Today, 9:49 AM
“I got stuck in a conversation with some wealthy people and one woman asked me how my investments were doing. I replied that both avocadoes should be ...
Thu, Mar 23 2023, 9:53 AM
Things are always changing. No bagpipe player I saw growing up looked, or played, like this. The MBA’s forecast for 2023 volumes changed, and here’s t...
Wed, Mar 22 2023, 10:22 AM
Overheard last night in Northern California: “’The Empire Strips Back’” is the best parody show I’ve ever seen.” I only mention that because life goes...
Tue, Mar 21 2023, 10:29 AM
The way bond math works, every man, woman, and child that owns a fixed-income security issued when rates were lower is now underwater on that bond or ...
Mon, Mar 20 2023, 9:43 AM
“SMONDAY: The moment when Sunday stops feeling like a Sunday and the anxiety of Monday kicks in.” Do you think the shareholders and management of Cred...
Fri, Mar 17 2023, 10:32 AM
It hasn’t been a good few weeks for banks whose names begin with “Si” (Silvergate, Silicon Valley, and Signature, with Silicon Valley Bank declaring C...
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 ...
Wed, Mar 15 2023, 11:35 AM
The Ides of March… And college basketball time. Here in Kentucky (men #6 in the East, Louisville women’s team #5) I overheard someone on the phone. “Y...
Tue, Mar 14 2023, 10:24 AM
Pi Day has come around once again, which is also, coincidentally, Albert Einstein’s birthday. As I head to Lexington for the MBA Kentucky Education Co...
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 How about how predictions and forecasts are nearly worthless when they’re out of date one week later?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...
Fri, Mar 10 2023, 9:34 AM
Julie C. writes, “Did you know that every “c” in “Pacific Ocean” is pronounced differently?” As I head to Northern California, which borders the Pacif...
Thu, Mar 9 2023, 9:47 AM
I wonder if Fed Chair Jerome Powell ever hums to himself, “Everybody’s talking at me, I can’t hear a word they’re saying…” (Angelina Jolie’s father, J...
Wed, Mar 8 2023, 9:00 AM
Last week my son asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I replied, “I didn’t know he could!” The weather here in Palm Springs, California is much different...
Tue, Mar 7 2023, 10:23 AM
While the musical world mourns the loss of Gary Rossington, the last original Lynyrd Skynyrd band member, and I head to San Diego this morning for the...
Mon, Mar 6 2023, 9:11 AM
Some things are nearly timeless, like this annual list of “10 Things to Do,” most of which can be applied any year. Here in Las Vegas, the time of sun...
Fri, Mar 3 2023, 9:53 AM
I won’t sugar coat this. Here’s some rough news for lenders and LOs: With plenty of quant jocks to slice and dice numbers, Goldman Sachs tells us that...
Thu, Mar 2 2023, 9:34 AM
Hey, why wouldn’t you want to join the Mortgage Action Alliance? It doesn’t cost you a penny, and there’s strength in numbers. Signing up takes about ...
Wed, Mar 1 2023, 10:38 AM
I have news for you, and I hope that I’m not bursting anyone’s bubble here. If a meat packer could sell the delicious looking meat that you see in the...
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...
Mon, Feb 27 2023, 10:17 AM
Here in Las Vegas (Why did the Dalai Lama go to Las Vegas? Because he loves Tibet) the population is about 650,000 with all manners of housing, subdiv...
Fri, Feb 24 2023, 10:32 AM
As attendees from the MBA’s servicing conference headed home this week, they may have learned that some airport lounges are cutting back on free guest...
Thu, Feb 23 2023, 10:05 AM
Remember, not all math puns are terrible...just sum. Analyzing residential servicing is a combination of math and psychology. If you were an instituti...
Wed, Feb 22 2023, 10:27 AM
The MBA’s servicing conference is taking place, and it is an important subject, along with the impact of the 30bp cut in MIP for FHA borrowers. Owning...
Tue, Feb 21 2023, 10:24 AM
Not every house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, single story subdivision home. Appraisers and underwriters aren’t big fans of places that aren’t, due to the l...
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...
Thu, Feb 16 2023, 9:21 AM
Raquel Welch, who passed away yesterday, was an icon in the 60s and 70s. Mick Jagger was as well, and sang, “Just My Imagination” many years ago. But ...
