This is about the time you stop saying “Happy New Year” to people because you’ve forgotten who you’ve said it to and who you haven’t. Lenders and vendors are not forgetting the second half of 2022 as they plan for 2023, and widespread travel and entertainment cutbacks are standard fare. It is hard to justify spending $3-5k for each person to go to a conference just to “wave the company flag” when you just went through another RIF and you’re hoping to break even in the first quarter. Zillow has not forgotten anything, especially since it has nothing to remember. Zillow doesn’t have to remember what the inside of my house looks like, since it has never set foot in my hovel. But Zillow has a staff to crunch numbers, and tells us that, given the FHFA/Freddie/Fannie conforming loan limit changes for 2023, more than 2 million U.S. homes no longer require a jumbo loan. (Remember that, since jumbo loans don’t have a g-fee, s
What is motivating industry legend Ben Slayton to build the largest Black-oriented lender in the nation? Plus, the big New England Mortgage Expo returns, state mortgage regulators grapple with updated licensing rules, and we take a moment to review the guidelines for good credit.
Today is about the day when you have to think twice about wishing anyone, “Happy New Year.” Okay, maybe tomorrow. There’s a lot of news out there to start 2022, including mortgage news. Moves by Freddie, Fannie, FHA, and VA have a ripple effect on the jumbo and non-Agency market as well. We were reminded of this yesterday when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, via their conservator FHFA, publicized April changes to their loan level price adjustments. Freddie announced “…changes to our Credit Fees in Price for super conforming mortgages and mortgages secured by second homes. We are making these updates in light of the significant increase in the 2022 loan limits and under the guidance of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). These updated fees are effective for mortgages with settlement dates on and after April 1, 2022.” Freddie & Fannie’s change, although the industry has nearly three months to adapt pricing, is a huge adjustm
Would you tie up your money for five years and earn 1.26 percent the whole time? That’s pretty much where the $57 billion 5-year Treasury note auction went off yesterday. (Keeping things almost misleadingly simple, think about an investor buying a 30-year MBS that yields 2.75 or 3.00 percent… would you do that?) Will the pandemic be over in five years? Ever? Variants will be the name of the game, each one spreading faster but causing less harm, per an ER doctor I was chatting with recently. Everyone, and their brother, knows that LOs are out there adding value and wealth to clients despite the health care news. Advertising from college football bowl games may suffer due to infections… can’t have that, right? Rates are still historically low, in part due to the continued hit to economies from the pandemic despite high inflation rates. New COVID cases have skyrocketed, deaths stand at 5.4 million, companies in our business are considering cutting travel plans
I work hard to live a very glamorous life. I mention this because yesterday, when I sent the Commentary out from the road at a glamorous McDonalds in Northern California (free Wi-Fi!), I noticed that the price of my usual glamorous Egg McMuffin meal (with OJ) has skyrocketed to $10.06 from $7.60 earlier this year! Not only that, but it seems that the portion size of the tasty “hashbrowns” and sandwich have dropped. At the “other end” of things, does it seem like toilet paper prices have gone up while the size of the roll has shrunk, especially compared to how big the TP holder is which serves as a constant reminder of how big the roll was previously? Price and shortage news is everywhere. Bank of America is hiring up to 5,000 people this quarter. Taco Bell announced