I’m getting old. I can remember the lyrics from a Steppenwolf song that I haven’t heard in 20 years but I don’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday. I do know, however, that today is a trip to Atlanta for a presentation with attorney Mitch Kider, and I glanced at the topics at NAMMBA Connect 2021. See how many of these, a subset of the sessions, apply to what your company is doing. Reinventing the consumer experience, using diversity as a competitive advantage, connecting with staff, consumers, and creating loyalty, what diverse candidates are looking for in their employers, how to gain more Realtor business, breaking into the builder market, niche products (203K and Non-QM lending) time management strategies, building a business to compete in a tough purchase environment, loan officer compensation, industry consolidation, marketing agreements, regulations impacting our industry, and improving efficiency. Along those lines, the audio version of today’s commentary, available here, is sponsored by Origence, helping financial institutions provide mortgage, consumer, indirect, and home equity loans with greater efficiency and increased scale while also delivering a convenient and personalized experience to borrowers.

Products and Services

Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest adult generation, yet they account for only a fraction of the average lender’s pipeline. To help you double-down on engagement with the single largest homeownership market, LBA Ware has joined forces with Kristin Messerli, VP of Financial Services at Experience.com and leading expert on NextGen homebuyers (a.k.a. Millennials), for the webinar The Myths that Keep Millennials from Buying: Data-Driven Direction for Growing Your Share of America’s Largest Market, which takes place October 6, 1-2 pm ET. In it, you’ll learn how to best serve the Millennial demographic, tie customer satisfaction to your performance management strategy and have the opportunity to get your questions answered. Register for the free webinar here.

This week, FHFA and U.S. Department of Treasury announced the suspension of certain provisions which were put in place by the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on January 14th, 2021. As a follow up to this week's client webinar, please join MCT for a public webinar next Friday, September 24 at 10AM PT to learn how changes to FHFA's PSPA and corresponding reactions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will impact your business. MCT is following the situation closely and expects further guidance to follow shortly related to cash windows and loans with higher risk characteristics. Register for the webinar and join the MCT newsletter to stay abreast of the latest mortgage industry news.

Are you currently recruiting Loan Originators? How many calls does it take you to make a connection? Do you have a targeted list of potential candidates that meet your production profile criteria? But the contact data can only get you so far; what are your next actions? Virtual Recruiter and Market Insights are a few of the tools that Model Match can deliver to supercharge your growth goals! “Our Market Insights lets you identify and filter specific candidates in your region/market and narrow down your search, saving you time and effort.  Our Virtual Recruiters will make cold calls, sell your company's value propositions, and develop a pipeline of LOs ready for you to take the next action and do what you do best, close! Model Match allows you to collaborate with your team and clearly identify actionable next steps to ensure you have a sustainable recruiting plan moving into 2022. Let Model Match fuel your growth! Schedule a demo.”

“Are you just looking at charts or are you taking action? Reports on their own don’t help your business; go beyond reporting with Richey May’s RM Analyze and empower your team with actionable insights. Our platform is designed and implemented by mortgage industry experts to quickly set you up with critical reports you need to run your business. We work with you to build custom visualizations to focus on key initiatives across every area of your company. Our new Peer View Ops functionality allows you to dive deeper and see how you’re performing in vital production and operational areas in comparison to your peers. Contact us today and we will walk you through the platform and set a plan for how you can solve your specific challenges with actionable insights delivered.”

At Planet Home Lending, we offer our Correspondent partners a full suite of renovation loan products to attack the problem of low inventory and keep those pipelines humming. But that's just the beginning. A 30-minute conversation with us at #MBAAnnual21 could increase your product menu and possibly even boost your margins all year long. A good ROI for half an hour! Contact SVP, Correspondent Sales Jim Loving (414-270-0027) to set up a meeting and see what we can do for you.

In 1947, Harvard scientists investigating a short in the Aiken Relay Calculator discovered a fried moth stuck between two solenoids, which is how referring to computer glitches as “bugs” gained popularity. Speaking of being bugged, lenders tend to shy away from auto dialing software (maybe for fear of being mistaken for one of those expiring car warranty scammers we’re all so familiar with). But Surefire Power Calls is different, allowing loan officers to build lists using advanced filters, efficiently strengthening personal connections without bugging borrowers. Subscribe to The Trending Mind Newsletter to learn more about how Surefire now by Black Knight can help improve lead conversion.

