Mon, Aug 4 2014, 10:44 AM
Are you an appraiser ? Maybe you should be honored: there are fewer and fewer of you every year, and your ranks are down to 80,500 nationwide . Ther...
Fri, Aug 1 2014, 11:28 AM
People
need to use their heads once in a while. Circulating in the e-mail
world is a claim: "This is the only time in your life you will see this ...
Thu, Jul 31 2014, 12:10 PM
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency tells us that 13 out of every 14 mortgages (93.1%) in the United States were "current and performing"
...
Wed, Jul 30 2014, 10:18 AM
There
are plenty of ways to divvy up people (those who like soggy cereal,
those that don't, those that can form their tongue into an "o", and
th...
Tue, Jul 29 2014, 11:19 AM
My
plan has always been pretty simple with my children: feed and clothe
them in a loving home, make sure they get a college education followed
b...
Mon, Jul 28 2014, 10:36 AM
How
is it that this is the last week of July already? Lots of lenders seem
to have seen decent Julys - but perhaps not as strong as some of their ...
Fri, Jul 25 2014, 11:09 AM
"Rob, you have mentioned before that you are beginning to see some companies' volumes slowing down, and maybe even some lay-offs .
Is that still ha...
Thu, Jul 24 2014, 9:53 AM
For LOs who feel "enough is
enough" with regard to the proposed Pre-Licensure Education Expiration Policy on education, timelines, and requirement...
Wed, Jul 23 2014, 10:49 AM
Captain
Obvious likes to say, "Home prices don't always go up." It's probably a
cliché at this point, but it's better than the, "Buy as much home ...
Tue, Jul 22 2014, 9:50 AM
What, if anything, is putting a crimp in expected loan
production? Perhaps the CFPB's QM rules are indeed restricting
residential lending. In one...
Mon, Jul 21 2014, 9:47 AM
What
can you buy on minimum wage? Well, I guess that's a relative question;
relative to a number of factors such as where you live, your current
...
Fri, Jul 18 2014, 10:14 AM
Do
you have a plan in case you go bankrupt? The "big boys" do! The
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires that bank
...
Thu, Jul 17 2014, 10:37 AM
Non-QM loans, investor interest in those higher
yielding pools, potential disparate impact as a result of QM rules,
eMortgages (or the lack thereo...
Wed, Jul 16 2014, 10:52 AM
Brokers, and lenders who cater to those brokers in terms of wholesale or mini-correspondent relationships , are still ruminating on the impact of las...
Tue, Jul 15 2014, 10:18 AM
Some
of the big topics here at the CMBA Western Secondary conference are
margins, compensation, and compliance. Reports show that bank tellers ea...
Mon, Jul 14 2014, 10:28 AM
Sometimes it is hard to tell if things are legit or not, especially
when it comes to legislation. In 2014 Congress has reminded us of how it
is ne...
Fri, Jul 11 2014, 11:33 AM
The Senate voted overwhelmingly to confirm Julian Castro as the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development
on Wednesday, elevating Mr. Castro ...
Thu, Jul 10 2014, 11:21 AM
Will a new HARP ride in and save the refinance business?
Probably not, as borrowers seem kind of "tapped out" on the program,
but the public rel...
Wed, Jul 9 2014, 11:32 AM
Banks
have plenty to think about and drink about: "Write-downs", "cutbacks",
"plummeting profits"...you'd think we were talking about a bank here ...
Tue, Jul 8 2014, 10:23 AM
What
has the CFPB been up to lately? For starters, remember that the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding comes not from Congress
but ...
Mon, Jul 7 2014, 10:28 AM
Here's a survey for LOs - maybe it will have an impact on being able to contribute closing costs to borrowers.
"Last year, the Government Affair...
Thu, Jul 3 2014, 10:46 AM
Remember RMIC ?
"On June 27, 2014 the North Carolina Department of Insurance issued a
Final Order ("Order") Approving the Amended and Restated Co...
Wed, Jul 2 2014, 10:10 AM
In
July 1776, the estimated number of people living in the newly
independent nation was 2.5 million. (Nowadays, this is approximately the
number...
Tue, Jul 1 2014, 10:47 AM
Yes, smaller lenders sue each other. The latest verdict announced was a decision between Stearns and Prospect Mortgage . And we have the latest set...
Mon, Jun 30 2014, 10:02 AM
Suddenly
the entire industry seems interested in three things: using the Federal
Home Loan Banks as a pseudo-warehouse line, jumbo deals, and
fo...
