I head to San Diego today for the CAMP event as the industry continues to change back to in-person events. There is always change. (How’s that for an understatement to begin your workweek?) We have new Wimbledon champions, a new European soccer champion. Some are effectively changing to YouTube to get their message across, like Mace Innovations, interviewing this ol’ silverback last week. Work is something you do, not a place. Talk of virtual hubs, hoteling, and hybrid schedules are evolving, but many are enjoying working in their homes as AEs and many LOs have done for a long time. In informal conversations with CEOs and management at lenders, it seems that fewer people are interested in returning to “hotel” office space than anticipated. At least for now. Sure enough, “Returning to the Office: Where Is Everyone?” Landlords are swapping offices for student housing as the pandemic hastens change. Retail space also makes way for warehousing and life science campuses as property investors reposition portfolios. And big-name companies are making changes. Wells Fargo is closing all its personal lines of credit, and Mr. Cooper is selling its reverse servicing portfolio, operating under the Champion Mortgage brand, to Mortgage Assets Management LLC. Today’s podcast is available here. This week’s podcast is sponsored by Black Knight, providing innovative technology, comprehensive data, agile analytics, and features and interview with Mike Brown.

Lender Products and Services

Adding Reverse Mortgages to your portfolio will create opportunity to make more money for your business. How? Less competition with only 15 GNMAE issuers. More value in securitizing “tails”. When a borrower draws from their line of credit after closing, a flexible perk of HECM loans, these fundings are referred to as “Tails". These are loan advances that can be securitized, just like the funds advanced at closing. These funds go into a security with virtually no new “typical” loan costs. Coupled with virtually no investor competition is the FACT that as much as 18% of all traditional mortgage loans are originated to a demographic prime for the flexibility of a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM). This means you have a database full of potential customers and loans just waiting for your expertise. Serve your customers for life and watch the 25-minute capital markets discussion and download the “Tale of Tails” PDF to inherently understand the value of reverse mortgage loans and securities  in the secondary market.

How many times have you been burned on a loan because you didn’t have the right data early enough in the process? Partners Credit understands that smart loan decisioning requires having as much key information as possible at the onset. Biggest problem? You don’t want to waste money retrieving this data when the loan doesn’t go anywhere. Loans do not live by credit score alone which is why Partners Credit offers an array of additional cost-effective, quick-look data and decisioning capabilities upfront. “Our customized data solutions include, foreclosure data, identification verifications, Quick AVM property data or several other options that can be unique to your organization. Paired with the initial pull of credit, we help you make a more informed decision early. Need help with that decisioning? Our decisioning tool, breaks down all data received to alert you of potential problem areas based upon your guidelines. Let us design a solution for you today.”

Last month, the MBA reported that 2 million homeowners are still in forbearance plans. Servicers need to be prepared to help these distressed borrowers to get back on track. Step 1: make sure you have a servicing “A-Team” in place. Computershare Loan Services (CLS) recently hired Kelly O’Bannon as EVP, National Servicing Sales. Kelly’s 25 years of experience managing servicing portfolios will serve him well as he develops growth strategies for clients and prospects with prime, special, and non-QM portfolios, as well as those with charged-off loans seeking a debt recovery partner. “I’m proud to be a part of this team. CLS is a leader in protecting clients’ assets no matter the market, and together, we will continue to help clients and customers reach their goals.” Contact Kelly O’Bannon to learn how CLS propels clients toward growth.

In subservicing, it’s vital to partner with someone who is compliant. It’s equally as important that they do business in a way that proves they care about you and your customers. With TMS, you get the absolute best of both. Compliance is followed to a “T”, and their Culture of Care is something each of their team members exemplifies. John Gillespie, Servicing Manager at V.I.P. Mortgage, a new TMS partner, noted, “My last subservicer, they literally didn’t care. They sat on stuff, and we’d have to follow up 4-5 times with them. With TMS, our rep is outstanding: I receive constant follow-up. He’s all over things and reaches out with updates, owning the situation like a true partner.” That kind of service makes all the difference in this business, and the people to bring it to you are the ones at TMS. Learn more.

“1 UW Touch on 70% of loans!” Plus, only Candor offers: 1) 30 days integration 2) 3 months to ROI  3) 1 click workflow from your LOS  4) 100% initial underwrite 5) Issue Conditions, including AUS and Reps/Warrants 6) 100% complete list of Borrower Documents on first click 7) 38% of Conditions automatically cleared 8) OCR Documents 9) Calculate W2 & Self-Employed income 10) Fully underwrite a loan 11) Guarantee underwrite with a defect policy 12) Make you ready for every possible market cycle. Unbelievable? ~700,000 underwrites later Candor clients are pulling ahead of the pack. Contact us for a demo.

The mortgage industry has seen a flurry of new regulatory announcements, whereby simply keeping up with the myriad of deadlines will be a challenge. As servicers work under the duress of this most recent maze of regulation, requirements, and guidance, it is crucial to maintain borrower satisfaction and confidence. Borrowers will also become more stressed as they are moved out of forbearance, fear that they face near-term foreclosure, and/or do not fully understand the options available to them at this time. If your team is not fully prepared to assist these homeowners, if your resources are tied up addressing regulatory change, onboarding new originations, or otherwise utilized, your borrowers may become further unengaged and disgruntled. Now is the time to leverage an easy to deliver, value-added service like HomeBinder. Use your resources where they are most effective and let HomeBinder engage your borrowers, creating “Clients for Life”.  Read more.

Training and Events 

Register for "Entering a Hot Market: What New Brokers Really Need to Know” NMP Webinar here.

Private mortgage insurance companies have training options on a very wide variety of subjects. National MI’s July webinar sessions can be found on the MI University webpage. a number of webinars and sessions. Essent offers training, as does MGIC, Arch MI, and Radian.

