Fri, Mar 8 2013, 10:44 AM
Andrew Jackson's portrait is on the $20 bill of the United States - we know that. But what many people don't know is that for years, and perhaps to th...
Wed, Mar 6 2013, 4:35 PM
Liquidity is a very important issue, and in fact some say liquidity is more important than credit for the lending industry . When the liquidity crisi...
Tue, Mar 5 2013, 3:34 PM
Yes, the government controls both the supply and demand of agency MBS , but on the demand side we are watching the re-emergence of REITs. Last week w...
Mon, Mar 4 2013, 10:40 AM
With the change of clocks ahead of us this weekend, let's ease into the work week and put this Girl Scout cookie issue to rest once and for all. Bes...
Thu, Feb 28 2013, 3:45 PM
I continue to see concerns in the market about the fate of "affiliate relationships" in a QM world, especially in regard to builder/lenders. (Remem...
Wed, Feb 27 2013, 11:50 AM
I have published this before, and am often asked for the site again. It is a mesmerizing chart of current wind conditions in the United States .
...
Tue, Feb 26 2013, 10:52 AM
"Rob, last week you mentioned a site for doing bank research . Your readers may want to know that many paid sites obtain their information from the ...
Mon, Feb 25 2013, 9:34 AM
A study by the Brookings Institution of the largest 100 metropolitan areas quantifies what Realtors have intuitively known forever: housing costs an ...
Fri, Feb 22 2013, 11:06 AM
Do you know what it costs your company to produce a loan? I hope so, because if the president of a lender wants to do more business in 2013 , or mere...
Thu, Feb 21 2013, 8:45 AM
Hey, the next time you are dreading the job of giving that quarterly review to that obstinate employee, think about this task. Companies are looking ...
Wed, Feb 20 2013, 11:31 AM
I am in Kansas today. Before the congratulatory e-mails flood in, I mention this because I flew here. (In an airplane.) Per our very own Transportatio...
Tue, Feb 19 2013, 10:37 AM
Yesterday the commentary had some statistics on Florida lagging in price appreciation, which many attribute to the " judicial versus non-judicial " fo...
Fri, Feb 15 2013, 10:43 AM
I receive a lot of questions , some very specific and others very broad reaching. These two have implications that our industry should think about:
...
Thu, Feb 14 2013, 11:40 AM
While I sit here kicking myself for not owning the stock in catsup maker Heinz (up 20% this morning because of being purchased by Berkshire Hathaway),...
Wed, Feb 13 2013, 11:22 AM
The talk in the halls here in Houston at the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association secondary conference is about a) diminishing margins for 2013, and b...
Tue, Feb 12 2013, 6:25 AM
"Rob, where's a good place to learn about the new FHA MIP structure, and the possible implication for Ginnie securities?" Good question, especially si...
Fri, Feb 8 2013, 1:32 PM
"Rob, what's going to happen to all those agency MBS owned by the Fed? If rates start to go up, and their prices drop, what will that do to the Fed's ...
Thu, Feb 7 2013, 12:44 PM
Today we have Part 2 of statistics and facts related to Black (African American) History Month. Just as I do for many other significant groups here in...
Wed, Feb 6 2013, 5:19 PM
And the discussion of mortgage lender versus Realtor political participation continues . Julie P. writes, "Rob, I'd love to encourage all of my fello...
Tue, Feb 5 2013, 10:22 AM
Here in Las Vegas there is a concrete convention taking place. A trained economist could do a tremendous amount of analysis, chart reading, capital al...
Mon, Feb 4 2013, 11:43 AM
If anyone asks you, "Whatever happened to that 'Shadow Inventory' we were all concerned about?" you can respond that part of it is being soaked up b...
Fri, Feb 1 2013, 10:21 AM
The free markets are a wonderful thing. Where else could we find a banana slicer ? Page down a couple times for the comments - just as good as any co...
Thu, Jan 31 2013, 3:32 PM
Detroit...near bankruptcy ? But many areas are doing well. As housing in established urban neighborhoods becomes ever rarer and more expensive, buyer...
Wed, Jan 30 2013, 10:28 AM
Super Bowl XLVII, between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, will be played Feb. 3 at the Superdome, which will be the 10th time the Su...
Tue, Jan 29 2013, 10:59 AM
Huh? "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will let some borrowers who kept up payments as their homes lost value erase their debts by giving up the propertie...
Mon, Jan 28 2013, 11:50 AM
"I have a switch in my apartment that doesn't do anything. Every once in a while I turn it on and off. One day I got a call from a guy in France who s...
