Daily Mortgage News – Daily Mortgage News & Commentary

Many states change their clocks (“Spring ahead, fall back”) shortly after midnight tonight. Time seemed to fly, and me along with it, as I spent this week in Nevada, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and there are some very interesting things going on as lenders and vendors continue to strive to help their clients.

For example, earlier this week Garth Graham (STRATMOR) and I attended and spoke at the Zillow Premier Agent Forum in Las Vegas – a good place at handling a large crowd. (The majority of attendees were real estate agents but recall that several months ago Zillow announced the acquisition of Kansas’ Mortgage Lenders of America – MLOA. That acquisition closed this week.) Garth had some thoughts on the gathering. “I had the pleasure of attending the Zillow Premier Agent forum this past week in Vegas, and my perception is that what Zillow is doing with consumers, and the way they think about mortgage and real estate, is certainly turning heads. There were over 2,000 Premier Agents in attendance, and these Realtors are examples of those in the industry who have embraced a different way to engage with consumers and deliver a more digital process to shopping for a new home. They came to listen to Zillow executives and some great speakers from other industries talk about disruption, innovation and the evolution of the consumer experience.

“Zillow is only a 10-year old company, but already over 100M unique users leverage their platform each month. That’s an extraordinary reach and is really changing the expectation of consumers about the real estate process. And that means that it’s also changing the consumers expectations about the mortgage process that supports the home buying cycle. Zillow’s previously announced purchase of Kansas City based Mortgage Lenders of America (MLOA) was also a topic of discussion with those in attendance, and how the MLOA platform was going to focus on providing financing for their Zillow Offers business, where Zillow purchases homes directly from those homeowners who are looking for a quick and certain sale transaction without the hassle of the typical sales process. That is certainly disruptive, although obviously a small number of home sellers are expected to choose that type of transaction.”

Garth also noted that, “There were also over 50 mortgage lenders also in attendance, and what struck me is that it was NOT just Consumer Direct lenders who were there – it was also some of the best traditional retail lenders who were present, lenders who realize that the ability to understand the online real estate experience is critical for the future success of the traditional retail lender, just as the 2,000 agents who were present have already realized. From my perspective, every lender needs to have a strategy to embrace a consumer centric process, and to embrace potential innovations, and Zillow is certainty a leader in driving and even changing consumer buying patterns in real estate. I think the most successful lenders in the future are those that realize that the market is changing and are willing to evolve their business to meet the consumer’s needs.”

Letter writing can be effective, and the Community Mortgage Lenders of America (CMLA) is asking the Senate to fully consider and vet House language recently passed to correct transitional issues, primarily regarding VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans (IRRRLs), that were orphaned on May 24, 2018, when President Trump signed into law S.2155 – Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act which contains several legislative protections for veterans, active-duty personnel, and consumers. When the CMLA read this language initially, there were immediate concerns of unintentional consequences for loans in the pipeline. Since that time, companies have been unable to rectify outstanding loans and forced to sell them as “scratch and dent” as well as repurchase loans from Ginnie Mae Pools.

The new language change on the House floor was not widely vetted and the CMLA is concerned that this new language is too broad and could empower Ginnie Mae to overrule VA on which refi mortgages ought to be considered safe for pooling into Ginnie securities.

The House bill may be considered for “hotline” in the Senate, which is a process to speed consideration and move legislation on the Senate floor (1) in this case, without going through Committee, and (2) without taking up much Senate floor time, including not holding a chamber vote. Thus, it was possible this new language could be placed into statute without any further opportunity for comment by stakeholders.

“The CMLA Board concluded that speeding corrective language through–in part to solve flawed language previously sped through Congress–did not make sense. “The new language is too broad and could allow future Ginnie Mae leadership to interpret it as it sees fit without taking into account the mission needs of veterans’ and rural lending,” said Ed Wallace, Executive Director of the CMLA.

“As the House Bill now reads, Ginnie Mae has authorization to change what is acceptable without any parameters. The language is so open, if Ginnie Mae determines seasoning requirements need to be 5 years for a VA loan, they have the authority to demand repurchases on any loans which do not meet that criteria. I know that is a stretch, but the reality is, that is the way the Bill reads.”

“We are asking the Senate to step back and allow some time for the best language to be presented with input from the industry and the VA. We want to fix the VA IRRRL problem, but also do it the right way without adverse repercussions to the industry.”

Recently the MBA sent a letter, signed by many mortgage executives, to regulators asking for changes in the LO comp rule. The action prompted Corina Carter, owner and CEO of CMS Mortgage Solutions in Virginia, to write, “BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR! So many of us have wanted LO comp to go away, but now look at what it could do for you and against you. I can share 2 sides of the story. In the retail channel, this side of the story looking inside and out to the retail channel only. Never have worked it in it may not mean much to you but as a business owner, teacher, and trainer of thousands of MLOs, I watch, I listen, I learn.

“Given all the market compression and mortgage companies working for pennies (or in the red), look at, after 8 years, how many names, companies, and leaders are on this Letter. (‘Hmmm,’ you must ask, ‘why didn’t it matter in past 8 years while MLOs pay got cuts?’) Now all the large banks and lenders need a way to maneuver costs. Now they sign up ASAP how we can help the consumer and how we can keep the business flowing in to our brand.

“During the last 8 years I have lobbied for this and could’ve helped the consumer in cost and savings a ton in the past 8 years. But now the large banks and lenders cannot stomach and eat the cost of doing business. The margins are not there. So, wake up LOs. Now we will get our wish of flexibility in this channel. Yay or nay? Sure, the consumer now wins BUT wait a minute… so do the big banks and large-scale retail channel. For example: Now you have a consumer shopping you, and your competitors are at low cost rate of 4.25% and you priced out at 5%. Now in today’s market the company reaches down takes a major hit and says sure we will help you match it and you get to keep your same pay 100bps points. Fast forward. MLO comp changes and you can move your comp and be flexible. LO, sure you can certainly match and or help pay for your own, or company, errors, but now your comp goes to what .50 bps points!!!!! IF YOU DONT THINK SO, WAKE UP SMELL THE COFFEE.

“In the broker channel, and or non-del, – LOW RATES LOW COST Closings. Flexibility has always been there once you learn to work in the channel. Sure, we have been working for a little less in most cases. But the consumer always won, business has been great, and we are on rise of almost 20% market share because the consumer now has sticker shock and is shopping for rates in every market. Yes, and shocking news: We have been able to lower comp (borrower paid) which means, wow, lowering that fee to cover errors, Lowest rates in the market, and/or pay the closing costs for the consumer. Now what we need is not MLO comp to go away exactly, but the 3% margin QM that is hurting the small guys on the tough small loans or the restraint and time-consuming loans that no one want to do for 50 bps points. And keep pushing buyers away.

“Level of playing field. MLO comp goes away, 3-point QM goes away, and well, the consumer wins. Educate the buyer on how to shop and compare rates and services. Full disclaimer: I am never 100% right and I only see things from my little chair. If interested in flexibility, products, and pricing from Ground Zero, no built-in cost. Want to be independent but not alone. Now is the time to visit all options.”

Between 20 and 25% of residential mortgage business comes from California. So…

In this election Proposition 10 would overturn a 23-year old law limiting the use of rent control in California, allowing cities to enact rent control.

An initiative to roll back restrictions on taxing commercial and industrial properties in California has qualified for the November 2020 ballot. The campaign could get ugly: rolling back parts of Proposition 13 would increase tax receipts $6 billion to $10 billion for cities, counties and school districts. Business groups are preparing for a fight. Right now, home and business property taxes are limited to 1 percent of a property’s taxable value, which can’t rise more than 2 percent per year. The initiative would keep that protection for homes but would let local governments tax businesses based on market value. The polling finds 46 percent of Californians support that change, 22 percent oppose it, and 31 percent are undecided. Buckle up, Golden State, the 2020 election somehow just got even more intense.

California amended its consumer protection provisions effective on January 1, 2019. Section 1 of the amendment requires a supervised financial organization that negotiates a modification of any terms of a loan, or extension of credit, primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, and offers a borrower a final loan modification in writing, to deliver to that borrower, at the time the final loan modification offer is made, a written disclosure summarizing the modified loan terms in the same language as the negotiation.

The amendment requires translation of a Loan Estimate by the supervised financial organization in the applicable language no later than three business days after receipt of the written application for transactions where a Loan Estimate is provided to a borrower. Additionally, for transactions where a Closing Disclosure is provided to the borrower, the supervised financial organization must translate the Closing Disclosure into the applicable language at least three business days prior to consummation of the loan.

The Department of Business Oversight is required to make available each of the above forms based on existing forms in each of the specified language for use by a supervised financial organization to summarize the terms of a mortgage loan.

Section 2 of the amendment provides that, after a revocation order is made by the Commissioner against a licensee who fails to file a certified financial statement prepared by an independent certified public accountant, and a request for hearing is filed in writing within 30 days from the date of service of the order and a hearing is not held within 90 days of the filing, the order is deemed rescinded as of its effective date. The amendment further provides that a licensee shall not conduct business during the period when its license is revoked, except as may be permitted by further order of the Commissioner. However, the revocation, suspension, or surrender of a license shall not affect the powers of the Commissioner as provided in this division.

Lastly, Section 3 of the amendment provides that amendments made relating to the written disclosure summarization become operative 90 days following the issuance of forms by the Department of Business Oversight but in no instance prior to January 1, 2019.

California modified its provisions relating to debt collection effective on January 1, 2019. Section 1 of the amendment prohibits a debt collector from sending written communication to a debtor attempting to collect a time-barred debt without providing specified written notices stating that the debtor may not be sued for the debt, but that the debt, depending on its age, may be reported as unpaid to credit reporting agencies. Section 2 of the amendment provides that when the four-year period in which an action must be commenced has run, no person may sue or initiate an arbitration or other legal proceeding to collect the debt. The period in which an action may be commenced under this section may be extended only in specified circumstances.

The year, as usual, is sailing by, and we find ourselves in November, the month of Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving. Most of us forget that there are 130,000 of our soldiers buried in other countries. Here is a moving 17-minute video of the Montfaucon cemetery, during which the stunning question is asked, at 13:45 in the video by a young French woman guide at the cemetery, “What would we do if we were called to fight for another country’s freedom?” She also states, at 13:21: “…. those soldiers didn’t die for their country, they died for my country…they died for a freedom they would never experience…”.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “The Rise of the Credit Unions.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. Currently there are hundreds of mortgage professionals looking for operations, secondary and management roles. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2018 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)

Remember the delinquency and foreclosure issues we had several years ago? It is still part of the biz. Hubzu, an online marketing platform, released data ranking the top 20 U.S. markets by the highest percentage of REO properties bought and sold within 2017 (Jan 1 – Dec 31). The data shows that the most active buy, renovate and sell markets are dominated by areas in the South, with Huntsville (38 percent of REO properties bought and sold within one year), Clarksville (34 percent), Gainesville (30 percent), and Pensacola (28 percent) topping the list.

Jobs, promotions, & transitions

A very seasoned and successful warehouse bank is entertaining applicants that would be interested in joining its team. If your current employer is not meeting you or your clients’

needs, the bank would like to hear from you. Qualified applicants need to have experience in building a warehouse lending portfolio and be confident in bringing with them some of their current relationships. Applicant can reside anywhere in the U.S. If interested in a confidential conversation, please submit resumes to me for forwarding.

“With all the talk of margin compression, everyone seems to be pointing at LO comp. But why isn’t there more discussion about trimming the fat from bloated retail shops who employ too many layers of middle management at corporate, have too many people involved in the loan process, and have outdated tech layered on top of slow LOS’s like Encompass. Check out this 5 minute video to see how Canopy Mortgage is trimming the fat from retail, keeping LO comp intact, and creating unheard of efficiencies with proprietary tech that allowed one loan officer to close 128 loans in one month. Do you believe there is a better way and need a fresh start? We’re growing rapidly, let’s have an exploratory chat.” Contact Josh Neumarker (1-888-696-9076).

In retail news, Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group® is continuing its expansion throughout the Southeast. Atlantic Bay, headquartered in Virginia Beach, is looking for growth-oriented brokerage companies, high performing mortgage teams, and companies with less than $500 million in sales who want to focus on production by removing obstacles to growth. “Brokers who join Atlantic Bay experience growth rates in their personal production from 50 – 80 percent.

Direct access to underwriting, secondary support, and realtor-focused marketing have all been drivers for increased growth. Two popular benefits of the Atlantic Bay way are simplicity in the compliance process and a mortgage banker assistant program. Atlantic Bay places great importance on culture, loving where you work, and giving back to the communities it serves.” Email Justin Caplan to find out more about working at Atlantic Bay.

loanDepot Wholesale is looking for Account Executives to join its team! “We pride ourselves on a culture of innovation, transparency, and high-quality service. With the financial strength of loanDepot, LLC, and a team of seasoned mortgage professionals with over 20 years of mortgage experience, loanDepot Wholesale provides Partners with industry-leading tools and resources including training, diverse loan products, and competitive rates. loanDepot Wholesale delivers a fast, integrated, and seamless technology-based lending experience for our Sales team and their Customers. Rise to the top with loanDepot Wholesale! Contact Leslie Zerman today.”

The Correspondent Lending team at Caliber Home Loans, Inc. is pleased to announce that Holly Rittenhouse has joined its sales team in the West and will be working with Western Regional Vice President Margaret Chiavini. Holly comes to Caliber with decades of experience, knowledge and background in Correspondent Sales and Mortgage Insurance. Holly’s ability to build relationships and provide support for her customers is why Caliber is excited to have her join the Correspondent Lending team. Holly will be sharing Caliber’s mortgage products and programs as she assists her customers in meeting their production goals and achieving overall success in 2019. To congratulate Holly on her new role, you may reach out to her directly.

Strategic Vantage announced that Sam Garcia has been hired as mortgage media specialist. “He will be a critical liaison to the press, ensuring the effective communication of client initiatives and will assist agency clients with their public relations, marketing and social media needs.” Shoot him a congratulatory email!

Lender products and services

“Everyone has heard of the phrase, ‘Cash is King.’ (And no, we’re not talking about the legendary Johnny Cash.) Given today’s challenging mortgage environment, originators should be proactively managing not only their earnings, but also the composition of their balance sheets as critical partners, such as warehouse lenders and investors, will be anxiously

awaiting year-end financial statements. Mid America Mortgage can help lenders convert loans held in portfolio or declined by traditional investors into much needed cash for operations or to improve their liquidity position. We are active buyers of whole loans, including scratch and dent or loans with minor compliance issues. Most recently, we have seen a lot of activity in unseasoned VA loans that no longer qualify for Ginnie Mae pooling, as well as FHA loans associated with a bond program. If you have loans you are interested in selling before year-end, please contact Michael Lima, Managing Director. For more information on the loans we purchase, please see our website.”

Events & Training

Times are changing. Are you ready for the change? See how the market has shifted and learn new ways to diversify your business and expand your revenue stream. Discover more about investment property loans and how they can help you win more clients, close more loans and earn more money. Join industry veterans Ryan McBride, Chief Operating Officer, and Sammy Bjelac, VP of Wholesale Lending, via live webcast on November 7^th at 11am PST to explore this rapidly growing segment. Click here to RSVP for the free webcast: https://bit.ly/2ETmm3V. You can also visit the CoreVest website or call: 844.262.8177.

Here’s a free webinar titled, “Maximizing Construction Loan Efficiency with Ellie Mae and Land Gorilla.” Construction lending has experienced 20 consecutive quarters of growth and recent stabilization of year-over-year growth rates indicates continued expansion for single-family construction. For financial lenders to profitably meet consumer demand, they need the right technology to maximize efficiency and minimize risk for construction loan origination and draw management. Join Ellie Mae® and Land Gorilla on November 6 at 10:30a PST to understand the current construction lending landscape and learn how to leverage the integration of Encompass and Construction Loan Manager to create a powerful end-to-end solution. Register today!

Washington Association of Mortgage Professionals (WAMP) is looking forward to its upcoming WAMP BREAKFAST MEETING on NOV 7^th at the Bellevue Club. Register today to ensure you do not miss this unique opportunity so see keynote speaker, Brian Stevens, Host of the National Real Estate Post. Register here or reach out to Frank Percival for Sponsorship (206-484-6442).

(Brian Stevens, on 11/8, will also be at a lunch with MBA St. Louis. The lunch program topic is Business Planning & Marketing Strategies to Achieve Your Sales Goals.)

Are you registered for the November 7^th MMBBA Fall Sales Webinar Series? The first class in the 2-part series, LinkedIn Part 1 walks you through the components of a complete profile and shows you how to use LinkedIn as a powerful networking and sales tool.

Indecomm’s latest Ask Me Anything webinar on Thursday, November 8^th from noon to 1:00 p.m. EST. will focus on Income Analysis. Hosted in conjunction with Advanced Data, questions on income analysis and its impact to loans closing quickly and accurately will be covered. This webinar is free, and registration is required.

CoAmp is sponsoring a Lunch & Learn with Impac Mortgage on November 8^th.

Compass Analytics announced CompassPoint Agile, a new, focused version of Compass’ leading pipeline risk analytics that automates and demystifies the loan sales process.

CompassPoint Agile is designed to empower lenders who currently outsource whole loan trading to bring trading back in-house, saving thousands in trading fees each month. Join Compass on November 14th at 1 PM ET for a webinar to learn more: register today!

If you’re in the Philly area, join Holland & Knight and the Mortgage Bankers Association of Greater Philadelphia (MBAGP) for a dinner meeting on November 19^th with a key member of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (OAG) enforcement staff. Nicholas Smyth, the assistant director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the OAG, is tasked with creating a “mini-CFPB” in Pennsylvania designed to identify unfair, deceptive and/or abusive consumer practices as well as generate enforcement actions. He will discuss the types of practices he is targeting, compliance tips for businesses and how to respond if your company finds itself under review. Please RSVP by November 15: click here. Cost is $50 for MBAGP members and $65 for nonmembers.

Total Expert will be hosting five events around the country called Accelerate 2019 including stops in San Francisco (Nov. 6), Chicago (Nov. 8), Dallas (Nov. 13), Charlotte (Dec. 4) and Boston (Dec. 6). At Total Expert’s Accelerate 2019, you’ll learn best practices to drive net new revenue with marketing, how to increase profits and productivity with customer journeys and strategies to “level up” on recruiting and retention of top talent.

In Las Vegas, November 13-15, eSignRecords 2018 is the annual conference of ESRA, the Electronic Signatures and Records Association. The Electronic Signature and Records Association (ESRA) is the premier trade association representing organizations that adopt or provide electronic signature and document technology. The conference brings together leaders in technology, business, government, and law to educate and collaborate on the best uses of electronic signatures and digital records. Visit www.esignrecords2018.org for more details.

If you’re in the Kansas City area, register for the MBAKC Luncheon on November 15^th. Speaker Rob Chrisman, questionable industry newcomer, will discuss, “What the Industry can expect in the First Half of 2019 – Without Making Forecasts.”

Don’t forget to register for AZAMP’s November 14^th Central Chapter luncheon. Special guest and presenter Richard Fergus, Senior Financial Institutions Examiner – Mortgage Division with AZDFI will help prepare members for the next AZDFI examination. Reservations and prepayment are required.

XINNIX Mortgage Academy is providing a free business planning webinar on November 14^th. This ENERGY webinar will include discussion on the strategic reason, key components and top 7 recommendations for completing a business plan.

Take advantage of AmeriHome’s Underwriting Core Jumbo webinar on November 14^th.

On November 15^th, VantageScore is offering a free webinar (use promo code ScoreVan) on trended data insights on consumer risk scores.

Register for the November 16^th webinar to hear Ari Karen, Principal with the Offit Kurman law firm and CEO of Strategic Compliance Partners, discuss how to establish the ultimate lender/Realtor business relationship.

The 2018 NAMB National Conference will be held December 8-10 at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas. Larry King will be speaking, as well as many mortgage luminaries!

Don’t miss your opportunity to receive an early bird discount (deadline November 23^rd) to the MORE Conference 2019. Take part in the Executive Leader Experience on January 23^rd for training corporate executives in the mortgage and real estate industries. Loan originators and agents will join the conversation in sessions and breakouts on January 24^th and 25^th. Click here to view details for the MORE 3-day conference in Dallas.

Capital markets

Isn’t it time you take control of your loan sale process? Compass Analytics is excited to announce CompassPoint Agile, a new, focused version of Compass’ leading pipeline risk analytics that automates and demystifies the loan sales process. CompassPoint Agile is designed to empower lenders who currently outsource whole loan trading to bring trading back in-house, saving thousands in trading fees each month. CompassPoint Agile supports full mini-bulk bid automation, integrations to both the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cash windows, bulk & hybrid AOT automation, shadow and best efforts bidding, investor bid ranking, and much more. Additionally, CompassPoint Agile offers an end-to-end solution to rate sheet publication, intuitive G/L reconciliation tools with the ability to report daily changes in profitability, and a real-time view of your hedged risk position, all supported by a bidirectional integration to your LOS. Join Compass on November 14th at 1 PM ET for a webinar to learn more.

Looking at bond prices from last week, and therefore rates, the jobs report on Friday confirms that the economy remains solid. The 30-year bond reacted, hitting its highest yield in over four years. The household survey indicates that the unemployment rate remains low and steady at a level last seen in 1969 and average hourly earnings accelerated over the year. The increase in earnings is a welcome sign for workers and is unlikely to stoke faster inflation given the steady improvement in productivity. We can all expect that the Fed will raise short term rates next month. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 3.1%.

This week we will be happy to see all the election forecasting go away as we actually have the midterm election. (For major news we will also have the latest FOMC decision on Thursday and the $83 billion quarterly refunding.) We don’t start with much today (October ISM Services and the $37 billion 3-yr Treasury note auction results) or tomorrow (September JOLTS – job openings, and a $27 billion 10-yr Treasury note auction) or Wednesday (weekly MBA applications, a $19 billion 30-yr Treasury bond auction). Thursday things pick up with weekly Initial Claims and the November FOMC rate decision. Friday has October’s Producer Price Index and Preliminary November Michigan Sentiment Index. We find rates this morning a smidge lower than Friday’s close: the 10-year is yielding 3.20% and agency MBS prices are better nearly .125.

President Johnson’s Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60’s when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO.

DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded, “Does that include those who are buried here?”

DeGaulle did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop.

Rob

“I can’t believe my grandpa is voting Democrat this year…he would have never done that when he was alive.” (Or Republican – your choice.) Things aren’t always what they appear. How about how non-conforming rates for fixed terms and ARMS are currently .125%-.25%+ lower than Agency? Crafty MLOs are looking for ways to be more rate competitive and for well qualified borrowers, quoting non-confirming rates could win the deal. Many non-conforming investors will accept loan amounts $453,150-$679,650 to compete in with Fannie & Freddie. With no Agency gfees, different loan level price adjustments, and lower compliance costs with portfolio products, they’ve been lower for a while.

Jobs, personnel moves, & promotions

If you want to join a dynamic team with award-winning culture, XINNIX is currently looking for National Sales Executives in Texas, the Southeast, and the Midwest. Send your resume to Susan Mingolla! And did you know that only 30% of loan officers operate with a business plan? XINNIX wants to help all mortgage professionals get ahead of the curve in 2019 and discover how they can take their individual and branch production to new heights through the power of effective planning. That’s why they are offering a free webinar, Business Planning for Success, on November 14 at 10 AM ET. CLICK HERE to register!

Gateway Mortgage Group, a full-service mortgage company licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, stands with the Folds of Honor and our nation’s military families. Since May of 2017, Gateway has donated $5 for every mortgage loan closed through its retail channel. The company has donated $16,605 to the nonprofit in the third quarter of 2018, bringing its total annual contribution to $61,835 and its lifetime contribution to over $135,000. Each month, the company conducts a ceremonial check presentation to a Folds of Honor representative in one of its branches around the country. The partnership is intended to further the mission of providing educational scholarships to spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service men and women. As Veteran’s Day approaches, Gateway proudly supports Folds of Honor and our nation’s military families who defend the freedoms all Americans enjoy. For more information, visit Gateway Gives Back.

In today’s mortgage marketplace, MLOs need every advantage they can get. You not only have to compete with other lenders, but you’ve got to keep an eye on the market, government policy, compliance…the list goes on and on. If the company you work for doesn’t provide top notch support in those areas, you’re already at a disadvantage. Get the Loan Team Advantage from Assurance Financial: a) Unwavering LO support with full service compliance and marketing, b) complete, fast and accurate loan fulfillment to limit time from app to the closing table, and c) a competitive comp plan for LOs and Branch Managers that puts you in the driver’s seat. Get the Loan Team Advantage from Assurance Financial, a growing private residential mortgage banker with offices throughout the South, East Coast, and Midwest US. Contact Paul M. Peters, CMB, (225-939-6353) for a confidential discussion today.

A rapidly expanding bank-affiliated mortgage company is seeking seasoned independent or bank-affiliated retail loan officers, retail mortgage branches, and distributed retail mortgage companies throughout AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, KY, MD, NC, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WV. If you want access to a diverse product offering to grow your business and a great culture of fun and success this opportunity is for you and your team. The Bank offers an excellent compensation package including 401K and health insurance, office set up with computers, phones, and iPad, as well as lease takeover and aggressively priced products including a true bank portfolio offering including Super Jumbo, Jumbo, Expanded Credit, Foreign National, Alternative Income, Construction-to-Permanent, and Non-QM purchase products. To learn more or be connected to the bank, please send me your confidential request for forwarding; please specify opportunity.

Freddie Mac announced that Deborah Jenkins will be named EVP and head of its Multifamily business, effective immediately. Jenkins also has assumed a role as member of the company’s Senior Operating Committee. Congrats!

Roostify announced that Courtney Keating Chakarun has joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer. Chakarun comes to Roostify from CoreLogic, where she served as SVP, Marketing & Innovation.

Summit Funding, Inc. announced that Caleb Mittelstet will join the company as the National Sales Manager in the Corporate office “responsible for leading the Branch Managers to deliver exceptional and competitive services to exceed our clients’ expectations.”

Lender products and services

“The mortgage industry is a roller coaster ride at times. How do you continue to grow, generate new revenue and stay profitable when the market takes a turn for the worse? A proactive and sustainable recruiting plan is how! As the leading strategic growth partner in the mortgage industry, Model Match can help! We provide a full range of solutions to help our partners grow their business. Whether you’re looking to increase efficiency of your own recruiting efforts, or need a partner that can recruit for you, Model Match is the solution. Between our award-winning talent management software and seasoned recruiting professionals, we match the right people, to the right company, at the right time! CLICK HERE to connect with one of our recruiting specialists and let us show you the value we can create.”

Check them out: Usherpa announces new Zillow integration. According to industry expert Garth Graham (STRATMOR Group), “every lender needs to have a strategy to embrace a consumer centric process, and to embrace potential innovations, and Zillow is certainly a leader in driving and even changing consumer buying patterns in real estate.” Usherpa’s Zillow integration seamlessly grabs your Zillow leads and adds them to nurturing email campaigns automatically, making sure you are the MLO they are thinking about when they are ready to buy. Usherpa is always searching for ways to help you close more deals with less effort. Schedule a demo today to see all the new and innovative technology Usherpa can offer you.

New Penn Financial is proud to announce the launch of its AUS for the Correspondent Division’s SMART series products through the expanded partnership with LoanScorecard. When integrated with correspondent lenders LOS or through the web, the addition of the AUS technology builds on New Penn’s goal to support its lenders in “expanding capacity with speed and ease” boosting their volumes and aiding in recruitment and retention efforts. “We gained incredible efficiency running AUS for all non-agency loans over the past couple of years,” said Dena Kwaschyn, New Penn’s Chief Fulfillment Officer. “This continues to significantly benefit our underwriting assessment, workflow, and turn times.” Contact your correspondent rep to learn more about SMART product benefits or visit New Penn.

Fixed Rate Home Equity Loans are getting a second look! Consumers with low 1^st mortgage rates in need of cash are carefully considering the risk of an adjustable rate HELOC in what may be a sustained environment of rate increases. Spring EQ the nation’s premier non-bank home equity lender specializes in fixed rate home equity loans with FICO’s as low as 640 and CLTV’s as high as 100%. Spring EQ has developed an innovative process that typically requires only 4 documents (proof of income, mortgage statement, proof of hazard insurance and a photo ID) and customers can get their money in as little as 2 weeks. Ken Turner, Director of Wholesale Lending, is overseeing Spring EQ’s wholesale channel. Become a broker partner and offer your customers standalone or piggyback home equity loans. We’re also looking for account executives to help manage the growing demand for our products. Just contact Ken Turner (215-302-3850) to sign up today or send a resume.

