A correction to yesterday’s Commentary regarding the next holiday (Memorial Day) being two months out. Several emailed that Memorial Day is actually three months away! Overheard here in Texas the hallways at the TMBA Secondary Conference: “So if we don’t let athletes bet on games that they have the ability to influence, why do we allow Congress to invest in companies they regulate?” Here at the conference, the wise use of technology is definitely an important topic (today’s Mortgages With Millennials focuses on this), as are the desirability of better mortgage regulations rather than more regulations, how many politicians seem more focused on their reelection prospects rather than bettering things, and the role of Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac going forward. (Found here, this week’s podcast is brought to you by nCino, makers of the nCino Mortgage Suite for the modern mortgage lender. nCino Mortgage Suite's three core products - nCino Mortgage, nCino Incentive Compensation, and nCino Mortgage Analytics - unite the people, systems, and stages of the mortgage process. Today’s has an interview with Polunsky Beitel Green’s Peter Idziak on the U.S. Treasury Department’s proposed rule that would require real estate professionals involved in closing and settlements to disclose the names of people behind the anonymous limited liability companies.)
Lender and Broker Services, Products, and Software
“Is your loan origination system (LOS) helping you maximize efficiency and meet the needs of every borrower? Taking the time to assess the health of your operations today will help you set yourself up for success in the year ahead and beyond. Read our recent blog to learn which LOS features can have the biggest impact on your business and how Encompass® helps you maximize these important components.”
Show Up in the Moments That Matter. Life happens whether we’re ready or not. Be ready to act the moment your customers experience a life event or take the next step on their financial journey with Total Expert Customer Intelligence. By monitoring your database for key behaviors and leveraging activity alerts that automatically surface opportunities to your customer-facing teams, we allow you to engage customers when it matters most and have meaningful, personalized conversations about their financial needs and goals. Learn how!
To access the largest subset of home buyers in the market, lenders are redefining their go to market strategy. Milestones' homeowner engagement solution goes well beyond a "What's my home worth?" assessment. It guides clients throughout the entire homeownership journey offering essential resources for home services, home improvements, home document storage, and a homeowner dashboard to monitor and track their activity in one place. What sets them apart is its fully white-labeled capabilities that provides a seamless consumer experience that keeps your lending products and partners top of mind. Adopt the ultimate homeowner engagement solution to connect more meaningfully with your borrowers and uncover new opportunities to boost your revenue. Book a meeting with sales today.
“Prominent national wholesale lender Click n’ Close has added One-Time Close (“OTC”) loan programs for government-insured mortgage products. Among these, the USDA OTC product has garnered attention for its potential to address the challenges faced by homebuyers in accessing affordable housing due to stringent down payment requirements. Click n’ Close’s OTC program features include 100 percent LTV financing covering land, construction and closing costs, with no down payment or minimum investment required and the ability to finance the 1 percent USDA Guarantee Fee up to 101 percent LTV. OTC also features flexible debt-to-income ratios, eligibility for credit scores of 640 and above, no prepayment penalties, first-time homebuyer eligibility, absence of required reserves, seller/builder concessions of up to 6 percent, utilization of eligible gifts for closing costs, and financing of a contingency account up to 10 percent. Reach out to our wholesale team Soliman Martinez, Adam Rieke, or Kerry Webb to learn more.”
Does it feel like your current point-of-sale vendor has lost focus on mortgage? As a mortgage-specialized partner, Maxwell is committed to giving lenders a competitive advantage in a changing mortgage market. With Maxwell Point of Sale, lenders can tailor workflows to fit the unique needs of their organization, so back-end teams can work quickly without costly interruptions. Compared to a top competitor, Maxwell Point of Sale averages a 5.9 percent higher pull-through rate from rate-lock to close. For the average lender using Maxwell POS, this equates to $42MM in additional loan volume. Schedule a call with the team to learn how Maxwell Point of Sale can start working for you, your borrowers, and your lending team quickly.
Truv saves lenders 60-80 percent over competitors. That’s the savings of multiple full-time employees. For example, Compass Mortgage saved roughly 60 percent in verification costs and maintained their same conversion rate. "Truv has given us the ability to lower costs, all while speeding up the verification process and providing better employment data" said Justin Venhousen, COO, Compass Mortgage. Stop wasting money. Contact TRUV today to discuss how we can help you with your income, employment, insurance, and asset verifications.
