Fri, Jun 20 2014, 9:45 AM
"Affordability remains a hotly debated topic, especially when
considering both rent affordability and mortgage affordability," or
so says Zillow. ...
Thu, Jun 19 2014, 10:26 AM
"My
friend has a lifesaving tool in her car which is designed to cut
through a seat belt if she gets trapped. She keeps it in the car trunk."
So...
Wed, Jun 18 2014, 11:36 AM
Merlin
Pearson writes, "Statistics are like a lamp post to a drunk. They are
used far more for support than they are for illumination." A survey b...
Tue, Jun 17 2014, 11:00 AM
Economists
call it "wage source". In a nutshell, it's how you obtain your cash.
Many work in order to fill their bank accounts; however, in the co...
Mon, Jun 16 2014, 9:45 AM
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, who
tracks population movements (and probably phone conversations too..."who
said that?"), there are a few co...
Fri, Jun 13 2014, 11:10 AM
We're racing toward the Summer Solstice, with the most daylight in the Northern Hemisphere, but Happy Friday the 13 th
AND a full moon! This combin...
Thu, Jun 12 2014, 10:28 AM
$650,000 is a lot of money for many companies. That was the amount of the latest fine levied by the FTC on a Pennsylvania home builder. Yep, one d...
Wed, Jun 11 2014, 10:35 AM
Appraisers run across all types of buildings. But how about this set of buildings , constructed to look like exactly what goes on inside the buildi...
Tue, Jun 10 2014, 10:21 AM
"Action
will be taken to prevent the next disaster as soon as possible after it
has occurred." In an unrelated topic, although in the same paragra...
Mon, Jun 9 2014, 10:26 AM
I
don't know where this topic falls, somewhere between "That's mildly
interesting", and, "So what?" Although I bike a lot, I might fall into
the...
Fri, Jun 6 2014, 10:29 AM
It
is a good thing to put this gfee thing in perspective. They impact a
lot of things: the price a borrower pays for a loan, the share of
busine...
Thu, Jun 5 2014, 11:10 AM
The Mutual
Mortgage Insurance Fund is a fund that insures mortgages made by the
Federal Housing Administration on single-family homes;
the fun...
Wed, Jun 4 2014, 10:14 AM
Any lender that is closing more loans than a year ago, or has a larger pipeline, should be proud of themselves.
The Mortgage Bankers Association sai...
Tue, Jun 3 2014, 10:45 AM
How's it going with "private money" and mortgage-backed securities? Not so hot .
The creation of MBS is down, as one would expect, and of course ...
Mon, Jun 2 2014, 9:59 AM
There
is a lot of industry banter about preferred lenders (mostly by
non-preferred lenders) and affiliated relationships (mostly by those not
in...
Fri, May 30 2014, 10:49 AM
"I'm
going to retire and live off of my savings. The second day, I have no
idea what I'll do." Quips aside, many Americans have no clue about how ...
Thu, May 29 2014, 10:28 AM
There
are many ways to divvy up residential lenders: size, agency approvals,
QM or non-QM, geography, broker and banker, take your choice. One ver...
Wed, May 28 2014, 10:40 AM
How much is 90-minutes of your time worth? How about that of your
originators, underwriters and processors? MBA recently launched a new web course ...
Tue, May 27 2014, 10:11 AM
The industry knows that 2013 was the tale of two profitability profiles for residential lending:
the first half and the second half. Now the MBA hav...
Fri, May 23 2014, 11:19 AM
I
remember when I first entered the working world, after a few months my
HR person asked, "I see that you're not signed up for the company's
401...
Thu, May 22 2014, 9:55 AM
More informal/off-the-record chatter from the MBA's Secondary Conference . Many companies are moving toward a variable cost model
rather than fixed...
Wed, May 21 2014, 10:15 AM
Here's a little more informal/off-the-record chatter from the Secondary Conference .
First, there is a general sense of optimism among the particip...
Tue, May 20 2014, 9:40 AM
Various topics from the hallways of the MBA's Secondary conference... How can the CFPB go from a
handful of employees to over 1,400 in a few short ...
Mon, May 19 2014, 10:27 AM
People
here at the Secondary Marketing conference are keenly interested in an
insider's view of what the MBA is focused on, and what is causing a ...
Fri, May 16 2014, 10:12 AM
The
Census Bureau tells us that American families formed 423,000 new
households during the 12 months ending 3/31/14. 79% of the new
households...
