Per Fed Chair Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve has been working to revise post-crisis financial regulations, making them less onerous and better suited to individual banks’ size and complexity. "For community banks, which by and large avoided the risky business practices that contributed to the financial crisis, we have been focused on making sure that much-needed improvements to regulation and supervision since the crisis are appropriate and not unduly burdensome" Nice.

Lenders Making Moves With New Products

"Rob, is Quicken Loans buying & selling real estate?" Technically no, but in a manner yes. If you want the full details you should contact someone at the Quicken Loans Family of Companies (QLFOC, this industry is obsessed with acronyms) since this entity owns both Quicken Loans and In-House Reality (along with things like the Cleveland Cavaliers). In-House Reality is a large referral network of real estate agents, and made the press this year by purchasing technology from Canada's OpenHouse. So, Quicken Loans is not in real estate, but its sister company is. Hey, Quicken's not in business for its health, right?

Genesis Capital has signed a definitive agreement with Goldman Sachs to support the company in its next phase of growth. Genesis Capital is a specialty commercial lending platform providing financing solutions to professional residential real estate developers. The company is involved in the "The Renovate-and-Resale" industry, currently valued at $74 billion. Of that total, there is a $59 billion market opportunity in single-family-home R&R, and a $15 billion opportunity in multifamily R&R. "Aging inventory creates demand for remodeled homes in urban areas of major cities. Over the past two decades, the median age of housing stock has increased by about 12 years, and 60% of housing units are over 30 years old. This is creating ample demand for remodeled homes in urban areas of major cities." Genesis is being acquired from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management L.P. and management.

Pacific Union Financial, LLC is now offering discounted LPMI in its Correspondent Channel. 

Plaza's Closed End Second Lien program is now available in all states. Additionally, the second lien program guidelines have been updated to clarify that Restricted Stock Unit (RSU) income is not eligible and transactions where children are purchasing a home for aged parents will not be considered owner-occupied. Plaza has the rolled out a new simultaneous closed-end second lien loan program. Plaza's seconds are eligible with a concurrently closed Fannie Mae eligible new Plaza first lien. Refer to its Closed-end Second Lien Program Guidelines for complete details.

Franklin American Mortgage announced loans closed utilizing electronic documents and signatures, except for the original Note and Security Instrument, are now eligible for purchase.  Eligible e-closed documents include the initial and final loan documents and any required disclosures. Loans may be delivered with electronic signatures on all eligible documents or with a hybrid strategy that includes a combination of e-signed documents and traditional paper documents. The original Note, Security Instrument, and Modification Agreement (if applicable) may not be electronically signed and continue to require ink signatures.

American Lending offers Reverse Mortgage products. Turn times are 24-48 hours for underwriting, conditions, docs and funding review.

Flagstar Bank announced as of Friday, October 06, 2017, it will be offering Fannie Mae Multiple Property High Balance loan products.

Citibank Correspondent is offering Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) premiums on eligible loans. The premiums offered for the following MSAs will change effective with locks on/after Monday, October 2, 2017.  Refer to the updated Citi CRA Premium Schedule for complete details.

Embrace Home Loans, announced the launch of its new online mortgage and refinancing application. This new application, now fully functional and in use, was created by Embrace's LOs, IS team, and marketing, and will provide a streamlined process for customers, loan officers and loan processors. With customer experience the focus, users can log on to the application via their mobile phone, at work or at home, and connect directly with their loan officer.  

Capital Markets

There isn't much volatility out there, which is fine for many capital markets folks. Yesterday's initial claims report was consistent with a tight labor market, which some members of the Federal Reserve think poses an upside inflation risk. Fed Governor Lael Brainard said that the reaction to a tightening labor market is not consistent with reactions seen in the past, and that what had appeared to be a temporary headwind for inflation looks to be more persistent now.

On a slightly more positive note, the Producer Price Index reading helped the view that the Fed is on course to raise the fed funds rate again in December. Today's CPI release from September arguably holds more weight (+.5%, year over year +2.2%, core +.1%). We also had September Retail Sales (+1.6%, as expected), August Business Inventories, and Preliminary Michigan Sentiment Index for October. Finally, there will be two FOMC voters speaking: Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan. We start Friday with rates lower due to the inflation numbers; the 10-year is at 2.28% and agency MBS prices better by .250 versus Thursday's close

Products, Services, LO Book

Given the headlines of the past few weeks dealing with natural disasters and credit breaches, Regina Lowrie, President & CEO of RML Advisors shared the following with me and I wanted to share it with all of you. "If you're not doing something about managing closing agents, you're clearly taking a business and regulatory risk and jeopardizing consumers. The loss of privacy data and wire fraud are creating material losses for lenders and vendors who provide information and connectivity. Lenders are getting phishing emails to penetrate their data systems and are increasingly getting other emails disguised as the closing agent trying to change wiring instructions. Savvy crooks are realizing that small law firms and title companies receive the loan closing documents via electronic submission to print out for borrower signature." RML Advisors has both closing agent and vendor management programs that have been designed by mortgage bankers for mortgage bankers. If you're thinking about these risks, contact Regina.

