Did you know that there were 2.5 million estimated people living in the newly independent nation of the United States in July 1776? Per the Census Bureau, that figure has now risen to around 335 million. 56 individuals of those 2.5 million people were signers of the Declaration of Independence, with John Hancock, a merchant by trade, being the first signer. Benjamin Franklin, who represented Pennsylvania, was the oldest signer at age 70; Edward Rutledge of South Carolina was the youngest signer at age 26. Speaking of numbers, if you like them, although the FHFA and the CFPB would like you to believe that they are part of the fabric of the United States, they aren’t. But the FHFA and the CFPB Release Updated Data from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations for Public Use. Hey, I only know what I read in the newspapers. But there is some interesting real-time information out there, and if you want to see who’s paying what in violations, here you go. (Today’s podcast is found here and this week’s is sponsored by Bundle, the attorney-prepared legal documents company that is dedicated to the real estate, mortgage, and title industries. Fuel your operations and execution of documents from deeds to subordinations to assignments, and everything you need for any order, in one bundled price; receive 20 percent off using the code “Chrisman” at checkout. Hear an interview with Atlas Real Estate’s Tony Julianelle on the recent single family rental market transformation and why individuals in the mortgage industry should care about property management.)

Lender and Broker Services, Products, and Software

“Leadership is crucial for organizational success and culture. Recognizing the differences between strong and weak leadership will directly impact your team's success. Inspired by ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins, this upcoming webinar features Laura J. Brandao (Equity Prime Mortgage), Keith Canter (First Community Mortgage), and Richard Grieser (Truv) sharing insights from their many years of mortgage leadership experience. You'll leave this July 10th session with strategies to effect change in your organization, attract and maintain the right talent, understand team needs to advance shared goals, maintain a disciplined yet happy culture, and leverage technology as an accelerator. Come join us!”

Rocket Pro TPO offers Home Equity Loans powered with AVM (Automated Valuation Model), providing faster and more cost-effective appraisals. With AVM, valuations are delivered in seconds, nearly five days faster than traditional methods, saving clients time and money. Interested? Price a loan today.

Lenders across the country are still looking for ways to cut costs without sacrificing revenue. Start off easy by collecting fees upfront. Fee Chaser by LenderLogix makes it as easy as clicking a button... literally. Book a 15-minute demo and get started in a few weeks.

PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE:HTH), offers funding for multiple mortgage products and programs with little to no additional requirements: FNMA HomeStyle, FHA 203K Full, Limited, and USDA Rural Housing renovation loans. Mortgage Revenue Bond and DPA loans with extended dwell times. Sub Limits for lower FICO scores, manufactured homes, renovation, construction and other unique mortgage products and programs. With over 30 years’ experience and a well-capitalized diversified financial holding company we provide our customers with confidence to meet their loan funding needs. If you are interested in learning more about PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending please contact Deric Barnett, (469)955-6786.

Agency, Lender, and Investor Changes

FHA posted to its Single Family Housing Draft ML proposing changes that would update FHA’s Defect Taxonomy to include fraud or material misrepresentation involving a Third-Party Originator (TPO) as a Tier 1 severity defect. FHA’s Defect Taxonomy is its quality assurance framework for all Title II loan reviews. It provides a consistent methodology for identifying defects at the loan level, useful data, feedback through structured categorization of defects, and balance between FHA’s risk management and quality assurance business processes. Interested stakeholders are encouraged to thoroughly review the Draft ML and provide feedback through June 24, 2024.

FHA published Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2024-12 implementing the provisions of the final rule, Revision of Investing Lenders and Investing Mortgagees Requirements and Expansion of Government-Sponsored Enterprises Definition, announced April 23, 2024, in FHA INFO 2024-21. The final rule revised and clarified requirements for investing lenders and mortgagees to gain or maintain status as an FHA-approved lender or mortgagee, separately defines Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSE), including the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB), from other governmental entities and aligned general FHA approval standards with current industry business practices.

Ginnie Mae announced a term-sheet for its proposed Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) 2.0 program, initiating a comment period ending July 31st. The proposed program aims to enhance liquidity access for HMBS Issuers by allowing the re-pooling of active and non-active buyouts into new custom, single-Issuer pools. The new HMBS 2.0 program, described in more depth in our blog Ginnie Mae Announces New Pool Type to Improve HECM MBS Liquidity,​ seeks to address liquidity constraints in the reverse mortgage sector by providing a new capital markets execution for older vintage HECMs.

Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolio outstanding grew to $2.59 trillion in May, including $36.9 billion of total MBS issuance, leading to $14.3 billion of net growth. May’s new MBS issuance supports the financing of more than 116,000 households, including more than 58,000 first-time homebuyers. Approximately 74 percent of the May MBS issuance reflects new mortgages that support home purchases because refinance activity remained low due to higher interest rates. More information is available in Ginnie Mae’s Press Release.

USDA Rural Development posted a bulletin on June 21 announcing an interest rate increase for SFH programs.

Don't limit your borrower's buying potential if they require a loan amount beyond conventional limits. Loan Stream Mortgage Jumbo ONE loan programs empower you to give your clients more options all while helping you close more loans. With four Jumbo ONE programs available for Purchase, Cash-Out, and Rate & Term Refinance.

Citi Correspondent Lending updated Trailing Outstanding Document requirements. Changes include updated timelines for submission of missing documents and remediation of deficient documents, additional impacts when missing/deficient document issues are not resolved in a timely manner, and reporting changes. View the complete Outstanding Document Updates Announcement, which provides effective dates and outlines details for all of the changes.

