Technology is nice (the latest bit being UWM’s goal of accepting bitcoin by year end; magnetic strips on credit cards are going away), but our industry continues to seem to struggle to have much-needed diverse speakers at conferences and Zoom calls, and on a bigger scale, disasters are in the news: people of all walks of life are grappling with wildfires, earthquakes, and storm damage. And of course this impacts lenders and servicers. The U.S. Census Bureau examined effects on the earnings of hurricane-affected workers over the short and long term using job-level data to compare the evolution of earnings for affected workers in four states with workers from matched control counties in the wake of sizeable hurricanes. Short-term earnings losses were attributed to job separations, and long-term gains to wage growth in the affected areas. Wages rose due to reduced labor supply and increased labor demand in the affected labor markets. Damage to a worker’s residence or workplace accentuated short-term earnings losses. Effects varied by pre-storm industry, with larger gains for workers in sectors related to rebuilding. (Today’s audio version of the commentary is available here and this week’s is sponsored by Candor Technology. Lenders using Candor, which just received $12.5 million in funding, produce a high-quality loan that requires only 1 underwriter touch on 70% of loans.)

Lender and Broker Software Products

Yesterday kicked off the Great River MBA Conference in Memphis. I heard the cost of pre-qualifying borrowers was a hot topic. When you think about it, we spend so much time and money finding customers and running credit reports, just to send them off with a piece of paper and cross our fingers that they’ll come back when they find a house. LenderLogix’s QuickQual technology turns this gamble into a guarantee by keeping the borrower engaged throughout the entire home search. So check out the free text demo and never leave your pre-qual conversions to chance again.

Connexions, the leader in appraisal management software, is pleased to announce the newly enhanced Vendor Directory, helping to improve your Appraiser Panel. Managing your Appraiser Panel on Connexions equips you with the tools to add qualified appraisers to your panel. This feature allows you to filter your appraiser search by county, license level, and more. With increased visibility, Connexions’ Vendor Directory allows you to view each appraiser’s performance over the last 12 months and simplify their vetting process. When the appraiser submits their profile, Connexions ensures they have included everything required, including their company name, Tax ID, mailing address and W9 – easing the process of facilitating payments for your accounting department. To find out how Connexions’ Vendor Directory can improve your appraisal process, contact Connexions at Sales@GetCNX.com or schedule a demo today.  

Stearns Wholesale continues to invest in and make an impact on its brokers and Wholesale Lending. And now, the ultimate broker tool just got better. This week, Stearns announced the launch of its new and improved Snap platform! Broker and Non-Del clients can now explore a plethora of new features, including improved navigation, an enhanced user experience that helps complete processes quickly and easily, and quick access to loan management and pipelines. Stearns is also offering multiple training sessions this week to cover these new SNAP redesign updates. To register for Broker Trainings, click here. To register for Non-Del trainings, click here. If you’d like to partner with Stearns or learn more, click here to be contacted.

“Did a VOE hold up one of your closings this year? Service 1st’s COMPREHENSIVE VOE SOLUTION provides up to 70% faster turn-times than industry benchmarks. With quick access to 30+ verified database sources (over 4M employers + 150M records), 1 in 2 reports are delivered under 12 business hours. Month after month, year after year, S1 delivers consistent ROI for our clients. Hesitant to switch? Concerned about onboarding and process disruption? There’s a reason our name is “Service 1st”. We’re here with industry leading support for you through every facet of your relationship with us. Take 5 minutes to connect at srv1st.com/request-for-info or drop us a line at info@srv1st.com.  We look forward to celebrating your continued success!”

Lender and Broker Loan and Warehouse Products

PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), is looking for mortgage bankers and lenders that offer renovation products and programs. PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending currently funds multiple renovation programs and products with little to no additional requirements.  Whether it is a FNMA HomeStyle, FHA 203K Full, Limited or even a USDA Rural Housing renovation loan.  Please ask us about our competitive rates, utilization and deposit incentives, and other ways that we can reduce costs and time to exceed your loan funding needs in 2021.Please contact Deric Barnett, EVP National Warehouse Lending to learn more.

Did you know loanDepot Wholesale has a proprietary Jumbo product that starts at $1 above Conforming loan limits and does not require any investor approvals or second signatures? Our Jumbo Advantage Express program allows for loan amounts up to $2,000,000, LTVs up to 89.99% with no MI required over 80% LTV,  income and asset documentation per DU, and credit scores as low as 660. Available for purchase, rate/term refinance, and cash-out refinance – on primary residence, second home, and investment properties. Check out the matrix and call your Account Executive today with your scenarios!

