Huh? We’re in the 3rd quarter of 2019 already? To where did the first six months fly off? I am hearing from some lenders that solid April, May, and June (aka, 2Q 2019) made up for poor 4th quarter and 1st quarter numbers. Locked pipelines are full heading into the heart of the summer, capital markets staffs are reminding LOs and brokers of renegotiation policies. (Rate locks, nearly non-existent in other industries, are not one-way streets.) Just because we have a holiday on Thursday and minimum, often low-seniority staffs on Friday, doesn’t mean companies are slacking off fundings! Gotta make hay while the sun shines.
Lender Products and Services
National MI is pleased to announce that Chris McCrary has joined the Field Sales Team as a Regional Account Manager with responsibility for the North Texas and Oklahoma markets. Chris brings 18 years of mortgage experience including positions at CitiMortgage Correspondent, Advancial FCU, and most recently GMFS Wholesale. Chris is originally from Oklahoma but has resided in the DFW area for 19 years and currently lives in Argyle, TX. He is a proud father of twin 6-year-old boys and enjoys several outdoor activities and coaching youth sports. Please reach out directly to Chris (214.274.4411 mobile).
“Got a Second… Mortgage that is? Spring EQ Wholesale makes home equity lending easy with credit scores as low as 640 and CLTVs as high as 100%. Purchase, refinance and standalone transactions, Spring EQ does it all. Fixed rate fully amortizing, or our new Rate Advantage™ program, offering a 6-month introductory rate starting as low as 4.99%, are available. Best of all, brokers are compensated at 1.5% LPC up to $7,500 so there is no reason to refer your business away for free. Cash reserves are never required. No HOA or condo documentation required. Bankruptcy, short sale or loan mediation - 4 years. Prior appraisal up to 12 months old allowed. Call Spring EQ first, even though we fund seconds! If you would like access to this niche product, we are signing up brokers daily. To contact us, please click here.”
You’re probably all-too familiar with the frustration of trying to find a reliable Down Payment Assistance (DPA) program. Well you’re in luck! TMS just updated its DPAssistant to help you find one easily. They’ve compiled a list of more than 125 recommended programs across the country. Check it out here.
Join Golden State Finance Authority for an in-depth look at the new GSFA OpenDoors™
down payment assistance program! OpenDoors is a game-changer when it comes to helping homebuyers in California purchase a primary residence with little-to-no money out of pocket. The GSFA OpenDoors Program features homebuyer assistance up to 7% of the loan amount, flexible FICO score and DTI requirements and enhanced pricing. FHA, VA, USDA and Conventional Loan financing is available. Plus, GSFA delegates the loan process to the Participating Lender so no additional compliance review from GSFA is necessary, making the process simple and easy for both borrower and Lender. Ready to start closing more loans?? Join us for a Lender Training Webinar. and view Program guidelines at www.gsfahome.org. You don’t want to miss out on this EXCITING new Program!
ResX Warehouse Lending is a division of United Bank, a respected commercial lender with an over 150-year track record of delivering for its clients. ResX isn’t new to the warehouse business. In fact, it has been making warehouse loans longer than many of the “established” lenders out there. ResX’s staff is not looking to waste time with inflated promises or the latest fix-and-flip pitch but consists of real people and experts in the business. ResX Warehouse delivers extensive management experience, more effective and efficient processes, and the drive to be a complete banking resource for clients. In combination with United Bank’s full-service array of products and services, ResX is the ideal platform for the mortgage banker serious about meaningful growth. That means no wasted time, no pipeline clogs and no worrying about whether or not this warehouse lender is in it for the long haul. If that sounds interesting to you, give ResX a look!
Conventional Conforming Chatter
“While the Trump administration ramps up its rhetoric about reforming housing finance, ignore it. Absent Congressional action, there is little that can meaningfully be done. The FHFA can allow Fannie and Freddie to keep their profits but that's symbolic when it will easily take a decade using that approach to recapitalize both. Anything more substantive will destabilize this market and raise mortgage rates; not happening in an election year.” So spoketh Economist Elliot Eisenberg, echoing what I have voiced many times.