Thu, May 15 2014, 10:38 AM
With
so many economic indicators that flood my email account each month, I
hate to introduce another one for fear of paralysis. However, I will
...
Wed, May 14 2014, 10:41 AM
Hey,
I have an idea! Let's have the government encourage expanding lending
to riskier borrowers . That way we can sell more houses, real estate
...
Tue, May 13 2014, 10:54 AM
Sometimes it is hard to keep track of the players out there, both companies and individuals. But late last week Cole Taylor Bank ,
a wholly-owned s...
Mon, May 12 2014, 10:38 AM
"Under
the current rules, would it be illegal for a company to offer a
mortgage program that had discounted mortgage rates for people with
col...
Fri, May 9 2014, 10:18 AM
"Where
do I go to find out about resources to mortgage lenders and mortgage
brokers to learn about state specific requirements , licensing, the
...
Thu, May 8 2014, 10:29 AM
In late summer 2008 the Treasury
Department initially pledged $200 billion of financial help for F&F
in anticipation of future mortgage defaults, ...
Wed, May 7 2014, 10:45 AM
Radian
Group not only reported its net income for the quarter ended March 31,
2014, of $202.8 million (compared to a net loss for the quarter end...
Tue, May 6 2014, 10:06 AM
"Is there a credible source I could quote as to how mortgage
originations YTD for 2014 compare to 2013?" That's an easy one. Marina
Walsh, VP at t...
Mon, May 5 2014, 9:39 AM
How many days do we have to cure a GFE tolerance violation ? The Mortgage Bankers Association of the Carolinas wrote, "Regulation X provides: 'If
...
Fri, May 2 2014, 9:52 AM
There's
nothing wrong with early dinners! According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a
meeting with the National Council of Senior Citizens resulted in ...
Thu, May 1 2014, 10:35 AM
Happy
May Day! After good a good March and a decent April, mortgage banks are
left wondering what May will look like. Today I travel from Chicago ...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 10:37 AM
Yes, I remember it well; it was 2005 and saying "Jumbo" or "Alt-A" without adding an IO at the end was unthinkable .
Borrowers would ask, "What hap...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 9:59 AM
Let's face it: lenders who ignore compliance are doomed in the
long run. Here's a recent quick note provided by the Mortgage Bankers
Association...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 10:04 AM
Another
trend that is winding down in the banking industry is the long period
of Fed Funds at or near 0%. Whether this happens in 2015 or 2016, ke...
Fri, Apr 25 2014, 10:23 AM
Bank of America might have to pony up yet another $13 billion to settle
more residential mortgage-backed security claims? No wonder the lending...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 10:18 AM
It
is "bring your kid to work" day. Some kids are fascinated with how much
others make. They grow up to be underwriters . Others are fascinated
...
Wed, Apr 23 2014, 10:28 AM
The number of banks available to consumers is decreasing - but it
is not because of failures. In fact, there has not been a bank failure
in the ...
Tue, Apr 22 2014, 10:17 AM
Here's a good question: can
a lender who emails disclosures to loan applicants via an e-delivery
system, still remain compliant under RESPA and TI...
Mon, Apr 21 2014, 9:32 AM
The commentary on Saturday noted predictions for 2014, and how things were shaping up so far. Attorney Phil Stein observed, "Here is another issue to ...
Fri, Apr 18 2014, 9:52 AM
Tommy
LaSorda supposedly said, "I found out that it's not good to talk about
my troubles: 80% of the people who hear them don't care and the other...
Thu, Apr 17 2014, 9:50 AM
Home affordability is not a modern problem. In Zillow's In Search of Affordability , Krishna Rao writes, "Across
the United States, strong home p...
Wed, Apr 16 2014, 10:07 AM
People who study mortgage lending and trends continue to ruminate on the Wells Fargo and Chase numbers from Friday.
JPM's mortgage origination vol...
Tue, Apr 15 2014, 9:46 AM
Every once in a while a paper is written which touches on a
subject I feel is important; such is the case with the FDIC's release
of Community B...
Mon, Apr 14 2014, 9:03 AM
The Fed's comments on housing last week were interesting. "Housing activity
remained slow over the intermeeting period. Although unfavorable weath...
Fri, Apr 11 2014, 10:12 AM
As they say, "money talks and ---- ---- walks." I don't know who the "they" is in that sentence, but "regulators" are boosting the capital rule fo...