VA mortgage lenders hit with federal subpoenas? Apparently. Secondary markets (the demand for loans and what investors are willing to pay for them) drive the primary markets: Anything that impacts demand and pricing influence rate sheets. LOs don’t have to be experts in this, but financial institutions are following CECL: the Current Expected Credit Loss standard. At least ask your vendors what they’re doing about it. What about the supply and demand dynamics that continue to buffet the real estate agent model? A class action lawsuit was filed with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois alleges that cooperation and compensation is an anti-trust violation that results in consumer harm and seeks an injunction against forcing home sellers to pay the commissions of the buyer agent. A win by plaintiffs will impact Realtor associations and the role of the MLS.
Lender Products and Services
Compass Analytics continues its commitment to process improvement by partnering with RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation on an API to automate all aspects of service release premiums (SRPs). Through this seamless integration, RoundPoint will private-label Compass’ API and bid-automation offerings to integrate and automate their co-issue SRP bids and commitments to the industry. Lenders, through their internal systems, hedge advisors, or LOS systems, can now integrate to RoundPoint to seamlessly receive and commit live co-issue SRPs as part of their best execution processes. Mike Duncan, Compass Product Manager, summarized the automation by saying, “The new live SRP quoting integration is an exciting leap in automating the best execution experience for the co-issue workflow. It’s a win for both the investor, who now has more opportunity to price in real-time with more granularity, and for the seller, who now has a simplified workflow without complicated pricing grids.” Added Saket Nigam, VP Capital Markets at RoundPoint, “In keeping with our corporate culture of creating innovative mortgage solutions, we are the first co-issue buyer to offer this technology.” For more information, contact Compass Analytics.
Down Payment Assistance Business Done Right: Wondering how your organization can stay on top of ever-changing DPA program requirements and benefits? Down Payment Resource is committed to providing the most accurate and up-to-date information on affordable lending programs across the country. Join a live webinar on Monday, May 13 to learn more. You'll get the latest data on mortgage-ready renters, understand factors that can help improve your pull-through rate, and learn how to establish an effective DPA process. Register today.
Unlock opportunity in a growing market with Loan Product Advisor® asset and income modeler (AIM) for self-employed borrowers. AIM for self-employed is Freddie Mac’s solution to automate the manual lender process of assessing borrower income using tax return data. It’s also the industry’s only AUS-integrated self-employed borrower income calculation solution. AIM for self-employed makes it easier to do more business, close loans faster and get immediate income rep and warranty relief related to certain borrower employment income. Freddie Mac has teamed up with third-party service provider, LoanBeam®, in leveraging their expertise and powerful optical character recognition (OCR) technology to supply qualifying income for any applicant. Freddie Mac’s broad release of AIM for self-employed on March 6 is the next step in their journey to provide employed borrowers … and get YOUR edge.
Interest rate volatility, rising loan origination costs and increased regulations are causing many independent mortgage bankers to look for buyers, and some institutional lenders to exit entirely. The market is consolidating which is why every loan counts. To ensure your pipeline is full, you must qualify more applicants. With CloseCAPTURE, a product suite from Credit Plus, you can capture more leads and close more loans. One of those products is LeadsFINDER PLUS, a no minimum fee leads alternative that lets you build a list of quality leads based on attributes you choose. It even includes a turnkey marketing solution to create personalized mailers. CloseCAPTURE also includes several scoring tools such as Lending Hand that gives applicants the highest probability of a successful rescore. Credit Plus’ experienced credit experts go beyond typical automated scoring tools to provide customized solutions that work. Learn how CloseCAPTURE can help you qualify more applicants here.
Want to diversify your referral sources and feel highly-valued as a true partner? Close more loans from financial advisors! On Thursday, May 16, Craig Strent (Apex Home Loans) and Gibran Nicholas (Momentifi) will be conducting a live webinar sharing best practices for How to Diversify Your Referral Sources & Close More Loans from Financial Advisors. You’ll discover why working with financial advisors is a crucial step to diversifying your referral sources; how to contact and approach financial advisors; how to be viewed as a highly-valued strategic partner; what to say when you meet with financial advisors; and, how to stand out from the competition and articulate your value. You’ll walk away with a plan to consistently generate high-quality referrals from financial advisors. Space is limited, so click here to register!
