Builders, appraisers, & real estate agents love to talk about square feet. Houses are becoming larger as households have become smaller. Right now, the average square footage for an American home is about 2,600 square feet, but the average American family has decreased from 3.67 people in 1948 to 2.55 people in 2012. This means that the square footage per person increased from 507 in 1973 to 971 square feet per person today. Those empty nester Baby Boomers just aren’t moving!
Lender Products and Services
Nations Direct Mortgage is excited to introduce two new Jumbo products: Premier Jumbo Direct and Jumbo Direct. “We are seeing increasing demand for these expansive jumbo products, both of which will be an excellent complement to our wildly successful Non-QM products” stated Josh Pappert, VP of Capital Markets. Both products are aggressively priced to help brokers compete with banks for that premier jumbo borrower. Jumbo Direct also allows for wider guidelines: up to 90% LTV, interest only option, and FICOs to 680. Celebrating its 13th year, Nations Direct is solely focused on wholesale partnerships. They pride themselves on employing industry experts dedicated to delivering exceptional service. If you're interested in learning more about this Orange County, CA based lender and its extensive product suite, please contact Martin Warren.
“Speed is the ante to play. Those who close quickly and reliably will prosper. Those who don’t will fade away. Speed to close requires an awesome process and technological tools that empowers brokers to work efficiently with complete confidence. Quicken Loans Mortgage Services (QLMS) is closing loans 10 days faster than the market utilizing a world-class process fueled by industry-leading technology and a laser focus on its partners and their clients. QLMS provides powerful tools like “The Answer” that increase certainty and decreases loan fallout - saving brokers tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue each year. The market has never been more competitive. Speed and certainty win. Partner with the best, and prosper with Quicken Loans Mortgage Services.”
The Compliance Group (TCG), the premier provider of mortgage servicing, compliance, and quality control services nationwide, is excited to welcome Jim McCracken as its new National Sales Director to expand its client engagement efforts. A long-term veteran of the mortgage business, Jim has an extensive and diversified background that spans operations, sales, secondary, servicing, and technology. Jim is uniquely positioned with the skills and experience to understand the issues lenders face, as well as leverage a solutions-based mindset to best assist in overcoming today’s operational challenges. Contact Jim directly via email or (714) 943-9736. TCG is a nationally recognized woman-owned business that provides nationwide outsourcing on compliance and quality control solutions/consulting. Experienced in federal and multi-state audits, mock exams and gap analysis compliance covering all aspects of operations (servicing and originations). TCG’s quality control services include post-closing QC, servicing QC, consumer quality checks, nationwide licensing, and GSE/FHA expertise.
Don’t Miss Todd Duncan’s FREE Mortgage Industry Global Broadcast: 3 Steps to Massive Success in Any Market. In 60 minutes Todd’s going to teach you how to double, triple, and even quadruple your volume without working another hour. The 3 Steps are going to equip and empower you with the best practices of being a high performer, teach you how to reinvent your business model and make you unbelievably relevant as we embrace the future. Executing these 3 Steps is guaranteed to unleash your potential, and lead people to do business with you! This event has limited capacity. Register Now!
Lenders like Blue Hills Bank, LendUS, and SWBC Mortgage are using technology to build teams that drive growth. Learn how in Blend's latest innovation guide on how to recruit and retain top LOs with technology. Download the guide.
MBA Compliance Essentials is partnering with the California Mortgage Bankers Association to discuss the new California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) via a webinar today, March 13th. While the CCPA is scheduled to go into effect in 2020, there are many tasks that every company needs to start doing right now. This webinar is complimentary to MBA members and State MBA members. Use promo code WEBINAR at checkout for access.
loanDepot Wholesale’s Director of Sales Support & Marketing, Carla Meyers, for a live, 30-minute Webinar that will include topics such as: What is Renovation Lending? Why is it of Value? Program Highlights and Best Practices: Thursday, March 14, at 11:00am PT.
Have you taken advantage of Fannie Mae’s free HomeReady® mortgage webinar? Past participants have said that it helped them find the “sweet spot” for some of their borrowers. Now is the perfect time to tune in and learn more about HomeReady and how it can help your low- to moderate-income borrowers become homeowners with a down payment as little as 3% and innovative income flexibilities. Sign up for a free webinar on March 14 at 2 p.m. ET for more info. Register today.
IMB’s… should you join a bank, buy a bank or stay independent? Register for MBA’s webinar on Thursday, March 14th to fully understand the advantages and disadvantages of merging with a bank or credit union and much more.
In Albany NY on March 18th & 19th, The NYMBA is hosting its Advocacy Conference & Forum. Register now and be part of a positive conversation to share challenges, best practices and next steps in restoring properties for New York municipalities and consumers. Experts in the fields of Loan Servicing, Fast-Track Foreclosure Law, Property Preservation, and Real Estate will work toward neighborhood reinvestment and tools to rehabilitate properties.
If you’re in Southern California next Tuesday night there’s a FREE networking event co-hosted by Strategic Compliance Partners/Offit Kurman and the Orange County chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) on March 19th, from 4:30-7 pm, in Santa Ana! It includes a special session, “The Ultimate Lender/Realtor Relationship.” Click here to RSVP.
Transcend the Turbulence with XINNIX, The Mortgage Academy’s March 20th webinar. Mitch Kider, Chairman and Managing partner of Weiner Brodsky Kider PC will tackle some of the industry’s toughest topics, including: LO Compensation – What is going on? Compliance Management Systems (CMS)– How to right size compliance spending but keep an effective CMS. Mergers and Acquisitions – What are buyers looking for and what do sellers need to know?
