What loan officer hasn’t had a memorable co-signing experience? Some more so than others. Along those lines, if you head to Disneyland or Disneyworld, and find bone chips or ashes on the floor of your favorite ride, it is probably not an accident. Nor is eking out a gain, or at least breaking even, in residential lending an accident. At the Great River Conference in Memphis, much of the information being presented is about how to do things more efficiently. And for good reason, as the MBA’s calculations for IMBs and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks last showed that total loan production expenses (commissions, compensation, occupancy, equipment, and other production expenses and corporate allocations) increased to $12,485 per loan in the fourth quarter. On the income side of things, borrowers who obtained adjustable-rate mortgage loans (ARMs, for lack of a better acronym) 3 or 5 or 7 years ago have popped up on LO screens for refinances, and you can bet that the companies who own that servicing are all over those borrowers “like hounds on a meat wagon.” (Found here, this week’s podcasts are sponsored by Optimal Blue. OB's smart solutions automate critical functions like pricing, hedging, trading, and social media. More originators and investors rely upon Optimal Blue's integrated solutions, data, and connections to support their unique business strategies, no matter how complex. Hear an interview with Optimal Blue’s Mike Vough on refining margin management to improve loan profitability and reduce risk.)

Lender and Broker Products, Software, and Services

For many non-QM lenders, real estate investors make up nearly half of their pipeline. Despite stubbornly high interest rates and low inventory, these borrowers continue to transact in this market, opening up an opportunity for lenders to capture this business. However, capturing this business with traditional marketing and sales efforts is not easy. Unless you have Privy. With Privy, you can now automate real estate investor and borrower acquisition and retention. With just a click of a button, borrowers are able to engage with you at any stage of the transaction process, from just browsing to ready to transact. Let effective technology help drive your DSCR, asset depletion, and fix and flip loan volume. Contact Brad Bieber (803-730-5032) to learn more about Privy’s Enterprise Solutions.

A 30-minute meeting with Planet Home Lending’s Correspondent sales team at the MBA Secondary & Capital Markets Conference could be the catalyst for a year-round boost in your business. Join us in the Gotham III Ballroom at the InterContinental New York Times Square. Don’t wait: secure your spot now before they’re all booked! Get in touch with your Regional Sales Manager or SVP Correspondent Sales, Jim Loving (414-270-0027) to explore our continually refined product lineup spanning vanilla to niche products all tailored to your unique needs: Best effort, mandatory AOT, delegated, or non-delegated.

“Regional Credit Union Attributes Successful Audit Process to QC Ally Partnership! In a world where integrity is everything, QC Ally prides itself on building a foundation of trust with each client partner. Recently, we sat down with Bill James, Chief Risk Officer at Marine Credit Union, to discuss how QC Ally helped them achieve a formalized, unbiased pre-fund and post-close audit process with custom loan sampling. As Bill put it, ‘We’ve been very happy with QC Ally. We stacked QC Ally up against very strong competition, and they really won hands down. The service levels you provide and your own staff with very deep, rich experience are unmatched.’ Learn more here.”

As certain wines age, their tannins bind together in a process called polymerization, creating a smoother, rounder flavor that’s more desirable, and, often, more valuable, than when first vinted. Are your mortgage technology partners improving like fine wine? That’s been the experience of Lake Michigan Credit Union, which just shared new success metrics regarding its use of income and employment verification from Argyle. It’s been about a year since LMCU switched to Argyle for VOIE, and the credit union can now quantify its time and cost savings at a whopping 3 weeks and $100 per closed loan. Read the updated case study findings here.

Mortgage Capital Trading, the de facto leader in innovative mortgage capital markets technology, introduces a game-changing best execution technology for MSR retain and release decisions all in one platform. With this groundbreaking development, MCT’s Enhanced Best Execution (EBX) solution emerges as a real-time bridge between MCTlive! (live whole loan/SRP execution) and MSRlive! (loan level MSR valuation), revolutionizing the landscape of best execution strategies in the mortgage industry. MCT clients now have accurate insight into how loans are trading and what investors are paying along with the intrinsic servicing value to enhance the retained vs. released decisioning process. What was once a manual, time-consuming exercise is now completely automated with EBX, making all of the essential execution data elements accessible with the click of a button. Read the latest press release or join MCT’s upcoming webinar to learn more about their latest innovation.

Events and Training

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. Yes, there’s plenty ahead in April, but I thought for travel planning purposes it would be to glance ahead to May as vendors and lenders take a critical look at travel & entertainment budgets.

National MI University's May Webinars: Leading With Style ​​with Andrew Oxley - May 7th at 2pm ET. Income Analysis for Conventional Loans with Marianne Collins - May 9th at 1pm ET.

