Mon, Apr 18 2016, 10:42 AM
“Control the rules, control the outcome.” This old saying will be of particular interest in upcoming political events… or mortgage company lawsuits & ...
Fri, Apr 1 2016, 4:59 PM
Freddie Mac predicted in its monthly Outlook on Thursday that 2016 might be the best year for housing in a decade with most sectors, sales, constr...
Mon, Mar 28 2016, 12:18 PM
Banks and non-bank mortgage companies aren’t enemies, but plenty of non-bank lenders are envious of the ability of banks to offer HELOCs and other p...
Tue, Mar 22 2016, 10:29 AM
Fannie Mae's Economic Summary for March reports an improvement in financial market conditions and reduced concerns about an imminent risk of reces...
Tue, Mar 15 2016, 11:52 AM
After dropping three points in February to 58, the Housing Market Index, a measure of builder confidence in the single-family home market, remained u...
Mon, Mar 14 2016, 9:43 AM
Americans have regained most of the wealth lost when the real estate bubble burst. Homeowners' equity has more or less doubled since the lows of 20...
Wed, Feb 17 2016, 11:02 AM
To put some perspective on things, a trillion seconds is roughly 31,710 years. The Fed indicates that household housing debt is about $8.8 trillion ...
Tue, Feb 16 2016, 10:54 AM
Confidence among new home builders cooled considerably this month. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said its Housing Market Index (HM...
Tue, Feb 16 2016, 10:52 AM
The mortgage industry has certainly taken its lumps in the last eight years. Things are turning around, and Jason Frazier from California's Mason McDu...
Tue, Jan 19 2016, 12:16 PM
Tom
Finnegan contacted me yesterday saying, "Rob, yesterday you published a
list of reasons why loans are not currently being purchased. One of th...
Tue, Jan 19 2016, 10:59 AM
Builder confidence in the new home market, while on the surface unchanged
from December, has now dropped 5 points since establishing a decade-long ...
Tue, Dec 15 2015, 10:26 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said on
Tuesday that its NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) dropped one point
in December ...
Tue, Dec 15 2015, 10:04 AM
What
is this? Fear of a bubble in commercial real estate? Apparently the Fed
is increasingly concerned about asset pricing and lending practices i...
Wed, Nov 18 2015, 10:58 AM
Where
the heck did 40 years go? Call any person who underwrites loans or
draws docs and ask if they'd like to do that for 40 straight years. The
...
Tue, Nov 17 2015, 10:52 AM
Well that didn't last long.
After jumping to the highest level in a decade in October the Housing
Market Index (HMI) a measure of builder confidenc...
Tue, Nov 17 2015, 10:10 AM
I
do a little traveling (this week, hopefully, is California, Colorado,
and Kansas) so it was interesting to see that Pro Teck Valuation
Service...
Mon, Nov 16 2015, 10:52 AM
Many
nations are a hodge-podge of ethnic diversity, and the U.S. Census
Bureau tells us that there are at least 350 languages spoken across our
...
Tue, Oct 27 2015, 10:34 AM
When
was the last time anyone used the term "elderly"? I think the industry
dropped the term when someone realized baby boomers didn't like thinki...
Mon, Oct 19 2015, 10:44 AM
It is official, the slump in builder
confidence is over. The National
Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said today that ten years after it began
...
Mon, Oct 19 2015, 10:39 AM
From my narrow view, the big talk of the San Diego MBA conference so far? Fannie & Freddie's rep & warrant changes, the FHA's position on the CFP...
Thu, Sep 17 2015, 10:04 AM
I bet for every person a company has dedicated to stopping cybercrime
there are 10 somewhere else trying to perpetrate it. Just yesterday I
rece...
Wed, Sep 16 2015, 11:55 AM
You can now review every federal agency ( even the CFPB ) on Yelp. There is an agreement in place that allows agencies to claim pages and respond to r...
Wed, Sep 16 2015, 11:46 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo
Housing Market Index (HMI) ratcheted up another point this month continuing a
steady ri...
Mon, Sep 14 2015, 10:11 AM
One
of the problems with servicing loans in Hawaii, or even for
"mainlanders" originating loans there, is name pronunciation. How does
someone f...
Thu, Sep 3 2015, 4:00 PM
Freddie Mac's long-time chief economist Frank Nothaft
departed some months ago to take the same role at CoreLogic and that vacancy at
the mortgage c...
