Thousands of people in the residential lending biz headed to the San Diego aerodrome and flew home. Plenty were sore from wearing dress shoes everywhere, although I saw plenty of gals in flip flops while in transit. Guys are happy to stop wearing ties. Masks at the airport sure cuts down on recognizing someone you may have met with the day before. What’s the chatter? Efficiency and cost cutting, the subject of this month’s STRATMOR blog. At the MBA event the vendors were out in force. Vying for the coolest name is Digital Silence, a firm focused on information security research and consulting services. There was the digital loan closing specialist Stavvy party. Househappy allows your client to take care of all their home project needs with a simple phone call or click. And a company for MLOs financing anyone with student debt there’s LoanSense. (Write to Cat Kaiyoorawongs if you have questions.) Today’s audio version of the commentary is available here. This week’s is sponsored by Triserv, a national AMC with client-specific, dedicated teams on both coasts that get to know their lenders, providing a high-touch, personalized order follow-up so that clients will always know what’s going on with the appraisal. Today’s features and interview with Seth Appleton, President of MISMO, on initiatives of the organization and why it is more important to lenders than most realize.

Lender and Broker Services and Products

When “Back to the Future” writer Scott Gale predicted the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series in 2015, it was “the most absurd” prediction he could make. Except he was only a year off because the Cubs actually won the World Series in 2016. Sales Boomerang offers lenders better predictions than those from “BTTF,” because they won’t be a year off and they’re based on the lender’s own database. Success Mortgage Partners has used Sales Boomerang’s predictions to add 1.21 gigawatts of power to its borrower retention efforts. Want to learn more? Download this case study. Then join Alex Kutsishin and Mortgage Champions’ Dale Vermillion on Oct. 27 at 1 pm ET as they interview Brett Miller and share some of Success Mortgage Partners’ secret sauce. Register now and learn how to take your borrower retention efforts from 0 to 88 MPH in the blink of an eye.

With over 20,000 taxing agencies across the U.S., it’s challenging for many lenders to quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively access property tax data during loan prequalification. Now, lenders can overcome that challenge. Black Knight’s Tax for Loan Estimation offers an affordable solution that delivers instant, nationwide, accurate estimates of current-year property taxes, even on new construction. This powerful solution identifies all applicable taxing agencies and determines the most accurate method of estimating taxes in each geography. A report is produced that includes property and agency addresses, total tax estimate, estimates per agency, and confidence scores. Armed with fast, accurate tax data, you can provide a better borrower experience, increase efficiencies, and reduce the need to rework estimates. Learn more here.

Snapdocs, the industry’s leading digital closing platform, recently announced two new enhancements to its mortgage closing solution. The first is Snapdocs eVault, a modern eVault built from the ground up for the mortgage industry. The company offers a turn-key eNote solution to lenders today, including integration with Evolve or eOriginal eVaults, and is expanding its offering with the addition of this proprietary eVault. The second is Closing Quality Control, a new solution designed to completely eliminate errors (missing pages, signatures, notary stamps, etc.) from your closings. Contact Snapdocs to learn more about these new solutions, as well as how to implement digital closings at your organization.

“What do a nationwide TPO vendor, a large wholesale HELOC lender, a top Non-QM wholesale lender, a foreign national retail & wholesale lender, a HELOC/Consumer lender/servicer and a nationwide manufactured home chattel lender all have in common? MortgageFlexONE Origination and Servicing. If you have unique lending needs and are tired of work arounds, we can help. From POS to LOS to servicing systems, we can customize your everything to meet lender/servicers needs, not the other way around. We also have an extensive SDK so lenders can make their own changes. We look at each customer individually and work with your team to add the required functionality to your system. We have a long track record of meeting the needs of lenders with business cases that other providers cannot or will not handle. Just ask our customers, flexibility, it’s in our name. Please contact SVP John McCrea.”

AmeriHome Mortgage, the 2nd largest correspondent and 14th largest mortgage lender in the country, had an amazing time at the MBA Annual this week, and were thrilled to connect with so many clients and partners in person! AmeriHome continues to expand its new Non-Agency Portfolio Program, and is excited to welcome Scott Vieregg and Colleen Cawley as its Non-Agency focused Sales Account Executives for the West and East, respectively. AmeriHome is also looking to hire a Non-Agency focused Sales Account Executive for the Central region! AmeriHome currently offers Portfolio Express and Portfolio Jumbo and will be rolling out Portfolio Expanded in December! For more information about AmeriHome's Non-Agency line of products or any other services they offer, email CLsales@amerihome.com to connect with the AmeriHome sales team, and be sure to follow AmeriHome Correspondent on LinkedIn for the latest updates.

