Fri, Aug 10 2012, 10:46 AM
"Wanna tell you a story, about the house-man blues.
I come home one Friday, had to tell the landlady I'd-a lost my job.
She said that don't confro...
Thu, Aug 9 2012, 10:45 AM
Greetings from Washington State, and...Oops! Did I have the wrong
headline in the subject line? (Those files are really thick, you know.) Incorrect...
Wed, Aug 8 2012, 11:00 AM
Who says that privacy is alive and well? No one. Check this out .
"Rob, folks wonder about Realtors charging 5-6% commissions,
regardless of tran...
Tue, Aug 7 2012, 12:16 PM
It is hard for the lending industry to talk about the mounting costs of
paperwork, regulation, and compliance when the public actually sees that
cl...
Mon, Aug 6 2012, 9:43 AM
Fortunately, on this 67th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb
attack on Hiroshima, there is little going on with rates (the 10-yr is
basica...
Sun, Aug 5 2012, 8:54 PM
The mortgage and real estate industry doesn't always solely bear the brunt of
Congress's actions, or lack of actions. When Congress left for a five w...
Fri, Aug 3 2012, 12:17 PM
What say we end the week with something light, but near and dear to my
heart: stuff . Whether it is my grandfather's army uniform from the
Spanish ...
Thu, Aug 2 2012, 10:31 AM
That commercial sector is rockin' and rollin', up 25% for the 2nd quarter
from a year ago. Granted, most of that was due to increases in originations...
Wed, Aug 1 2012, 1:53 PM
"Big money goes around the world,
Big money underground.
Big money got a mighty voice,
Big money make no sound."
The world is watching Ol...
Tue, Jul 31 2012, 10:24 AM
In mortgage banking, just like gymnastics, you have to get up after you
fall down .
Totaling through May, California (133,000), Florida (92,000...
Mon, Jul 30 2012, 10:17 AM
"Rob, with the Wells news earlier this month, and FAMC's comp change
last week, I am hearing rumors of all kinds of price and investor changes .
On...
Mon, Jul 30 2012, 10:01 AM
Earlier this week I was in Ontario, visiting the headquarters of a
well-run mortgage shop, so this note was very relevant: "Rob, what are you
hearin...
Fri, Jul 27 2012, 11:01 AM
"Rob, do you have any idea how long an originator, broker, whoever,
has to keep a copy of the loan file? That is probably a question that has
many...
Thu, Jul 26 2012, 10:19 AM
To no surprise to the industry, Wells Fargo remained the largest
U.S. mortgage originator in the second quarter although its market share
dropped ...
Wed, Jul 25 2012, 10:09 AM
"Rob, I've read that wholesale lending accounted for only 5% of
Wells Fargo's volumes. Only 5%? What are you hearing about its remaining
business an...
Tue, Jul 24 2012, 9:49 AM
"Rob,
when do you think that the CFPB will go after us Realtors?" I am not
convinced that it will, although there are plenty of arguments why it mi...
Mon, Jul 23 2012, 10:19 AM
"Rob, do you think that there is any chance that investors will
start lowering their minimum net worth requirements?" In my opinion, no .
In this e...
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 10:07 AM
Happy 1 st birthday to the CFPB - it opened for business on
July 21, 2011.
Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, the CFPB issued the first
enfor...
Fri, Jul 20 2012, 11:41 AM
On Thursday, Fannie 3.5% securities (composed of 3.75-4.125% 30-yr
mortgages) traded at a 6 (yes, six) point premium . Put another way, 106.
Fannie...
Thu, Jul 19 2012, 9:56 AM
Yesterday we all learned what lock desks and pricing engines already
knew: mortgage applications in the U.S. jumped last week by the most in a month....
Wed, Jul 18 2012, 9:56 AM
With the withdrawal of Wells Fargo from the wholesale channel,
correspondent reps from the aggregators are receiving renewed interest from
mortgage...
Tue, Jul 17 2012, 10:50 AM
Someone just sent me 90 seconds of amazing footage of a CFPB auditor
graduating from the program .
(I especially like the nonchalance of the other ...
Mon, Jul 16 2012, 11:23 AM
I was very excited when my son came home the other day and said,
"I've decided what I want to do when I get out of school - I am going to be
a buil...
Mon, Jul 16 2012, 11:17 AM
em·i·nent
do·main : Noun - "The right of a government or its agent to expropriate private
property for public use, with payment of compensation."
...
Fri, Jul 13 2012, 9:32 AM
I was going to start today's commentary (from San Diego) with a reminder
to, "Be careful what you wish for," or a reminder that no one, at the
start...
