“Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels… Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields.” Yes, at the end of today we’re halfway through with 2022 (already). Time passes, hair styles, relationships, people, pandemics, and companies come and go. (Today’s joke has to do with the passing of time.) History is made and remembered. Woody Williams, the last surviving WWII Medal of Honor recipient (Iwo Jima), died yesterday at 98, as did Hells Angel founder Sonny Barger. When was the last time COVID made the headlines? Yesterday the Commentary noted, “Remember names like AmeriLoan, Countrywide, PNC, WaMu, Home Savings of America, Fleet, Great Western, World Savings, Associates, Nat City?” My apologies to PNC, and the many who wrote in, saying that it is alive and well. Business cycles are alive and well: With rates escalating higher and the home price appreciation that has taken place, buyer interest has rapidly deteriorated. I’ve received emails noting a “screeching of the brakes,” a “turning off the faucet,” “tremendous drop off,” “substantial” and “significant.” According to the NAR, May existing home closings, reflected by contracts signed the prior month, pulled back 3.4% on a seasonally-adjusted sequential basis compounding the seasonally-adjusted declines from the prior three months. (Today’s podcast is available here after 10AM ET, 7AM PT today, and this week’s is sponsored by Ignite Integration Solutions, Inc., a custom software provider that has created industry leading LOS CORE integrations in addition to a library of Encompass base tools and plug ins, and custom API development with our team of 100% on shore developers to support both Mortgage Lenders and Vendors as clients and partners. Today’s features an interview with Dawar Alimi, CEO of Lender Price, on a major enhancement for both lenders and brokers using Marketplace 2.0.)
Lender and Broker Software and Services
Superheroes may seem otherworldly, but DYK many were actually inspired by real people? Although mind-reading powers would certainly help, the average lender doesn’t need supernatural abilities to retain and convert more borrowers, just the tools and strategies to answer the call when equity-related loan opportunities strike. That’s why Sales Boomerang and Mortgage Coach built the industry’s first borrower intelligence and conversion system to help lenders identify, engage, and convert more leads with less effort. Sales Boomerang’s 5 equity-related alerts help lenders be the first to reach out to consumers with accessible equity, while Mortgage Coach’s customizable loan comparisons hasten conversions by helping homebuyers make informed financial decisions. Let this borrower intelligence and conversion pairing be your home equity hero in disguise.
Chasing down upfront fees is a pain in the neck. Loan officers “forget” to collect them or write down the wrong numbers. Operations folks transcribe credit card numbers into virtual terminals and manually update the LOS. What a waste of precious resources. Fee Chaser by LenderLogix is a hot solution for this. Right from within the LOS, you can request the fee, borrowers receive a secure payment link via text and email and complete the payment right from their device. Everyone gets a receipt and the LOS is updated automatically. Remove the manual process and automate it with Fee Chaser. Sign-up for the upcoming Fee Chaser webinar or get a sample fee request sent directly to you on their site.
TPO Loan Products
“In conjunction with our $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity, Chase Correspondent Lending created our Community Lending Program (CLP) to support our clients’ dedication to helping underserved customers and communities. Recently, we worked with Black Knight, Inc. to deliver CLP pricing automatically on eligible loans via their pricing engine. As a result, our mutual clients are now able to see the amount of CLP incentives in real time without ever leaving the Optimal Blue PPE. We look forward to working with our clients in using these new tools to collectively serve areas in need.”
Synergy One Lending is proud to announce our very own Bridge Loan Product! This exciting addition to an already extensive suite is another way to give your buyers the power they need to win offers in today’s competitive landscape! “With the launch of our bridge loan product, we are bringing another great option to our originators and their clients that maximizes speed and agility needed to get them in the home they want. Giving our team strategic options like this just means they will gain more market share,” says Synergy CEO Steve Majerus. Coupled with the S1L HELOC, best-in-class operations, S1 FinFit application, and in-house coaching, it’s easy to see why top producers continue to be drawn to Synergy One. To learn more about how to take your business to the next level, contact Synergy President, Aaron Nemec or SVP-Strategic Growth, Ben Green today!