Brokers, do you want to approve more clients? Do you want to save your clients nearly $5,000 without competing on rates and fees?! Quicken Loans Mortgage Services (QLMS) can help you do both! They already offer some of the lowest borrower-paid mortgage insurance rates, but now QLMS’ BPMI rates are even better! These new BPMI rates can lower both your clients’ monthly payment and their DTI. Consider this scenario: if your client is taking out a $300,000 loan, with a 95 LTV and they have a 740 FICO – their BPMI payment will only be $80 per month instead of the $120 industry average. That will save them $4,680 by the time their mortgage insurance falls off. This is just one more way to set yourself apart from other brokers who aren’t offering this pricing and are only selling based on interest rates. Ask your AE to run a few scenarios, so you can see how advantageous QLMS' new BPMI pricing can be. If you're not working with QLMS yet, click on QLmortgageservices.com to save your clients some money!
New Products
Some continue to exit the biz. For example, yesterday New Mexico’s Bank 34 ($374 million in assets) disclosed that it will no longer originate mortgages to sell in the secondary market and plans to sell or close its nine loan production offices (in Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas and Washington).
No Income, No Asset is back! In April 360 Mortgage Group, LLC announced it has exclusively launched the Agency NINA pilot program. “It is a true no income, no asset required program for homeowners. 360 Mortgage has been given approval to issue up to $1 billion of new production under the pilot program to evaluate performance. Phase one, the initial launch, is for non-owner-occupied real estate investors. Phase two will look to extend to other occupancies based upon performance of phase one. 360 Mortgage has been a market leader since it entered the wholesale mortgage marketplace in 2007, pioneering, and was the sole take out for, HARP 2.0 when the product launched in 2012 until it brought mass awareness to the industry in late 2012. In 2013 360 Mortgage re-introduced the marketplace to 3/1 government ARM products and was responsible for issuing over 80% of all 3/1 production from 2014-2017. 360 Mortgage was selected to be the exclusive take out for the Agency NINA pilot program.”
Arch MI, regarding a Medical and Dental Professionals Program, introduced a new 90.01–100% LTV, Lender-Paid MI (LPMI) Singles Reduced Coverage Program, expanded the eligible loan amounts for the Standard Medical and Dental Professionals Program, and expanded the Additional Underwriting Requirements for all Medical and Dental Programs. “Arch MI expanded this mortgage insurance program to address more effectively the unique circumstances of this group of borrowers who may have higher debt-to-income ratios from student loans but increasing earning potential after closing. The Arch MI Medical and Dental Professionals Program underwriting document, and all system messaging and editing, has been updated. The AMGC Underwriting Manual will be updated with the next release.
New American Funding launched a new home loan program, Non-Qualified Mortgage (Non-QM) to better serve borrowers who are self-employed, have non-traditional incomes, have assets and no income, or have had difficulty qualifying for a traditional mortgage. The Non-QM home loan can fill the niche for those who don’t necessarily fit into the “qualified-mortgage box.” This loan can be customized and use alternate methods of income verification to help the borrower get approved for a rate-and-term refinance, a cash out refinance, or a new home purchase for owner-occupied, second homes or investment homes.
May Events and Training
Before I forget, for any lenders, servicers, or vendors doing residential business in California, the California MBA is offering three great incentives to “Start a Conversation” and join in May: 50% off first year dues, double the value of their 3Under35 program, and $1,000 off on sponsoring either 2019/2020’s Mortgage Innovators Conference. Click here to find out more.
FAMP Central Florida Chapter's luncheon on May 15th will feature Guest Speaker Ralph Rosynek who will provide an update and overview of Reverse Mortgages. Click here to register for the luncheon. Preceding the luncheon is a free Reverse Mortgage Boot Camp offered by MoneyHouse; more information and registration can be found here.
