Wed, Jan 27 2021, 9:21 AM
The Acting Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced an extension of the deadline for borrowers with FHA mortga...
Wed, Jan 20 2021, 3:08 PM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced on Tuesday that it has extended eligibility for FHA mortgages to individuals who are c...
Wed, Jan 20 2021, 9:49 AM
In his Saturday Morning Cup of Joe , Jeremy Potter quipped, “The word ‘homeowners’ has the word ‘meow’ in it. Good luck unseeing that from now on.” Pl...
Tue, Dec 22 2020, 10:06 AM
I hope that everyone had a happy solstice yesterday, with a few folks writing to suggest that “It is the shortest day, of the longest year, of our liv...
Tue, Dec 22 2020, 8:40 AM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has extended the timeframe for several of the relief programs it put into effect last spring thr...
Fri, Dec 18 2020, 10:39 AM
I don’t know what’s longer, a “regular” minute, “microwave” minute, or a “treadmill” minute. Speaking of time, if someone sends you an email saying, “...
Wed, Dec 9 2020, 9:58 AM
I’m gonna ask my Mom if that offer to “slap me into next year” is still on the table. It’s great to be a lender in 2020, and should be into 2021, but ...
Wed, Dec 2 2020, 3:08 PM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published its 2021 Forward Mortgage Limits for FHA loans. The FHA limits are based on the Fe...
Mon, Nov 30 2020, 9:51 AM
Thank you to Tracy C. sent, “An unemployed court jester is nobody’s fool.” There are millions of unemployed U.S. citizens, and the CFPB, HUD, and othe...
Thu, Oct 15 2020, 12:04 PM
When I grow up, I want to live in… Estonia? If you need a break, and are thinking about leaving the U.S., take a gander at some highly-ranked work fro...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 12:08 PM
Like the report from Black Knight earlier today, the second quarter National Delinquency Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association shows the effect...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 9:21 AM
Three weeks ago the Commentary included a webcam shot of Warrior Canine Connection’s Puppy Cam . (They’ve grown. Rated PG, depending on what they’re u...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 10:13 AM
Out in California and parts of the West it’s “hotter than Satan’s house cat.” California is once again having rolling power outages, and an opinion pi...
Tue, Aug 11 2020, 9:40 AM
Me: “I want to travel.” Bank account: “Where? To work?” Think of people in their 20s and 30s. They’ve grown up with 9/11, the Financial Crisis, and no...
Mon, Aug 10 2020, 9:08 AM
“Paranoia is out of control: This morning, while reviewing this commentary, I sneezed in front of my laptop and the anti-virus software started a scan...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 10:20 AM
As of Wednesday, there were 4.102 million mortgages in forbearance plans. This is 7.7 percent of the 53 million loans in servicer portfolios. Black Kn...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 8:48 AM
Whether it is Northern Virginia or Lake Tahoe , we’re running out of houses. The pandemic has caused a buyer feeding frenzy away from apartments and c...
Fri, Jul 17 2020, 9:12 AM
Want an estimate of how many borrowers might be out there, benefitting from your assistance by you giving them a lower rate (assuming they, and the pr...
Fri, Jun 26 2020, 10:00 AM
There are plenty of tricks in any trade. Just-opened cellulose sponges are already damp because many are premoistened with sterile water. (Without H20...
Thu, Jun 18 2020, 9:12 AM
Capital markets folks focus on risk management every day. The public is getting a taste of another kind of risk management when they go to a bar, tatt...
Fri, Jun 12 2020, 9:08 AM
How the heck could anyone value a mortgage company these days? The value is pretty much comprised of its servicing, cash, receivables, and assets (loa...
Fri, Jun 5 2020, 9:01 AM
Change is certainly constant. “And just like that, every reporter has gone from infectious disease expert to civil rights attorney.” In our biz, if yo...
Tue, May 26 2020, 8:43 AM
I doubt if I have ever pressed “7” or “8” on my microwave oven keypad. Speaking of 7 & 8 (I know, a weak segue), originators are keenly aware of what ...
Thu, May 14 2020, 8:18 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and both GSEs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) have announced a new option for homeowners in COVID-19 forbearanc...
Wed, Apr 29 2020, 10:26 AM
While in captivity it is important to observe the impact of your words during meal times. (Warning: Rated R for language.) Measuring the financial imp...
