Wed, Sep 13 2017, 9:25 AM
I do my share of traveling (California Monday, Ohio yesterday, Tennessee today & tomorrow) and see how the residential lending environment changes in ...
Tue, Sep 12 2017, 9:28 AM
Lender and Investor Disaster Updates Conditions are subject to change; check with investors if you have questions. NewLeaf has temporarily ceased fund...
Mon, Sep 11 2017, 9:29 AM
Builder chatter? Builders in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida now have a choice: build new homes or help repair existing stock. Labor will be in short su...
Fri, Sep 8 2017, 9:29 AM
A large earthquake in Mexico, damage in Southern Texas from Hurricane Harvey, and, although Irma has been downgraded, mandatory evacuations in the Mia...
Thu, Sep 7 2017, 9:33 AM
As fires, floods, and storms dominate the headlines, our attention now turns to Irma. With wind speeds of 185mph, it is expected to pass near or just ...
Wed, Sep 6 2017, 9:20 AM
I receive my share of emails, and a portion of them ask me “in the weeds” questions about lenders, programs, and states (“Rob, hook me up with a whole...
Tue, Sep 5 2017, 9:29 AM
Welcome to the Monday-est Tuesday of the year. Hey, the cost to produce a home loan has fallen! Per the Mortgage Bankers Association, total loan produ...
Fri, Sep 1 2017, 9:25 AM
You think you have it rough? Try being a Wells Fargo MLO trying to hold onto your business when every newspaper is carrying stories about the cross-se...
Thu, Aug 31 2017, 9:07 AM
Calling out attorneys with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for its "blatant disregard" for judicial instructions, the CFPB was dealt a l...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 9:26 AM
I love it when a roomful of 50, 60, or 70-year old residential lenders is complaining to me about a lack of “new blood” in the business, and I ask the...
Tue, Aug 29 2017, 9:27 AM
Different words have different meanings for different people. For example, instead of using the word “marriage,” Kim Kardashian prefers the phrases “l...
Mon, Aug 28 2017, 9:13 AM
Tropical Storm Harvey is very slowly creeping back toward the Gulf of Mexico but it was moving at only three miles per hour as of early Monday, so Sou...
Fri, Aug 25 2017, 10:51 AM
My boss arrived at work in a brand-new Lamborghini. I said, "Wow, that's an amazing car!” He replied, "If you work hard, put all your hours in, and st...
Thu, Aug 24 2017, 9:47 AM
Take your pick. A second home can mean endless headaches, unexpected costs, and shattered plans. On the other hand, a vacation home might mean a great...
Wed, Aug 23 2017, 9:12 AM
Trends? A few weeks ago, Ally offered to beat any other lender’s price. And last week 360 Mortgage Group announced a new platform that will allow cust...
Tue, Aug 22 2017, 9:22 AM
From LOs to investors, no matter the real estate market, the story is the same: “Loosen up the credit guidelines all you want, but if there’s no inven...
Mon, Aug 21 2017, 9:21 AM
What does $980k buy in the SF suburb of Vallejo, CA? A property designed by Julia Morgan (think Hearst Castle) with floating stairways, over-sized eve...
Fri, Aug 18 2017, 8:50 AM
Brad Pitt - a wannabe architect? In 2007, Pitt founded the Make It Right Foundation to build homes for families whose original residences had been was...
Thu, Aug 17 2017, 9:38 AM
What will buildable land in Las Vegas set you back? The math is pretty easy: Toll Brothers has acquired 10 acres of vacant land at a once-bankrupt Sum...
Wed, Aug 16 2017, 8:33 AM
I’ve only been in this business since the mid-80s, and as a capital markets person always find it amusing when an owner says, “If it wasn’t for TBA pa...
Tue, Aug 15 2017, 9:17 AM
The science of persuasion? Any good salesperson, or LO, can talk someone into buying just about anything using scarcity, reciprocity, commitment, soci...
Mon, Aug 14 2017, 9:22 AM
Time passes by, and we have one week until the first total solar eclipse crossing the US from coast to coast since 1918. Football fans know that the s...
Fri, Aug 11 2017, 9:47 AM
Fannie and Freddie are doing their best to remain integral to housing finance. Let me save you a lot of money that you’d spend going to conferences ju...
Thu, Aug 10 2017, 9:12 AM
“Rob, I am a new loan officer in an area with lots of high balance loans, and my company caps me out at $7,500 of commissions. But real estate agents ...
