Wed, Feb 19 2020, 9:57 AM
Everyone is looking to increase production and cut expenses. MI companies, for example, are re-focusing on their highlighting their value proposition ...
Tue, Feb 18 2020, 8:32 AM
Odd times that we’re living in. Here in New Orleans (“Anything worth doing is worth overdoing!”) some of the talk is about the Boy Scouts of America d...
Fri, Feb 14 2020, 9:14 AM
Does anyone out there care that credit-card debt rose to a record $930 billion in Q4 2019? (Total mortgage debt hit $9.56 trillion.) How about that th...
Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:17 AM
Do we really have nine more months until the actual election? While you’re answering questions, does someone in your office speak Spanish? Tagalog? Ma...
Wed, Feb 12 2020, 9:31 AM
Clients want LOs to be subject matter experts on products and current events. But what do lenders know about their LOs, their originator turnover rate...
Tue, Feb 11 2020, 8:51 AM
In 1988, there was only one city in America where the average home price was over six times the annual median income. Today there are more than twenty...
Mon, Feb 10 2020, 9:11 AM
The U.S. is divided up into regions. Have you ever noticed that we say, “Out West” or “Back East” – a holdover from centuries ago. It’s never, “Back W...
Fri, Feb 7 2020, 9:09 AM
I can’t predict the future, don’t even know what I’m doing for lunch today, but in October this commentary suggested that with the MOU inked in Octobe...
Thu, Feb 6 2020, 9:07 AM
For years there has been name confusion between Fannie Mae and Fannie May . Name overlap isn’t limited to those two; MERS, familiar to mortgage banker...
Wed, Feb 5 2020, 9:04 AM
Let’s take any brokerage or small mortgage banker, 10 loan officers doing an average of 3 loans per month for 30 loans/month. The company has the oper...
Tue, Feb 4 2020, 9:02 AM
Fitness instructor: “Have you ever done a marathon?” Me: “You mean like on Netflix?” Both take stamina (of some sort), as does merely looking at the U...
Mon, Feb 3 2020, 8:57 AM
“I boarded a Southwest flight over the weekend, sat down, sneezed, and muttered something in Mandarin. I had the whole row to myself for entire flight...
Fri, Jan 31 2020, 9:02 AM
Interesting times. Our CFPB has a new Chief Experience Officer . United Wholesale has an ad in the Super Bowl , recommending brokers to consumers. Exp...
Thu, Jan 30 2020, 9:00 AM
What if you bought into an investment thinking you were going to earn a decent return for 30 years and instead it paid off in four months? Not only th...
Wed, Jan 29 2020, 9:08 AM
My cat Myrtle never paid much attention to Brexit, up until recently a hopeless parliamentary quagmire. (“Brexistential fear”: An irrational fear that...
Tue, Jan 28 2020, 8:50 AM
Loan officers and lenders know that the population in the United States continues to shift, and this creates some continued great opportunities to inc...
Mon, Jan 27 2020, 8:23 AM
Remember when there actually was an “average,” and you weren’t afraid to say that someone was average? Now everyone is “above average.” (Did my sarcas...
Fri, Jan 24 2020, 8:37 AM
Yes, the change in FICO scores garnered some attention, but much of the focus is on Wells Fargo which just can’t stay out of the spotlight… for all th...
Thu, Jan 23 2020, 10:20 AM
Did you know that you can vote by smart phone in Seattle ? Did you know that less than 20 percent of the world's population has ever taken a single fl...
Wed, Jan 22 2020, 9:08 AM
What does $4.6 billion dollars buy you these days? A couple casinos: a Blackstone-sponsored JV is paying that for MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay in Las Ve...
Tue, Jan 21 2020, 9:03 AM
Everyone is aging, right? “I finally did it! I bought a new pair of shoes with memory foam insoles. No more forgetting why I walked into the kitchen!”...
Fri, Jan 17 2020, 9:22 AM
I’ve gotta hand it to those writers who put out listings for real estate agents. Maybe if I had a bunch of money I could live in a “secluded retreat” ...
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...
Wed, Jan 15 2020, 9:07 AM
We find ourselves at Wednesday already. How about some numbers for Hump Day? Years ago Arnold Schwarzenegger famously said, “Having more money doesn't...
Tue, Jan 14 2020, 9:00 AM
There are some clever people out there creating abbreviations and acronyms. Megxit? Yes: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exiting from certain royal dut...
