Wed, Dec 20 2017, 9:36 AM
“Look, if a man says he will fix it, he will. There’s no need to remind him every six months.” Humor aside, it seems that Facebook is fixing things so...
Tue, Dec 19 2017, 9:24 AM
Demographics and politics make interesting bedfellows. There are eight senators who are at least 80-years-old, nearly twice as many as ever before. To...
Mon, Dec 18 2017, 9:16 AM
We start the week with something pertaining to words and the internet, both near and dear to all of us. Here’s the New Yorker's cartoon take on the Tr...
Fri, Dec 15 2017, 9:20 AM
Originators, who work with plenty of renters who want to be owners, should know that the Harvard Joint Center tells us that, “We’re finally seeing the...
Thu, Dec 14 2017, 9:15 AM
There’s a lot of airport travel coming up. It is best to stay cool, calm, and collected . Unfortunately, something else that is cool, and calm, is the...
Wed, Dec 13 2017, 9:16 AM
Word on the street has House and Senate negotiators agreeing to scale back the mortgage interest deduction in the latest version of the GOP tax bill. ...
Tue, Dec 12 2017, 9:16 AM
Today I find myself in Florida spending time with American Bancshares. Did you know the area code for Cape Canaveral is 321…as in a countdown? 2017 is...
Mon, Dec 11 2017, 9:22 AM
Lenders making tough personnel decisions can’t “kick the can down the road” like Congress and the President. On Dec. 8, the National Flood Insurance P...
Fri, Dec 8 2017, 9:34 AM
Trio is a lease with an option to purchase that you can use to finance your new home." Its sister company is Ownoption Mortgage , doesn't appear to be...
Thu, Dec 7 2017, 9:20 AM
Upset that Richard Cordray has left the CFPB and is officially running for governor of Ohio ? Bored with lending here, and want to go into the home fi...
Wed, Dec 6 2017, 9:17 AM
How long will venture capital firms enjoy being in a declining margin business like residential lending, historically dominated by individual, family,...
Tue, Dec 5 2017, 9:19 AM
It’s good to keep things in perspective, and here’s some Tuesday trivia. Today, 2 billion adults around the world remain without a bank account, inclu...
Mon, Dec 4 2017, 9:20 AM
Lenders in the Courts In yet again another lesson about not putting all your retirement money in one basket (think WAMU, Countrywide, Nat City...), Wa...
Fri, Dec 1 2017, 9:21 AM
December already? There are all kinds of scurrilous M&A rumors out there, or of rumors about companies going belly up, and will continue to be. And ha...
Thu, Nov 30 2017, 9:18 AM
In non-residential news, just because people have to eat doesn’t mean every grocery store chain thrives. There is chatter out there in the commercial ...
Wed, Nov 29 2017, 9:26 AM
Lenders everywhere are facing a basic dilemma: Diminished volumes and leaving profit margins alone, or reducing profit margins and trying to maintain ...
Tue, Nov 28 2017, 9:11 AM
Remember when everyone waited with bated breath for Fannie & Freddie’s loan limit announcement? (It happens every year around Thanksgiving, in recent ...
Mon, Nov 27 2017, 9:10 AM
The darkest, blackest material known to man? Vantablack . Don't be the last to paint your car with it. Speaking of looking into voids, who is in charg...
Fri, Nov 24 2017, 9:13 AM
Plenty of lawyers are basketball fans. What had once looked like a defense slam-dunk now isn’t: A federal judge declined to dismiss a fan’s suit that ...
Wed, Nov 22 2017, 8:59 AM
The lending world has plenty of truly very busy people. (Or maybe that is what they tell their bosses.) How best to communicate with them? Here’s an a...
Tue, Nov 21 2017, 9:19 AM
What is more relaxing than breakfast in bed? IHOP is there for you, and is testing IHOP home delivery in various states. Roshambo to see who answers t...
Mon, Nov 20 2017, 9:14 AM
Thanksgiving week already! Let’s temporarily shift from residential lending to economics. According to the SalaryforPilot website, Air Force pilots ea...
Fri, Nov 17 2017, 9:22 AM
Here’s a tidbit for Happy Hour tonight. Currently, about 21 percent of filers take the mortgage deduction, but under the new framework only about 4 pe...
Thu, Nov 16 2017, 9:09 AM
I think the rumors out there about Richard Cordray taking a much deserved break and then, forget that governor stuff, stepping into Dave Stevens' shoe...
Wed, Nov 15 2017, 9:18 AM
I remember when being worth a million bucks really meant something, and my parents occasionally pointed out someone who they thought was a millionaire...
