Fri, Mar 14 2014, 11:34 AM
Who
doesn't love a good 'Top 10' list? If it wasn't for top ten lists, and
videos of cats dancing, the internet would be reserved for its intended...
Thu, Mar 13 2014, 10:04 AM
I
can't figure out if this is a story about the rebounding real estate
market , or about the gap between the "haves and the have-nots" widening -...
Wed, Mar 12 2014, 10:37 AM
Problems can be created by differences in education,
nationality, or age. For example, the ICBA reports 90% of community
bankers say their averag...
Tue, Mar 11 2014, 9:57 AM
I
will go on the record as saying that I have never earned $63.9 million
doing anything - certainly not for selling my bone marrow back in
col...
Mon, Mar 10 2014, 10:21 AM
Every lender & servicer, and therefore borrower, is influenced by the price of servicing .
And in recent months we have all seen large blocks of se...
Fri, Mar 7 2014, 10:46 AM
Dave T. writes, "Rob, I have noticed that the originators attending classes or local association meetings are older, and mostly men over 50 years old...
Thu, Mar 6 2014, 11:33 AM
According to Gallup's 2013 annual Economy and Personal Finance
survey, the average retirement age has crept up by four years over the
past two dec...
Wed, Mar 5 2014, 5:04 PM
When
I was on a pipeline hedging trading desk, we were often expected to
have a crystal ball about where the market was going . None of us
had ...
Tue, Mar 4 2014, 10:54 AM
I
am hearing that lock desk activity is picking up, which is nice to see.
New apps mean running credit, and just in time for changing your clocks
...
Mon, Mar 3 2014, 9:16 AM
Zelman & Associates
invites readers to join them for an informative conference call to
discuss their outlook on the housing market and mortgage ...
Fri, Feb 28 2014, 9:42 AM
It
has been quite a week, visiting mortgage and banking folks in
California, Kansas, and now Texas. There are a lot of good, experienced
personn...
Thu, Feb 27 2014, 10:59 AM
Hope
springs eternal, right? As the residential lending industry wraps up a
couple rough months tomorrow, everyone is hoping for a more robust Mar...
Wed, Feb 26 2014, 11:01 AM
"You
know you're old if they have discontinued your blood type." You also
know you're old if you think "vendor management" consists of making sure...
Tue, Feb 25 2014, 10:24 AM
Connecticut's 1 st Alliance Lending, LLC
has been fined $83,000 by the CFPB for violating Real Estate Settlement
Procedures Act (RESPA) rules. ...
Mon, Feb 24 2014, 10:32 AM
Loans
have become harder to do, and underwriters that I have spoken to keep
telling me that every deal is different. How many scenarios are ther...
Fri, Feb 21 2014, 10:44 AM
Tongues are wagging
about Wells Fargo' s extending credit to borrowers with lower credit
scores (600 FICOs) and thus, on the surface, perceive hi...
Thu, Feb 20 2014, 9:57 AM
If
your lock desk was really busy last week, you're bucking the trend. The
MBA's survey of 75% of retail lenders showed that apps were off 4.1% ...
Wed, Feb 19 2014, 9:53 AM
"A
statistician is someone who tells you, when you've got your head in the
fridge and your feet in the oven, that you're - on average - very
com...
Tue, Feb 18 2014, 10:46 AM
"Any
idea how much Realtors make?" I don't know, and asking someone their
income isn't always the wisest of moves, especially on a first date. But...
Mon, Feb 17 2014, 6:10 PM
Underwriters
will soon be entering that netherworld where they want 2013 tax
returns , but borrowers just don't have them yet. With that in mind,...
Fri, Feb 14 2014, 10:34 AM
"Melissa
Burch, a real estate closing agent at a Fort Lauderdale title company,
pocketed more than $1 million from her employer's escrow account...
Thu, Feb 13 2014, 10:23 AM
"Rob,
my cousin asked me if there were any consumer groups that focused on
homeowners. Do you know of any?" The one that jumps to mind is the Amer...
Wed, Feb 12 2014, 10:20 AM
Atlanta
has too much snow and slush, and is staying home. California, however,
is in the midst of a terrible drought - and it is only February. Th...
Tue, Feb 11 2014, 10:46 AM
Hey,
who wouldn't want to have some steel-cut oatmeal with FHA Commissioner
Carol Galante? Ride a ski lift with HUD Secretary Donovan? Argue over ...
Mon, Feb 10 2014, 10:36 AM
Things can be
misleading out there, and occasionally non-depository mortgage bankers
wonder about becoming licensed in other states. The best sour...