Wed, Aug 9 2017, 9:24 AM
A while back I was walking past a small group of a lender’s senior managers and one of them was joking, “With the money we’ll save by shutting down qu...
Tue, Aug 8 2017, 9:38 AM
Production folks should know that Senators announced the introduction of S. 1753 , the SAFE Transitional Licensing Act, which would amend the SAFE Mor...
Mon, Aug 7 2017, 9:32 AM
Hard to believe that yesterday marked the 10-year anniversary of American Home Mortgage’s bankruptcy filing. Many years ago, Angelo Mozilo warned our ...
Fri, Aug 4 2017, 9:18 AM
Harvard research finds that Americans will spend $316B remodeling their homes in 2017 vs. $296B in 2016. This also compares to a low of $222B (in 2009...
Thu, Aug 3 2017, 9:13 AM
“You never realize how many people you hate until you have to name a baby.” Plenty of folks in their 20s and 30s are, of course, having babies and buy...
Wed, Aug 2 2017, 9:33 AM
Recently an older gal pal exclaimed, “It’s all fun and games until your metabolism changes.” Are builders changing their business models to assist hom...
Tue, Aug 1 2017, 9:16 AM
August already? Time flies, and we live in an age where we must prove to machines that we are not machines. What about watching artificial intelligenc...
Mon, Jul 31 2017, 9:36 AM
How much would you pay to drive a cab? In New York City, in 2014, the price of a Taxi Medallion hit $1.3 million. With Uber and Lyft, Medallions are n...
Fri, Jul 28 2017, 9:18 AM
We’re a couple months into the North Atlantic hurricane season which lasts to November 30. It has been 12 years since the US was struck by a major hur...
Thu, Jul 27 2017, 10:10 AM
Have you been chipped yet? A Wisconsin company is holding a “chip party” to implant chips into its employees so they can buy snacks with a wave of the...
Wed, Jul 26 2017, 9:17 AM
We’re in the midst of state fair season, and with it all the wonderful organic health food. Have you tried deep fried butter? Have a hankering for fri...
Tue, Jul 25 2017, 9:33 AM
Lenders cutting margins in a diminishing mortgage marketplace. You bet. Does one lender want 100% market share? Perhaps. Here’s the latest example: Al...
Mon, Jul 24 2017, 9:10 AM
What should lenders and loan officers be concerned about? What’s threatening their livelihood, besides all cash buyers, venture capital firms buying h...
Fri, Jul 21 2017, 9:34 AM
Under the heading, “What’ll they think of next?”, especially for aging Boomers, comes stairs that store energy and help the next person walk up them! ...
Thu, Jul 20 2017, 9:34 AM
This morning we’ve had the usual Thursday initial jobless claims economic release. At the other end of the teeter totter, here’s an amazing stat to ta...
Wed, Jul 19 2017, 9:50 AM
In a broad generalization, when people have money to invest they usually think about stocks, bonds, or real estate. (Yes, I know there are other asset...
Tue, Jul 18 2017, 10:28 AM
How much would you pay to keep your job, or find a new one? Political analysts forecast that two wealthy contenders for the 2018 Illinois governor spo...
Mon, Jul 17 2017, 9:22 AM
There’s plenty of talk about real estate agents, appraisers, and loan officers being replaced by artificial intelligence or robots. In legal news, JPM...
Fri, Jul 14 2017, 9:16 AM
Today are Q2 earnings numbers from JP Morgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and PNC – a look at the mortgage numbers in Monday’s commentary. What may be of m...
Thu, Jul 13 2017, 9:27 AM
As Abraham Lincoln said, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” But I turned to the internet to find out how many languages there are in...
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, Jul 11 2017, 9:21 AM
Besides 7/11 being “Free Slurpee Day,” we’re in the middle of “home buying season” (if there are actually listings) and loan officers are currying the...
Mon, Jul 10 2017, 9:52 AM
Fannie/Freddie, Both Conforming and Conventional News In Freddie Mac news, "To ensure we continue to provide responsible financing options, we will ch...
Fri, Jul 7 2017, 8:55 AM
If you are a residential lender doing business in Nevada, would you ever lend on a condo or residence that has a Home Owner’s Association? Good luck. ...
Thu, Jul 6 2017, 9:32 AM
HUD is recommending that Fannie Mae tweak upward its affordable housing goals for 2018-2020. The news prompted one industry vet to send, "Although thi...
Wed, Jul 5 2017, 9:31 AM
The U.S. Treasury Department recently issued a report titled “A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities-Banks and Credit Unions.” In addi...
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