Mon, Jun 17 2024, 11:42 AM
This week includes Juneteenth, a reminder of how slow news traveled in the past, as well as the Summer Solstice. Here in Hawai’i, in terms of daylight...
Mon, Aug 14 2023, 10:27 AM
For anyone attending the California MBA’s Western Secondary starting this weekend, here’s a challenge too good for any tennis players to pass up. Augi...
Mon, Mar 27 2023, 10:36 AM
“Once you lick the frosting off of a cupcake, it becomes a muffin. And muffins are healthy. You’re welcome.” Adding another expense to a transaction i...
Mon, Dec 19 2022, 10:37 AM
Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah), which began yesterday. Others are looking ahead to Christmas, with some companies closed Friday the 23rd and some closed...
Wed, Nov 16 2022, 9:52 AM
This morning I head to Kansas City to spend some time with the MBAKC. KC is a mere 500 miles from Oak Park, Illinois, east of Chicago and childhood ho...
Thu, Sep 2 2021, 11:27 AM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced a series of actions aimed at assisting in the Biden Administrations goal of creati...
Thu, Jul 15 2021, 11:20 AM
Ask any manager. It was much more fun to announce, “We’re hiring!” than it is to mutter, “We’re laying off.” Currently there are plenty of rumors abou...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 8:48 AM
Whether it is Northern Virginia or Lake Tahoe , we’re running out of houses. The pandemic has caused a buyer feeding frenzy away from apartments and c...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 10:50 AM
It had been threatened from the beginning of the Trump administration, but this week the hammer fell. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development...
Fri, Apr 3 2020, 9:04 AM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced how it will be allocating its initial portion of funds from the massive Coronaviru...
Thu, Jan 16 2020, 8:55 AM
For folks who like numbers and trends, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s national and state population estimates released in December, 42 states a...
Mon, Dec 2 2019, 8:14 AM
Did your company make any money in the 3rd quarter? I hope so, and I hope the 4th quarter is looking bright as well. (Just like I hope that MLOs on yo...
Tue, Oct 29 2019, 8:10 AM
The U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Monday setting out t...
Thu, Oct 17 2019, 8:57 AM
52% of Agency biz (e.g., Freddie and Fannie) is first-time home buyers. Over at HUD, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), first-time h...
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 ...
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, Mar 28 2019, 12:00 PM
Facebook, which has been accused recently of everything short of disappearing Jimmy Hoffa, is in more hot water. The U.S. Department of Housing and Ur...
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...
Thu, Jun 28 2018, 8:09 AM
Ben Carson, MD, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that his d...
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...
Wed, May 9 2018, 11:42 AM
Two Texas civil rights groups and the National Fair Housing Alliance are suing the Trump Administration over enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. The ...
Thu, Apr 26 2018, 12:32 PM
Not sure whether to call it cooperation, a coincidence or a non-musical "call and response," but a proposal unveiled by Ben Carson, Secretary of Housi...
Thu, Feb 15 2018, 10:33 AM
Although it has been declared by many in Congress as "dead on arrival" the Trump Administration's proposed 2019 budget appears more predicated on anot...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 5:13 PM
With a stop-gap funding bill likely to be approved tonight, the following will not be germane for long, but it could serve as a template for the next ...
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 ...
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...
Wed, Jul 12 2017, 9:28 AM
Millions of parents around the nation will be sending their ex-high school seniors off to college this autumn. And what better thing to teach them is ...
Tue, May 23 2017, 3:53 PM
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its proposed 2018 budget on Tuesday, saying it will continue to provide rental ass...
Thu, Apr 20 2017, 9:41 AM
Do you think your small competitor is going to be around at the end of 2017? Perhaps. But I am reminded of some Deloitte research from late 2015 that ...
Fri, Jan 13 2017, 9:05 AM
The average person in the residential lending sector would be hard pressed to say what Julian Castro, the current Secretary of HUD, does , or what rol...
Tue, Dec 20 2016, 9:49 AM
The whole world is changing! There are 500 McDonalds in the United States that currently offer table service. The bring-your-burger-to-you trial has p...
Mon, Dec 5 2016, 9:59 AM
Another piece of the President-elect Donald J. Trump's administration fell into place on Monday with the announcement that former Republican president...
Wed, Nov 23 2016, 10:22 AM
My cat Myrtle is old school. A traditionalist. Even though she has never said it out loud, I know that she doesn’t approve of me putting one space aft...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 10:55 AM
Baby Boomers like lists and rankings. Here is one that I ran across: the 50 highest paying professions not needing a college degree. There are a coupl...
Thu, Oct 13 2016, 9:43 AM
For all you mortgage execs in your 60s and 70s, who want to feel young again, you should join the YMPA: Young Mortgage Professionals Association . Nop...
Fri, May 20 2016, 10:26 AM
Regarding this week’s MBA Secondary Marketing conference Marcus Lam with Opes Advisors writes, “Obviously this is not the most important thing, but ...
Wed, Apr 27 2016, 9:49 AM
The “Tiny Home” movement is interesting, but 84 square feet ? That is enough to store my Hot Wheels, Match Box, and slot car collections. Am I thinki...
Mon, Apr 25 2016, 10:01 AM
I call home improvement projects ‘teaching my son to swear” jobs.” One group of folks not swearing are people in the residential lending industry – at...
Wed, Feb 10 2016, 3:18 PM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said on Tuesday that its proposed budget for Fiscal 2017 will include $48.9 billion in gross d...
Tue, Aug 11 2015, 11:25 AM
Is it really easier to get a mortgage these days? Well... After mortgage backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac clarified their credit qualifica...
Thu, Jul 16 2015, 9:53 AM
Earnest Hemingway was born in the comfortable Midwestern suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, a place he described as full of, "wide lawns and narrow minds."...
Fri, Jul 10 2015, 11:12 AM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) has announced a final rule to help communities that receive HUD funds meet
their fair housing...
Fri, Apr 24 2015, 5:09 PM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is
tweaking its bulk loan sales program to give distressed borrowers a better shot
at staying ...
Mon, Apr 6 2015, 10:19 AM
Late last week someone asked me about HUD's Equal Access Rule .
A month or so ago Bankers Advisory released a notice regarding HUD's
update to eq...
Thu, Mar 19 2015, 10:48 AM
"Rob,
with the Fannie price changes Tuesday, does the securities market still
charge a premium for high balance conforming? " Yes it does - pools...
Mon, Jan 26 2015, 10:42 AM
One never knows what will cause mass hysteria . Maybe the storm hitting the Northeast? I doubt Ocwen's troubles
will cause it, but the industry h...
Thu, Jan 8 2015, 4:12 PM
Dear HUD,
First of all, thanks for dropping annual MI. That's cool and all, but the way you're rolling this out is causing confusion. The Mortgag...
Mon, Nov 24 2014, 10:34 AM
If you're looking for next investment property, the nearest "college town" may serve you well. According to research from Clear Capital ,
out of ...
Fri, Nov 7 2014, 10:34 AM
Lots of folks
are going crazy over the avalanche of rules and regulations that are
increasing the cost of every mortgage made in the United States...
Tue, Oct 21 2014, 10:57 AM
I
was dealt a serious setback yesterday here at the MBA conference, being
held in the immense Four Seasons, Mandalay, Delano, conference center
...
