Tue, Jul 16 2024, 11:29 AM
The percentage of refinances of overall volume has fallen dramatically from a few years ago, leaving purchases to be the basis of business out there. ...
Mon, Jul 15 2024, 11:39 AM
Yes, I know that this is a mortgage commentary, but some things are way above that. (Warning: tissues may be required; what’s happened legislatively s...
Thu, Jul 11 2024, 11:40 AM
I have good news and bad news, which do you normally prefer receiving first? Today (7/11) is Slurpee Day at 7-Eleven (good news), where Citigroup exec...
Thu, Jun 20 2024, 11:49 AM
Taylor Swift sang of a “Cruel Summer” and vendors and lenders hope that it isn’t. “If you ever get cold, stand in the corner of a room for a while. Th...
Wed, Jun 12 2024, 11:35 AM
Florida became a state in 1845. Sixteen years later, kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters, news, and newspapers. Now we have… ...
Wed, Jun 5 2024, 8:28 AM
I head to San Diego today, home to an estimated 300-500,000 roaming feral cats! Cat fans are quick to point out that the word "homeowner" has the word...
Fri, May 31 2024, 11:42 AM
How is it that there are only three weeks until the summer solstice? Three more weeks of the amount of daylight increasing in the Northern Hemisphere,...
Mon, May 20 2024, 11:35 AM
Greetings from the Arch MI meeting room space! Heard in the hallways here at the MBA’s Secondary conference in Manhattan: “Our loan officers are telli...
Fri, May 17 2024, 12:02 PM
We’re only a few days away from the MBA’s Capital Markets Conference. Attendees, don’t forget to pick up your badges, or else! (Speaking of interestin...
Thu, Apr 25 2024, 11:40 AM
I travel a little bit, so it was with great interest that I read, “The Department of Transportation… will soon require airlines to quickly refund pass...
Mon, Mar 11 2024, 10:56 AM
When I was a teen, I worked a variety of jobs but never at a fast-food joint. No one made much money working at Mickey D’s or Dairy Queen. Now, in Cal...
Thu, Feb 1 2024, 11:07 AM
Ahead of Groundhog Day tomorrow, one realizes that our industry certainly has its share of unexpected ups and downs. The latest example of a “down” is...
Wed, Jan 17 2024, 11:20 AM
Today I am in San Diego for the SD CAMP event. At the same latitude, a poll was taken by Texas Governor Greg Abbott's office which asked whether peopl...
Wed, Jan 10 2024, 10:51 AM
I’m so tired of the mainstream press talking about the 2024 election, 10 months out. Given that the median age of U.S. citizens is about 38 years, one...
Thu, Oct 12 2023, 11:10 AM
Today is 101223. Of course you know, by looking ahead to the last day of 2023, that it will be 123123. By then, how many times do you think you’ll hea...
Thu, Sep 28 2023, 10:23 AM
Seen on someone’s laptop here in Phoenix: “If Pete Davidson can date a Kardashian, you can be a homeowner.” From a business viewpoint, if you think mo...
Fri, Sep 15 2023, 8:34 AM
“Happy” 15-year anniversary of Lehman Brothers going belly up. “I was struggling to understand how lightning works and then it struck me.” One of the ...
Tue, Sep 5 2023, 10:40 AM
It was a rough weekend. My cat Myrtle, resting comfortably at the top of the food chain, was visibly miffed at me not nominating her (again) for the v...
Tue, Jul 18 2023, 11:08 AM
There’s a definite shift going on in banks as continued layoff rumors in jumbo and portfolio divisions are rampant. At the other end of the job chain,...
Wed, Apr 26 2023, 10:14 AM
There are 3 things that tell the truth: small children, drunk people, and yoga pants. HMDA data is close behind. Warning: sobering thoughts ahead, and...
Fri, Apr 7 2023, 10:11 AM
Rates can be 0 percent, but if there are no homes to buy, lender and real estate agent activity will grind to a halt. I realize that this is an extrem...
Thu, Mar 16 2023, 10:16 AM
Have to buy something for someone in your life who has everything? If they’re a basketball fan, how about food smoked with the same type of wood used ...
Mon, Mar 13 2023, 9:23 AM
Where should we start the week? How about how predictions and forecasts are nearly worthless when they’re out of date one week later? How about with a...
Tue, Feb 28 2023, 8:28 AM
“Life was much easier when apple and blackberry were just fruits.” But perhaps not as interesting. Here’s what happens when you put a West Coast MI re...
