Mon, Jul 1 2024, 11:53 AM
Do you know anyone in a “Situationship?” You know, a romantic or sexual relationship that is not considered to be formal or established? People in man...
Fri, Jun 28 2024, 11:38 AM
“They” say that as you age, life is like a toilet paper roll: the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes. Dang. But… 2024 almost half over? Wha...
Thu, Jun 27 2024, 11:55 AM
“What did people from the Midwest call a small can of pop? A Minnesota.” (Say it out loud to your 3 rd grader.) While we’re on a “pop,” lenders in th...
Wed, Jun 26 2024, 11:25 AM
“Don’t waste a good crisis.” Continuing data breaches constitute a crisis, the latest example being LendingTree Inc., cloud-based data analytics firm ...
Tue, Jun 25 2024, 11:54 AM
Everyone’s above average, right? If you are a lender and making money, you’re in the majority. It’s not that you’re not special, it’s just that with c...
Mon, Jun 24 2024, 11:41 AM
“I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by… switching to reverse and leaving the scene.” The word on the street is that Guaranteed Rate is chang...
Fri, Jun 21 2024, 11:27 AM
Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” was a hit 40 years ago. (Yes, 40 years.) There are plenty of beaches in Hawai’i, but here in Honolulu at the MBAH confer...
Thu, Jun 20 2024, 11:49 AM
Taylor Swift sang of a “Cruel Summer” and vendors and lenders hope that it isn’t. “If you ever get cold, stand in the corner of a room for a while. Th...
Tue, Jun 18 2024, 11:34 AM
It’s been 55 years since Bryan Adams’ Summer of ’69. (That’s 55 years prior to the latest CFPB action against a lender.) Here in Hawai’i, the populati...
Mon, Jun 17 2024, 11:42 AM
This week includes Juneteenth, a reminder of how slow news traveled in the past, as well as the Summer Solstice. Here in Hawai’i, in terms of daylight...
Fri, Jun 14 2024, 11:51 AM
“In Florida earlier this week we celebrated with a couple of adult beverages: Metamucil and Ensure.” Every state has its quirks, and every state is ma...
Thu, Jun 13 2024, 11:42 AM
This morning I head to Chicago, IL, a state with 972 licensed mortgage banking companies. Illinois has had its share of severe storm damage (heck, in ...
Wed, Jun 12 2024, 11:35 AM
Florida became a state in 1845. Sixteen years later, kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters, news, and newspapers. Now we have… ...
Tue, Jun 11 2024, 11:51 AM
I head to Sarasota, Florida this morning, not to look for Florida Man, but for the MBA Florida Conference. A big topic will be homeowner’s insurance. ...
Mon, Jun 10 2024, 11:55 AM
“It's half the price of living at home!” Meet the people swapping dry land for a perpetual cruise. Meanwhile, back in the real world, residential loan...
Fri, Jun 7 2024, 11:44 AM
Huh? Michigan passed California in legal weed sales? The folks here in San Diego don’t seem to mind, and many on the street are doing their part to ke...
Thu, Jun 6 2024, 11:41 AM
“My granddad was responsible for 25 downed German planes in WW II. To this day, he is still known as the worst mechanic the Luftwaffe ever had.” On th...
Wed, Jun 5 2024, 8:28 AM
I head to San Diego today, home to an estimated 300-500,000 roaming feral cats! Cat fans are quick to point out that the word "homeowner" has the word...
Tue, Jun 4 2024, 8:18 AM
"Hey Rob, thank you for continuing to highlight the insurance issues we're having, like in yesterday's commentary. Insurance companies are monitoring ...
Mon, Jun 3 2024, 11:26 AM
Time flies. It was four years ago many of us were watching the mess called “Tiger King. Summer is upon us again. “People are complaining about this be...
Fri, May 31 2024, 11:42 AM
How is it that there are only three weeks until the summer solstice? Three more weeks of the amount of daylight increasing in the Northern Hemisphere,...
Thu, May 30 2024, 11:53 AM
Hey, there is plenty of competition among lenders and among vendors. But, to the best of my knowledge, vendors and lenders aren’t doing this to one an...
Wed, May 29 2024, 11:49 AM
“I just saw three people jogging outside, and it inspired me to… get up and close the blinds.” Are you inspired to fly somewhere on vacation this summ...
Tue, May 28 2024, 11:51 AM
“Scientists got together to study the effects of alcohol on a person’s walk, and the result was staggering.” The news impacting human life and propert...
Fri, May 24 2024, 11:57 AM
"Abandon all hope ye who enter here." (Dante’s words, not Disney’s.) That could be the slogan of Times Square, but for those who just spent days at th...
