Fri, Oct 25 2019, 8:44 AM
There are plenty of well-paid people in the mortgage biz. It is good to keep things in perspective: The U.S. median household income was $63,179 in 20...
Thu, Oct 24 2019, 12:07 PM
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...
Wed, Oct 23 2019, 9:08 AM
Last week the Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey showed that retail applications dropped almost 12% last week from the week before. Refis were down...
Tue, Oct 22 2019, 8:27 AM
I am often asked about a primer for capital markets. Much of the training is “on the job,” but for anyone serious about learning the topic, here’s a g...
Mon, Oct 21 2019, 8:19 AM
Great MLOs keep up on events not only impacting their loans but on events impacting the everyone else’s loans as well. For example, the Supreme Court ...
Fri, Oct 18 2019, 8:15 AM
Here’s a little trivia for you. What does San Francisco have six of that Manhattan has none of? Dirt roads ! I don’t know if the cost of maintaining a...
Thu, Oct 17 2019, 8:57 AM
52% of Agency biz (e.g., Freddie and Fannie) is first-time home buyers. Over at HUD, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), first-time h...
Wed, Oct 16 2019, 8:54 AM
Sen. Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.” In a question guaranteed to generate opinions,...
Tue, Oct 15 2019, 8:52 AM
Scholars disagree on how much sleep we need, what time is the best time to wake up, and what time to go to work. But then again, scholars disagree on ...
Fri, Oct 11 2019, 8:22 AM
Fun with HMDA! Compliance folks everywhere know that yesterday the CFPB (“educate through education rather than enforcement”) issued a final rule amen...
Thu, Oct 10 2019, 9:12 AM
I am in Chicago with the FHLBank Chicago, and, despite the congestion and energy on the streets, the numbers tell us that the local economy is slowing...
Wed, Oct 9 2019, 8:41 AM
What’s your price hit for a non-owner-occupied loan? Currently, there are 12 million single-family homes being rented in the United States, 35 percent...
Tue, Oct 8 2019, 8:59 AM
As Treasury yields head toward the lows of September, and Monday’s bond market holiday, let’s start Tuesday with some “trivia.” Did you know that one ...
Mon, Oct 7 2019, 9:53 AM
Remember those futuristic movies where humans battle machines? Are we really that far off? Here’s one development: artificial intelligence is transfor...
Thu, Oct 3 2019, 9:01 AM
We’re entering the forecasting season, where thousands of managers have to come up with figures for 2020 regarding volumes, margins, and profits for C...
Wed, Oct 2 2019, 8:49 AM
Ever heard of Divvy Homes , ZeroDown , or Flyhomes ? You should have, because your potential clients probably have. Startups are aiming to break down ...
Tue, Oct 1 2019, 8:43 AM
The beginning of the 4th quarter. Halloween is approaching. If your pipelines aren’t full with rates down here, and haven’t seen decent profits in the...
Mon, Sep 30 2019, 8:47 AM
The final day of Q3 already… Aside from F1 drivers, did you know that Ferrari employees are not allowed to buy Ferrari cars? The exotic car market cer...
Fri, Sep 27 2019, 8:47 AM
Let’s end the week with some non-mortgage ramblings. Last night in Dallas I had dinner at The Mercury, a fish restaurant. (Who was in charge of naming...
Thu, Sep 26 2019, 8:56 AM
Depending on the product, 20-25% of the nation’s loans come from California. “Appraisal firms and appraisal management companies utilizing independent...
Wed, Sep 25 2019, 8:33 AM
One could argue that house flippers could make less if they buy the house for more than they expected, costs were more than anticipated, or the sales ...
Tue, Sep 24 2019, 8:58 AM
What does the AFL-CIO have in common with Zillow? Both own mortgage companies. Think partnerships and “strategic alliances” are against the rules? Thi...
Mon, Sep 23 2019, 9:04 AM
Call it a comfortable barge or a luxury water house, thanks to Rudy D. for sending along this story about a $5.5 million floating home in Florida . Go...
Fri, Sep 20 2019, 8:36 AM
A mile is 5,280 feet. And Central Park Tower on West 57th St. in Manhattan now stands at 1,550 feet, about a third of a mile. I mention this because i...
Thu, Sep 19 2019, 8:52 AM
The residential lending industry continues to evolve. Lenders are coming and going, moving in and out of business channels. (The latest example being ...
Wed, Sep 18 2019, 8:25 AM
This morning I find myself in Pittsburgh, PA for the MBA of Southwest Pennsylvania . (Yes, I am bound for lunch at Primanti Brothers.) It turns out th...
