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...
Thu, Sep 27 2018, 9:03 AM
Goldman Sachs telling us it expects four more short-term rate increases by the Fed in 2019, and it doesn’t make money by being wrong. Is your company ...
Wed, Sep 26 2018, 8:39 AM
The last four weeks for me have included spending time with lenders in Montana, Southern & Northern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Illinois. Yes, th...
Tue, Sep 25 2018, 9:04 AM
The U.S. economy and job market are firing on nearly all cylinders (hence higher rates) but the housing market has essentially stalled. Here’s a stat ...
Mon, Sep 24 2018, 9:03 AM
We’re now officially in autumn, one week left in the 3rd quarter. Most states in the U.S. don’t change their clocks until November 4th, but in Europe ...
Fri, Sep 21 2018, 8:40 AM
When I spent an hour interviewing Angelo Mozilo on stage last week for the American Pacific Mortgage Summit, one of the issues we discussed was the co...
Thu, Sep 20 2018, 9:00 AM
This Saturday is the autumn equinox – season-wise, we know what is on the way. “Rob, we, like everyone else, are watching the approaching winter, and ...
Wed, Sep 19 2018, 9:05 AM
I received this question from a well-known lender in Texas. “Rob, our company views loan processors as the unsung heroes of lending. We’re evaluating ...
Tue, Sep 18 2018, 8:41 AM
TRID 2.0: mandatory compliance on 10/1 is only a few weeks away. Temenos has a primer on it , as does Qualia . The MBA had a piece on it . The NY MBA ...
Mon, Sep 17 2018, 9:03 AM
Given plenty of warning, and evacuations, the deaths in the Southeast from Florence have people wondering, “Why do residents stick around?” It is comp...
Fri, Sep 14 2018, 8:58 AM
“Rob, the number of vendors at mortgage conferences seems to be growing. Any idea how many vendors (vs. lenders) there are?” I had no idea but turned ...
Thu, Sep 13 2018, 8:57 AM
“Rob, would you happen to have a suggestion as to where I can find information as to the number of HUD loans done on manufactured housing last year, o...
Wed, Sep 12 2018, 8:53 AM
We’re always reminded that nature bats last. Every lender that I know of bases their disaster policies directly from FEMA’s declarations or from other...
Mon, Sep 10 2018, 8:51 AM
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t slept in a car at least once in their life. Whether it is having too much to drink, weary during a ro...
Fri, Sep 7 2018, 8:54 AM
Some are fond of saying, “Zillow’s never set foot in a house.” But the company is a force to be reckoned with, especially now that it is in the proces...
Thu, Sep 6 2018, 8:54 AM
In September, major league baseball teams expand their 25-man roster to 40 as teams scramble for the playoffs in October. In the mortgage business, ho...
Wed, Sep 5 2018, 9:11 AM
If we’ve learned anything in the last ten years, it’s rarely a good thing when a lender is the focus of a story in the mainstream press, and this is n...
Tue, Sep 4 2018, 8:56 AM
As Gordon bears down on the Gulf Coast, we’re 2/3 of the way through the 3rd quarter of 2018 already. How’d that happen? Looking ahead, most employed ...
Fri, Aug 31 2018, 9:02 AM
“How can you make a comeback when you haven’t been anywhere?” It seems that 3D-printing is going places. NASA awarded five teams $100,000 in a 3D-Prin...
Thu, Aug 30 2018, 9:10 AM
Is there a place for age or sex discrimination in mortgage banking? Of course not. So the court case earlier this month involving Sacramento’s Summit ...
Tue, Aug 28 2018, 8:51 AM
As the East Coast swelters and Hawaii floods, loan officers I’ve spoken to recently believe the high price end in some markets is starting to stall a ...
Fri, Aug 24 2018, 9:07 AM
There are definitional differences between PUDs, condos, apartments, and townhomes, including who owns the land. (Based on historical performance of d...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 9:07 AM
“Rob, I think we’re going to make it.” Thus began a note I received yesterday from the owner of a small retail lender in the mid-Atlantic region. “We’...
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 9:08 AM
Now that we’re more than halfway through the third quarter, how’s it shaping up for lenders? Yes, the industry has reduced its ranks, therefore cuttin...
Tue, Aug 21 2018, 8:45 AM
What can keep interest rates low in the United States? A slow economy. What can cause higher rates? Inflation. To no one’s surprise, U.S. tariffs have...
Mon, Aug 20 2018, 8:55 AM
In my travels around the States, I see that some lenders are nervous. Yes, margins appear to have, for the most part, stopped compressing dramatically...
Fri, Aug 17 2018, 8:55 AM
Capital markets folks know that there are billions of dollars of outstanding 5, 6, 7, and even 8% securities filled with high interest-rate loans. LOs...
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 8:56 AM
Trillions of dollars of securities are tied to LIBOR, but the London Interbank Offered Rate is scheduled to be phased out at the end of 2021. Companie...
Wed, Aug 15 2018, 9:13 AM
Bond prices and mortgage rates, like nearly every commodity, are driven by supply and demand. I mention this because early last week prices of US gove...
Tue, Aug 14 2018, 8:56 AM
A Zen master visiting NYC approaches a hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything." The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the ...
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