The U.S. Census Bureau reported that nearly 10 percent of U.S. residents are not happy with their current housing, neighborhood, local safety or public services and would prefer to move, but only 18% of the 11.2 million householders who wanted to move actually did so between 2010 and 2011! When the same cohort was asked the following year if they were still dissatisfied with their housing situation, 56% said they no longer wanted to move.  Factors that may have influenced this change include time, money, health, and suitable alternative homes. Young householders (16 to 34 year olds) are the largest cohort with the desire to move at 15% compared to 10% for those between 35 and 54 years old and 6% for householders over 55 years old. Renters have the greatest desire to move at 167%. The main homeowner factor for wanting to move was dissatisfaction with housing conditions, followed by dissatisfaction with neighborhood and local safety.

The MBA asks, "Are you ready for the TILA RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule? This 2,000 plus-page rule becomes effective on August 1. Don't let a last-minute race for compliance spoil your summer-be prepared. MBA's popular Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Conference, May 3-6 in Chicago, offers three-and-a-half days of great content, with a special focus on TRID as well as other hot topics. Don't have time to attend the full conference? Get a one-day pass to attend Sunday's TRID-program with expert panelists. Be sure to keep an eye out for MBA's other TRID-related resources, such the MBA Compliance Essentials TRID Resource Guide, the Managing TRID Webinar on May 20, TRID Self Study courses, and the TRID Forum in Denver on June 23. Compliance presents all sorts of challenges, requiring large-scale operational changes for lenders, title companies and many more. The CFPB is ready to enforce TRID, so don't be unprepared. Sign up for the Conference, get yourself a TILA/RESPA One-Day Pass, or take advantage of any other of MBA's great TRID resources."

According to STRATMOR's Dr. Matt Lind, the average additional cost for TRID compliance was estimated at $160 per loan based on the results from the recently completed STRATMOR PeerViews survey on TILA-RESPA Readiness. The survey also found that Independents are lagging bank and credit union lenders in their planning and readiness in this area. While the TRID survey is closed, STRATMOR PeerViews has recently launched a new survey focused on Production Outsourcing. PeerViews is a fast turnaround small-survey program that gives mortgage executives a unique way to obtain specific qualitative mortgage industry information. To participate in the Production Outsourcing survey click here. To be added to the STRATMOR PeerViews invitation list for monthly surveys email PeerViews.

Citi released the 3^rd part of its TRIDium series. "This is the third in our continuing series of communications regarding the Truth in Lending Act Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Rule (Rule) that will be effective for most mortgage applications taken on or after August 1. Citi wants to make your transition to the Rule as streamlined as possible for Loans you intend to sell us.  In this communication we highlight the new Loan Estimate form and advise how our retail channel expects to complete some of the fields on the form as an indication of what we will expect to see in our pre-purchase review of your Loans.  Of course, each Correspondent must consult with its own legal and compliance teams as Citi continues to rely on your seller representations and warranties in connection with each Loan you sell to us.  And, importantly, we want to hear from you if your legal/compliance teams are offering different interpretations of the items addressed below or if they have any questions about how we will process your Loans for purchase consideration.

"The Loan Estimate is an initial estimate of loan terms, replacing the initial Truth-in-Lending disclosure (TIL) and the Good Faith Estimate (GFE).  It can be used by an applicant to compare offers from different lenders and is to be retained by the borrower for comparison with their Closing Disclosure.  Note: The new Closing Disclosure is replacing the final TIL and HUD-1 and will be highlighted in our next communication.

"The CFPB has detailed, mandatory instructions for the proper completion of the new Loan Estimate that all mortgage lenders must follow.  Refer to the CFPB website for specifics, however examples of the mandatory instructions found in the Rule for the Loan Estimate include: Certain disclosures, disclaimers, and notifications must be in the exact language, order, and location as depicted on the sample form below. Lenders may place their name, logo and address in the header on page 1, but all lender and, where applicable, broker contact information must be completed in the fields at the top of page 3. Dollar figures are generally rounded to the nearest whole dollar on the Loan Estimate. (Note: The Rule specifies items in the Closing Disclosure that must be carried out to the nearest cent - 2 decimal points.  Our next communication will have more details on the Closing Disclosure.)"

In an environment where even regulators are nervous about the overload of regulations on the companies they are regulating, we can expect M&A to continue. This last week, however, announced bank mergers and acquisitions diminished somewhat. Hamilton Bank ($281mm, MD) will acquire Fairmount Bank ($77mm, MD) for $15.4mm in cash. Multibank holding company Heartland Financial USA ($6.2B, IA) will acquire Community Bank ($181mm, NM) for about $11.3mm. In the home of the Packers First National Bank at Darlington ($104mm) will acquire Gratiot State Bank ($42mm). And in Washington Coastal Community Bank ($546mm) is planning to acquire Prime Pacific Bank ($122mm).

A survey in Bank Director by Crowe Horwath finds that while 47% of those surveyed said they want to buy a bank over the next 12 months, only 3% said they want to sell their bank over the same time period. Remember: supply and demand does have an impact!