Provident Bank Mortgage, a full-service lender headquartered in Riverside, California since 1956, is seeking a Branch Manager for its Roseville, CA office. "Provident offers a truly unique decentralized lending platform with processing, underwriting and closing under your guidance at the branch level. You and your team will benefit by joining a financially sound, Federally Chartered Banking institution with an entrepreneurial philosophy allowing you the freedom to control your service levels. Provident offers a full menu of products, including Conventional, FHA, VA, CalHFA, Jumbo, Non-QM and Portfolio loan programs. Provident offers competitive compensation, excellent benefits and a great work environment." Please send your resume to Mike McIlrath (415-717-9989). EOE M/F/D/V.

Hurricane Harvey and Irma have left the national spotlight, but the damage they caused is still very top of mind for Texas and Florida residents. REMN Wholesale announced last month that it is now offering 203(h) mortgages for borrowers who need to rebuild or purchase another home because of disasters, but many brokers and bankers are confused on what can and cannot be done through these loans. On 10/17, REMN will be hosting the "203(h): Helping Homeowners Find Their Voice" webinar. Led by Damon Richardson, REMN's Renovation Lending Specialist, the webinar will focus on details regarding a loan product that should play a massive role in both states' recovery efforts. The webinar will precede a series of in-person training events, dates of which will be announced later. The registration page can be found here. As REMN Wholesale continues to look for ambitious account executives to their team, in all territories, who share the company's entrepreneurial culture and dedication to customer service. Interested applicants should email aerecruiting@remn.com.

FundLoans.com, a super jumbo non-QM wholesale residential lender, is looking for an experienced Account Executive who "thrives when challenged, inspired to deliver a level of service unparalleled in the mortgage industry. At FundLoans.com we take a common-sense approach to looking at your loan. We don't underwrite like a bank, we underwrite like a private fund. We thrive in the super jumbo area and love working with self-employed borrowers. Come join the nation's newest Jumbo Non-QM lender as we grow and thrive in this lucrative new space. We are hiring in the following markets: CA, FL, TX, AZ, CO, WA, OR. Email your resume today for additional information and consideration to David Hidy (760-388-5888), EVP of Strategic Development.

Becoming the Successful Mortgage Broker. It will prove useful for new people to the industry, as well as seasoned veterans, offering in-depth information for new originators and proven successful sales tips for more experienced loan officers. The format of the book allows you to look at tips you can use to better your business as well as commentary on the current market and useful information for mortgage consultants.

Vendorly recently announced the continued expansion of its platform through the addition of three, new third-party oversight integrations available on the Vendorly platform. These additions further enable Vendorly's customers to enhance their vendor management framework and help them maintain the high oversight standards required in today's marketplace. In May, Vendorly announced an integration with Secure Insight, a leading provider of settlement agent verification. Continuing this momentum, the three, new vendor oversight additions to the Vendorly platform include: Dun & Bradstreet, the global leader in commercial data, analytics and insights for business; The ID Co. which provides a flexible online identity verification solution, DirectID, and TINCheck, which helps companies solve payee compliance issues. Learn more about how these integrations improve vendor oversight at Vendorly.com or contact Mike Ehms for more information.

Caliber Home Loans is excited to announce the launch of MyPipelineConnect for home builders and real estate agents. This web portal, designed in-house, provides residential home builders and real estate agents with comprehensive details of their customers' home financing. Builders and agents will be able to easily access MyPipelineConnect to view loan statuses, details and contacts tied to their Caliber pipelines. "With MyPipelineConnect, our builder and real estate associates will be more involved in our shared customers' loan process, which will improve the experience for everyone involved," said Caroline Watteeuw, EVP & Chief Information Officer. Builders and agents are automatically linked to their customers' transactions, which ensures they don't miss any updates from their customers' lender. Caliber is dedicated to providing its employees and partners with the necessary tools to serve customers throughout their homebuying journey. To learn more about creating a MyPipelineConnect account, contact a loan consultant in your market.

The MBA stated that limited English proficiency (LEP) could create a liability for lenders since this is a key priority for many regulators. A CFPB official said, "If every loan application had a talk'uments file, our job (CFPB) would be done." Available in ENGLISH and SPANISH, talk'uments is a new consumer information delivery model that displays borrower specific loan data through interactive loan and disclosure technology - from pre-sale through loan closing. Talk'uments increases loan originations, as it eliminates LEP risk and cuts compliance, legal and regulatory costs for all mortgage transactions, and, by providing market ready borrowers with what they want - interactive loan information specific to their loan request (i.e. Loan Product Info, LE and CD review, Application & Closing Docs explanations, and Borrower Responsibilities). Talk'uments is the first of its kind in the field of interactive loan and disclosure technology. For more information or to visit with talk'uments at the National MBA conference (booth 1322), contact George Baker.

Are you and your team thinking of implementing a CRM or struggling with poor user adoption of an enterprise-wide software solution?  Check out this white paper called, "Eight Ways to Improve User Adoption of CRM and Other Technologies." Christy Soukhamnet, SVP of National Sales Performance for Certainty Home Loans, and Gibran Nicholas, CEO of CMPS Institute, share eight lessons they've learned from their recent CRM implementation experience where they achieved 70%+ user adoption rates as defined by users who are logging in to the system at least weekly. These results are significantly higher than industry averages for this type of enterprise-wide software solution. The white paper estimates, based on industry research, that up to 50% of loan officers don't use software that has been purchased at the enterprise-level, and that mortgage companies could be losing a whopping $90,000/year in lost revenue opportunities for every 10 loan officers who fail to implement. Click here to download the white paper.