Nature “always bats last.” Terrible flooding in Pakistan, flooding in Mississippi impacting its drinking water supplies. Severe temperatures in China, a hot summer in the Western U.S. Fortunately, this year’s hurricane season in the U.S has been tepid, so far, and fires in the West have been limited. Certainly, storms can impact borrowers and lenders, as can documentation problems or appraisal delays. What percent of your clients don’t close on time? In retail news, if you're a Chase customer buying a new home or an investment property, you may be eligible for the Chase Closing Guarantee. “We promise an on-time closing in as soon as three weeks or you'll get $5,000.” As summer winds down, in many second home areas like Florida, concerns in places include investment property and 2nd home price adjustments. Of course, it is not in Freddie or Fannie’s charter to help 2nd home or investment property financing as the focus is
Lenders continue to adapt, and LOs are adding value by being subject matter experts and marketing accordingly. (For example, today’s podcast features an interview with Bob Griffith, General Manager of Home Services at Houwzer, on using a client’s 401k to help finance a house.) Marketing is a fickle mistress. Ever “opt out” of receiving ads? The people that advertisers most want to target are hiding from the advertisers (thank you to Carla M. for sending that in). The implications to marketing efforts for any lender or vendor are clear. The implications of falling volume, margins, and revenue are clear as well: they’re leaving plans for 2022 in a shambles for most lenders and vendors. Every lender and originator know that 2020 and 2021 were not forecast to be record-breaking origination years, but they were. And if 2022 weighs in at $2 trillion in residential fundings, it will be a top 10 year. But still, volumes being down 50 percent from a year ago c
Cypress Mortgage Capital, the Utah-based correspondent lending division of Celebrity Home Loans, has closed after four years in business. Senior Vice President Jeff Ehrlich announced the closure last week on LinkedIn. “Starting a new business is never easy,” Ehrlich said in his LinkedIn post. “Starting a new correspondent investor business during COVID, even more difficult and some called us crazy!” Ehrlich said that he and his executive team left good jobs and worked tirelessly for almost two years, “but in the end it was not meant to be.”
How much would you pay for a company responsible for a funny video? How ‘bout $1.7 billion bones? Amazon, catching the eye of the FTC, has made an offer to acquire Roomba maker iRobot for $1.7bn. (Speaking of household goods, I occasionally am asked by LOs or employers about closing or referral gifts that are memorable or unique, unlike a bottle of wine or a doormat. I’ll often suggest Cutco knives (no, this is not a paid ad), as there is free engraving with the LO’s name & phone number, and point them to Luke Sasek for advice or to place an order.) I guess things are good in certain sectors of the economy, unlike residential lending. Plenty of jobs are being lost in residential lending, layoffs continue to occur weekly in big and small lenders and investors as companies grapple with volumes down 50 percent from much of 2020 and 2021. Rumors of impending closure of divisions by major lenders and investors (including wholesalers) continue to swirl, altho
Please answer the short questionnaire at the end of the Commentary. Okay, just kidding. I have grown to really dislike a survey request after I stay at a hotel, fly somewhere, or fill up at the gas station. But for brokers who wouldn’t mind providing a little input, a fintech company that I know of is looking for “a preferred tech stack.” Brokers who wouldn’t mind shooting me a quick email (anonymous, just replying to this commentary) listing your preferred technology providers for a pricing engine, POS (Point of Sale), and LOS (Loan Origination System), and why, would be appreciated. Streamlining the borrower experience is the name of the game, if one can find LOs and borrowers. With that in mind, help in finding LOs that match the strengths of your company strengths, so they are successful with the greater opportunity of retaining them for the long run is always a good thing, and thus Jeff Walton from Ingenius is co-hosting The Mortgage Collaborativeȁ