Join Jason Lowther and Todd Halbreich and dive into the new 1003 on Thursday, March 23rd with a Mountain West Financial webinar.
Retail Banking 2019 scheduled for March 26th-March 28th in Austin TX, will include the Credit Union Summit. Find out agenda and registration details here.
Genworth Mortgage Insurance provides complimentary online courses to help customers refresh skills and provide a great customer experience to borrowers. From taking a crash course in the 2018 tax documents, to providing Tips to More Business, More Referrals, and More Loyalty, to best practices in loan processing, there’s a little bit for everyone. View the March Training Calendar here.
Franklin American Mortgage published its March 2019 Wholesale “Customer Training Calendar”. The March calendar offers a variety of training opportunities such as:
5 Tips to More: More Business, More Referrals and More Loyalty, Forecasting Our Industry’s Future for 2019 and Detecting and Avoiding Fraud in Loan Files.
Plaza’s March Webinar Calendar provides opportunities to learn about topics like Understanding MI, Homestyle, Fraud, Reverse, Self-Employed Borrower, Non-QM and Credit Scoring. Remember, if you can’t make the scheduled webinar, register anyway and Plaza will email you the recording.
Fannie Mae is providing a new appraisal eLearning course available 24/7 – learn about MH Advantage™ requirements, roles and responsibilities, and more.
U.S. Bank, Freddie Mac and MGIC are joining forces to deliver an educational morning for Correspondent lenders in Bellevue, WA. Join this exclusive event on Wednesday, April 10, featuring collaboration by industry leaders to discover “Down Payment Options for First-Time Homebuyers: They’ve saved every penny but still need some help.” Presentations will include, “How Today’s Economy Impacts First -Time Homebuyers; How to Put Less Money Down: Products for First-Time Homebuyers, and How First-Time Homebuyers Can Overcome Unique Challenges in Today’s Market and Recent Updates to Underwriting Flexibilities.” Find out how you can help more first-time homebuyers get closer to move-in day. Correspondent Lenders in the Bellevue, WA area can register to attend here.
Understand why benchmarking is important for all mortgage companies and bank mortgage divisions in MBA’s new April 11th webinar. Learn why setting goals, measuring financial performance and operational productivity goals are crucial to succeed in the mortgage banking industry.
Capital Markets
Chris Bennett from Vice Capital writes, “With the ‘official’ launch day for Uniform Mortgage Backed Securities we’d been toying around here for the last few weeks with different monikers to call them in trading and chatting with a number of dealers about it. Looks like the winner is ‘Uni’ – since we have Fannie and Freddie and Ginnie it just seems to roll off the tongue best. So now it’ll be, ‘Bid me 5 million Uni 4s in June.’ We’ve got a few days to agree on Class B for UMBS still of course – we thought about ‘Punis’ for those 15-year securities but it sounds too close to Unis. ‘Halfsies?’ ‘Shorties?’ Maybe put it out to your readers for an informal poll?” Contact Chris if you want to weigh in!
Looking at actual bond market price action, rates dropped Tuesday. Why? The Consumer Price Index (a measure of inflation) was lower than expected, and then we had a solid 10-year T-note auction by the Treasury. There was the usual chatter from China, England/Brexit, Japan, and so on, but one wonders if the world markets don’t care about this as much as they did in the past. As usual, Brexit is dominating headlines – they’ll figure out something, right?
This morning we’ve had the MBA’s application data for last week. Of course not all apps lead to funded loans, but they were up 2.3% on a pickup in FHA biz. Refis are down to 38.6% of overall applications. We’ve also had January durable goods order and February PPI (+.4%, +.1%, core and headline, respectively). Ahead are Construction Spending and a $16 billion 30-year bond auction of little relevance to mortgages rates. Wednesday begins with rates up a tad the 10-year is yielding 2.62% and agency MBS prices are down a few ticks.
Employment and Business Opportunities
An independent mortgage banker is looking to sell its corporation. The corporation has had HUD Full Eagle and VA approval since 1989 and is in excellent standing. Licenses include the DBO of California. This sale would be for HUD, VA and CA DBO licensing purposes. Interested parties may contact Anjelica Nixt to forward their note.
Last week Caliber Home Loans, Inc. celebrated its very best producers at its annual Circle of Excellence sales incentive trip. This year Caliber hosted its top sales talent in Retail, Wholesale, Correspondent and Consumer Direct in Miami, Florida for fun and to toast another successful year. This powerhouse group of producers attributed to over $15 billion of Caliber’s annual volume. In 2018 Caliber reported an overall volume over $40 billion and its purchase business exceeded 115,000 units. The leading lender also hired 540 new producers across the country. Caliber is excited about the momentum it has built to-date this year and is looking for top producing originators nationwide to join its sales force. For information about one of the fastest growing mortgage companies in America, you can visit www.joincalibernow.com or reach out to Jeremy DeRosa.
Congratulations to Travis Olson for joining Churchill Mortgage as SVP of the Northwest Region. Olson will support Churchill’s expansion throughout the Pacific Northwest and ensure borrowers have access to tools and strategies designed to help them make smarter mortgage decisions in one of the most competitive housing markets in the nation. A proven sales leader, coach and recruiter, Olson has led numerous branches and regions through periods of significant growth in his more than 25 years of industry experience. “The Pacific Northwest boasts some of America’s most beautiful landscapes and climates, making it an attractive area for homebuyers, as well as an area of growth for mortgage lenders,” said Matt Clarke, COO and CFO of Churchill Mortgage. “As we continue to expand throughout the Pacific Northwest, our team will continue to serve as mentors to borrowers and help them make smarter mortgage decisions to achieve the true American dream of debt-free homeownership.”
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