Fri, Oct 5 2018, 8:58 AM
“Rob, is any lender making money out there?” Well, what’s the old “joke?” “How do you get $5 million in the mortgage biz? Start with $10 million!” Not...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 9:14 AM
In bad news, mortgage rates went up about .25% yesterday. In good news, more homes are going up for sale. According to realtor.com there was a Septemb...
Wed, Oct 3 2018, 9:25 AM
Between 2001 and 2016, 97 percent of total job growth in the Unites States happened in urban counties. And while rural America is absolutely strugglin...
Tue, Oct 2 2018, 8:49 AM
“Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.” There are plenty of folks out there reminding lenders of the seasonality of ...
Mon, Oct 1 2018, 8:51 AM
Is every non-bank lender of any size looking at offshore options to save money? Perhaps, and underwriting costs and productivity are usually brought u...
Fri, Sep 28 2018, 8:53 AM
In less than 2 years, we'll be closer to 2070 than 1970! Does anyone feel that it’s silly to think of middle-aged mortgage bankers believing that they...
Thu, Sep 27 2018, 9:03 AM
Goldman Sachs telling us it expects four more short-term rate increases by the Fed in 2019, and it doesn’t make money by being wrong. Is your company ...
Wed, Sep 26 2018, 8:39 AM
The last four weeks for me have included spending time with lenders in Montana, Southern & Northern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Illinois. Yes, th...
Tue, Sep 25 2018, 9:04 AM
The U.S. economy and job market are firing on nearly all cylinders (hence higher rates) but the housing market has essentially stalled. Here’s a stat ...
Mon, Sep 24 2018, 9:03 AM
We’re now officially in autumn, one week left in the 3rd quarter. Most states in the U.S. don’t change their clocks until November 4th, but in Europe ...
Fri, Sep 21 2018, 8:40 AM
When I spent an hour interviewing Angelo Mozilo on stage last week for the American Pacific Mortgage Summit, one of the issues we discussed was the co...
Thu, Sep 20 2018, 9:00 AM
This Saturday is the autumn equinox – season-wise, we know what is on the way. “Rob, we, like everyone else, are watching the approaching winter, and ...
Wed, Sep 19 2018, 9:05 AM
I received this question from a well-known lender in Texas. “Rob, our company views loan processors as the unsung heroes of lending. We’re evaluating ...
Tue, Sep 18 2018, 8:41 AM
TRID 2.0: mandatory compliance on 10/1 is only a few weeks away. Temenos has a primer on it , as does Qualia . The MBA had a piece on it . The NY MBA ...
Mon, Sep 17 2018, 9:03 AM
Given plenty of warning, and evacuations, the deaths in the Southeast from Florence have people wondering, “Why do residents stick around?” It is comp...
Fri, Sep 14 2018, 8:58 AM
“Rob, the number of vendors at mortgage conferences seems to be growing. Any idea how many vendors (vs. lenders) there are?” I had no idea but turned ...
Thu, Sep 13 2018, 8:57 AM
“Rob, would you happen to have a suggestion as to where I can find information as to the number of HUD loans done on manufactured housing last year, o...
Wed, Sep 12 2018, 8:53 AM
We’re always reminded that nature bats last. Every lender that I know of bases their disaster policies directly from FEMA’s declarations or from other...
Tue, Sep 11 2018, 8:55 AM
“Rob, although the initial commotion about Amazon entering the mortgage biz has died down, my management team believes it is still a threat. We have h...
Mon, Sep 10 2018, 8:51 AM
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t slept in a car at least once in their life. Whether it is having too much to drink, weary during a ro...
Fri, Sep 7 2018, 8:54 AM
Some are fond of saying, “Zillow’s never set foot in a house.” But the company is a force to be reckoned with, especially now that it is in the proces...
Thu, Sep 6 2018, 8:54 AM
In September, major league baseball teams expand their 25-man roster to 40 as teams scramble for the playoffs in October. In the mortgage business, ho...
Wed, Sep 5 2018, 9:11 AM
If we’ve learned anything in the last ten years, it’s rarely a good thing when a lender is the focus of a story in the mainstream press, and this is n...
Tue, Sep 4 2018, 8:56 AM
As Gordon bears down on the Gulf Coast, we’re 2/3 of the way through the 3rd quarter of 2018 already. How’d that happen? Looking ahead, most employed ...
Fri, Aug 31 2018, 4:37 PM
Fannie Mae’s 3% down payment HomeReady program was rolled out in 2016. HomeReady has numerous advantages over FHA loans (historically the most common ...