“The non-QM opportunity just got even better! Verus Mortgage Capital, the largest purchaser of non-QM loans, has improved its pricing again! Our platform allows originators to leverage our internal underwriting team for non-delegated loans and deliver delegated flow, or bulk. Making exceptions and purchasing loans quickly continue to be high priorities for sellers and that’s what we do best. For more information about our programs including options for the self-employed, higher-balanced loan amounts, foreign nationals, investors, Prime Jumbo, Investor AUS, credit-challenged borrowers and more, email Jeff Schaefer, EVP – Correspondent Sales, or call 202-534-1821.”

Disaster News and Products

Another above-average hurricane season is predicted and, unfortunately, in addition to high winds, hurricanes bring heavy rains which often result in massive flooding. Did you know that 90% of natural disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.) in the U.S. involve flooding? And 1 in 5 flood insurance claims come from homes in low to moderate flood risk areas? Unfortunately, floods are not normally covered under a standard homeowners policy. Credit Plus can help you determine if your borrower needs to purchase this protection. We offer timely flood zone determinations and other reports based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date FEMA data. Reach out to Credit Plus to learn more.

Remember in early in 2020 that fires in Australia consumed 46 million acres, an area the size of Washington or North Dakota, destroyed 3,500 homes and thousands of other structures, and killed more than 1 billion animals including an estimated 30% of the nation’s koala population. The photos of those poor animals were horrific. (The fires were extinguished in early March of 2020, just in time for the pandemic.)

In this country, FEMA declares disasters, which in turn signal servicers and lenders to switch on their disaster policies. The West is burning up, and yes, most of it is forest, but plenty of homes are gone or are threatened.

Florida Counties Miami-Dade have been declared by FEMA as Emergency Disaster Areas due to Florida Surfside Building Collapse, Incident Period Date of 06/24/2021.Loans submitted with an appraisal dated on or before the incident period end date or for those submitted without an appraisal, Sun West will require an interior and exterior inspection prior-to-funding or purchase of any loans with subject properties that are determined to be at risk. The inspection must verify that the property is sound, habitable and in the same condition as when it was appraised.

Access the Sun West Seller Guide under the HELP section in sunsoft.

Training and Webinars

If you’re new to non-QM, or seeking to reach potential non-QM borrowers, learn where to locate potential borrowers, including investors, self-employed and those who are asset rich that may be good candidates for a non-QM loan. Learn more during the helpful Scenario Station Webinar by Sprout Mortgage. Submit your unique loan scenario on the registration page and plan to attend the “How to Market non-QM” webinar on Wednesday, August 18th at 9:00 am PT. Register now! Sprout is committed to providing product education and marketing assistance to help you grow: Loan Scenario Desk, complimentary Bank Statement Analyses, Condo Review service, iQualifi (pricing and product tool) and complimentary Marketing tools via The Sprout Marketing Store mean you can serve more borrowers in less time and with less effort. Loan amounts up to $10 million. Register today to learn more.

Rocket Pro TPO’s first-ever Pro Talk is today, August 18 at 2PM ET and will feature Rocket Pro TPO EVP Austin Niemiec speaking with Simon Sinek, a global bestselling author and frequent TED Talk speaker. The inspirational and motivational conversation will be a great discussion on how positivity plays a crucial role in anyone’s, especially a mortgage pro’s, success.

NEXT is the go-to summit for top women mortgage executives. This complimentary event begins today, August 18, and goes through the 20th.

Join Black Night industry experts on Thursday August 19 to discover the operational and economic benefits of selling mandatory that is essential in today's competitive mortgage landscape and strategies to boost revenue and the benefits of mandatory delivering. Sponsored by The MBA of Eastern PA.

On August 19th Freddie Mac and Mortgage Capital Trading, Inc. (MCT) explore the execution, operations, and costs lenders should analyze when considering the move from cash to guarantor.

ActiveComply will be sponsoring this Friday’s edition of The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown with Rich and Rob on the 20th. Melissa Thomas will be leading the discussion with Rich Swerbinsky, the COO of The Mortgage Collaborative, and me in covering current events in the mortgage market for 30 minutes starting at 3PM ET: “The Rundown with Rich and Rob.”

Originator Connect is in Las Vegas starting this Friday the 20th!