Quick. If I asked you what matters most when selling loans off, what would you say? Chances are if you’re like the majority of people in the mortgage space, you said “best price.” I get price is important, but that’s just table stakes in today’s competitive market. You need to start thinking bigger. When it comes to best price, this new TMS article explains the new school of thinking — customer service after you sell the loan. How your customer is treated post-sale impacts your profitability and long-term growth. Want to capture your customer when they refi or purchase again in the next 3-4 years? Then start thinking about how you’re treating them after you close the loan and make sure they think of you first for the next loan — even when you sold off the loan!

Capital markets

Waterfall Asset Management (WAM), a credit-focused asset manager, with approximately $7.3 billion in AUM (as of 7/31) has launched a residential mortgage conduit. The WAM conduit strategy will focus on partnering with best in class originators to originate proprietary mortgage products under forward flow agreements. Specifically, WAM’s proprietary products will be designed to serve both the purchase and the cash-out needs of prime and “near-prime” borrowers looking for low payment, higher leverage options than existing mortgage products in the market. The products will be offered on a delegated basis so the control of the program remains with the originator. Maria D’Anza and Perry Dziekanski have recently joined WAM to grow and support the conduit team. For more information, please reach out to either Maria D’Anza (212.257.6154) or Perry Dziekanski (212.257.5412) directly.

MIAC’s capital markets group is pleased to announce its exclusive offering of ~$25mm reperforming residential whole loans. The collateral consists of 63% modified loans, ~6 months performing, average UPB of ~$184k. Bids are due Friday, November 9^th. Interested parties should contact their MIAC sales representative at 212-233-1250 or Steve Harris for additional information.

In other trading news, over at Fannie Mae’s trading desk, effective Jan. 1, 2019, the minimum term for certain whole loan fixed-rate products will be updated in Pricing and Execution – Whole Loan®. The changes are being made to further align with the MBS market. Learn more.

The US dollar has edged up to the highest value in 16 months against currencies of major trading partners in light of US economic data that are more positive than expected. Why should you know about that? A strong economy anywhere will attract investment from all over the world due to the perceived safety and the ability to achieve an acceptable rate of return on investment. Since investors always seek out the highest yield that is predictable or “safe,” an increase in investment, particularly from abroad, creates a strong capital account in the U.S. and a resulting high demand for dollars.

Economic data over the last few months hasn’t produced any surprises or changes to the current narrative of a strong labor market and gradually rising prices for consumer and producers. Expectations remain high for the Fed to increase the fed funds target once more this year in December as well as for potentially 2-3 additional hikes to occur in 2019. Consumer prices have matched market expectations. Producer prices have as well – so inflation is tame and steady. Overall, the data continues to support the trend of continues gradual price increases. Over on the jobs front, recent JOLTS data revealed that the number of job openings remained near record highs. The number of job openings has now exceeded the number of unemployed for many months this year and the construction and manufacturing industries have hit new cycle highs for openings. The “quit rate” has been steady, which is elevated and should put upward pressure on wages.

The U.S. 10-year closed at 3.20% yesterday ahead of today’ midterm elections (odds makers are preparing for a split congress, with Democrats taking control of the House of Reps and falling short in the Senate). Investors generally prefer gridlock that comes from a split congress, because it means Democrats won’t be able to roll back tax cuts or reinstate key parts of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations. Elsewhere internationally, China’s President Xi Jinping reported the country expects to import $30 trillion worth of goods and $10 trillion worth of services over the next 15 years, a positive outlook. And reports are that the European Commission will officially propose disciplining Italy for deviating from EU budget rules on November 21. Finally, Federal Reserve policy makers are expected to leave the main interest rate unchanged Thursday at their penultimate gathering of 2018.

Today’s economic calendar has 2^nd tier numbers: Redbook same-store sales for the week ending November 3, job openings from JOLTS, but with a set of Treasury auctions of note: $45 billion 1- and $30 billion 2-month T-bills, followed by $26 billion 1-year bills and $27 billion 10-year notes. We begin Election Day with Agency MBS prices little changed from Monday night and the 10-year yielding 3.20%.

Colin Powell was asked by the former Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of “empire building” by George Bush.

He answered by saying, “Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.”

You could have heard a pin drop.

Rob

Lenders outside of Ohio were mildly interested in the Ohio Governor’s race where Ex-CFPB chief Richard Cordray lost. As forecast, Democrats won the House and the Republicans kept control of the Senate although there were a few surprises, and some results aren’t known yet. There was a fair amount of volatility overnight and each democratic win seemed good for bonds and not so much so for equities: this morning we find rates temporarily lower (but over time rates are still expected to grind higher) and stocks higher. Markets don’t like uncertainty, and much of that has been removed. Things are still polarized, and the jawboning has begun on 2020.

Jobs & company initiatives

Congratulations to Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. for the creation and continued success of its non-profit American Warrior Initiative (AWI). Its mission is to educate and inspire Americans to give back to America’s disabled veterans. Giving back to veterans is not something Fairway merely does on veteran holidays but something that is practiced on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis. In recent years the employees of Fairway have donated over $3 million dollars through payroll deduction to the American Warrior Initiative to fund initiatives all over the country for disabled veterans and active duty service members and their families, including 70 service dogs, vehicles, veteran business grants, home renovation and repair grants, family grants, help for homeless veterans, sponsorship of para-triathletes and much more. 50 AWI events have been or will be hosted by Fairway branches in 2018. (These events include “Boot Camps” where real estate agents receive 3-4 hours of CE – over 30,000 real estate agents have attended these camps in the last six years.)

Movement Mortgage is inviting LOs to EXPERIENCE its process and culture first-hand at a Discovery Day event. A top 10 retail lender with growing sales operations in 49 states, you’ve probably heard about Movement’s innovative LO-centric process and culture. But Movement wants you to come see it for yourself during a Discovery Day event. Learn more about visiting one of Movement’s high-energy Sales Support Centers by clicking here to get more information about a Discovery Day near you. You can also email Recruiting Director Matt Hill for more.

The Third Party Originations team at Home Point Financial is pleased to announce that Tim Fitzgerald has joined the company as Managing Director – Regional Manager. He will direct the regional sales team responsible for 14 states in New England, the Northeast, Midwest and Washington DC and work with Paul Wyner, Senior Managing Director – TPO Sales. Noted Phil Shoemaker, Chief Business Officer at Home Point, “We are happy to have Tim on our team; his innovative leadership style will contribute to our position as a leader in the TPO channel.” To congratulate Tim, drop him an email.

“It’s the most wonderful time of year to make your move to PrimeLending, an industry leader with over three decades of continuous growth and stability. How easy is your transition? With powerhouse recruiters Philip Rodriguez and Shay Crow by your side, it’s quick, simple and stress-free — and you can start originating day one! Philip covers the Pacific Northwest with Kelly Lee, and Shay bolsters the Southern Coastal region with Brandon Watson. Both are mortgage industry experts who have helped countless Loan Officers and Branch Managers discover their best at PrimeLending. Are you next? Contact Phillip or Shay to get started today.”

Considering a change? At MortgageRight, we set ourselves apart by offering lower rates, better pricing and higher compensation! We’re making a name for ourselves across the nation by operating with thinner margins than other industry players. We saw the rising interest rate environment coming ahead of time and decided in advance to put several key strategic factors into place that would help our producers win in a market like this one! Very simply, we can offer lower rates and/or a higher comp, and we can back our claims up 100%! But don’t take our word for it. Check out this recent example: We recently on-boarded a branch manager who was able to increase his comp by 50BPS AND offer 1/8 better RATE to his customers! Give us the opportunity to show you how our model can help you win more deals in any environment. We’ll be happy to put any candidate in touch with recent hires and existing LOs to discuss our strengths, see what we have to offer, and hear our vision for the future. For a pricing engine walk through, contact Mike Russo at (888) 425-5456 or visit us at www.branchright.com.

Lender products & services

Looking for a familiar path to grow your Non-Agency production? Galton Funding, a leading non-agency conduit, is offering its Correspondent clients the ability to utilize GSE findings to access our expanded criteria under the Galton Streamline 1st and 2nd lien programs. The Galton program allows Correspondents to use GSE findings for income and reserves up to 95% LTV/CLTV (no MI) as well as provide Interest only options. The Streamline 1st lien is designed to create ease in the underwriting process and is available for loan amounts to $2.5MM. The Streamline 2nd program allows borrowers to avoid MI or Jumbo terms as a piggy back or tap into their home’s equity as a standalone. In addition, with the recently added IO option, Galton’s 2nd lien will better compete with HELOC offerings. For more information contact your regional Business Development Manager at Galton Funding.

Fidelity Bank has been committed to providing warehouse banking solutions for correspondent mortgage bankers and emerging mortgage bankers for more than 30 years. “With Fidelity, you gain access to our dedicated, friendly and responsive team – a team with an intimate understanding of the industry in which you operate, the clients you serve, and the unique needs you have. This deeper industry knowledge and relationship with your business means we can be more flexible and act quickly. We are open to hearing your ideas and requests and can easily provide additional financing to meet your needs and assist with issues as they arise. If you’ve thought that it might be time to consider a new warehouse bank, or add to your current capacity, contact Susan Johnson (952-830-7243) or Brian Huddleston

(713-332-8367). Work with a proven partner with a dedicated and responsive team.

Floify’s new and improved Disclosure Desk is here! Version 2.0 of Floify’s remastered Disclosure Desk gives lenders the power to create a single, streamlined experience for their borrowers to view and eSign their loan disclosures – all within the same mortgage point-of-sale their clients use to upload documents, complete a loan application, and follow along with important loan milestones. And there is plenty of additional value to be harnessed from Floify’s other incredible features, including a suite of third-party integrations, a dozen integrated credit reporting agencies, unlimited document storage, customizable business rules, mobile app, and tons of branding and style options! To discover how Floify’s next-generation mortgage point-of-sale system can boost the productivity and profitability of your lending operation, request a live demo!

Webinars

Do you know if your subservicer is a positive extension of your company? Your customers are your greatest asset. And yet, you hand them over to a sub-par subservicer with antiquated technology, who doesn’t deliver your level of customer service. It’s time to demand more from your subservicer. Sign up NOW for this LIVE TMS Webinar taking place TODAY, November 7 at 2p.m. EST and listen to experts Ali Vafai, TMS president, and Barbara Yolles, TMS chief strategy officer, to learn how happy customers equal future growth and the role technology plays in it.

In today’s environment, nothing is ordinary. Join Sierra Pacific Mortgage on Monday, November 12 at 10:00 PST for a free webinar, “Not Your Ordinary Income”. This one-hour webinar features an introduction into more complex income types that can be used to qualify your borrower, including non-taxable income. Register today so that you can gain more knowledge regarding the GSE requirements for documentation of Social Security, Child Support, Alimony, Military Income, Disability, and Retirement income. If your borrower has them, they may be able to use them in purchasing their next home. Come find out more.

Disaster updates

FEMA has declared a major disaster in Wisconsin for disasters occurring from August 17 to September 14. Pacific Union Financial is monitoring the impact of the disasters in Wisconsin as well as the impact of Hurricane Michael and the resulting damage and flooding currently affecting Florida and Georgia. Per its published guidelines, any properties located within the areas identified by FEMA offering private assistance will require confirmation the subject property has not been affected by disasters. This confirmation includes Borrower written certification of the condition of the property prior to clear to close by Pacific Union.

Pacific Union requires certifications from Correspondents for properties in the affected counties of the Hurricane Michael disaster identified by FEMA for purchase to occur. Any properties located within these areas offering private assistance will require confirmation, per its published guidelines, that the subject property has not been affected by the hurricane. This confirmation includes borrower written certification of the condition of the property prior to clear to close. See the Pacific Union’s Disaster Area Policy for detailed requirements.

Ditech issued a reminder that FHA requires a disaster inspection to be performed after the close of disaster incident period, unless HUD issues a waiver. When the incident period has closed, or if HUD issues a waiver, FHA fundings may resume. Ditech is suspending closings on Jumbo and Expanded Criteria Products in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Review its complete Disaster Policy and Guidelines in Chapter 18 of the Client Guide.

For borrowers located in a declared major disaster area and need to reconstruct or replace their home, Plaza offers assistance to disaster victims through the FHA 203(h) Program. The FHA 203(h) offers the kind of financing terms that are needed most. Zero down on the purchase of a new home (renters included). Financing available to rebuild a damaged home. Credit score from 580 and flexibility in late payments.

The state of Florida Disaster reported by FEMA in the areas of Bay County, Franklin County, Gulf County, Taylor County and Wakulla County, Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. will require an interior and exterior inspection prior-to-funding or purchase of any loans with subject properties that are determined to be at risk. The inspection must verify that the property is sound, habitable and in the same condition as when it was appraised.

Mortgage Solutions Financial posted a new alert regarding the Hurricane Michael Disaster.

Mr. Cooper posted an announcement as it continues to monitor FEMA Disaster Declarations and concerns regarding Hurricane Michael. Some counties have been released from its published funding suspension list provided that lenders submit the applicable post-disaster inspection in accordance with Mr. Cooper’s Disaster Area Lending Policy; Mr. Cooper Seller Guide Section 6 “Underwriting Made Easy”. FHA requires post-disaster inspections to be completed after the official incident end date, which has not been determined at this time. As such, inspections for FHA loans should be performed after the disaster end date.

Capital markets

On Election Day 2018 the U.S. 10-year closed at 3.21% as most jabbering from the press centered on election day, with everyone else growing weary of the jabbering. As with other elections, the markets will digest the outcome of the ballot over the next several weeks. This midterm election, particularly congressional races, are seen as a referendum on the policies of President Trump. Still this week we have the Federal Reserve’s Thursday policy decision, which looms large along with ongoing tension over trade and the state of the global economy. Internationally, the Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate at 1.50%, as expected. Additionally, the RBA lifted Australia’s growth forecast for 2018 and 2019 to 3.5% from 3.0%

This morning we’ve had the MBA’s mortgage applications data for last week. Total activity fell 4%, purchase apps -5% with refis accounting for 39% of total activity and ARMs up to 8%. Next we have… not much. The EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report, September consumer credit, and another Treasury auction. Additionally, the FOMC will kick off the first day of this week’s two-day meeting. Wednesday begins with rates lower versus Tuesday’s close: the 10-year is at 3.20% and Agency MBS prices are better by .250.

There was a rumored conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American.

During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, “Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?”

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly:

“Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people. They are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities. They have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day. And they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?”

You could have heard a pin drop.

Rob

“Rob, we just went through our third staff reduction. Have you heard of any vendors that work on forecasting or doing ‘what if’ scenarios for lenders rather than us doing layoffs?” Sure – for less than a basis point Riivos helps originators make more money by providing visibility into the financial and operational components of the loan manufacturing process – management can make informed decisions on which changes to make to become more profitable. I asked management about their client’s performance in 2018, and they said, on average, Riivos mortgage customers are actually making 11 bps more in 2018 than 2017, significantly outperforming the industry in net income bps. (And no, this isn’t a paid ad – if it keeps one person from being cut, it’s worth it. Contact Mike McFadden if you’re interested.)

Jobs

Waterfall Asset Management (WAM) is looking for a diligence manager to support the growth of the conduit. For more information regarding this position please reach out to Maria D’Anza (212-257-6154). WAM recently launched a residential mortgage conduit to focus on partnering with best in class originators to originate proprietary mortgage products under forward flow agreements. WAM’s proprietary products will be designed to serve both the purchase and the cash-out needs of prime and “near-prime” borrowers looking for low payment, higher leverage options than existing mortgage products in the market. The products will be offered on a delegated basis so the control of the program remains with the originator.

New Penn Financial is excited to introduce Dave Weatherford (South Central & Midwest Regional Sales Manager) and Shawn Crowley (Northeast Regional Sales Manager) to its Wholesale division. Together they bring nearly 40 years of extensive mortgage expertise, from both small and large lenders, to New Penn’s expanding Wholesale channel. Dave and Shawn are ready to tackle their goals and grow their territories with new, talented Account Executives as well as new Mortgage Brokers looking to be part of our team. Send a note to Dave or Shawn to learn more, or visit gonewpenn.com.

Network Funding has an immediate opening for a loan officer in Jacksonville, Florida to service a realtor with 6 offices and 300 agents. This is a once in a life time opportunity for the right candidate to service an existing account. Network Funding uses a sophisticated digital application in its point of sale system and offers closing 10 days from application. Call or e-mail EVP Brett Snortland (832-545-4653) for immediate consideration.

In today’s mortgage marketplace, MLOs need every advantage they can get. You not only have to compete with other lenders, but you’ve got to keep an eye on the market, government policy, compliance…the list goes on and on. If the company you work for doesn’t provide top notch support in those areas, you’re already at a disadvantage. Get the Loan Team Advantage from Assurance Financial: A) Unwavering LO support with full service compliance and marketing, B) complete, fast and accurate loan fulfillment to limit time from app to the closing table, and C) a competitive comp plan for LOs and Branch Managers that puts you in the driver’s seat. Get the Loan Team Advantage from Assurance Financial, a growing private residential mortgage banker with offices throughout the South, East Coast, and Midwest US. Contact Paul M. Peters, CMB (225-939-6353) for a confidential discussion today.

Considering a change? “At MortgageRight, we set ourselves apart by offering lower rates, better pricing and higher compensation! We’re making a name for ourselves across the nation by operating with thinner margins than other industry players. We saw the rising interest rate environment coming ahead of time and decided in advance to put several key strategic factors into place that would help our producers win in a market like this one! Very simply, we can offer lower rates and/or a higher comp, and we can back our claims up 100%! But don’t take our word for it. Check out this recent example: We recently on-boarded a branch manager who was able to increase his comp by 50BPS AND offer 1/8 better RATE to his customers! Give us the opportunity to show you how our model can help you win more deals in any environment. We’ll be happy to put any candidate in touch with recent hires and existing LOs to discuss our strengths, see what we have to offer, and hear our vision for the future. For a pricing engine walk through, contact Mike Russo at (866) 425-5456 or visit us at

www.branchright.com.”

Lender products and services

GSF Mortgage Corp. (GSF) is excited to announce two new additions to its Construction Lending Division. Ruth Casiano joins GSF as Director of Operations. Former Construction Loan Manager with Diamond Residential, Ruth brings years of experience and expertise to manage the operational plan of the GSF Construction Lending Division. Rudy Marquez joins GSF as Managing Director of Business Development. Rudy, former COO of Land Gorilla, will be responsible for all sales and relationship development for both builders and correspondent lenders participating in the program. The GSF Construction Lending Division continues to expand with eligible builders, correspondents and retail originators across the country by offering the Singe Close product. If you are interested in growing your business by offering this product or learning more about the program, please reach out to Rudy Marquez.

Everyone in this industry is always looking for the secret sauce on how to make more money. I see it come up in countless conversations, and yet, I think they’re missing the obvious answer that’s right in front of them. Customer retention. How confident are you that your customers will come back to you when they want another loan or to refinance? I just watched this new Correspondent video from TMS, or as like they like to call it, CAREspondent, where they unpacked how customers need to be a bigger part of lender growth strategies. Your customer is worth more than best price. Don’t miss out on the lifetime value of a customer by being short-sided.

HomeStreet Bank, one of the top retail mortgage lenders in the west, recently launched a new 95% CLTV purchase money HELOC. HomeStreet takes great pride in its immense product offering, providing customers with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA and VA financing plus a suite of options for outside-the-box scenarios. Nearly a century in home lending has resulted in management’s credit expertise and ability to navigate complex loan products. Product offering includes a portfolio all-in-one construction loan, renovation loan, purchase money and departure residence HELOCs, and builder loan programs. Additionally, HomeStreet offers many Down Payment Assistance programs, further expanding its reach and diversity. The broad array of programs allows loan officers and real estate agents to access emerging, underserved, and highly-qualified customers to make their housing dreams a reality. Learn more about available products here.

Capital markets and LO training

Todd Duncan is hosting a FREE 45-Minute Broadcast today entitled, 3 Steps to Achieve Massive Success in 2019! Todd has studied peak performance in the mortgage business for decades and knows what it takes to win the business, in any market. This hard-hitting, 45-minute broadcast will unpack 3 specific things you can do now to have 2019 be your best year ever. It’s never the market that determines your success; it’s what you do in that market. Our industry is changing fast and Todd promises that these 3 Steps represent the greatest insurance policy you could ever receive to protect your future in the years to come. This event has limited capacity! Register Now For FREE!

There has been a 138% increase in wire transfer fraud between December 2016 and May 2018! Lending solutions provider Data Facts recently announced it is addressing wire transfer fraud by offering a complimentary webinar about this growing crime. The webinar will dig into wire transfer fraud and offer solutions lenders can use to minimize their risk. Save your seat for the presentation, scheduled for Tuesday, November 13^th at 10am CST. Rely on Data Facts to provide you efficient mortgage lending solutions, such as credit reports, fraud products, tax return and social security verifications, a variety of lead generation tools, and more…all integrated within your LOS! Talk with a live person and take advantage of their personalized support for your business. Their 100% US based customer service team will help you increase efficiency so you can close more loans, faster and easier.

Compass Analytics continues to innovate and provide industry thought leadership through their latest white paper on the technology of loan sales… Technology in the mortgage banking space has delivered major advancements in functionality, automation, and integration. Where certain functions may have once taken entire teams to perform, they now can be accomplished with a few keystrokes and a click of button. Loan sales are a great example. If you currently outsource your loan sales to a hedge advisor, you are almost certainly leaving proﬁts on the table. In an era of falling volume and razor-thin margins, you must continually evaluate your existing business processes to ﬁnd opportunities to save money and improve execution. With the right technology, you can eliminate the need for a hedge advisor in loan sales and reap the rewards across your organization. Click “Selling Your Own Loans on the Secondary Market” to download the PDF and join a webinar on CompassPoint Agile on November 14 at 1 PM ET to learn more about how its pipeline risk analytics demystifies the loan sale process. Register here!

JMAC Lending is setting the pace for Non-QM lending. “We’re showing brokers how to grow their business with innovative non-QM loans that are the perfect fit for today’s market,” JMAC Lending Regional Sales Manager Al Gruzdis says. “We’re here to help our Broker/Correspondents grow their Non-QM business, and we’re doing this with exclusive products and 20+ years of experience.” JMAC Lending is offering a free 30-minute Live webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 1PM PT titled, “How to Grow Your Pipeline with Non-QM Loans,” covering lending options such as 3-month bank statements, 40-year Interest-only, and its Streamlined DU findings for Non-Conforming Loans. “Yes. we will follow DU for income and asset findings on a Jumbo Loan. Transferred Appraisals included.” Click here to register today as space is limited. For more information on JMAC Lending’s Non-QM loans, click here or contact JMAC directly at NonQM@JMACLending.com.

Company moves

Isn’t the first, won’t be the last. Word spread quickly that Pacific Union has a new parent, Mr. Cooper. “Mr. Cooper Group Inc. announced that it intends to acquire Dallas’ Pacific Union Financial, LLC. “At the close of the acquisition in early 2019, Pacific Union customers and employees will fall under Mr. Cooper, the nation’s largest non-bank mortgage servicer.” Jay Bray, Chairman and CEO of Mr. Cooper, noted, “This acquisition allows us to expand our servicing portfolio by welcoming more than 120,000 customers and increases our mortgage lending volume and capabilities.” And Evan Stone, Founder and CEO of PUF, wired out, “We are thrilled to join Mr. Cooper Group as we embark on this next chapter in our story. Joining Mr. Cooper offers strength, stability and a tremendous opportunity for continued growth in our core businesses and for our team. I am highly confident that our Correspondent, Wholesale, and Servicing teams will continue to thrive as a part of the Mr. Cooper family.”

All well and good. So early next year Mr. Cooper will take ownership of the entire, existing Pacific Union Financial company including its Correspondent, Wholesale and Servicing ($25 billion) divisions. “Integration of the Pacific Union Financial platform enables Mr. Cooper to expand its presence in correspondent and wholesale originations with delegated and non-delegated product offerings. (PUF) brings more than 700 active clients, and there is only about 20% overlap with Mr. Cooper’s existing clients. Incremental annual originations volume potential is estimated in excess of $10 billion with over 80% being purchase loans.”

LoanStream Mortgage launched its Correspondent Lending Channel. On November 1st, LSM released its new “LoanStream Select” credit grade for non-prime products. “LoanStream Select, the Pinnacle of Pricing, is meant to reward high quality borrowers that don’t fit traditional lending products but deserve better rates than non-prime currently offers.”

Every day brings a new report or rumor about cutbacks, layoffs, or shifts, publicized or not. Every lender is adjusting, so the news of Citizen’s shutting down Franklin American shops is not surprising.

More publicly, Ditech Holding Corporation announced that it received notification from The New York Stock Exchange informing Ditech that the NYSE has determined to commence proceedings to delist the Company’s common stock and warrants from the NYSE and that trading in the Company’s securities has been suspended. Ditech has fallen below the NYSE’s continued listing standard that requires listed companies to maintain an average global market capitalization over a consecutive 30 trading day period of at least $15 million. “The suspension and commencement of delisting proceedings do not affect the Company’s business operations.”

“Separately, the Ditech Board of Directors is continuing its previously announced review of strategic alternatives…No timetable has been established for the completion of the strategic review.”

Capital markets

The U.S. 10-year closed Wednesday unchanged at 3.21% as markets digested the results of the midterm elections. As expected, Republicans maintained their control of the Senate while Democrats took control of the House, which a split congress may cause some legislative gridlock but a Democratic House means that efforts to deregulate banks are unlikely to go very far. It also reduces chances both that Donald Trump’s signature tax cuts will be reversed and the chances for passing more major fiscal initiatives.

Attention now turns to today’s Federal Reserve decision, with investors looking for any signals on the pace of policy tightening in 2019. Additionally, China trade data due out today will be another chance to gauge the impact of the trade war. Aside from this noise, we have a light economic calendar. We received Weekly Initial Claims (214k, as expected). And that’s it. We start Thursday with Agency MBS prices better by .125 and the 10-year yielding 3.22%.

Are folks growing tired of writing or reading, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to…”? With last night’s tragedy in Thousand Oaks, north of Los Angeles, unfortunately we were reminded that we, as a nation, seem to be becoming desensitized to the results of mass shootings regardless of cause. (Even the term “mass shooting” is nebulous, although the common usage defines it as either 3 or 4 people who are killed or wounded in one incident.) Public mass shootings account for a small percentage of gun deaths in the U.S., but they are uniquely terrifying because they occur without warning in the most mundane places. Most of the victims are chosen not for what they have done but for where they happen to be at that moment. As we seem to await the next mass shooting, will the families of those killed really be comforted by, “I’m sorry”? A terrifying “new norm”?

Rob

Whether bond loans (we all know how management loves those), non-QM, reverse mortgages, or high loan to values, originators everywhere are working hard for their borrowers and being creative in a compliant manner. For example, from Minnesota Eric Otterness writes, “Recently my team and I closed on a loan for a first-time buyer in Minneapolis where we had eight down payment assistance programs layered on top. I’m pretty sure that $86,000 on a $190,000 house is a new world record! It was fun and I doubt it has ever been matched or will ever be beaten. If anyone knows of a transaction where there were more, let them come forward and we will stop claiming the new world record!”

Jobs

Evergreen Home Loans THREE-PEATS! For the third consecutive year, Evergreen was named a Best Medium Sized Workplace by Fortune and consulting firm Great Place to Work®. Evergreen was has placed in the top 20 each year since 2016 and was also named a Best Place to Work for Millennials in 2018. “At Evergreen, we’re proud to be consistently recognized as one of the best places to work nationally. We understand how this positively impacts the experience our customers receive,” said Don Burton, president, Evergreen Home Loans. “We’re proud to have a diverse workforce who are passionate about changing the world one relationship at a time. We’re hiring loan officers who have the same high-touch approach and desire a great workplace culture.” Loan Officers looking for a great place to work where 95% of employees surveyed say Evergreen is a great place work can find information on its Careers page.

Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Inc. (PRMG), promotes Brent Williams to Enterprise Architect. As the new EA, Williams will advise management on the execution of business strategy by effectively designing and aligning information and technology to drive digital transformation within PRMG. With Williams focus on Enterprise Architecture and strategy, PRMG is confident of continued innovations to support customers and better serve the expanding divisions; Retail, Wholesale and Correspondent – making PRMG synonymous with innovation in lending technology.

As most of you are aware, mortgage rates are on the rise and many lenders are experiencing a margin compression. If your compensation plan has been reduced or your volume has decreased, you need to contact Residential Bancorp immediately. It’s time to start taking advantage of the many benefits of running your own branch. Residential Bancorp has the experience, professionalism and service-oriented culture required for your success. Make the money that you’ve become accustomed to, with half the volume. Learn more and apply online here or call 888.329.8518 x215. #YourMortgageTeam

Parkside Lending LLC’s – New Broker portal, ePark 2.0, with Automated LE and State & Federal Disclosures in minutes, “continues to receive great feedback from our customers.

Automating the creation of the Loan Estimate with loan specific fees and delivering State and Federal Disclosures to the borrowers for e-signature has made the process of uploading and submitting a loan to Parkside Lending incredibly fast. In addition to our great new system, on November 1^st, Parkside enhanced our already popular Jumbo I program, increasing both loan amounts as well as LTV/CLTV limits while at the same time lowering reserve requirements. We also rolled out FHA’s Simple refinance program and FHLMC’s Doctor program. Coming soon,

we will launch USDA, another new Jumbo program as well as several Non-QM Options for our customers. If you are an Account Executive looking to join a great team or are a mortgage broker who is not currently working with Parkside Lending, please contact us at Sales@Parksidelending.com.”

Lender products and services

Mr. Cooper Correspondent is excited regarding the pending acquisition of Pacific Union Financial (“PUF”) and looks forward to welcoming the PUF Correspondent team to the Mr. Cooper family in early 2019. “Blending two powerful Correspondent investors is a tremendous opportunity to leverage the complementary capabilities and offerings of both firms. Until the deal closes, it is business as usual for each firm, but afterwards, it’ll be a different story. Our combined client base can expect a world class Correspondent offering, to include a comprehensive menu of products and programs, expanded delivery options, and access to unrivaled Capital Markets expertise. One thing which remains constant is the dedication to delivering the best client experience and service in the Industry. Mr. Cooper is committed to Correspondent; our investments and developments continue with the recently-introduced Hybrid AOT execution and upcoming launch of eNotes. Mr. Cooper, the nation’s largest Non-Bank Servicer, is a premier Correspondent and Co-Issue investor.”

There are four key ways to make vendor management less complicated. When it comes to vendor oversight, most companies are stuck in the pre-SaaS era, relying on excel spreadsheets and SharePoint. A recent shift to self-service due diligence networks, where vendors can access oversight systems directly to comply with various requirements creates increased efficiency. Learn four key ways to make vendor management less complicated in Vendorly’s infographic: http://bit.ly/2Qsl4Pl. To learn more about Vendorly, head to Vendorly.com or reach out directly to Mike Ehms for a demo.

We are in the final stretches of 2018 and goodness knows it’s been a memorable one for the industry. Between changing market demands, margin compression, and many more challenges, 2018 will be one for the history books. In the complimentary Industry eBook, “2018 Mortgage Executive Year in Review,” Maxwell sat down with prominent industry executives to discuss their lessons learned in 2018 and how to apply those insights in your preparation for 2019. A must-read for all lending professionals and an exclusive to Rob Chrisman subscribers today, Download your copy here!

Vendor Surf, the only search engine across the mortgage and credit union ecosystems, from pre-origination through servicing and secondary markets, helps to quickly and efficiently match buyers with vendors that best meet their needs. With 80+ vendor categories and over 3,000 search filters, it guides searchers in their quest to choose wisely. It is free to search and affordable for vendors. Vendor Surf recently added the following great vendor partners: Actionable Science, BankUnited, Commonwealth USA Settlements, Custodio Settlement Services, FinLocker, Gooi Mortgage, HomeBuyer Connections, ISGN Solutions, Organizational Compass, Sheldon May & Assoc. P.C. (3-yr deal), Spruce and Total Expert. Lastly, Vendor Surf is the single most comprehensive and robust online calendar of events, conferences, webinars and education opportunities. Find, or list, your events – free! Visit us HERE today – Catch the wave.

Fannie & Freddie – making bank and moving people

Let’s play some catch up on Agency senior personnel and income news.

On October 1 Freddie Mac promoted Steve Lansbury to the position of SVP, Multifamily Underwriting & Credit to oversee all aspects of Multifamily underwriting, including under its Conventional, Targeted Affordable Housing and Small Balance Loan offerings, as well as Risk Distribution and Credit Governance. He will also be the principal manager of the division’s underwriting and credit approvals for all Multifamily debt investments. Lansbury replaced Deborah Jenkins who was promoted to EVP and head of the Multifamily business effective January 1, 2019.

Freddie Mac promoted Timothy Kitt to SVP, Head of Pricing and Execution in its Single-Family business. “Kitt, who has led the Pricing and Analytics team in Single-Family Portfolio Management for nearly four years, recently added costing analytics and all seller-facing Credit Risk Transfer (CRT) efforts to his responsibilities.” Tim joined Freddie Mac in 2015 after spending some time in portfolio management, asset sales/securitization and structured finance at Wells Fargo, GMAC/Ally and Sallie Mae.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently reported 3Q18 earnings. Fannie Mae reported $4.0 billion of operating profit before the payment of preferred stock dividends, while Freddie Mac reported an operating profit of $2.7 billion. The YOY earnings comparison benefited from a lower corporate tax rate (from 35% to 21%) for both companies, though Freddie recognized a $2.9 billion after-tax benefit from a favorable litigation settlement in 3Q17, so its YOY earnings actually decreased. The GSEs are expected to pay about $6.5 billion of dividends in 4Q ($4.0 billion from Fannie and $2.6 billion from Freddie) as comprehensive incomes resulted in each GSE’s net worth exceeding the $3 billion capital buffer.

The government’s senior preferred stock investment in the GSEs remained unchanged at $191.4b at the end of 3Q18. Including the expected 4Q18 distribution for Fannie and Freddie, the GSEs will have paid $292.4b of dividends back to the Treasury.

LOs should not forget that the Agencies (both Fannie and Freddie) continue to throw off plenty of ducats to the U.S. Government. The Government, in turn, is in no great hurry to get rid of the geese laying the golden eggs. For example, at the last earnings cycle, Freddie Mac reports income of $2.4 billion in Q2 and is set to return another $1.6 billion to Treasury. This income is up slightly from the first quarter this year, when the company reported comprehensive income of $2.2 billion, and up even more from the second quarter of 2017 when it saw a comprehensive income of $2 billion.

Its new origination volumes grew by 29% from last year to $84 billion. Unsurprisingly, refinance activity dropped about 7%. Through its credit risk transfer program, the government-sponsored enterprise announced it transferred risk on a total of $1 trillion in single-family mortgages outstanding.

The company’s net income came in at $2.5 billion for the quarter, down from $2.9 billion in the first quarter this year. Net income in the fourth quarter of 2017 was driven down by a write-down in net deferred tax asset due to tax reform. Because of this reform, both GSEs were even allowed to regain their capital reserves and withhold $3 billion from the Department of the Treasury.

Because of this, the company paid $1.6 billion dividend to the Treasury in September, based on its net worth as of June 30, 2018 of $4.6 billion. This will bring the total cash dividends paid to the Treasury to about $40.8 billion more than the cumulative cash draws received from the Treasury of $140.2 billion.

The U.S. government bailed out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing crisis and placed them under conservatorship. For years the government is making serious bank off of that “investment.” While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac withdrew $119.8 billion and $71.6 billion from the Treasury during the dark times, they’ve since paid Uncle Sam $167.3 billion and $112.4 billion in dividends, respectively, meaning the Treasury is $88.3 billion in the black thanks to the bailouts.

(F&F are busy in the primary markets – lots more Monday on policy and process changes that are typically implemented by lenders!)

Capital markets

Beth Hammack, Goldman Sachs’ global treasurer, and Jason Granet, who leads the firm’s initiative to shift away from the Libor benchmark, have recorded a podcast discussing the progress and challenges of the transition, as well as its potential effect on the industry. “First and foremost I think the impact is going to be hopefully an improvement in safety and soundness,” Hammack says. A committee backed by the Federal Reserve will request public comment early next year on language for contracts that reference Libor. The Alternative Reference Rates Committee wants “fallback provisions” in contracts to ensure they remain valid if Libor becomes unusable.

The U.S. 10-year closed Thursday at 3.23% as we saw a “yield curve flattening” with the 2-year +4bps and 30-year unchanged. The release of the November FOMC Statement did not bring any surprises, as the FOMC voted to leave the fed funds target rate range at 2.00-2.25% and indicated that gradual rate hikes will continue. The FOMC did acknowledge that the tight labor market evidenced in the jobless claims figures from yesterday are supportive of a Federal Reserve potential rate-hike in December. All eyes are now on the December meeting where another rate hike is largely expected as the Fed attempts to maintain their 2% inflation target. Internationally, the European Commission expects that Italy’s budget deficit will reach 2.9% in 2019, instead of the 2.4% deficit forecast by the Italian government. The EUCO expects that growth in Italy will only reach 1.2% in 2019 while the Italian government expects growth of 1.5%.

Overnight world stock markets are down. Here in the U.S. the economic calendar is slightly busy ahead of the long weekend (for bond traders), starting with October’s Producer Price Index (surprisingly inflationary at +.6%, +.5% core). The University of Michigan Sentiment Index and September wholesale inventories are also due out. And following the Fed’s blackout period, Fedspeak resumes today with three speakers scheduled: NY Fed President Williams, Philadelphia’s Harker, and Fed Governor Quarles all taking the stage. Friday starts with rates versus last night: the 10-year is yielding 3.22% and agency MBS prices are better by a tad.

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 92, arrived in Paris by plane with his son.

At French customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.

“You have been to France before, monsieur?” the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

“Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.”

The American said, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.”

“Impossible! Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France!”

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look.

Then, he quietly explained, ”Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on, D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find a single Frenchman to show a passport to.”

You could have heard a pin drop.

Rob

My cat Myrtle seems particularly disinterested in things since Tuesday. Do we all have post-election news doldrums? What is the mainstream press going to talk about now? I’m joshing, of course, as there is always something. In this industry, how about the continued efforts by the industry on behalf of borrowers and lenders despite issues of affordability, rates grinding higher, some lenders possibly heading down the credit curve to capture business, and the approaching winter? No, there’s never a lack of topics.

Certainly the Mortgage Bankers Association is hitting the airwaves. President Bob Broeksmit wired, “I want to share MBA’s analysis of the 2018 mid-term elections and make you aware of my new blog, To the Point, which this week provides a perspective on what the election results may mean for our industry in 2019. I will be posting often about issues affecting MBA and its members…” Between this new publication, Bill K. and Steve O. sending out the MBA Advocacy Update piece once a week, Bill sending out the Mortgage Action Alliance newsletter with its sporadic “Call to Action”, the MBA Education pieces every few days, the Chart of the Week, the daily MBA Newslinks, and several pieces every week about various topics, one is not at a loss for things to read from just the MBA!

Will lenders be crying the “1003 Blues”? I am fielding notes of dismay about the length and complexity. (“In a world where things are becoming faster, easier, and more accurate, we have this for lenders?” But it could have been worse, had it not been for the MBA’s work.) John Haring, Director of Product Management at Ellie Mae, shot over, “While the new URLA and ULAD are fifteen months away, that’s not a lot of time to get prepared for the impact of the changes. At Ellie Mae, we are planning to deliver functionality in the July 2019 timeframe to coincide with the early release date of the URLA and allow customers and partners ample time to test and transition. Ellie Mae’s goal is to always minimize any regulation or industry change so that it becomes a ‘non-event’ for customers and partners.

“Nearly every mortgage application is collected on Form 1003 or Form 65 and the format has not changed significantly in the last 20 years. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, under direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), have significantly redesigned the form. With this, lenders may choose to use the new URLA starting July 1, 2019, although the GSEs will not require it until on or after February 1, 2020 for new loan applications.

“The redesigned URLA takes a design thinking approach, with dynamic field collecting and a presentation of data tailored to the individual borrower and loan scenario. The goal is to provide greater efficiency, transparency and certainty for future homebuyers applying for mortgage loans and greater consistency for lenders who sell to both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“While the new URLA and ULAD are fifteen months away, that’s not a lot of time to get prepared for the impact of the changes. At Ellie Mae, we are planning to deliver functionality in the July 2019 timeframe to coincide with the early release date of the URLA and allow customers and partners ample time to test and transition. Ellie Mae’s goal is to always minimize any regulation or industry change so that it becomes a ‘nonevent’ for customers and partners. “In terms of what’s happening now, Ellie Mae continues to educate and keep customers and partners updated on the latest with URLA / ULAD with a series of webinars, FAQs and resources for training. Your readers can find them all on Ellie Mae’s Compliance Central.

Credit standard trends

Are we, from a residential loan quality perspective, heading down a slippery slope? There is plenty of blame to go around for the last ten years. In the capital markets we had HUD’s mandate to FNMA/FHLMC to buy poor quality loans, and a faulty securitization model, care of investment banks and the rating agencies, which enabled subprime mortgages to be packaged with enough good mortgages so as to make people believe they were investment grade.

As an industry we’ve hit the 10-year anniversary of a heckuva lot. And we’ve all seen various write ups. For example, RPM Mortgage’s Dick Lepre produced, “Lessons from Lehman Brothers 10 Years Later: Watch for these signs to guard against a repeat of the financial crisis.”

The article prompted California’s Tom Carney to pen, “The ‘Lessons from Lehman’ was a good break down. But no one should gloss over the real impact of Fanny and Freddie’s pressure on lenders to lower their standards! They encouraged lenders to make loans to borrowers that in the past would not have gotten a loan!! I feel that this was the basic impedes for what then happened. This does not relieve fault/greed for many large investors and lenders, but without the pressure by our very misguided government I feel the 2008 Financial Crises would not have happened!”

Speaking of government…

State lending law news

Think its tough, and expensive, to comply with all the lending rules and regulations at the Federal level? Try being a multi-state small lender trying to keep up with, and adhere to, state-level rules on a variety of topics.

The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Real Estate, has adopted a provision regarding pre-licensing education requirements. This provision is effective as of November 14, 2018. Starting then applicants for licensure as a Colorado mortgage loan originator must successfully complete twenty hours of pre-licensing education within three years of the date of application for licensure. The previous provision did not include this time requirement.

Out in California, the source of 20-25% of residential loans, the defeat this week of a ballot measure that would have allowed for the expansion of rent control across California has buoyed landlords and left tenants pinning their hopes on the state’s new governor for relief. Proposition 10 failed resoundingly with nearly 62% of voters rejecting the initiative as of results tallied Wednesday. The initiative would have repealed the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which bans cities and counties from implementing more aggressive forms of rent control. The result means those prohibitions remain in place.

Connecticut has modified provisions under its Banking Law concerning consumer credit licenses. The new provisions expand the authority granted to the Banking Commissioner in various circumstances. The effective dates for these provisions range from July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019.

The authority granted to the Banking Commissioner for investigative purposes has been expanded. The Commissioner may now obtain any records, information, or evidence for investigations relating to any license issued on the system. The Commissioner is granted total control over any evidence obtained and is permitted to hire attorneys, accountants, and any other necessary specialists to assist in the investigation. The new licensing provisions state that if a license expires due to the licensee’s failure to renew, the Commissioner may, within one year, initiate a suspension or revocation proceeding.

Additionally, the Commissioner will collect, from each Connecticut bank and credit union, an annual assessment sufficient to meet the expenses for the Department of Banking. However, if the Commissioner determines that the amount to be collected from an uninsured bank is unreasonably low or high based on the bank’s size and risk profile, the Commissioner may require the bank to pay a fee in lieu of the annual assessment.

Rhode Island has recently modified its provisions regarding mediation conferences prior to mortgage foreclosures. House Bill 7385 extends certain sunset provisions and limits the dollar amounts that a HUD-approved agency may receive for a mediation and filing fee.

The new provisions extend a July 1 sunset provision in a 2013 law that requires mortgage lenders to initiate and participate in mediation efforts with homeowners facing foreclosure. The bill moves the sunset provision to July 1, 2023. This law provides critical protection for homeowners by requiring their lenders to make a good-faith effort, with the help of an independent mediator, to try to come to an agreement to help save their home from foreclosure.

The provisions set limits on counseling agency fees and establishes options available for communication that is mutually convenient for the parties by an individual employed by a HUD- approved, independent counseling agency selected by the mortgagee to serve as a mediation coordinator provided at no cost to the mortgagor and limits the fees charged for mediation and filing.

Rhode Island has enacted provisions relating to its Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act. The new provisions authorize a city or town clerk or recorder of deeds, at his or her option, to accept electronic documents for recording real property and land records and to index and store those documents.

The provisions add that in the case of a document or signature that must be notarized, acknowledged, verified, witnessed, or made under oath, that requirement is satisfied if the electronic signature of the person authorized to perform that act (and all other information required to be included), is attached to or logically associated with the document or signature. A physical or electronic image of a stamp, impression, or seal does not need to accompany an electronic signature. The recorder may also convert paper documents accepted for recording into electronic form, including information recorded before the recorder of deeds began to record electronic documents. Finally, a recorder of deeds who accepts electronic documents for recording must continue to accept paper documents as authorized by state law and must place entries for both types of documents in the same index.

Through House Bill 7502, Rhode Island has repealed its current provisions regarding notaries and has implemented an adapted version of the “Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts.”

The Rhode Island version of the Act defines “notarial act” as including “taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy, noting a protest of a negotiable instrument and transact, do and finish all matters and things relating to protests and protesting bills of exchange and promissory notes, and all other matters within their office required by law, take depositions as prescribed by law, and acknowledgments of deeds and other instruments.” The bill addresses the specific rules the notarial officer is required to verify the afore mentioned forms of verification. Also noted are the situations in which notarial officer may refuse to perform a notarial act.

The Florida Department of Financial Services has recently adopted provisions relating to fee waiver procedures for military personnel, veterans, and spouses seeking a loan originator license or renewal of a loan originator license. The new provisions waive the initial application, assessment, and renewal fees for current and former military members and their spouses or surviving spouses, who apply for or renew or reactivate a mortgage loan originator license or register as an associated person of a securities dealer or investment advisor.

Under the new provisions, military personnel, veterans, and spouses seeking a loan originator license or renewal or reactivation of a loan originator license are entitled to reimbursement of these fees. To obtain a reimbursement of licensure fees, a licensee must submit to the Office of Financial Regulation, via electronic filing through the Registry, a completed Office of Financial Regulation Active Military Member/Veteran/Spouse Fee Waiver and Military Service Verification, Form OFR-MIL-00. This form, available online, must be submitted within one hundred eighty days after payment of licensure fees.

The Captain called the Sergeant in.

“Sarge, I just got a telegram that Private Jones’ mother died yesterday.

Better go tell him and send him in to see me.”

So the Sergeant calls for his morning formation and lines up all the troops.

“Listen up, men!” yells the Sergeant. “Sonner, report to the mess hall for KP. McShea, report to Personnel to sign some papers. The rest of you men report to the Motor Pool for maintenance.

Oh, by the way, Grady, your mother died, report to the commander.”

Grady bursts into tears.

Later that day the Captain called the Sergeant into his office.

“Hey, Sarge, that was a pretty cold way to inform Grady his mother died. Couldn’t you be a bit more tactful next time?”

“Yes, sir,” answered the Sarge.

A few months later, the Captain called the Sergeant in again with, “Sarge, I just got a telegram that Private Gottfried’s mother died. You’d better go tell him and send him in to see me. This time be more tactful.”

So the Sergeant calls for his morning formation.

“Ok, men, fall in and listen up. Everybody with a mother, take two steps forward.”

“NOT SO FAST, Gottfried!”

Rob

Here’s one kind of advice. “Call your Dad now and ask him what the Wi-Fi password is now so he has time to find the little paper it’s written on before Thanksgiving.” What about something in our biz? “Rob, do you know of any warehouse lenders out there that don’t require audited financials?” Are you kidding? Every reputable warehouse bank requires year-end audited financials (despite 2017 being “long ago,”) along with monthly (or quarterly) financials (aka, “interims”) verified & signed by an officer of the company. There are a handful of captive warehouse providers that are also investors that require the funded loan be sold to them and who may be lenient but watch their pricing.

Jobs

“Powerhouse national lender PrimeLending just got stronger in the Midwest with the addition of superstar Branch Manager Cathy Bolton to our Omaha, Nebraska branch. Cathy brings more than 20 years of mortgage experience to PrimeLending after previously working with Franklin American Mortgage Company, Cherry Creek Mortgage and Wells Fargo. Her presence not only makes an impact throughout the greater Omaha area, but helps expand our footprint as a premier lender across the country. Cathy knew there was only one place where she could fulfill her passion for helping clients and business partners navigate the home loan process with ease: PrimeLending. If you’re ready to do the same for your career, connect with Brian Miller to get started.

“Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and Nations Lending is setting the table for continued success in 2019. While other lenders are losing steam in 4Q2018, Nations Lending is staying hungry, moving full-speed ahead with a strategic growth strategy. The focus on retail footprint expansion has already cooked-up opportunities in 8 new markets, and we’re looking for more. Are you ready to join a company that’s being talked about as one of America’s fastest growing private lenders by the prestigious MarketWatch financial and business site? Top producers like yourself shouldn’t settle for ordinary. Don’t become a turkey — seize the day and join Nations Lending — a company staying ahead of the industry curve – by providing more support, better execution, and a track record of closing loans. For more information and opportunity on how to join our growing organization, please visit the company’s website.”

In retail news, Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group® is continuing its expansion throughout the Southeast. Atlantic Bay, headquartered in Virginia Beach, is looking for growth-oriented brokerage companies, high performing mortgage teams, and companies with less than $500 million in sales who want to focus on production by removing obstacles to growth. Brokers who join Atlantic Bay experience growth rates in their personal production from 50 – 80 percent. Direct access to underwriting, secondary support, and realtor-focused marketing have all been drivers for increased growth. Two popular benefits of the Atlantic Bay way are simplicity in the compliance process and a mortgage banker assistant program. Atlantic Bay places great importance on culture, loving where you work, and giving back to the communities it serves. Email Justin Caplan to find out more about working at Atlantic Bay.

Flagstar Bank Retail Lending and Opes Advisors, a division of Flagstar Bank, are growing retail by hiring successful industry professionals around the country. Recent additions include Bryan Russell, branch manager in Las Gatos, CA, Tawnya Lettau Nodder, senior mortgage advisor in San Luis Obispo, CA, Scott Williams, branch manager in Spokane; Jim Demarco, branch manager in Seattle, Bill Lathrop, branch manager in Lacey, WA; Tram Bowen, branch manager in Seattle, Dina Thorsen, branch manager in Pensacola, and Jeff Maggio, branch manager in Baton Rouge. “Seasonality and over-capacity will continue to impact production into year-end, and competition will continue to be fierce,” said Scott Bristol, Flagstar’s new head of national production. “Flagstar is uniquely positioned to add talented people across the country,” he said. “Producers seeking to grow their business with substance, will want to reach out to Opes Advisors, a division of Flagstar Bank and Flagstar Bank’s Retail Lending. Opes has a robust offering, including internal portfolio capabilities, 50-state lending under a federal exemption, and a low cost of funds. Producers and leaders at Opes are benefiting from local opportunities, as well as the capability to originate nationally around their established relationships and centers of influence. To learn more, contact Steve Rennie, (408) 831-5042 or check us out.”

Lender products & services

LendingPad is a leading Cloud-based Loan Origination System (LOS) for retail, wholesale lenders, banks, credit unions and independent mortgage brokers. It acts as a hub connecting customers with wholesalers, service providers and preferred CRM, POS systems. Unique features include same-file multi-user edit capabilities and real-time pushed updates. It’s fast, mobile friendly, with a wide range of customization including forms, labels, fields and milestones. Enterprise Edition provides API to import and export data in/out of the system synchronously. Manage large teams with ease, use built-in controls or add your own, audit controls. It works on any browser off any OS/device. Fast to deploy, easy to implement and administer. Priced reasonably and competitively. Check out LendingPad’s Youtube channel, Capterra reviews for more information. Go to www.lendingpad.com to request a demo.

Angel Oak Prime Bridge has chosen Lendsnap as their Digital Mortgage PoS to radically improve the consumer experience of their Real Estate Investor lending operations. Prime Bridge currently lends in 16 states and is positioned strategically to meet the needs of investors including Fix & Flip, Landlord Financing and Blanket Loans with great ratios. Robert Mulcahy, SVP of Production and Strategic Initiatives reports “Lendsnap enables us to pull 24 months of bank statements in minutes instead of days and pulls new statements automatically. Our investor clients love it because savvy people don’t want to be bothered with tedious document updates.” Lendsnap is excited to partner with Prime Bridge, an innovative firm that’s ahead of the curve. Our web and mobile PoS includes eSignatures for LOE’s and borrower authorizations and an intelligent 1003 powered by PerfectLO. Request a free consultation with CEO Orion Parrott to go Digital with Lendsnap.

Attracting and retaining top originator talent is an increasing challenge in this market. For small and mid-size lenders, technology can play a big role; however, not all providers are created equal. The right platform enables your LOs to be more productive and efficient, delivering trust in your organization to invest in their future. Maxwell stands out from all other digital mortgage providers. They allow entire teams of LOs to incorporate technology as a natural extension of their work, allowing them to accomplish more every day, delight their referral partners, and attract new business. Maxwell was developed with input from thousands of LOs. The efficacy of their intuitive design is apparent in their high adoption rates across lending businesses. Request a demo to learn more about Maxwell today.

“I don’t know why anyone would want to do anything different than this!” Mortgage Lenders are praising SCP Onsite Compliance, a total compliance management system offered by Strategic Compliance Partners. SCP Onsite includes a dedicated onsite Compliance Officer supported by team of consultants, attorneys, and tech solutions combined with the all the compliance services and support a mortgage lender needs to be compliant and grow – all at a fixed-cost. “Why would you ever want to recruit a Compliance Officer on your own again when you can get a better compliance solution and save tons of money at the same time?!” To learn how you can benefit from SCP Onsite today, email Leslie Benjamin (646.418.6635) for a free compliance savings evaluation that could save you $100,000 or more.

Fannie & Freddie’s future

Folks are talking about this article in the Wall Street Journal. “Split power in Congress means lawmakers are unlikely to overhaul how the government backstops more than half the U.S. mortgage market. That provides an opportunity for the Trump administration to take steps on its own—and the industry is lobbying to soften any potential changes… The White House is expected to consider steps in the coming months that could reduce the government’s footprint in backstopping the market through mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“There are limits on what the administration can do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac absent legislation. But their overseer, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has the authority to raise fees on lenders and adjust the size of loans the companies can buy, among other things. The president is expected to nominate a successor to the agency’s Obama-appointed director in the coming weeks. The changes under consideration wouldn’t affect existing mortgages but could make it tougher and more expensive for people to get new ones.

“Some two dozen housing groups urged Washington policy makers in a September open letter to take ‘great care’ that any efforts to remove Fannie and Freddie from government control ‘are prudently developed and implemented over a sensible time horizon.’ Getting Fannie and Freddie out of government conservatorship is the largest piece of unfinished business from the crisis era. While lawmakers have said overhauling the companies is a priority, they disagree on how to do it. The split in Congress come January means there is likely even less of a chance that legislation affecting Fannie and Freddie will become law.

“In the coming weeks, the Trump administration is expected to signal its intentions for the companies when it nominates a successor to current FHFA Director Mel Watt. A conservative FHFA chief focused on drastically shrinking the government’s role in housing could raise the fees the companies charge lenders to guarantee loans, potentially making it more expensive for borrowers to complete a loan backed by Fannie or Freddie. The new FHFA director also could decrease the maximum size of a loan that the companies could purchase, reversing increases during Mr. Watt’s tenure that allowed larger loans to get Fannie and Freddie’s backing. Such a move could have outsize effects in expensive coastal states such as California and New York, according to housing experts.

“In Congress, it remains unlikely that lawmakers will be able to overcome major philosophical differences to hammer out any deal, despite pledges from some of them. Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), the expected new head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, recently said she would make the issue a priority. Senate Republicans, likewise, have put the issue at the top of their to-do list.”

