This morning I head to Kansas City to spend some time with the MBAKC. KC is a mere 500 miles from Oak Park, Illinois, east of Chicago and childhood home of Ernest Hemmingway. (Although Ernest Hemingway never actually used the phrase, “Wide lawns and narrow minds” when describing his childhood neighborhood, it certainly is catchy.) And KC is a hop, skip, and a jump away, which in this case is 800 miles, from Cleveland. Why do I mention this? I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but fans of “The Christmas Story” movie should know that the house (and museum, and grounds) is for sale in Ohio. The inventory of houses for sale has increased in many parts of the nation, of great interest to those studying industry trends. Along those lines, not only do lenders have to compete with other lenders, and institutions snaring houses to turn into rentals, they have to contend with all cash buyers. But sage originators know that where there are homes without mortg
Here’s a stream of consciousness paragraph for you. “Rob, what are you hearing about companies laying off, furloughing, right-sizing, whatever, employees to cut costs while at the same time paying $500-$1000 to nominate one of their employees for some award?” I’m not hearing a lot, but I’ve always wondered about the value in publicizing your top employees for other companies and recruiters to learn about their accomplishments… To what end? And are you not going to send someone to a valuable conference, but pay a fee to nominate them for a soon-forgotten award? Lenders and vendors are coming off the sugar rush of the last two years and competing against companies who are weaponizing their two years’ worth of earnings. What are you going to do about it? Some lenders are fighting for their lives, dusting off notes on Homeowner’s Assistance or Down Payment Assistance Programs. No one seems to be using the term “recapture”