Today I am in Kansas City, where it is “only” 96 degrees. Phoenix hit 119 degrees this week. Let’s ask the folks over there what they think about housing made out of metal shipping containers. Seriously, in heat like that we have to use our noggins - otherwise tragic things can happen, like a gal dying after biking in the sky-high temperatures.

There is renewed interest in the future of Fannie & Freddie lately. Partly due to this being an election year where big, long-term problems get their every 4-year moment in the sun and partly because some shareholders continue to push for their rights (or perceived rights) demanding a determination on the value of their shares. Bloomberg reported the likely Clinton Plan, likely because two of her closest campaign advisors were intimately involved in developing housing policy at the Obama Administration, is to replace Fannie & Freddie with a single, government entity resembling the FDIC. The merits of the plan notwithstanding the proposal will be altered, one way or the other, depending on who Secretary Clinton selects as her running mate and how the general election evolves on questions of government support of the economy. Whereas housing policy might generate one or two questions in a single debate, the overall theme of government involvement in the economy is likely to only grow as we near November.

Fannie Mae's update to Desktop Underwriter (DU) is scheduled for the week of September 24, 2016. "We are focused on delivering the best technology solutions that provide certainty and stability for our customers. Our release date ensures that all of our customers have the time they need to fully test and transition to the new DU version 10.0.  We remain unwavering in our commitment to earn our customers' business every day and look forward to bringing them the industry leading capabilities of the enhanced DU, such as use of trended data in credit risk assessment and automated underwriting for borrowers with no traditional credit to expand access to mortgage financing."

In Saturday's commentary I discussed the upcoming changes to the good ol' 1003, the Uniform Residential Loan Application. Yes, changes are in the works. Some, given the recent TRID experience, view the changes as a nightmare. Others don't. But just think of all the other aspects of pricing, tracking, doc drawing, title, etc., etc., information from the 1003 touches.

In response, from Tracy Sanderson, Banner Bank's VP/Policy & Training Manager, comes, "Fannie Mae's website contains an update, and it has to do with the Uniform Loan Application Dataset (ULAD). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are revising and redesigning the Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) and developing a corresponding standardized dataset, the Uniform Loan Application Dataset (ULAD). 'The revised URLA form will provide lenders and borrowers with greater clarity and an easier, more consumer-friendly loan application.' Yep, it's coming, and the format will be similar to LE and CD. For simple borrowers, it might only be 3 pages long; for complex borrowers, it could be 15+. The target implementation date is 1/1/17 (think HMDA)."

All this chatter about Fannie Mae reminded me of a recent story opining that U.S. taxpayers may be paying too much for construction of the new headquarters of Fannie Mae. "The new Fannie Mae building in downtown Washington has seen its per-square-foot costs increase by more than 50 percent in about eighteen months, according to the watchdog's report, which said the original cost estimate for the structure was $770 million."

It goes on. "We believe there are significant financial and reputational risks from the projected costs associated with Fannie Mae's relocation of its headquarters," reads the report from the independent auditor of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Director Watt shot back, "The sale of the properties Fannie Mae currently owns and occupies will result in substantial additional financial benefits," Watt wrote in response to a draft of the report. The new building envisions spiral staircases and 'bridges' that transverse the building but those are part of a modern building design and not extravagances," Watt wrote.

At the other agency, Freddie Mac hit $650 billion in transferred credit risk to private capital. This is made up of $500 billion in single-family loans since 2013 and $150 billion in multifamily loans since 2009. On top of that, Freddie spread the word that it has significantly reduced its legacy mortgage credit risk through the securitization and/or sale of more than $50 billion in less liquid and impaired assets from its mortgage-related portfolio since 2013.

Freddie Mac debuted its first official credit risk transfer program in 2009 with a multifamily deal, and then in 2013, for single-family mortgages, did a transfer of credit risk when it introduced both Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) debt notes, which are sold to bond market investors, and Agency Credit Insurance Structure (ACIS), which transfers risk to insurance companies.

Greystone announced it has originated and closed $1,000,000,000 in Freddie Mac Small Balance Loans since the Freddie Mac Small Balance Loan program was launched in October 2014. In that time, Greystone has closed over 350 Freddie Mac Small Balance Loan transactions from the East Coast to the West Coast.

As noted last week in this commentary, Resitrader, a provider of whole loan mortgage trade management software, announced that more than $1 billion in loans have been presented and delivered on its mortgage trading platform since its introduction late last year. "Resitrader automatically normalizes loan data so buyers can easily search for loans by investment criteria and loan type."

Call it Brexit or Bremain, it is dominating the world bond and stock markets. Trading desks everywhere are girding their loans. For example, clients of Bank of America Merrill Lynch received this note of warning. (And take notice of the spelling of "endeavor" - a clue as to its origin.) "We would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the measures Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) has in place for trading in volatile market conditions.

"In periods of extreme volatility, we have on some occasions seen delays to trades, including requests for quotes (RFQs), order taking, order processing, price streaming and/or market data dissemination.  As a reminder, we are not obligated to provide price streaming, respond to RFQs, or accept orders for execution in any particular manner, and all determinations of if, whether, or when market criteria have been met for execution shall be made by us in our sole discretion.