Moelis & Company, a global independent investment bank and financial advisor to certain non-litigating junior preferred shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced the release of the Blueprint for Restoring Safety and Soundness to the GSEs: One Year Later.

In response to the Moelis release Dave Stevens (ex-MBA president) wrote, “While the most thoughtful plan offered by shareholder interests, that is not enough. Their primary objective is monetizing the stock – it’s the wrong priority, and this is a critical point. The collective ‘we’ will only have one chance to get it right – and sending them back in the wild before defining both purpose and boundaries is the wrong order. Keep in mind that all of the regulatory fixes they propose can be done today by the regulator without recapitalization. In fact, the regulator has more authority as Conservator to make these changes than it will post conservatorship. What makes anyone think that will somehow magically happen if we start recapping them?”

Dave points out several issues that Moelis is correct on: it was not the core TBA guaranty book but rather the actions taken with the portfolios of both firms in purchasing lower quality and riskier PLS, subprime, and alt-a mortgage product, the principles set forth by Moelis appeal to most stakeholders (protecting the taxpayer, leveling the playing field permanently for all lenders regardless of size, and affirming the affordable lending regime that currently exists today), and pointing out the deficiencies in size and scope of GNMA (understaffed, overwhelmed, and undercapitalized).

Mr. Stevens also opines that the Moelis write up has several problems. For example, all profits from both institutions go to the taxpayer, so it is difficult to imagine how the taxpayer would manage to reap greater returns by selling its position. The plan starts with recapitalization. In essence, they are putting fuel back into the tank of the car before it is fixed. This poses the very real risk that we never fix the car adequately before it’s entirely refueled and ready to drive off. “Frankly, the housing system might be better off retaining the current structure than letting free market capitalism with a government backstop back out in the open before insuring that they are framed in with the appropriate policies and a commitment behind them and to the markets for safety and sustainability first.”

While agreeing that an explicit federal backstop is needed, Moelis explains that this requires legislation. “Investors in a forward-looking global market will ultimately have to believe that the US Government will bail these entities out in the future just as they did a decade ago. The plan leaves in place the duopoly model. Unless we end the system’s reliance on a TBTF duopoly we are simply not addressing the fundamental flaw in incentives that got us into so much trouble. You can do that by increasing the number of guarantors so that anyone can fail, or collapsing them into one that is treated like a market utility. But you’ve got to do one or the other to have any real reform. The duopoly model would be the worst of all outcomes, resulting in too much risk and too little competition.”

Capital markets

The U.S. 10-year closed the week -5bps to yield 3.19% after the release of a “hotter than expected” PPI (Producer Price Index) report for October.

All that is happening today since it is Veterans Day is San Francisco Fed President Daly speaking. When the bond market opens tomorrow, we have the NFIB Business Optimism Index for October. We also have Fedspeak and the October budget deficit. Wednesday, we receive the weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior -4.0%) and October Consumer Price Index (prior 0.1%).

Thursday brings October Retail Sales (prior 0.1%), Jobless Claims, November Empire Manufacturing (prior 21.1), and October import/export prices before the week concludes with October Industrial Production (prior 0.3%) and Capacity Utilization (prior 78.1%).

With the U.S. bond markets closed today, there is no market to discuss. Many lenders will still publish a rate sheet, however, despite a) not being able to use an active U.S. bond market, and b) not being able to sell mortgage-backed securities to hedge locks. If you’re driving in a thick fog, you’re probably not going to drive 65 mph.

Veterans are people who, at one point in their lives, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America, for an amount up to and including their lives. Remember ALL of our Vets. Vets and active military personnel are eligible for free items or discounts at many stores and services: ATT, Lowes, Home Depot, the list goes on and on – pass this link on to vets!

Rob

People vote with their feet. Some population movements are dramatic and garner headlines around the world, others not so much. “About 130,000 more residents left California for other states last year than came here from them…” according to a Sacramento Bee review of the latest census estimates. “They most often went to cheaper, nearby states — and Texas. Since 2001, about 410,000 more people have left California for Texas than arrived from there. That’s roughly equivalent to the population of Oakland.” Perhaps some of those vacated houses will be purchased by Zillow who the Houston Chronicle is telling us is launching a service called Zillow Offers early next year in Houston. Zillow will be making cash offers on homes from qualified sellers and then will list the house for sale.

Jobs

Are you a branch manager who wants a bigger piece of the profitability you bring to your company? At Network Funding, we have a Producing Branch Manager compensation plan that puts the branch manager back in the driver’s seat with branch P&L visibility, control, and a bigger piece of the pie. Call or e-mail EVP, Brett Snortland to get your piece of the profit (832-545-4653).

Calling all AEs! New Penn Financial, a leading nationwide lender, is expanding its TPO channel with opportunities available throughout the country. New Penn offers an unparalleled product lineup to fit the increasingly diverse needs of today’s borrowers. Learn more about available positions and breadth of product from New Penn’s Regional Sales Managers. Dave Weatherford (South Central & Midwest Regional Sales Manager) and Shawn Crowley (Northeast Regional Sales Manager) recently joined New Penn from Quicken Loans and are excited to grow their teams. Seasoned New Penn Regional Managers Tony Hale (Southeast Regional Sales Manager) and Michael McCarthy (West Regional Sales Manager) are looking to increase production by adding AEs with industry experience. Reach out to the Regional Sales Managers above or to Mark Melini (VP National Wholesale Sales Manager) for more details.

SocialSurvey is expanding its national sales footprint and is looking for 2 National Bank / Key Account Managers. “SocialSurvey is the nation’s leading mortgage reviews platform, now offering social media compliance monitoring as a part of its integrated platform. We also automate the complete resolution process for any negative reviews. SocialSurvey creates over 600,000 verified mortgage company reviews annually and shares those reviews more than 4,000,000 times on social media sites, Zillow and Google Reviews helping to boost online reputation. Social Survey also acts as a powerful enterprise feedback tool that drives employee engagement and behavior. We “Create WOW” for our partners. This is a great opportunity for somebody with the right experience and contacts. SocialSurvey is offering salary, commission and equity to the right candidate.” If this is fit for you, or you know somebody, send confidential resume and contact info to Pat Gaby.

Lender products and services

“Non-QM loans closing in 2 weeks or less: ClearEdge Lending is service driven and sets itself apart by focusing on simplicity and speed at point-of-sale. Issuing LE’s/CD’s, full underwrites, loan scenario requests, or bank statement reviews completed same day or next day. Submission to close as fast as 11 days. Non-QM products are critical in today’s lending environment and at ClearEdge we are a leader in the space offering a broad menu of programs for mortgage brokers. We do not offer Retail lending and are the end-investor which allows us to make critical credit decisions – – same day. As a year-end special, we are waiving our Admin Fee if you submit your loan by 12/31. Contact our head of Production, Matt Shaw, for more info.

Now that we are half way through Q4 and planning sessions are under way, more lenders are searching for volume and margin. Look at Construction lending and Rehab lending (203K/Homestyle/Fix and Flip) and let CFSI Loan Management, a full service construction risk mitigation company, help you manage the construction process from beginning to end. “With our technology and experienced team, we help our lending partners ensure that the contractor and project feasibility phase is reviewed prior to loan approval and after loan funding we provide full service fund control (including lien releases) and a national inspection platform that allows our clients to ensure that the project is progressing on time and the percent complete is accurate for funding each draw. Lenders manage credit risk, CFSI manages construction risk. Let CFSI Loan Management help you with your renovation or ground up construction loan programs.” Please contact President Brian Mingham for information.

HomeScout®-HBM helps lenders close 2 to 3 more transactions a month by enhancing consumer engagement, and introducing them to a home buying experiences that is as seamless as their favorite online shopping app. HomeScout provides consumers 100% MLS listing data and the ability to get preapproved, collapsed into a single user experience. Automated alerts for newly listed homes drive buyers back to the app and loan officer for detailed pricing information and helps prevent online rate shopping. The HBM Dash monitors buyer activities and provides critical business intelligence through online activity reporting, automated alerts and one-touch communications to engage buyers and convert more purchase transactions. Build trust with borrowers by providing the right information at the right time, without the distractions from strangers who bought their private information online. Find out more by contacting them HERE and scheduling a demo or give them a call at 952-831-0623.

Trainings and Events

Did you miss Todd Duncan’s 3 Steps to Achieve Massive Success in 2019 Broadcast last week? If so, don’t worry, you’re in luck! Todd just announced that he’s replaying the broadcast three more times this Thursday for FREE. If you want 2019 to be your best year ever, clear your schedule for this powerful 45-minute broadcast that promises to teach you how to build a success plan to 5x to 8x your current income, without working any additional hours. Todd’s passion is to equip you to have a different life experience! Join Todd this Thursday to learn the formula to achieve massive success in your business and your life as you head into 2019. What do you have to lose? It’s FREE! Click here to grab your spot, and don’t forget to bring a friend!

Join National Mortgage Professional Magazine for another complimentary nmp Webinar “How to Generate More Referrals with Social Media” this Thursday, November 15, at 2PM EST. Millions of people are flocking online every day to buy, sell, collaborate, and connect. We know that the attention is no longer on worn out billboards or bulky yellow pages. But how can you stand out in an over saturated digital marketplace where the technology and the rules are constantly changing? In this 60-minute webinar, social media influencer Michaela Alexis, will take you behind-the-scenes to show you the secrets of success when it comes to leveraging social media to drive your pipeline forward. Register for this free webinar here.

Fintech is evolving faster than ever, and consumer expectations for speed, convenience and personalization are at an all-time high. Lenders find themselves continually identifying and integrating new technologies, often without knowing whether they’re making the right choice to grow their business. Implementation. Total Expert and Guaranteed Rate will share top strategies to empower your organization with the right technology. Explore how to establish pre-implementation goals that ensure success, avoid common implementation mistakes, onboard in record time, bolster adoption rates and design a future-proof tech stack for revenue growth. Interested but can’t attend? Sign up anyway to receive the recording.

XINNIX wants to help all mortgage professionals get ahead of the curve in 2019 and discover how they can take their individual and branch production to new heights through the power of effective planning. Register for the free webinar, Business Planning for Success, schedules on November 14th at 10 AM ET.

MCT, a mortgage hedge advisory and secondary marketing software firm, announced the upcoming launch of MSRlive!, a powerful web-based platform designed to effectively support lenders’ efforts to build, maintain and optimize their servicing portfolios. MSRlive! delivers highly accurate pricing for servicing portfolio valuations by automatically evaluating scenarios using more than 400 different factors that are fully customizable based on lender preferences. Users can effectively forecast and manage their portfolios, predicting the impact of market shifts. The solution will be officially released at the IMN’s first annual Residential Mortgage Servicing Rights Forum in Los Angeles on November 5th. Interested parties can join an upcoming MSRlive! webinar that will be held on November 15th for additional information.

HomeReady^® mortgage can help more of your low- to moderate-income borrowers become homeowners with as little as 3% down. Join Fannie Mae on November 15 at 2PM ET for a live webinar geared toward loan officers (but open to all lenders and housing professionals). This webinar will demonstrate how HomeReady features can help you serve more borrowers and grow your business and discuss flexibilities specific to HomeReady.

Ditech’s November’s training schedule is currently posted.

The 2018 NAMB National Conference will be held December 8th-10th at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas. Larry King will be speaking, as well as many mortgage luminaries including a session featuring Freedom CEO Stan Middleman and Angelo Mozilo comparing the beginnings of their companies, the evolution of lending, and discussing their thoughts on what the future holds.

On December 11^th, industry leaders, Patrick Stone and Ken Markison will take you inside the economic environment and alert you to the compliance concerns ahead in 2019. Save your seat and register for this Economic and Regulatory webinar today.

Join October Research, LLC 2PM ET Dec. 11 for its annual Economic and Regulatory Outlook webinar. Hear from Patrick Stone, Executive Chairman & Founder of Williston Financial Group and Ken Markison, Of Counsel at Weiner Brodsky Kider PC as they walk you through the economic environment and compliance concerns you need to be aware of in the coming year. Register today at www.OctoberStore.com.

Don’t miss registering for the December 15^th NMMLA annual Teddy Bear and Blanket Drive luncheon with guest speaker, Mayor Tim Keller.

Oh, Shift! Session #3 – Flow: PST, Dec 12, 12-1PM PST, National MI University presents the third webinar in a powerful six-part series. Best-selling author and Executive Coach, Jennifer Powers, MCC’s “Flow” helps you learn how to practice acceptance of people and circumstances so you spend less time in resistance and more time in the state of peace, productivity…and flow…

A Look Ahead to Social Media Trends 2019: PDT, Dec 13, 12-1PM PST. Does your social platform appeal to the borrowers of today? Social media continues to grow as the new storefront for businesses to attract consumers. Today’s customers are highly engaged 24/7 with the popularity of “stories” and live video features. This has created a unique opportunity for lenders to build authentic and transparent voices focused on quality storytelling. Join Kristen Messerli, founder of Cultural Outreach to discuss 2019 predicted trends and get your social media strategy ready for the New Year! Click here: National MI to register for these classes.

The Mortgage Collaborative’s 2019 Winter Conference will take place February 17-19 at the J.W. Marriott in Austin, TX. TMC’s conferences are the only in the industry where the lender attendees craft the agenda, and not surprisingly, are very different from other industry conferences and events. The interactive agenda will feature over 30 lender led discussion-based educational breakout sessions, a heavy emphasis on peer-to-peer networking and experiences with third parties and exchange of best practices, with a sharp focus on lender growth and efficiency solutions. For more information, visit www.mortgagecollaborative.com or contact TMC COO Rich Swerbinsky.

Capital markets

Optimal Blue’s Digital Loan Trading Platform, Resitrader, has experienced record growth over the last year in three key areas – trading volume, participant growth, and the expansion of offerings. The company reported that loan trading volume has increased over 300% in the last year, while simultaneously increasing the offer-to-purchase rate for sellers on the platform. Proving its reputation as the largest industry destination for digital loan trading, Resitrader also experienced phenomenal growth in new participants. Last month, Resitrader on-boarded 17 new sellers and has experienced 354% seller growth over the last year. Related to the expansion of offerings, the recent release of pricing and commitment automation with Freddie Mac and the added support for new loan trade types like AOT and CRA trades have brought considerable value to platform participants. Interactive Digital Loan Trading Platforms no longer seem to be a future vision for the industry – they’ve arrived and are thriving.

Despite yesterday’s bond market being closed, stocks grabbed the headlines with another precipitous drop. Economic data over the last week was mostly in line with expectations with the exception of the Producer Price Index. PPI in October increased a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent, double the forecast of +0.3 percent. Excluding trade services, food and energy, PPI was up a moderate 0.2 percent for the month. Oil prices have been on the decline, however, since early October – and President Trump tweeted about it yesterday. The labor market remains strong with unemployment claims easing slightly and job openings and hiring remained at robust in October. And remember that mortgage applications slid 4.0 percent for the week ending November 2 with refis down 34.4 percent from a year ago and purchases down 3.36 percent as mortgage rates continue to tick up.

For economic news today, there isn’t much: the NFIB Business Optimism Index for October (bit of a down move), some “Fedspeak,” and the October budget deficit. We start the trading week with the 10-year yielding 3.16% and agency MBS prices better a smidge versus Friday’s close.

Just got back from my friend’s funeral. He died after being hit on the head with a tennis ball.

It was a lovely service.

Rob

Want to spend $100 monthly to pay for $40 parking and $20 beers, but not see the basketball court? Contact the Warriors for your pass. Speaking of monthly payments, borrowers are sometimes confused when they’ve been sending their P&I to one company, and they receive a letter stating their “servicing has been sold” and to start sending their payments somewhere else. LOs should know that servicing values impact borrower pricing just as much as the mortgage-backed security market. Rates go up, servicing becomes more valuable; rates go down and values go down due to refi risk. I have a few notes worth a skim of current servicing trends.

Jobs & business opportunities

A seasoned and highly productive Michigan-based Consumer Direct team, in the process of being misplaced through bank acquisition, is seeking a new home. The opportunity includes 1 executive leader, 1 producing sales manager, 8 originators, 2 processors and 1 sales coordinator. The platform specializes in purchase and refinance portfolio retention (inbound, outbound, credit triggers, home for sale leads, CRM) as well as new customer acquisition. The team works extremely well together and is highly motivated to stay intact as either an addition to an existing operation or as a start-up / build. A chartered bank is preferred but will entertain independent lenders as well. If seriously interested in learning more about this opportunity, please send inquiries to John Korch.

“It seems like every time you turn on the news, you hear something negative about mortgage industry layoffs. 180 there, another 400 over there…it can seem dire. But the good news? At Motto Mortgage, a rapidly expanding franchise network, we just don’t see it. In fact, the Motto Mortgage network is hiring. Motto is aggressively recruiting for Loan Originators in the following states: Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and others. Haven’t heard of us? Well, you will. With over 60 offices open in 28 states, the potential is limitless. Take that next step for your career and finally feel good about how you spend your 9-to-5. Contact us (866.668.8649) to learn more on why joining a Motto Mortgage office could mean big things for your career.”

A mortgage executive with over 20 years of industry experience is seeking a new opportunity. Previous experience includes senior management roles in operations, enterprise risk management, quality control/due diligence, and secondary marketing as well as company-wide workflow and systems development. Career highlights include reducing loan purchase time by 50% by optimizing the loan sale process, building the operations and servicing processes for a startup that grew to more than $4B in originations in less than 2 years, and lowering investor rejections 25% by developing and deploying an automated due diligence management system that streamlined reporting of investor concerns and improved file quality. If you’re interested in a leader with deep industry knowledge who can help you achieve your goals, send inquiries to me to pass along to the candidate.

For Loan Officers or Branch Managers looking for a change, MortgageRight sets itself apart from other companies by offering lower rates, better pricing, and higher compensation. MortgageRight is making a name for itself across the nation by operating with thinner margins than other industry players due to several key strategic factors put into place by ownership in order to help their producers win in a market like this one. Very simply, they can offer lower rates and/or a higher comp and they can back their claims up 100%. But don’t take their word for it. They’ll put any candidate in touch with recent hires and existing LOs to discuss their strengths along with everything else they have to offer. For a pricing engine walk through, contact Mike Russo at (866) 425-5456 or visit them at www.branchright.com.

Lender products and services

In continuing to honor veterans this week, TMS CAREspondent Lending is excited to announce it is now buying and accepting VA Alteration & Repair loans. To be eligible for purchase, the repairs must be completed, and the loan must be guaranteed. It’s a privilege to partner with correspondent lenders, to help those who served our country. For more information go here.

Floify, the mortgage industry’s next-gen point-of-sale, continues to live up to its reputation of delivering huge ROIs for LOs by automating their lending processes with borrowers, real estate agents, and other loan stakeholders. Floify’s interview-style 1003, secure document portal, automated email/text notifications, and dozens of integrations with credit reporting agencies, eSignature/disclosure vendors, and LOS providers, are just a few of the features that have helped mortgage pros hit record-breaking levels of production. Just ask Floify advocate and top-producing mortgage advisor, Alex McFadyen of The Mortgage Pug. With Floify, McFadyen experienced “double the clients” and “half the time spent in document collection,” as well as a “100% increase in profitability” – all without adding more staff. Now that’s some powerful stuff! If you’ve been considering Floify for your lending operation, there’s never been a better time to make your move to this leading mortgage solution. Request a live demo to learn more!

Deephaven Mortgage, a leading Non-QM lender, shines the light on Non-QM through its loan programs & technology, aimed at making loans responsibly for millions of Americans locked out of the market. The primary mortgage origination market continues to experience challenges in the form of margin compression, low inventory, and declining volumes. Originators are actively evaluating the introduction of Non-QM products to help offset some of the current market dynamics. Deephaven continually evaluates its products knowing the target market is significant. Studies show 16+M self-employed Americans (Bank Statement Loans), 83M Millennials (Non-Warrantable Condos), 75M Baby Boomers (Asset Depletion), and 57M Americans earned more in 17′ than 16′ (1 Year Alt Doc), and these are just a few underserved segments that represent a significant opportunity for originators. To find out more about how Non-QM can grow your business, contact Deephaven Wholesale or Deephaven Correspondent. (Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, CNN.)

Lender training events

Fintech is evolving faster than ever, and consumer expectations for speed, convenience and personalization are at an all-time high. Lenders find themselves continually identifying and integrating new technologies, often without knowing whether they’re making the right choice to grow their business. Join Total Expert and Guaranteed Rate on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 1PM CT for a webinar on Best Practices for Better Tech Implementation. Total Expert and Guaranteed Rate will share top strategies to empower your organization with the right technology. Explore how to establish pre-implementation goals that ensure success, avoid common implementation mistakes, onboard in record time, bolster adoption rates and design a future-proof tech stack for revenue growth. Interested but can’t attend? Sign up anyway to receive the recording.

Insellerate is hosting a webinar titled, “3 Secrets to Selling Cash Out Loans. As the mortgage market continues to evolve, top lenders are taking advantage of the cash out loan. They understand the value of this powerful revenue stream. Join the Insellerate webinar to learn an effective step-by-step process to selling cash out loans. This webinar will cover how you can craft the right messaging, develop the right sales approach, and which common myths might be holding you back. 3 Secrets to Selling Cash Out Loans, Thursday, 11/15, at 10am PST.

On Tuesday, November 20^th at 10AM PST, Sierra Pacific Mortgage will be hosting a webinar, “Not your Ordinary Assets”. Take this opportunity to become familiar with some common – and not so common – asset types that may support your borrower in closing a mortgage. This one-hour webinar will focus on the less common assets that your borrower may use in their mortgage transactions like tax refunds, real estate commissions, life insurance payments, and loans against retirement funds. Register today. Knowledge is power, and Sierra Pacific is determined to make you more powerful.

A few weeks back, Maxwell hosted “The Mortgage Executive Q4 Outlook” Webinar featuring a panel of seasoned mortgage industry executives sharing their own focus areas for Q4 and discussing how mortgage companies can navigate market challenges. Although we are just about halfway through the quarter, the insights are as relevant as ever for mortgage leaders and executives. They just released their recording of the webinar for all to listen. Click here to listen!

Borrower customer service

Clear communication is essential throughout the loan process, and the closing is no time to let communications fall off. When lenders call borrowers prior to closing to discuss figures, only 11 percent of borrowers go on to report unexpected rates and fees. Compare this with 38 percent who report unexpected rates and fees when they receive no call. In the latest edition of the MortgageSAT Monthly Tip, STRATMOR Group’s MortgageSAT Director Mike Seminari explores the NPS impact around this topic and answers the question, “How important is it to call the borrower before the closing?” Find this tip and others at MortgageSAT.com.

Fannie & Freddie keep on motoring

Let’s play some catch up on Agency news. It’s good to see what they’ve been up to over recent weeks to keep things in context. In the capital markets, Freddie has been on the common security platform for nearly two years. As a reminder, Freddie doesn’t know who actually owns its securities. It knows the couple hundred custodians. The “MBS” will be moving to “UMBS” (Uniform Mortgage Backed Security) next year, and hopefully lenders will see a cost savings by moving from hedging with Fannie TBAs, pairing off and putting loans into a Freddie security, into hedging and delivering UMBS.

One conversation topic is the “QM patch” that expires in January of 2021. As a reminder for non-underwriters, if a borrower’s loan is run through DU or LP, the DTI might be north of 43% on gross pay and still approved. Let’s say its 50% DTI on $10k per month of income. The borrower will basically have $5k to pay toward the loan payment and other debt, and $5k of cushion. But once you take out the typical borrower’s paycheck deductions, like taxes, medical insurance, and so on, the average borrower is left with very little. That doesn’t even take into account child care, tuition, car insurance, etc. – that cushion can disappear. Using net income may be one answer. Should the industry be focused on net or residual income instead of gross income in the DTI calculation? Let your Agency rep know and stay tuned!

FHFA, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have launched Mortgage Translations, a centralized clearinghouse to help borrowers with English language barriers. This clearinghouse of online resources will assist lenders, servicers, housing counselors, and other real estate professionals in serving limited English proficient (LEP) borrowers. The first phase of the launch consists of Spanish-language documents. According to the U.S. Census, persons who speak Spanish as their primary language comprise more than 60 percent of the LEP population in the U.S. Resources in four other languages commonly spoken by LEP households – Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog will be added in the coming years.

Native American tribes are dispersed widely throughout the U.S. and live predominantly in rural areas. When it comes to housing finance, they’re considered one of the most underserved populations in the country. The Duty to Serve rule issued by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directs the Agencies to improve the availability of mortgage financing for low- and moderate-income families, and specifically calls for a focus on federally recognized Native American tribes because of their unique circumstances and historical lack of access to mortgage lending. Freddie offers a program. In a new study, Kellie Coffey, Product Development Manager of Rural Initiatives, in collaboration with the Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research Group examined the unique cultural views on homeownership among Native Americans living on tribal lands by conducting individual interviews with lower-income Native Americans across seven tribes in New Mexico. Read the full report.

(Lots more Freddie, Fannie, conventional conforming updates tomorrow.)

Capital markets

Although oil prices are plummeting, yesterday the U.S. 10-year closed yielding 3.15% yesterday on no real news, save for the Treasury Budget. The Treasury Budget for October showed a deficit of $100.5 billion versus a deficit of $63.2 billion for the same period a year ago. This data is not seasonally adjusted, so the October deficit cannot be compared to the $119.1 billion surplus for September. Larger outlays were mostly due to higher Social Security spending, and higher spending on the Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Veteran Affairs. Internationally, the Italian government has reportedly maintained its fiscal targets for 2019 in written response to the European Commission. The refusal to lower next year’s deficit target could be met with disciplinary action from the EU.

Back here this morning, we’ve had weekly MBA mortgage applications for the week ending November 9 (-3.2% with refis at their lowest level in 18 years). After last week’s unexpected jump at the wholesale level, of particular interest is the Consumer Price Index report for October. Expectations were for headline and core to increase 0.3% and 0.2% MoM (versus 0.1% for both previously) and both met expectations. Fed Governor Quarles, Fed Chair Powell, SF Fed President Daly, and Dallas Fed President Kaplan all take the stage at some point today. Hump Day starts with Agency MBS prices unchanged from Tuesday’s close and the 10-year unchanged at 3.15%.

Local police are hunting for the “knitting needle lunatic” who has stabbed six people in the rump in the last 48 hours.

They believe the attacker could be following some kind of pattern.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

With only week until Thanksgiving there’s a lot going on – every one of these stats impacts lenders. CoreLogic tells us that there are 48,390 homes at risk from the current California wildfires. Believe in climate change or not, or in science or not, one study shows 386,000 homes are said to be at risk in the coming decades due to rising sea levels and coastal flooding. And according to the RV Industry Association, there are now a million Americans living in RVs full time. (Try counting them in the census, figuring out where they vote, where/if they pay taxes, or if 500 KOA Kampgrounds are enough.)

Jobs

A heavily-capitalized wholesale lender is looking across the country for a sales team to join its growing company. This nationwide lender offers competitive rates alongside a vast product portfolio and can leverage a centrally located and seasoned fulfillment team to scale quickly. Deeply experienced and committed leadership is looking to explode into the market in 2019. If your team is ready to kick off the new year with new opportunities, send me a note.

The Lakeview Wholesale team continues to grow and is pleased to announce the “recent additions of Account Executives Dan Tyner and Brandi Green-Lozano to serve our Southern California brokers. Having grown over 700% since 2017, Lakeview is one of the fastest-growing wholesale lenders and features innovative products such as No MI Platinum, an aggressively priced alternative to LPMI loans. ‘If a loan officer is even thinking about an LPMI loan, they’re crazy not to price it out against our No MI Platinum,’ says Greg O’Connor, Head of Wholesale Lending. ‘We’re extremely aggressive with our pricing on it and it’s a great option for first time homebuyers.’” The Lakeview Wholesale team has open positions with large territories for experienced Wholesale Account Executives in Arizona, Seattle and Northern California. Interested parties should contact Michael Cullen.

The Compliance Group, Inc. is seeking a full-time Quality Control Loan Processor and a full-time Quality Control Administrative Assistant. QC Loan Processors perform loan processing activities in accordance with agency requirements, government agencies and private investors, and can work at a remote location. QC Administrative Assistants perform administrative and reporting functions to support our QC Team in managing client projects. The QC Administrative Assistant would work in our Carlsbad, California office location. “We would love for you to be a part of our growing team!” Qualified applicants please send resumes to Michelle Doyle.