Tue, Apr 21 2020, 10:17 AM
There are now two entities tracking forbearance statistics on a regular basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and Black Knight. The informatio...
Wed, Apr 1 2020, 9:19 AM
“I hadn’t planned on giving up quite this much for lent.” So true. It is a different world than only a month ago. Of course rates are going to stay at...
Fri, Feb 7 2020, 9:09 AM
I can’t predict the future, don’t even know what I’m doing for lunch today, but in October this commentary suggested that with the MOU inked in Octobe...
Thu, Jan 30 2020, 12:05 PM
In the throes of the housing crisis, it sometimes seemed as though FHA was the only way to finance a home purchase , especially for those with less th...
Tue, Jan 14 2020, 9:00 AM
There are some clever people out there creating abbreviations and acronyms. Megxit? Yes: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exiting from certain royal dut...
Thu, Dec 26 2019, 1:14 PM
“I hate it when people ask me what I’ll be doing in six days. Come on folks. I don’t have 2020 vision.” You can be guaranteed that the Republicans wil...
Wed, Dec 11 2019, 8:41 AM
Mortgage applications activity recovered strongly during the week ended December 6 after the usual Thanksgiving week lull. The Mortgage Bankers Associ...
Mon, Dec 9 2019, 1:11 PM
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) released its annual Report to Congress several weeks ago, reporting significant improvement in its Mutual Mor...
Mon, Dec 9 2019, 9:24 AM
With the Fed content with rates hovering here for the foreseeable future , lenders can focus on other things. "Rob, are you hearing that real estate a...
Wed, Dec 4 2019, 2:43 PM
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner Brian D. Montgomery has announced the loan limits for FHA forward mortgages in 2020. The limits are ...
Tue, Dec 3 2019, 1:54 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHA) had to be bailed out by the U.S. Treasury during the financial crisis after its Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fun...
Mon, Nov 18 2019, 11:54 AM
FHA loans posted a substantial decline in delinquencies during the third quarter, leading an overall improvement in loan performance. The Mortgage Ban...
Tue, Oct 29 2019, 8:19 AM
As noted in the commentary very early yesterday, a shade ahead of the actual details, the big news was the HUD/DOJ/False Claims Act announcement. Cutt...
Fri, Oct 18 2019, 1:46 PM
More than a quarter of new home purchases in 2018 were financed through non-conventional sources. Data from the Census Bureau's Survey of Construction...
Fri, Oct 18 2019, 8:15 AM
Here’s a little trivia for you. What does San Francisco have six of that Manhattan has none of? Dirt roads ! I don’t know if the cost of maintaining a...
Tue, Oct 8 2019, 8:59 AM
As Treasury yields head toward the lows of September, and Monday’s bond market holiday, let’s start Tuesday with some “trivia.” Did you know that one ...
Wed, Oct 2 2019, 8:49 AM
Ever heard of Divvy Homes , ZeroDown , or Flyhomes ? You should have, because your potential clients probably have. Startups are aiming to break down ...
Fri, Sep 6 2019, 9:08 AM
Yesterday the industry reacted to the topic of housing finance reform. HUD presented its plan for FHA . But, like Farrah Fawcett passing away on the s...
Thu, Aug 29 2019, 8:52 AM
Real estate agents, and lenders interested in joint ventures and “affinity programs,” are very interested in the Realogy news that the United Services...
Thu, Aug 15 2019, 8:51 AM
Plenty of economists watch builder activity and mood swings as early indicators of future economic health. Builder confidence in the single-family 55+...
Thu, Aug 15 2019, 8:10 AM
The long-waited Federal Housing Administration (FHA) rule regulating condominium lending was finalized Wednesday afternoon. The Department of Housing ...
Mon, Aug 5 2019, 8:39 AM
Blame mental health. Blame gun control. Blame “the system” or background check procedures. There’s plenty of blame to go around when it comes to the t...
Thu, Jul 25 2019, 9:17 AM
If you, or your borrowers, want $125 from Equifax, or to receive free credit reporting, here’s what you should do. The official settlement website has...
Tue, Jul 23 2019, 8:57 AM
During my travels someone recently told me that the “x” at the end of Cajun names was attributable to illiterate Cajuns “making their mark.” But inste...
Thu, Jul 11 2019, 9:09 AM
In honor of World Population Day today, the Census Bureau tells us that the world’s population will hit 7.58 billion this month. But why believe that?...
