Tue, Dec 13 2022, 8:58 AM
The Buffalo Springfield sang, “There's something happening here… But what it is ain't exactly clear.” Those were historical times, and a reminder that...
Mon, Dec 12 2022, 10:00 AM
My cat Myrtle has toys and games, namely the end of a shoelace, a ping pong ball, and an occasional bout with the light from a laser pointer. Humans h...
Fri, Dec 9 2022, 10:09 AM
Stage presence during the holidays? Here’s an example . Christmas, and 2023, is roaring our way… What are you telling your bosses? If you’re working ...
Thu, Dec 8 2022, 9:36 AM
Yesterday I spent some time in Northern California with two groups, one of which was CAMP, and while morale is good and everyone is in the holiday spi...
Wed, Dec 7 2022, 9:05 AM
Let’s have a non-mortgage opening paragraph. Today is “Remember Pearl Harbor Day.” (If you like history, you gotta click on that link and see what is ...
Mon, Dec 5 2022, 9:21 AM
“Hey Chet, since you’re the new guy here with the park U.S. Geological Survey in Hawai’i, you’re going to be the one placing the live cam on the volca...
Fri, Dec 2 2022, 10:13 AM
Robert K. writes, “My Mom always said, ‘Work until your bank account looks like a phone number. Well, I did it! ‘Available balance: $911.’” Speaking o...
Thu, Dec 1 2022, 10:24 AM
Our industry continues to be battered. Starwood Capital-backed Reverse Mortgage Funding and its parent company Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust have ...
Wed, Nov 30 2022, 10:13 AM
In the secondary markets, lenders are trying to wring out every penny from loan sales. For example, in today’s podcast (available here) is an intervie...
Tue, Nov 29 2022, 9:44 AM
Lenders and vendors alike are emerging from Thanksgiving and looking ahead to which day they have off for Christmas in the U.S., the 23rd or the 26th....
Mon, Nov 28 2022, 9:29 AM
Why does opening every ironing board sound like you’re dipping a witch in scalding oil? Cutting costs can sound like that as well, and while we await ...
Fri, Nov 25 2022, 11:57 AM
Putting out this daily commentary is like being in the army: I usually do more by 6AM than many people do during much of the day. The commentary is a ...
Wed, Nov 23 2022, 9:30 AM
Let me save you a web search tomorrow: 1-800-butterball. A web search turned up a misconception: It appears that robber Willie Horton, when he was ask...
Tue, Nov 22 2022, 9:07 AM
When was the last time that you did something for the first time? (Warning: tissues may be needed.) The best use of technology is to improve quality o...
Mon, Nov 21 2022, 9:12 AM
Sometimes it’s tough to find good news out there. For independent mortgage bank (IMB) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered bank lenders, the MBA rep...
Fri, Nov 18 2022, 9:52 AM
Few base their company or family’s savings on the inherent risk in a prediction. But… On a big scale, and we’ve been hearing forecasts of a recession ...
Thu, Nov 17 2022, 9:47 AM
The release yesterday of FHFA’s report on Agency Guarantee Fees prompted some of the discussion here in Kansas City among mortgage folks about how cha...
Wed, Nov 16 2022, 9:52 AM
This morning I head to Kansas City to spend some time with the MBAKC. KC is a mere 500 miles from Oak Park, Illinois, east of Chicago and childhood ho...
Tue, Nov 15 2022, 10:29 AM
The other day I walked in on Myrtle who was looking at the litter cleaning robot on the screen as if to ask, “What’ll they think of next?” Businesses ...
Mon, Nov 14 2022, 9:31 AM
For some reason, companies laying off large numbers of people (most recently Better, Freedom, Mr. Cooper) make headlines, whereas shouldn’t the unusua...
Thu, Nov 10 2022, 9:14 AM
Okay, tomorrow is a holiday for many, but let’s not forget those veterans during the rest of the year. (Warning: tissues required.) Switching gears 18...
Wed, Nov 9 2022, 10:11 AM
As Brian B. reminds me, “In the New England you can tell the changing of the seasons by the changing color of the leaves. In Florida you can tell the ...
Tue, Nov 8 2022, 9:01 AM
This morning I head from Chicago to Atlanta, with a corresponding change in temperatures (20 degrees) and snow readiness (even the Chicago garbage tru...
Mon, Nov 7 2022, 9:35 AM
Do whatever you want to your clock, it doesn’t change the feeding time of your pets! Friday’s a holiday… Want to help out your vet (veteran, not veter...
Fri, Nov 4 2022, 10:04 AM
I was walking down North Wabash in Chicago yesterday and a beggar (is that politically correct?) yelled out at me, “You’re the reason this country has...
