According to the MBA's Quarterly Index of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations for the first quarter of 2015, the YoY origination increase includes a 269 percent increase in dollar volume of loans for industrial properties, a 71 percent increase for multifamily properties, a 53 percent increase for office properties and a 51 percent increase for hotel properties. The GSE multifamily originations grew by 306 percent from the same quarter a year earlier but originations experienced a 26 percent decline from the fourth quarter in 2014. Overall, first quarter 2015 commercial and multifamily loan originations were 49 percent higher than the same time last year. To read more about the MBA's quarterly commercial/multifamily update, click here.

In vendor news, LoanCare, a ServiceLink company, has been recognized with Progress in Lending Association's 2014 Innovations Award. LoanCare's strategic initiatives lead the industry by deploying advanced servicing technologies and remaining compliant with government mandates by launching two major technology innovations: upgrading its borrower-facing website, www.MyLoanCare. com, and its customer advocate portal for borrower concerns, www.MyLoanCareCustomerAdvocate. com. LoanCare made changes that directly addressed issues cited by the CFPB in its Supervisory Highlights publication. To combat these issues, LoanCare modified its borrower website to provide borrowers with continuous access to their loan information on its loan servicing system. The website is intuitive, easy-to-navigate and, in addition to providing greater transparency, enables borrowers to view loan information, make payments, manage automatic drafts, view payment history, update personal information and find contact information. For more information, please click here.

Accurate Group has introduced its iValueNet solution. iValueNet is part of the market-leading ValueNet appraisal suite and is designed to give banks, credit unions and mortgage lenders alternative to traditional, costly home appraisals. For the first time ever, lenders have a choice on interior property inspections that saves time and money without sacrificing quality or compliance. iValueNet is available today directly though Accurate Group and will be rolled out to Accurate Group's network of resellers later this year. Contact Accurate Group for more information, or visit the ValueNet website for a complete overview of the ValueNet appraisal suite and the GroundWork mobile app for property inspections.

ELynx announced enhancements to its Expedite ID platform to include TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures including specific capabilities to fulfill lenders' requirements to comply with the CFPB's August 1 deadline. The new compliance features, combined with the capabilities of eLynx's Expedite services platform, will provide lenders with a comprehensive compliance solution for TILA-RESPA while enhancing quality throughout the entire loan cycle. To help lenders transition to TRID, eLynx customers will be getting hands-on experience with Expedite ID via a secure test environment soon. Additional TRID-related enhancements are in development and will be announced over the next several months. Click the link to read the article regarding ELynx Expedite ID Platform Enhancements.

Bankers Advisory has provided a link to CFPB's published consumer guidebook as part of CFPB's "Know Before You Owe" initiative. Click the link, Your Home Loan Toolkit - A Step by Step Guide, to download.

"Technology is constantly changing, and it can be hard to know what to do first and when new trends might emerge. Today's mobile/local trend is a huge opportunity for mortgage originators who want to act fast and capture the eyes and engagement of the growing market of leads on consumers' mobile devices." Matt Hansen, founder and president of SimpleNexus, has been developing enterprise systems for the past 15 years. To learn more about SimpleNexus, visit its website."

Get the RESPA/TILA policy manual template and readiness kit you need for the 8/15/15 policy changes. Click to view All Regs RESPA/TILA manual demo. 

Platinum Data Solution has upgraded FreeAppraisalReview.com with My Property Database. This new feature enables appraisers to compare current appraisal data with data from their previously completed appraisals.

Ellie Mae is launching its new RESPA-TILA integrated mortgage disclosures solution to clients as part of its Encompass all-in-one mortgage management solution. The new solution is part of Ellie Mae's ongoing RESPA-TILA Readiness Initiative designed to prepare its clients. Visit Ellie Mae's website for details.

Cognitive Options Group, a national consulting firm specializing in Mortgage due Diligence and Compliance Reviews based in Lakewood, Colorado has announced it now provides an online training solution to the financial services industry.  The training is designed to help non-bank residential mortgage lenders and originators (RMLOs) comply with the rules issued by the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), requiring RMLOs to establish anti-money laundering (AML) programs and file suspicious activity reports (SARs). For details, click the link to view its press release.

And under "organizations making a difference"...

The MBA is promoting bill number HR 2121. It is the SAFE Act Transitional Licensing bill, and would amend the SAFE Act to require the states to establish a 120-day transitional license for 1) currently registered LOs that move from a bank or bank affiliate to an IMB, and 2) licensed LOs moving to other states. "A bipartisan group of House members introduced legislation to amend the SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act to provide a temporary license for mortgage loan originators, transitioning between federally insured depositories and non-depositories, as well as across state lines under the state licensing system.

And the Community Home Lenders Association followed up on a letter it sent in December to the CFPB, asking them to provide for more equitable treatment among all loan originators - particularly requiring all LOs to pass the SAFE Act test. "That is still a top priority - but this letter points out that until CFPB implements that, it is important that borrowers get disclosures about the level of training and testing of the LO working on their loan." The letter to CFPB Director Cordray asked the CFPB require consumer disclosures on each mortgage loan that indicate whether the mortgage loan originator that worked on that loan is licensed, tested, passed an independent background check, and has completed SAFE Act approved pre-licensing and continuing education courses.  As part of this disclosure, consumers that are working with a mortgage loan originator that has failed and never subsequently passed the SAFE Act test or has been denied a state license because they failed a background check should also receive a disclosure to that effect.