Genworth Mortgage Insurance provides complimentary online courses to help customers refresh skills and provide a great customer experience to borrowers. These include Quarterly Agency Update and Communications, Appraisal Underwriting, 1084 Self-Employed Borrower utilizing the new tax forms, and Time Management for Originators, among other trainings. View the May Training Calendar here.
The 2019 NALHFA Annual Conference, Climbing to New Heights: Unique Solutions for Affordable Housing, is scheduled for May 15th-18th in Denver.
The MBA announced that FHFA Director Mark Calabria will give his first public speech since being sworn in at its Secondary Market Conference in NYC on May 20th.
The U.S. Department of Justice continues to aggressively pursue penalties for violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) by FHA-approved mortgagees through dozens of cases over the last several years and has won awards totaling over four billion dollars. Learn how to avoid FCA liabilities from Mayer Brown Partners, Phillip L. Schulman and Krista Cooley on
Tuesday, May 28th via an MBA webinar.
Fannie Mae sellers are invited to register for Boot Camp 2019, which features hot topics related to quality control, underwriting, and condo project standards. This is a great opportunity to network with Fannie Mae staff and industry peers. Click the link to view the Fact Sheet on Boot Camp 2019.
MCT recently announced it has reorganized the company’s internal sales processes, bolstered the sales team, and launched a Client Success Group. Implementation of the changes paves the way for significant growth as the company continues innovating, launching new products and services, and on-boarding clients. “It is hands down the most exciting, successful time that MCT has experienced since being founded back in 2001,” said Curtis Richins, President of MCT. “The updates we have made enable us to grow at a healthy rate while continuing to deliver the best-in-class service that is core to MCT’s DNA. MCT has entered a new chapter and the future is incredibly bright.” The updates coincide with the recent addition of Leslie Winick as Chief Strategy Officer. Get to know all the team members that contribute to MCT’s industry-leading client satisfaction according to the STRATMOR Technology Insight Study 2018.
Looking at bonds, and therefore rates, and therefore rate sheets, the US Treasury yield curve is headed back toward inversion, an early indicator of an impending recession. (By itself it does not cause a recession.) Through yesterday the premium paid for the 10-year note over the three-month bill has contracted to less than 3 basis points. But U.S. Treasuries, and Agency MBS, rallied yesterday (the 10-year down to 2.45%) as continued uncertainty about the future of U.S.-China trade talks dominated market thought. There was other news besides China/U.S.: the Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate unchanged, Japan's April Manufacturing PMI increased above expectations, Australia's March Retail Sales beat expectations, Germany's March Factory Orders increased but failed to meet expectations, and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the EU is willing to revise the Brexit blueprint and that cancelling Brexit altogether is still on the table. And domestically, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that the increase in consumer credit in March was driven entirely by nonrevolving credit, like car loans and student loans.
This morning we learned that last week’s mortgage applications were up almost 3%, refis down to 38%, per the MBA. That is the most notable market news of note for the day, as the rest of the day includes Fed Governor Brainard remarks, and the Treasury conducting the second leg of the Refunding when $27 billion new 10-year notes are auctioned. We begin today with Agency MBS prices up a few ticks and the 10-year yielding2.43%
Employment
NewRez, is thrilled to welcome Jaime Barton, Regional Manager, to the team! As a Pasadena native, Jaime will focus on driving profitability and growing the sales team for our newest JV in Southern California. He brings more than 18 years of experience in real estate finance and mortgage banking and a stellar track record for growth. “We are very excited to have Jaime join the NewRez team. He is a proven leader in the industry who will spearhead our growth in SoCal,” says Vince Daino, VP of Recruiting and Business Development. Jaime adds, “The NewRez product offering and value proposition is second to none. I am anxious to share that with our real estate agents and loan originators.” If you are a producing loan officer or sales manager in Orange County or San Diego County, contact Vince Daino to join Jaime’s team.
Get Rob Chrisman Daily by Email
