Thu, May 10 2012, 4:55 PM
You may
not have known that May is Asian/Pacific
American Heritage Month, which started as a Heritage Week in 1978, but got
promoted to a month in ...
Wed, May 9 2012, 11:36 AM
I saw a classified ad recently where a person had a vintage French military rifle for sale. The description said "Mint condition, never fired; only d...
Tue, May 8 2012, 9:26 AM
One never
knows what is going to happen next here at the MBA's National Secondary. One
minute you're meeting with a team of smart investment bankers...
Mon, May 7 2012, 10:15 AM
Here in
the borough of Manhattan, the MBA's National Secondary conference continues. It
is indeed well attended, and as I mentioned yesterday the c...
Mon, May 7 2012, 6:53 AM
Here in the
borough of Manhattan the 1.6 million residents are abuzz with the thought of
the MBA's National Secondary conference
being in town. L...
Fri, May 4 2012, 10:30 AM
Tomorrow
is Cinco de Mayo, hence the real-life, true, yes, really true, well kind of
true tale at the end of the commentary . Anyway, tomorrow cele...
Thu, May 3 2012, 11:20 AM
What is
33.9%? According to Inside Mortgage Finance it's Wells Fargo's market share
of the mortgage business for the 1st quarter, the most ever fo...
Wed, May 2 2012, 12:19 PM
A veteran
banker once told me, "I've never seen a luggage rack on a hearse."
Many "experts," perhaps wishing to make a name for themselves, called
...
Tue, May 1 2012, 11:32 AM
A police
recruit was asked during the exam, "What would you do if you had to arrest
your own mother?" He answered, "Call for backup."
The SEC ...
Mon, Apr 30 2012, 10:43 AM
Friday was
not a good day for five very weak banks as, through various methods, the FDIC
closed them. (Twenty two have closed in 2012.) In all but o...
Fri, Apr 27 2012, 9:43 AM
A
Washington hot dog vendor is selling a two foot wiener that tastes bitter, is
hard to swallow, and is very expensive. It is named "The Dodd Frank....
Thu, Apr 26 2012, 9:54 AM
I received
this note from a mortgage bank owner in Louisiana: "Hey Rob, get a load of
this! We had an investor come back to us, asking that we prov...
Wed, Apr 25 2012, 11:38 AM
Real
estate and mortgage lending personnel encompass lots of races, creeds, colors,
ages, and sexes (jokes like, "Osama Bin Laden was living with 3 ...
Tue, Apr 24 2012, 10:40 AM
From the
New York Times Science sections comes, "While baboons can't read, they can
tell the difference between real English words and nonsensical o...
Mon, Apr 23 2012, 10:15 AM
In this business,
you can never have too much Dodd Frank, can you? The House Financial Services
Committee has unveiled the Dodd-Frank
Burden Trac...
Mon, Apr 23 2012, 9:50 AM
Sometimes
the investor news piles up, and there is so much going on in the mortgage and
real estate biz that a separate commentary is warranted. As ...
Fri, Apr 20 2012, 10:32 AM
Do you
live in a small town? Many in the real estate and mortgage business do live in
rural communities (FNC, for example, with the slogan "Know You...
Thu, Apr 19 2012, 10:33 AM
The United
States is an amazing place - everyone is different! But here's an interesting
chart someone sent me on state's teen pregnancy rates, and ...
Wed, Apr 18 2012, 12:29 PM
Do you
ever wonder how much time your employees spend checking their Facebook page,
looking up sports scores, and doing Google searches on old girlf...
Tue, Apr 17 2012, 11:02 AM
Remember
QRM? Not only is it not on the front
burner, but it may have been put back in the Tupperware container. QM , however, is very much alive...
Mon, Apr 16 2012, 10:31 AM
This note
from Investor's Business Daily reminds me why day-trading stocks never works for
me - even if you had the better-than-expected news ahead ...
Mon, Apr 16 2012, 10:22 AM
In an
anticipated, but nonetheless disappointing announcement for many in the
industry, GMAC Bank Correspondent Funding (GMACB) sent word out to its...
Fri, Apr 13 2012, 9:52 AM
The
financial industry has taken careful note of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
writing a $500 check on an account that had no money in it. Bot...
Thu, Apr 12 2012, 9:41 AM
I have
heard that there are some places on the outskirts of Detroit that are becoming
farms. That is pretty weird. But even weirder are some of th...
Wed, Apr 11 2012, 10:29 AM
I woke up
yesterday morning wondering how I could convince the government to reduce my
principal. What about all those unfortunate folks who don't h...
Tue, Apr 10 2012, 10:46 AM
Here is an
interesting question to ask your boss: "If a project is running behind
schedule, should the boss add personnel to it in hopes of speeding...
