Welcome to February 29; The 366th day is added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or seasonal year. What do astronomers know that we don’t? In general, what do “they” know that we don’t? Recall when Wells Fargo left correspondent, and other correspondent investors wondered the same thing. Now Rocket Companies will shut down Rocket Pro Originate in June, a mortgage origination platform for real estate agents and other financial pros. What does Rocket know? (More below). This biz is always changing, and this week I spent some time with Alanna McCargo, President of Ginnie Mae (without Ginnie Mae execution, FHA & VA programs would not be able to scale), and Ginnie is definitely trying to stay ahead of the curve which in turns helps first-time home buyers. (Found here after 8:30AM ET, this week’s podcast is brought to you by nCino, makers of the nCino Mortgage Suite for the modern mortgage lender. nCino Mortgage S
In our biz, you never want to hear, “deception,” “targeting the elderly,” or “abusive tactics” related to a company. But there they are in this report, “The Ugly Truth Behind We Buy Ugly Houses.” (Thank you to Ken S. for passing this along.) The franchise is nationwide, unlike… cicadas? The U.S. Census Bureau says the Midwest includes 12 states: the Dakotas, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio. I mention this, not only because some people are confused where they live, but also because this spring, two different broods of cicadas, one that lives on a 13-year cycle and the other that lives on a 17-year cycle, will emerge at the same time from underground in a rare, synchronized event that last occurred in 1803. Billions of the winged insects will make an appearance across the Midwest and the Southeast, beginning in some places in late April, for a raucous mating ritual
Yes, WeWork has filed for bankruptcy, but if you look at GDP and employment, our economy is doing pretty well. Did you know that the Dallas metro area is home to the headquarters of companies responsible for originating 78 percent of residential volume? You probably didn’t, as I just made that up out of thin air. Texas’ growth and not having state income tax both help. Here in Dallas at the TMBA Education Symposium, there is plenty of discussion about the industry incorporating non-traditional products into their lineups, such as reverse mortgages, bond programs, buydowns, renovation loans, construction to perm financing, and jumbo loans, all have value to lenders. Meanwhile, loan originators are looking at a “full stack” loan origination & processing platform like Realfinity.io to go “independent” allowing them to get the most competitive pricing directly from wholesale lenders with no overlays due to corporate expenses. (No, this
Hal M. writes, “Monday is a holiday. The observance reminded me of the small Italian parade we had in Maine on Columbus Day. All the marchers were under 5 foot 4.” Bah dah bum. Clients come in all shapes and sizes. An experienced loan originator will tell you, “Never tell a client about a problem until you’ve solved it.” An originator will also, when talking to a client, show them that their timing matters more than market timing. Put another way, home price appreciation is earned by buying a place and holding it, rather than timing the purchase based on interest rates. Roughly speaking, there are 4.8 million real estate sales in a given year, and 3.6 million of them will have a loan. Figure about 1.3 million refinances, which gives us a total of about 4.9 million mortgage transactions. These include debt consolidation refinances, moving out of 3 percent loans but paying off 30 percent credit card debt with a 7.5 percent loan. Originators are telling
This morning I head from Chicago to Orlando along with 74 million others (yearly). More fun with numbers: Although the MBA thinks we’ll fund about $1.7 trillion in 2023, weekly applications continue to reflect a declining market so let’s use $1.5 trillion to make the numbers easier. That averages out to $6 billion per business day of production. The Fed is looking to offload $13 billion in MBS from bank seizures. To keep things in perspective, that is only two days’ worth of production, certainly not enough to “swamp the boat.” Perspective is good, and here’s another example. Higher and volatile interest rates, uncertainty about property values, and stresses in some property markets have increased pressure on some loans and properties. Accordingly, MBA reported that commercial and multifamily mortgage delinquencies increased in the second quarter of 2023. Even with the uptick in delinquency rates, they remain at the lower end of historical rang