Fidelity Bank Mortgage is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with Retail Mortgage production offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Since 2008, the Mortgage division has grown to over 36 offices and over 500 employees. Fidelity Bank Mortgage is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae seller/servicer offering specialty products such as Portfolio Doctor Loans for eligible doctors, Construction-to-Permanent Loans, Escrow Holdback, and more. “The majority of our operational support is in the local markets, providing for the best possible customer service. Fidelity Bank Mortgage has one of the highest production averages per Loan Officer according to MBA/STRATMOR Peer Group Surveys and boasts well above average Performance and Loan Officer Loyalty. We are expanding into new markets and interested in Top Sales and Leadership Talent. Click here to contact David Rapson, Senior Vice President, Mortgage Production Manager, for more details.”

PrimeLending’s VA No Lender Fee home loans are a game-changer for veterans and active military looking to achieve their homeownership goals. Our heroes deserve a simple and stress-free home loan process with significant savings and benefits, and that’s exactly what they get with the PrimeLending VA Loan Program. Along with exclusive no lender fees, veterans also benefit from no down payment, no private mortgage insurance and competitive rates — that’s a combined savings up to thousands of dollars in upfront costs alone. With all of the VA perks, it’s easy to see why PrimeLending is a premier lender for VA homebuyers across the country. If you’re ready to deliver the ultimate VA loan experience, close more VA loans and help more military members become happy homeowners, contact Brian Miller today.

Lender products and services

As of October 2018, 100 mortgage lenders have signed with Loan Vision to utilize its financial management and accounting solution. Martin Kerr, President of Loan Vision shared, “On a monthly basis there is approximately 60,000 loans and $14 billion being accounted for across the US using Loan Vision. When you annualize that, those numbers are staggering to me. We absolutely believe the lenders embracing Loan Vision are doing that to have best in class systems across the organization, to streamline their whole organization to better serve the borrower.” For more information, read the press release about Loan Vision’s

journey to 100 customers or contact Carl Wooloff.

Join National Mortgage Professional Magazine for another complimentary nmp Webinar “How to Generate More Referrals with Social Media” Today, November 15, 2018 at 2:00 PM EST sponsored by REMN Wholesale. Millions of people are flocking online every day to buy, sell, collaborate, and connect. We know that the attention is no longer on worn out billboards or bulky yellow pages. But how can you stand out in an over saturated digital marketplace where the technology and the rules are constantly changing? In this 60-minute webinar, social media influencer Michaela Alexis, will take you behind-the-scenes to show you the secrets of success when it comes to leveraging social media to drive your pipeline forward. Register for this free webinar here.

Unfortunately, as we have all witnessed, natural disasters and hurricanes will happen. The real question, though, is do you know if your subservicer is prepared to handle the aftermath of the crisis? Don’t wait until it’s too late to test the strength of your subservicer. They need to be proactive — not reactive! To help ensure your borrowers move through the recovery process as efficiently as possible, run through this new checklist from TMS that goes through everything your subservicer needs to be doing to successfully navigate a crisis.

Are you looking for a warehouse lender that understands your business needs? Maybe one that is not competing for market share with your branches or correspondent division? Comerica Bank’s approach to warehouse lending spans six decades and is just one piece of a much-larger, diversified business banking strategy. Comerica Bank is a $71 billion bank that focuses on serving the needs business owners. At Comerica Bank, our relationship begins with you, the mortgage banker. Please allow us the opportunity to tailor a warehouse solution to support your strategy and goals. With lines of credit from $5 million to over $100 million, we are proud to serve a broad spectrum of mortgage companies across the country. To see how Comerica Bank can raise your expectations of what a bank can be, contact Von Ringger (313-222-9285). Member FDIC. Equal Opportunity Employer.

Fannie & Freddie don’t stop

Let’s play some catch up on Agency news. It’s good to see what they’ve been up to in the primary markets over the last several weeks to keep things in context, especially as lenders inevitably follow their lead. So, in no particular order…

The Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2018-20 provides temporary selling requirements and flexibilities for certain mortgages secured by properties, or for borrowers with places of employment (as applicable), in eligible disaster areas impacted by Hurricane Michael.

announcing an update to our Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs), which will become effective on March 31, 2019. Many of the changes to the eligibility standards have been previously announced via the PMIERs Guidance. Our announcement underscores Freddie Mac’s commitment to working with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), mortgage insurers and other stakeholders in the housing industry to strengthen the housing finance system.” For more information see PMI Eligibility Requirements and Frequently Asked Questions.

So yes, under the direction of the FHFA, Fannie Mae has worked jointly with Freddie Mac to update the Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs), which were issued Sept. 27. The effective date for these PMIERs is March 31, 2019. Refer to FHFA’s news release and Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Insurers page for more information.

Freddie Mac has expanded its support in shared equity and sweat equity . Read the Single-Family News Center article to learn more about financing opportunities for rural housing and preserving affordable housing.

For certain home purchase transactions in rural high-needs areas, Fannie Mae may offer to waive the appraisal in exchange for a mandatory home property inspection. The rural high-needs appraisal waiver seeks to help low- to moderate-income borrowers avoid unanticipated, potentially high-cost, post-purchase repairs. This offer will be considered only for property locations designated as rural high-needs by the Duty to Serve requirements. Click here to view a heat map of the High Needs Counties throughout the United States.

Freddie Mac has a Loan Advisor tool… its Condo Project Advisor. Request unit-level condo waivers for existing condo projects that need special review or consideration.

It’s well known that Native Americans face homeownership challenges, which has made them one of the most underserved populations in the country. To better understand this group’s unique cultural views on homeownership, Fannie Mae has conducted interviews with a small sample of lower-income Native Americans who plan to purchase, or have recently purchased, a home on tribal lands. Read the blog by Kellie Coffey, product development manager for rural initiatives at Fannie Mae, or check out the full report.

You can now submit to Loan Product Advisor^®and start delivering Freddie Mac’s consolidated Home Possible^® mortgage – with new flexibilities for your borrowers with very low to moderate incomes. Read the Single-Family News Center article for additional information on what’s been added to Home Possible and how it can help you expand your business.

As part of normal operations and prudent risk management, Fannie Mae is implementing DU® Version 10.3 the weekend of Dec. 8th. The release notes have been updated to include a reserve requirement for cash-out refinance loan casefiles with debt-to-income ratios exceeding 45%. This update is a part of adjustments to the DU credit risk assessment to account for 2018 market conditions (rising interest rates, waning refinances, and higher loan-to-value lending). Refer to the “Debt-to-Income Ratio” section of the release notes for details.

Fannie Mae issued a reminder that applications for DU Refi Plus/Refi Plus under the Home Affordable Refinance Program® (HARP®), will be accepted through the end of this year. DU Refi Plus/Refi Plus applications must be started no later than Dec. 31, and loans must be delivered by Sept. 30, 2019. Visit the Making Home Affordable page for more information.

Freddie Mac has released its third, fourth and fifth white papers of the eight-part Duty to Serve series designed to shed light on underserved multifamily housing markets. The papers examine state incentives through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program that encourage affordability in high opportunity areas, and the use of mixed-income housing in areas of concentrated poverty.

Fannie Mae has updated the Servicer Self-Assessment to help you effectively manage the Fannie Mae loans you service and ensure that you meet its requirements. Two new sections, “Master Servicer Oversight” and “Shared Processes,” will provide additional guidance. Visit the STAR Program page to find more resources, and contact your Fannie Mae account team if you have questions.

Capital markets

Rates have slid lower with the 10-year settling last night at 3.12%. Why? Thoughts that the Administration’s policies are hurting the U.S. economy, more international geopolitical news, this time surrounding Brexit. British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that her cabinet has approved the draft withdrawal agreement. Elsewhere, the Italian government replied to the European Commission’s request for a corrected budget, but the main points of the plan were left unchanged. The European Commission will issue a formal reply next week. And China reported disappointing Retail Sales for October (+8.6% YoY; expected +9.2%).

Domestically, CPI figures point to a firming in consumer inflation, which fits the Federal Reserve’s inclination to raise rates again in December. Markets this morning are digesting remarks from Fed Chair Powell and Dallas Fed President Kaplan, though neither showed much wavering in the Fed’s commitment to hike rates December, with odds still over 75%.

We’ve already had a busy economic calendar today: Retail Sales (+.8% vs. expected unchanged), import prices (expected unchanged, imports were +.5%), weekly jobless claims (216k, about as expected), and both the Empire State (expected to decline, it rose to “23.3”) and Philadelphia Fed’s (down to “12.9,” as expected) manufacturing indices. September business inventories are seen increasing 0.3% MoM versus 0.5% previously. Today’s Fed speak calendar also starts at 10AM ET with Governor Quarles, Chair Powell, Atlanta’s Bostic, and Minneapolis’ Kashkari all on the docket. After the initial spate of news, we find rates slightly lower with the 10-year at 3.10% and agency MBS prices better by .125. Deceleration?

(Thanks to Rich B. for this one.)

A loan officer took his real estate agent client to an NFL game one Sunday afternoon. They had great seats right behind their team’s bench. After the game, the LO asked him how he liked it.

“Oh, I really liked it.” the agent replied, “Great game, exciting, but I can’t understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents.”

Dumbfounded, the LO asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, they flipped a coin, one team got it and then for the rest of the game, all they kept screaming was…’Get the quarterback! Get the quarterback!’ I’m like…Helloooooo? It only 25 cents!”

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

Why is the housing market sluggish despite a solid U.S. economy, solid demographics, and pent-up demand? Those don’t matter if prices are out of reach relative to incomes, and housing appreciation has outpaced income growth for a long time. And lending standards have remained more rigorous than they were during the last housing boom, so it has been harder for people to stretch to buy a home. (Veteran lenders will tell you, however, that not everyone deserves to own a home.) The inability of people to buy homes they can’t really afford is great news in terms of avoiding another crisis or even a bubble, but not so great for the near-term outlook for housing.

Jobs & layoffs

Ethos Lending is looking for the best AEs. “In a rising and volatile rate environment, just one day’s market movement can mean the difference between winning or losing a borrower. Ethos Lending – the mortgage industry’s best kept secret – can help solve that problem. Our proprietary technology gives us the ability to significantly reduce the cost to manufacture a loan, which allows for Ethos to consistently offer a top-3 price in both agency and Non-QM. In addition, our lock to fund velocity is 50% faster than the industry and our world class operations provides industry leading customer service, including direct access to underwriters. While the rest of the industry is contracting, we are expanding. We are looking to add only best-in-class sales professionals and have select territories open across the country. If reading this excites you, please contact Bryson Bede.”

Wells Fargo notified 1,000 employees, including 900 mortgage lending professionals, that their jobs will soon be eliminated. It’s the first major round of layoffs in a previously announced plan to cut the bank’s workforce by as much as 10% over the next three years. The decreases in the company’s mortgage division primarily reflect ongoing decreases in the number of customers in default and declines in application volume. In Des Moines, where its home lending division is based, “The Coach” will eliminate 400 jobs. (Those impacted can post their resumes for free online at www.LenderNews.com.)

Lender services & products

Is your correspondent lending business prepared to grow in 2019? To find out, check out this new and trending industry blog from TMS. Don’t risk your business by not being ready for the next year! As a top 15 correspondent lender with more than 20 years of experience, TMS taps into the expertise of its leaders to give a fresh take on what you need to know to increase your margins now and through all of next year. Learn about industry trends, the latest news around the election, and how to grow your business in TMS’s CAREspondent Connection.

“Tired of fighting your software only to end up behind a stack of spreadsheets? After spending over a year trying to configure its generic commission management system to meet its mortgage industry-specific needs, BBMC Mortgage (which will soon join forces with Synergy One Lending/Mutual of Omaha Mortgage) had to cut its losses. Producing over $2B annually, BBMC needed a technology partner that understood the difference between a first and second lien and a system that could automatically handle tiered commission plans based on custom business rules. That’s why BBMC turned to LBA Ware’s CompenSafe, the first mortgage industry-specific automated compensation calculation platform. According to Stephen Bennett, BBMC’s senior vice president and regional director, implementing CompenSafe has cut payroll processing time by 95% and all but eliminated payroll errors. Download the free case study to learn how CompenSafe helped BBMC take the spreadsheets out of payroll and automate a tiered commission program.”

Evolve Mortgage Services offers a seamless way to reduce costs and increase profitability without worrying about LO Comp or lengthy technology integrations. For 25+ years Evolve has offered a truly variable cost model that helps you scale your business during periods of growth, and greatly minimizes losses during slow periods. We provide cohesive solutions across the entire loan lifecycle that interoperate or work independently. From Safe Act underwriting, to closing and loan delivery for originators and acquisition due diligence for investors, we adapt our solutions to fit your business. Plus, if you already deliver to one of our many large aggregator clients, we can offer additional cost-saving opportunities and benefits. Our unique structure allows us to deliver off-shore cost structures using on-shore resources. Whether you are a retail, wholesale, or correspondent lender, Evolve can help you manage your business and improve your margins in this increasingly challenging environment. Click here to learn more.

What’s new out there?

It’s always good for lenders and vendors to have a sample of who’s doing what out there. In no particular order…

Think there’s no new companies or innovation in loan servicing? I hinted at that recently in Kansas, and the head of capital markets with whom I was speaking countered with, “Have you heard of Scratch?” I hadn’t.

HELOCs are a hot topic what with millions of borrowers happy with their 3.5% 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. Prosper, a leading peer-to-peer lending firm, is launching a new digital HELOC product in January 2019 that will deliver loan estimates in 1 to 2 seconds and a soft pull on credit. “Applying for and obtaining a HELOC has historically been a difficult and lengthy process, leaving many consumers frustrated with an approval process that can take days to weeks. According to a recent TransUnion study, as home values rise, more and more people will be looking at a HELOC as a potential option for accessing credit. The study reported that an estimated 10 million consumers will take out HELOCs between 2018 and 2022, which would be more than double the number originated from 2012-2016.” (Go to Prosper if you have questions.)

Equator, a leading provider of residential loan default software and marketing solutions for many of the country’s top servicers, real estate agents and vendors, announced the launch of a mortgage servicing blockchain solution. Through an agreement with Factom, Inc., the Factom® Harmony blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform is integrated into the Equator® PRO software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. The addition of Factom’s Harmony provides Equator customers the opportunity to incorporate the recordation of data, documents and key audit events onto Factom’s blockchain solution. Factom’s Harmony provides options for individual loans to be tracked as individual chains of data on the blockchain. This design allows Equator PRO customers the option to embed blockchain preservation into their various workflows, allowing for an immutable and encrypted blockchain audit record to be built for each loan and each workflow step.

Digital home loan closings? Redfin has partnered with Notarize: Online closings are now available to customers of Title Forward, Redfin’s title and settlement company, and Redfin Mortgage, Redfin’s lending arm.

Mortgage fintech LoanSnap launched VA Smart Loans, which will provide personalized options to current and former service members applying for a home loan.

Citadel Servicing Corp. debuted its new product for five to 35-unit properties and mixed-use containing a livable unit with a bed. The Outside Dodd-Frank Plus Program builds on the company’s highly successful Outside Dodd-Frank Program to offer loans on properties up to 35 units. Loan amounts are up to $3 million with a max LTV of 75%. “Basically, if it has a bed or living residence attached to it, we can fund it”, said CSC’s founder and CEO Daniel Perl. Kyle Gunderlock, President & Chief Operating Officer, stated, “We saw the need in the market and created a program that would build on our popular ODF product.” For the first time, CSC will offer products to business entities and trusts. A Personal Guarantee is required as the major addition to the normal and usual due diligence items.

You can qualify your self-employed and 1099 borrowers with 12 Months of Bank Statements. Contact inquiry@citadelservicing.com for more information.

Pacific Bay Lending Group has a new product: Pacbay Portfolio VOE (PBPV) starting at only 4.65%. Contact Jennie Ensunsa (323-346-7474) for details.

LoanStream Mortgage has an all new Credit Grade on NanQ Product Line: LoanStream “Select”. Questions? Contact LoanStream at Inquiries@lswholesale.com

The Lending Answer’s SIVA Elite is now available to both W2 and Self-Employed Borrowers. An incredible product for individuals who have too many write-offs on their tax returns to qualify for a Full-Doc Mortgage or just haven’t had long enough seasoning at their current employment. Contact The Lending Answer for details.

A bank statement loan is the perfect solution for the self-employed who do not have the tax documents proving their ability to repay. Contact Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions for non-QM alternatives: info@angeloakms.com

PennyMac posted an announcement: Release of Non-Delegated VA.

Have you been searching for NIVA loan options? Check out the ACC Mortgage product matrix and contact Kelly Brown for details.

DocMagic Inc. announced that QRL Financial Services, a nationwide provider of residential mortgage lending services for community banks and credit unions, has leveraged its eVault technology to purchase eNotes. The deal will make QRL one of the first investors outside of the GSEs to begin purchasing eNotes. Because QRL is using DocMagic’s SmartDocs, all documents retain a tamper evident seal to ensure data and document integrity. “Offering a truly paperless solution is the future. Consumers will expect and demand a closing experience that is more timely, convenient and informative,” says Alex Rivera, managing director at QRL Financial Services. “QRL’s ability to purchase and service eNotes will allow the credit unions and community banks that we service to stay ahead of the technology curve as they compete with the larger institutions in the race to improve the mortgage experience.”

Capital markets

Based on analytics from MCT, approximately 90% of all secondary market transactions expose borrower addresses to non-buying bidders. This dissemination of address data is a growing data security concern, especially for parties concerned with EPO performance and servicing pre-payment speeds. MCT is moving to improve this process by replacing addresses with geocode data during whole loan bidding, an industry first. “The only investor that should eventually see the property address is the winner of the loan,” stated Phil Rasori, COO. “Our solution to this security concern is a proprietary geocoding process specific to our BAM platform that enables investors to price LMI-CRA incentives without the address.”

MCT is currently coordinating with all correspondent investors on implementing this upgraded process with a goal of completely replacing addresses by 2019. Learn more about the most efficient, secure, and profitable way to conduct loan sales by registering for an upcoming webinar on MCT’s Bid Auction Manager (BAM).

Western Asset Management which specializes in fixed income, has a new research report about the Freddie/Fannie Single Security. The good news is that Western is viewing the new security exactly as Fannie and Freddie had hoped – as a fungible security (meaning there’s no distinction between the two GSE issuers) with a Treasury backstop. Lisa Tibbitts with Legg Mason writes, “As we move closer to June 2019, when the UMBS will first be issued, it’s noteworthy that a large fixed income investor is on board and working with its clients to be sure they understand UMBS. This was a big unknown about three years ago when the GSEs began working toward a single security.”

Blue Water Financial Technologies announced it has developed an electronic co-issue pricing and trading platform, MSR-X. This cross investor and fully integrated web-based technology solution for co-issuing purposes allows lenders and investors to view portfolios and transactional data in real time. The platform brings greater efficiencies to the co-issue process and lowers costs for both investors and originators by reducing any manual input of pricing and increasing the immediacy of information. Buyers and sellers can access MSR-X via the web and view information in real-time. Originators can use the platform to reduce margin exposure, lower costs and streamline their secondary market operations. And the originators don’t pay to participate, rather, the investors do. In return, the investors obtain transactional data, they have better yield certainty through the purchase process and much of the administrative paperwork has been simplified. If you are an originator or investor who would like to access MSR-X, call 866.217.0246 or email inquiries@bluewater-fintech.com.

Turning to yesterday’s bond market, and therefore rates, the U.S.10-year halted this week’s downward trend Thursday, closing yesterday’s session unchanged at 3.12% as Treasuries across the curve ended the day on a mixed note. Across the Pacific, China presented a list of several concessions that officials would be willing to make in order to resolve the ongoing issues with the United States, though the list does not mention structural reforms that have been demanded by President Trump. Across the Atlantic, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she intends to push forward with her draft of the withdrawal bill despite the resignation of four ministers, including Brexit minister Dominic Raab. Despite some international doom and gloom, the week hasn’t been short on optimism, with optimistic comments from both Fed Chair Powell on the economy and U.S. Trade Rep Lighthizer on the next tariff tranche on Chinese imports potentially being put on hold.

Today sees a busy economic calendar which precedes a light U.S. calendar next week with markets celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday: October industrial production and capacity utilization at 9:15am ET, the KC Fed Manufacturing Index for November at 11AM ET, Chicago Fed President Evans in a moderated Q&A, and finally, at 4PM, the Treasury will release the September TIC data. Friday begins with rates little changed from Thursday’s close: the 10-year is yielding 3.09% and agency MBS prices are unchanged.

Set your Wi-Fi password to 244466666

That way you can say your password is 123456.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

The economy is like the weather, with everyone talking about it but there is nothing we can do about it. Some believe that growth will continue and rates will continue higher. Other aren’t so sure. (Thanks to California’s Steve A. who sent this note about Home Depot’s warning of a slow down ahead.) Sure, people in their 20s and 30s have heard about 3.5% mortgage rates for quite some time, but we’re in a different environment, and plenty of folks in our biz started their careers when rates were in the teens. Although not always easy when an LO is dealing with a hesitant borrower, it helps to keep rates’ impact on the housing market in perspective.

With that in mind, Mark Fleming, Chief Economist with First American Financial Corporation, wrote a piece that I received in my email titled, “Why the Housing Market Can Thrive at 5 Percent Mortgage Rates.” “(Recently) the 30-year, fixed mortgage rate hit a seven-and-a-half-year high of 4.86 percent. Most experts believe mortgage rates will continue to rise, reaching 5 percent in 2019. Despite all the talk about rising mortgage rates, it’s important to evaluate this in context. While today’s rates appear higher than the 3 to 3.5 percent rates of 2016, they remain well below the historic average of 8 percent. Yet, the increase in borrowing costs for home buyers, given increasing home prices, has prompted discussion about how the housing market will respond to higher rates.

“Title agents and real estate professionals surveyed by First American believe that the housing market is fairly resilient to rising rates. For example, earlier this year, we asked title agents and real estate professionals what mortgage rates would need to hit before discouraging potential first-time buyers from the market. Their estimate: 5.6 percent. When we asked the same question in the first quarter of 2017, the response was 5.4 percent.

“Historically, mortgage rates have exceeded these thresholds and people have still purchased homes, so what can we expect as rates continue to rise in the near term?

“The history of mortgage rates may provide some insight. We examined mortgage rates and economic history over the last four decades, and identified four distinct mortgage rate eras that may offer helpful context for today’s home buyers.

“The 1980s: The Federal Reserve’s War on Inflation. It’s almost unimaginable for today’s buyers, but home buyers in 1981 were faced with 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages at over 18 percent. Rates declined from the 1981 high point, leveling to around 10 percent at the end of the decade. At the time, the Federal Reserve, under Chairman Paul Volcker, was waging a war on inflation. In an effort to tame double-digit inflation, the Federal Reserve drove interest rates higher. The Fed raises rates in a strong economy to encourage sustainable economic growth, and cuts rates when the economy needs support. Today, the economy is strong – unemployment is low, inflation is on target, consumer confidence is high, and wages are rising. To promote further sustainable economic growth, the Federal Reserve today is increasing interest rates.

“1990s and Early 2000s: The Information Boom. In the 1990s, inflation calmed down. Mortgage rates tend to follow the same path as long-term bond yields. Rising inflation will push up long-term bond yields to compensate investors for the higher level of inflation, and mortgage rates typically follow suit. The 30-year, fixed mortgage rate averaged 8.4 percent through most of the 1990s, before dipping below 7 percent in 1998.

“A major reason for the decline in inflation was strong economic growth due to the arrival of the internet and information technologies, which prompted corporate capital investment, enhanced productivity and spawned investment in new internet-based ‘Dot Com’ businesses. In the early 2000’s, after the ‘Dot Com’ stock market bubble burst and sparked a mild recession, the Fed lowered interest rates further. The 30-year, fixed-mortgage rate reached what was then a historic low point – below 6 percent in 2003.

“2006-2008: Housing Bubble and Bust. House prices always went up, nationally, until they didn’t. The collapse of the housing bubble exposed the financial system’s excessive leverage, contributing to the financial crisis and the Great Recession. To combat the crisis, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates as much as possible and implemented an unprecedented monetary stimulus policy known as quantitative easing (increasing the money supply by buying government and mortgage bonds). With that, a new era of cheap credit was upon us. As a result, mortgage rates fell below 5 percent in 2009, a level the housing market had not experienced in more than 50 years.

“2010-Present: Recovery. Riding the wave of quantitative easing and the Fed’s continued monetary stimulus, mortgage rates entered this decade at 4.7 percent. By 2012, they had fallen to about 3.5 percent. In 2013, rates increased to nearly 4 percent in response to the Fed’s announcement that it would taper quantitative easing. The ‘taper tantrum’ aside, mortgage rates remained near or below 4 percent until 2016. Since then, the 10-year Treasury yield has risen as the Fed slowly tightened monetary policy, and the economy expanded. The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage followed suit and increased to the current level of 4.86 percent.

“Today’s Rates May Not be as Great, But They are Still Below Eight. [Catchy Mark!] What is the lesson from this trip through the “mortgage-rate” past? The recent period of mortgage rates between 3 and 3.5 percent is a historic anomaly, as challenging as it might be to believe so after experiencing it for 10 years. Historically, the housing market has performed well when mortgage rates were considerably higher than today. Rates averaged 6 percent between 2001 and 2009. In 2000, they averaged 8.05 percent. In the decade between 1980 and 1990, they averaged a whopping 12.5 percent.

“The key take-away, however, is that people were still buying homes across all of these mortgage rate eras. Mortgage rates have adjusted in the past in response to high inflation, a technological revolution, a housing crisis and a financial collapse. However, today’s higher mortgage rates are due to a near record-long economic expansion, and a strong labor market. If you think 5 percent is high, take a walk down mortgage memory lane.”

Blockchain & IT security

What’s the Saturday commentary without a little blockchain chatter? As a refresher, a blockchain, originally block chain, is a growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a time stamp, and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of the data. Should title companies and MERS be nervous it will replace them? Ask them.

Yesterday the commentary mentioned Equator which has launched a mortgage servicing blockchain solution. Through an agreement with Factom, Inc., the Factom® Harmony blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform is integrated into the Equator® PRO software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. The addition of Factom’s Harmony provides Equator customers the opportunity to incorporate the recordation of data, documents and key audit events onto Factom’s blockchain solution. Factom’s Harmony provides options for individual loans to be tracked as individual chains of data on the blockchain. This design allows Equator PRO customers the option to embed blockchain preservation into their various workflows, allowing for an immutable and encrypted blockchain audit record to be built for each loan and each workflow step.

In other fields it is making inroads. Stock exchanges are finding innovative ways to harness blockchain to accelerate and improve back-office functions. Swiss exchange owner SIX Group will launch a digital asset-trading platform next year, while Australia’s ASX will introduce a clearing and settlement platform based on blockchain in 2021.

The Financial Times reports that, “The banking sector has seen years of overhype and experimentation surrounding distributed ledger technology, but one project led by JPMorgan Chase, the Interbank Information Network (IIN), is quietly producing results at scale. The IIN is essentially a more efficient way for participating banks to transfer US dollars across borders and institutions. Its elevator pitch is that problematic payments, which are currently being held up for as much as two days for compliance issues or to resolve errors, could go through almost instantly under the new system.”

Did you know that most ATMs can be hacked in under 20 minutes, and even less, in certain types of attacks? Yup. Here’s the actual report.

Grandma’s Invitation

Dear Family,

I’m not dead yet. Thanksgiving is still important to me. If being in my Last Will and Testament is important to you, then you might consider being with me for my favorite holiday.

Dinner is at 2:00

Not 2:15

Not 2:05

Two. 2:00

Arrive late and you get what’s left over.

Last year, that moron, Ron, fried a turkey in one of those contraptions and practically burned the deck off the house. This year, the only peanut oil used to make the meal will be from the secret scoop of peanut butter I add to the carrot soup.

Daryl, your last new wife is an idiot. You don’t arrive at someone’s house on Thanksgiving needing to use the oven and the stove. Honest to God, I thought you might have learned after two wives – date them longer and save us all the agony of another divorce.

Will, this year, the house rules are slightly different because I have decided that 47% of you don’t know how to take care of nice things. Paper plates and red Solo cups might be bad for the environment, but I’ll be gone soon and that will be your problem to deal with.

