Okay, tomorrow is a holiday for many, but let’s not forget those veterans during the rest of the year. (Warning: tissues required.) Switching gears 180 degrees, say hello to Nevada’s new state Treasurer. (Warning: rated PG?) Moving back to mortgages and real estate, as reported in the commentary, not only was Redfin (parent of Bay Equity) downgraded, but it is shutting its home-flipping business and has cut 13% of its workforce. Yesterday the commentary noted that, “The retail portion of Angel Oak Home Loans rumored to be heading to Cross Country, who just supposedly laid off 100 people in Colorado.” The report of the layoff is erroneous, and apparently sprang from a disgruntled employee. “Money can’t buy happiness. But poverty can’t buy anything, so get to work!” It certainly takes money to buy a house, and there is more below on home buying, but only 16% of respondents said that now is a good time to buy a home per Octoberȁ
There’s a splendid joke about the definition of an economist being someone who “will know tomorrow why the things they predicted yesterday didn't happen today.” Everyone’s warning everyone about everything these days: Recessions, plagues, housing collapses, overnight rates near 5 percent. The bigger the prediction, the bigger the headlines. No one has a crystal ball, but one thing for sure is that with the increase in both short and long-term rates, independent mortgage banks are seeing even less revenue. For example, their warehouse line costs have gone up. Optifunder’s Mike McFadden noted, “Rob, although every contract is different, with different covenants, with the migration from LIBOR, most warehouse lenders have resorted to some sort of SOFR as the reference rate. Each warehouse lender, however, has resorted to different terms or sources of SOFR (which is something Optfunder helps sort through). In general, many warehouse lines ar