Thu, Nov 3 2022, 9:10 AM
Here at the Wisconsin MBA conference in The Dells, a portion of the talk is about buydowns and adjustable-rate programs. Certainly, they are legitimat...
Wed, Nov 2 2022, 9:15 AM
“Why did New Jersey get all the toxic waste and California get all the lawyers? New Jersey got to pick first.” (Hey, I don’t write ‘em.) Quips aside, ...
Tue, Nov 1 2022, 9:20 AM
Forget about layoffs, salary cuts, revenue problems. There’s extra leftover candy in the lunchroom! Uh… do we still have lunchrooms? I hope so. And Th...
Mon, Oct 31 2022, 9:49 AM
For me, the next ten days includes time in Chicago, the Wisconsin Dells, and Atlanta. It isn’t a scary agenda. At the ready for tonight’s Halloween fu...
Fri, Oct 28 2022, 9:50 AM
I could tell that my cat Myrtle was incensed. I think that it may have had something to do with an email regarding artic krill oil, and her clicking o...
Thu, Oct 27 2022, 9:40 AM
The financial press seems enthralled with the business cycle. Expansion, contraction, rates and stocks up, rates and stocks down. Right now they’re al...
Wed, Oct 26 2022, 9:57 AM
As the MBA’s conference in Nashville wraps up, lenders and vendors are in an interesting mindset. Optimists are saying, “There’s a lot of opportunity ...
Tue, Oct 25 2022, 9:24 AM
In the press, here’s some information on the hit the Fed’s balance sheet has taken give the bond market selloff. And here at the MBA’s annual, some of...
Mon, Oct 24 2022, 9:52 AM
There’s a lot of good-natured competition here in Nashville. Around the world, there’s a competition for everything. Eat the most hot dogs, win the Wo...
Fri, Oct 21 2022, 9:47 AM
Denver’s airport has the longest runway in the U.S. at 16,000 feet (3 miles). As thousands of vendors, with some lenders thrown in for good measure, a...
Thu, Oct 20 2022, 9:08 AM
While we had news today of the British Prime Minister resigning, yesterday my doctor asked if anyone in my family suffers from mental illness. I repli...
Wed, Oct 19 2022, 9:24 AM
Here in Orange County, the mortgage talk runs the gamut. Sure, a recession would cause rates to drop, but before that happens, are residential lenders...
Tue, Oct 18 2022, 9:40 AM
Do you think putting together a loan is tough? How ‘bout a giant skeleton in your front yard? This dedicated individual has documented the process of ...
Mon, Oct 17 2022, 9:35 AM
There’s a splendid joke about the definition of an economist being someone who “will know tomorrow why the things they predicted yesterday didn't happ...
Fri, Oct 14 2022, 9:44 AM
Camping: “where you spend a small fortune to live like a homeless person.” Lenders have done a remarkable job in the last few years trying to reduce h...
Thu, Oct 13 2022, 10:13 AM
Why aren’t there 103’s on rate sheets? With 30-year mortgage rates firmly in the 7 percent range, the market has moved too fast for any kind of substa...
Wed, Oct 12 2022, 10:15 AM
Borrowers will bear the brunt of this, but rumors from several sources have Fair Isaac planning on giving most residential lenders an early Christmas ...
Tue, Oct 11 2022, 8:59 AM
Here in Louisville, at AgFirst’s Correspondent Lending Conference, much of the discussion involves going after builder business (“focusing on how fast...
Fri, Oct 7 2022, 9:17 AM
While investors who “jumped the gun” on establishing their own conforming conventional loan limits ahead of the official proclamation at the end of No...
Thu, Oct 6 2022, 10:00 AM
One can always focus on lending activity hitting a 25-year low, or the once mighty loanDepot reducing its own liquidity or handing raises out to execu...
Wed, Oct 5 2022, 9:21 AM
Yogi Berra, when asked about staying in a particular hotel, replied, “The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.” I’ve attended ...
Tue, Oct 4 2022, 9:02 AM
Now we have a butter shortage raising prices ahead of the holidays. Great. While margarine makers are licking their chops over the news, vegans and ot...
Mon, Oct 3 2022, 10:12 AM
This is the start of Fat Bear Week. (My money’s on Popeye.) Those poor bears don’t have much privacy, and it turns out that neither do humans. Consume...
Fri, Sep 30 2022, 10:41 AM
If you’ve ever had to hire people, did you sort your applications into three piles: Mad, Hopeless, or Possible? For his Antarctic expeditions, Ernest ...
Thu, Sep 29 2022, 10:45 AM
Water is a powerful force: just check out this time lapse storm surge video from Ft. Meyers in Florida. Turning to metaphors, Sun Tzu said, “If you wa...
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