Fri, Feb 7 2014, 10:54 AM
"If
you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
This African proverb could apply to bicycle racing, but more importantly
...
Thu, Feb 6 2014, 10:55 AM
In the legal arena, the industry took note this week that JPMorgan Chase & Co. reached a settlement
with the United States Attorney's Office for the...
Wed, Feb 5 2014, 10:28 AM
The CFPB is expected to spend a lot of time in 2014 on the
closing process , and it has a round of public comments due February 7.
It was put out...
Tue, Feb 4 2014, 10:32 AM
According
to splashdata the top five list of worst passwords is: 1) 123456, 2)
Password, 3) 12345678, 4) QWERTY, and 5) abc123. Hey, how do they k...
Mon, Feb 3 2014, 9:14 AM
I have decided that I am ready, mentally and physically, to win $1 billion - and it is out there for the taking. Quicken
Loans is offering a $1 bi...
Fri, Jan 31 2014, 10:23 AM
As
a reminder, since I am still being asked about it, along with a number
announcements and policy amendments taking effect on the 1 st of Januar...
Thu, Jan 30 2014, 10:02 AM
The industry is changing. The first half of 2013 is a distant, fond
memory for residential lenders. Subprime, non-prime - what's the diff? Business...
Wed, Jan 29 2014, 10:40 AM
"After much discussion, research and deliberation, Mortgage
Services III (MSI) has decided to exit the Wholesale Mortgage Broker
and Non-Regulat...
Tue, Jan 28 2014, 9:37 AM
Just when we think everything is quiet on the appraisal front, Kate Berry with American Banker writes that Fannie Mae has created a blacklist for app...
Mon, Jan 27 2014, 11:29 AM
"Rob, can our investors, vendors, Realtor clients, warehouse banks, and so on, influence our hiring practices?" My kneejerk answer is that in this co...
Fri, Jan 24 2014, 10:29 AM
Just like the industry counted down to QM, now we can count down to
Girl Scout Cookie Season! We have about 16 days - but there is a lot
about the...
Thu, Jan 23 2014, 10:56 AM
All is not bleak in residential lending. Note that yesterday
the MBA reported applications rose 4.7% last week versus +11.9% the
previous week. ...
Wed, Jan 22 2014, 9:40 AM
The
residential lending industry and the companies inside of it are always
in a state of flux. I am repeatedly hearing, "We're keeping a close ey...
Tue, Jan 21 2014, 10:04 AM
How 'bout that Chinese housing market? New
home sales last year exceeded $1 trillion for the first time as
property prices in cities the governm...
Fri, Jan 17 2014, 10:42 AM
"The
check's in the mail!" Hah! The Fed reports the number of checks paid
has declined from close to $50B in the 1990s to about $20B. With tax...
Thu, Jan 16 2014, 10:42 AM
I just read that last year 4,213,157 people got married. I don’t want
to start any trouble, but shouldn’t that be an even number? While we’re
goss...
Wed, Jan 15 2014, 10:36 AM
It looks like the industry
did about $1.75 trillion in 2013, and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) lowered its forecast
for mortgage origin...
Tue, Jan 14 2014, 9:54 AM
They
say a good writer will grab the reader's attention within the first three
sentences, and never let it go. I don't think I'm qualified to judge
...
Mon, Jan 13 2014, 10:02 AM
First Community Mortgage announced its new expanded TPO/supervised correspondent channel to include a full delegated correspondent
platform. "While...
Fri, Jan 10 2014, 10:44 AM
It's
here. Effective today, QM rules the land.
What does the public see regarding QM (apart from Cordray on the Daily Show )? Here you go .
...
Thu, Jan 9 2014, 9:54 AM
There were a lot of happy lenders
yesterday when they learned that the FHFA's new director, Mel Watt, announced that he intends to delay guarantee ...
Wed, Jan 8 2014, 10:48 AM
This
morning we learned from the MBA's poll of 75% of retail lenders that
residential mortgage applications in the U.S. rose last week
as refin...
Tue, Jan 7 2014, 9:43 AM
"Teach your children about taxes: eat 30% of their ice cream."
They'll also learn something about percentages. If 30% of cities have
rebounded to ...
Mon, Jan 6 2014, 11:18 AM
So
here we are at the in the first full week of 2014 - and we have some
important things that will definitely impact residential mortgage
len...
Fri, Jan 3 2014, 12:07 PM
Last
Saturday I mentioned a misspelling in a mortgage document ("...MERS holds
leugal title..."). It turns out that it is not a MERS or Fannie iss...