As a loan originator, mortgage lead generation is at the forefront of everything you do. But identifying and engaging customers who are shopping for a mortgage loan in the earliest phases of the decision cycle is not easy. Over 60% of marketers rank lead generation as their number one challenge. Sourcepoint’s proven Lead Generation services can help you generate more refinance and purchase leads and close more loans predictably. With deep mortgage experience, over 9,400 dedicated mortgage associates, bi-lingual capabilities, and right shore delivery model, we help you build the most desirable lead pipeline, aligned with your strategy. Our seamless process spanning (lead upload, outbound calling, lead disposition, warm handoff, and reporting) increases efficiency and right party contacts while reducing costs. Try Sourcepoint’s Lead Generation Services today.

Informative Research is excited to announce that Phase I of the IR Verification Waterfall is live! Powered by the IRiq Decisioning Platform, Informative Research allows lenders to navigate the increasingly complex verification of employment, income, and asset landscape. Through automation and decisioning capabilities, the waterfall answers the following questions for lenders: How do I ensure I can obtain a verification given the rising number of verification providers? How do I control my verification costs? How do I save time in the process? For more information, please click here.

Agency Updates, Lender and Investors Take Note

Yesterday the FHFA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) to amend the Enterprise Regulatory Capital Framework. The proposed amendments would refine the prescribed leverage buffer amount (PLBA) and the capital treatment of credit risk transfers (CRT), two issues which have been highlighted as concerns by MBA.  We will be further analyzing this NPR in the coming days and will update you as we move forward with next steps.  Comments on the proposed rule can be submitted within 60 days of its publication in the Federal Register.

Per the FHFA’s announcement two days ago (“FHFA and Treasury Suspending Certain Portions of the 2021 Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements,” effective immediately, Fannie Mae is rescinding any previously communicated expectations placed on the volume of investment properties and second home loans sold to Fannie Mae. Note that the terms of LL-2021-08 continue to apply. Please continue to deliver a representative mix of business…”

First State Mortgage addressed IT Update and Fannie Mae Prohibited Refinancing Practices.

PennyMac will make the following updates to the Conventional LLPAs effective for all Best Effort commitments taken on or after Monday, September 13, as follows: Introduce new High Balance Loan Amount LLPA in the ‘High Balance Mortgage Loans’ grid Remove Refinance Adverse Market Fee LLPA and footnote. PennyMac’s September Product Highlight discussed FNMA HomeStyle and FHA 203(K) in Announcement 21-68.

Product Update 21-46 from PRMG announced the consolidation of several agency products and a release of two new products to support this consolidation. To learn about the consolidated products, Watch PRMG’s on-demand webinar or attend a training webinar available on Thursday, Sept. 23rd at 10:00 AM Pacific, or Wednesday, Sept. 29th at 9:30 AM Pacific.

First Community Mortgage Correspondent Announcement 2021-18 discusses FNMA DU September updates.

AmeriHome reiterated the upcoming reinstatement  of Employment Validation for loan casefiles created in DU submitted or resubmitted on or after the weekend of Sept. 18.

Sun West Mortgage is now offering the Freddie Mac Refi PossibleSM loan program. This loan option enables borrowers to refinance to a lower rate and reduce their monthly mortgage payment.

Caliber Home Loans announced the release of Freddie Mac’s Refi Possible, effective with Commitment Confirmations issued on or after September 9th. Refi Possible offers expanded eligibility for homeowners to refinance a loan, that is owned or securitized by Freddie Mac, at a lower rate and reduced monthly payment.  For complete program details, refer to Freddie Mac Bulletin 2021-17 and the Refi Possible Program Summary available in AllRegs.

Flagstar Bank is implementing the new Freddie Mac Refi Possible program, Freddie Mac’s version of the Fannie Mae RefiNow introduced in June of this year. Read the Flagstar Bank Announcement-New Freddie Mac Refi Possible Program for highlights and additional details. Also, Fannie Mae Refi Now guideline clarifications will be updated as listed in the Flagstar Announcement.

Plaza Home Mortgage® is ready to roll on the Freddie Mac Refi Possible program, expanding eligibility to include borrowers at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) limit. To help you identify clients that may qualify, Freddie Mac has a new Property Eligibility Tool to verify if a borrower may qualify based on the property location and the borrower’s qualifying income. To learn more about Refi Possible, contact your Plaza Account Executive or email Plaza.

FAMC will continue to follow the published FAMC product guidelines to determine product eligibility and pricing regardless of the DU recommendation, as the minimum credit score requirements remain unchanged.

Events for Today!

2021 Lender research results revealed. Find out thousands of lender responses in the annual MBA Contact and Lead Vendor Analysis studies. Companies pay significant amounts for market research like this, but Insellerate is sharing it with everyone at 10:00 AM PST in a FREE 30-minute webinar.

LoanStream Mortgage added Foreign National Program to its Non-QM DSCR and ITIN Programs. Learn about the requirements in the LoanStream Mortgage Webinar.