House Rules:

1. The University of Texas no longer plays Texas A&M. The television stays off during the meal.

2. Laura, the “no cans for kids” rule still exists. We are using 2-liter bottles because your children still open a third can before finishing the first two. Parents can fill a child’s cup when it is empty. All of the cups have names on them and I’ll be paying close attention to refills.

3. Sheryl, last year we were at Bob’s house and I looked the other way when your Jell-O salad & Fritos showed up. This year, if Jell-O salad comes in the front door it will go right back out the back door with the garbage. Save yourself some time, honey. You’ve never been a good cook and you shouldn’t bring something that wiggles more than you. Buy something from the bakery.

4. Grandmothers give grandchildren cookies and candy. That is a fact of life. Shane & Daniel, your children can eat healthy at your home. At my home, they can eat whatever they like as long as they finish it.

5. Christina, I cook with bacon and bacon grease. That’s nothing new. You’re being a vegetarian doesn’t change the fact that stuffing without bacon is like egg salad without eggs. Even the green bean casserole has a little bacon grease in it. That’s why it tastes so good. Not eating bacon is just not natural. And as far as being healthy… look at me. I’ve outlived almost everyone I know.

6. Mimi & Claire, salad at Thanksgiving is a waste of space.

7. Sareen & Sarah, I do not like cell phones at family get togethers. If you sit at the table and text on your phone when here, or if you decide you must talk to someone during dinner, I will take it from you and drop it into a pot of crackling hot bacon grease on the stove that is there just for that purpose.

8. Andy & Timmy, I do not like video cameras. There will be 32 people here. I am sure you can capture lots of memories without the camera pointed at me.

9. Being a mother means you have to actually pay attention to the kids. I have nice things and I don’t put them away just because company is coming over. Jen & Steve, watch your kids and I’ll watch my things. I know what is here, so don’t force me to frisk and search when the party is over.

10. Nancy, a cat that requires a shot twice a day is a cat that has lived too many lives. I think staying home to care for the cat is your way of letting me know that I have lived too many lives too. I can live with that. Can you?

11. Words mean things. I say what I mean. Let me repeat: You don’t need to bring anything means you don’t need to bring anything. And if I did tell you to bring something, bring it in the quantity I said. Really, this doesn’t have to be difficult.

12. Dominos and cards are better than anything that requires a battery or an on/off switch. That was true when you were kids and it’s true now that you have kids.

13. Amber, showing up for Thanksgiving guarantees presents at Christmas. Not showing up guarantees a card that may or may not be signed.

Bryan, in memory of your Grandfather, the back fridge will be filled with beer. Drink until it is gone. I prefer wine anyway. But one person from each family needs to be the designated driver and must have a valid driver’s license.

I really mean all of the above.

Love You,

Grandma

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

Thanksgiving means many things to many people: family time, a half day of work Wednesday, or a four-day weekend. To the staff and students of Johns Hopkins, they are thankful for the gift from Michael Bloomberg, class of 1964, of $1.8 billion (with a “b”). Lenders and their staffs give millions every year to various causes, but beginning in the fall of 2019, Johns Hopkins will be a loan-free institution. “We will replace all undergraduate student loans with scholarships, and we will reduce overall family contributions to financial aid. In addition, for the spring 2019 semester, we will offer immediate loan relief to every enrolled undergraduate student whose financial aid package includes a federal need-based loan.” That is really something.

Jobs & personnel moves

“While many in the mortgage industry have been struggling, Prime Choice Funding, Inc. has been experiencing exponential growth and is looking to expand nationwide. PCF is a national leader in mortgage lending and provides loan officers with competitive compensation, top-tier fulfillment and paid marketing that drives business growth and offers a variety of loan programs to fit any situation: FHA, VA, Conventional, Jumbo, Non-QM, Reverse, Reno and much more! If you’re interested in joining our team or want more information, visit Join PCF or contact Keith McKay at 714-263-1660.”

Gateway Mortgage Group continues to break records, win awards, and open new offices. The company recently announced that it has experienced continued growth in the third quarter, opening 12 new offices in eight states and adding 161 jobs. Gateway funded a total of $1.768 billion in the third quarter of 2018, compared to $1.536 billion during the same period in 2017. The company expects to originate $6 billion in new mortgages while its servicing portfolio should eclipse $20 billion by year’s end. In a recent press release, Stephen Curry (CEO) attributes the success to a “depth of talent in our team nationally,” and “their relationships in local markets.” See the full press release here. In addition to the continued growth, Gateway was also recognized as a Hall of Fame Honoree with its 8^th time on the Inc. 5000 List and was again named a Center of Excellence by Benchmark Portal. Visit www.GatewayLoan.com for more information.

In retail news, Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group is continuing its expansion throughout the Southeast. Atlantic Bay, headquartered in Virginia Beach, is looking for growth-oriented brokerage companies, high performing mortgage teams, and companies with less than $500 million in sales who want to focus on production by removing obstacles to growth. Brokers who join Atlantic Bay experience growth rates in their personal production from 50 – 80 percent.

Direct access to underwriting, secondary support, and realtor-focused marketing have all been drivers for increased growth. Two popular benefits of the Atlantic Bay way are simplicity in the compliance process and a mortgage banker assistant program. Atlantic Bay places great importance on culture, loving where you work, and giving back to the communities it serves. Email Justin Caplan to find out more about working at Atlantic Bay.

Congrats to Rhiannon Bolen whom Mortgage Capital Trading, Inc. (MCT) announced has joined the company’s sales team as one of its Regional Sales Managers and will be responsible for overseeing the Southern territory.

Lender products and services

“With the recent run-up in home values, we’ve noticed increased interest in HELOC functionality. Accordingly, there’s been introductions of a ‘new’ HELOC functionality by some high-profile software providers. While others are just introducing their functionality,

MortgageFlex Systems has been providing HELOC support for 20 years. MortgageFlex is live with a HELOC only lender and results show major operational efficiencies. ‘MortgageFlexONE, LOS supports first mortgages plus open and close-end seconds,’ Craig Bechtle, COO of MortgageFlex Systems said. ‘Additional modules expand the functionality of the LOS. We also support construction loans, chattel loans, manufactured home lending, and consumer lending in one platform.’ With increased emphasis on cost containment and loan quality, MortgageFlex has been building an efficient LOS. With MortgageFlexONE you get more higher quality loans per user. You don’t need two or three origination systems anymore. Expand your capabilities in one decision.

Since going live on Loan Vision in 2016, Guild Mortgage Company has streamlined accounting processes despite increased volumes brought on through significant growth. Lindsay Vaught, Controller at Guild Mortgage shared, “Business has gotten much more complex with our growth. The fact that we’re closing in the same number of days as we were, but being much larger and more complex, says something. We’re doing things faster and more efficiently.” For more information read the case study about how Guild Mortgage’s growth continues to be supported by Loan Vision or contact Carl Wooloff.

Stearns Wholesale Lending delivers the best customer service to America’s best. In recognition of everything our military members and their families have sacrificed for our country, Stearns Wholesale will waive the Stearns Administration/Underwriting fee throughout November. Committed to making it easy for brokers to grow their business, while also supporting our nation’s veterans, the fee waiver will apply to VA loans registered between November 5th through November 30, 2018. The state admin fee will be waived in our easy-to-use app, S N AP 2.0. For more information, contact wholesaleleadership@stearns.com.

Sierra Pacific Mortgage continues to provide financing solutions for the purchase and refinance markets in Retail, Wholesale and Correspondent lending. We have all heard the phrase, “This home has good bones.” It’s a common expression in the housing industry, one that means a home needs a little TLC. With that in mind, Sierra Pacific has a dedicated

Renovation Department, who concentrates in providing renovation home loan options, including the FHA 203(k) Limited and Standard products and Fannie Mae’s HomeStyle products. According to a recent MetroStudy, more than 12 million home remodeling projects will be completed by the end of 2018. Want to grow your business? Then reach out to your Sierra Pacific contact to learn more about how renovation loans can help your purchase and refinance business grow.

“Lenders, are you spending a ton on vital, heavy LOS/PPE or fancy new tech that doesn’t gain you more volume or magically pay your bills? ReadyPrice can really help by slashing your operating costs. The ReadyPrice enterprise-strength LOS with an embedded multi-investor PPE and proprietary error trapping tech is the answer for all market conditions. The ReadyPrice all-in-one retail AND wholesale platforms are fully configured out of the box, are up to 75% less expensive than heavy, ‘mature’ competitors, come complete with D1C & deep Fannie DU integrations and can be stood-up in a couple of weeks. Or, you can easily customize / configure her. The ReadyPrice LOS/PPE has funded over 300k units for $70 billion and is leading the way forward for today’s mortgage bankers. Call (408) 357–0931 or email hello@readyprice.com to receive a free demo today.”

Upcoming events

James Brody, Chair of Johnston Thomas’s Mortgage Banking Practice Group, is hosting a complimentary webinar at 10:30 AM PST, on Thursday November 29, titled “Lehman Bros. GSE and RMBS Litigation: A Comprehensive Review and Analysis”. Per Mr. Brody, whose firm is representing one of the largest blocks of lender Defendants against the wave of RMBS lawsuits filed by LBHI, the purpose of this complimentary lender only webinar is to provide all his firm’s clients, as well as all those lenders who may be forced to defend against claims made by LBHI, invaluable information on the history of the LBHI litigation, the legal arguments that have been made by the GSE litigants to date, the Bankruptcy Court’s decisions on applicable legal issues and thoughts on various strategies to defend against the GSE/RMBS claims being made by LBHI. In addition, if you were not able to attend and would like to access a complimentary recording of Johnston Thomas’s most recent webinar program, click on “Compliance Tips and Trends: The Resurgence of Marketing Service Agreements, Affinity Relationships, Joint Ventures and Affiliated Businesses”. Questions regarding either of these two programs? Please feel free to contact Mr. Brody directly.

FinTech is reshaping mortgage, which is why Lenders One is investing in exclusive technology like L1 eClosing, unique offerings like the L1 M&A Connector and member programming designed to help lenders compete. There are two upcoming programs exclusively for members focused on arming executives with the tools needed for our changing industry. The executive roundtable December 5-6 in Miami, FL is rooted in developing a strategy and growth plan in a down market with executive coach Gary Peck; a best practice roundtable led by our sponsor Fannie Mae; and a market outlook and business forecasting led by Mike Fratantoni from the MBA. There are less than two weeks to take advantage of early bird pricing for Lenders One’s March 2019 Summit in Austin, TX March 3-6, 2019, which is already seeing a record number of registrants. Contact Lauren Ketchum, Director of Member Experience for more information on these programs or how to become a member.

HELOC products? The MBA is starting a brand-new study on HELOC and home equity lending and servicing, which will include benchmarking data on portfolio characteristics, utilization rates, draw activity, repayment options, as well as statistics on new commitments such as processing times and pull-through. The study is for MBA members who originate and/or service these products; the participants will help design both the survey instrument and outputs. The initial planning call is on Tuesday, December 11 at 2PM ET. Register for the call here. Download the informational flyer or contact Marina Walsh with questions.

On December 11^th, industry leaders, Patrick Stone and Ken Markison will discuss the economic and compliance environment in 2019. Register for this Economic and Regulatory webinar here.

October Research, LLC’s annual Economic and Regulatory Outlook webinar is 12/11 at 2PM ET.

Don’t miss registering for the December 15^th NMMLA annual Teddy Bear and Blanket Drive luncheon with guest speaker, Mayor Tim Keller.

National MI issued its training for December. A Look Ahead to Social Media Trends 2019: PDT, Dec 13 @ 12-1PM PST. Does your social platform appeal to the borrowers of today? Social media continues to grow as the new storefront for businesses to attract consumers. Join Kristen Messerli, founder of Cultural Outreach, and Managing Editor for Mortgage Women Magazine to discuss 2019 predicted trends and get your social media strategy ready for the New Year! Oh, Shift! Session #3 – Flow: PST, Dec 12, 12-1PM PST, National MI University presents the third webinar in a powerful six-part series. Best-selling author and Executive Coach, Jennifer Powers, MCC’s “Flow” helps you learn how to practice acceptance of people and circumstances so you spend less time in resistance and more time in the state of peace, productivity…and flow…

The Mortgage Collaborative’s 2019 Winter Conference will take place February 17-19 at the J.W. Marriott in Austin, TX. The interactive agenda will feature over 30 lender led discussion-based educational breakout sessions, a heavy emphasis on peer-to-peer networking and experiences with third parties and exchange of best practices, with a sharp focus on lender growth and efficiency solutions. Visit www.mortgagecollaborative.com or contact TMC COO Rich Swerbinsky.

Capital markets

The U.S. 10-year closed the week yielding 3.07%, steadily making its way back towards 3% throughout the week. Friday’s action was backed in part by comments from Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, which not signal big shifts in policy. Instead, he acknowledged that some evidence of a slowdown in the global economy with a potential impact on the United States is becoming visible and that the neutral rate is not far away. Separately, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said that hiking the fed funds rate to “about 3.25%” is reasonable, given the economic outlook, which implies four more rate hikes.

This Thanksgiving week sees markets closed on Thursday with an early close on Friday and a de facto one on Wednesday for much of the Street. The economic calendar is also light and front loaded with updates on housing, durable goods, and Michigan sentiment with Markit PMIs on Friday. Today’s calendar includes the NAHB Housing Market Index for November at 7AM PT, expected to decline slightly. Tomorrow we receive October Housing Starts and Building Permits before a heavy slate of releases Wednesday, headlined by October Durable goods and October Existing Home Sales. The week begins with the 10-year yielding 3.08% and agency MBS prices are worse .125 versus Friday’s close.

(Thanks to Bob N. for this one.)

I was at the grocery store last night walking through the meat department. I saw an elderly lady looking through the frozen turkeys saying she couldn’t find one big enough for her family.

Just then a stock boy walked by and she asked, “Do these turkeys get any bigger?” He replied with a straight face, “No ma’am, they’re dead”.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

Here are some tech developments as we seem to be moving closer to machines running our lives, or a loan being approved instantly by reading a fingerprint or retina. No, this isn’t a story from the Onion: British companies are planning to microchip personnel in order to boost security and stop them accessing sensitive areas. Biohax, a Swedish company that provides human chip implants…is in talks with a number of UK legal and financial firms to implant staff with the devices. One prospective client…is a major financial services firm with “hundreds of thousands of employees.” Around the world, Google Home users no longer need another voice assistant to communicate with GE products. And, of course, there is continued concern that Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other social media companies sell access to our attention. Actual user information may not change hands, unless you include hacking, but the advertising business model drives company decision making in ways that are ultimately toxic to society.

Jobs & LO-specific products

Fidelity Bank Mortgage is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with retail mortgage production offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Since 2008, the Mortgage division has grown to over 36 offices and over 500 employees. Fidelity Bank Mortgage is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae seller/servicer offering specialty products such as Portfolio Doctor Loans for eligible doctors, Construction-to-Permanent Loans, Escrow Holdback, and more. “The majority of our operational support is in the local markets, providing for the best possible customer service. Fidelity Bank Mortgage has one of the highest production averages per Loan Officer according to MBA/STRATMOR Peer Group Surveys and boasts well above average Performance and Loan Officer Loyalty. We are expanding into new markets and interested in Top Sales and Leadership Talent. Click here to contact David Rapson, Senior Vice President, Mortgage Production Manager, and view our eBook to learn more about our team.”

GSF Mortgage Corp. is pleased to promote its Direct Originator Partnership Program for originators who are interested in a low expense and best execution opportunity in today’s market. The program has no branch or lender fees, translating to better pricing and compensation for the originator. Included in the partnership is access to Encompass Origination System, Optimal Blue Pricing Engine, Social Survey, MBS Highway, Sales Boomerang and HubSpot CRM—all at no charge to the originator. Originators participating in this partnership have enjoyed a 28-percent production increase—all while operating in a challenging market. If you are interested in the Direct Partnership please reach out to VP of Retail Lending, Frank Papaleo.

Since launching its suite of mobile apps this year, Caliber Home Loans, Inc. has seen a steady increase in adoption along with the addition of features that increase the power of each for their producers and customers. The CaliberH2O mobile app for Loan Consultants, Account Executives and Wholesale Brokers enables users to find, price and lock loans from their mobile device. The app now allows its Caliber users to extend and change existing locks – just like they can in H2O itself. Loans will need to be eligible for changes within H2O. Among Caliber’s mobile milestones are number of downloads. To date, over 4,000 producers have downloaded the CaliberH2O mobile app. The Caliber Home Loans mobile app for customers and in-process borrowers has recently exceeded 100,000 downloads, and it has received mortgage payments over 165,000 times which adds up to over $281 million in payments made.

There are so many things to be thankful for when making your career move to PrimeLending. At the top of that list will be world-class recruiters who make your transition simple, fast and seamless. That’s exactly what you can expect with PrimeLending recruiters Shay Crow and Nic Hartke by your side. Shay, who works with Brad Arendt in the Southeast, and Nic, who partners with Erik Hofstetter in the Mid-Atlantic, make achieving your goals their top priority. With their professional support and personal guidance, you’ll hit the ground loaning with the ability to originate on DAY ONE. At PrimeLending, our industry leading recruiters understand your needs and provide next-level assistance from the first conversation to your first day at our proven powerhouse. If you’re ready to give yourself something else to be thankful for, take your talents to PrimeLending. Just contact Shay or Nic to get started.

Lender products and services

Technology automates. Humans elevate. Technology helps mortgage loan officers (MLOs) reduce manual, repetitive tasks so they can enhance the experience for borrowers and co-marketing partners alike. MLOs won’t be replaced by technology, but the MLO who doesn’t leverage technology will be replaced by the one who does. Delivering the right message to the right person at the right time is the sweet spot of personalized outreach. A Marketing Operating System (MOS) empowers MLOs to act on their data to identify opportunities and buying signals that trigger timely, relevant – automated – communications when borrowers are most apt to refinance, downsize or take out their next mortgage. Modernizing your MLOs’ workflow technology is no longer a “nice-to-have,” it’s a “must-have” if you hope to drive revenue growth and improve customer experience. Read the Total Expert guest blog by Dave Savage, Founder of Mortgage Coach: The Modern Mortgage Experience – Personalize and Then Get Personal.

Todd Duncan is hosting his High Trust Sales Academy on December 4-7 in Las Vegas. Todd’s passion is to equip loan officers to make more money in less time with less stress, and the end of the year is the best time to do it. The High Trust Sales Academy is scheduled in December to prepare you to make 2019 your best year ever! Just imagine starting out January 2, 2019 with your perfectly crafted business plan in hand, with all of your systems and efficiencies well-oiled, and your top producing strategy ready to be executed. That could be your reality. Make the decision to change your business and your life next year, NOW! Attendance is limited to the first 125 people. Register now before it’s too late!

Vendor Surf announced that Anne McCullough has been named Head of Sales, effective December 3rd. McCullough comes to Vendor Surf from First Line Data, where she served as Vice President of Sales. Anne is an entrepreneurial-minded sales executive, attorney, and Muay Thai Black Belt. She received her law degree from William Mitchell College of Law and her B.A. from Marquette University. Anne has worked extensively in the legal, tech and mortgage industries in business development, consulting, sales, and marketing for over 25 years. She and her family currently reside in Clearwater, Florida. To discover how Vendor Surf’s search engine can boost sales, request a meeting with Anne.

Is your mortgage operation using the industry’s most advanced 1003 to streamline the application process for your borrowers? Floify, the next-generation point-of-sale system, earlier this year released the most sophisticated 1003 ever, and it has disrupted the mortgage world in a big way! Floify dramatically improved the application experience via their intuitive “interview-style” Q&A that guides borrowers through the process, step-by-step, by leveraging easily identifiable visual cues. Custom questions and automated needs-lists are just a few of the features you can enjoy with this fully embeddable 1003, which is in addition to the other powerful functionality that LOs already love about Floify, including a streamlined document collection portal with unlimited storage, automated text/email notifications, and more! If your lending operation could benefit from the efficiencies and cost-savings created by an advanced point-of-sale, now is the perfect time to adopt this incredible solution. Request a live demo to learn more!

It just got even easier to close more deals with less effort: Usherpa has joined Blend’s partner ecosystem, giving members access to Blend’s consumer lending platform via streamlined integration with Usherpa’s industry-leading marketing CRM. Simply push a lead to Blend from Usherpa, and that prospective borrower will receive an email inviting them to start their application, with fields already pre-filled from Usherpa data. This game-changing partnership will empower Usherpa members to originate loans more easily and build stronger relationships. With data being pushed between Blend and Usherpa, you’ll eliminate double data entry and automate marketing sooner in the process, ultimately increase your pull-through and production. Here at Usherpa, your success is our top priority. Learn more about the Blend ecosystem integration here. Visit Usherpa.com to set up a demo today.

Need some reading over the Holidays? Today we’re seeing more and more lending teams actively researching and purchasing technology solutions to accelerate their business. A study from Maxwell and HousingWire found that over 79% of lenders are planning to launch at least one new piece of technology in their organization this year, with 57% planning to launch two or more! In a crowded and complicated space, it’s hard to know the right questions to ask to help you find the right technology vendor. A free eBook — “Digital Mortgage Buyer’s Guide” — shines light on this process, touching on questions to ask and areas to focus on for those considering adopting new digital mortgage technology in their business. Download your complimentary copy here.

CRA requirements

While the Fed is looking at relaxing CRA regulations, 95 percent of bank lenders who responded to a recent STRATMOR survey on CRA and LMI lending indicated that complying with CRA requirements is and will continue to be a very important part of bank mortgage lending. In the November issue of STRATMOR Group’s Insights Report, Principal Tom Finnegan offers six insights that help crystalize banks’ perspectives on what they are doing today to meet CRA requirements—and what they need for CRA reform to be effective in the future. The November issue also offers an article on one of the Seven Commandments for Achieving Borrower Satisfaction: Contact the Borrower Before Closing. 2018 YTD data from more than 80,000 borrowers participating in STRATMOR’s MortgageSAT Borrower Satisfaction Program shows a stunning drop in Net Promoter Score from 81 to -19 when the lender fails to communicate closing details to borrowers before the closing. MortgageSAT Director Mike Seminari offers four steps lenders can take to keep up good borrower communication from application to closing. STRATMOR Insights Report

Capital markets

No part of every economy goes up equally every month consistently. Although there is some doubt out there about how long we can chug along for, economic data continues to point to a strong US economy. Think back to Personal spending increasing 0.4 percent in September and in line with the consumption figures reports in the third quarter GDP release. The demand in durable goods was partly driven by replacement needs following hurricane Florence. The inflation measure in the report preferred by the Fed was 2.0 percent at both the headline and core measures, in line with the Fed’s target. Consumer confidence hit 137.9 in October and isn’t far off from the all-time high reached in January 2000 during the tech bubble. The index is benefiting from increases in both current situation and future expectations and consumer remain enthused by the current job market and income expectations. The Employment Cost Index showed labor costs continue to rise as wages and salaries increase 0.9 percent over the last quarter. While it has been a slow push higher, wage growth is trending upward, in line with a tightening labor market. And remember that we had a stronger-than-expected jobs report which showed 250,000 jobs gained in October. It is notable that the ratio of the population age 25-54 that is employed is nearing the peak reached during the last expansion. Given the current strength of the labor market and the fact that inflation is at the Fed’s targeted level, expectations that the Fed will increase rates at their December meeting remain high.

Looking at yesterday’s bond market, the U.S. 10-year dropped 2bps more to start this week, closing Monday at 3.06% in a continuation of last week’s depression. The Treasury and MBS rally (and retreat in equities) was largely attributable to a very weak reading of the November NAHB Housing Market Index which logged its largest decline in more than four years. The poor housing data report is on trend with recent releases; and today we have October Housing Starts (consensus 1230K) and Building Permits (consensus 1260K), both of which will provide further clarity on the direction of housing.

Internationally, the Asia-Pacific Communications Summit concluded without the release of a joint communique for the first time, due to the ongoing disagreement between United States and China. Separately, Reports from the UK indicate that two more MPs have submitted letters of no-confidence in Prime Minister May, bringing the total to 44, four short of the amount required to trigger a no-confidence vote. Finally, Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Italy will oppose Franco-German eurozone reform plans if they appear to be damaging for Italy.

The global route in stocks is grabbing headlines, and the factors moving stocks are pushing rates lower. Ahead of a large economic calendar on tap tomorrow, today’s calendar is light, starting with housing starts and building permits for October (+1.5% due to apartments, but permits -.6%). Next up is Redbook same-store sales for the week ending November 12 at 8:55am ET (previously 0.2% MoM; 6.1% YoY). Lastly at 11:30am, Treasury will auction $50 billion 1- and $30 billion 2-month T-bills, both amounts unchanged versus last week. Tuesday starts with the 10-year yielding 3.04% and agency MBS prices not doing much versus last night’s close.

This Thursday don’t fall for the ol’ pregnant turkey prank!

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

Do you think non-QM is going to “save your bacon?” After a non-exhaustive survey, it appears that non-QM, aka non-Agency, aka expanded credit, is running at about 3% of overall residential volume. If we do $1.5 trillion this year, my HP-12C tells me 3% equates to $45 billion. Let’s round up and say that’s $4 billion a month (a billion a week across the industry) across over 1,000 lenders (another guess of how many offer it). That averages out to $4 million per lender per month, but less for non-depository lenders when you factor out what credit unions and big banks are putting in their portfolios. Yes, averages are misleading, and yes, more and more lenders are offering the option to their MLOs, but still… For perspective, and yes, “expanded credit” is a subjective term, but I seem to recall it accounting for about 30% of production in 2006. For some companies, however, this channel has indeed been a life-saver.

Employment

Who thinks the decreasing LO Compensation is the solution to market compression? [Cricket chirping] Shouldn’t there be more discussion about trimming the fat from bloated retail shops who employ too many layers of middle management at corporate? There are too many people involved in the loan process and we’re all using outdated tech layered on top of slow LOS’s like Encompass. Here’s a solution that shows how Canopy Mortgage is trimming the fat from retail, keeping LO comp intact, and creating unheard of efficiencies with proprietary tech that allowed ONE loan officer to close over 100 loans in one month. Do you believe there’s a better way to do home loans? Canopy is NOW Hiring a national base of seasoned LOs – reach out to Josh Neumarker, Director of Business Development at Canopy Mortgage – 888-696-9076.

“We are a small Midwestern based community bank looking for our new CEO. This role will provide leadership to all departments within the bank, including a newly formed Mortgage Banking channel. The CEO will determine and dictate the lending practices and overall health of the bank, while serving as the principal advisor to Shareholders on all issues associated with lending/growth strategies and credit risk management guidelines. Qualified candidates must have experience in dealing with state regulators, an entrepreneurial spirit and the rapid growth of a bank from a senior leadership capacity. Relocation in the first two years is not required, provided frequent travel is not an issue.” Please send resumes to me for forwarding; please specify opportunity.

Lender services and products

“Here’s a hi-tech breakthrough in lending to self-employed borrowers. Amidst rising interest rates and declining origination volume, lenders must cast a wider net for customers, a growing number of which are self-employed. To capitalize on this trend, lenders need a simpler, faster way to underwrite mortgages for Americans who are their own bosses. To this end, Freddie Mac has integrated fintech vendor LoanBeam’s technology with Loan Product Advisor®, our automated underwriting system, to introduce the first and only integrated self-employment income solution for the market. LoanBeam’s software uses optical character recognition technology to extract and digest a borrower’s tax returns and other financials, and then calculate a total income figure that aligns with Freddie Mac’s guidelines. This integration offers lenders several advantages, including an automated review of the accuracy of qualifying income, eliminating the need to chase down unnecessary documents that support residual/excess income and certainty that the income calculation is eligible for representation and warranty relief. Learn more.

FundingShield reported an estimated $75 million per day in wire and closing fraud exposure. This would equate to exposure of ~$20 Billion in 2018. Wire fraud and cyber threats such as phishing, injection and business email compromise events spike during the holiday season when fraudsters take advantage of staff being on vacation, increased consumer transactions, increased remote access by staff and more back up teams supporting production and operations. Couple this with the expansion of digital lending processes, widespread use of wireless networks that may not be encrypted and properly secured, email server threats to known and new third-party relationships of lenders, closing and settlement companies and law firms and the risk is more prevalent. Jerry Halbrook, former President of Black Knight Inc. Origination Technology and Business Intelligence Divisions and Fundingshield Advisory Board member shared “Unknown parties to the transaction as well as known and trusted vendors are being exposed to these risks hence a proactive transaction level monitoring system is needed” Contact info@fundingshield.com to create a user centric risk and control strategy to get ahead of wire and cyber fraud attempts that go beyond a vendor vetting with active defenses at the loan level that save your firm on operational and risk cost.

