Thu, Dec 13 2018, 9:23 AM
“Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?” It turns out that, in terms of grabbing ...
Wed, Dec 12 2018, 9:09 AM
Who among us has pushed for abolishing the mortgage-interest deduction, supported getting rid of government subsidies for the 30-year fixed-rate mortg...
Tue, Dec 11 2018, 9:25 AM
I’m a capital markets guy. “Bespoke luxury” isn’t in my vocabulary. First-time home buyer prices and floorplans aren’t in the cards at the new Aston M...
Mon, Dec 10 2018, 9:08 AM
The focus is on the holidays but there is plenty of 2019 wedding planning occurring. Despite that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, adults are inc...
Fri, Dec 7 2018, 9:17 AM
The year has sped along, and here we are at Pearl Harbor Day already. Although mortgage rates have lagged, what has pushed Treasury rates down? Releas...
Thu, Dec 6 2018, 8:58 AM
I still receive questions about HMDA. It’s good to know about the 2018 edition of A Guide to HMDA Reporting: Getting it Right! (the Guide). Developed ...
Tue, Dec 4 2018, 9:07 AM
Thinking about locking a loan tomorrow during the National Day of Mourning for George Bush? With the bond markets closed, plenty of mandatory executio...
Mon, Dec 3 2018, 8:49 AM
I admit that I’ve become jaded over the years. Another potential government shutdown comes and goes. As always, our industry, and more importantly tho...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 8:58 AM
As one Native American said, “Only a white man would cut two inches from the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and think he has now has a longer...
Thu, Nov 29 2018, 10:45 AM
Yes, MLO commissions are dropping. But the traditional 6% real estate agent commission continues to be under attack as well, the latest salvo fired fr...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 8:52 AM
Sorry for the length of the commentary today, but there’s a lot going on. In most of the U.S., the 2019 maximum conforming loan limit for one-unit pro...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 9:02 AM
Will today or tomorrow bring the 2019 Freddie and Fannie loan limit change announcement? Stay tuned, as it usually released soon after Thanksgiving. I...
Mon, Nov 26 2018, 9:01 AM
I want a free vacation! I want a free fancy car in the garage in my newly-built McMansion! Apparently, due to sagging sales, with some builders I can ...
Fri, Nov 23 2018, 8:53 AM
"Why is it that when the CDC warns us to not eat romaine lettuce, we take it as gospel. But when the CDC tells us that vaccines save lives, we think t...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 8:56 AM
Do you think non-QM is going to “save your bacon?” After a non-exhaustive survey, it appears that non-QM, aka non-Agency, aka expanded credit, is runn...
Tue, Nov 20 2018, 9:04 AM
Here are some tech developments as we seem to be moving closer to machines running our lives, or a loan being approved instantly by reading a fingerpr...
Mon, Nov 19 2018, 9:18 AM
Thanksgiving means many things to many people: family time, a half day of work Wednesday, or a four-day weekend. To the staff and students of Johns Ho...
Fri, Nov 16 2018, 8:59 AM
Why is the housing market sluggish despite a solid U.S. economy, solid demographics, and pent-up demand? Those don’t matter if prices are out of reach...
Thu, Nov 15 2018, 9:01 AM
With only week until Thanksgiving there’s a lot going on – every one of these stats impacts lenders. CoreLogic tells us that there are 48,390 homes at...
Tue, Nov 13 2018, 9:46 AM
People vote with their feet. Some population movements are dramatic and garner headlines around the world, others not so much. “About 130,000 more res...
Fri, Nov 9 2018, 8:58 AM
Whether bond loans (we all know how management loves those), non-QM, reverse mortgages, or high loan to values, originators everywhere are working har...
Thu, Nov 8 2018, 9:07 AM
“Rob, we just went through our third staff reduction. Have you heard of any vendors that work on forecasting or doing ‘what if’ scenarios for lenders ...
Wed, Nov 7 2018, 9:03 AM
Lenders outside of Ohio were mildly interested in the Ohio Governor’s race where Ex-CFPB chief Richard Cordray lost. As forecast Democrats won the Hou...
Tue, Nov 6 2018, 9:02 AM
“I can’t believe my grandpa is voting Democrat this year…he would have never done that when he was alive.” (Or Republican – your choice.) Things aren’...
