Thu, Jun 28 2012, 9:19 AM
Remember that scene in Apollo 13 when it dawns on the astronauts that
NASA doesn't know how to get them back? Regarding our economy, one can imagine
...
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 10:14 AM
I have been subtly warning groups during speeches, and writing in this commentary, about the implications of Basel III. Most of the focus is on servic...
Tue, Jun 26 2012, 8:54 AM
President Obama just played his 100th round of golf since being elected
President. In 4 years he has gone through more white tees than the cast of Je...
Mon, Jun 25 2012, 9:07 AM
The political climate is heating up. Jokes that we were able to tell on
the trading desk, regardless of political
affiliation , are flying around, ...
Fri, Jun 22 2012, 10:42 AM
Want some good news? My grades did not qualify me for admittance to Harvard
(that is not the good news), but that institution put out good research
...
Thu, Jun 21 2012, 10:39 AM
Mortgage rates are low.
But volume is a problem.
Raise our margins now!
(See Miss Hickox? Your 7th grade haiku section really paid off!) ...
Wed, Jun 20 2012, 11:38 AM
Here we are on the day that teenagers everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere
despise: the solstice. The sunrise in Nome is around 4:19AM. Even here in...
Tue, Jun 19 2012, 10:29 AM
Do we really need Congress writing or approving the industry's disclosure
forms? Can't it pick on the rental car agreement forms that no one reads,...
Mon, Jun 18 2012, 10:03 AM
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Another ex-exec (the CFO) at
Taylor Bean Whittaker is now going to prison for five years.
Rates ar...
Sat, Jun 16 2012, 1:30 PM
The lender/investor/M&A/vendor/training/conference updates
keep coming. As always, it is best to read the actual bulletin, but these
recent notes ...
Fri, Jun 15 2012, 10:01 AM
On June 15, 1752, Benjamin Franklin performed his famous kite experiment,
proving that lightning is a form of electricity. Something that seems to be...
Thu, Jun 14 2012, 9:58 AM
Regardless of size, regardless of defense, regardless of current QC
measures, buybacks are an issue at every level. PNC , #17 lender by
volume in t...
Wed, Jun 13 2012, 12:32 PM
Industry experts believe that one of the several reasons Countrywide fell
was because of their quest for market share for its own sake, rather than h...
Tue, Jun 12 2012, 11:03 AM
Tonight the NBA finals start, just in time, or so it seems, for the NBA
basketball season to start all over again. But here's some aerobatic basketb...
Mon, Jun 11 2012, 10:29 AM
Here in Arizona, at the Arizona Mortgage Lenders Association conference,
it is clear that mortgage origination and pricing is a numbers game. Many ar...
Fri, Jun 8 2012, 9:22 AM
Unfortunately
for borrowers, and rate sheet pricing, the
Fed voted "full speed ahead" for Basel III . "Mortgage
servicing rights (MSR), for instan...
Thu, Jun 7 2012, 9:22 AM
Kids - Father's Day is coming up! The idea of
Father's Day was conceived in 1909 by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, WA, while she
listened to a Mother's D...
Wed, Jun 6 2012, 11:20 AM
Today is
June 6th, and 68 years ago the most famous D-Day took place on the shores of
Normandy. (D-Day, by the way, is a variable used in planning, ...
Tue, Jun 5 2012, 10:35 AM
I've heard
that the "average" loan officer closes about 2 loans per month. (And
some companies ask, "If an agent closes less than that in this
envi...
Mon, Jun 4 2012, 10:26 AM
I know
that some folks only read the first paragraph of this daily blather, and then
skip to the joke. That's why I am putting this in now: http://...
Fri, Jun 1 2012, 11:18 AM
Are politicians
always calm and collected and afraid to voice their opinion? Not necessarily - you
gotta check this out .
(You'd think those aroun...
Thu, May 31 2012, 10:22 AM
Sometimes I wish that I could use swear words in this commentary, but they wouldn't pass e-mail filters. But if I could, I'd use them here. Why is Co...
Wed, May 30 2012, 11:09 AM
Hey, not
every prediction about the future is right, right? In my visits around the
nation to different companies and mortgage banking groups, I con...
Tue, May 29 2012, 10:01 AM
Fannie and
Freddie aren't the only companies involved in residential mortgage lending to
be seized by the government. Here's a taste of the situati...
Thu, May 24 2012, 11:41 AM
(There
aren't many folks in the world who, on their death bed, would exclaim, "I
wish I had another day of work!" With that in mind, I am biking aro...
Wed, May 23 2012, 10:40 AM
Here is an
interesting note for debt market students: Germany is scheduled today to sell
two-year bonds that won't make set
interest payments . Th...
Tue, May 22 2012, 9:35 AM
Pick an
overwhelming percentage, like 80 or 90%. Remember when residential loan
production wasn't "that" percent agency? Non-agency loans are still ...
Mon, May 21 2012, 11:11 AM
Some
people are looking to fill their time - apparently they have too much on their
hands .
On the
other hand, some companies are looking to fi...
Sat, May 19 2012, 12:56 PM
London
plans to use a painfully "High-Pitched Sound Generator" to disperse large
crowds at the Olympics. Observers note that it will be Cindy Lauper...
Fri, May 18 2012, 9:33 AM
Facebook...Facebook...Facebook...I
guess the financial press is tired of discussing things like Europe's woes. ( Even today's closing paragraph at th...
Thu, May 17 2012, 10:40 AM
Accenture Credit Services announced that, "Low
interest rates, less competition, more regulation and tighter credit standards
have pushed the time ...
Wed, May 16 2012, 12:10 PM
Obama
played golf with Joe Biden last weekend. They were kicked off the course
because every time Obama yelled "Fore", Biden screamed - "More
Years...
Tue, May 15 2012, 2:58 PM
"Apparently,
I'm supposed to be more outraged by what Mitt Romney does with his money, than
by what Barack Obama does with mine." So wrote a witty L...
Mon, May 14 2012, 12:30 PM
What did
the Dali Lama say to the hot dog vendor? "Make me one with
everything." Some LO's out there wish the Lama could fix the pricing on
some of...
Fri, May 11 2012, 1:35 PM
Occasionally
I remind folks that rates are low . They know that, but to remind them even
further, I tell them that if Mr. & Mrs. Smith spend their ...
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...
