Does technology always trump personal skills? Sometimes. But not all the time. Good LOs use the technology that best suits them in combination with their personal attributes to help borrowers every day. “In space, no one can hear you scream. In cyberspace, no one can shut you up.” How ‘bout some IT-related stuff? Here’s a softball: did you know that “Bluetooth” was named after Harald Bluetooth? The Bluetooth wireless specification design was named after the king in 1997, based on an analogy that the technology would unite devices the way Harald Bluetooth united the tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom. Another good use of technology is exhibited by Tim Lucas who writes, “There are more than 5 million Native Americans in the U.S. but only about 140 approved lenders. I created a Section 184 calculator that shows the required down payment, MI costs, and more. There's also a flowchart and a ton of info about the program.” T
Want to really let someone know that you’re no longer interested in them? For $10 the San Antonio Zoo is offering a special Valentine’s Day greeting for exes who keep bugging you after you part ways: naming a cockroach after your not-so-special someone and feeding it to an animal. What about when a lender parts ways with a loan officer? Obviously a new company may not have the same product set, and good luck to LOs who rely on one product and then are cut loose, especially if it is a purchase-centric product. For example, I bet all of those Flagstar originators will miss that portfolio product: A well-priced ARM that allowed clients to buy before selling. (Flagstar offers a wholesale and correspondent channel, by the way.) (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Milestones. Giving homeowners an all-inclusive homeownership experience including home value and equity monitoring, home maintenance reminders and how-to articles, cloud-ba
“Someone asked me to name two structures that hold water. I was like, well, damn.” As the storms continue to hit us in Northern California and Nevada, not only is my cat Myrtle ticked off, but we are reminded that it is either feast or famine in the Golden State. Take your pick, forest fires or biblical rain: Over 20 trillion gallons of water are supposed to fall on California in a two-week span. Yes, that’s with a “t.” Ratcheting back several decimal places, new estimates from the Census Bureau found that the U.S. population grew by only 0.38 percent from July 2021 to July 2022, which was the second-lowest growth on record behind just the 0.16 percent growth registered during the first year of the pandemic. The main thing increasing it was an increase in net immigration. To find comparably low rates one has to go back to the worst of the Great Depression, when growth was still a comparably robust 0.6 percent. All told, for those who don’t beli
Have you ever heard the term “scuddle”? It’s an English term from the 1500’s meaning “to wash dishes,” something many of us did plenty of over Christmas. I bring this up because on this date in 1886 Josephine Garis Cochrane patented the world’s first dishwasher! Where would we be without women in schools or the workplace or being educated… Or thinking? (Let’s ask the Taliban in Afghanistan: hopefully you’re following this nightmare.) The United States is nowhere near that, but we have a gender pay gap that has remained relatively stable over the past 15 years or so. In 2020, women earned 84 percent of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers. Common explanations of this disparity, present across most industries and professions, include the perception that women are less likely than men to negotiate raises and promotions, women’s
When I see lover’s names carved into the wood on a tree, I don’t think it’s sweet. I just think how surprising it is how many people bring a knife on a date. Time passes, life goes by fast, first dates turn into long-term relationships, a hot summer has been forgotten, turned into a beautiful autumn, and turned into an arctic winter. Time has passed, and it is nearly Christmas Eve. Ya’ll sick of Christmas carols (again)? The Winter Solstice has occurred, meaning that the minutes of daylight will only increase for the next six months in the northern hemisphere. People are planning for 2023, as if the calendar changing from December to January will have an impact on rates, volumes, margins, or revenue. Augie Del Rio with Gallus Insights did a video interview with Tammy Richards and me about how lenders and vendors are reacting to the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. (Gallus Insights helps lenders make data-driven decisions.) And before we know it, Wi-Fi