Compass Point Research & Trading’s Isaac Boltansky expressed, “Congress is either unwilling or unable to proactively address consequential matters lacking definitive deadlines, which is the driving force behind our pessimism regarding legislative mortgage finance reform efforts in this Congress. There will be another push on Capitol Hill, which may have a novel tone given the atmosphere of urgency fostered by Director Calabria, but we view the political and operational hurdles as far too high.”
As if we need another acronym, but SIFI stands for “Systematically Important Financial Institution.” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are "too big to fail" but should they receive a SIFI designation?
How do you know who’s ahead without knowing the score? Did you know that the FHFA, the overseer of Freddie and Fannie, produces a score card for F&F (aka the Agencies)? By the way, do you know how hard it is to get rid of a government agency like the FHFA? If it didn’t spend its days looking over the Agencies shoulder, what would their staff do all day? Meanwhile, the Agencies continue to grapple with the difference between “ideals” and “realities” of residential lending and housing policy. They’ve been preparing to exit conservatorship for eleven years! Did someone say Initial Public Offering? Well, one can already buy stock in them, but using similar capital/risk ratios that other financial institutions have, they’d want to have about $250 billion in their coffers. That will take some planning!
Fannie Mae’s May 2019 Monthly Summary came out containing info about Fannie’s monthly and year-to-date activities for its gross mortgage portfolio, mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees, interest rate risk measures, serious delinquency rates, and loan modifications.
Freddie Mac’s announced its CHOICERenovationSM loan offering, which provides homebuyers a flexible choice to purchase a home and finance the cost of renovations with a single-close mortgage. This product was designed to help address the nation’s aging housing supply, support the need for affordable housing, and offer renovation, repair, improvement or refinance options to support the increasing demand for cost-effective financing solutions. The Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation mortgage is available immediately to all eligible lenders nationwide. Details and requirement information is available it the Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2019-14.
Fannie Mae released new and modified edits in EarlyCheck™ to align with Loan Delivery edits, including seven that are changing from Warning-to-Fatal to Fatal. For more details, view the EarlyCheck release notes.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the GSEs) have provided additional guidance for resubmitting UCD data when changes or corrections are needed.
Fannie Mae posted, effective June 22, the borrower name no longer needs to match the name on a prior appraisal for a refinance transaction to be eligible for an appraisal waiver offer. This policy change will be reflected in the next Selling Guide update in August.
Sellers have the option to extend Mandatory Cash Contract expiration dates and relock best efforts cash contracts directly within Loan Selling Advisor®. Freddie Mac is streamlining these processes in response to client feedback on how it can further improve the loan delivery experience and create more efficiency in Loan Selling Advisor. The release introduced FAQs and other key resources to help you adopt these changes.
The PennyMac Correspondent Group posted an update to HARP Programs on Best Effort & AOT Rate Sheets.
PennyMac Correspondent posted two new updates. PennyMac’s alignment with Freddie Mac’s updates announced in Bulletin 2019-9, 2019-11 and Fannie Mae’s DU Release Notes 10.3 July Update, excluding updates to manufactured homes and manual underwrites. PennyMac’s alignment with FHA’s updates to Building On Own Land (BOOL) and a reminder on illegal activities.
loanDepot Wholesale/Correspondent issued its Weekly Announcement for June 17th. Topics include VA prior approval update, Conventional appraisal waiver guidance and Oklahoma disaster updates.
loanDepot Wholesale/Correspondent issued its weekly announcement which includes information on Broker Compensation Changes, Fannie Mae HomeReady Income Limits and Disaster Announcements for Arkansas, Ohio, and South Dakota.
Plaza updated several of its program guidelines, view a summary here.
