Fri, Nov 25 2022, 11:57 AM
Putting out this daily commentary is like being in the army: I usually do more by 6AM than many people do during much of the day. The commentary is a ...
Wed, Nov 23 2022, 9:30 AM
Let me save you a web search tomorrow: 1-800-butterball. A web search turned up a misconception: It appears that robber Willie Horton, when he was ask...
Tue, Nov 22 2022, 9:07 AM
When was the last time that you did something for the first time? (Warning: tissues may be needed.) The best use of technology is to improve quality o...
Mon, Nov 21 2022, 9:12 AM
Sometimes it’s tough to find good news out there. For independent mortgage bank (IMB) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered bank lenders, the MBA rep...
Fri, Nov 18 2022, 9:52 AM
Few base their company or family’s savings on the inherent risk in a prediction. But… On a big scale, and we’ve been hearing forecasts of a recession ...
Thu, Nov 17 2022, 9:47 AM
The release yesterday of FHFA’s report on Agency Guarantee Fees prompted some of the discussion here in Kansas City among mortgage folks about how cha...
Wed, Nov 16 2022, 9:52 AM
This morning I head to Kansas City to spend some time with the MBAKC. KC is a mere 500 miles from Oak Park, Illinois, east of Chicago and childhood ho...
Tue, Nov 15 2022, 10:29 AM
The other day I walked in on Myrtle who was looking at the litter cleaning robot on the screen as if to ask, “What’ll they think of next?” Businesses ...
Mon, Nov 14 2022, 9:31 AM
For some reason, companies laying off large numbers of people (most recently Better, Freedom, Mr. Cooper) make headlines, whereas shouldn’t the unusua...
Thu, Nov 10 2022, 9:14 AM
Okay, tomorrow is a holiday for many, but let’s not forget those veterans during the rest of the year. (Warning: tissues required.) Switching gears 18...
Wed, Nov 9 2022, 10:11 AM
As Brian B. reminds me, “In the New England you can tell the changing of the seasons by the changing color of the leaves. In Florida you can tell the ...
Tue, Nov 8 2022, 9:01 AM
This morning I head from Chicago to Atlanta, with a corresponding change in temperatures (20 degrees) and snow readiness (even the Chicago garbage tru...
Mon, Nov 7 2022, 9:35 AM
Do whatever you want to your clock, it doesn’t change the feeding time of your pets! Friday’s a holiday… Want to help out your vet (veteran, not veter...
Fri, Nov 4 2022, 10:04 AM
I was walking down North Wabash in Chicago yesterday and a beggar (is that politically correct?) yelled out at me, “You’re the reason this country has...
Thu, Nov 3 2022, 9:10 AM
Here at the Wisconsin MBA conference in The Dells, a portion of the talk is about buydowns and adjustable-rate programs. Certainly, they are legitimat...
Wed, Nov 2 2022, 9:15 AM
“Why did New Jersey get all the toxic waste and California get all the lawyers? New Jersey got to pick first.” (Hey, I don’t write ‘em.) Quips aside, ...
Tue, Nov 1 2022, 9:20 AM
Forget about layoffs, salary cuts, revenue problems. There’s extra leftover candy in the lunchroom! Uh… do we still have lunchrooms? I hope so. And Th...
Mon, Oct 31 2022, 9:49 AM
For me, the next ten days includes time in Chicago, the Wisconsin Dells, and Atlanta. It isn’t a scary agenda. At the ready for tonight’s Halloween fu...
Fri, Oct 28 2022, 9:50 AM
I could tell that my cat Myrtle was incensed. I think that it may have had something to do with an email regarding artic krill oil, and her clicking o...
Thu, Oct 27 2022, 9:40 AM
The financial press seems enthralled with the business cycle. Expansion, contraction, rates and stocks up, rates and stocks down. Right now they’re al...
Wed, Oct 26 2022, 9:57 AM
As the MBA’s conference in Nashville wraps up, lenders and vendors are in an interesting mindset. Optimists are saying, “There’s a lot of opportunity ...
Tue, Oct 25 2022, 9:24 AM
In the press, here’s some information on the hit the Fed’s balance sheet has taken give the bond market selloff. And here at the MBA’s annual, some of...
Mon, Oct 24 2022, 9:52 AM
There’s a lot of good-natured competition here in Nashville. Around the world, there’s a competition for everything. Eat the most hot dogs, win the Wo...
Fri, Oct 21 2022, 9:47 AM
Denver’s airport has the longest runway in the U.S. at 16,000 feet (3 miles). As thousands of vendors, with some lenders thrown in for good measure, a...