Tue, Nov 14 2017, 9:23 AM
Are we destined to have robots making home loans ? I sure hope not, although no one has ever accused robots of being shilly-shally. And I sure hope th...
Mon, Nov 13 2017, 9:15 AM
Wells Fargo’s retail lending division & core bank have really “taken it on the chin” in the last year or so, what with the car insurance, sales practi...
Fri, Nov 10 2017, 9:17 AM
In lending we should all continue to champion and applaud the individuals and companies that are making a difference in our quest for equality, especi...
Thu, Nov 9 2017, 9:14 AM
Regardless of presidential administration, immigrants, and millions others, need places to live, and this morning a story was published about Fannie M...
Wed, Nov 8 2017, 9:14 AM
“These businesses are in a structurally disadvantaged position, given the challenging rate environment and marketplace,” Sanjiv Yajnik, president of f...
Tue, Nov 7 2017, 9:52 AM
The MBA sent a letter to the House Committee on Ways and Means regarding its recently released tax reform proposal. Given the tax proposal, the MBA re...
Mon, Nov 6 2017, 9:23 AM
New Lender Programs Impac Mortgage Corp. offers No Income No Employment loans ("Asset Qualification Loans"). Planet Home Lending announced the additio...
Fri, Nov 3 2017, 9:23 AM
One can focus on how to obtain a free sandwich today , since it is National Sandwich Day, or focus on the new tax proposal. NAR: "...at first glance i...
Thu, Nov 2 2017, 9:20 AM
Today the House Financial Services subcommittee is holding another hearing on GSE reform. Nothing is simple, but with Congress we really have an uphil...
Wed, Nov 1 2017, 9:14 AM
Sometimes things can be misleading, or don’t tell the whole story. For example, a 15-oz. bottle of Naked Green Machine juice smoothie has more sugar i...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 9:18 AM
Hard to believe it is Halloween already, and lenders everywhere are mired down in contests. (“Remember the shipping department’s M*A*S*H get-up last y...
Mon, Oct 30 2017, 9:19 AM
I, for one, have no interest in buying shoes online without trying them on first. The same with a mattress – I want to lie on it myself. (Lay? Lie?) I...
Fri, Oct 27 2017, 9:22 AM
The average age of a loan officer is 73. Okay, just kidding. But as anyone in the lending industry and others age, they begin to worry about things su...
Thu, Oct 26 2017, 9:19 AM
NAR wrote a white paper detailing the barriers to homeownership and many of the reasons are well-known. Of course, real estate agents wish there were ...
Wed, Oct 25 2017, 6:11 PM
Yesterday’s commentary noted that HUD Secretary Ben Carson “turned some heads by suggesting lower potential penalties for lenders, especially those fi...
Tue, Oct 24 2017, 9:23 AM
We don’t eat plain ol’ “bacon” anymore. It is usually “Applewood smoked bacon.” Given the amount of Applewood smoked bacon lenders seem to consume at ...
Mon, Oct 23 2017, 9:26 AM
The undisputed hit of the conference so far in Denver? The MBA’s mPower event on Saturday. Yes, it eliminated "a Saturday off" for over 300 women, but...
Fri, Oct 20 2017, 9:38 AM
Not only are houses becoming smaller, but the lots are smaller also. Trulia tells us that houses built since 2015 occupy, on average, 25 percent of th...
Thu, Oct 19 2017, 9:26 AM
Yesterday I had some interesting geographic involving the United States that prompted Tony H. to send a few more items. The closest state to Africa? I...
Tue, Oct 17 2017, 9:22 AM
Does the Fed Chairman make a difference? Yes. Taylor and Powell’s names continue to be mentioned, although Trump is set to interview Janet Yellen Thur...
Mon, Oct 16 2017, 9:26 AM
Given the latest tax plan, will the mortgage interest deduction stay, but become worthless? The GOP blueprint would double the standard deduction for ...
Fri, Oct 13 2017, 9:24 AM
Per Fed Chair Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve has been working to revise post-crisis financial regulations, making them less onerous and better suit...
Thu, Oct 12 2017, 9:33 AM
The driving force of housing prices is supply and demand, and the demand is increasing. In the Bay Area, and for hundreds of miles north, the smoke is...
Wed, Oct 11 2017, 9:44 AM
I mentioned yesterday that 6,762 institutions took a residential loan application in 2016, per Richey May’s HMDA dashboard data. For perspective, the ...
Tue, Oct 10 2017, 9:20 AM
6,762 institutions took a residential loan application in 2016, per Richey May’s HMDA dashboard data. That is a lot of lenders!! Another big figure is...
