

The housing market is seeing some drastic changes, and the economy is quite different from this time last year. So what's next? Join Zonda's Nikolas Scoolis as he shares his expert insight on market trends and what they could mean for the housing industry. Take advantage of this opportunity to hear economic analysis relevant to your business. Register for October Research’s Q3 2022 Economic Forecast Series on July 27th.

On July 27, in the latest edition of the popular, complimentary Economic Forecast webinar series from October Research, LLC, Zonda’s Nikolas Scoolis will share his insights on housing economics. Join us to learn about inflation and its potential effect on the market, the latest on affordable housing inventory, the rise of alternative lending options and much more. Visit DoddFrankUpdate.com to register.

Join Snapdocs and leading lenders on Thursday, July 28th at 10AM PT for a discussion on the recent market shift and how Snapdocs has increased cost savings.

Do you filter your leads to ensure they are real? If a bot fills out a form on your website with a random person’s information, you do not actually have that person’s consent. Making contact is braking TCPA regulations opening yourself up to litigation. Using both TrustedForm and Anura provides double the protection from TCPA litigation brought by fraudulent users. On Thursday, July 28th, join ActiveProspect and Anura to see how implementing the Anura API allows you to pass the IP address and User Agent of the site visitor who submitted the lead and verify whether that lead is fake.

Capital Markets

This was always going to be a quiet week as far as market-moving news in the bond market, which includes mortgage-backed securities, due to both the usual third-week of the month lull in data and the Fed in its blackout period ahead of next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting. We saw yesterday that existing U.S. home sales fell 5.4 percent in June to an annualized rate of 5.12 million, down from 5.41 million in May, a two-year low. Total sales in June were down 14.2 percent from a year ago as the rise in borrowing costs continues to erode affordability. The median home price hit a record-high of $416k and supply ticked up to 3.0 months from 2.6.

Markets started today with the latest monetary policy decision from the Bank of Japan and a hike from the ECB (50 basis points) for the first time since 2011. Our domestic calendar is also under way with weekly jobless claims (251k, the highest since November) and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing (down 9 to -12.3 versus expectations of improving). Later this morning brings June leading indicators, Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, and Treasury events including month-end supply consisting of 2-, 5-, and 7-year notes and an auction of $17 billion new 10-year TIPS. The Desk will purchase up to $493 million GNII 4 percent through 5 percent MBS from early payoffs. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices worse .125-.250 and the 10-year yielding 3.06 after closing yesterday at 3.04 percent.

Careers

During Q2 of 2022 alone, Planet Home Lending has added seven new branches and nearly 40 new MLOs with more on the horizon. Even during this challenging market, it makes sense to move your branch and business to a company that gives you what you need to reach more borrowers and close more loans. Planet can offer your customers intelligently crafted niche products like Homes that let them go toe-to-toe with cash buyers. Add support from data-driven marketing and operational speed, all atop a bedrock of corporate financial stability and strategic leadership, and the advantages to your bottom line are clear. Watch this video from EVP, National Production, Caleb Mittlestet. Then email Caleb or SVP Talent Acquisition Brian Miller. Grow your business with Planet Home Lending: Right Place, Right Size, Right Now!

In this ever-changing marketing, you can count on Academy Mortgage’s ever-evolving product portfolio! Over the last two months alone, Academy has added over 40 products to its portfolio—and the momentum continues. As part of the company’s initiative to expand its product offerings, an entire team is dedicated to the continuous delivery of new products to make homeownership more accessible, even for the most unique scenarios. Academy offers niche products for Medical Professionals and Residents, down payment assistance programs with up to 100% financing, buydowns, non-QM options, and a competitive second home solution with no LLPAs. Borrowers uneasy about rising interest rates and lengthy build times can commit with confidence with Academy’s 360-Day Extended Locks featuring a float-down option. To complement its leading-edge portfolio, Academy offers a suite of marketing materials for every product, to keep originators top-of-mind with partners and clients. Build your business with Academy’s extensive product portfolio: contact EVP of Growth Patrick Welberg.

“ClearEdge Lending continues to grow our sales team in Q3. Over 40 sales professionals have joined the ClearEdge Sales Team this year nationwide. In July, we added four Commercial Business Development Representatives and nine Residential Account Executives, and we’re continuing to grow our Sales Team. What’s your next career move? ClearEdge Lending has a broad and innovative portfolio of Non-QM products supported by our custom pricing engine, and bank statement analysis review technology. As a Non-QM end investor, we can offer in-house credit and pricing exception opportunities with direct access to your diverse team of experts to help close loans in less than 30 days. At ClearEdge Lending, we provide dedicated sales trainers, mentorship, and a large database of leads to get you started right from day one! Come build your career with ClearEdge Lending by emailing us. Open positions can be viewed here.”

The Robert Coomer Group, a division of Celebrity Home Loans (CHL), is actively hiring Mortgage Loan Originators throughout the country. Robert Coomer, Division President, shared in his recent publication in the Las Vegas Review Journal that the new normal of current market conditions still provides opportunities for mortgage professionals to find growth. RCG’s Consumer Direct Hybrid Retail Model and CHL's technology guided process puts service first, while empowering and educating consumers. "At RCG, our Leadership team is committed to rolling up our sleeves and delivering solutions that will allow mortgage professionals to succeed regardless of market conditions.” says Coomer. Headquartered in Nevada, the Robert Coomer Group is a nation-wide, full-service mortgage loan provider. With over 20 years’ experience in the industry, Robert Coomer is ranked among the top producing mortgage originators in the nation by Scotsman Guide. For more information, please contact Anyah Ellis.