Thu, Oct 20 2022, 9:08 AM
While we had news today of the British Prime Minister resigning, yesterday my doctor asked if anyone in my family suffers from mental illness. I repli...
Wed, Oct 19 2022, 9:24 AM
Here in Orange County, the mortgage talk runs the gamut. Sure, a recession would cause rates to drop, but before that happens, are residential lenders...
Tue, Oct 18 2022, 9:40 AM
Do you think putting together a loan is tough? How ‘bout a giant skeleton in your front yard? This dedicated individual has documented the process of ...
Mon, Oct 17 2022, 9:35 AM
There’s a splendid joke about the definition of an economist being someone who “will know tomorrow why the things they predicted yesterday didn't happ...
Fri, Oct 14 2022, 9:44 AM
Camping: “where you spend a small fortune to live like a homeless person.” Lenders have done a remarkable job in the last few years trying to reduce h...
Thu, Oct 13 2022, 10:13 AM
Why aren’t there 103’s on rate sheets? With 30-year mortgage rates firmly in the 7 percent range, the market has moved too fast for any kind of substa...
Wed, Oct 12 2022, 10:15 AM
Borrowers will bear the brunt of this, but rumors from several sources have Fair Isaac planning on giving most residential lenders an early Christmas ...
Tue, Oct 11 2022, 8:59 AM
Here in Louisville, at AgFirst’s Correspondent Lending Conference, much of the discussion involves going after builder business (“focusing on how fast...
Fri, Oct 7 2022, 9:17 AM
While investors who “jumped the gun” on establishing their own conforming conventional loan limits ahead of the official proclamation at the end of No...
Thu, Oct 6 2022, 10:00 AM
One can always focus on lending activity hitting a 25-year low, or the once mighty loanDepot reducing its own liquidity or handing raises out to execu...
Wed, Oct 5 2022, 9:21 AM
Yogi Berra, when asked about staying in a particular hotel, replied, “The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.” I’ve attended ...
Tue, Oct 4 2022, 9:02 AM
Now we have a butter shortage raising prices ahead of the holidays. Great. While margarine makers are licking their chops over the news, vegans and ot...
Mon, Oct 3 2022, 10:12 AM
This is the start of Fat Bear Week. (My money’s on Popeye.) Those poor bears don’t have much privacy, and it turns out that neither do humans. Consume...
Fri, Sep 30 2022, 10:41 AM
If you’ve ever had to hire people, did you sort your applications into three piles: Mad, Hopeless, or Possible? For his Antarctic expeditions, Ernest ...
Thu, Sep 29 2022, 10:45 AM
Water is a powerful force: just check out this time lapse storm surge video from Ft. Meyers in Florida. Turning to metaphors, Sun Tzu said, “If you wa...
Wed, Sep 28 2022, 9:46 AM
As Florida’s homeowners, insurance companies, and companies that service loans in Hurricane Ian’s path, brace for the storm, lenders nationwide contin...
Tue, Sep 27 2022, 10:17 AM
Yesterday, before the yield on the risk-free U.S. 2-year note rose to 4.25 percent, I mentioned my cat Myrtle being offered a big signing bonus by the...
Mon, Sep 26 2022, 9:18 AM
The big news in the Chrisman household is my cat Myrtle being offered a big signing bonus by the family next door. Apparently, word of her mousing pro...
Fri, Sep 23 2022, 9:33 AM
Tip-jar humor seen here in Chicago at a coffee shop: “Afraid of Change? Leave It Here.” Sure recessions typically mean lower rates, but are you okay w...
Thu, Sep 22 2022, 10:24 AM
All eyes have been on the Federal Reserve this year, but for independent mortgage banks, the focus has been on maximizing production and minimizing ov...
Wed, Sep 21 2022, 9:42 AM
It’s Fed decision day today and another 75-basis point rate hike is expected. Mortgage rates have surged to 14-year highs, deterring both buyers and b...
Tue, Sep 20 2022, 10:19 AM
One issue currently facing the mortgage industry is a lack of supply, or as rapper Cardi B said over the weekend in her analysis of high home prices a...
Mon, Sep 19 2022, 10:02 AM
In the words of former Vice President Dan Quayle, “We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.” Around the world, soaring borrowi...
Fri, Sep 16 2022, 10:10 AM
With most mortgage related headlines focused on rates being back above 6 percent for the first time since 2008, it makes sense that 67 percent of mill...
Thu, Sep 15 2022, 9:59 AM
It really is the hope that kills you. That phrase, which was coined by English football fans and is probably more well known in America among Ted Lass...
Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:31 AM
With inflation likely causing the Fed to keep hiking rates aggressively (more on that in the Capital Markets section at the bottom), many people in ou...
