Mon, Aug 24 2020, 9:21 AM
Winter is coming. I don’t need a new coat to walk from my bedroom through the kitchen and into the dining room to work on this commentary. Who is buyi...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 10:13 AM
RCIII writes, “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some precedented times.” But Tom Petty wrote, “Well, the good old days, may not return… And t...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 9:06 AM
In these times that lenders describe as busy, profitable, and overheated, capital markets personnel are focused on margin & capacity management, staff...
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...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 10:20 AM
“Last night I was a hero! I rescued some beer that was trapped in a bottle.” All of our lives are changing, and thank you to Lydia O. for sending alon...
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...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 10:11 AM
Hundreds of thousands of people in the lending industry, their borrowers, and vendors are grappling with the refi price hit announced Wednesday evenin...
Thu, Aug 13 2020, 10:39 AM
Follow the money! The “talking heads” are analyzing the fact that President Donald Trump donated $6,000 to Kamala Harris' 2014 campaign for reelection...
Wed, Aug 12 2020, 9:05 AM
Dating in college is a matter of many things. I mention this because I wondered what colleges were recommending about COVID, and the University of Geo...
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, Aug 7 2020, 9:12 AM
Let me get this straight. It’ll take a year or two for a cure for a virus that can be killed with hand sanitizer, soap, and hot water? COVID is drivin...
Thu, Aug 6 2020, 9:21 AM
Originators and lenders are having a great summer from income and profitability perspectives. The thick margins are making managers look like champs, ...
Wed, Aug 5 2020, 9:23 AM
Since eating inside a restaurant is problematic, now’s the perfect time to eat better at home, get fit, and stay healthy. Never mind: Who are we tryin...
Tue, Aug 4 2020, 10:11 AM
Sure, you’re making bank now, but are you planning for next year? Is your company doing anything to “team up”? Many lenders, vendors, and real estate ...
Mon, Aug 3 2020, 8:57 AM
Remember a month ago, heading into the July 4th weekend, a resurgence of Covid-19 cases (which many officials attributed to large Memorial Day gatheri...
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...
Thu, Jul 30 2020, 9:42 AM
Lenders are “tonning it,” as indicated by Fannie Mae’s net income of $2.5 billion for the second quarter of 2020, compared with net income of $461 mil...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 9:35 AM
You’ve made it to Hump Day yet again, and as a reward, how about this webcam shot of Warrior Canine Connection’s Puppy Cam ?! (Hey, it’s my commentary...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 9:37 AM
I could see that my cat Myrtle was miffed last night. I doubt if it had anything to do with the supply chain issues impacting appliances and new home ...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 8:57 AM
In these days when you can’t even get 100% of Americans to agree that water is wet, we have hurricanes, gold prices skyrocketing, COVID relief debates...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 10:01 AM
I don’t know if there is going to be a pro football season or not, with lines of scrimmage & heavy breathing 11 inches apart for hundreds of linemen e...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 9:38 AM
Loan officers are known for “holding the hand” of their borrowers. Now Google would like to hold the other. With the help of the CFPB, and launched ye...
Tue, Jul 21 2020, 10:22 AM
Originators, as Deb from Virginia reminded me, are currently like ducks: cool and calm on the surface, paddling frantically underneath. Originators li...
Mon, Jul 20 2020, 9:19 AM
After the shaman finished my taxes last week over the phone, we struck up a conversation about working from home, pros and cons, since it appears that...
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...
Thu, Jul 16 2020, 8:58 AM
I was on the phone yesterday with my psychic who told me, “You will live a long and healthy life if you abstain from anything that brings you joy.” Ok...
Wed, Jul 15 2020, 9:48 AM
I woke up this morning trying to remember if I was working where I am living, or living where I am working. “Personal” and “professional” often overla...
Tue, Jul 14 2020, 9:23 AM
Here's your life graphically under COVID. Many in our business will argue that homes should not be used as piggy banks, COVID or no COVID. For others ...
Mon, Jul 13 2020, 8:59 AM
While in captivity it is important to remember good grooming is important . Good communication is important also. Are salespeople all on the way to ha...
Fri, Jul 10 2020, 9:07 AM
Bubonic plague in China ? What’s next, frogs falling from the sky? Water turning into blood, darkness for three days? A big bank requiring $1 million ...
Thu, Jul 9 2020, 9:16 AM
United Airlines may lay off 36,000? Bed, Bath, and Beyond closing 200 stores? Walgreen’s cutting 4,000? Yup. Lower rates won’t save those jobs, but we...
Wed, Jul 8 2020, 9:57 AM
Crazy times. Brooks Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Rocket Companies filing for an IPO. Genworth Mortgage Insurance completing an excess of ...
Tue, Jul 7 2020, 8:59 AM
This morning analysts are talking about the 5 million people of Melbourne, Australia now under a new 6-week lockdown. Lockdown! In this country, we ha...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 8:44 AM
Here’s a blunt reminder of what can go dramatically wrong in a fireworks stand. And here’s a blunt email that I received over the weekend. “Rob, what ...
Thu, Jul 2 2020, 8:59 AM
Lenders continue to count the piles of doubloons they booked during another record-breaking month; will July be another? M&A deals are still simmering...
Tue, Jun 30 2020, 8:50 AM
Some days you don’t learn much, other days you learn a lot (skip the ad). We’ve learned that COVID is driving our economy, not fundamental economic ne...
Mon, Jun 29 2020, 9:15 AM
Does this mean we can no longer say, “Hindsight is always 2020”?! It’s too bad that the Tiger King is the most normal thing about 2020. For the people...
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 25 2020, 9:02 AM
Some things are uncertain, like whether colleges, driven by ticket & TV income, bring back their football players when the rest of the student body “r...
Wed, Jun 24 2020, 9:07 AM
Companies worldwide are grappling with continued travel bans, and how to bring back employees in waves, if at all. Others are re-designing office layo...
Tue, Jun 23 2020, 9:15 AM
There are all kinds of things that I don’t, or didn’t, know. For example, the other day I learned that when dogs lap water, they’re actually scooping ...
Mon, Jun 22 2020, 9:42 AM
After nearly 100 years, Eskimo Pie ice cream will get a new name . (The name "Eskimo" is commonly used in Alaska to refer to Inuit and Yupik people, a...
Fri, Jun 19 2020, 8:55 AM
Lots in the news. Congratulations to the California MBA (and the MBA and lenders everywhere, since nearly 25% of residential loans come from Californi...
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...
Wed, Jun 17 2020, 8:52 AM
Yesterday afternoon I was doing my quarterly ten minutes of YouTube yoga (“Align those internal organs! “The journey is the reward!”) and my mind wand...
Tue, Jun 16 2020, 8:54 AM
What? You aren’t offering a 30-year rate below 3% yet? Better catch up, because that is where the mainstream press is telling borrowers rates are. Of ...
Mon, Jun 15 2020, 9:03 AM
With the increase in COVID cases, plenty are heading back into captivity, and it is important to keep a level head . (What is so hard to understand ab...
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...
Thu, Jun 11 2020, 9:08 AM
Despite the early stages of quarantine and captivity seeming to drag, the year is rushing along. They always do. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve t...
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