Mon, Oct 23 2017, 9:26 AM
The undisputed hit of the conference so far in Denver? The MBA’s mPower event on Saturday. Yes, it eliminated "a Saturday off" for over 300 women, but...
Fri, Oct 20 2017, 9:38 AM
Not only are houses becoming smaller, but the lots are smaller also. Trulia tells us that houses built since 2015 occupy, on average, 25 percent of th...
Thu, Oct 19 2017, 9:26 AM
Yesterday I had some interesting geographic involving the United States that prompted Tony H. to send a few more items. The closest state to Africa? I...
Tue, Oct 17 2017, 9:22 AM
Does the Fed Chairman make a difference? Yes. Taylor and Powell’s names continue to be mentioned, although Trump is set to interview Janet Yellen Thur...
Mon, Oct 16 2017, 9:26 AM
Given the latest tax plan, will the mortgage interest deduction stay, but become worthless? The GOP blueprint would double the standard deduction for ...
Fri, Oct 13 2017, 9:24 AM
Per Fed Chair Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve has been working to revise post-crisis financial regulations, making them less onerous and better suit...
Thu, Oct 12 2017, 9:33 AM
The driving force of housing prices is supply and demand, and the demand is increasing. In the Bay Area, and for hundreds of miles north, the smoke is...
Wed, Oct 11 2017, 9:44 AM
I mentioned yesterday that 6,762 institutions took a residential loan application in 2016, per Richey May’s HMDA dashboard data. For perspective, the ...
Tue, Oct 10 2017, 9:20 AM
6,762 institutions took a residential loan application in 2016, per Richey May’s HMDA dashboard data. That is a lot of lenders!! Another big figure is...
Fri, Oct 6 2017, 9:21 AM
Thank you to the California MBA who sponsored a tour yesterday of the Tesla Factory – the building has the 2nd largest footprint in the world (behind ...
Thu, Oct 5 2017, 9:20 AM
One of my early jobs was digging fence post holes and picking up dropped nails for a builder in 100 degree heat. No one wants to do that anymore? In b...
Wed, Oct 4 2017, 9:19 AM
Hey, I am all in favor of the tiny house movement…if I have room for my bottle cap collection, antique banks, gumball machines, Spirograph and Battlin...
Tue, Oct 3 2017, 9:18 AM
Sunday this industry lost a brother and a friend in the senseless and selfish Las Vegas massacre. Brian Fraser was an awesome husband, father, origina...
Mon, Oct 2 2017, 9:26 AM
Freddie Mac is re-imagining the Mortgage Experience to create a smarter, simpler, and less costly origination process. We're using big data and advanc...
Fri, Sep 29 2017, 9:23 AM
Yesterday was the release of the HMDA information by the CFPB. Yes, there is a dashboard to slice and dice the data; more information below. And yes, ...
Thu, Sep 28 2017, 9:25 AM
Research by the Washington Post finds only about 20% of homeowners in Texas counties that were hit by flooding have flood insurance. In separate, but ...
Wed, Sep 27 2017, 9:14 AM
Princess Bride 30-years old ? Time flies. My 94-year old father remembers his childhood phone number in San Francisco: WAlnut 4694. Telephones moved t...
Tue, Sep 26 2017, 9:21 AM
Don’t you hate it when the dog tracks muddy footprints into the house? It certainly doesn’t help if you’re trying to sell your house. What if the foot...
Mon, Sep 25 2017, 9:23 AM
Think you have problems? What if you owned a mall and your main tenant is Toys “R” Us? As in the Toys “R” Us that declared bankruptcy. You aint alone:...
Fri, Sep 22 2017, 9:37 AM
Welcome to the autumn equinox. How about this? There have been no public CFPB enforcement actions or consent orders dealing with QM, ATR, or TRID. Zer...
Thu, Sep 21 2017, 9:25 AM
I am currently in South Carolina, and as it turns out, no other U.S. region is more populous than the South Atlantic United States (Washington, D.C., ...
Wed, Sep 20 2017, 10:27 AM
UCD Information As announced in September 2016,the Uniform Closing Dataset (UCD) mandate remains September 25, 2017Lenders who can deliver the UCD are...
Tue, Sep 19 2017, 9:15 AM
Ginnie, FHA and VA News Lender updates regarding Texas and Florida are quieting down slightly, so let's play some catch up on government programs. Gin...
Mon, Sep 18 2017, 9:23 AM
Saturday's commentary contained a letter from a reader saying, "Dodd Frank may have added more systematic risk than anyone had previously considered, ...
Fri, Sep 15 2017, 9:25 AM
Florida is sometimes called, “God’s waiting room.” The area, tragically, has seen its share of destruction & death this month, but the airports are ba...