The MBS “basis” ended last week mixed while equities were boosted by bank stocks after large banks passed the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test. After a conciliatory meeting on Saturday between President Trump and President Xi of China, President Trump agreed to halt increased tariffs on Chinese goods while talks resume. It still remains unclear how the two countries will resolve the fundamental conflicts that caused negotiations to break down seven weeks ago, but Trump did agree to lift some restrictions on Huawei, the Chinese technology giant at the center of a dispute between the nations.
The change in tone suggests equities will get a boost this week (after ending last week flat; the 10-year closed -1 bp to 2.00 percent), and gives more impetus to America’s seemingly unstoppable bull market. Treasuries ended Q2 just shy of their best levels of the quarter, with the 10-year yield falling 41 bps since the end of Q1. A disappointing Chicago PMI and PCE Price Index to close the week maintained the stock market's belief that a rate cut is coming at the July 30-31 FOMC meeting. Dallas Fed President Kaplan did remark that he doesn’t “want to be cutting rates to do fine-tuning” but rather would prefer to adjust policy if there was some material deterioration.
This first week of July will be a short one with an early 2pm close on Wednesday ahead of a full close on Thursday for the Fourth of July. The most important economic release of the week comes after the holiday, with the June BLS Employment Situation on Friday. Today begins with key releases later this morning of final Markit Manufacturing PMI for June, the June ISM manufacturing index, and May construction spending. The short week is light on Fed speak, but we do receive remarks later this afternoon from Vice Chair Clarida, before New York’s Williams and Cleveland’s Mester take the stage tomorrow. Additionally, the world’s biggest petroleum suppliers (minus the U.S.) will gather today for a meeting of OPEC, where the energy ministers will set oil policy for the rest of the year. Despite the simmering drama with Iran and the recent attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East, don’t expect much change at your local gas station as OPEC leaders want to keep prices steady, so they are expected to stick to the deal they made at their last meeting in December: cut back on production. The slowing global economy means demand for oil is down, and they don’t want a glut to drive prices down. We begin today with Agency MBS prices worse a few ticks and the 10-year yielding 2.02%.
Employment and Promotions
An established, multi-state, and well-known retail mortgage banker with a wide area of branches is looking for a CFO. The Mortgage Banker has a strong balance sheet, is approved as a direct seller to FNMA, FHLMC and GNMA, and has a strong leadership team that embraces core values and executes its mission and vision daily. The CFO should have previous mortgage banking experience, be well-versed in planning and executing high-level financial and accounting strategies, including oversight of asset liability management, investment management, financial reporting and analysis, budgeting, compliance, audit, mortgage origination compensation, payroll, enterprise risk management, developing financial and annual tax strategies, and general accounting in accordance with GAAP. A good candidate will have strong communication skills, experience partnering with an executive team and branch managers, presenting to the Board of Directors, engaging direct and indirect reports, have a bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance will be expected. An MBA and/or CPA is highly desirable with at least ten or more years of progressively responsible experience in the mortgage or finance industry. Please send confidential resumes to Anjelica Nixt for forwarding.
PRMG Retail continues to experience tremendous growth with the opening of 3 new branches in the month of June! Along with the drive and ambition to bring the American Dream of Homeownership to all cities across the country, PRMG has now opened its doors in Bangor, ME; Sacramento, CA and Tucson, AZ! PRMG is Built by Originators for OriginatorsTM and is devoted to continuously growing their retail platform. Consistently ranked in the top mortgage companies throughout the country, PRMG is on its way to becoming a billion dollar a month company with $680 million funded in the month of May with June showing incredible potential to be even bigger. If you are a Motivated Loan Originator who wants to be Progressively Better, contact Chris Sorensen at 909.262.0452.
Planet Home Lending has named Suzy Lindblom its new COO to help Planet Home Lending continue to build its business strategy. (Ms. Lindblom was previously EVP of national operations and replaces the company’s retiring COO, Michael Kula.) Congrats!
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