California: New Down Payment Assistance option for county employees in 37 counties! Golden State Finance Authority is now offering up to 5.5% in down payment and closing cost assistance (DPA), combined with attractive First Mortgage interest rates for employees of GSFA Member Counties purchasing or refinancing a primary residence. The “Assist-to-Own” DPA is available for single-family 1–4-unit residences, condominiums, and townhomes and even some manufactured homes. The Program has flexible guidelines: Minimum FICO 640; Maximum DTI 50% and best of all there is no first-time homebuyer requirement to qualify. And if you are a Lender interested in offering “Assist-to-Own” DPA to your borrowers, join us for Lender Training or visit www.gsfahome.org for more info.
Orion Lending’s Titan Flex Non-Agency Program allows for Delayed Financing! This product will give your clients more flexibility (see what we did there?!) with loan amounts up to $3 Million and a variety of out of this world income types including Bank Statements (Personal/Business), Express Doc, P&L, Full Doc, Asset Qualifier (No Income/Employment) and Asset Utilization. Additionally, Orion’s COIN (Cashflow Only Investor Loan) offers DSCR DOWN TO ZERO (No Ratio), with no disclosures or required wait periods, cash out can be used as reserves, delayed financing OK, and state licensing not required in many states! Just think about how many more borrowers can be served! Hey, and with Orion’s new Quick Lock feature, now you can secure the rate straight from the Quick Pricer, without uploading the loan! With every program underwritten in house, our 24-hour UW Purchase Commitment on various products… What’s not to love?! Click here to get approved today!
Events, Training, Webinars
Today at 11AM PT, join Sales Boomerang’s Alex Kutsishin, Mortgage Coach’s Dave Savage, and NEO Home Loans’ Josh Mettle as they share the recipe to being successful in today's equity-heavy market. This Mortgage Bankers Association-sponsored webinar is open to all MBA members, and non-MBA members can also join the conversation free of charge using code SALESBMRNG100. Focus on wealth-building benefits to lenders and borrowers. Bon Appetit.
The private mortgage insurance companies offer a fine range of very cost-effective/free training: National MI University, Enact’s course catalog of on-demand webinars, MGIC, Essent, Radian, and Arch MI.
On-Demand Webinar: Top Issues on Mortgage Compliance and What You Need to Know. In ACES Quality Management’s QC Now web series, experts share insights and tips to help quality control professionals stay informed of industry changes. Topics covered include fair lending focus, including redlining, digital redlining, and appraisal bias, CFPB RFI on Junk Fees, CFPB Supervisory Highlights, and mortgage servicing specific 2022 compliance expectations. Watch today!
Join Nancy Obando, SVP of Mountain West Financial and learn about a fantastic option for California First-Time Homebuyers, CalHFA's Forgivable Equity Builder Loan. This loan offers a huge bump to the down payment that will be 100% forgiven within the first 5 years of owning the home. Register for MWF’s CalHFA Equity Training, Thursday, July 7th from 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. (PST). Program features include receipt of up to 10% of the purchase price or appraised value, Amount is fully forgiven after 5 years (Must be the primary residence for those 5 years. 20% forgiven annually), FICO scores as low as 640 (FHA, Conventional, & Manufactured Home options).
After two years of virtual meetings, NRMLA can’t wait to catch up with you, provide a venue for you to meet with vendors and to network with friends and colleagues, and to offer “best in class” educational content at its 2022 Eastern Regional Meeting in Baltimore, MD, July 11-12. This event will assist you with being innovative, informative, and intentional with 1.5 days of planned sessions. It's also an excellent opportunity to meet with your vendors in the exhibit area to catch up on questions that you may have. Full details and registration available at NRMLAonline.org.
FHA released the third in its four-part webinar series, Dispelling Homebuying Myths: Finding the Right Home. The webinar series is available on the Single Family Housing Events and Training webpage on HUD.gov and reveals the truth about common myths associated with using an FHA-insured loan to purchase a home.