How to Make Accountability Cool and KPIs Fun Again ​​​​​with Dr. Bruce Lund – May 14th at 2pm ET. Screen Savvy: Mastering Virtual Influence for Lenders with Julie Hansen - May 15th at 2pm ET. Understanding the Personalities of Your Clients and Partners ​​​​​with Rebecca Lorenz – May 16th at 1pm ET. Your Event Playbook to Network and Form Referral Partnerships with Kendra Lee – May 21st at 1pm ET.

Great things are happening around the 2024 Fair Lending Forum, April 29 - May 1 in Charlotte, NC! Asurity is thrilled to announce that Josh Stein, North Carolina Attorney General, will be joining us! He will share his perspectives on fair lending during a fireside chat with our Founder and CEO, Andy Sandler titled The Role of State Attorney Generals in Fair Lending Enforcement. Other prominent speakers are Bob Broeksmit, President and CEO of MBA; Lindsey Johnson, President and CEO of CBA: Grovetta Gardineer, Sr. Deputy Comptroller for Bank Supervision Policy, OCC; Ben Olson, Senior Associate Director for Consumer Protection & Supervision, FRB; Varda Hussain, Principal Deputy Chief for Fair Lending in the Civil Rights Division, Housing and Civil Enforcement Section, DOJ; and Frank Vespa-Papaleo, Principal Deputy Director of Fair Lending, CFPB. Register at www.fairlendingforum.com.

If you’re in Minnesota on May 1st, 10:00am – 12:00pm and a Loan Originator, are you interested in creating and building strong realtor relationships? If so, register and attend the "Mastering the Realtor Referral Relationship" presented by Steven Ross, Author of Doors Open When You Knock.

Join Northern Michigan Luncheon, Tuesday, May 2, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM at Silver Spruce Brewing Company, to hear from a panel of VA Loan Experts and they dive into the specifics of this loan type, any changes that are coming on VA loans and much more. They'll also be discussing the pending NAR settlement, and what changes that brings to VA loans, sales, and associated realtor fees.

Don't miss this opportunity to connect with industry peers, gain valuable insights, and elevate your mortgage business. Attend the MMBBA Annual Conference on Thursday, May 2, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Queenstown.

The Maryland Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association Annual Conference is scheduled for Thursday, May 2, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the picturesque setting of Queenstown, MD. Featuring speaker, Edward Seiler, PhD, Executive Director of the Research Institute for Housing America and Associate VP of Housing Economics at the Mortgage Bankers Association. Edward will provide invaluable insights into the housing market and economic trends.

This year's OMBA Annual Convention will delve deep into the dynamics of the mortgage industry and explore the current market trends. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just stepping into the mortgage world, this event on Monday, May 6 - Tuesday, May 7 promises valuable insights to navigate the industry's landscape.

The AEI Housing Center will host five convenings in the week of May 6 in Denver, Colorado; San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California; Orange County, California; and San Diego, California. These convenings will share insights on using light-touch density (LTD), also known as middle housing, to craft solutions to America’s growing housing supply crisis. Registration is free. Los Angeles is the only location that will offer a livestream.

Register for NALHFA Annual Conference 2024, May 1-4 in Las Vegas. Experience education and connection at NALHFA 2024 with an Affordable Housing Bus Tour, Women in Finance Luncheon & Roundtable, Speaker Sessions, and Networking Opportunities.

Register for the Maryland Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association Annual Conference, scheduled for Thursday, May 2nd, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the picturesque setting of Queenstown. This year's conference will delve deep into the dynamics of the mortgage industry and explore the current market trends. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just stepping into the mortgage world, this event promises valuable insights to navigate the industry's landscape.

In Birmingham, the MBA of Alabama will host its 38th Annual Convention on May 7 & 8.

Registration is open for ACUMA’s FOCALpoint workshops – Join ACUMA in Nashville May 9-10 or Denver June 11-12! Same amazing topics and content in each location – just pick the best city for you! The two-day subject-intensive workshops take deep dives into critical issues affecting the credit union mortgage lending industry. Sign up today! Register here for ACUMA workshops.

The MBA Georgia (MBAG) Conference is coming on May 12-15 at the One Ocean Resort, 1 Ocean Blvd, Atlantic Beach, Florida! For registration visit here.

The Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) Servicing Office in St. Louis, MO announced free, in-person training to lending partners, May 13-17 at the Charles F. Prevedel Federal Building. The training will offer multiple sessions to provide technical training on Loss Claims, Loss Mitigation, and Lender Reporting. USDA will not charge a registration fee. Attendees are responsible for all travel costs. USDA will not be blocking hotel rooms. Attendees may search for hotel accommodations near the training facility located at 9700 Page Ave, St. Louis MO 63132.