Fri, Aug 31 2018, 9:02 AM
“How can you make a comeback when you haven’t been anywhere?” It seems that 3D-printing is going places. NASA awarded five teams $100,000 in a 3D-Prin...
Thu, Aug 30 2018, 9:10 AM
Is there a place for age or sex discrimination in mortgage banking? Of course not. So the court case earlier this month involving Sacramento’s Summit ...
Tue, Aug 28 2018, 8:51 AM
As the East Coast swelters and Hawaii floods, loan officers I’ve spoken to recently believe the high price end in some markets is starting to stall a ...
Mon, Aug 27 2018, 8:49 AM
Scholars have long pondered if Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was named after my cat Myrtle, or vice versa – the answer is lost in the shrouds of time. ...
Fri, Aug 24 2018, 9:07 AM
There are definitional differences between PUDs, condos, apartments, and townhomes, including who owns the land. (Based on historical performance of d...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 9:07 AM
“Rob, I think we’re going to make it.” Thus began a note I received yesterday from the owner of a small retail lender in the mid-Atlantic region. “We’...
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 9:08 AM
Now that we’re more than halfway through the third quarter, how’s it shaping up for lenders? Yes, the industry has reduced its ranks, therefore cuttin...
Tue, Aug 21 2018, 8:45 AM
What can keep interest rates low in the United States? A slow economy. What can cause higher rates? Inflation. To no one’s surprise, U.S. tariffs have...
Mon, Aug 20 2018, 8:55 AM
In my travels around the States, I see that some lenders are nervous. Yes, margins appear to have, for the most part, stopped compressing dramatically...
Fri, Aug 17 2018, 8:55 AM
Capital markets folks know that there are billions of dollars of outstanding 5, 6, 7, and even 8% securities filled with high interest-rate loans. LOs...
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 8:56 AM
Trillions of dollars of securities are tied to LIBOR, but the London Interbank Offered Rate is scheduled to be phased out at the end of 2021. Companie...
Wed, Aug 15 2018, 9:13 AM
Bond prices and mortgage rates, like nearly every commodity, are driven by supply and demand. I mention this because early last week prices of US gove...
Tue, Aug 14 2018, 8:56 AM
A Zen master visiting NYC approaches a hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything." The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the ...
Mon, Aug 13 2018, 8:54 AM
Don’t think that correct mortgage documentation is important? Think again, or ask Citigroup. The Federal Reserve said Friday it had fined Citigroup $8...
Fri, Aug 10 2018, 8:51 AM
This week in Salt Lake City, mPower hosted an event at the Lenders One Summer Conference, drawing nearly 400 people. The executive panel, led by MBA's...
Thu, Aug 9 2018, 8:55 AM
Lots of originators are fascinated by demographics. Every year, about 27,000 people move from New York City to Philadelphia , making that specific mov...
Wed, Aug 8 2018, 8:45 AM
The U.S. Census Bureau knows a thing or two about numbers, and it tells us that over the 10 years from 6/30/07 to 6/30/17, the number of “renter” hous...
Tue, Aug 7 2018, 8:43 AM
People sometimes ask me how many loans underwriters or closers are doing these days. I turned to the MBA and the STRATMOR Group for hard numbers. Base...
Mon, Aug 6 2018, 8:43 AM
In July I was fortunate to spend time in Colorado, Hawai’i, Nevada, Utah, and California, and I look forward to time in Illinois, Montana, Virginia an...
Fri, Aug 3 2018, 8:59 AM
I don’t think Brookstone, which declared bankruptcy yesterday, ever sold them, but is the “Tiny House” movement getting big? If you’re near Colorado S...
Thu, Aug 2 2018, 9:01 AM
When I was a young teen one of my summer jobs was working for a successful contractor in Cupertino, California at about $5 an hour. Comp has gone up s...
Wed, Aug 1 2018, 9:06 AM
I imagine the Congressional kickball match is really something to watch at its summer picnic. That branch of the government has become very adept at k...
Tue, Jul 31 2018, 8:56 AM
When I was in my 20s and into my 30s, I think I had about $3,000 in my retirement account - hardly enough now to even pay for the line-caught salmon f...
Mon, Jul 30 2018, 8:54 AM
“Buy land – they’re not making any more of it.” Don’t tell that to Hawai’i. While California continues to burn, 2,400 miles to the southwest Hawai’i h...
Fri, Jul 27 2018, 8:59 AM
I received a note yesterday from the CEO of a well-known lender. “Rob, I love it when our competitors, who are losing money, wait weeks or months, aft...