National MI is now integrated into Compass PPE, the Compass Analytics product, pricing, and eligibility engine. The integration with NMI’s Rate GPS risk-based pricing platform enables mutual clients to obtain immediate and accurate mortgage insurance rate quotes on loans exceeding an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio. Rate GS will also be available in Compass Analytics’ application programming interfaces (APIs). As soon as an LO runs a search for loan options through Compass PPE, the pricing engine interacts directly with the NMI platform to provide MI pricing with multiple options for lender-paid coverage, borrower-paid single premium and borrower-paid monthly premium coverage. “The integration provides many benefits to our mutual lender customers in terms of providing accurate and competitive Rate GPS risk-based pricing, saving time and streamlining the loan origination process to better serve borrowers.” The National MI integration brings real-time, risk-based MI pricing to the Compass platform, providing loan officers with the ability to advise their borrowers with side-by-side MI pricing comparisons from their MI providers.

Stop originating loans that you lose money on! The velocity of loan originations is expected to be off by 30% or more in 2019. The game has changed and so must you if you want to survive. We are no longer in the unit volume business, we are in the loan volume and revenue business. BBM Enterprise is a professional origination strategy and data driven marketing firm focused exclusively on helping direct to consumer lenders recalibrate their marketing spend towards equitable clients that will help your firm regain market share and profitability. Lenders need to adjust their marketing and operational IP to compete in this new era of credit. If you are looking to expand into profitable areas of conventional and non-agency products then BBM may be just the answer you are looking for. We specialize in modeling big data attributes for predictable and probable outcomes and customers that meet your enterprise profitability targets. Our average loan amount for active FHA/VA applications exceed $350K and a net revenue after marketing of nearly $13,000. If you’re marketing is not reaching these levels of performance than let our data experts show you how a targeted marketing strategy focused on revenue can change the trajectory of your company. For more information about BBM Marketing Services and about becoming an approved origination partner; please contact Bill Senteno and visit www.bbm.company.

Carrington Mortgage Services Launches Non-Delegated Correspondent Lending Division. Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC (CMS), one of the nation’s largest privately held non-bank lenders with over $60 billion in Servicing, announces the launch of its Non-Delegated Correspondent Lending Division to complement CMS’s full portfolio of loan origination channels which include Wholesale and Retail. “We have diligently planned and built the Correspondent Division and we’re now ready to make our presence known throughout the industry,” said Raymond Brousseau, President of CMS. “We are committed to delivering a high level of transparency and timeliness to the non-delegated correspondent lending process. We understand that it’s all about providing our sellers with the ability for further growth and profitability.” CMS’s wide program offers today’s non-delegated sellers with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac products, FHA and VA products, and Carrington Advantage Products for underserved borrowers. To qualify, correspondent lenders should have a strong reputation of profitability in the industry. For more information on the CMS correspondent program, click here.

Disaster updates

Most lenders and investors have their disaster policies kick in based on FEMA’s declarations of disaster areas. California’s fires have burned nearly 250,000 acres; for comparison Rhode Island is 777,000 acres. Unlike flood insurance, which is only required for borrowers in flood zones, all borrowers are required to have hazard insurance, which typically covers fire damage, including wildfires. In the capital markets, Representation & Warranties (R&Ws) in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) typically cover the presence of hazard insurance and damage to the property occurring prior to the securitization closing date.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency reminds us that, “Homeowners in disaster areas may benefit from FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program (IHP), a federal financial assistance program designed to provide money and services to homeowners for damages not covered by insurance. Such assistance may include temporary housing, repairs, replacement, or other needs. Homeowners are generally eligible for such assistance as long as their homes are located in areas designated for IHP by the President.”

As of 11/5/2018, with DR-4400, FEMA provided an Incident Period End Date of 10/23/2018, for Georgia counties affected by Hurricane Michael during the period of 10/9/2018 to 10/23/2018.

Freddie Mac published a reminder article of its disaster relief policies in wake of the California wildfires. Freddie Mac’s relief options are available to borrowers located in a presidentially-declared Major Disaster Areas where federal assistance programs are available to affected individuals.

Fannie Mae issued a reminder for those impacted by the California wildfires of the options available for mortgage assistance. Under Fannie Mae’s guidelines for single-family mortgages:

Homeowners impacted by the California wildfires are eligible to stop making mortgage payments for up to 12 months, during which time they: will not incur late fees during this temporary payment break, will not have delinquencies reported to the credit bureaus. Servicers are authorized to suspend or reduce a homeowner’s mortgage payments immediately for up to 90 days without any contact with the homeowner if the servicer believes the homeowner has been affected by a disaster. Payment forbearance of up to 12 months is available in many circumstances. Servicers must suspend foreclosure and other legal proceedings if the servicer believes the homeowner has been impacted by a disaster.

In response to California wildfires, sellers must follow Wells Fargo Funding’s disaster policy for all properties located in zip codes it has determined were impacted. The Wells Fargo Funding identified list is currently a reduced subset of the FEMA declared counties.

In response to the California wildfires, loanDepot Wholesale let brokers know that, “Due to lack of containment and large amounts of evacuations, the following temporary steps are being put in place to mitigate risk: fundings have been suspended for properties in mandatory evacuation zones for all actively burning fires – currently Butte, Los Angeles, and Ventura counties. All impacted counties will require an internal escalation review to determine current containment percentage, evacuation status, and property distance from current burn zone prior to drawing loan documents. Upon completion of internal escalation review, all impacted files will be conditioned appropriately (to include but not limited to photos of property and disaster affidavit).

Mortgage Solutions Financial posted announcement 26-18C regarding the California wildfires.

Pacific Union Financial continues monitoring the impact of Hurricane Florence and the resulting damage and flooding currently affecting North and South Carolina. Any properties located within areas identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offering private assistance will require confirmation, per its published guidelines, that the subject property has not been affected by the hurricane. This confirmation includes borrower written certification of the condition of the property prior to clear to close by Pacific Union. The counties of Chatham, Durham and Guilford had been added to the North Carolina disaster declaration.

AmeriHome Mortgage posted the following Hurricane Florence update: on 10/26, with DR-4393, FEMA granted federal disaster aid with individual assistance to 3 additional North Carolina counties to include Chatham, Durham and Guilford affected by Hurricane Florence during the period of 9/7/2018 to 9/29/2018.

Mortgage Solutions Financial posted a revised announcement regarding the Hurricane Michael- Disaster Alert.

Capital markets: signs of nervousness

Loan officers should know that the same economic forces move stocks and bonds. Sometimes they move together, sometimes not. As October drew to a close, economic data remained mostly positive but there were some signs of weakness. Real GDP increased at a 3.5 percent annualize rate according to the advance estimate for the third quarter. This follows a 4.2 percent increase in the second quarter. Consumer spending continues its strong contribution to GDP, but business fixed investment fell to +0.8 percent growth after posting two strong quarters following the tax bill. Residential investment decline for the third straight quarter as real estate markets begin to cool. Trade was another negative factor this quarter, subtracting 1.8 percentage points from real GDP growth.

Other data out at the end of the month showed durable goods orders increasing by 0.8 percent in September, following a 4.6 percent increase in August. Initial unemployment claims were at 215,000 and remain exceptionally low. New home sales fell 5.5 percent in September to their weakest monthly rate since March 2016. With the overall economy and labor markets still strong, the expectation remains that the Federal Reserve will increase the fed funds rate another 25 basis points in December.

Yesterday the U.S. 10-year closed yielding 3.05% as Treasuries were mixed on no major news. The biggest headlines came internationally, as reports are the European Commission will respond to Italy’s refusal to alter its fiscal targets for 2019, likely announcing that an excessive deficit procedure will be opened against Italy. Housing starts for October fell just short of expectations, but nothing major. Building permits just barely beat 1.26 million expectations, though there was little strength in single-unit permits or starts.

We have a robust calendar today ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, with some typical Thursday releases moved up a day: mortgage applications for last week (unchanged from the week before, with refis running at about 39% of activity), October Durable Goods Orders (expected to fall, and they were indeed -4.4%, ex-transportation +.1%), and weekly jobless claims (forecast to rise, and did to 224k). October Existing Home Sales, October Leading Indicators, and final November Michigan sentiment are all due for 10AM ET release. Wednesday begins with rates little changed versus last night: Agency MBS prices are unchanged and the 10-year is yielding 3.06%.

A young man named James received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird’s mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. James tried and tried to change the bird’s attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to ‘clean up’ the bird’s vocabulary.

Finally, James was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. James shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. James, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet.

Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he’d hurt the parrot, James quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto James’s outstretched arms and said “I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I’m sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior.”

James was stunned at the change in the bird’s attitude.

As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, “May I ask what the turkey did?”

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

“Why is it that when the CDC warns us to not eat romaine lettuce, we take it as gospel. But when the CDC tells us that vaccines save lives, we think they’re part of the Illuminati?” Good question. Another good question is, “Is affordable housing going away?” There is a lack of affordable housing available for many first-time or middle-class homebuyers in certain areas. And gaps are widening. For example, the share of single-family homes valued at a million dollars or above “has grown 7.6% over the past year alone, and doubled since 2012, increasing from 1.5% to 3.6% of all homes on the market.” Just as the wealth gap widens, luxury or high-priced housing is generally isolated to the coasts. Interestingly, Suburban Boston is the only neighborhood in the top 10 not in California. Housing trends and migration trends might influence a lender’s business (or product choices). The fastest growing states for millennials are closely correlated to states with increasing home values – Nevada, Utah, North Carolina, and Idaho.

Employment

No job or product postings today. But those who are unemployed never stop looking. Don’t forget that the Agencies have sites for careers and job openings: Fannie, Freddie, and Ginnie.

Ginnie primer

Want to work at Ginnie Mae (Government National Mortgage Association)? As noted above, here you go. The 50-year old agency only has a couple hundred or so employees to monitor Ginnie Mae’s $2 trillion mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolio. That $2 trillion is up from $1 trillion eight years ago. Has the number of FTEs doubled? No.

Most folks know Michael Bright, Ginnie Mae’s EVP and Chief Operating Officer. And most know that Ginnie Mae, unlike its distant cousins Freddie and Fannie, is the primary funding mechanism for all government insured and government-guaranteed mortgage loans. It is the only federal agency tasked with the administration and oversight of an explicit, paid-for, full-faith-and-credit guaranty on mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Ginnie likes to say that its MBS are one of the most reliable fixed-income securities in the world, and that it is proceeding with its modernization: “Ginnie Mae 2020.”

Loan officers, besides knowing that Ginnie sees most of the FHA, VA, Public and Indian Housing, and Rural Development/USDA loans out there, should know that Ginnie ensures the timely payment of principal and interest to security holders – and that issuers have to come up with money for delinquent loans. And thus, unlike F&F that are under government conservatorship, Ginnie’s business model significantly limits risks to taxpayers by providing a safe, effective and government-backed channel for the flow of capital for U.S. mortgages from around the world. Ginnie has never missed a payment – even during the financial crisis – and returns money to the U.S. Treasury every year.

Last month we learned that roughly $36 billion of Ginnie Mae MBS was issued in September. September issuance is comprised of $34.58 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS, and $1.17 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, of which $1.03 billion is backed by multifamily mortgages. Total MBS issuance for fiscal year 2018 was $434.7 billion.

But wait – there’s more! This week Ginnie Mae announced that issuance of its mortgage-backed securities (MBS) totaled $34.370 billion in October: $32 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and more than $1 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, which includes $1.290 billion of loans for multifamily housing. Ginnie Mae’s total outstanding principal balance of $2.019 trillion is an increase from $1.894 trillion in October 2017.

Ginnie is very concerned about this concentration. Advances must be made by issuer, which is a concern. Ginnie Mae issued a memo about servicer quality and may ask for agreements that a servicer has with the issuer because many non-banks use subservicers and become dependent on subservicers’ financial stability.

Ginnie Mae sent a “liquidity letter” to its 14 largest issuer/servicers in late October, telling them to come up with contingency plans as the profitability picture worsens. The management teams of these 14 shops will be sitting down with Ginnie officials in early January to discuss the matter further. Ginnie also issued an all-participants memo, dictating new standards for firms seeking to become issuers, including the stipulation that applicants submit to a corporate credit evaluation similar to what the rating agencies put them through.

In recent years having your Ginnie approval was worthwhile, although time-consuming. Ginnie warned lenders that they should actually use it, and not just want approval just to post on their lobby wall and use it to recruit LOs. Many small and mid-sized servicers are concerned over the impact of funding advances on Ginnie MSRs now that refinances have gone away. This concern resides with Ginnie as well. While advance financing has improved for some, it has not for most. Combine this with lower volume, low margin originations and it’s time to sell this asset.”

FHA announced revised requirements for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) servicers when they assign FHA-insured reverse mortgages to the agency for claim payment. Effective immediately, FHA-approved HECM servicers can use alternative supporting documentation in lieu of previously required materials that, in many instances, delayed claim processing. Read FHA’s Mortgagee Letter. FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery said, “Streamlining the HECM claim payment process makes us more responsive to participating lenders and helps continue our effort to put the program on a more financially viable path.”

At the beginning of November, it was reported Ginnie Mae Platinum issuance volume surged in FY18 with more than $20 billion of securities formed, after issuance volume was $7.8 billion in 2017. The larger output comes as more sponsors are taking advantage of the improved automated process available through the MyGinnieMae portal, which enables participation from smaller firms with limited staff and large portfolio managers. The portal is becoming a one-stop, full-service solution for accessing Ginnie Mae business applications, and is just one component of the technology modernization program underway at Ginnie Mae. Supporting the operational aspect of multi-class Platinum Securities is another way for Ginnie Mae to increase liquidity and price stability for Ginnie Mae MBS and the government mortgage loan market that helps to ensure the lowest possible mortgage rates for homeowners across the country.

Platinum Securities allow investors to combine Ginnie Mae MBS pools with uniform mortgage interest rates and original terms to maturity into a single security, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. Investors then receive a single payment from the combined securities every month, rather than separate payments from each individual security. Platinum Securities can be used in structured finance transactions, repurchase transactions and general trading.

Ginnie Mae published a new All Participants Memorandum (APM 18-07) aimed at strengthening the stability and integrity of the mortgage-backed securities market. It outlines steps the agency will take to evaluate the credit strength of new Issuers, implements new notification requirements for issuers engaged in certain subservicer advance or servicing income agreements, and codifies Ginnie Mae’s ability to impose additional financial or operational requirements on program participants when warranted by market conditions.

Fueled by a new user-friendly online process to create Ginnie Mae Platinum Securities and additional product offerings to the program, Platinum issuance surged above $20 billion in FY 18. The larger output comes as more sponsors are taking advantage of the improved automated process available through the MyGinnieMae portal, which enables participation from smaller firms with limited staff and large portfolio managers. MyGinnieMae is a single, secure gateway to all approved Ginnie Mae applications via a dedicated entry point. The portal is becoming a one-stop, full-service solution for accessing Ginnie Mae business applications, and is just one component of the technology modernization program underway at Ginnie Mae. Details of the modernization effort can be found in the Ginnie Mae 2020 white paper published earlier this year.

Ginnie Mae added the following Bulletin: “HMBS Platinum Disclosure: New Disclosure File and Layout.”

Capital markets

In the secondary markets the Agencies are doing deals, laying groundwork for a single security, and transferring credit risk away from taxpayers to willing buyers. MLOs should know that all these help rates for their borrowers. And next year the secondary markets, and with them the primary markets as beneficiaries, can look forward to the single security! What do investors track with these securities? In no particular order…

On October 3, Fannie Mae announced that it completed its sixth and seventh traditional Credit Insurance Risk Transfer (CIRT) transactions of 2018 covering $9 billion of existing loans in the company’s portfolio (CIRT 2018-6 and CIRT 2018-7). CIRT transactions are a part of Fannie Mae’s ongoing effort to reduce taxpayer risk by increasing the role of private capital in the mortgage market. To date, Fannie Mae has acquired about $7.3 billion of insurance coverage on $291 billion of loans through the CIRT program. The most recent transactions transferred $271 million of risk to fourteen reinsurers and insurers. In CIRT 2018-6, Fannie Mae will retain risk for the first 60 basis points of loss on a $7.9 billion pool of loans. If the $47 million retention layer is exhausted, reinsurers will cover the next 300 basis points of loss on the pool, up to a maximum coverage of approximately $237 million. With CIRT 2018-7, which also became effective August 1, 2018, Fannie Mae will retain risk for the first 60 basis points of loss on a $1.1 billion pool of loans. If this $6.8 million retention layer is exhausted, an insurer will cover the next 300 basis points of loss on the pool, up to a maximum coverage of approximately $33.9 million. Coverage for these deals is provided based upon actual losses for a term of 10 years. The covered loan pools for the two transactions consist of fixed-rate loans with loan-to-value ratios greater than 80 percent and less than or equal to 97 percent, and original terms between 21 and 30 years.

On September 13th, Fannie Mae announced its latest sale of non-performing loans, including the company’s fourteenth Community Impact Pool. Community Impact Pools are typically smaller pools of loans that are geographically-focused, and marketed to encourage participation by non-profit organizations, minority- and women-owned businesses (MWOBs), and smaller investors. The five larger pools include approximately 10,700 loans totaling $1.95 billion in UPB and the Community Impact Pool of approximately 80 loans totaling $28.7 million in UPB. The Community Impact Pool consists of loans geographically located in New York City. Bids are due on the five larger pools on October 4 and on the Community Impact Pool on October 23. Terms of Fannie Mae’s non-performing loan transactions require the buyer of the non-performing loans to pursue loss mitigation options that are sustainable for borrowers. In the event a foreclosure cannot be prevented, the owner of the loan must market the property to owner-occupants and non-profits exclusively before offering it to investors.

Also in mid-September, Fannie Mae announced the results of its eighth reperforming loan sale transaction. The deal included the sale of approximately 18,300 loans totaling $3.58 billion in UPB divided into four pools. The loan pools awarded in this most recent transaction include: Group 1 Pool: 3,091 loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $487,784,941; average loan size $157,808; weighted average note rate 4.24%; weighted average broker’s price opinion (BPO) loan-to-value ratio of 76%. Group 2 Pool: 4,839 loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $651,451,525; average loan size $134,625; weighted average note rate 4.28%; weighted average BPO loan-to-value ratio of 69%. Group 3 Pool: 2,115 loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $498,751,687; average loan size $235,816; weighted average note rate 3.42%; weighted average BPO loan-to-value ratio of 88%. Group 4 Pool: 8,277 loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $1,939,030,553; average loan size $234,267; weighted average note rate 3.42%; weighted average BPO loan-to-value ratio of 89%. The cover bids, which are the second highest bids per pool, were 89.50% of UPB (54.98% of BPO) for Pool 1, 95.60% of UPB (55.30% of BPO) for Pool 2, 86.75% of UPB (68.71% of BPO) for Pool 3 and 85.77% of UPB (68.28% of BPO) for Pool 4.

On October 30, Fannie Mae announced the winning bidder for its fourteenth Community Impact Pool of non-performing loans. The transaction is expected to close on December 18 and includes approximately 66 loans totaling $22.9 million in unpaid principal balance from loans geographically focused in the New York City area. The winning bidder was VRMTG ACQ, a minority woman owned business. The loan pool awarded in this most recent transaction had an average loan size of $347,683; weighted average note rate of 5.46%; weighted average delinquency of 66 months; and weighted average broker’s price opinion loan-to-value ratio of 63% weighted by UPB. The cover bid, which is the second highest bid, for the Community Impact Pool was 90.0% of UPB (48.41% of broker’s price opinion).

On November 2, Freddie Mac priced approximately $862 million in K-733 Certificates, which settled earlier this month and are fixed-rate multifamily mortgages with predominantly 7-year terms. Also on November 2, Freddie priced approximately $1.1 billion in K Certificates (K-083 Certificates), which also settled.

The bond markets are open today, for a while, as are some lenders. But lock activity is minimal. At 09:45, 6:45AM PT, Markit will release its flash November purchasing manager indices for

the manufacturing and services sectors – no big deal. Rates are a shade lower than Wednesday afternoon: the 10-year is down to 3.05% and agency MBS prices are a smidge higher.

Sometimes you’re the bat, sometimes you’re the ball. Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug. And who wouldn’t rather be the cat than the rat? Well, in this case, as this short video shows, things can change rapidly in the animal kingdom.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

The CFPB, uh, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP), hasn’t gone away, nor has the myriad of federal, state, and local laws and regulations governing banks and non-depository lenders. Unfortunately, in their cutbacks, lenders often reduce non-income producing staff – the staff that focus on federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Not to say that loan officers don’t, but you know…

State lending laws keep on changing. Let’s see what’s new and play a little catch up.

This week Santa Cruz County (CA) addressed fees encountered by builders of affordable housing. “Developers may soon lose the ability to choose between including affordable units along with housing projects or paying in-lieu fees in unincorporated Santa Cruz County. On the other hand, developers soon could be able to pack more housing units onto lots than would otherwise be allowed, and take advantage of cost-saving perks through an expanded incentive known as the density bonus.”

The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Real Estate, has adopted a provision regarding pre-licensing education requirements. Effective as of November 14, 2018. applicants for licensure as a Colorado mortgage loan originator must successfully complete twenty hours of pre-licensing education within three years of the date of application for licensure.

Don’t forget that in Texas, all state agencies automatically cease to exist every twelve years unless they are continued by the legislature. The Texas Sunset Commission has recently released its report, which recommends abolishing the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending (SML) and transferring its regulatory duties to the Texas Banking Department. The Texas Mortgage Bankers Association, the Texas Bankers Association, and the Independent Bankers Association of Texas have all taken public positions opposing consolidation of these agencies. Key arguments against consolidation include: 1) there is no tax payer benefit, as the department is completely self-funded by the regulated entities, which have mostly indicated that they do not desire this change, 2) consumer protection responsiveness frequently suffers with larger agencies focused on broader agendas, 3) Banking Department current fee schedules are equal to, or higher than, SML fees, with no commitment for projected cost savings to go to those paying the required fees.

South Carolina has recently enacted House Bill 4628 regarding the state’s Telephone Privacy Protection Act (“SCTPPA”). The Bill defines “telephone solicitations” and lays out a list of restrictions that apply to solicitors.

Restrictions include time of day, required identification of solicitor including name, company, telephone number and address and true reason for the call without misrepresentation regarding the origin and nature of the call or text message. In situations where a live telephone solicitor is not available to speak with the consumer answering a telephone solicitation call within two seconds of the completed greeting, the telephone solicitor must play a prerecorded identification and opt-out message. Any request not to receive telephone solicitations must be honored for at least five years from the time the request is made.

Finally, A telephone solicitor may not initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation to a telephone number on the National Do Not Call Registry maintained by the federal government pursuant to the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs adopted miscellaneous provisions under its Consumer Protection Code, which include public complaints and requests for information, delinquent notification filing and fee payment, and filing and posting maximum rate schedules. These provisions are effective immediately.

The provisions discuss the two ways in which the public may access the department of consumer affairs. It also states the public may make requests for including any final order, decision, opinion, rule, regulation, written statement of policy or interpretation formulated, adopted or used by the Administrator on the discharge of his functions or any other matter to which the public has access by the Freedom of Information Act.

The provisions then disclose the Department’s penalties regarding delinquent notification filings and fee payments. Finally, the provisions discuss the filing and posting of maximum rate schedules.

Effective as of August 28 Missouri has enacted provisions regarding its Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. The Act allows fiduciaries to access electronic records of an account holder. The account holder may allow or prohibit the disclosure or his or her digital assets to a fiduciary in a will, trust, or other record.

The bill also specifies that a health savings account may be created if the trustee of a trust consisting of trust property less than $250,000 concludes that the trust property is insufficient to justify the cost of administration. The trustee must also provide notice to qualified beneficiaries upon this determination. Under the previous provision, the amount of the trust property must have been less than $100,000. The term “directed trust” has been defined in the new provision and the term “trust protector” is further defined within this section. The bill also adds a no-contest clause in a trust instrument in certain circumstances.

Maryland has passed House Bill 1511, effective October 1, 2018, which modifies a provision of its regulations regarding mortgage brokers finder’s fees. Previously, a mortgage broker who obtained more than one mortgage loan on the same property within a 24-month period could charge a finder’s fee only on “so much of the loan as is in excess of the initial loan.” Under HB 1511 “a mortgage broker obtaining a mortgage loan with respect to the same property more than once within a 24-month period may charge a finder’s fee if the fee is not in excess of 8% of the initial loan amount when combined with the finder’s fee charged on the initial loan and on any other finder’s fee collected during that 24-month period.”

Maryland has passed House Bill 1297 which makes wide ranging changes to its Financial Consumer Protection Act. Among the sections amended include Section 12-114.1 which prohibits an unlicensed person from making a covered loan, meaning a loan subject to Section 12-103(A)(3) or (C) of the act; Section 12-303 which applies to a loan of $25,000.00 or less made for personal, family, or householder purposes; and Section 12-314 which prohibits a person from lending $25,000.00 or less if the person directly or indirectly charges an interest rate prohibited by law, or if the transaction violates the Federal Military Lending Act, or if the person is not licensed under or exempt from the Maryland Consumer Loan Law Licensing Provisions.

Additionally, amendments to Section 12-402.1 allow a lender, on or after January 1, 2019, to make a loan under the provisions of this subtitle so long as, among other things, the lender makes a written election in the agreement specifying that this subtitle will govern the loan.

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, Division of Regulatory Boards, Collection Service Board has adopted provisions regarding the standards of practice for debt collectors. The new provisions address, among other things, the acquisition of location information from 3^rd parties, communications in connection with debt collection, harassment or abuse, and unfair practices.

The standards define a debt collector, requirement of identification and state that he or she is attempting to confirm or correct location information and may only identify his/her employer if expressly requested. The debt collector cannot state that the consumer owes a debt, may not communicate with the 3^rd party more than once unless requested to do so. If the consumer is represented by an attorney, may only communicate with that attorney unless the attorney consents to direct communication with the consumer. Further, a debt collector may not communicate with the consumer at his or her place of employment if the debt collector has reason to know that the employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication.

The standard also specifies what is considered harassment, abuse and unfair practices.

Connecticut has amended its provisions regarding foreclosure mediation sessions effective as of October 1. Under the new provisions, the requirement that a mortgagor represented by counsel attend the first foreclosure mediation session in person has been eliminated. It is sufficient for the mortgagor’s counsel to appear in lieu of the mortgagor at this initial session so long as the mortgagor remains available during the mediation via telephone.

Phishing scam & Cybersecurity note

Thank you to Vicki Thompson with AmeriHome who sent, “I thought you might like to know about IRS Newswire IR-2018-226 which addresses serious malware posing as tax transcripts being sent to businesses by the IRS. ‘… in the past few weeks, the scam masqueraded as the IRS, pretending to be from ‘IRS Online.’ The scam email carries an attachment labeled ‘Tax Account Transcript’ or something similar, and the subject line uses some variation of the phrase ‘tax transcript.’ These clues can change with each version of the malware. Scores of these malicious Emotet emails were forwarded to phishing@irs.gov recently…’” Thank you Vicki!

Every IT person knows this, but the financial markets are increasingly susceptible to cyberattacks because there are abundant points of entry and so many market players, according to a report from SWIFT and BAE Systems. The securities market is especially vulnerable because of the complexity of interactions, as well as the large number of participants and different systems involved, the report said.

Property Inspection Waivers

From MLO vet in Nevada comes, “PIWs are available, and they are appreciated by borrowers. I provide the most complete property info with the DU/LP AUS submission so that my client has the best chance to obtain a PIW. My bet is that most don’t bother to do the best, and don’t receive the PIW, or perhaps the lender just does not want to use the PIW. Banks and lenders own AMCs. Why would a bank waive an appraisal, when the appraisal will make money for the bank’s affiliate?

“I see the same thing happening with credit reports. Credit report fees have increased dramatically. But in some cases, banks own credit reporting companies. Banks require multiple layers of credit report addendums, and every single addendum makes more revenue for the bank owned credit company. Banks, builders, and lenders also own title companies. The bank or even large mortgage banking pushes use of their in-house/owned title co. Those fees are typically higher than a local escrow/title co. Again, the bank or large lender/investor makes more money. The originator has less work. Who pays? The consumer.”