Sellers in Carrington’s Non-Delegated Correspondent channel are now able to select who they want to generate the closing docs during loan submission. The cost for Carrington to generate the closing docs is a low $350.

Newrez approved correspondent clients, don’t forget that loans containing an ACE + PDR appraisal method must submit a PDF report that uses the Uniform Property Dataset report (UPD) and includes the required certifications, floor plan and photographs to Freddie Mac using the Beyond ACE application programming interface (bACE API). Details are available in Newrez Bulletin 2024-040.

Eliminate mortgage headaches for your borrowers with Kind Lending’s Written VOE (Verification of Employment) program. This non-QM product uses a written VOE for qualification purposes versus traditional documentation such as W2s and paystubs.

National residential lender PrimeLending, a PlainsCapital Company, now offers a new home equity loan product giving homeowners the ability to convert home equity into cash. With a PrimeLending home equity loan, homeowners can access a portion of their home's value without having to sell it. Simply put, homeowners can borrow money using their home equity as collateral and repay the loan at a fixed-rate over a 30-year term. Homeowners receive the cash as a lump sum upfront to use however they choose, such as consolidating debt, making home improvements, or covering tuition, medical or unplanned expenses.

Capital Markets

Fed Chair Powell knows Halloween is nearly four months away. The head of the Fed refrained from spooking markets yesterday at the European Central Bank’s annual forum, citing progress on inflation, which helped to bolster bets that the Fed will be able to cut rates this year. He added that the risks between price pressures and the labor market are coming into better balance, though predictably declined to foretell of a September reduction. In the wake of President Biden’s poor debate performance last week, many investors are preparing for higher-for-longer interest rates from the increased likelihood of a second Trump term and additional inflation-stoking tariffs. Conversely, Chicago Fed President Goolsbee said yesterday that the Fed should prepare for rate cuts.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Looking for signs that the labor market is softening? May's JOLTS report showed a labor market that in many ways looks like its pre-pandemic self. The number of job openings per unemployed worker remained unchanged, back at its 2019 average. Job openings unexpectedly rebounded in May from the three-year low hit in April, increasing to 8.140 million from 7.919 million in April, interrupting a downward trend. Fed Chair Powell yesterday described the job market as cooling off appropriately.

Due to the Independence Holiday tomorrow, some usual economic releases and supply are moved up to today’s calendar. The calendar kicked off with mortgage applications decreasing 2.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey. Keep in mind that we have had three straight weeks of gains, including during the prior holiday-adjusted week.

Markets have also received Challenger job cuts for June: 48,786 cuts, down 24 percent from the 63,816 cuts announced one month prior but 20 percent higher than the 40,709 cuts announced in the same month in 2023. We’ve had ADP employment for June (150k private-sector jobs were created, the lowest gain in five months but still a gain), and jobless claims (238k, as expected; continuing claims 1.858 million). Other releases today include the May trade deficit, Final S&P Global services PMI for June, ISM services PMI for June, factory orders for May, and Treasury releasing details of the mini-Refunding consisting of $58 billion new 3-year notes and $39 billion and $22 billion reopened 10-year notes and 30-year bonds.

The latest Fed Minutes (from the June 11-12 Federal Open Market Committee meeting) will be released today and should give us some further hints of the Fed's thinking, though Fed messaging has been clear that inflation remains too high, and patience is needed to allow more time for the current rate target to bring it back down. Futures settlement close is at 1:00pm ET with SIFMA recommending a 2:00pm ET close for cash bonds.

Looming after tomorrow’s 4th of July Holiday is the June nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, where estimates anticipate the economy added nearly 200k jobs throughout the month, while they anticipate the unemployment rate will remain near historic lows at 4 percent. We begin the day before the holiday with Agency MBS prices a few 32nds better from Tuesday’s close, the 10-year yielding 4.41 after closing yesterday at 4.44 percent, and the 2-year is yielding 4.75.

Jobs

“After 50 remarkable years in mortgage lending, Planet Home Lending Senior Vice President, Correspondent Lending Jim Loving is retiring. Jim is an industry icon who’s built a remarkable culture focused on partnership since he joined Planet in 2014. Jim’s legacy at Planet and in the industry is a lasting one. From inventing Best-Efforts Delivery to building Planet Home Lending into a top-tier correspondent lender, he’s been a mentor and partner to many in our industry. As Jim moves on to the next chapter, our experienced Regional Managers will continue to serve as expert guides, helping you navigate today’s market challenges. We hope you’ll join us as Planet extends its deepest gratitude to Jim for his exceptional contributions.”

“Loan officers! Discover the radius advantage. Are you navigating a market that's forgotten the value of loyalty? At radius financial group, we're rewriting the script with our MLO Partnership-Proposition (MPP). We understand the industry's pulse and the need for a genuine partnership—not just a platform to process loans. As lenders focus on consumers, we concentrate on you, the heartbeat of our business. You're not just a number here; you're the face of our brand, co-branded for success. We're committed to investing in you, providing a stable home where your talents are nurtured and your book of business flourishes. For confidential inquires please contact Carla Herrera (781-742-6500).”

Retirements… Can our biz survive losing 123 years of experience in one fell swoop? Of course it can. How ‘bout 32-year vet Max Cocetti retiring after 19 years with MGIC? Or 41-year vet Donna Miller retiring from Truist? And after only 50 years in the biz, as noted above short-timer Jim Loving is calling it a career leaving his 10-year post as SVP of Correspondent Lending at Planet Home, with hopefully more Corvettes in his future. We wish them all the best!