Events, Training, and Webinars
(A good place for longer term conference planning is to start is here, and click on “Conference List” for in-person events in the future.)
Join Kristin Messerli and Robbie Chrisman for Mortgages With Millennials Tuesday 2/27 at 10am PT/1pm ET as they chat with industry innovators Malcolm-Wiley Floyd of Stairs Financial, Tony Wilbert of Homerun, and Brent Chandler of FormFree about cutting-edge solutions reshaping the mortgage landscape. These founders will share their specialized knowledge on how the future of mortgage is being shaped by and for the Millennial homebuyer. The show will discuss what’s failing in the current mortgage model, what we can expect in the evolving landscape, and their unique solutions and ideas to pioneer a new path for the industry!
MMBBA is hosting an AI Education and Implementation of Free Products virtual webinar on Wednesday, February 28, 10:30-11:30 am. Presented by Rider Harris, founder of GoBananasAI, offering services ranging from initial workshops to full-scale implementation of AI tools tailored to your business needs.
Looking for more in-depth commentary on weekly mortgage news? Register here for "Mortgage Matters: The Weekly Roundup” presented by Lenders One. Every Wednesday at 2:00 PM EST/11:00 AM PT is a dive into a range of mortgage-related topics, including market trends, interest rate fluctuations, innovative mortgage products, and industry advancements. Hear from Owen Lee of Success Mortgage Partners on the 28th!
At noon ET on February 28th the NY MBA offers up Carla Johnson and Craig Hoff from Earthvisionz as they dive into foreseeable climate risks and solutions for 2024 in New York.
Join MMLA Southeast Chapter at the Federal Reserve Bank - Detroit Branch on Thursday, February 29th 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. to hear from speaker, Martin Lavelle, senior business economist who will provide insight on what's really going on with our economy and what it means for our business. An exclusive tour of the building will follow lunch. NOTE: all registrations need to be made before February 24 for security purposes. Cost: $29/member and $39/non-member include boxed lunch.
Join CreditXpert’s upcoming CreditXpert Platform Upgrade webinar on Thursday, February 29th at 2 p.m. ET. Delve into the enhanced features of the platform and demonstrate how it can be tailored to cater to your specific needs. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to discover the 5 compelling reasons to fall in love with CreditXpert’s new and improved platform.
A&D Mortgage offers the upcoming webinar "Generational Bridges in Mortgage" on leap day of February 29 at 1PM. “This distinctive roundtable event will feature a dynamic discussion among members of two families (Denese Carty, Ally Carty, Rob Chrisman, and Robbie Chrisman). “The webinar aims to bridge the gap between generations within the mortgage industry, offering unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities faced by Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z.
The 2024 Central Florida FAMP Education Day is 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM; followed by the Free Annual Trade Show from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM, on February 29th at the Altamonte Hilton.
Friday, March 1 is this week’s episode of The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown covering current events in the mortgage market for 30-45 minutes starting at noon PT, 3PM ET, in “The Rundown”. This Friday’s is co-hosted by Jim Paolino, CEO, Lodestar!
I'll be speaking at the Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative Summit 2024 in Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE, March 3 – 6 on the Compliance & Regulatory Affairs Track. I look forward to seeing you there! For members to register or to view the full program, click here. Not a member of L1 but interested in attending? Contact Tricia Migliazzo, SVP, Origination Sales.
ACUMA is excited to bring back its VIEWpoint Regional Summit, a free one-day roundtable event in Phoenix exclusively for credit union attendees focused on legislative, regulatory, and economic issues. Register for this March 5th, participant-driven opportunity for credit union mortgage lenders at all levels of the profession to both lead and participate in discussions critical to their continued success.
Calling all Loan Officers, Brokers, Realtors and Sales Professionals! Plan on attending the MMLA’s Annual Sales Rally on March 6th in Troy, MI. Hear from an amazing line-up of speakers like Keynote Glenn Stearns, Ally Carty, Dr. Bruce Lund and a panel of powerhouse LO’s. Click here for all the details or go to www.mmla.net to register to attend or as an exhibitor/sponsor.
Are you ready for a Spring refresh? Get supercharged and ready for Spring homebuyers with
USDA's 'SFHGLP Overview' training on Wednesday, March 6th, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm ET.