Capital Markets: Inflation in Focus
After record volumes and margins over the course of the last two years, 2022 has been a different story. We have seen mortgage rates rise over 200 BPS, record home prices dissuade would-be buyers, and cutbacks across companies in the mortgage industry. MCT’s Six Unique Ways to Increase Your Profitability Despite Market Headwinds whitepaper examines how MCT is helping “Bring BPS Back”. One strategy the whitepaper reviews is optimizing your investor set. In a recent MCT case study with Genesis Collins, VP of Capital Markets at Alpha Mortgage, Mr. Collins describes how MCT’s BAM Marketplace enabled him to decrease his average approval times with buyers and achieve an impressive pickup on committed loan volume while delivering via mandatory executions. Learn more about how MCT’s services could help your profitability with their new hedge advisory profitability calculator.
We had a bit of a rally yesterday over recession fears. Markets digested Chair Powell’s comments which included that the “clock is running” to bring down inflation with the Fed potentially slowing the economy more than needed to get it under control. In terms of economic releases, real GDP reportedly decreased at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the first quarter, indicating that consumer spending wasn't as strong as previously reported. Recent increases in the Fed Funds rate won't begin to impact the economy until later this year.
Today’s economic calendar is already under way with May personal income and spending (+.6 and deflator 6.3 percent year over year) and weekly jobless claims (+2k to 231k, little changed). Later this morning brings Chicago PMI for June and Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Today’s MBS purchase operation, which will be the last of the week, sees the Desk in UMBS15 3.5 percent and 4 percent for up to $313 million. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices better by .250 and the 10-year yielding 3.02 after closing yesterday at 3.09 percent based on increased recession talk.
Employment
Nations Lending continued its East Coast expansion with the addition of Jeff Nelson as East Region Divisional Manager. Nelson will manage existing branches and teams in the 20-state region stretching from Maine to Florida. As part of Nations Lending's leadership team in the East, Nelson will help execute the company’s strategic growth plans by focusing on recruiting and building revenue volume. "Jeff is a great fit to our sales leadership team, as he will enhance our strong teams in the East, using his decades of invaluable experience in production leadership roles," said Corey Caster, Executive VP of National Production. "Nations’ ownership and people are so genuine," Nelson said. "The company is committed to giving its employees whatever they need to be successful, and the people dedicate themselves to the progress of the company." Contact Jeff Nelson or VP of Strategic Growth John Owens to learn more about opportunities at Nations!
“Acra Lending, the leader in Non-QM lending, is hiring! Specializing in various Loan Programs including Bank Statement, Investor Cash Flow, Foreign National, ITIN, and Fix & Flip/Multifamily programs, it’s never been a better time to join. We are actively hiring experienced Wholesale Account Executives, Correspondent Sales, Fix and Flip Account Executives, IT Professionals and more! At Acra Lending, you will work with experienced, dedicated, and passionate people that are motivated to leading us as the industry’s fastest growing private mortgage lender. If interested, email us or apply directly at JoinAcra.”
“As the industry contracts, Planet Home Lending can aggressively expand because our experienced, data-driven leadership set the foundation last year. This visionary approach means that today, Planet is growing, even during this period of market shifts and interest raises. Backed by reliable capital. Offering niche products that help homebuyers win deals. Operations strong enough to guarantee on-time closing for your buyer or we buy the property with cash. We’re making the investments to improve our successful marketing, increase operational efficiency, and run lean without sacrificing what’s most important — the customer experience. The result? Our branches are beating industry benchmarks by 14 percent and doing over 83 percent purchase volume with products like Cash 4 Homes and bridge loans with no DTI options. See the new video from EVP, National Production, Caleb Mittelstet. Then email Caleb Mittelstet or SVP Talent Acquisition Brian Miller. Grow your business with Planet Home Lending: Right Place, Right Size, Right Now!”
“Thrive Mortgage has been paving the way for over four years with the original Home2Home suite of products. When we launched Home2Home in early 2018, we provided clients the opportunity to submit highly competitive offers and win more contracts. Now, we have enhanced the proprietary product line with the release of Cash2Home. "Thrive is synonymous with innovation, and this is the latest example. Our clients can close faster with less expense, conditions, and hassle than other offerings," stated Randell Gillespie, Thrive's Head of Production. This product line is the creation of Michael Jones, CFO of Thrive, and exemplifies why the lender established the most diverse product offering in the business. "Michael is our secret weapon! Our products allow me to deliver for my clients like no competitor in my market can," stated Patty Newby, BM and top producer. Click here for more information on our unique products and opportunities to Thrive!”
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