Thu, Sep 14 2017, 9:21 AM
Disaster-related news continues to be front-and-center for obvious reasons. HUD announced it will speed federal disaster assistance to the State of Fl...
Wed, Sep 13 2017, 9:25 AM
I do my share of traveling (California Monday, Ohio yesterday, Tennessee today & tomorrow) and see how the residential lending environment changes in ...
Tue, Sep 12 2017, 9:28 AM
Lender and Investor Disaster Updates Conditions are subject to change; check with investors if you have questions. NewLeaf has temporarily ceased fund...
Mon, Sep 11 2017, 9:29 AM
Builder chatter? Builders in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida now have a choice: build new homes or help repair existing stock. Labor will be in short su...
Fri, Sep 8 2017, 9:29 AM
A large earthquake in Mexico, damage in Southern Texas from Hurricane Harvey, and, although Irma has been downgraded, mandatory evacuations in the Mia...
Thu, Sep 7 2017, 9:33 AM
As fires, floods, and storms dominate the headlines, our attention now turns to Irma. With wind speeds of 185mph, it is expected to pass near or just ...
Wed, Sep 6 2017, 9:20 AM
I receive my share of emails, and a portion of them ask me “in the weeds” questions about lenders, programs, and states (“Rob, hook me up with a whole...
Tue, Sep 5 2017, 9:29 AM
Welcome to the Monday-est Tuesday of the year. Hey, the cost to produce a home loan has fallen! Per the Mortgage Bankers Association, total loan produ...
Fri, Sep 1 2017, 9:25 AM
You think you have it rough? Try being a Wells Fargo MLO trying to hold onto your business when every newspaper is carrying stories about the cross-se...
Thu, Aug 31 2017, 9:07 AM
Calling out attorneys with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for its "blatant disregard" for judicial instructions, the CFPB was dealt a l...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 9:26 AM
I love it when a roomful of 50, 60, or 70-year old residential lenders is complaining to me about a lack of “new blood” in the business, and I ask the...
Tue, Aug 29 2017, 9:27 AM
Different words have different meanings for different people. For example, instead of using the word “marriage,” Kim Kardashian prefers the phrases “l...
Mon, Aug 28 2017, 9:13 AM
Tropical Storm Harvey is very slowly creeping back toward the Gulf of Mexico but it was moving at only three miles per hour as of early Monday, so Sou...
Fri, Aug 25 2017, 10:51 AM
My boss arrived at work in a brand-new Lamborghini. I said, "Wow, that's an amazing car!” He replied, "If you work hard, put all your hours in, and st...
Thu, Aug 24 2017, 9:47 AM
Take your pick. A second home can mean endless headaches, unexpected costs, and shattered plans. On the other hand, a vacation home might mean a great...
Wed, Aug 23 2017, 9:12 AM
Trends? A few weeks ago, Ally offered to beat any other lender’s price. And last week 360 Mortgage Group announced a new platform that will allow cust...
Tue, Aug 22 2017, 9:22 AM
From LOs to investors, no matter the real estate market, the story is the same: “Loosen up the credit guidelines all you want, but if there’s no inven...
Mon, Aug 21 2017, 9:21 AM
What does $980k buy in the SF suburb of Vallejo, CA? A property designed by Julia Morgan (think Hearst Castle) with floating stairways, over-sized eve...
Fri, Aug 18 2017, 8:50 AM
Brad Pitt - a wannabe architect? In 2007, Pitt founded the Make It Right Foundation to build homes for families whose original residences had been was...
Thu, Aug 17 2017, 9:38 AM
What will buildable land in Las Vegas set you back? The math is pretty easy: Toll Brothers has acquired 10 acres of vacant land at a once-bankrupt Sum...
Wed, Aug 16 2017, 8:33 AM
I’ve only been in this business since the mid-80s, and as a capital markets person always find it amusing when an owner says, “If it wasn’t for TBA pa...
Tue, Aug 15 2017, 9:17 AM
The science of persuasion? Any good salesperson, or LO, can talk someone into buying just about anything using scarcity, reciprocity, commitment, soci...
Mon, Aug 14 2017, 9:22 AM
Time passes by, and we have one week until the first total solar eclipse crossing the US from coast to coast since 1918. Football fans know that the s...
Fri, Aug 11 2017, 9:47 AM
Fannie and Freddie are doing their best to remain integral to housing finance. Let me save you a lot of money that you’d spend going to conferences ju...
Thu, Aug 10 2017, 9:12 AM
“Rob, I am a new loan officer in an area with lots of high balance loans, and my company caps me out at $7,500 of commissions. But real estate agents ...
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