National MI University's March Webinars! Organization Tips & Tricks to Improve Prospecting Productivity with Kendra Lee – March 6th at 1pm ET. Advanced Underwriting the Self-Employed Borrower with Marianne Collins – March 7th at 1pm ET. Mastering LinkedIn for Mortgage Professionals – Session Three with Brynne Tillman – March 12th at 3pm ET. Top Loan Officer Strategies to Win NextGen Homebuyers with Kristin Messerli – March 13th at 2pm ET. Your Leadership DNA with Andrew Oxley - March 14th at 2pm ET. The Psychology of Sales with Rebecca Lorenz - March 26th at 2pm ET.
As a part of its continued efforts to foster meaningful dialogue on the growing challenges related to the availability and affordability of property insurance, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced it will host the next session in its series of property insurance symposiums on March 13, 2024.
Optimal Blue’s Hedging 101 webinar is back by popular demand, March 14, Noon CT.
Whether you’re considering a transition to mandatory or you’re already hedging, you won’t want to miss this highly informative and directional webinar. Join our industry experts to discover how to manage your loan pipeline, mitigate risk, and optimize profitability – essential skills in today's competitive mortgage landscape.
This year’s National Advocacy Conference (NAC) to be held March 19-20 in Washington, D.C. It will be the premier advocacy event designed to galvanize MBA’s members and demonstrate to policymakers the strength of our industry’s unified voice. Will you join me and register NOW? Early bird deadline has been extended and ends by Friday, February 16. “As leaders in the industry, it’s critically important that we collectively remain engaged on all fronts. We need you with us, advocating for reasonable changes to the regulations and laws that are increasing costs or preventing you from doing business. NAC’s in-person meetings with policymakers are key to MBA’s advocacy efforts, as you add a name, face, and personal story to complex issues, making them relatable to Members of Congress with no background or education in our industry.”
Capital Markets
After last week’s January CPI report showed a pickup in inflation, this week will be headlined by the Personal Income and Outlays report on Thursday. The report contains the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index. The PCE is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation and is expected to register at 2.4 percent and the core rate at 2.8 percent. Consumer spending is expected to have slowed in January, with purchases of durable goods and other discretionary outlays disrupted by bad weather.
We learned yesterday that new home sales and pending home sales (mainly consisting of existing units) were weaker than expected in January, despite tailwinds from lower mortgage rates that lifted existing home sales during the month. New home sales registered 661k versus 690k expectations, and though it was a 1.5 percent increase from December, it was lower than December's initial reading of 664k, which was revised down to 651k. The steady state of new home sales reflected stable lending rates and pent-up demand in January.
Today, the U.S. Treasury has more month-end supply to digest, including $42 billion 7-year notes, the last of the coupon supply until the mini-Refunding in the week of March 11. There are several economic releases scheduled, and the calendar kicked off with durable goods for January (-6.1 percent, with a negative revision to the prior month). Later today brings December home price indexes from FHFA and S&P/Case-Shiller, consumer confidence for February, Richmond Fed manufacturing and services indices, the Dallas Fed Texas services index, and remarks from Vice Chair for Supervision Barr. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices are better by a few ticks (32nds), the 10-year yielding 4.26 after closing yesterday at 4.30 percent, and the 2-year at 4.68.
Jobs and Transitions
“LoanStream proudly announces the appointment of Shaun Dennison as EVP of Non-Conforming, marking a significant stride forward in our Non-QM endeavors. With over two decades of rich experience in the mortgage industry, Shaun stands out as a distinguished leader, especially renowned for his expertise in underwriting, gained through his tenure at several prominent lending institutions. His arrival at LoanStream heralds a new era of enhanced strategy and execution in the Non-QM sector, surpassing our past achievements. We are delighted to have Shaun on board, where his unparalleled skills and insights will undoubtedly drive our team to achieve unprecedented levels of success.
“Hey loan officers: ‘No one moved your damn cheese!’ Feeling like the market is a labyrinth? radius is here to show you that the "cheese" hasn't moved; it's just waiting to be found through new, innovative paths. With over three decades in the game, radius financial group inc. has fine-tuned the art of connecting with top Realtors, and we want to share our strategies with you. While these may appear straightforward, they aren't always easy to execute. Life's distractions can intrude, and self-doubt may rear its head. Imagine having a clear path to not only meet but exceed your financial goals, with seasoned sales leadership to guide you every step of the way. We’d love to connect and share our battle-tested “Sales Playbook: 3 Things Every Top-Producer Has at Their Desk Each Morning”. Connect confidentially with Dick Codair, Sr. VP Retail Production NMLS #855523.
Get Rob Chrisman Daily by Email