Tue, Sep 17 2019, 8:53 AM
As yet another example of a mortgage conference eating into a weekend, leading attendees to travel on a Friday or Saturday, the Mortgage Bankers Assoc...
Mon, Sep 16 2019, 9:05 AM
Music fans are saddened by the recent news of the deaths of Eddie Money and the Cars’ Rick Ocasek. In our industry, the news late last week that Black...
Fri, Sep 13 2019, 8:49 AM
Any month that starts on a Sunday contains a Friday the 13th. The superstitious sufferers of “triskaidekaphobia” try to avoid bad luck by keeping away...
Thu, Sep 12 2019, 9:02 AM
I apologize in advance for the length of today’s commentary, but there’s a lot going on! Ask any economist if rent control works, and they’ll say, “No...
Wed, Sep 11 2019, 8:51 AM
Is our housing system a dumpster fire ?” (I don’t think so; we have hundreds of thousands helping millions every year although F&F would be better off...
Tue, Sep 10 2019, 8:42 AM
The gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen. Though the wealth of U.S. households has eclipsed $100 trillion, the wealthy have primaril...
Mon, Sep 9 2019, 8:44 AM
The United States is filled with historical and geographic trivia. Reno, Nevada, is farther west than San Diego, California. Johnson City, Tennessee i...
Fri, Sep 6 2019, 9:08 AM
Yesterday the industry reacted to the topic of housing finance reform. HUD presented its plan for FHA . But, like Farrah Fawcett passing away on the s...
Thu, Sep 5 2019, 9:05 AM
Do you know what is picking up steam out there? Credit unions are on a “bank buying spree.” The numbers aren’t huge, but these not-for-profit financia...
Wed, Sep 4 2019, 9:04 AM
Would you transfer a quarter million smackers if your boss told you to? Let’s just remind every lender, and every bank: you have the money and others ...
Tue, Sep 3 2019, 9:00 AM
We’re two-thirds of the way through with the third quarter of 2019, and with Labor Day behind us places like Minneapolis and Seattle are losing three ...
Fri, Aug 30 2019, 9:04 AM
As Floridians watch “Storm Porn,” as the weather channel is called, Tennessee is buzzing about this Nashville Realtor’s marketing . (Warning: Rated a ...
Thu, Aug 29 2019, 8:52 AM
Real estate agents, and lenders interested in joint ventures and “affinity programs,” are very interested in the Realogy news that the United Services...
Wed, Aug 28 2019, 8:32 AM
For readers who deny climate change is real, natural or manmade, sinking cities around the world (including Houston and New Orleans ) can be attribute...
Tue, Aug 27 2019, 8:11 AM
If Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War can go to the theater a hundred times, and if FDR during World War II can have a cocktail hour every night whe...
Mon, Aug 26 2019, 9:15 AM
“My credit score is low but its low because I want to protect myself from identity theft. No one can take out a mortgage in my name if I can’t even ta...
Fri, Aug 23 2019, 9:01 AM
Japan's government bonds could soon join Germany's in having negative yields on all maturities. Japanese debt has gone negative out to 15 years, and b...
Thu, Aug 22 2019, 9:01 AM
Thank you to everyone who wrote yesterday correcting me that Hawai’i’s 1959 statehood is 60 years old and not 50. I know it’s not the case, but someti...
Wed, Aug 21 2019, 8:43 AM
Congratulations to Hawaii which became a state fifty years ago today. We’ve had plenty of economic cycles, small and large, in fifty years, although i...
Tue, Aug 20 2019, 8:45 AM
Why is a 43% DTI, a line many view as “drawn in the sand,” so critical to the ability of a borrower to repay a loan? What about reserves or utility bi...
Mon, Aug 19 2019, 9:10 AM
Builders can’t complain too much about material prices anymore. Building materials prices rose only 0.7% in July, and are down overall year-over-year....
Fri, Aug 16 2019, 8:27 AM
Some international rates have gone through 0 percent and are now negative. The low rates and high volumes have caused lenders to focus less on long-te...
Thu, Aug 15 2019, 8:51 AM
Plenty of economists watch builder activity and mood swings as early indicators of future economic health. Builder confidence in the single-family 55+...
Wed, Aug 14 2019, 8:58 AM
Data compiled by the American Bar Association shows that average lawyer pay has nearly doubled since 1997! Mortgage loan originators enjoy comparing t...
