Fri, Dec 31 2021, 11:26 AM
A “handsel” is a gift given to wish good luck for the year ahead. The word dates back to the 1300s, and derives from “hand” and “selen,” an Old Englis...
Thu, Dec 30 2021, 11:12 AM
Do we have an 8-year memory in an industry with 10-year business cycles? Bridging the gap between affordability, qualifying with a low income, and ris...
Wed, Dec 29 2021, 11:25 AM
Would you tie up your money for five years and earn 1.26 percent the whole time? That’s pretty much where the $57 billion 5-year Treasury note auction...
Tue, Dec 28 2021, 11:11 AM
Whether or not you think that climate change is real, you can’t deny that there is a climate, and that climate-related disasters occur… to the tune of...
Mon, Dec 27 2021, 11:07 AM
I hope that you’re not reading this while stuck due to the thousands of cancelled flights or road closures in Northern California! Kudos to Carol K. w...
Thu, Dec 23 2021, 11:33 AM
When I was a kid, we’d trade baseball cards between each other… at least the ones that weren’t in the spokes of our bikes. The creativity, technique, ...
Wed, Dec 22 2021, 11:23 AM
Yes, you should know that today is a date palindrome. Of course people in Ohio, and Florida, know that Key West is farther west than Cleveland . Utah ...
Tue, Dec 21 2021, 11:13 AM
If you are a VA lender, or service servicemembers’ loans, you don’t want to be singled out by the Department of Justice or the CFPB. And the two of th...
Mon, Dec 20 2021, 10:52 AM
W.C. Fields said, “Money will not buy happiness, but it will let you be unhappy in nice places.” Unfortunately, many people have much less of it, and ...
Fri, Dec 17 2021, 10:38 AM
Are you afraid of the day that the Federal Reserve stops buying mortgage-backed securities? “Afraid” is too strong a word. (For many, this activity wo...
Thu, Dec 16 2021, 10:55 AM
I work hard to live a very glamorous life. I mention this because yesterday, when I sent the Commentary out from the road at a glamorous McDonalds in ...
Wed, Dec 15 2021, 10:42 AM
California has reinstituted its mask mandate. No one is interested in living in isolation again. Remember, “Your quarantine alcoholic name is your fir...
Tue, Dec 14 2021, 12:37 PM
No CEO wants to hear from their secretary, “The CFPB is holding for you on Line Two.” Lenders who have different prices in the same MSA? Don’t even tr...
Mon, Dec 13 2021, 11:31 AM
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. If you haven’t seen a video this one from a drone ) of the destruction in the South and Midwe...
Fri, Dec 10 2021, 10:46 AM
When the public sees headlines like, “A Black Couple had a White Friend Show Their Home and Its Appraisal Rose by Nearly Half a Million Dollars,” of c...
Thu, Dec 9 2021, 10:59 AM
Want to know who’s in trouble for what? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its Supervisory Highlights report yesterday, which “shi...
Wed, Dec 8 2021, 10:49 AM
“Dear Santa: This year I would like a) a slim body, and b) a fat bank account. Don’t mix them up like you did last year.” Ah, if only we could turn ba...
Tue, Dec 7 2021, 11:17 AM
Today I head to San Diego for a California MBA board meeting, the home base of the Pacific Fleet. It’s been 80 years since Pearl Harbor, a “date that ...
Mon, Dec 6 2021, 11:19 AM
Do you smoke weed? Have you been vaccinated against COVID? Too early in the workweek for those questions? (Is it okay to ask if someone’s been vaccina...
Fri, Dec 3 2021, 10:56 AM
Huh? Someone told me that “reality” shows are all scripted out ahead of time and there’s a standard recipe! What the heck?! There are some things wher...
Thu, Dec 2 2021, 11:23 AM
Today, 20211202 (2nd December 2021), is a palindrome in the YYYYMMDD format. That aside, sorry the commentary is a little late this morning: I went ou...
Wed, Dec 1 2021, 11:01 AM
Lenders are focused on December, and 2022, and along those lines the MBA’s Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni will be presenting a forecast today for nex...
Tue, Nov 30 2021, 10:49 AM
Brian C. writes, “I was surprised when I got my new Tesla, instead of the new car smell, it had an Elon Musk.” Tesla was founded 18 years ago. Time fl...
Mon, Nov 29 2021, 11:02 AM
While headlines move interest rates and countries are shutting their borders again, our industry awaits the official 2022 conforming loan limits after...
Fri, Nov 26 2021, 10:39 AM
As millions of Americans convince themselves that loading and unloading the dishwasher counts as exercise, while we are reminded that rates are imposs...