Fri, Jan 25 2013, 9:47 AM
Why do they call them buildings, when they are already done building them? Why not call them "crumblings" or "builts"? "I live in that Crumbling over...
Thu, Jan 24 2013, 11:07 AM
Frequent air travelers know that FAA rules say that, "Arrival delay equals the difference of the actual arrival time minus the scheduled arrival time....
Tue, Jan 22 2013, 10:13 AM
"Why don't cannibals eat divorcees? They're bitter." The jumbo lending market in Florida sure is becoming less bitter for lenders.
And on the r...
Sat, Jan 19 2013, 1:30 PM
The vast majority of people always need money, and always wants loans - of varying rates and from various sources. So does prohibiting banks from doin...
Fri, Jan 18 2013, 9:55 AM
Here's your reminder for the weekend. Go out and buy some "Forever Stamps" during lunch or tomorrow (assuming your local post office is still open Sat...
Thu, Jan 17 2013, 10:08 AM
"How many houses for so little money? And what kind of article mentions 'Long Island, mink farmers, and Blackstone' in the first few lines?" He rubbed...
Wed, Jan 16 2013, 10:51 AM
Everyone out there, it seems, is reaching for the brass ring: more purchases, less refi's . But is it practical? I received this note from an industr...
Tue, Jan 15 2013, 10:55 AM
Don't forget - Monday is a holiday ! A U.S. federal holiday at that, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day marks his birthday (which is today, 1/15) but is obs...
Mon, Jan 14 2013, 10:24 AM
Here's a story from Ohio that LO's in other states will find of interest: " Ohio Creates Temporary Loan Originator License." Last month, Ohio enact...
Fri, Jan 11 2013, 9:05 AM
Do you owe any money on your home? Lots of owners do, a lot don't. Usually we see these "free and clear numbers from the Census Bureau, but this week ...
Wed, Jan 9 2013, 10:11 AM
Huh? AIG, the parent of United Guarantee, is thinking about suing the United States government over its bailout? Stranger than fiction - but true! H...
Tue, Jan 8 2013, 11:13 AM
There are so many statistics out there it makes one's head spin. For
example, for the nation's 115 million occupied homes: The median year
these h...
Mon, Jan 7 2013, 10:25 AM
January is proving to be a newsy/volatile month for the industry. Last
week we had the delay in truly resolving the fiscal cliff, the Fed minutes
di...
Fri, Jan 4 2013, 10:28 AM
"Rob, I run compliance for a mid-size bank in Georgia, and our senior
management told us that we don't have to worry about what the CFPB is doing. Do...
Thu, Jan 3 2013, 10:30 AM
Fixed rate 30-yr. mortgages at 2.6%! Yippee!!! Oh...wait a minute...the
New York Fed tells us why they aren't there yet.
CMG Financial is a mu...
Wed, Jan 2 2013, 11:17 AM
On this Wednesday that seems like a Monday, politicians in Washington celebrated after kind of averting a completely unnecessary crisis that was ent...
Mon, Dec 31 2012, 10:48 AM
As our nation prepares to begin the new year, the U.S. Census Bureau
today projected that on Jan. 1, 2013, the total United States population
will ...
Fri, Dec 28 2012, 10:17 AM
"We're lost, but we're making good time." The CFPB does not seem to be
lost, and is certainly feeling its way along. From it we learned that between
...
Thu, Dec 27 2012, 9:57 AM
Okay, so here's something entirely un-mortgage related - productivity
this week stinks anyway. The kids are back from college, or on vacation from
s...
Wed, Dec 26 2012, 10:56 AM
Last week the commentary mentioned LO education for borrowers, but how about LO
education itself? I received some thoughtful notes on the subject.
...
Fri, Dec 21 2012, 10:33 AM
The good news is that we've survived. The bad news is that we're still
seemingly reliant upon politicians in Washington. But for the moment, go back
...
Thu, Dec 20 2012, 10:36 AM
Well, here is some interesting news for taxpayers, as if we don't have
enough: Fannie & Freddie may have lost $3 billion due to LIBOR fixing by
ba...
Wed, Dec 19 2012, 4:13 PM
On to something a little less fun. Uh oh. I can't weigh in on the
validity of this comment, but it comes from a reliable wholesale rep and if
true i...
Tue, Dec 18 2012, 2:02 PM
Human Resources (HR) managers take note: a court has ruled that an
employer may be liable for an accident to an employee during a work trip. But
for...