Fri, Feb 17 2023, 10:07 AM
Nature is full of trivia. The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year. The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling spac...
Fri, Feb 10 2023, 9:17 AM
As I type this piece on Friday morning, I am at the O’Hare aerodrome for a flight from Chicago to San Francisco. O’Hare is packed and humming… What ec...
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...
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 ...
Mon, May 23 2022, 10:52 AM
I recently opened my slang dictionary to the page that defined the origin of, “Different ways to skin a cat” and left it near my cat Myrtle’s water bo...
Thu, Apr 21 2022, 11:36 AM
When you’re working from home, how interesting can next Thursday’s, April 28th, “Take Your Children to Work Day” be? WFH, or hybrid arrangements, is a...
Mon, Mar 21 2022, 11:43 AM
Today, for yield curve fans, the 3, 5, and 7-year Treasury yields are all above the 10-year yield. But yesterday was the Spring Equinox, aka Vernal Eq...
Thu, Mar 17 2022, 10:10 AM
Walking around Memphis yesterday got me to thinking, “I wonder what the part of my brain that used to store people’s phone numbers is doing now.” Mayb...
Thu, Mar 10 2022, 10:20 AM
“I don’t always go the extra mile, but when I do, it’s because I missed my exit.” And that extra mile costs more every week. Higher gasoline prices ce...
Fri, Dec 10 2021, 10:46 AM
When the public sees headlines like, “A Black Couple had a White Friend Show Their Home and Its Appraisal Rose by Nearly Half a Million Dollars,” of c...
Thu, Dec 9 2021, 11:08 AM
LIBOR has taken longer to exit the stage than Lawrence Olivier, but the final curtain call is coming for the index. The Consumer Financial Protection ...
Tue, Dec 7 2021, 11:17 AM
Today I head to San Diego for a California MBA board meeting, the home base of the Pacific Fleet. It’s been 80 years since Pearl Harbor, a “date that ...
Fri, Oct 29 2021, 11:27 AM
I got some exciting news yesterday: Snickers are gluten free! Actually I don’t care (the more gluten the better… does the government allow us trick or...
Thu, Aug 12 2021, 10:41 AM
“I hope that I never go to jail because I haven’t memorized a phone number since 2001.” (Speaking of numbers, investors are mulling over Guild’s 2 nd ...
Tue, Jul 6 2021, 11:08 AM
Dang it is becoming more and more expensive to follow all the rules and regulations to originate residential loans. These costs, of course, are borne ...
Tue, Jun 29 2021, 1:17 PM
The government stakeholders involved in the various pandemic related forbearance programs appear to be directing their full attention to their upcomin...
Wed, May 5 2021, 10:52 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says the overall mortgage related complaints it has received recently are at their highest level in th...
Fri, Apr 30 2021, 10:19 AM
How are we 1/3 done with 2021 already? Few are sitting on their hands as the months roll on. Exxon had its first profitable quarter since 2019. Fannie...
Wed, Apr 28 2021, 10:57 AM
Lenders will have more than an additional year to comply with the General Qualified Mortgage (QM) Rule . The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFP...
Thu, Apr 22 2021, 10:25 AM
Not you, of course, but many other people in our biz are elderly. Sure you haven’t seen them in person in a year, but they’re there. Or they have elde...
Thu, Apr 1 2021, 10:45 AM
Worried about it being April Fool’s Day? Don’t be. We’ll take care of you. Today's podcast includes a discussion on extended locks, as well as an inte...
Fri, Mar 5 2021, 11:37 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed to delay the mandatory compliance date of the General Qualified Mortgage (QM) final rule ...
Mon, Feb 8 2021, 9:27 AM
A Pennsylvania man is suing Smart Water for not making him smart, and here, in this Commentary, I’d like to formally announce my lawsuit against Thin ...
Tue, Feb 2 2021, 11:18 AM
The Urban Institute (UI) has looked at a final mortgage rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in late 2020 which would provid...
Mon, Feb 1 2021, 11:01 AM
January’s already in the rearview mirror and our industry is keeping an eye on all kinds of things. Like silent movies moving into “the Talkies” in 19...
Tue, Jan 19 2021, 11:03 AM
Sometimes running a mortgage compliance department can seem like this short clip Indiana’s Carol K. sent along. Yet there is value in compliance, and ...
