Thu, May 27 2021, 10:52 AM
I was telling my cat Myrtle about the labor shortage in the United States, but she didn’t seem fascinated, to say the least. In fact, she gave me a lo...
Wed, May 26 2021, 11:08 AM
Do you think that creativity is waning? Hardly. Some great products and ideas come out of the mundane. Wonder what happens to your unused hotel soap a...
Tue, May 25 2021, 10:24 AM
Are you ready for a real-live holiday on Monday? With millions more Americans vaccinated since the last holiday, and the end-of-May weather, it’s a sa...
Mon, May 24 2021, 10:48 AM
What is your, and your company’s, value proposition? Lenders must be vigilant, which means paying attention to trends, big and small. For example, on ...
Fri, May 21 2021, 10:34 AM
Should we start the finish of the normal workweek with some non-mortgage stuff? There are green monkeys living near a Florida airport who are connecte...
Thu, May 20 2021, 10:50 AM
There are some who firmly believe that the Hubble Telescope was sent into space to spy on us. These people are better advised to wonder what Google is...
Wed, May 19 2021, 10:58 AM
Face facts: There are many differences between men and women. One of which is that when returning home from the grocery store, women typically are mor...
Tue, May 18 2021, 9:26 AM
The guy I was talking to yesterday asked about my background. I gave him a detailed history of my upbringing, my education, work experience, and why I...
Mon, May 17 2021, 11:00 AM
Here is a dab of trivia to start the week. There are only about 2,000 heart transplants every year in the United States. So, on average, that’s only a...
Fri, May 14 2021, 10:20 AM
Let me start Friday with an apology… to Alaska. (I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.) Jul...
Thu, May 13 2021, 10:44 AM
People around the nation are “voting with their feet.” Illinois: Seven straight years of population declines . California: Losing population during a ...
Wed, May 12 2021, 10:41 AM
Is Better.com worth $7.7 billion , as indicated by the SPAC deal announced yesterday? I guess things are worth the price at which a willing buyer and ...
Tue, May 11 2021, 10:40 AM
The real estate and lending industries operate in a world filled with laws, lawsuits, and regulators. (The latest example is REX’s suit against Zillow...
Mon, May 10 2021, 10:09 AM
Here at the MBAG event in Northern Florida some of the topics of conversation is the economy, the inability to predict interest rates, families, and l...
Fri, May 7 2021, 10:11 AM
It’s Friday, so how ‘bout some non-mortgage supply and demand stuff? Let me start with an apology to Willie Mays’ family (who may or may not read this...
Thu, May 6 2021, 10:44 AM
While the market is digesting the implications Rocket’s earnings (the shares are down in pre-market trading), remember when, in March 2020, it was as ...
Wed, May 5 2021, 10:15 AM
Today celebrates Mexico’s victory over France in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. It was a relatively minor battle (and the French reclaimed Puebl...
Tue, May 4 2021, 10:30 AM
Most other countries construct homes out of concrete, stone, steel, or brick, but here in the good ol’ USA we use wood. A renewable resource, right? I...
Mon, May 3 2021, 10:18 AM
Who is Guramrit Hanspal? Every servicer and lender hope good ol’ Gur doesn’t start giving lessons in how to avoid making mortgage payments , which he ...
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...
Thu, Apr 29 2021, 10:36 AM
A “google” is the large number of 1 with 100 zeroes after it. For lenders, a billion is a large number, and it would be unheard of for a lender to sav...
Wed, Apr 28 2021, 10:55 AM
There sure is a lot going on out there! From California comes news that Finance of America is buying “certain assets” from California’s Parkside Lendi...
Mon, Apr 26 2021, 10:51 AM
While the market digests the acquisition of Flagstar by NY Community Bancorp by the end of 2021, and talk of more deals in the works, in previous gene...
Fri, Apr 23 2021, 10:28 AM
My cat Myrtle seems immune to marketing and advertisement. Not everyone is, of course, and there are some clever, albeit ominous, ways to get messages...
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...
Wed, Apr 21 2021, 9:50 AM
Over the weekend I visited a gas station, and the fellow in the kiosk had a name tag with, “Tim, Fuel Leader” inscribed on it. I will leave making fun...