Thu, May 23 2024, 11:45 AM
Some people say, “You’re crazy to stay in residential lending in this environment, and it’s not going to improve dramatically in the near future.” No,...
Wed, May 22 2024, 11:46 AM
As many from the conference fly home, there was a lot of information flying around the conference this week. (Check out the climate and catastrophe no...
Mon, May 20 2024, 11:35 AM
Greetings from the Arch MI meeting room space! Heard in the hallways here at the MBA’s Secondary conference in Manhattan: “Our loan officers are telli...
Fri, May 17 2024, 12:02 PM
We’re only a few days away from the MBA’s Capital Markets Conference. Attendees, don’t forget to pick up your badges, or else! (Speaking of interestin...
Thu, May 16 2024, 11:47 AM
Attendees of next week’s MBA Secondary conference can look forward to… A giant hot dog in Times Square that spits out confetti at high noon. (Keep you...
Wed, May 15 2024, 11:37 AM
Misconceptions and misunderstandings… Capital markets folks at the MBA conference next week should know that The Naked Cowboy in Times Square is not r...
Tue, May 14 2024, 11:50 AM
Attendees are gearing up for the upcoming MBA Secondary Conference in Manhattan. Basketball fans know it as the home of Madison Square Garden and are ...
Mon, May 13 2024, 11:41 AM
Ahead of the upcoming MBA conference in Manhattan, as a reminder, we have five senses. All of them are important, with perhaps smell being the most un...
Fri, May 10 2024, 11:52 AM
On a flight yesterday I had a choice of movies and, knowing nothing about it, chose “The Beekeeper,” filled with severed fingers and broken glass bein...
Wed, May 8 2024, 11:25 AM
After a very long travel day filled with odd, time-sucking delays, when I arrived in Birmingham I was happy to hear Alabama on the Uber car’s radio si...
Tue, May 7 2024, 11:33 AM
Lynyrd Skynyrd sang, “Sweet home, Alabama, where the skies are so blue…” Through the wonders of airship transportation, today I’m off to Alabama. The ...
Mon, May 6 2024, 11:43 AM
Think your job has its ups and downs… How’d you like to be a lipstick tester? (You should see the rest of him!) For me it is off to Birmingham tomorro...
Fri, May 3 2024, 11:57 AM
When camping here at Yosemite National Park*, you quickly realize that there is one basic product here that has never changed: nature. Mortgage produc...
Thu, May 2 2024, 11:07 AM
Not all, but many, capital markets folks spent their college years rolling up their sleeves. Some not so much. When originators are asked about intere...
Wed, May 1 2024, 11:49 AM
“I named my dog ‘5 Miles’ so I can tell people I walk 5 Miles every day.” This morning, I head to Yosemite National Park for some camping, hiking, and...
Tue, Apr 30 2024, 11:45 AM
Don’t believe in climate change, rising sea levels, or cities sinking (“subsiding”)? Venice is sinking. So are Rotterdam, Bangkok, and New York (thoug...
Mon, Apr 29 2024, 11:52 AM
“I accidentally rubbed ketchup in my eyes. Now I have Heinzsight.” In terms of foresight, looking ahead, there are some interesting things going on ou...
Fri, Apr 26 2024, 11:52 AM
There seems to be a bit of a baby boom going on out there. Prospective home buyers who need a place for a growing family quickly find out that residen...
Thu, Apr 25 2024, 11:40 AM
I travel a little bit, so it was with great interest that I read, “The Department of Transportation… will soon require airlines to quickly refund pass...
Wed, Apr 24 2024, 11:23 AM
Sometimes you just have to “risk it for the biscuit.” Capital markets are, for the most part, a little more complicated than, say, a recipe for next l...
Tue, Apr 23 2024, 11:35 AM
“The next time you dislike your life, remember it’s all about perspective. I know someone who reads 2-3 books a week, works out twice a day, has no fi...
Mon, Apr 22 2024, 11:28 AM
When I was a kid, whenever I would walk by a pay phone or newspaper vending machine, I’d check the coin change slot. Or periodically check under my Da...
Fri, Apr 19 2024, 11:33 AM
It is “Take Your Child to Work Day” next Thursday which, if you work from home, is probably like a day off from school for the tyke. (I won’t be bring...
Thu, Apr 18 2024, 11:12 AM
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,...
Wed, Apr 17 2024, 11:37 AM
“We base our business model on lots of things, but not on our ability to predict rates.” Remember when there used to be “a flight to quality” when the...