"BofAML's electronic trading platforms have volatility controls that may temporarily suspend execution and price streaming in response to rapid and adverse market movements.  It is possible that different clients submitting orders or requesting trades with similar profiles may achieve different outcomes, including whether and when orders or trades will be executed.

"During volatile markets, we will endeavour to continue to serve clients but we may not be able to provide the product offering, level of execution, liquidity and pricing - including in electronic markets - as would be the case under more normalized market conditions.

It seems like the Brexit campaign was losing momentum ahead of Thursday's UK referendum, with polls showing more support for "Bremain" - darn those Brits are clever with words. And so Monday started off with a sell-off prior to the opening, and pretty much stayed there all day. So aside from some intra-security and inter-rate minor movement, not much happened - so I won't waste your time.

So now its Tuesday, and the sun will start rising later and setting sooner. Fed Chair Yellen's semi-annual Monetary Policy Report before the Senate Banking Committee, starting at 9AM Kansas time, will be the highlight today when she will get a chance to elucidate on recent Fed decisions. If you have some spare change sitting around the Treasury will auction $50 billion of 1-month bills, $20 billion of 1-year bills at 11:30am, followed by $34 billion of 5-year notes at 1:00pm. We closed Monday with the 10-year sitting at 1.67% and in the very early going today it is at 1.68% with agency MBS prices a shade worse.

Training and Events

Are you maximizing opportunities to work with low-to-moderate income (LMI) borrowers? Join National Mortgage Professional Magazine on Thursday, June 23 at 2PM EDT for a complimentary webinar titled "Are Low-to-Moderate Income Borrowers Worth the Risk?" presented by Freedom Mortgage. You will learn that just because these LMI borrowers have low FICO scores doesn't mean they're a bad investment. We know everyone deserves a chance (or two) to achieve the American dream of home-ownership. In this webinar we'll shine the light on fact vs. fiction for these loans and why we embrace LMI borrowers. Click here to sign up for this FREE Webinar!

Registration is now open for The Mortgage Collaborative's Summer Lender Member Conference, which will take place August 21-23 at the Four Seasons Hotel & Resort in Denver, CO.  The conference will feature a powerful agenda filled with presentations from top industry leaders, relevant educational breakout tracks, and a series of peer-to peer networking sessions and events.  For more information, contact Rich Swerbinsky.

AllRegs by Ellie Mae still has courses available for everything from underwriting and compliance, to QC, appraisal review and more. Click here to view July and August training topics brought to you by AllRegs.

Have you taken advantage of one of Fannie Mae's HFI InDepth webinar trainings? There are a several upcoming webinars available including its new Customer Care Course designed to help you learn more about the transformation redesign of the loss mitigation process on July 7th.

And Alight Inc., the fast-growing provider of real-time financial optimization applications across a range of industries, announced that SWBC Mortgage Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a 40 year-old financial services company, SWBC, has selected the Alight Mortgage Lending platform to support the firm's growth objectives and help optimize performance and profitability.

Jobs and Announcements

Axia Home Loans is pleased to welcome Brian NeVille, Regional Sales Manager of the Mountain West. "Brian was a well sought-after candidate but ultimately chose Axia because he sees the company 'skating to where the puck will be.' Axia continues to soar by posting new record marks in their locked and overall pipeline, resulting in the highest production volumes in the company's nine-year history, and is on pace to well surpass last year's record numbers and exceed the lofty goals set for 2016. The addition of Brian to the leadership team at Axia will not only expand the footprint of the company in the Mountain West region, but also further solidify management's mission to create sustainable homeownership through responsible lending in the communities in which they live and work. If you would like to join our continuously growing community, please contact Jon Lewis, SVP of Northwest Division, or Kevin Hoyt, SVP of Southwest Division, for more info."

"If you are a small mortgage banker with at least one state license, and would like to exit the liability of ownership, a well-capitalized firm is searching for a small retail mortgage lender like you. The company should be approved with HUD as a non-supervised mortgagee. Please send all confidential inquiries to Louis Amaya."

Santander Bank is hiring for a Mortgage Wholesale Account Executive to work in the Northern Virginia/Maryland market. In this position, you'll help serve Santander's customers as part of one of the top banks in the United States. Santander offers aggressive mortgage lending products to help our customers reach their financial goals. You will be able to stand out in the DC Metro market by offering Santander's jumbo program which will be a "must have" for your clients. In addition, Santander offers aggressive agency high balance products, a non-warrantable condo program, an 80-10-10 product and much more. Responsibilities of this position include soliciting mortgage brokers, bankers and correspondents, developing and implementing sales strategies, presenting and discussing loan programs and reviewing customer scenarios. To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Regional Sales ManagerJoe Kowalewski at 484-431-1953.

Congrats to Craig Davis. Finance of America Mortgage (FAM), one of the nation's largest nonbank lenders, announced his promotion of management within its Retail division. He is now the RVP of Bay Area Retail, promoted from his role as Northwest Regional Sales Manager which he held for the past six years. "He was instrumental in building the Northwest region to become the top Retail division within FAM. Craig will be responsible for continuing to build the company's Bay Area Retail market share."