Fri, Feb 21 2014, 10:44 AM
Tongues are wagging
about Wells Fargo' s extending credit to borrowers with lower credit
scores (600 FICOs) and thus, on the surface, perceive hi...
Thu, Feb 20 2014, 9:57 AM
If
your lock desk was really busy last week, you're bucking the trend. The
MBA's survey of 75% of retail lenders showed that apps were off 4.1% ...
Wed, Feb 19 2014, 9:53 AM
"A
statistician is someone who tells you, when you've got your head in the
fridge and your feet in the oven, that you're - on average - very
com...
Tue, Feb 18 2014, 10:46 AM
"Any
idea how much Realtors make?" I don't know, and asking someone their
income isn't always the wisest of moves, especially on a first date. But...
Mon, Feb 17 2014, 6:10 PM
Underwriters
will soon be entering that netherworld where they want 2013 tax
returns , but borrowers just don't have them yet. With that in mind,...
Fri, Feb 14 2014, 10:34 AM
"Melissa
Burch, a real estate closing agent at a Fort Lauderdale title company,
pocketed more than $1 million from her employer's escrow account...
Thu, Feb 13 2014, 10:23 AM
"Rob,
my cousin asked me if there were any consumer groups that focused on
homeowners. Do you know of any?" The one that jumps to mind is the Amer...
Wed, Feb 12 2014, 10:20 AM
Atlanta
has too much snow and slush, and is staying home. California, however,
is in the midst of a terrible drought - and it is only February. Th...
Tue, Feb 11 2014, 10:46 AM
Hey,
who wouldn't want to have some steel-cut oatmeal with FHA Commissioner
Carol Galante? Ride a ski lift with HUD Secretary Donovan? Argue over ...
Mon, Feb 10 2014, 10:36 AM
Things can be
misleading out there, and occasionally non-depository mortgage bankers
wonder about becoming licensed in other states. The best sour...
Fri, Feb 7 2014, 10:54 AM
"If
you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
This African proverb could apply to bicycle racing, but more importantly
...
Thu, Feb 6 2014, 10:55 AM
In the legal arena, the industry took note this week that JPMorgan Chase & Co. reached a settlement
with the United States Attorney's Office for the...
Wed, Feb 5 2014, 10:28 AM
The CFPB is expected to spend a lot of time in 2014 on the
closing process , and it has a round of public comments due February 7.
It was put out...
Tue, Feb 4 2014, 10:32 AM
According
to splashdata the top five list of worst passwords is: 1) 123456, 2)
Password, 3) 12345678, 4) QWERTY, and 5) abc123. Hey, how do they k...
Mon, Feb 3 2014, 9:14 AM
I have decided that I am ready, mentally and physically, to win $1 billion - and it is out there for the taking. Quicken
Loans is offering a $1 bi...
Fri, Jan 31 2014, 10:23 AM
As
a reminder, since I am still being asked about it, along with a number
announcements and policy amendments taking effect on the 1 st of Januar...
Thu, Jan 30 2014, 10:02 AM
The industry is changing. The first half of 2013 is a distant, fond
memory for residential lenders. Subprime, non-prime - what's the diff? Business...
Wed, Jan 29 2014, 10:40 AM
"After much discussion, research and deliberation, Mortgage
Services III (MSI) has decided to exit the Wholesale Mortgage Broker
and Non-Regulat...
Tue, Jan 28 2014, 9:37 AM
Just when we think everything is quiet on the appraisal front, Kate Berry with American Banker writes that Fannie Mae has created a blacklist for app...
Mon, Jan 27 2014, 11:29 AM
"Rob, can our investors, vendors, Realtor clients, warehouse banks, and so on, influence our hiring practices?" My kneejerk answer is that in this co...
Fri, Jan 24 2014, 10:29 AM
Just like the industry counted down to QM, now we can count down to
Girl Scout Cookie Season! We have about 16 days - but there is a lot
about the...
Thu, Jan 23 2014, 10:56 AM
All is not bleak in residential lending. Note that yesterday
the MBA reported applications rose 4.7% last week versus +11.9% the
previous week. ...
Wed, Jan 22 2014, 9:40 AM
The
residential lending industry and the companies inside of it are always
in a state of flux. I am repeatedly hearing, "We're keeping a close ey...
Tue, Jan 21 2014, 10:04 AM
How 'bout that Chinese housing market? New
home sales last year exceeded $1 trillion for the first time as
property prices in cities the governm...
Fri, Jan 17 2014, 10:42 AM
"The
check's in the mail!" Hah! The Fed reports the number of checks paid
has declined from close to $50B in the 1990s to about $20B. With tax...