Mon, Nov 5 2018, 9:11 AM
Remember the delinquency and foreclosure issues we had several years ago? It is still part of the biz. Hubzu, an online marketing platform, released d...
Fri, Nov 2 2018, 9:15 AM
Many states “gain an hour” Sunday morning by setting clocks back. Robots don’t care what time it is - will they build your next house? Companies like ...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 9:02 AM
For me October included time in Washington (State and DC), California, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Nevada. Lenders are talking about technology, th...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 9:00 AM
“The best part about Halloween is that the cobwebs in my house look like decorations.” For perhaps a morning, the focus for lenders has shifted away f...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 9:07 AM
Plenty of vendors and lenders are focused on raising capital, merging, selling, or closing. It doesn’t take a brilliant detective to see the liquidity...
Mon, Oct 29 2018, 8:59 AM
We have a whole generation of home buyers who have never seen a 5% mortgage rate, and interesting thought. We’re not in the “An ARM is better” territo...
Fri, Oct 26 2018, 10:29 AM
Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see. What if you want to put down roots there? The town, 3 and a half ho...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 9:24 AM
The IRS ruled on the tax treatment of business meals? True .) Congressional Bank buying McClean Mortgage? (Rumor.) A loan officer at Umpqua stealing a...
Wed, Oct 24 2018, 9:06 AM
Lenders, investors, and servicers don’t like bankruptcy, and for good reason. Thank you to Brian B. up in New Jersey who sent along this note about ho...
Tue, Oct 23 2018, 9:56 AM
Historically the FHFA, and with it Freddie and Fannie, announce official loan levels for the following year soon after Thanksgiving . (There are alway...
Mon, Oct 22 2018, 9:24 AM
Residential mortgage bankers are notoriously bad at actually retiring. They usually seem to come back as teachers, consultants, remodelers, etc. But p...
Fri, Oct 19 2018, 10:02 AM
Everyone, and their brother, knows that the costs for builders to build a home are increasing. Politics aside, it turns out that the tariff changes ar...
Thu, Oct 18 2018, 12:37 PM
Whether it is reducing the number of cookies in a package and keeping the price the same or putting less ounces of cereal in a box and keeping the pri...
Wed, Oct 17 2018, 8:46 AM
As thousands of MBA conference attendees head for the DC airports, what’s the chatter? Regulators who want to remind lenders that not being able to af...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 10:29 AM
What’s not being covered by the mainstream press here at the MBA conference? How about, given the rough financial conditions, monthly (and not quarter...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 9:08 AM
What’s new here at the MBA’s conference in Washington DC? Plenty of secretive M&A closed-door meetings, continued talk that Ginnie is carefully eying ...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 9:10 AM
“Rob, are you hearing about investors taking more of a hard line on every issue right now? In recent years they would give an extra day, or waive some...
Thu, Oct 11 2018, 9:04 AM
We’re in the middle of mortgage conference season. (Are there any apple orchards left with all the applewood smoked bacon served at breakfasts?) The M...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 8:52 AM
As Hurricane Michael heads toward Florida & Georgia (with the wind and storm surge, lenders and investors act – for example, Mr. Cooper has temporaril...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 8:59 AM
Maybe I read somewhere that the average age of a loan officer is 76. Maybe not. (Actually, my visits with companies informally indicate that overall a...
Fri, Oct 5 2018, 8:58 AM
“Rob, is any lender making money out there?” Well, what’s the old “joke?” “How do you get $5 million in the mortgage biz? Start with $10 million!” Not...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 9:14 AM
In bad news, mortgage rates went up about .25% yesterday. In good news, more homes are going up for sale. According to realtor.com there was a Septemb...
Wed, Oct 3 2018, 9:25 AM
Between 2001 and 2016, 97 percent of total job growth in the Unites States happened in urban counties. And while rural America is absolutely strugglin...
Tue, Oct 2 2018, 8:49 AM
“Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.” There are plenty of folks out there reminding lenders of the seasonality of ...
Mon, Oct 1 2018, 8:51 AM
Is every non-bank lender of any size looking at offshore options to save money? Perhaps, and underwriting costs and productivity are usually brought u...
Fri, Sep 28 2018, 8:53 AM
In less than 2 years, we'll be closer to 2070 than 1970! Does anyone feel that it’s silly to think of middle-aged mortgage bankers believing that they...
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