Tue, Apr 20 2021, 10:13 AM
Whenever I ask my cat Myrtle about her opinion of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, she remains mum. But the CFPB has been in the press lately. ...
Mon, Apr 19 2021, 10:19 AM
As lenders are wondering who will be the next merger or acquisition announcement (news of the Sterling Bancorp and Webster Financial came out this mor...
Fri, Apr 16 2021, 10:48 AM
Suddenly everyone’s ruminating on upcoming mergers and acquisitions (and there will definitely be some), but in the lower management ranks, lenders ar...
Thu, Apr 15 2021, 11:12 AM
There are some clever people out there, especially when it comes to satisfying demand . Lenders know that mortgage pricing is a function of supply and...
Wed, Apr 14 2021, 11:53 AM
"I wear a stethoscope so that in a medical emergency I can teach people a valuable lesson about assumptions.” People shouldn’t assume that all offices...
Tue, Apr 13 2021, 11:07 AM
Why do all underwriters have soft hair? Because they over-condition! (How do your underwriters feel about bitcoin? Brokers up in Canada are now accept...
Mon, Apr 12 2021, 10:35 AM
I received this over the weekend: “I just want to make enough money to live a life that doesn't include Microsoft Teams in my work life.” Many people ...
Fri, Apr 9 2021, 10:41 AM
What’s new out there? Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Phillip has passed away this morning at age 99. Wealthy people in New York seem to be fleeing t...
Thu, Apr 8 2021, 9:55 AM
"i" before ‘e’ except after ‘c’” has finally been disproved by science. Does “machine learning” equal “Artificial Intelligence (AI)”? Nope . And did y...
Wed, Apr 7 2021, 10:01 AM
Does the CFPB have jurisdiction of all mortgage-related agencies, borrowers, and servicers? We’ll see, as yesterday, and this proposal should not come...
Tue, Apr 6 2021, 10:13 AM
For some good news, any company that holds or buys servicing has seen their balance sheet improve with the rise in mortgage rates. For more good news,...
Mon, Apr 5 2021, 10:06 AM
“Some are born to meet, some achieve meetings, and some have meetings thrust upon them.” There are definitely in-person meeting “green shoots” sprouti...
Fri, Apr 2 2021, 11:23 AM
Although today is not a Federal holiday, it certainly seems like it should be one. And not to be “Debbie Downer, it is hard to believe that we have tw...
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...
Wed, Mar 31 2021, 10:54 AM
What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? Short. (There’s the cutting-edge wit this commentary is known for!) Time can play tricks on ...
Tue, Mar 30 2021, 11:14 AM
The demand for shipping on the Suez Canal never stopped. (Do you think this conversation ever took place on the bridge of the Ever Given? “I bet you c...
Mon, Mar 29 2021, 10:22 AM
Today's audio version of the commentary is always available. (This week’s, sponsored by The STRATMOR Group, has a short interview with me today on how...
Fri, Mar 26 2021, 10:39 AM
I just finished my weekly 3 minute “abs of steel” workout, and it’s time for a rant! A wealth tax? How does the Federal government pull that off? Is a...
Thu, Mar 25 2021, 10:16 AM
After spending millions of dollars studying the issue, a blue-ribbon panel found that statistics show that teen pregnancy drops dramatically after age...
Wed, Mar 24 2021, 11:16 AM
My cat Myrtle is not a huge basketball fan. And she certainly wasn’t interested in my idea recently to find fifteen people willing to pony up $1 milli...
Tue, Mar 23 2021, 10:47 AM
Are you looking for signs of the times? The Wall Street Journal, along with supermarket flyers everywhere, tells us that there are more real-estate ag...
Mon, Mar 22 2021, 10:31 AM
Is your business interest rate independent? Are you girding your loins? How is your overhead? If lenders are selling into the same MBS market, executi...
Thu, Mar 18 2021, 10:11 AM
The Internal Revenue Service is not known for being creative, but yesterday it was announced that the usual tax deadline of 4/15 has been moved to 5/1...
Wed, Mar 17 2021, 9:17 AM
Many years ago I asked my father about why we didn’t have a home gym. He replied, “Want exercise? Jog to the liquor store and get me a beer, then do a...
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