As Wells Fargo was smacked upside the head with a $3.7 billion fine by the CFPB, sports news included Mat Ishbia and the Phoenix Suns, and the Senate passed the Improving Access to the VA Home Loan Benefit Act of 2022, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Office of Inspector General released a report with a really long name because that is what bureaucrats do (FHFA Could Further Combat Appraisal Bias by Ensuring That Complaints Are Filed with State Authorities and Ensuring the Enterprises Use Appraisals That Comply with Federal Law), the industry is grappling with continued higher rates. Not that lower rates would release the unicorns from their pens and spread rainbows through the industry, mind you, but they might help. The economists from Redfin (who have seen their stock plunge 94 percent in less than two years) believe that there is a decent chance rates gradually going down to 5.7% by the end of next year. Q1 will be ugly. Seems like after a year of losses in 2022 next y
Anyone who has ever gone swimming in the ocean knows that, in a violent surf, the swimmer can’t spend time and energy in the waves near the shore being knocked about. They either swim out beyond them, or swim into the beach. Using that analogy, think about lenders and vendors in the current environment. Having “no plan” is not a plan. Best to go one way or the other, because staying in the surf can be exhausting. (It will be a topic of today’s chat between the MBA’s fabled chief economist Mike Fratantoni and me at 11AM PT.) Meanwhile, capital markets departments are grappling with renegotiations, although I am hearing from lenders that with pipelines primarily consist of non-rate sensitive new home purchases and cash-out refis. It would be fair to expect new, lower mortgage rates to actually stimulate some new demand by consumers. And consumers certainly have options, including sponsored stories about the best cash-out refinance and home equity loan p
Tip-jar humor seen here in Chicago at a coffee shop: “Afraid of Change? Leave It Here.” Sure recessions typically mean lower rates, but are you okay waiting until that happens? TransUnion tells us that 196 million people in the United States use credit cards. Credit cards can be a valuable tool but for nearly everyone who keeps a balance on them, their rates are moving higher. On the flip side, here’s a way to add a little value to your clients. Thank you to Cory Tona who sent, “At Hometown, we have to send uncashed checks to the state of CA. The state holds them for two years or so until they are claimed. If they are not claimed, CA keeps the money. I did a quick search using my name and I had a few checks to claim. Same with my partner. It has gone around the office and some folks are finding thousands of dollars! In a time when a lot of mortgage folks are laid off, sharing this website might really help some folks. They may have money they didn’t k
Crypto and blockchain technologies have some valid applications but when it’s just for investment, there are tons of scams. (And what would we do for passwords if it weren’t for our pets?) Since the dawn of history people have been trying to take things of value from others. The industry is discussing the latest breach, especially as it seems, once again, that “it is not a matter of if but of when.” “Flagstar Bank recently became aware of a privacy breach that occurred during December 2021 involving unauthorized access to Flagstar Bank’s network. Flagstar Bank is in the process of providing their impacted customers with written notice of this privacy breach. The written notice includes an offer of free credit monitoring by Kroll, subject to the customer’s enrollment in the monitoring offer. Impacted customers can call Flagstar Bank at (855) 503-3384, or impacted customers may also obtain additional information online.” (Today
Vice President Dan Quayle sagely observed, among other things, “If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." Is our housing market in danger of failing? Hardly. But lenders, big and small, continue to engage in personnel cutbacks, and grappling with companies offering all-cash programs as highlighted in the STRATMOR Group piece. But, like a marathon runner hitting mile 20, there are signs of weariness and the press is flooded with housing news. Attom Data reports a “jump” in foreclosures: 259,000 properties around the nation are in some stage of foreclosure, up nearly 13 percent from the 1st quarter. (The nationwide foreclosure moratorium, imposed early during the Coronavirus pandemic, was lifted at the end of July 2021.) On the builder side of things, what lender or LO doesn’t want their business? “Toll Brothers closed 9,986 homes in 2021… the 11th largest home builder in the U.S. based on closings had between 200,000 and