Mon, Jan 13 2020, 9:03 AM
Lenders, and all financial sector firms, continue to ruminate on the privacy law in California that now gives people the right to access and delete pe...
Fri, Jan 10 2020, 8:52 AM
Markets have taken the view that brief military conflicts have little long-term impact on economic trends. Gold, oil and the Japanese yen jumped after...
Thu, Jan 9 2020, 8:52 AM
Nobody, that I recall, predicted that 2019 would be a banner year for mortgage originators. And how about that stock market! My 401k’s balance certain...
Wed, Jan 8 2020, 9:06 AM
Hey, I want to buy my own house without the “nuisances” of a large down payment, difficult credit standards, massive debt, or long-term commitments. O...
Tue, Jan 7 2020, 9:08 AM
Money attracts criminal activity. I know that isn’t late-breaking news, but here’s a scam I hadn’t heard of involving, once again, real estate and app...
Mon, Jan 6 2020, 8:35 AM
“Rob, I know that it costs less to retain an existing employee than to train a new one. Last year companies were reportedly paying big signing bonuses...
Fri, Jan 3 2020, 8:49 AM
In state news, happy belated CCPA Day! The California Consumer Privacy Act officially went into effect 1/1, and it’s a big deal. Full compliance expec...
Thu, Jan 2 2020, 9:02 AM
Florida, also known as “God’s waiting room,” is the nation’s third most populous state, behind California and Texas, with a population of 21.3 million...
Tue, Dec 31 2019, 8:58 AM
“I can’t remember how to write 1, 1000, 51, and 500 in Roman Numerals! IM LIVID.” Some in the industry may be livid over Associated Bank’s announcemen...
Mon, Dec 30 2019, 8:56 AM
I was telling my cat Myrtle that I have a problem when people ask me what I’ll be doing tomorrow after midnight. I don’t have 2020 vision! Barring any...
Fri, Dec 27 2019, 9:00 AM
If Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae didn’t exist, would we create them now? Turkey will establish a new mortgage financing firm, Birlesik Ipotek Finansmani ...
Thu, Dec 26 2019, 1:14 PM
“I hate it when people ask me what I’ll be doing in six days. Come on folks. I don’t have 2020 vision.” You can be guaranteed that the Republicans wil...
Tue, Dec 24 2019, 9:02 AM
Where are the well-known Democratic presidential hopefuls on housing issues? As with most politicians, it’s a little vague . While we’re on politics, ...
Mon, Dec 23 2019, 12:38 PM
There sure are lots of people, borrowing lots of money, for lots of houses out there! And the bump in activity is coming from non-bank lenders and is ...
Fri, Dec 20 2019, 9:01 AM
As we zip toward the end of the decade, do you want the U.S. economy to be “Hotter than the hinges of hell?” Probably not, as rates would shoot higher...
Thu, Dec 19 2019, 9:16 AM
Sure the world noted that Sweden’s central bank hiked its rate to 0%. But in this country, Michigan is making mortgage news. First, United Shore/UWM h...
Wed, Dec 18 2019, 8:57 AM
My background is in capital markets, with a razor-sharp mind for figures. Not anymore. Remember when you’d have dozens of phone numbers memorized? Now...
Tue, Dec 17 2019, 8:50 AM
Mark Twain famously said, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21,...
Mon, Dec 16 2019, 8:56 AM
No one wants their labors to go to waste, whether you’re an underwriter who is over-ruled by the head of credit, or an MLO who finds out your approved...
Fri, Dec 13 2019, 8:57 AM
While the markets are talking about Boris Johnson’s victory in the U.K. (“get Brexit done”), here’s your trivia of the day: Every month that starts on...
Thu, Dec 12 2019, 9:06 AM
We never see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery!" No one has a crystal ball, but originators often ask their capital markets staff about the directio...
Wed, Dec 11 2019, 9:41 AM
Aloha! As any servicer with borrowers in Hawai’i knows, if you’re going to ask, “Is Ms. Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele* home?” or “Do you live on...
Tue, Dec 10 2019, 9:26 AM
If you knew the value of the house was going to decline, or that the borrower has bad credit and would default, would you make the loan? There’s alway...
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...
Fri, Dec 6 2019, 8:53 AM
I hope that you didn’t lay off your compliance department earlier this year, because there’s a lot going on. For example, from out of California comes...
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