And taking a broader view of things...

The construction industry has struggled to recover since the recession, and has remained near historically low levels, yet while the amount of new homes sold has stayed low, prices for new homes have increased. This may due to home builders targeting buyers who want to purchase higher-priced homes, resulting in lower volumes. Home builders may also be constructing more homes up rather than out by building larger homes on smaller lots, effective in denser, urban areas. According to the U.S Census Bureau's Survey of Construction, new homes are taking up a larger portion of land. For example, the total area in square feet of new homes sold occupied 24% of the lot area in 2000, whereas in 2013 new homes took up 30% of the lot area. This in turn, decreases the value of the land as a portion of final price of the home, as the lot value consisted of 20% of the final sale price of the median home sold in 2000. By 2013, lot values represented 16% of the final sales price of the median home value. To learn more about Zillow's article, click here.

But things have certainly changed in 9 months! For example, according to the Collingwood Group's September 2014 Mortgage Industry Outlook Survey, 89 percent of respondents said regulations are hurting their business and complying with new rules and erratic enforcement actions creates anxiety and financial burden. Last month, the Collingwood Group asked survey respondents how much they would be willing to pay to be relieved of all liability for future buybacks, indemnifications and/or lawsuits and found that most respondents did not want to pay extra money to be relieved of their liability. About 76 percent said they would be willing to pay 25 basis points but would rather only pay between 5 to 10 basis points. Others said that poor underwriting may be encouraged if people are willing to pay any amount to allow for mistakes. Click here to read the Collingwood Group's article.

According to Zelman and Associates' March Homebuilding Survey, demand climbed higher as orders were up 21% sequentially and the sequential acceleration in pricing power indicates strong growth in Q4 of 2015 and 2016 gross margin forecasts. Houston experienced a 17% decline YoY in orders, as the long term effect of oil prices may be of concern.  Traffic metrics were up on both a sequential and YoY basis as 31% of contacts reported stronger than expected traffic in March, which was 17% below expectations. Website traffic is up 18% sequentially and YoY gain in prices is up to 4.4%. Construction and labor costs were up 3% YoY and given the pricing momentum, margin outlook has improved from recent months. To learn more about the homebuilding survey, contact Ivy Zelman at ivy@zelmanassociates. com.

We had a nice little rally yesterday with the yield on the 10-year dropping back to 2.18%. European government bond yields finally eased, while yield levels drew in domestic and overseas real money, along with short covering. And investors finally thought to themselves, "Hey, these agency MBS yields look pretty attractive. And maybe they won't prepay in two months." Lastly, the Fed put the money from prepayments on their holdings to work and purchased over $2.7 billion. Speaking of which, the Fed's reinvestment purchases are estimated to fall to about $30 billion for the mid-May to mid-June period from $40 billion in the current four week period. If production (supply) drops, then okay...

But today we've had April's Nonfarm Payrolls and the whole set of employment data - faulty as many believe it is. The forecast was +224k in jobs created and the unemployment rate ticking down one-tenth to 5.4%. It came in at +223k, but March was revised considerably lower. The rate indeed ticked down to 5.4%. With the revision we're under 200k for the 2^nd month in a row. Did the weather impact things? And if it did, why didn't the experts think about it? Working hours were unchanged and average hourly earnings were only +1% - no wage inflation out there!

Rates dropped again after the perceived weak numbers. The 10-year is down to 2.15% and agency MBS prices are better by nearly .125 versus Thursday's closing marks.

Jobs and Announcements

In wholesale job news, Home Point Financial is hiring! Home Point Financial is a nationwide mortgage banking business focused on multi-channel residential mortgage origination and servicing. Founded in 2014 and owned by members of management and by investment funds managed by Stone Point Capital LLC, Home Point Financial is looking to hire Wholesale Inside Account Executives in Fort Mill, South Carolina - Apply here.

And Arvest Mortgage Company is looking for an experienced Director of Mortgage Production Operations to lead its two production operations centers. The ideal candidate must have at least 8 years mortgage origination and/or operations experience as well as 6 years previous management experience.  Location of position is flexible between the Tulsa, Oklahoma area and Northwest Arkansas. Arvest Mortgage Company is also looking for an experienced Underwriting Manager to lead its Northwest Arkansas Underwriting group. The ideal candidate must have at least 5 years' experience underwriting all mortgage loan types, have their DE and SAR approval, and preferred previous management experience. Also for more information on our exciting company and 7 time J.D. Power Award Winner, Arvest Bank and Arvest Mortgage Company please go to www.arvest. com.  Please send confidential resume and cover letter to Matt Kendall.

On the retail side MB Financial Bank is searching for retail mortgage branches and loan officers. Nationally chartered MB Financial Bank currently has opportunities in 45 states for Retail Branch Managers and Loan Officers - contact Mark Mazzenga, Mortgage SVP and National Sales Manager, to see how you could become a part of MB. "The MB strategic advantage has always been our people. Our leadership team has extensive retail branch experience, and is dedicated to growing and nurturing MB's retail presence nationwide. We provide you competitive compensation, quality benefits, internal training, marketing support, servicing portfolio leads, and generous tiered commission compensation plans - all to promote your success." MB Financial Inc. is the Chicago-based holding company for MB Financial Bank, N.A., which has approximately $16 billion in assets and a 110-year history of building deep and lasting relationships with middle-market companies and individuals. It is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employee (Minority/Female/Disabled/Veterans). Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC. NMLS#401467.