Wed, May 28 2025, 11:40 AM
Overheard in the hallways at last week’s MBA conference: “At my age, instead of a condom I carry a moist towelette in my wallet. At my age, I run into...
Tue, May 27 2025, 11:26 AM
Are your underwriters this fast? The current Administration has been fast to ax groups of employees in various government departments, including the A...
Fri, May 23 2025, 11:47 AM
“I can’t afford an Ancestry DNA kit to learn about my relatives. So instead, I posted online that I had won the Powerball Lottery.” Speaking of news d...
Thu, May 22 2025, 11:51 AM
Yesterday I headed west from the conference while my son Robbie headed south to the nCino nSight event. But while in Manhattan Dawn S. asked me, “How ...
Wed, May 21 2025, 11:50 AM
As nearly a thousand capital markets staff, managers, and vendors head home from Manhattan, united in trying to help borrowers, in a reflection of the...
Tue, May 20 2025, 11:41 AM
A mullah, a rabbi, and a priest walk into a bar here in New York. The bartender says, “What is this, some kind of joke?” What isn’t a joke is people’s...
Mon, May 19 2025, 11:22 AM
People who don’t attend the National Secondary here in Manhattan wonder what happens behind the scenes. Here you go. We had the MCT elevator failure l...
Fri, May 16 2025, 11:44 AM
This weekend is when many of us head to Manhattan for the MBA’s National Secondary event. For those flying in, check your ticket: NJ Transit’s on stri...
Thu, May 15 2025, 11:50 AM
“There’s a splendid saying about the definition of an economist being someone who “will know tomorrow why the things they predicted yesterday didn't h...
Wed, May 14 2025, 11:51 AM
As Roy Cohn once instructed a young Donald Trump, much can be accomplished by attacking first and dealing with the consequences later. I get opinions ...
Tue, May 13 2025, 11:45 AM
No one in places like Florida or Myrtle Beach or Colorado’s Glenwood Springs wants to wake up to a headline, sensationalist or not, saying, “Vacation ...
Mon, May 12 2025, 11:44 AM
Nearly a thousand of us head to Manhattan in less than a week for the MBA’s Secondary Conference. In 2025 Q1, the median asking rent in New York City ...
Fri, May 9 2025, 11:52 AM
Here’s something that our Fed can’t do anything about, inflation-wise: coconut prices have doubled due to extreme weather events. (More on weather and...
Thu, May 8 2025, 11:42 AM
“Why did the homeowner take so long in remodeling his home? He had trouble with da siding.” There are LOs, or correspondent investors, who have spent ...
Wed, May 7 2025, 11:48 AM
Most good loan originators are keenly aware of demographics in their area. Aren’t you tired of talking about a lack of inventory and builders’ supply ...
Tue, May 6 2025, 11:54 AM
This is the month of the MBA’s National Secondary in Manhattan. For some trivia, the nickname "The Big Apple" originated in the 1920s in reference to ...
Mon, May 5 2025, 11:46 AM
Today celebrates Mexico’s victory over France in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. (In this country, Hispanic home ownership rates continue toward ...
Fri, May 2 2025, 11:50 AM
Fortunately for the readers of this Commentary, we don’t receive federal funding, so it won’t be cut… Unlike groups like NPR and PBS which the Trump A...
Thu, May 1 2025, 11:51 AM
May Day… whether you celebrate today as “about” halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's Spring equinox and Midsummer solstice associated with maypol...
Wed, Apr 30 2025, 11:48 AM
I don’t know where April went, but we’re at the end of it, and 2025 is 1/3 over. The future sure quickly becomes the past. In the book “1984” George O...
Tue, Apr 29 2025, 11:44 AM
My cat Myrtle was always interested in both the primary and secondary markets… for line-caught halibut. In residential lending, the secondary markets ...
Fri, Apr 25 2025, 11:52 AM
What if your client called the CFPB about a servicing issue, or any issue, and no one answered? Things are changing, but for a thorough write up on th...
Thu, Apr 24 2025, 11:48 AM
“I hate it when I see an old person and then realize we went to high school together.” Nothing lasts forever, not top lenders or even computer compani...
Wed, Apr 23 2025, 11:50 AM
“I won a million dollars and donated a quarter of it to charity! I now have $999999.75 left.” Money can be funny… or not. In the past, a “flight to qu...
Tue, Apr 22 2025, 11:39 AM
“My boss pulled up in his brand-new BMW today and I couldn’t help but admire it. “Nice car,” I said as he got out. “Well,” he said, noticing my admiri...