Capital Markets

Jobs and housing drive our economy, and consumer spending, crucial to the health of the overall economy, reflects people’s employment. Goods spending is already well-above its pre-pandemic level, but real services spending remains below its pre-pandemic, despite a majority of services spending already being back above its pre-pandemic levels in housing & utilities, financial services & insurance, and health care. It is the four consumption categories associated with leisure activity that remain below their pre-pandemic level: food services & accommodation, recreation services, transportation services and other services.

A resurgence in leisure activity and vacation travels this year will help the discretionary spend categories, and those categories represent the areas poised for the fastest growth in any services sector surge across the coming month. While the economic rebound over the past year has been driven largely by consumer spending and while the bulk of that spending has so far been on goods, a seismic shift to the much-larger services category is imminent. Consumers are flush with cash, and have spent over the past year, given the opportunity. Outlays on both durable and nondurable goods have fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels and gone on to new highs. It is more the “fun” stuff… The activities that have been off-limits amid restrictions and social distancing requirements (dining out, hotels, travel, and various categories of recreational services) that will be a key driver of growth over the next several quarters.

Concerns are growing that the global economic recovery will lose momentum with further pandemic-related shutdowns. I know I said that yesterday, but sometimes there just isn’t a lot going on in the bond market and news of the pandemic trumps any weekly or monthly news. Investors are watching the situation in Afghanistan, but had a heavy morning slate of data yesterday to parse through. July retail sales missed expectations, with declines in most categories, though we did see upward revisions to the June figure. There was the stronger than expected Industrial Production Report for July, which bodes well for future economic output. However, a weak NAHB Housing Market Index reading for August was not entirely unexpected.

Today’s economic calendar began with mortgage applications from the MBA for the week ending August 13, which showed a decrease of 3.9 percent from one week earlier. Mortgage rates rose modestly during the reporting period. The MBA Builder Application Survey data for July showed mortgage applications for new home purchases declined for the fourth straight month, down27 percent compared to a year ago and 4 percent compared to June. We’ve also received housing starts and building permits for July (+7.0 percent at 1.534 million, +2.6 percent at 1.635 million, respectively). Later today brings a $27 billion 20-year bond auction, but the likely highlight of the day will be the release of the minutes from the July 27/28 FOMC meeting. The minutes will be scrutinized for any talk of tapering. The Desk of the NY Fed will conduct two 30-year 2 percent and 2.5 percent MBS purchase operations for up to $4.9 billion. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices roughly unchanged from Tuesday and the 10-year yielding 1.27 after closing yesterday at 1.26 percent on no substantive news.

Careers 

Evergreen Home Loans™ is honored to receive national and local recognition for their great workplace culture. Tamra Rieger, Chief Operating Officer, was named a HousingWire 2021 Women of Influence winner for her remarkable leadership and oversight in advancing the company’s strategic initiatives. This included their innovative CashUp™ by Evergreen program which allows homebuyers to turn their offers into cash. Evergreen was also named #10 on the Best Small & Medium Workplaces list by Great Place to Work® and Fortune magazine. In addition, the Puget Sound Business Journal included Evergreen on a list of Corporate Philanthropists, recognizing the company’s charitable giving through its Evergreen Cares Foundation. Evergreen is grateful for their family of associates who create a WOW culture with 99% of surveyed associates saying Evergreen is a great workplace. Visit the Careers page to learn more. Great Place to Work® is a registered trademark of Great Place to Work® Institute.

Finally, there’s a better business model that provides LOs with ultimate control, unmatched pricing & a proprietary LOS that promotes faster closings! See how top producing loan officers are leveraging digital storefronts to expand market reach and increase volume. Canopy Mortgage is hiring top producing Loan Officers and Branch Managers. Build your business the way you want, Join Canopy to stand out in the following markets: CA, CO, FL, GA, HI, IL, NC, SC, TN, TX, WA.  Reach out to Josh Neumarker at Canopy Mortgage for more information 801-330-5016.

First Community Mortgage is expanding its Delegated Correspondent Lending Division! “This award-winning company is looking for AEs in the North, South, East, West, and all parts in between, to develop and deepen business partner relationships in our growing Correspondent channel. We are committed to offering unparalleled service and support to our business partners, as we seek to broaden our reach into all markets across the US. As a relationship lender with a penchant for service, FCM recognizes that people are the key to successful partnerships! If you are interested in learning more about FCM’s Correspondent Lending division and our “best in class” operations team, please send a message to Brandon Sandefur, EVP Del-Corr.”