Mon, Dec 9 2019, 9:24 AM
With the Fed content with rates hovering here for the foreseeable future , lenders can focus on other things. "Rob, are you hearing that real estate a...
Wed, Dec 4 2019, 2:43 PM
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner Brian D. Montgomery has announced the loan limits for FHA forward mortgages in 2020. The limits are ...
Tue, Dec 3 2019, 1:54 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHA) had to be bailed out by the U.S. Treasury during the financial crisis after its Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fun...
Mon, Nov 18 2019, 11:54 AM
FHA loans posted a substantial decline in delinquencies during the third quarter, leading an overall improvement in loan performance. The Mortgage Ban...
Tue, Oct 29 2019, 8:19 AM
As noted in the commentary very early yesterday, a shade ahead of the actual details, the big news was the HUD/DOJ/False Claims Act announcement. Cutt...
Fri, Oct 18 2019, 1:46 PM
More than a quarter of new home purchases in 2018 were financed through non-conventional sources. Data from the Census Bureau's Survey of Construction...
Fri, Oct 18 2019, 8:15 AM
Here’s a little trivia for you. What does San Francisco have six of that Manhattan has none of? Dirt roads ! I don’t know if the cost of maintaining a...
Tue, Oct 8 2019, 8:59 AM
As Treasury yields head toward the lows of September, and Monday’s bond market holiday, let’s start Tuesday with some “trivia.” Did you know that one ...
Wed, Oct 2 2019, 8:49 AM
Ever heard of Divvy Homes , ZeroDown , or Flyhomes ? You should have, because your potential clients probably have. Startups are aiming to break down ...
Fri, Sep 6 2019, 9:08 AM
Yesterday the industry reacted to the topic of housing finance reform. HUD presented its plan for FHA . But, like Farrah Fawcett passing away on the s...
Thu, Aug 29 2019, 8:52 AM
Real estate agents, and lenders interested in joint ventures and “affinity programs,” are very interested in the Realogy news that the United Services...
Thu, Aug 15 2019, 8:51 AM
Plenty of economists watch builder activity and mood swings as early indicators of future economic health. Builder confidence in the single-family 55+...
Thu, Aug 15 2019, 8:10 AM
The long-waited Federal Housing Administration (FHA) rule regulating condominium lending was finalized Wednesday afternoon. The Department of Housing ...
Mon, Aug 5 2019, 8:39 AM
Blame mental health. Blame gun control. Blame “the system” or background check procedures. There’s plenty of blame to go around when it comes to the t...
Thu, Jul 25 2019, 9:17 AM
If you, or your borrowers, want $125 from Equifax, or to receive free credit reporting, here’s what you should do. The official settlement website has...
Tue, Jul 23 2019, 8:57 AM
During my travels someone recently told me that the “x” at the end of Cajun names was attributable to illiterate Cajuns “making their mark.” But inste...
Thu, Jul 11 2019, 9:09 AM
In honor of World Population Day today, the Census Bureau tells us that the world’s population will hit 7.58 billion this month. But why believe that?...
Tue, Jul 2 2019, 10:10 AM
This weekend I helped my son change apartments in San Francisco, and all over were billboards for ZeroDown.com : “Smartest Way to Buy a Home.” And if ...
Fri, Jun 21 2019, 12:59 PM
After the housing crisis and faced with a flood of insurance claims, FHA and the Department of Justice responded with enforcement efforts against lend...
Fri, Jun 14 2019, 9:08 AM
The House Financial Services Committee (FSC) passed a clutch of bills this week, several of which will assist homebuyers and homeowners. Two directly ...
Fri, Jun 14 2019, 9:05 AM
“The City of Baltimore, Maryland suffered a ransomware attack on May 7, 2019. Due to the attack, the City is currently unable to record documents unti...
Tue, Jun 11 2019, 8:17 AM
As I head to Kansas today, I have a great quote. Lenders I visit with are optimistic, raising margins to slow volume based on capacity constraints, an...
Thu, May 30 2019, 9:01 AM
My cat Myrtle’s direct exposure to the falling stock market is minimal. Mine, however, has become a sense of concern as I watch the value of my holdin...