Thu, Jan 16 2014, 10:42 AM
I just read that last year 4,213,157 people got married. I don’t want
to start any trouble, but shouldn’t that be an even number? While we’re
goss...
Wed, Jan 15 2014, 10:36 AM
It looks like the industry
did about $1.75 trillion in 2013, and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) lowered its forecast
for mortgage origin...
Tue, Jan 14 2014, 9:54 AM
They
say a good writer will grab the reader's attention within the first three
sentences, and never let it go. I don't think I'm qualified to judge
...
Mon, Jan 13 2014, 10:02 AM
First Community Mortgage announced its new expanded TPO/supervised correspondent channel to include a full delegated correspondent
platform. "While...
Fri, Jan 10 2014, 10:44 AM
It's
here. Effective today, QM rules the land.
What does the public see regarding QM (apart from Cordray on the Daily Show )? Here you go .
...
Thu, Jan 9 2014, 9:54 AM
There were a lot of happy lenders
yesterday when they learned that the FHFA's new director, Mel Watt, announced that he intends to delay guarantee ...
Wed, Jan 8 2014, 10:48 AM
This
morning we learned from the MBA's poll of 75% of retail lenders that
residential mortgage applications in the U.S. rose last week
as refin...
Tue, Jan 7 2014, 9:43 AM
"Teach your children about taxes: eat 30% of their ice cream."
They'll also learn something about percentages. If 30% of cities have
rebounded to ...
Mon, Jan 6 2014, 11:18 AM
So
here we are at the in the first full week of 2014 - and we have some
important things that will definitely impact residential mortgage
len...
Fri, Jan 3 2014, 12:07 PM
Last
Saturday I mentioned a misspelling in a mortgage document ("...MERS holds
leugal title..."). It turns out that it is not a MERS or Fannie iss...
Thu, Jan 2 2014, 10:05 AM
The U.S. Census Bureau projected that on Jan. 1, 2014, the United States population was 317,297,938.
This represents an increase of 2,218,622, or ...
Tue, Dec 31 2013, 11:39 AM
Thanks to FAMC
for sponsoring the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl . It was
some great publicity for FAMC and the industry. And this is...
Mon, Dec 30 2013, 9:51 AM
Bloomberg reports Blackstone has purchased 41,000 homes across the US in the past 2 years to become the largest single family landlord in the countr...
Fri, Dec 27 2013, 10:46 AM
Water
water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. A growing number of Realtors
are keenly aware of the increasing concern about water and its
sc...
Thu, Dec 26 2013, 10:27 AM
Echoing
what lock desks are seeing, and once again causing some lenders and
Realtors to take a fresh look at overhead, the MBA Mortgage Applicatio...
Tue, Dec 24 2013, 11:46 AM
A
couple was Christmas shopping at the mall. The wife turns around to
find that her husband had disappeared. Upset, she calls him on his
cellpho...
Mon, Dec 23 2013, 10:04 AM
Before
we delve into the agency, lender, and investor news, here is some
holiday cheer....maybe. On December 9th, the Federal Reserve released its...
Fri, Dec 20 2013, 10:44 AM
Borrowers
have saved countless billions by refinancing over the last few years.
But they aren't the only ones saving money: the Treasury Departmen...
Thu, Dec 19 2013, 10:30 AM
Sometimes
common sense seems to leave the markets, but then again, traders are
smarter than the rest of us, right? "Beginning in January, the Comm...
Wed, Dec 18 2013, 11:56 AM
US household net worth was
$77 trillion as of the end of Q3, up $1.9T Q/Q. In the third quarter, the
value of corporate equities and mutual funds o...
Tue, Dec 17 2013, 10:59 AM
Clients of Franklin American received this e-mail yesterday: “Due to the market environment and regulatory concerns, Franklin American will be remo...
Mon, Dec 16 2013, 10:18 AM
The value of
US pensions has soared this year. Per JPMorgan Chase, pensions now cover 96% of future obligations! Pension values
have seen the bi...
Fri, Dec 13 2013, 10:11 AM
The
old saying goes, "If there is only one attorney in a town, he'll starve to
death. If there are two attorneys in a town, they'll both get rich." ...
Wed, Dec 11 2013, 10:58 AM
Five US regulators writing the Volcker
rule have ended three years of debate and approved a ban on proprietary
trading by some banks. The Commodit...
Tue, Dec 10 2013, 10:03 AM
Back in the '00s I remember watching
a Discovery Channel show on people summiting Mt. Everest. One of the amateur
climbers matter-of-factly said tha...