Mon, Apr 21 2025, 11:44 AM
In the 1980s I fell off my bike and hurt my knee. I'm telling you this now because we didn't have social media then. It doesn’t take social media to k...
Thu, Apr 17 2025, 11:55 AM
A week from today is “Take Your Child to Work Day.” Something tells me that it won’t be observed in U.S. Government offices. While we’re on family iss...
Wed, Apr 16 2025, 11:45 AM
“Every morning, I get hit by the same bicycle… It's a vicious cycle.” Double meanings aside, seasons and the earth’s rotation are cyclical, and Anchor...
Tue, Apr 15 2025, 11:33 AM
Here in San Diego at the CU:REALM event, Cotality’s Chief Economist Dr. Selma Hepp noted that consumer and business sentiment has already dropped and ...
Mon, Apr 14 2025, 11:45 AM
“Why don't you tell rumors in a Botox Clinic? Nobody raises an eyebrow.” Who can keep track of the rumors out there, like a combo of a well-known real...
Fri, Apr 11 2025, 11:44 AM
I don’t know if the rumor is true that Webster’s is considering adding “Tariffied” to its dictionary, but the word certainly fits the climate. Capital...
Thu, Apr 10 2025, 11:29 AM
“Over the course of 18 years, it costs over $235,000 for parents to raise a child... and that's just for the alcohol.” Here in Dallas, plenty of peopl...
Wed, Apr 9 2025, 11:13 AM
How ‘bout some good news? Last week’s apps skyrocketed, and… Builders are sitting on a pile of unsold homes and are slashing prices and offering mortg...
Tue, Apr 8 2025, 11:43 AM
Today I travel to the Dallas area for a Logan Finance event, and this comment from a friend last night is echoing in my ears: “Becoming an adult is th...
Mon, Apr 7 2025, 11:20 AM
“Many people told Beethoven that he would never be a musician because he was deaf. Did he listen?” This week hundreds of mortgage bankers descend on W...
Fri, Apr 4 2025, 11:41 AM
Ahead of next week’s MBA Advocacy event in Washington DC, I received this note from an industry vet. “With the continued consolidation into the large ...
Thu, Apr 3 2025, 11:43 AM
The Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times” can easily be applied to the residential mortgage business in the last month or so. This week a...
Wed, Apr 2 2025, 11:44 AM
Does anyone use the term “elderly” anymore? Websters defines elderly as “anyone past middle age,” “middle age” being 45-64. Prepare for a fight if you...
Tue, Apr 1 2025, 11:41 AM
This ain’t no April Fools economic news: not only has Hooters declared bankruptcy, but apparently there is yet another push to have credit unions pay ...
Mon, Mar 31 2025, 11:48 AM
It’s been three years since Credit Plus re-branded as Xactus, and now another name brand in the mortgage world has a new name. Corelogic has become Co...
Fri, Mar 28 2025, 11:49 AM
“What is the difference between the government and organized crime? Only one of them is organized.” (Suitable for any administration.) Government poli...
Thu, Mar 27 2025, 11:21 AM
Here in San Diego at the MCT Exchange 2025, with nearly 500 registrants, the agenda’s keynote speaker and one of the panels was composed of Fannie and...
Wed, Mar 26 2025, 11:41 AM
Anyone who thinks politics doesn’t impact residential lending isn’t, frankly, paying attention. Let’s start with something simple, like… interest rate...
Tue, Mar 25 2025, 11:45 AM
This week I head to San Diego for MCT Exchange 2025, and my email has been heating up. “Rob, are you hearing about a big jump in lock volume last week...
Mon, Mar 24 2025, 11:58 AM
“A government survey has shown that 91 percent of illegal immigrants come to this country so that they can see their own doctor.” On a more serious no...
Fri, Mar 21 2025, 11:53 AM
“Elon is firing Twitter employees with bad posture. I have a hunch I might be next.” If I have a sprained finger, I don’t need a heart and lung transp...
Thu, Mar 20 2025, 11:43 AM
“My wife just left me. She says life revolves around baseball and she's sick of it. I'm quite upset. We were together for 7 seasons.” Say hello to the...
Wed, Mar 19 2025, 11:40 AM
Tired of writing those pesky checks? Wait no longer: If you don’t want to send a check through the U.S. Mail, for whatever reason, there’s Deluxe Paym...
Tue, Mar 18 2025, 11:00 AM
The calendar pages flip. We’re in mortgage conference season again in hotels around the nation, and why not have a little fun leaving your quarters (e...
Mon, Mar 17 2025, 11:25 AM
“My friend showed me a photo of a famous meteor crater in Arizona. It's amazing how close it landed to the Visitor's Center!” Here in Tucson, the weat...
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