Here’s a stream of consciousness paragraph for you. “Rob, what are you hearing about companies laying off, furloughing, right-sizing, whatever, employees to cut costs while at the same time paying $500-$1000 to nominate one of their employees for some award?” I’m not hearing a lot, but I’ve always wondered about the value in publicizing your top employees for other companies and recruiters to learn about their accomplishments… To what end? And are you not going to send someone to a valuable conference, but pay a fee to nominate them for a soon-forgotten award? Lenders and vendors are coming off the sugar rush of the last two years and competing against companies who are weaponizing their two years’ worth of earnings. What are you going to do about it? Some lenders are fighting for their lives, dusting off notes on Homeowner’s Assistance or Down Payment Assistance Programs. No one seems to be using the term “recapture” any more since rate and term refi opportunities are scant. (How’s “scant” for good Wordle word?) Managers are up to speed on bots, coders, and developers, and definitely looking at production reports. Originators are saying that the deals are harder! Meanwhile, traffic and gasoline prices are rough in cities for everyone, including processors and doc drawers, and everyone is working on making fixed costs variable. (Today’s podcast is available here and this week’s is sponsored by MCT’s BAM Marketplace, the world’s first truly open loan exchange, where buyers can bid regardless of approval status, and sellers receive automated live pricing from every buyer on the platform.)