Don’t miss the next live webinar hosted by NAMB and presented by ReadyPrice’s Rick Soukoulis and Plaza Home Mortgage’s Jeff Lienan, as they talk about how your AEs can become an invaluable extension of your business! Uncover how you can tap into your committed workforce of AEs and empower them to Go Beyond Rate Sheets to Helping Develop & Grow Your Business. This webinar touches on important topics like how AEs can go beyond transactional support and help you build your business, and how their knowledge and experience, and the unique skills they possess can be advantageous to your business. It will also talk about how your sales team can help you uncover new market opportunities and guide you to success while avoiding pitfalls. Be sure to join us! Click on this link to register.

Why wait until next year to automate the business processes you needed to automate last year? RM Automate, powered by Zoral, blends Richey May’s expertise in mortgage banking with Zoral’s best-in-class intelligent automation platform. An exclusive end-to-end solution that streamlines and optimizes your entire organization by automating manual, repetitive work and freeing up your team to focus on more high-value tasks. Scalable, fully customizable, and easy to implement, it brings a host of benefits to every phase of your operation from lead generation to post closing and accounting. RM Automate powered by Zoral. Easy automation. High impact. Great news for your back office! Schedule your customizable demo today.

Introducing the Maxwell Mortgage Optimization Platform: a collection of solutions that change the game for local lenders throughout the mortgage origination process. Going beyond loan applications and document management, the Maxwell Mortgage Optimization Platform includes Maxwell’s Point of Sale, Fulfillment, Diligence, and Secondary Market Trading solutions. While available a la carte, when used collectively, these solutions offer transformative efficiency, scale, and agility to the lenders that serve America’s communities. Backed by leading technology paired with deep industry expertise, the Maxwell Optimization Platform gives small and midsize lenders the permanent, disruptive financial advantage they need to compete against the industry's largest players. Click here to learn more, or request a demo today.

Correspondents and Wholesalers Evolving

Rocket, as announced in this commentary a few days ago, told brokers that it would “build bridges” for their partners by connecting them with real estate agents. Austin Niemiec, EVP of Rocket Pro TPO, said broker partners will now have access to agents through Rocket Homes, the company’s real estate listing platform. “When Rocket Homes connects homebuyers with one of its partner agents, the company will also introduce select buyers to one of Rocket Pro TPO’s Pinnacle Partners.”

And Rocket is moving, for new registrations starting yesterday, agency high balance loan limits to the anticipated 2022 max loan amount limits in 49 counties across several states. “The new limit is $937,5001 in 42 of the 49 counties impacted. The remaining seven are between $811,440 and $885,925. Visit Pathfinder for more details. “A/I findings ONLY for exceeding 2021 high balance loan limits may be submitted to underwriting. All A/I loans require a full appraisal. 2021 Jumbo Smart minimum loan amounts are still in effect. Loan Amounts between the 2021 HB limit and the new HB limit are capped at 90% LTV on purchase and R/T refinance.”

loanDepot Wholesale announced the removal of COVID-19 overlays for government loans, effective immediately. The mello® Broker Portal reflects eligibility changes.

Fairway Wholesale Lending announced Dual AUS for Conventional Products. Now, it’s possible to run DU, LPA, or both at the same time and all within Fairway Wholesale Lending DRIVER portal. This one-click feature is specifically designed to automate the review process of the DU and LPA findings reports for Conventional products by providing a side-by-side comparison of documentation requirements. It offers more efficiency when determining the eligibility of your borrowers and more easily provides appraisal and property inspection waiver comparisons.

Effective with Best Effort Commitment Confirmations issued on or after October 13, 2021, Caliber Home Loans is offering the eligibility of increased conforming loan limits for Conventional, VA and USDA. Some of the pricing engines may not reflect the updates and therefore, the Caliber Correspondent Portal should be used for pricing and locking.

Read Announcement CL21-68 to view the new loan limits and Loan Level Pricing Adjustments (LLPAs).

Capital Markets

The economy continues to heal from the pandemic and MSR pricing has seen improvement as a result. Many servicers are still sitting on large portfolios as a result of MSR multiples/prices going to zero in early 2020, and the market is becoming ripe for MSR bulk sales and there is ample capital/liquidity from buyers ready to purchase. Learn more about the bulk MSR market in MCT’s latest article, Top 5 Takeaways for the Bulk MSR Market in Q4 2021. If you are interested in a bulk MSR transaction, MCT’s MSR division can help. In a recent case study, Matt Danilowicz, CEO of Doorway Home Loans, describes how MCT’s “MSR team was absolutely crucial to the success of our MSR sale. I’m confident that with MCT’s guidance, we added 15bps of additional profitability on our $1 billion portfolio sale or approximately $1.5 million.” Contact MCT today for a demonstration of its services.