Wed, Feb 15 2023, 10:13 AM
“I had a cousin who created a cold air balloon. But it never took off.” Like the intricacies of residential lending, few people are aware of the world...
Tue, Feb 14 2023, 10:12 AM
I am in Reno today, Spokane tomorrow, but I spent much of last week in Chicago which is very much a melting pot of languages. One can walk down the st...
Mon, Feb 13 2023, 9:59 AM
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, traditionally associated with love. But on the opposite side of the spectrum, an Ohio animal shelter is offering to write...
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...
Thu, Feb 9 2023, 9:43 AM
As noted in yesterday’s commentary, mergers and acquisitions of lenders are in the news across the nation. For curious lenders, it is good to have a g...
Wed, Feb 8 2023, 9:56 AM
“Where can you always find money? In the dictionary.” Plenty of lenders and finding the money to buy other companies while smaller ones are looking fo...
Tue, Feb 7 2023, 9:44 AM
“Ain’t I rough enough? Ain’t I tough enough?” Ain't I rich enough? In love enough?” So Mick Jagger sang. This can apply to many parts of life, but in ...
Mon, Feb 6 2023, 9:50 AM
I travel a fair amount via commercial airplane. (Greetings today from Ft. Lauderdale; this afternoon it’ll be Chicago.) But forget traveling in heavie...
Fri, Feb 3 2023, 9:31 AM
Fun with numbers! 1: the number of Chinese surveillance balloons over Montana. (That we know of.) Did you know that the last day of 2023 is 123123? (Y...
Thu, Feb 2 2023, 9:54 AM
Happy Groundhog Day, where the rodent saw its shadow this morning, so plan on six more weeks of winter. There’s an old Yiddish proverb “We plan, God l...
Wed, Feb 1 2023, 9:48 AM
I’ve never seen my cat Myrtle fly commercial. That aside, time “flies” by, Tom Brady retired again, and here’s a trivia question for your friends and ...
Tue, Jan 31 2023, 9:14 AM
Does technology always trump personal skills? Sometimes. But not all the time. Good LOs use the technology that best suits them in combination with th...
Mon, Jan 30 2023, 10:07 AM
Want to really let someone know that you’re no longer interested in them? For $10 the San Antonio Zoo is offering a special Valentine’s Day greeting f...
Fri, Jan 27 2023, 10:01 AM
Every lender or investor with an “a” in their name seems to be subject to rumors and news in recent months. (More on Flagstar and American Pacific bel...
Thu, Jan 26 2023, 9:26 AM
The most dangerous statement in the English language is, “But we’ve always done it this way.” Referral business has always been a mainstay in our biz,...
Wed, Jan 25 2023, 9:00 AM
There are a lot of topics being covered here at the MBA’s IMB conference. One of them is hedging, and if you want a primer on how lenders are protecti...
Tue, Jan 24 2023, 9:54 AM
Conference attendance in 2023 may be down, given layoffs and budget cuts, but here’s a handy dandy list of events this year and state organizations. (...
Mon, Jan 23 2023, 9:53 AM
Do you know what “splooting” is? Here’s a hint: 4-legged animals do it. (Hey, I don’t make these things up.) Quite the word. Words are very interestin...
Fri, Jan 20 2023, 10:17 AM
What would this opening paragraph be without some fun, non-mortgage stuff? Watch a rare livestream of bald eagles nesting on eggs in California. 32 tr...
Thu, Jan 19 2023, 9:37 AM
“Wet” January is going well for me. Wait… did I get that wrong? If food news is more to your liking, Krispy Kreme has rolled out donuts covered in Bis...
Wed, Jan 18 2023, 4:16 PM
A friend out in California asked me how much, on average, I spend on a bottle of wine. I replied, “About half an hour.” Plenty of wine is being consum...
Wed, Jan 18 2023, 9:49 AM
A friend out in California asked me how much, on average, I spend on a bottle of wine. I replied, “About half an hour.” Plenty of wine is being consum...
Tue, Jan 17 2023, 9:19 AM
Carol K. writes, “Back in my day there was so much cheap toilet paper and eggs that we would throw them at the houses of our enemies.” And then there’...
Fri, Jan 13 2023, 9:15 AM
“When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.” In late 2022 vendors and lenders had a taste of the first part of 2023, and it isn’t ...
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