Thu, Jul 12 2012, 9:59 AM
Here at the Western Secondary conference in San Francisco, talk is
focused on investors pushing purchase clearing numbers down and speeding up
purch...
Wed, Jul 11 2012, 12:04 PM
I remember in the 1980's there were charity events to help farmers. (Farmers
care about the weather - be sure to check out the weather report at the ...
Tue, Jul 10 2012, 5:49 PM
I received a note yesterday from the CEO of a mid-sized lender.
"Rob, I have begun thinking that the
CFPB is the best thing that ever happened to m...
Mon, Jul 9 2012, 10:50 AM
Welcome back to work! I'll skip the story that the press seems excited
about (a Massachusetts man paying his mortgage off in pennies), and the news
...
Fri, Jul 6 2012, 9:26 AM
A senior citizen goes to the doctor. After running some tests, the doctor
says, "I have bad and even worse news, you have cancer and
Alzheimer's." T...
Thu, Jul 5 2012, 10:32 AM
This is 70 seconds of "head shaking, jaw dropping," why one
should never bet on cards .
Many of us enjoyed a little BBQ grub yesterday. For the...
Tue, Jul 3 2012, 12:09 PM
Tomorrow, on your day off, here is 3 ½ minutes of a few very clever
creative bets that you can win.
Speaking of clever, a veteran male trader at...
Mon, Jul 2 2012, 11:51 AM
On July 4th in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the
Continental Congress, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a
s...
Thu, Jun 28 2012, 9:19 AM
Remember that scene in Apollo 13 when it dawns on the astronauts that
NASA doesn't know how to get them back? Regarding our economy, one can imagine
...
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 10:14 AM
I have been subtly warning groups during speeches, and writing in this commentary, about the implications of Basel III. Most of the focus is on servic...
Tue, Jun 26 2012, 8:54 AM
President Obama just played his 100th round of golf since being elected
President. In 4 years he has gone through more white tees than the cast of Je...
Mon, Jun 25 2012, 9:07 AM
The political climate is heating up. Jokes that we were able to tell on
the trading desk, regardless of political
affiliation , are flying around, ...
Fri, Jun 22 2012, 10:42 AM
Want some good news? My grades did not qualify me for admittance to Harvard
(that is not the good news), but that institution put out good research
...
Thu, Jun 21 2012, 10:39 AM
Mortgage rates are low.
But volume is a problem.
Raise our margins now!
(See Miss Hickox? Your 7th grade haiku section really paid off!) ...
Wed, Jun 20 2012, 11:38 AM
Here we are on the day that teenagers everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere
despise: the solstice. The sunrise in Nome is around 4:19AM. Even here in...
Tue, Jun 19 2012, 10:29 AM
Do we really need Congress writing or approving the industry's disclosure
forms? Can't it pick on the rental car agreement forms that no one reads,...
Mon, Jun 18 2012, 10:03 AM
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Another ex-exec (the CFO) at
Taylor Bean Whittaker is now going to prison for five years.
Rates ar...
Sat, Jun 16 2012, 1:30 PM
The lender/investor/M&A/vendor/training/conference updates
keep coming. As always, it is best to read the actual bulletin, but these
recent notes ...
Fri, Jun 15 2012, 10:01 AM
On June 15, 1752, Benjamin Franklin performed his famous kite experiment,
proving that lightning is a form of electricity. Something that seems to be...
Thu, Jun 14 2012, 9:58 AM
Regardless of size, regardless of defense, regardless of current QC
measures, buybacks are an issue at every level. PNC , #17 lender by
volume in t...
Wed, Jun 13 2012, 12:32 PM
Industry experts believe that one of the several reasons Countrywide fell
was because of their quest for market share for its own sake, rather than h...
Tue, Jun 12 2012, 11:03 AM
Tonight the NBA finals start, just in time, or so it seems, for the NBA
basketball season to start all over again. But here's some aerobatic basketb...
Mon, Jun 11 2012, 10:29 AM
Here in Arizona, at the Arizona Mortgage Lenders Association conference,
it is clear that mortgage origination and pricing is a numbers game. Many ar...
Fri, Jun 8 2012, 9:22 AM
Unfortunately
for borrowers, and rate sheet pricing, the
Fed voted "full speed ahead" for Basel III . "Mortgage
servicing rights (MSR), for instan...
Thu, Jun 7 2012, 9:22 AM
Kids - Father's Day is coming up! The idea of
Father's Day was conceived in 1909 by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, WA, while she
listened to a Mother's D...