Pssst... By offering loans that address some borrower's needs (zero down payments, no private mortgage insurance premiums, plus, for those who qualify, the standard menu from the Federal Housing Administration - 3.5 percent minimum down - and the Department of Veterans Affairs - zero down), credit unions are on the move. No wonder more and more borrowers are heading to credit unions to finance their homes. Critics, of course, point out that credit unions don't pay income taxes and therefore the playing field is not quite level. And harsher critics wonder, given these loan terms, whether or not credit unions will be the next bail-out story if the residential market turns. But with membership requirement hurdles shrinking over the years, the CU share of the total residential mortgage market is moving higher. Inside Mortgage Finance reports CU share has risen from 3% in 2004 to 9% in 2014 (nearly $120 billion) and expected higher this year.

Who says there is nothing new under the sun? Gooi Mortgage, Inc. is a start-up company providing mortgage fulfillment services to small and medium sized lenders with an end-to-end range of services that are compliant with the ever changing regulatory environment. At the same time, Jeff Jensen, who has over 30 years' experience in the mortgage industry, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the new company.

Bopping over to the bond markets, don't you love it when economists project a robust economy?  How often are these folks ever criticized up front or after the fact? From what I have read more often than not economists are wrong on their projections.  How could we expect the economy to grow in the first quarter when the entire NE is not moving? Yes there will be some rebound for items people didn't buy or need to restock, but not having gone out to dinner on a Friday is gone once it's not used. Baffling that neither the projections nor the data to base those projections are questioned.

Here's a couple more contradictory headlines juxtaposed against each other from a recent American Banker that make me say, "HUH?": B of A's Revenue Decline Raises Doubts About All Banks' Growth and Growth in JPM's Commercial Lending Bodes Well for Other Banks. As Henry Ford is noted for saying, "Whether you think you're going to succeed or not, you're right."

The big news yesterday was that FHFA-related home prices rose +0.7% from January beating economists' expectations. The gain is important because the latest FOMC statement said that "housing sector remains slow" and the recent Beige Book sad that residential real estate activity was on a steady improvement. Housing and jobs, jobs and housing... And Existing Home sales rebounded to 5.19 million in March, according to the National Association of Realtors. Inventory remains tight at roughly 4.6 months (6 months is considered "balanced"). The median home price was $212k, which is 7.6% higher than a year ago. The first time homebuyer was 30% of all sales, which is starting to inch up. More inventory and more construction are needed to see these numbers improve. Cash sales as a percent dropped to 24% as professional investors exit and "real" buyers return. 

The bond market reacted along the lines of, "Gee, if housing is doing well, maybe our economy will pick up steam and rates will creep higher." Government notes and bonds declined today in a curve-steepening trade with much of the losses precipitated by a better-than-expected March Existing Home Sales report. But tension in Greece declined and the Greek 10-year note yield declined 75 basis points. The most obvious positive development of the past few days was the decree by the federal government that municipalities would have to keep their cash reserves at the Bank of Greece. A government official said that this might buy Greece six weeks of time.

For today's delectable delights we'll have Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims for the weeks of 4/18 and 4/11, respectively, along with March's New Home Sales. The 10-year ended Wednesday at 1.97% and in the very early going this morning is sitting around unchanged from Wednesday afternoon as are agency MBS prices.

Jobs and Announcements

On the jobs front, out in California retail mortgage banker Scenic Oaks Funding is looking to expand its Central Valley platform. Headquartered in Modesto and affiliated with PMZ Real Estate, Scenic Oaks Funding specializes in "delivering exceptional service and support to our Mortgage Loan Originators and Real Estate Sales partners. Our entire team is committed to delivering a quality product on time for our customers. We are actively hiring the following positions: Vice President of Operations, Sales Managers, Underwriters, Loan Processors and Mortgage Loan Originators. If you are interested in learning more about our company or would like to apply for a position, please contact Tony Avilla or Jen Warmerdam.  Your information will remain confidential.

Comergence, the industry leader in third party due diligence and vendor management is growing and looking for a Vice President of Sales to grow relationships with lenders nationwide.  This role will include selling our unique cloud based end-to-end third party management system from initial introduction to prospects, through presentation and terms review.  The ideal candidate will have strong experience working with C level executives at banks and mortgage bankers.  This experience will include selling via web-based meetings and demonstrations.  Vendor management and technology based experience a plus.  To learn more about how Comergence has changed the industry, go to Comergence.  Candidates may send their confidential resumes directly to James Deane.

For upcoming events American Pacific Mortgage is about to wrap up its Spring Sales Summit 2015 series with events already held in Seattle, Northern California and Southern California. This year's timely theme is "Built to Last".  With their 2014 volume exceeding $5 billion, American Pacific Mortgage continues to expand with high interest in the Rocky Mountain region. Based on strong interest and demand in this area, American Pacific Mortgage is excited to announce they are hosting their first Summit in Denver, Colorado on Thursday April 30th! This event consist of APM Leadership discussing the State of Industry and the company, guest speakers, noted economists as well as content-rich breakout sessions. To learn more information or register for this event, simply email Mike Haden.