NAMMBA CONNECT starts today in Atlanta: Check out the agendas for the Sept. 16th-19th event. There are over 100 sessions, 60+ exhibitors, and 30+ speakers to choose from.

MMLA has an interactive series on the basics of mortgage math, particularly those which tie to a regulatory requirement. Mortgage Math - Amortization & Interest is free to MMLA members, $20 each for MMLA non-members.

Carrington Correspondent’s FHA Manual Underwriting – Credit Fundamentals webinar is today at 11AM PT. Carrington will unlock key factors that can trigger a downgrade to manual underwrite, non-traditional credit options for borrowers without a credit score, compensating factors (and how can they help with a higher DTI), and parameters for working with derogatory credit events.

MBA has its CONVERGENCE Webinar Series from 1:30-2:15 ET to hear perspectives from City Hall on Affordable Housing. The Panel includes Bob Broeksmit, CMB (Moderator), MBA President & Chief Executive Officer. Vi Lyles, Mayor of Charlotte, NC. Jenny Durkan, Mayor of Seattle, WA. Marc Morial, President and CEO of National Urban League and former Mayor of New Orleans, LA.

Join MBAF for an Informative and Impactful Webinar - Hedging 101. In this educational session, Chris Bennett, principal of Vice Capital Markets, will cover what hedging entails, why a lender would choose to hedge, how hedging impacts other operational areas of a lending organization, and the role hedge advisors play in helping lenders manage this function.

Capital Markets

Are laborious lock desk processes slowing you down? Polly’s next-gen Product & Pricing Engine provides granular workflow automation that enables lenders to increase lock desk efficiency. Explicitly designed to solve the inefficiencies and limitations of legacy platforms, Polly’s Product & Pricing Engine offers a wide range of functionality, allowing users to automate and customize all of their lock desk workflows. From locks to extensions, reprices, concessions, and more, Polly’s best-in-class process automation is changing the game for lenders and providing much needed relief for back-office support. To learn more about how Polly’s revolutionary Product & Pricing Engine is helping improve efficiency through fully customizable and automation-enabled lock desk workflows, email Jacob Gerson or visit www.polly.io.

With all the FHFA news dominating headlines (it should increase MBS supply, eventually), there wasn’t a whole lot of attention paid to what else was going on in the bond market yesterday. Not like there was much. Total industrial production increased 0.4 percent in August, as expected, while the capacity utilization rate increased to 76.4 percent which means that industrial production finally eclipsed its pre-pandemic level. That is despite the impact of Hurricane Ida and ongoing semiconductor shortages. Separately, import prices decreased 0.3 percent in August. U.S. Treasuries pulled back by the day's end while the MBS basis ended wider, meaning, basically, mortgage rates rose relative to Treasury rates.

Today’s calendar gets underway shortly with the all-important retail sales, as well as jobless claims and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing. The only other release on the day is July business inventories later this morning. The Desk will purchase up to $5.6 billion of 30-year 2.0 percent and 2.5 percent. We begin Thursday with Agency MBS prices nearly unchanged from Wednesday night and the 10-year yielding 1.31 after closing yesterday at 1.30 percent.

Employment 

“A Mortgage Boutique, a division of First Community Mortgage, is expanding its Wholesale/NDC Division! This award-winning company is looking for AEs in any market to develop and deepen business partner relationships in our growing Wholesale/NDC channel. We are committed to offering unparalleled service, a bespoke experience, and support to our business partners, as we seek to broaden our reach into all markets across the US. As a relationship lender with a penchant for service, AMB/FCM recognizes that people are the key to successful partnerships! If you are interested in learning more about AMB/FCM’s Wholesale/NDC Division and our ‘best in class operations team, please send a message to Retta Gardner, EVP of Sales – WS Division.”

“Discover new opportunities with Impac. We have the Non-QM product line, pricing, training, and marketing tools you need to expand your business. How are we winning for our brokers and their borrowers? We’ve made expansive enhancements to our guidelines allowing more borrowers to qualify with fewer restrictions. Just this week, we’ve introduced new term options including a 40 Year Fixed / 10 Year I/O to all of our Non-QM products. With industry-leading turn times and some of the most competitive pricing around, we’re also looking for National Account Executives who can keep up with us. These remote positions include generous territories, impressive benefits, and uncapped financial growth. Email your resume to Lisa Livingston for immediate and confidential consideration.”

A capital markets executive with significant experience is searching for a position in the capital markets/secondary/lock desk area, and is open to remote work. Has experience in most operational areas of a mortgage banker, including using hedging software, best execution and delivery, Agency delivery, managing a lock desk, hedging interest rate risk, broker dealer forward positions, funding of mortgage-backed securities, as well as investor and agency relations and, product negotiation. Interested parties should contact me to forward their note of interest.