Lenders and investors offer learning as well. Angel Oak has a webinar on July 15: "How To Quickly Get Deals Done Using Non-QM!" loanDepot’s July 2021 training schedule includes Digital Verifications & Validations on July 14th, Renovation Training on July 15th, and Best Practices: Running AUS on July 21st. July 15’s Flagstar FLEX series event is, “Exponential Growth by Removing Friction”: Register now. LoanStream’s Non-QM/NanQ massive product update webinar is on Friday, July 16th covering topics like the new NanQ Product Enhancements, nuances of LoanStream’s offering vs. competitors, borrower profiles and what you need to provide to ensure a funded loan.

Join Black Knight’s Steven Baselice and Jennifer Whip, Cambridge One, LLC for the MBA-NJ July 21st webinar: Elevate and Fortify Your Business: Secrets to Succeeding with Agency-Direct Delivery.

Capital Markets

There was little meaningful economic data released over the last week, but that didn’t stop rates from dropping. Treasury yields declined for a variety of reasons, including worry about the effects the COVID delta variant would have on global supply chains. Sectors of the U.S. economy would be growing faster if not for input shortages causing supply shortages, which means that consumers, still flush with cash, will continue to shift spending from goods to services. Many businesses still continue to struggle with labor shortages although the minor increase in openings in May combined with an uptick in hiring suggest that the problem is not getting worse. Labor demand is driving up earning and non-wage incentives as firms have had to compete more to attract workers. All but one industry reported higher costs during the month of June suggesting that inflationary pressures will continue.

This week’s economic calendar is highlighted by the mini-Refunding today and Tuesday, as well as sees Fed Chair Powell delivering his Monetary Policy testimony to Congress over Wednesday and Thursday. We will receive some higher-tiered economic data, including wholesale and retail inflation, the Beige Book, import prices, industrial production/capacity utilization, and retail sales. Besides today’s Class A 48-hours, the Desk will purchase up to $4.1 billion of MBS today across 15-year 1.5 percent and 2 percent and 30-year 2 percent and 2.5 percent. Class B 48-hours is on Thursday with Class C net out on Friday. Today’s calendar sees a couple Fed presidents speaking, including New York’s Williams and Minneapolis’ Kashkari. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices a few ticks higher/up and the 10-year yielding 1.34 after closing last week at 1.36 percent.

Employment and Transitions

“Job postings can yield a mixed bag of results.  Anyone is able to apply, whether they have the experience you’re looking for or not. Pezian Search Group is here to help end that frustration by delivering high-quality, qualified candidates FAST because we understand the sense of urgency that comes with looking to make the next great hire, and we do so with a full satisfaction guarantee. Additionally, we now offer Featured Candidates, where we deliver a short list of active candidates bi-weekly with quick overviews of their background straight to your inbox because we know that sometimes a job may not be posted but the need is there for a top-level candidate. If interested in joining our Featured Candidates mailing list, or if you’re looking for your next career step, email us with your contact info, follow us on LinkedIn, and visit our Careers page.”

“Opportunity is knocking at TVC Funding! We have billions to lend, and the Summer of 2021 is your time to take advantage. Partner with us to provide DSCR (for both short-term and long-term rentals), Fix & Flip, Ground Up Construction and Bridge loans to your borrowers nationwide. Our products are designed using common sense underwriting approaches, making them perfect as a white-label solution for brokers & correspondents. They are competitively priced as well – please visit TVCFunding.com to see our latest rates and terms. TVC is consistently innovating with new technology and honing our processes to ensure quick, easy, and consistent approvals making it smoother than ever to close deals. Our partners have come to trust us because we deliver on what we promise – when others stopped lending during the pandemic, we never stopped. Our private funding allows us to make the best decisions on behalf of our borrowers and our partners. Start partnering with TVC Funding today! TVC is also hiring: We’re adding experienced BDMs, Loan Officers, Underwriters, Analysts and more. Want to be part of the fastest-growing private lender in the US? Email Doug Perry today for full-time and partnership opportunities!”

Now entering its ninth month in business and steadily growing, Unified Reliance Wholesale begins its expansion into the Midwest and East, welcoming Paul Wyner as Regional Sales Manager. Wyner comes to the team with 30 years’ experience in the mortgage industry, primarily in the wholesale space. He is an industry veteran, having held several senior level positions, most notably Senior Managing Director over TPO for a large wholesaler. Wyner’s passion for building out new, high-performance teams is unparalleled. “We’ve built a strong presence in the West and are excited to see what Paul and his team will accomplish in the East” said EVP, Dave Pilotte. “His exceptional leadership and team-building skills will allow us to expand tactfully and steadily across the country.” URW, a 100% employee-owned company, is now seeking AEs in Minnesota, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. To explore opportunities, contact Paul Wyner (847.226.0179).

Many lenders are downsizing or reorganizing. Not Loan Simple. It is hiring, big time. Unlike other lenders, Loan Simple is stable, growing and they’re mining for lots of great talent, especially AEs. For anyone who’s tired of sharing territory and competing for top brokers, Loan Simple has Regional Account Executive positions available in several of the most sought-after markets. It’s a rich opportunity for growth, so what’re you waiting for? Apply now.

Wanna work for the FHA underwriting loans and make $100k+ a year? There are two vacancies in Atlanta GA, (21-HUD-1617-P) and one in Denver, CO, which includes the duties of a Construction Analyst, Appraiser, and Mortgage Loan Specialist as it relates to Single Family Mortgage Insurance underwriting. 21-HUD-1691-P.

Deephaven announced that Sunny Thiara and Luke Turner have joined the company as Regional Sales Vice Presidents of Wholesale.