Capital Markets

A day after Fed Chair Powell threw cold water on expectations for rate cuts this year by admitting progress against inflation has stalled, Treasury and mortgage security prices rallied yesterday, dropping rates some, aided by excellent demand at a $13 billion 20-year Treasury bond reopening. Remember, even “a dead cat bounces.” There is some chatter out there that Fed Chair Powell’s tonal pivot last year is partly to blame for the lack of recent progress against inflation. Futures are now pricing in a maximum of two 25-basis point rate hikes in 2024, a far cry from the nearly 150-basis points of easing that fed fund futures had anticipated at the beginning of the year.

There was no top-tier data of note yesterday, but the Fed did release its April Beige Book, which noted that the economy has expanded at a slight pace since February. “Price increases were modest, on average,” it said. 10 of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts reported slight or modest growth while two reported no change. Consumer spending edged up slightly, though discretionary spending was pressured in some Districts. Tourism increased modestly but varied widely across the 12 Districts. Residential construction grew a little while nonresidential construction was flat. Employment rose at a slight pace while prices grew modestly, maintaining the pace seen in the last report.

We also learned that single-family home prices increased 7.4 percent from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, up from the previous quarter’s revised annual growth rate of 6.6 percent, according to Fannie Mae’s latest Home Price Index reading. The national repeat-transaction home price index measures the average, quarterly price change for all single-family properties in the U.S., excluding condos. On a quarterly basis, home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent in Q1 2024, essentially the same as the growth in Q4 2023. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, home prices also increased by 1.7 percent in Q1 2024.

Today’s economic calendar began with weekly jobless claims (212k, +1k from the prior week, continuing claims 1.812 million, so the labor market continues to do just fine) and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing (15.5, way up!). I did see an interesting report in Bloomberg yesterday that indicated cracks in a U.S. labor market that has been near historic strength for much of the past two years are forming. In five states (CA, CT, NV, NJ, WA), the ratio of jobless people per opening is one or more. Meanwhile Arizona and New York are nearing parity with a rate of 0.9, according to February data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Later today brings March existing home sales and leading indicators, Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, and (once again) remarks from multiple Fed speakers. It’s also a busy day for the Treasury, which will both announce month-end supply consisting of $69 billion 2-year, $70 billion 5-year, $44 billion 7-year notes, and $32 billion 2-year FRNs and auction $23 billion 5-year TIPS. After the initial jobless claim’s news, we begin the day with Agency MBS prices marginally worse than Wednesday evening, the 10-year yielding 4.61 after closing yesterday at 4.59 percent, and the 2-year is at 4.95.

Employment

“TAYGO INC. presents an enticing new opportunity for a SaaS Sales Representative! This pivotal role is instrumental in propelling the success of TAYGOTM through selling our SaaS solutions to prospective clients. The key focus is comprehending the requirements and challenges of mortgage lenders (as well as mortgage brokers) and adeptly showcasing how our products, WEB-GOTM and RIN-GOTM, can optimize their operations and business performance. You must have a strong understanding of CRM products, their features, and the mortgage industry. You must effectively engage with prospects to understand their needs. You must also carefully monitor existing clients' activities to identify upsell opportunities. You must have exceptional communication skills for online demos and meetings, cold or warm calls and emails. Your expertise, patience, and ability to build and maintain strong customer relationships will be vital in achieving our sales goals and ensuring customer satisfaction. Please send your resume to us.”

“Citizens has a proven track record of successfully navigating challenging market conditions while our capital, liquidity and funding positions remain strong. Retail loan officers need a diverse product mix, reliable operations, and seasoned leadership to rely on to be able to win. With great pay and generous benefits, along with strong digital tools to help you get the job done, Citizens is looking for talented loan officers in the Northeast, MidAtlantic, Midwest and Florida. Our deep product mix allows loan officers to serve many different customer needs, from affordable loan programs such as HomeReady to a best-in-class one-time close construction-to-permanent product, we have what you need to succeed. Citizens’ recent launch of Freddie Mac’s LPA enhances our vast product journey, driving a more personalized and customer-centric experience. Our specialty programs such as condo/co-op financing, along with an amazing Private Wealth discount value proposition for high net worth banking clients, ensure you have all the tools to win. We know a positive customer experience begins with loan origination but doesn’t end there. Recently the Citizens Mortgage Servicing Team received the prestigious ICE Innovation Award for Best Use of Data to Drive Automation, resulting in a 10 percent increase in our customer satisfaction scores. To learn more about how to join our team contact Carl Minott or visit here.”