When you own your own home, you don’t have to deal with unreasonable landlords. (Warning: uncensored.) And then there are those who own their own homes that have no mortgage: almost 40 percent of Americans own their places outright, an all-time high. Do you think that you could live in 200 square feet? There are tiny homes, and then there is this place that kind of folds up! (Thank you to Arch’s Sharon K. for sending this along.) Meanwhile, among lenders there are many reports of, what is in effect, pick-a-pay, when the “referral” source is moved within the company. LO comp is still an issue, as brokers can have different comp plans but LOs can’t. Pre-approvals and pre-quals off the chart, but there is no inventory. Multiple bids are occurring in many areas and price points. In the wholesale channel, smaller companies can’t out-price the “big guys,” so instead are focusing on service and products. And here come the holidays! (Toda
Originators: Want to add value for your potential current or previous clients who are veterans? Send them a link to Veteran’s Day discounts and free meals. LOs and brokers are good at staying in touch with potential clients and continue to prospect and talk to previous clients. (In fact, the current STRATMOR blog is titled, “Listening to Real Estate Agents Can Pay Off for Originators”.) A good reason to talk to previous clients is about their credit card balances. As noted in the Commentary recently, Americans' credit card debt hit a record $1.08 trillion in Q3, with delinquencies led by Millennials, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. So LOs, this means your previous clients are potentially paying 20-30 percent in non-tax-deductible interest on their outstanding credit card debt… A good reason to touch base. (Today’s podcast can be found here, and this week is sponsored by nCino makers of the nCino Mortgage Suite. With three pr
The upcoming credit price changes were not discussed yesterday at the counter in Paul’s Pancake Parlor here in Missoula, but they might have been. As well as the resignation of NAR’s CEO… are there cracks in the powerful NAR empire? One thing that did come up was the commercial real estate market, reminding us that people need a place to live, not necessarily a place to work. Want to know how bad the commercial real estate market may become? Follow the money. “Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust’s investors sought to pull $2.2 billion last month, compared with $2.1 billion in September… BREIT returned about $1.3 billion to investors, or about 56 percent of what was requested, the ‘highest payout percentage’ since redemptions were restricted last year… The real estate trust is a colossus in U.S. property markets, with its reach spanning from apartments to data centers. In late 2022, BREIT curbed withdrawals after redemption
The unofficial Chrisman LLC sarcastic slogan is, “We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.” Hopefully, there are no lenders out there with that slogan, as residential lending, done the right way, is not easy. Sometimes residential lending seems discombobulated. Sometimes things settle down and become more orderly: recombobulated! (Workflow and improved lender efficiency are the topics of today’s Mortgage Collaborative Rundown featuring Donielle Geiser with Thrive Mortgage.) Not only is our biz not easy but it is also unpredictable. 2024 is shaping up to be another tough year for mortgage originations due to the market environment, and every basis point will matter. Capacity still needs to be right sized across the industry, and the market and your competitors will force that to happen. Would you rather have profitability or market share? If you’re losing money what difference does market share make? If you don’t have
This morning (as I head to Chicago) and every morning, I keep myself sharp by regularly asking myself the tough questions like, “What happened yesterday?” and “What was I planning on doing just now?” Looking forward, as some attendees of last week’s conference made note of the MBA Annual’s dates in Denver for next year butting up against Halloween, successful salespeople will tell you that many of their best business meetings last week, or at any conference, contained very little business and didn’t take place in a meeting room. I’ve seen this in action many times over the years. Numerous conversations were personal in nature and took place in the hallways or at social events. Yes, the sessions were valuable, although if you’re a company whose unofficial slogan is, “Survive until ’25,” you’re not likely to care much about some Agency’s “Five Year Plan.” (Today’s podcas