With Polly’s revolutionary Loan Trading Exchange, it’s now easier than ever to optimize your bottom line. As a trusted provider of innovative software solutions for the mortgage industry, Polly’s best-in-class trading tools and analytics ensure execution optimization on every trade across each agency, aggregator, and co-issue buyer, including Fannie SMP & Freddie CRX. Users can publish bid tapes and select best-ex in under 15 minutes by utilizing advanced filters, sorting, and automated last look functionality. Choose from a best ex or preferred investor point of view to maximize gain on sale. Additionally, loan level and pool level best-ex analysis ensure traders never miss a pay up with automated spec, high balance, CRA and spot vs. forward commitment optimizations. To learn more about how Polly’s Loan Trading Exchange is helping customers maximize gain on sale, email Jeff Krischer or visit www.polly.io.

Looking at rate sheets, the financial markets did not receive any top-tier data yesterday, and MBS prices and rates responded accordingly. The Fed did release its Beige Book for October, which described overall economic growth as "modest to moderate," aka “not much going on,” with supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and uncertainty about the coronavirus restraining overall activity. The Beige Book was mostly focused on inflation, with most districts reporting growth in consumer spending, but low inventory and high prices. In addition to significantly elevated prices, the majority of Districts did report robust wage growth. Fed Governor Quarles said that substantial further progress toward the Fed's employment and inflation mandates has been made and that he would support a reduction of asset purchases at the November policy meeting. Rate hikes are now priced in less than a year away, which should result in faster tapering than what the market has seen in the past.

Philadelphia Fed manufacturing (23.8) and weekly jobless claims (290k, as expected) kicked off today’s calendar (). Later this morning brings September leading indicators, existing home sales, Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, and remarks from a couple Fed speakers. Today’s MBS purchase schedule sees the Desk targeting conventionals for up to $4.9 billion. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices worse nearly .125 and the 10-year yielding 1.66 after closing yesterday at 1.64 percent.

Jobs and Hires

An industry business leader is seeking position as President, CEO or COO. The ideal position is President reporting to a dynamic CEO and/or board. Size of company less important than it's strategies, goals, and key staff. Broad industry experience in Mortgage, Building, Land Development, Insurance, Financial Services, Marketing, Software Development, Capital Markets, TPO, Private Lending, Data Analytics, Tech Stacks, M&A, turn arounds, project building/deployment, and leadership/team building. Have owned and sold multiple companies. Looking for company that has tech/digital/DTC as part of strategic plan, Fintech relationship a bonus. Professional Adviser nationally to C-Suite level staff. Currently living on West Coast, relocation considered or will do long distance commute. Ego is in check, even tempered, highly goal driven, innovative and creative problem solver, excellent communicator. Please email Anjelica Nixt for additional information and connection.

“Planet Home Lending is designed to expand, even if the market retracts. As the industry pivots from the refi boom to a more purchase-driven environment, we’re onboarding new branches each month, and we have no intention of slowing down. We’re looking for growth-oriented mortgage professionals, so we provide professional support. Branches work with the same dedicated processors, underwriters, and support team, every day & every file, so you can concentrate on reaching more borrowers and closing more loans. Watch our Retail Sales Leader Caleb Mittelstet talk about why originators are moving to Planet. Then send a note to Caleb or SVP Talent Acquisition Brian Miller. Grow your business with Planet Home Lending: Right Place, Right Size, Right Now!”

“New American Funding is expanding its dynamic Strategic Growth Team and is seeking experienced Regional Talent Acquisition Managers across the U.S. with multiple positions available in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Midwest Great Lakes regions. Our Strategic Growth Team is committed to steady expansion of retail branch locations reaching out to top Regional and Branch Managers, Top Originators, and sales support nationwide. Our Regional Talent Acquisition Managers enjoy competitive compensation and unlimited opportunities for expanded territories which are among the benefits of joining one of the largest privately held lenders in the country. As an MPA 5-Star Retail Lender and a champion in diversity we offer an award-winning culture focused on supporting employees in business and in life. We believe in development through mentorship, coaching, and support. To explore this great opportunity and more please reach out Sam Ellsworth, SVP National Retail Sales at PH 714.401.0183.”

Digital Silence is expanding its senior leadership team with the addition of JT Gaietto, a cybersecurity leader with more than 23 years of experience, joining as Chief Security Officer and co-owner.