Thu, Jul 5 2018, 9:00 AM
Basketball folks have been talking about 33-year old LeBron James signing a four-year, $154 million deal with the Lakers. I don’t know the intricacies...
Tue, Jul 3 2018, 8:52 AM
While the Northeast swelters and California burns, remember that on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, s...
Mon, Jul 2 2018, 8:49 AM
I don’t think that my cat Myrtle has been asked any survey questions by any pollsters. (If she has, she hasn’t mentioned it, and if she was, I know ex...
Fri, Jun 29 2018, 8:50 AM
Here’s something that’s kind of interesting. Half of all zero net energy homes have been built in California . “Cali,” a nickname despised by resident...
Thu, Jun 28 2018, 8:57 AM
Ever wonder where manufactured houses are centered? Here’s a nifty map . They are being touted as a possible solution to the nation’s housing shortage...
Wed, Jun 27 2018, 9:01 AM
Today is the last day for the Supreme Court session, and the rumor is that Justice Anthony Kennedy will soon announce his retirement from the $250k/ye...
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 25 2018, 9:26 AM
Experienced loan officers know that much of their success is a number’s game: W number of cold calls result in X number of potential leads, X number o...
Fri, Jun 22 2018, 9:00 AM
Don't have the time, or money, to take a trip to Scottsdale, Ariz., to see Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and studio, Taliesin West? Well, that issu...
Thu, Jun 21 2018, 9:07 AM
Huh? Rumors again that FHLB Atlanta is exiting the HFLB Xtra mortgage program effective at the end of this year? Who can keep track of all the rumored...
Wed, Jun 20 2018, 8:59 AM
onight/tomorrow morning is the summer solstice. I am in Minneapolis at an ACUMA workshop and where the sun will set tonight at 9:03. (I suppose ACUMA ...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 8:59 AM
When I grow up I want to live in a ranch style… shipping container? If you have a builder complaining about lumber costs or labor to frame a house, th...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 8:51 AM
Rumors continue to swirl. Will a top-10 bank really terminate hundreds, possibly a thousand, of its retail originators in late July/early August for n...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 8:59 AM
Taking a tour around the nation…No one has ever used the term “bespoke” in describing any place I’ve stayed. I barely know what it means. But if you’v...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 8:53 AM
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects increasing customer usage of technology will reduce the number of bank tellers by 42,000 through 2026. Gi...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 8:56 AM
Lenders aren’t likely to eliminate their owners or senior management, nor do they want to eliminate producers (who are meeting minimum thresholds) or ...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 9:13 AM
Some banks have concluded they will have to support Libor after 2021 , when alternative rates are in place. The banks hope to avoid disruption from a ...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 8:56 AM
Residential lenders aren’t the only ones having a tough time out there. Builder Hovnanian reported a Q2 loss of $9.8 million. The Social Security prog...
Fri, Jun 8 2018, 8:37 AM
For me this week includes time in Indianapolis and Chicago. Once again, I am impressed by the talent in residential lending – the industry is filled w...
Thu, Jun 7 2018, 8:56 AM
Life is full of ups and downs. Some news is devastating, some of it not so much. But remember how bad it felt, that feeling in your stomach, when some...
Wed, Jun 6 2018, 8:32 AM
Two companies, Google and Facebook, are dominating the digital side of the marketing business. Six out of every ten dollars spent on digital ads is sp...
Tue, Jun 5 2018, 8:59 AM
Builders & real estate agents are very interested in cost per square foot. How much does it cost to build something in New York City? How about $362 p...
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 31 2018, 9:08 AM
At the recent MBA conference, plenty of discussion focused on non-QM lending. But plenty “off the record” discussions among execs mentioned changing L...
Wed, May 30 2018, 9:06 AM
Plenty of people I know agree with the this Forbes article titled, “We Have Learned Nothing From The Mortgage Market Meltdown.” Builders are reducing ...
Tue, May 29 2018, 9:06 AM
Plenty of people I know agree with the this Forbes article titled, “We Have Learned Nothing From The Mortgage Market Meltdown.” For example, certainly...
Fri, May 25 2018, 9:07 AM
Did you know that the number of female chief executives of Fortune 500 companies this year declined by 25 percent (from 32 to 24)? Not good. One of th...
Thu, May 24 2018, 9:18 AM
The conference this week? I attended various presentations dealing with housing finance and the economy in general. Even in the face of rising rates, ...
Wed, May 23 2018, 9:11 AM
Every vendor here at the MBA conference suggests they can help clients close more loans faster, more efficiently and compliantly. If only all these le...
Tue, May 22 2018, 9:10 AM
The U.S. mortgage industry likely recorded an operating loss in the first three months of 2018 due to falling loan volumes and growing expenses, the M...
Mon, May 21 2018, 9:12 AM
Hello from the MBA Secondary Conference in NY! Lenders are talking about LO comp (“they need to share the margin pain, but no one wants to be the firs...
Fri, May 18 2018, 9:18 AM
Folks heading to the MBA’s Secondary conference should know that there are 329 street-level newsstands in New York City. (The peak was 1,500 in the 19...
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 16 2018, 9:10 AM
What does a chief operating officer do, and how much do they make? For builders, the role is vague but is often the #2 person at the company. COO comp...
Tue, May 15 2018, 9:12 AM
Legal eagles out there are buzzing about PHH deciding not to appeal the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C.’s January decision in its CFPB challenge. Recal...
Mon, May 14 2018, 9:10 AM
“Forward” lenders can’t ignore that 10,000 people a day in the U.S. turn 62. Of course, not every one owns a home, or has appreciation – but many do. ...
Fri, May 11 2018, 9:12 AM
HMDA data tells us that California accounted for 21% of residential loan volume in 2017, and 23% in ’16. It’s a big market. Thus, the industry is foll...
Thu, May 10 2018, 9:16 AM
Amazon, Google , Apple, Uber (largest food delivery system in the world) taking over the world? Perhaps, especially if we’re willing to give it to the...
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...
Tue, May 8 2018, 9:09 AM
Air travel is an interesting thing, and very safe by most metrics. Did you know that there are between 440,000 and 660,000 people in the air over the ...
Mon, May 7 2018, 9:13 AM
Nearly every residential lender is selectively scaling back, or rumored to be scaling back, for a multitude of reasons. Suddenly a company cutting a L...
Thu, May 3 2018, 9:10 AM
Moody’s addresses what every LO knows – the next area of “opportunity” in the mortgage market: next area of “opportunity” in the mortgage market : cas...
Wed, May 2 2018, 9:15 AM
Greetings from the American Mortgage Conference in Pinehurst, NC! Fun with numbers: A penny is about 1/16 of an inch, or 192 per foot. A mile is 5,280...
Tue, May 1 2018, 9:16 AM
May Day – how are we 1/3 of the way through 2018 already?! Folks are gearing up for this month’s MBA National Secondary conference in Manhattan. (Jung...
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...
Fri, Apr 27 2018, 9:15 AM
Huh? Nearly half of borrowers don’t rate shop? Freddie Mac tells us that this is indeed the case (although every LO and broker I know would disagree)....
Thu, Apr 26 2018, 9:13 AM
I'm a capital markets guy, so, by some people’s definition, don’t know much about numbers. But I know that .250 (a quarter point) on a $100,000 loan i...
Wed, Apr 25 2018, 9:22 AM
Amazon Web Services, the conglomerate’s cloud computing division, has announced AWS Blockchain Templates, which will compete with similar offerings fr...
Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:12 AM
Where should a lender reduce expenses? I received this note from STRATMOR’s Jeff Babcock. “In our numerous conversations with client mortgage originat...
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