Fri, Jun 24 2022, 11:23 AM
Knocking on wood is an apotropaic (averting bad luck) tradition of literally touching, tapping, or knocking on wood, or merely stating that one is doi...
Thu, Jun 23 2022, 10:24 AM
Crypto and blockchain technologies have some valid applications but when it’s just for investment, there are tons of scams. (And what would we do for ...
Wed, Jun 22 2022, 11:45 AM
One topic of conversation at the MBAH conference is the quote making the rounds, “Marry the house, date the rate,” a nightmare for capital markets and...
Tue, Jun 21 2022, 10:56 AM
Here in Honolulu, talk among those gathered for the MBA Hawai’i annual conference includes the rise in adjustable-rate mortgage lending by depositorie...
Fri, Jun 17 2022, 10:30 AM
There are strange things going on out there. Revlon filing for bankruptcy. Atlanta’s mayor calling for limits on investors buying homes. Delta Airline...
Thu, Jun 16 2022, 11:14 AM
If you can't think of a word or phrase, say, "I forgot the English word for it." That way people will think you're bilingual instead of an idiot. It i...
Wed, Jun 15 2022, 10:26 AM
“Do you know that humans eat more bananas than monkeys? Think about it, when was the last time you ate a monkey?” Words and terms are important. At th...
Tue, Jun 14 2022, 12:03 PM
While we await FEMA to declare the Yellowstone area a disaster (page down and spend 40 seconds watching the video) is “niches to riches” the new infor...
Mon, Jun 13 2022, 10:03 AM
Life is too short to waste time matching socks. Yes, time flies. Remember a year ago, when a) the announcement of Juneteenth, the new Federal holiday,...
Fri, Jun 10 2022, 10:27 AM
Start the day with a little something non-mortgage? Ira S. with U.S. Mortgage, on his time off, of course, found “River Runner.” One can basically cli...
Thu, Jun 9 2022, 11:18 AM
Plenty of folks in our biz can be accused of having aprosexia. (No, I didn’t join some “Word of the Day” club.) But lenders and originators have to be...
Wed, Jun 8 2022, 11:06 AM
Yesterday in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, at the Indiana Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual conference, one of the non-mortgage conversations that I had was...
Mon, Jun 6 2022, 10:44 AM
As servicing rights continue to be sold, and residential lender layoffs are rampant, here’s a quick reminder that anyone displaced can post their resu...
Fri, Jun 3 2022, 10:10 AM
Vice President Dan Quayle sagely observed, among other things, “If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." Is our housing market in danger of f...
Thu, Jun 2 2022, 10:59 AM
If you see me talking to myself, just move along. I'm self-employed, and we're having a staff meeting. Self-employed borrowers are certainly a target ...
Wed, Jun 1 2022, 11:16 AM
This morning I head off to Orange County to the IMN Non-QM Forum where homeownership and home finance option discussions will be center stage. Did you...
Tue, May 31 2022, 11:09 AM
Yes, it’s already Tuesday. Are we at the top of the market? A pair of Goldman Sachs-backed ventures gobbled up an entire rental home community in Flor...
Fri, May 27 2022, 11:07 AM
What guy hasn’t wanted to usher a gal through to a club like Ray Liotta did, masterfully filmed without cutting away? Unfortunately, breaking the spel...
Thu, May 26 2022, 10:36 AM
Yesterday I visited Sacramento to speak to an audience of real estate agents and originators in a joint MGIC/Golden 1 Credit Union event. The mood was...
Wed, May 25 2022, 10:47 AM
All the stories that could be told, and so many that have yet to happen. And now 19 that never will be. It is very hard to go about one’s day, whether...
Tue, May 24 2022, 10:53 AM
The last pay phone was removed from New York City yesterday. (Heck, growing up I financed my baseball card purchases by looking for loose change in th...
Mon, May 23 2022, 10:52 AM
I recently opened my slang dictionary to the page that defined the origin of, “Different ways to skin a cat” and left it near my cat Myrtle’s water bo...
Thu, May 19 2022, 11:13 AM
“One minute you're young and having fun. The next, you're turning down the car stereo to see better.” Gone are the days when all loan officers wanted ...
Wed, May 18 2022, 9:21 AM
As the MBA’s Secondary Marketing Conference wraps up in Manhattan, and the 1,200 or so registered head home and face post-conference life, Rob B. asks...
Tue, May 17 2022, 10:40 AM
Keeping things in perspective, last Thursday the White House announced a raft of measures to alleviate the ongoing baby formula shortage, which has wo...