Mon, Apr 9 2012, 10:15 AM
How much
did your company make on every transaction in the 4th quarter? For lenders, in
basis points, the average production
profit (net productio...
Fri, Apr 6 2012, 10:24 AM
Happy Good
Friday to everyone! Corruption is the stuff of Tammany Hall and Tea Pot Dome,
right? Wrong. (Look 'em up, youngsters.) There is still co...
Thu, Apr 5 2012, 9:54 AM
In
yesterday's commentary, the information about ING should be clarified . Specifically, Capital One did recently
close on its purchase of the U....
Wed, Apr 4 2012, 10:25 AM
This
morning presented a real quandary for me: lead off with yet another investor
baling and sailing, discuss the umpteenth rumor that Wells Fargo i...
Tue, Apr 3 2012, 10:00 AM
Things are
decent in the mortgage insurance biz :
MI companies wrote $5.4 billion in new pools of risk in February. Mortgage
Insurance Companies...
Mon, Apr 2 2012, 12:30 PM
Besides wind surfers, sailors, wind farmers, and odd people who chase tornadoes, there aren't many people who like the wind. But this map of wind in t...
Sun, Apr 1 2012, 12:20 PM
The NMLS turned some heads late last week
with its latest press release. "At NMLS, We are doing our part to help the
mortgage industry! We enhance...
Fri, Mar 30 2012, 9:41 AM
What is
more fun to talk about, the latest CFPB power grab, an investor changing its
appraisal review process, or the 42-state Mega Millions lottery...
Thu, Mar 29 2012, 9:51 AM
"People
moving" is the lifeblood of Realtors. The Census Bureau just released
estimates from the American Community Survey showing how many people m...
Wed, Mar 28 2012, 9:55 AM
"Rob,
are you hearing that many companies are paying their LO's less for refinances,
and even less for refinances within a company's servicing portf...
Tue, Mar 27 2012, 9:53 AM
Are
mortgage brokers making a comeback? After the financial crisis, drop in
originations, regulatory tsunami (a "Reg-plosion"), and the recent exit...
Mon, Mar 26 2012, 10:36 AM
For those
playing along at home, the U.S. Treasury Department continues to wind down 2008's
TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program. More than 80%...
Fri, Mar 23 2012, 9:42 AM
Bank of America launched the "Mortgage to
Lease" program to fewer than 1,000 BofA customers selected by the bank in
test markets in Arizona, Neva...
Thu, Mar 22 2012, 9:50 AM
Do you do
business i n a "Sand State" or a "HARP State" ? Perhaps they're
the same. Yesterday's MBA numbers showed, as a percentage of overall
appl...
Wed, Mar 21 2012, 10:39 AM
Yesterday
the commentary discussed rotary phones and mobile phone banking . And last week
the Federal Reserve Board launched its Twitter channel, @...
Tue, Mar 20 2012, 10:09 AM
In the old
days, when rotary dial telephones roamed the earth, and it took more time to
dial a 8 or 9 or 0 than it did a 1 or 2 or 3, area codes wer...
Mon, Mar 19 2012, 10:27 AM
In this
environment, not only are many mortgage lenders making good returns, but the
Treasury is as well. The Treasury Department may announce today...
Fri, Mar 16 2012, 10:41 AM
In a
unique combination of "Babe" and "Now Comes Miller Time",
if you only watch one video today, make it this one .
Mortgage
bankers and broke...
Wed, Mar 14 2012, 10:53 AM
Happy Pi
Day. (Remember high school geometry...)
As
expected, the Fed did not make any policy changes at yesterday. Perhaps they most
of their ...
Tue, Mar 13 2012, 11:08 AM
Everyone
wants feedback these days: the CFPB, Burger King (I got a free $3 chicken
sandwich after spending 30 minutes filling out a survey!), servic...
Mon, Mar 12 2012, 10:10 AM
Here's
some good news for some: The Financial Times reports that, "The Federal Reserve
is this week expected to pave the way for a
doubling of ban...
Sat, Mar 10 2012, 10:04 AM
Sometimes
I revert back to 5th grade. (Some would suggest I'm still in it.) Have you
heard of the new HAMP-related Principal Reduction Alternative P...
Fri, Mar 9 2012, 9:21 AM
"Hey
Rob, just a hunch here but figured it probably plays into the equation. FHA is
requiring that we pull case numbers on or after June 11 on this ...
Thu, Mar 8 2012, 9:51 AM
Here's a
walk down Memory Lane. "From my point of view, if 80% of the sub-prime
borrowers are managing to make ends meet and make the mortgage payme...