Tue, Aug 18 2015, 10:34 AM
Under
the "fun with numbers" category, several readers wrote in yesterday
regarding the CFPB's semi-annual numbers: "The report noted that during ...
Mon, Aug 17 2015, 11:57 AM
Builder confidence remained stable this month. The National Association of Home Builders
(NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) added a point...
Mon, Aug 17 2015, 9:58 AM
Thank you to Mark Baker with Cardinal Financial sent over a story about dear people who live in fancy tiny houses . An appraiser's nightmare or a Mil...
Fri, Jul 17 2015, 10:13 AM
Boy
how things have changed. Life is so expensive now; maybe that's why the
living arrangement stats have changed so dramatically since 1967. In
...
Thu, Jul 16 2015, 9:53 AM
Earnest Hemingway was born in the comfortable Midwestern suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, a place he described as full of, "wide lawns and narrow minds."...
Thu, Jul 16 2015, 1:25 PM
Builder confidence may finally be back
to stay. After yo-yoing in and out of
the "good" range of 50 or more for years, the National Association of ...
Mon, Jul 13 2015, 10:29 AM
Here's
some good news. The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders
Association/RiskSpan Reverse Mortgage Market Index which analyzes trends
in home va...
Mon, Jun 15 2015, 10:55 AM
Builder's demonstrated the highest confidence in the market
for newly built homes in nearly a year this month as the Housing Market Index
(HMI) publ...
Fri, May 22 2015, 1:42 PM
Fannie
Mae's economists used their May economic and strategic summary to downgrade
expectations for 2015 growth but at the same time painted a slig...
Mon, May 18 2015, 12:10 PM
While they were discussing different vintages, home sellers
have a slightly more upbeat outlook on home sales then do the builders of those
homes. ...
Wed, Apr 15 2015, 12:43 PM
The index measuring building confidence in the market for
new single family homes stopped its three month slide in April, jumping four
points from...
Mon, Apr 13 2015, 9:51 AM
We're approaching the home buying season. What could $412k pick up in Detroit during the last home buying season? Here you go . Thanks to Brian B. fo...
Mon, Mar 16 2015, 11:00 AM
Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single family homes has declined
to its lowest level in nine months. The
National Association of ...
Mon, Mar 16 2015, 9:44 AM
Practically
everyone has been involved in failed business ventures. Some go away
entirely, but some try to bounce back. Anyone who has ever flown ...
Tue, Feb 17 2015, 10:59 AM
Bad weather appears
to be taking a toll on otherwise solid builder confidence. The
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said its Housing ...
Tue, Feb 17 2015, 10:16 AM
Here's
the riddle of the day. What is "165"? Answer: it is the number of
business days until August 1, when the RESPA-TILA rules go into place . ...
Fri, Jan 23 2015, 11:47 AM
Fannie
Mae's economists expect the economy to strengthen in 2015 and that will "drag"
housing into a better cycle this year.
The company's forec...
Tue, Jan 20 2015, 11:31 AM
The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB') monthly
assessment of builder confidence in the new home market showed a slight
weakening in Ja...
Tue, Jan 20 2015, 10:29 AM
Whether
you're upper class, middle class, lower class, or drinking class, do
you really think the distribution of wealth is somewhat widespread?
...
Thu, Dec 18 2014, 1:22 PM
Referring to its " roller-coaster
pattern of economic growth," Fannie Mae summarized the economy and housing in
2014 as a year that started with a ...
Tue, Dec 16 2014, 10:44 AM
Looking at
things in a different way works very well in marketing as well. Carol
Kimball sent along something for Realtors out there: selling a ho...
Mon, Dec 15 2014, 10:58 AM
Builder confidence as measured by the National
Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Home Market Index (HMI) fell
back slightly in Decem...
Mon, Dec 15 2014, 10:43 AM
"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day." Here are a few tips on how to avoid that. And avoiding mortga...
Tue, Nov 18 2014, 10:48 AM
New home builders regained some of the confidence in
the market they had displayed in September after wavering significantly in
October. The Na...
Fri, Oct 24 2014, 10:59 AM
Fannie Mae said on Thursday that real economic
growth in the last two quarters of 2014 appear poised to exceed 3.0 percent ,
providing a solid basi...