Mon, May 16 2022, 10:16 AM
Plenty of capital markets folks, senior management, and the usual cadre of vendors are here in Manhattan, doing the macarena until 2AM. Okay, just kid...
Fri, May 13 2022, 9:28 AM
English grammar… what a hassle. Is it "lay" or "lie"? - Are you sure you're using them correctly? “Than” versus “then?” One should use “than” only wit...
Thu, May 12 2022, 8:37 AM
Jobs & transitions Lender & broker software and services Tech Survey: who’s doing what Capital markets: rates drop
Wed, May 11 2022, 9:54 AM
Remember: April is National Procrastination Month! I could tell that my cat Myrtle was displeased the other morning. She’s very secretive about her fi...
Mon, May 9 2022, 9:59 AM
Recently in Reno I overheard someone predict, “Forget Wikipedia. How about someone create ‘Liquorpedia’ with an encyclopedia of alcohol and drink reci...
Fri, May 6 2022, 9:47 AM
Here’s a stream of consciousness paragraph for you. “Rob, what are you hearing about companies laying off, furloughing, right-sizing, whatever, employ...
Thu, May 5 2022, 10:09 AM
Life is complicated. Take the Black Knight purchase by ICE. Some vendors are out there licking their chops at their company’s valuation while others a...
Wed, May 4 2022, 10:11 AM
May the 4th be with you! Without the lisp, there are many forces tugging at lenders and vendors. Forget 2020 and 2021. Recruiters are asking LOs what ...
Tue, May 3 2022, 10:19 AM
With the yield on the risk-free 10-year Treasury note hitting 3 percent for the first time since 2018, you deserve some cutting-edge humor. Two hats w...
Mon, May 2 2022, 11:29 AM
Besides a reminder that it is Teacher Appreciation Week, how about some loan officer humor to lead off Monday? “We’re closing on our house next week. ...
Fri, Apr 29 2022, 11:01 AM
On Sunday, here in Hawai’i, and everywhere else I guess, is Lei Day. I was all set to go down the 5th grade joke path, until I saw this story about na...
Thu, Apr 28 2022, 11:23 AM
While the industry digests Freddie Mac’s first quarter earnings (47 percent purchase, 53 percent refi), if you try to correct my grammar, I will think...
Wed, Apr 27 2022, 11:03 AM
Change is mandatory. Progress is optional. Are signing bonuses a sign of progress? Perhaps not, and more a continued sign of the competitive times. “A...
Tue, Apr 26 2022, 11:07 AM
Running feels great unless you compare it to not running. While here in Northern California for a board meeting, I received, “I read your capital mark...
Mon, Apr 25 2022, 11:42 AM
“I’d listen to their forecasts about as much as I’d listen to Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler dispense advice on monogamy.” Regardless of who this LO was tal...
Thu, Apr 21 2022, 11:36 AM
When you’re working from home, how interesting can next Thursday’s, April 28th, “Take Your Children to Work Day” be? WFH, or hybrid arrangements, is a...
Wed, Apr 20 2022, 11:35 AM
Happy 420 Day. (Tomorrow, by the way, is Happy Surprise Drug Test Day.) Another day, another layoff story from Better.com. The human tragedy in Ukrain...
Tue, Apr 19 2022, 10:18 AM
As the nation ruminates on the court ruling on the mandatory mask mandate, remember, “You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachut...
Mon, Apr 18 2022, 10:58 AM
Notes to start off the week?! First off, there are some darned clever people around, and this ditty (thank you to John H. for sending) sung to “Americ...
Thu, Apr 14 2022, 10:34 AM
It’s Thursday. What should we talk about today? Elon Musk’s bid for Twitter? How about the jump in adjustable-rate locks as evidenced by the MBA’s fig...
Wed, Apr 13 2022, 11:33 AM
I happen to be visiting Manhattan this week. Besides the news about the subway shooting, the overall “hum” of this place being unmistakable and I ment...
Tue, Apr 12 2022, 11:44 AM
I knew it was going to be a rough morning today when my alarm went off and I found my cat Myrtle staring at the computer screen watching Social D’s “D...
Fri, Apr 8 2022, 11:27 AM
The risk-free 2-year Treasury began 2022 yielding .73 and is now at 2.52 percent! Does your company offer 2-1 buydown loans? Do your LOs even know wha...
Thu, Apr 7 2022, 10:12 AM
Today is National Beer Day (beer humor below), which made last night Beer Day’s Eve. Here at the CMLA event the talk is not about all of the craft bre...
Wed, Apr 6 2022, 12:17 PM
Grammar is important. What’s the difference between a kleptomaniac and a literalist? A literalist takes things literally. A kleptomaniac takes things,...