Fri, May 10 2019, 8:50 AM
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced a a package of incentives to encourage multi-family property owners to invest in thousands of neigh...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 9:08 AM
How often do you buy candles at retailer Pier 1? Me neither. Due to poor earnings Pier 1 Imports announced it will close another 45 stores (up to 150 ...
Thu, Apr 18 2019, 9:15 AM
Experienced originators know that lending is a numbers game. Every 100 cold calls result in 20 conversations, which result in 5 potential leads, which...
Thu, Apr 4 2019, 8:56 AM
NASA has taken another step to make interplanetary living a reality, naming the top three finalists for its ongoing 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge . I a...
Tue, Mar 26 2019, 2:43 PM
FHA is reversing an earlier decision to remove the rule requiring manual underwriting for mortgages with credit scores below 620 and a ratio of debt t...
Thu, Mar 21 2019, 10:33 AM
Want a growth industry? How about aging? PulteGroup's Del Webb 55+ brand will build 10 new Del Webb communities , planned to open over the next 18 mon...
Tue, Mar 12 2019, 8:41 AM
This morning I’m feeling old after a 3AM wake up call to travel from Ellie Mae’s conference in San Francisco to the MBAKY in Louisville. (Speaking of ...
Fri, Feb 22 2019, 8:53 AM
In the good news category, we can all knock “lumber prices” off the list as a hindrance to builders. Prices are down 25% in the last year. Is it “easi...
Thu, Feb 21 2019, 8:58 AM
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” A clever quote about differences which reminded me that there are differences between the na...
Fri, Feb 1 2019, 9:02 AM
I can tell it’s almost Valentine’s day since Costco just put out the Halloween decorations. Speaking of Costco, its minimum wage is now $14 per hour. ...
Tue, Jan 29 2019, 12:14 PM
The days when published a monthly tally of the number of loan modifications made by servicers under several public and private sector programs are lon...
Wed, Jan 23 2019, 10:03 AM
The wholesale pricing wars continue, the latest salvo from Freedom Mortgage in the FHA & VA stadium (see below). Fans of FHA lending, who tend to bris...
Fri, Dec 28 2018, 9:31 AM
“Rob, should we be staffing up for another refi boom?” It seems like most lenders are pausing during the holidays to take stock of current staffing le...
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, 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 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, Jul 12 2018, 8:51 AM
Chris Whalen notes, “The failure of Bear Stearns & Co a decade ago illustrates the key lesson of financial markets, namely that non-banks are dependen...
Tue, Jun 26 2018, 9:02 AM
The interest rate environment is like the weather: we all talk about it, but no one can do anything about it. Lenders have certainly noticed that sinc...
Mon, Jun 4 2018, 8:54 AM
Doing Good Wells Fargo’s charity work is legendary – more than any other company in the United States. The Mortgage Bankers Association has Project Op...
Fri, Jun 1 2018, 9:10 AM
Whenever I mention changes in LO compensation versus changes in lender profit margins, my cat Myrtle seems entirely disinterested. (Come to think of i...
Thu, May 17 2018, 9:45 AM
I don’t go anywhere without my sugar glider, including most of this week spent in Austin, TX with TMS . No, a sugar glider is not a risqué pet name fo...
Wed, May 9 2018, 9:11 AM
Psst… want a snapshot file that contains the national HMDA datasets as of April 18th, 2018 for all HMDA reporters, as modified by the Bureau to protec...
Mon, Apr 30 2018, 9:11 AM
Demographics will tell you that it makes more sense organizing populations by how they live – rather than where they live – is a much more precise way...
Thu, Apr 5 2018, 9:13 AM
My father was in the U.S. Navy for 20 years (1942-1962) and his first home loan in 1967 was a VA 30-year fixed rate mortgage. That was obviously pre-i...
Fri, Mar 9 2018, 9:15 AM
Let’s end the week with a non-mortgage related note about nature. You Tube has a live webcam a live webcam in the San Francisco Presidio of a Red-Tail...
Fri, Feb 9 2018, 9:14 AM
Here’s a riddle for tonight’s Happy Hour for snowed-in Chicagoans: What do New Day Financial, Nations Lending Corp., Freedom Mortgage Corp, LoanDepot....