Wed, Nov 24 2021, 10:44 AM
Ready to play Iowa's Thanksgiving dinner bingo ? Coffee prices are at a 10-year high, but drinkers will figure out what to do to afford it. All day lo...
Tue, Nov 23 2021, 11:06 AM
The price of plenty of things, not just mortgages, is set by supply and demand. Forget the price of turkey… how ‘bout Christmas trees?! I don’t know h...
Mon, Nov 22 2021, 11:02 AM
Time flies. For example, Thanksgiving week is here already. Debbie Harry, of Blondie fame, is 76 years old. Better.com has already been around five ye...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 10:56 AM
Before we gear up for reported Christmas tree shortages and their exorbitant prices, Brent G. writes, “My family asked me what I was planning for Than...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 10:19 AM
Recently the podcast, its link at the bottom of this opening paragraph daily, quoted, “Change in residential lending is mandatory; progress is optiona...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 10:39 AM
29 working/business days left in 2021. Some MLOs, who can shift their client’s refi closings, are thinking about the tax implications of closing this ...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 11:52 AM
Broker and Lender Services and Products 163,000 pints of Guinness are wasted in facial hair each year , according to the Irish brewery, which commissi...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 10:54 AM
This morning I head to Kansas for the MBAKC annual membership luncheon later this week. Home price appreciation is doing just fine in Kansas City , an...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 10:45 AM
Forget mortgages… As snow hits the Upper Midwest and rain hits the East Coast, according to the USDA, nationwide frozen turkey inventories are 24 perc...
Wed, Nov 10 2021, 11:11 AM
I recently spent some of my day receiving a COVID test, and the nurse asked me, “Have you had a sudden loss of taste?” I replied, “No, I’ve always dre...
Mon, Nov 8 2021, 11:26 AM
Starting today I’m in Oklahoma City for the OMBA Conference . The median home price here is roughly $150,000 and housing prices are up nearly 7 percen...
Fri, Nov 5 2021, 11:02 AM
Nothing brings women together quite like an unclear dress code. Dress codes have been all over the map during the pandemic, and as companies adjust to...
Thu, Nov 4 2021, 10:58 AM
Excuse me while I rant a bit. Let’s throw some money questions your way on a Thursday. Do you have any Rice Krispies at your store? If you do, buy the...
Wed, Nov 3 2021, 11:02 AM
Real estate investors, agents, and lenders were keenly interested in Zillow’s earnings call yesterday. Those of us listening in learned that the compa...
Mon, Nov 1 2021, 11:14 AM
November already? A feast for giving thanks for the harvest began in 1621, and was celebrated intermittently by various colonies/states for the next 2...
Fri, Oct 29 2021, 11:27 AM
I got some exciting news yesterday: Snickers are gluten free! Actually I don’t care (the more gluten the better… does the government allow us trick or...
Thu, Oct 28 2021, 10:59 AM
I have to go to Target later today to buy Halloween candy because I went to Target last week and bought Halloween candy. Get it? Here’s another questi...
Wed, Oct 27 2021, 10:58 AM
While huge blocks of servicing are hitting the market, Cenlar has had better days than yesterday. (“We take seriously our regulatory obligations and w...
Tue, Oct 26 2021, 10:46 AM
Lenders and servicers don’t like weather extremes. Hurricane season is nearly over. While the East Coast is bracing for a storm, however, it’s feast o...
Mon, Oct 25 2021, 10:50 AM
Given my emails and hallway chatter in San Diego last week, what’s on people’s minds? The state of the housing market is one, and Ivy Zelman, CEO of Z...
Fri, Oct 22 2021, 10:31 AM
Semper Fi! Tomorrow marks the 38th anniversary of the 1983 bombing in Beirut of a U.S. Marine barracks in the largest conventional explosive blast in ...
Thu, Oct 21 2021, 10:57 AM
Thousands of people in the residential lending biz headed to the San Diego aerodrome and flew home. Plenty were sore from wearing dress shoes everywhe...
Wed, Oct 20 2021, 10:27 AM
Someone here in San Diego asked an audience, “Who out there misses their Blackberry?” and many raised their hands. Technology… an interesting thing. H...
Tue, Oct 19 2021, 10:34 AM
The MBA's conference, which began with a capacity crowd at mPower , is packed with meetings and sessions, and I am sure glad that I’m not going betwee...
Mon, Oct 18 2021, 10:20 AM
One discussion topic here at the MBA’s annual conference, besides how rates are pressing higher, is how wonderful the San Diego weather is. But there ...