Aaron Ninness contributed, “I was reading your Fannie Mae section regarding PIWs and can’t help but think that Fannie themselves are ‘way off’ on the reasoning that PIWs weren’t executed. The idea that borrowers wanted an appraisal to confirm value might be accurate, but for only a few.

“The real issue with a PIW is training and overlays. We are continually finding files that had a PIW in the findings and was just missed. In many cases the underwriter is aware, but by the time the file is on their desk reviewing the details the appraisal has been ordered and the fee paid. And for those that sell to multiple correspondent lenders who have overlays on the allowance of a PIW, an originator doesn’t want to lose any time. We are, after all, still programmed to a day when 14 business day turn times for a $1,000 was normal for an appraisal.

“Companies will need to make a conscious decision to train on PIW use, as well as Fannie should be doing a better job of training on when a PIW is even offered. They have a matrix available from the recent change where they outline when properties are eligible yet most originators have never seen the complete matrix itself.

“And finally, originators need to stop being lazy. Read your findings. That’s right. Run DU and read the approval. For those files that don’t offer a PIW and it is a ‘vanilla’ file, you can try something crazy like ‘Running LP’ to get a Fieldwork Waiver there. Consumers will take the option of a waiver if they knew they had an option. Realtors will be overjoyed to remove another objection from their contract and will want to work additionally with a lender who generally offers these PIWs at higher rates. We even see loans won at higher rates than competitors because we can take the appraisal off the table. PIWs are a huge tool and I suspect they will be an even more invaluable offering come the next spring buying season.”

(Thank you to Susan B. for this one. Warning: PG for language.)

Have you ever been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking, “Surely I can’t look that old!” Well…you’ll love this one.

My name is Alice, and I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his DDS Diploma on the wall, which bore his full name.

Suddenly I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my school class some 40 years ago. Could he be the same guy that I had a secret crush on way back then?

Upon seeing him, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man, with the deeply lined face, was way too old to have been my classmate.

After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Monta Vista High School.

“Yes”, he said. “I am a Matador!” He gleamed with pride.

“When did you graduate?” I asked.

He answered, “In 1973. Why do you ask?”

“You were in my class,” I exclaimed.

He looked at me closely, then this ugly, old, bald, wrinkle faced, fat-assed, gray haired decrepit son of a b–ch asked me……….

“What did you teach?”

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

I want a free vacation! I want a free fancy car in the garage in my newly-built McMansion! Apparently, due to sagging sales, with some builders I can indeed have those things, and more. Builders in many locales are proving that, regardless of which administration is in power, or who takes credit for some aspect of the economy doing well, business cycles are a fact of life. Lenders know a lot about business cycles, and the number of nonbank mortgage lenders was down by about 3.5% at midyear from the end of 2017, according to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. (Speaking of “wants,” if you want an “Air Selfie” for Christmas, aka mini-drone, here you go.)

Employment & personnel moves

National MI is excited to share that “we continue with our growth and have added a Sales Representative in Minneapolis. Trevor Enroth joins us in the Minnesota and North Dakota markets and will be partnering with Justin Putz, Regional Team Lead. Trevor has been in the mortgage industry for five years and is an exciting new addition to our team.” Please feel free to reach to Trevor via email or phone at 952-465-7171.

More sales. More revenue. More opportunity. Faster. One of the top mortgage lenders in the nation, Homeside, is launching Revby Homeside, a net-branching experience built specifically for top-ranking lending teams. Unlike traditional net branching, Rev offers more territory (strategic locations selected, no market overcrowding), more independence

(streamlined corporate involvement, DBAs available), more support (marketing, IT, HR, payroll, licensing, compliance, legal, audits, etc.) and more profit (full control of P&L, pay only for services used). Lending teams interested in joining Rev by Homeside should contact Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Chris Miller.

Building an inclusive and thriving workplace. Evergreen Home Loans celebrates women in the workplace and is proud to be named the #3 Best Workplace for women in 2018

by Fortune and consulting firm Great Place to Work. 72% of its associates are women, including 50% of the executive team. “Evergreen is committed to continually supporting and encouraging diversity in the workplace, believing that when we treat everyone like family that sense of care and respect radiates to our customers and business partners. ‘It is an honor to be recognized for upholding a strong culture that supports, inspires and empowers women as we strive to be the best place to work in the nation,’ said Don Burton, president, Evergreen Home Loans. Loan officers seeking a great place to work where 96% of employees surveyed are proud to tell others they work here, can find more information on its careers page.”

Nations Lending is welcoming a new member to its team, Derek DeGutis, as Division Retail Sales Manager. DeGutis brings more than two decades of experience in mortgage lending and is a proven motivated leader. DeGutis will be laser-focused on making Nations Lending a household name and expanding our market-reach throughout the country. “From the East to West coasts, Nations Lending continues to expand its retail footprint with more opportunities available to high-performing, ready-to-make it happen originators. Ideal candidates for our

Branch Manager will have at least 2 years’ experience as an LO, and ready to roll as a top player in this strategic initiative. Nations Lending, is an Ohio-based, full-service national lender licensed in 47 states. If interested, contact Division Retail Store Sales Manager, Jordan Gerard (337-501-0155) or Division Retail Branch Sales Manager, Derek DeGutis (732-580-5038). For more information and opportunity on how to join our growing organization, please visit the company’s website.”

“Due to growth, SocialSurvey is looking for Regional VPs of Business Development to open our Southwest, Midwest, and Southeast regions. Candidates must have proven success selling tech or services into the mortgage vertical. SocialSurvey, known for its mortgage reviews platform, now offers social media compliance monitoring as a part of our integrated platform. We create over 600,000 verified mortgage company reviews annually and share those reviews more than 4,000,000 times on social sites, Zillow, and Google to help boost online reputation. Social Survey also acts as a powerful enterprise feedback tool that drives employee engagement and behavior. This is a great opportunity for somebody with the right experience and contacts. Are you ready for something different?” Send confidential resume and contact info to me for forwarding.

Ocwen announced that Timothy Yanoti has joined as EVP and Chief Growth Officer, responsible for leading Ocwen’s lending business and operations, including forward and reverse mortgage lending, MSR purchases and servicing business development efforts. Ocwen also appointed Albert Celini SVP, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer of Ocwen.

Lender products and services

“Lendsnap is the favorite Digital Mortgage app for non-QM Lenders. Our partners close more loans faster because they can pull up to 24 months of original bank and investment statement PDFs. While other lenders and brokers make the customer work too hard, you will have the decisive advantage. When your customers don’t have to manually download and update statements, you will get clear to close in days instead of weeks. Get started right away with our simple yet powerful system that can make every member of your loan manufacturing team more productive. All this functionality is built in to our SOC2-audited platform with no hidden fees or setup charges. Lendsnap replaces many services you pay for separately today and drops in to your workflow easily. Request a free consultation today and go Digital with Lendsnap.”

Interested in offering your customers new products? You may have heard of the “bank statement program” and while that is true, Sierra Pacific Mortgage’s Sierra Access and Sierra Core has much more to offer, including 1-year express tax returns and a full doc option. Join Sierra Pacific’s free webinar on December 4, at 10AM PDT and you will learn how these programs can increase your business, why your borrower needs them, which product is the better choice for your scenario, and how to calculate the income.

“Trelix is offering simplified mortgage originations. Trelix offers an industry-leading suite of fulfillment, quality control and due diligence products and services that can help you manage risk and lower costs in a complex industry. If your goal is to grow quickly, dramatically lower costs, and attract top producing loan officers, the Trelix end-to-end solution is perfect for your business. Lenders who utilize our end-to-end services experience up to 40% reductions in manufacturing costs while helping to significantly improve the borrower experience.” To learn more, connect with Justin Vedder.

“Here’s a hi-tech breakthrough in lending to self-employed borrowers. Amidst rising interest rates and declining origination volume, lenders must cast a wider net for customers, a growing number of which are self-employed. To capitalize on this trend, lenders need a simpler, faster way to underwrite mortgages for Americans who are their own bosses. To this end, Freddie Mac has integrated fintech vendor LoanBeam’s technology with Loan Product Advisor®, our automated underwriting system, to introduce the first and only integrated self-employment income solution for the market. LoanBeam’s software uses optical character recognition technology to extract and digest a borrower’s tax returns and other financials, and then calculate a total income figure that aligns with Freddie Mac’s guidelines. This integration offers lenders several advantages, including an automated review of the accuracy of qualifying income, eliminating the need to chase down unnecessary documents that support residual/excess income and certainty that the income calculation is eligible for representation and warranty relief. Learn more.

Want to start a wholesale channel? Do it on the fly for a fraction of the cost of fancy, heavy, “legacy” platforms with ReadyPrice. The ReadyPrice RETAIL AND WHOLESALE enterprise-strength LOS with an embedded multi-investor PPE and proprietary error trapping tech is the answer in all market conditions. The ReadyPrice all-in-one RETAIL AND WHOLESALE

platforms come fully configured, are up to 75% less expensive than heavy, “mature” systems, have D1C & deep Fannie DU integrations and can be stood-up in a couple of weeks. Or, you can easily customize / configure her. The ReadyPrice LOS/PPE has funded over 300k units for $70 BILLION and is leading the way forward to “utilitize” mortgage tech for today’s mortgage bankers. Call them at (408) 357–0931 or email hello@readyprice.com to get a free demo today.

Today’s tech-savvy home buyers are online and mobile, and if your digital mortgage platform doesn’t provide the comprehensive home buying experience they demand, you’re at risk. For years, HomeScout® has helped lenders by providing a consumer facing experience where buyers can shop for a home and a loan in a single location, while the lender is exclusively branded on every screen. Considering that 100% of all purchase transactions require a house, lenders need a real estate search option for leads and preapproved customers, or risk losing them to online portals that advertise the competition. HomeScout offers an online experience that gives lenders control over more transactions by providing real-time loan pricing for every MLS listing to help prevent borrower rate shopping and give them the confidence to make a purchase decision. Find out more by contacting them HERE and scheduling a demo or give them a call at 952-831-0623.

Cyber Security Survey – Enter to win $50 Amazon Gift Card. Vendorly is constantly looking to provide meaningful solutions to address existing and emerging risks in third-party risk management. Over the last several years, the risk has shifted to cyber security. Please consider completing this 1-minute survey to provide your perspective on what is needed in the marketplace to mitigate the information security risk inherent in working with third-party vendors. Enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

Capital markets

Loan officers often wonder what pushes rates in the United States. Gross Domestic Product helps do that. Recall that real GDP beat market expectations of +3.3 percent and increased at a 3.5 percent annualize rate in the advanced estimate for the third quarter. Once again, the driver is consumer spending, which increased 4.0 percent and outpaced the second quarter’s 3.8 percent showing. Government spending jumped 3.3 percent in the quarter, the strongest rate of growth in more than two years. Business investment has slowed significantly from earlier in the year suggesting that stimulative effects of this year’s corporate tax cuts may be wearing off. Another negative component of the report was trade as net exports increased by $99.0 billion in the third quarter and was pulled the top line GDP number down by 1.8 percentage points. Elsewhere, housing data continued to show weakness as new home sales declined 5.5 percent and have now fallen five of the last six months. New home inventories rose to 7.1 months’ supply, the highest since 2011.

Jobs also move rates. Remember that unemployment was unchanged in October at 3.7 percent as the economy added 250,000 jobs and labor force participation increased to 62.9 percent. Wages inched up 0.2 percent in September and real disposable income was up 0.1 percent, the lowest gain since April. Despite the low increase in income, consumer spending increased by 0.3 percent and the personal saving rate declined to 6.2 percent. A strong US dollar will keep pressure on the US trade gap which widened in September to -$54 billion. One of the soft spots in last week’s data was the ISM Manufacturing Index which eased roughly 2 points to a still strong 57.7 in October. 13 of 18 reporting industries expanded during the month. Construction spending was unchanged from August to September but remains up 7.2 percent over the last twelve months. Unemployment claims remain low and were 214,000 for the previous week. Despite softness in a couple of the reports, data from last week still paints a healthy picture of the US economy albeit one that may not be accelerating as quickly as earlier in the year.

The U.S. 10-year closed the Thanksgiving week at 3.06% as markets were forced to turn overseas for any movement of interest. The European Commission announced that an excessive deficit procedure will be opened against Italy, potentially leading to a fine. And British Prime Minister Theresa May met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, but they could not agree on a final version of a Brexit deal.

Today we have a light day with only Chicago Fed activity and Dallas Fed Manufacturing activity – neither big market movers. Things pick up tomorrow with the September FHFA Home Price Index and the Q3 House Price Purchase Index at the same time as CoreLogic data, 9:00 am ET. We then have Conference Board Consumer Confidence figures for November before Wednesday sees the usual MBA Mortgage Application data, Retail and Wholesale Inventories, Q3 GDP data, and the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index before a busy Thursday and Friday. Monday begins with rates little changed versus Friday: the 10-year is yielding 3.06% and Agency MBS prices aren’t doing much of anything.

(Thanks to Stephen S. for this one.)

A boy was assigned a paper on childbirth and asked his parents, “How was I born?”
“Well, Honey…” said the boy’s mom, “the stork brought you to us.”
“Oh,” said the boy. “Well, how did you and daddy get born?” he asked.
“Oh, the stork brought us too,” chimed in the dad.
“Well how were grandpa and grandma born?” he persisted.
“Well darling, the stork brought them too!” said the mom, by now starting to squirm a little in the Lazy Boy recliner.
Several days later, the boy handed in his paper to the teacher who read with confusion the opening sentence: “This report has been very difficult to write because there hasn’t been a natural childbirth in my family for three generations.”

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

Will today or tomorrow bring the 2019 Freddie and Fannie loan limit change announcement? Stay tuned, as it usually released soon after Thanksgiving. Is it arguably less impactful since many jumbo programs have lower rates than conventional conforming products since they don’t have guarantee fees, fit nicely into some portfolios, and have lower compliance costs to originate. One thing is clear: lender M&A continues. For example, yesterday we learned that Firstar Bank has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Leader Mortgage. And unlike GM’s plans to “idle” five factories in North America and cut some 14,000 jobs, lenders are hiring:

Mortgage Employment

The Correspondent Lending team at Caliber Home Loans, Inc. has partnered with BlitzDocs to provide a seamless integration for mutual customers. This solution removes the manual loan package delivery process and delivering it directly from Blitzdocs to Caliber. Earlier this year, Caliber’s correspondent sales channel was ranked 2^nd by Scotsman Guide among all correspondent lenders nationwide. In addition to new technology that streamlines the loan process for its clients, Caliber Correspondent also has a proprietary suite of non-Agency products called Portfolio Loans which allow its lenders to provide home financing solutions to more eligible borrowers. The newest of these products is Elite Access, which offers up to $3 million, 90% loan-to-value, and no mortgage insurance.

CFBank, Ohio (lending in all 50 States) is now building its retail footprint nationwide. After selling his company, Smarter Mortgages in 2015, John Fearon is now heading up CFBank’s residential mortgage division. “My seasoned team, including five nationally ranked originators, has built the infrastructure and put the support team in place to begin our nationwide expansion. We have implemented our Close Fast Technology to enable top loan officers to focus on growing their business versus chasing down paperwork.” If you are a seasoned loan officer, team leader, or company owner looking for new opportunity, contact John Fearon directly to customize your next chapter in mortgage lending.

How do you say “bucket-list experience” in Spanish? Academy Mortgage’s President’s Club can check Barcelona, Spain, off their lists after their recent return from the company’s Sales Conference in the magical Mediterranean city. From mountain tops to tapas, Academy’s highest producers in 2017 were rewarded with all that Barcelona had to offer through walking tours to learn about the city’s unique architecture and history, taking in the spectacular view from the top of the Hotel Arts, and dining in the finest restaurants. Watch these adventures! The Sales Conference attendees also had the chance to relax, recharge, and reconnect with fellow team members, as is typical of an Academy Sales Conference. More than 100 originators and managers—a record high—qualified for Academy’s President’s Club in 2017. Candidates interested in seeing the world with Academy should contact Chad Melin, VP of National Business Development.

Fidelity Bank Mortgage is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with Retail Mortgage production offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Since 2008, the Mortgage division has grown to over 36 offices and over 500 employees. Fidelity Bank Mortgage is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae seller/servicer offering specialty products such as Portfolio Doctor Loans for eligible doctors, Construction-to-Permanent Loans, Escrow Holdback, and more. The majority of our operational support is in the local markets, providing for the best possible customer service. Fidelity Bank Mortgage has one of the highest production averages per Loan Officer according to MBA/STRATMOR Peer Group Surveys and boasts well above average Performance and Loan Officer Loyalty. We are expanding into new markets and interested in Top Sales and Leadership Talent. Click here to contact David Rapson, Senior Vice President, Mortgage Production Manager, and view our eBook to learn more about our team.

“Do you produce over $1 million a month in volume? You might be leaving over $200k on the table every year. Why not take that home? Here’s how… There are too many people between you and your commissions, aka middle management. How much money do you lose on every deal because you’re paying for the salaries for multiple layers of middle management? If you want more money, cut the fat and increase your take home! Here’s a solution for you – Canopy Mortgage – a flat organization that isn’t burdened with ‘legacy-costs’ that means fewer people between you and your commissions. Canopy is now hiring a National base of seasoned LOs. Reach out to Josh Neumarker, Director of Business Development at Canopy Mortgage (888-696-9076).

Primed to continue to break origination records in Q4, the leader in non-QM Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions announced its largest class of new account executives, adding 11 in November to teach brokers and correspondents about growing their business with non-QM. Adding additional coverage across the country, Michael Hooven came on-board in Philadelphia, William Reed in Milwaukee, Dudley Delbridge in the Richmond/Virginia Beach area, Jim McMillan in Northern New Jersey, Jodi Favish in Pittsburgh, Anna Prince in Orlando, Randy Rees in Cleveland, Suzanne Perez in Los Angeles and Tony Zodrow in Minneapolis with Damien Pippens and Andres Bernal in Inside Sales. And AOMS is just getting started, looking for new Account Executives in markets across the country. Why work with anyone but the best? To learn more, view the latest job openings on the Careers Page or email Regional Sales Manager, John Wise.

Lender products and services

Ethos Lending is being called “the best mortgage company that no one has heard about!” With its top 3 price, 18-day fundings, and state of the art proprietary technology, Ethos Lending customers are raving about how valuable it is in helping borrowers “stick” with them. For that reason, Ethos’ growth is unprecedented in these current market conditions. While the majority of wholesale companies have been laying off and restructuring, Ethos Lending has continually increased its sales force month-over-month. In addition, Ethos has added a full suite of Non-QM products with features like, Bank Statements, Non-Warrantable Condos, Asset Depletion, Interest Only, Cash in hand up to $1MM on Investment, 90% purchase and refinances up to $3MM, and many others. “Ethos Lending’s world-class sales team is backed by a world-class Ops team with tenured industry veterans who are happy to talk to their customers.” If you feel like you need an edge to compete, contact Bryson Bede to find the sales representative in your area.

This holiday season, TMS is putting the CARE in CAREspondent Lending. For every new lender that partners with TMS before the end of the year, they will donate $250 to Family Reach —a national non-profit dedicated to alleviating the financial burden of cancer. You can sign up here.

“How to Build a Non-QM Focused Origination Business” which takes place on Thursday, November 29 at 2:00 PM EST and is sponsored and presented by Deephaven Mortgage. Attendees will walk away from this webinar with a clear business case on why they should be originating Non-QM loans and of even more importance, how to build a business with Non-QM as a focal point. In this 60-minute webinar we will cover the state of the non-QM market, show you how to source AND CLOSE non-QM loans and more. Reserve your seat on this free webinar here.

Today’s tech-savvy home buyers are online and mobile, and if your digital mortgage platform doesn’t provide the comprehensive home buying experience they demand, you’re at risk. For years, HomeScout® has helped lenders by providing a consumer facing experience where buyers can shop for a home and a loan in a single location, while the lender is exclusively branded on every screen. Considering that 100% of all purchase transactions require a house, lenders need a real estate search option for leads and preapproved customers, or risk losing them to online portals that advertise the competition. HomeScout offers an online experience that gives lenders control over more transactions by providing real-time loan pricing for every MLS listing to help prevent borrower rate shopping and give them the confidence to make a purchase decision. Find out more by contacting them HERE and scheduling a demo or give them a call at 952-831-0623.

“Are you ELITE? Todd Duncan’s 2019 ELITE Membership Group is now open for enrollment. This one-year program is the most progressive, unique, mentoring, masterminding, and learning program available in the mortgage business today! Membership includes monthly mentoring sessions with Todd Duncan, your own personal, high-performance ELITE Coach, your own private Board of Advisors, best-practices Webinars, Two Mastermind Retreats, and access to every fellow member to brainstorm ideas, seek guidance around important decisions and implement key strategies for your business and life. If selected, you will join the most exclusive coaching experience in the mortgage industry! Are you prepared to make 2019 your best year ever? Apply to Todd Duncan’s ELITE today! Membership is limited to 24 qualified and vetted applicants.

Digital transformation is changing the elements that give your organization a competitive edge in an age of unprecedented change: your people, your processes, your technology and your brand. By driving transformation efforts through process-centric digital technologies, companies can transform their operations to be nimbler and more competitive. Level up your technology and ensure your tech stack works together. Understand how your customers feel when they interact with your brand at every touchpoint. What set you apart five years ago is no longer enough. Surviving – thriving – depends on your ability to serve your customers in a way that is unique, authentic and memorable. Read the Total Expert blog: Four Things That Will Set You Apart from Your Competitors.

“Here’s a hi-tech breakthrough in lending to self-employed borrowers. Amidst rising interest rates and declining origination volume, lenders must cast a wider net for customers, a growing number of which are self-employed. To capitalize on this trend, lenders need a simpler, faster way to underwrite mortgages for Americans who are their own bosses. To this end, Freddie Mac has integrated fintech vendor LoanBeam’s technology with Loan Product Advisor®, our automated underwriting system, to introduce the first and only integrated self-employment income solution for the market. LoanBeam’s software uses optical character recognition technology to extract and digest a borrower’s tax returns and other financials, and then calculate a total income figure that aligns with Freddie Mac’s guidelines. This integration offers lenders several advantages, including an automated review of the accuracy of qualifying income, eliminating the need to chase down unnecessary documents that support residual/excess income and certainty that the income calculation is eligible for representation and warranty relief. Learn more.

Capital markets

There’s no reason to pay anyone to predict interest rates for you – all we have to do is listen to the Federal Reserve! Goldman Sachs economists say the Federal Reserve’s anticipated rate increase of 1% or less over the next year would have a relatively small effect on the US economy, while an unexpected hike of 1.5% would likely send Treasury yields up and cause equity-market losses. Their analysis sets the risk of recession in the next two years at 26%.

But let’s take a brief step back to late September. The FOMC increased the Fed Funds target by 25bps as widely expected. In the statement announcing its decision it removed language asserting the policies were accommodative, a signal that the current policy has moved into neutral territory. The updated “dot plot” forecasts re-affirmed another rate increase is expected in December as the Fed views the economy and labor markets are strong and inflationary pressures are on target.

(Recall at that time data that was released supported the Fed’s optimistic view of the economy. The consumer confidence index neared an all-time high at 138.4 in September and personal income and wages also both increased as the tight labor market appears to be driving income growth. New home sales rose in August 3.5 percent after declining for a few months but affordability remains a concern in the wake of rising prices and mortgage rates. These two factors remain headwinds to future home sales growth in the coming months.)

Moving to November’s meeting, to no one’s surprise the FOMC voted unanimously to leave the fed funds target at 2.00% – 2.25%. The policy statement following the meeting offered little changes from the September meeting as the committee’s evaluation of the economy remained positive. With continued strong job growth and inflation at the Fed’s target, the committee expressed their expectations for further gradual increases in the target range for the federal funds rate. The markets expect the next rate increase following the December FOMC meeting and are mixed as to the number of increases expected in 2019. (The news was overshadowed as the election was the main focus but results were largely in line with expectations of a divided government. While sweeping changes are less likely following the election, the possibility remains for some bipartisan cooperation surrounding long discussed infrastructure spending rather than simply gridlock leading up to the 2020 elections.)

In fact, looking ahead to next month’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, 100% of economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expect the Fed to raise interest rates by 25bp. The median of this group projects 3 more rate hikes in 2019.

You want transparency? Fed San Francisco President Daly said she favors continuing to gradually raise interest rates given a very favorable economy. A strong labor market, high consumer confidence and healthy business and household balance sheets were all reasons cited. Fed Chair Powell said he is “very happy about the state of the (US) economy” and he expects it to continue. He also indicated that rising signs of a global economic deceleration are “concerning”. Fed Vice Chair Clarida gave his first policy speech and in it said more interest rate hikes are likely coming. He indicated the economy is growing stronger and said the structural unemployment rate is lower than expected.

The U.S. 10-year began the week +2bps to 3.07% on a snoozer of a day as far as markets were concerned. As was the case towards the tail-end of last week, any news of note seems to be coming internationally. Italian officials have reportedly indicated willingness to lower next year’s deficit target, though Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini did say over the weekend he would bring down the government if the deficit target is changed. Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said that a lower budget deficit would not be a problem if budget measures remain unchanged. And separately, EU leaders approved the Brexit withdrawal bill, but it is uncertain if the bill will make it through the British parliament. British Prime Minister Theresa May warned that there is no better deal available.

Today’s economic calendar kicks off with Fed Vice Chair Clarida speaking before the Clearing House 2018 Annual Conference in New York at 8:30AM ET. We then receive Redbook same-store sales for the week ending November 24 half an hour later (previously 0.2% MoM, 6.2% YoY). We will see updates on September home prices from both the FHFA and Case-Shiller. November consumer confidence is next and is expected to decline. The Dallas Fed Texas Services Index for November will be released at 10:30AM. Finally, at 2:30PM we have some Fed speak, with Chicago’s Evans, Atlanta’s Bostic, and Kansas City’s George all participating in a panel at the same conference that Vice Chair Clarida is attending. We begin Tuesday with Agency MBS prices “un-budged” from last night’s close and the 10-year yielding 3.05%.

Want a short visual of the role of an experienced loan originator? Here you go (the guy on the right).

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

Nov. 3: Letters on Zillow’s event, VA IRRRLs, LO comp; California’s changing lender environment

Nov. 5: AE, LO, warehouse jobs; capital markets products, S&D buyer; events & training around the nation

Election Day: Sales, LO jobs, recruiting, HELOC products; new conduit offering proprietary loans

Nov. 7: LO jobs; non-agency conduit; income & subservicer webinars; lender disaster news continues

Nov. 8: LO & AE jobs; construction & HELOC products; non-QM & sales webinars; Mr. Cooper PUF acquisition details

Nov. 9: AE & LO jobs; vendor & management products; F&F tonning it; LIBOR replacement news

Nov. 10: Notes on the new 1003, the gov’t’s role in the credit crisis; state lending law changes coast to coast

Nov. 12: LO jobs; LOS, POS, compliance products; F&F’s future being bantered about, impacting borrowers

Nov. 13: TPO, LO, account mgt. jobs; non-QM, construction products; training & events nationwide and at home

Nov. 14: LO jobs; webinars for LOs; non-QM product; chatter on QM patch, MBS/UMBS; Agencies address languages

Nov. 15: AE, QC, LO jobs; accounting, subservicing, warehouse products; Freddie & Fannie changes roll on

Nov. 16: AE jobs; profitability and commission products; new products incl. HELOCs, servicing, digital…geocoding bid tapes!

Nov. 17: The housing market with 5% rates; blockchain update; Grandma’s Thanksgiving letter

Nov. 19: LO jobs; HELOC, reno, LOS products; Lehman litigation webinar & other upcoming events and training

Nov. 20: LO jobs & products; 1003 and CRM products; CRA req. study; world economies pushing US rates lower

Nov. 21: CEO, LO jobs; underwriting product, new non-del correspondent investor; lender disaster news

Nov. 23: Agency jobs; Ginnie primer for MLOs; Freddie & Fannie deals continue, transferring risk

Nov. 24: Letters on Property Inspection Waivers, new phishing scam; state law changes & affordable housing fees

Nov. 26: LO & sales jobs; platform, origination, non-QM, LO products; U.S. economy continues to motor along

Nov. 27: AE & LO jobs; sales, branding, non-QM products; “don’t fight the Fed” when it comes to rates