Fri, Jun 27 2014, 10:09 AM
This
week I have been fortunate to spend some time with members of the
Mortgage Bankers of Hawaii. Honolulu, like so many other areas, has its
s...
Thu, Jun 26 2014, 11:15 AM
The ABA
reports community banks now spend about 15% of revenue
on compliance to meet regulatory requirements. True, the cost of doing
busine...
Wed, Jun 25 2014, 12:04 PM
I
was recently walking in a large city, on my way to do a warehouse field
exam, when a young man on a skateboard passed me going the other
direc...
Tue, Jun 24 2014, 11:01 AM
There are 2 million "missing households" in
the US - which represents pent up demand for new residences in the US.
These are Millennials who are...
Mon, Jun 23 2014, 9:41 AM
"On
Thursday, June 19, issues of latency and connectivity were reported by
the public across multiple Internet Service Providers. The public can
...
Fri, Jun 20 2014, 9:45 AM
"Affordability remains a hotly debated topic, especially when
considering both rent affordability and mortgage affordability," or
so says Zillow. ...
Thu, Jun 19 2014, 10:26 AM
"My
friend has a lifesaving tool in her car which is designed to cut
through a seat belt if she gets trapped. She keeps it in the car trunk."
So...
Wed, Jun 18 2014, 11:36 AM
Merlin
Pearson writes, "Statistics are like a lamp post to a drunk. They are
used far more for support than they are for illumination." A survey b...
Tue, Jun 17 2014, 11:00 AM
Economists
call it "wage source". In a nutshell, it's how you obtain your cash.
Many work in order to fill their bank accounts; however, in the co...
Mon, Jun 16 2014, 9:45 AM
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, who
tracks population movements (and probably phone conversations too..."who
said that?"), there are a few co...
Fri, Jun 13 2014, 11:10 AM
We're racing toward the Summer Solstice, with the most daylight in the Northern Hemisphere, but Happy Friday the 13 th
AND a full moon! This combin...
Thu, Jun 12 2014, 10:28 AM
$650,000 is a lot of money for many companies. That was the amount of the latest fine levied by the FTC on a Pennsylvania home builder. Yep, one d...
Wed, Jun 11 2014, 10:35 AM
Appraisers run across all types of buildings. But how about this set of buildings , constructed to look like exactly what goes on inside the buildi...
Tue, Jun 10 2014, 10:21 AM
"Action
will be taken to prevent the next disaster as soon as possible after it
has occurred." In an unrelated topic, although in the same paragra...
Mon, Jun 9 2014, 10:26 AM
I
don't know where this topic falls, somewhere between "That's mildly
interesting", and, "So what?" Although I bike a lot, I might fall into
the...
Fri, Jun 6 2014, 10:29 AM
It
is a good thing to put this gfee thing in perspective. They impact a
lot of things: the price a borrower pays for a loan, the share of
busine...
Thu, Jun 5 2014, 11:10 AM
The Mutual
Mortgage Insurance Fund is a fund that insures mortgages made by the
Federal Housing Administration on single-family homes;
the fun...
Wed, Jun 4 2014, 10:14 AM
Any lender that is closing more loans than a year ago, or has a larger pipeline, should be proud of themselves.
The Mortgage Bankers Association sai...
Tue, Jun 3 2014, 10:45 AM
How's it going with "private money" and mortgage-backed securities? Not so hot .
The creation of MBS is down, as one would expect, and of course ...
Mon, Jun 2 2014, 9:59 AM
There
is a lot of industry banter about preferred lenders (mostly by
non-preferred lenders) and affiliated relationships (mostly by those not
in...
Fri, May 30 2014, 10:49 AM
"I'm
going to retire and live off of my savings. The second day, I have no
idea what I'll do." Quips aside, many Americans have no clue about how ...
Thu, May 29 2014, 10:28 AM
There
are many ways to divvy up residential lenders: size, agency approvals,
QM or non-QM, geography, broker and banker, take your choice. One ver...
Wed, May 28 2014, 10:40 AM
How much is 90-minutes of your time worth? How about that of your
originators, underwriters and processors? MBA recently launched a new web course ...
Tue, May 27 2014, 10:11 AM
The industry knows that 2013 was the tale of two profitability profiles for residential lending:
the first half and the second half. Now the MBA hav...
Fri, May 23 2014, 11:19 AM
I
remember when I first entered the working world, after a few months my
HR person asked, "I see that you're not signed up for the company's
401...
