In my travels I’ve eaten some unusual foods, although maybe not this unusual, but here in Boise the talk is about how unusual it is that applications and locks have suddenly shot up in the last several business days. It is nice to hear and see the hustle and perseverance from originators pay off some. Taking a look at the big picture, per the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 40 percent of all homeowners own their homes free and clear, or 33.4 million mortgage-free, single-family homes and condos. And some percentage of those have credit card debt that is 25 or 30 percent, so a tax-deductible loan at 7 percent can be pretty attractive. Sure enough, refis are hitting the numbers: as reported last month, 89 percent of people with mortgages have an interest rate below 6 percent, down from a record 93 percent in 2022. (Today’s Commentary podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Lender Toolkit and its AI-powered AI Underwriter and Prism borrower income automat
When this commentary gig gets old, I think I’ll take up… throwing needles? But so far so good, putting this out six days a week. Yesterday I glanced at the calendar, and we’re 10 percent of the way through 2024 already! Still raining here in Northern California, and the flooding has caused a lot of concern in the mortgage industry, especially among companies servicing loans on any houses that are damaged, as well as owners of MBS with loans in them on any potentially damaged homes. At least the days are seeing more sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. Daylight Savings kicks in on Sunday, March 10, just a little over a month away, and goes on until November. (Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and most of Arizona blow off this clock changing stuff.) Today’s Commentary podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Vesta, the new, modern Loan Origination System (LOS) which helps lenders reduce their co
Cenlar SVP of Default Operations Ingrid Jaschok to Speak on Panel at MBA Servicing Solutions Conference & Expo tmcnet.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tmcnet.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“I’m supposed to respect my elders, but now it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one.” Gradually it’s becoming harder and harder to find a bank that does loans outside of its footprint. Finding people in their late 30s or 40’s is not hard: The median age in the United States is 38. There are plenty of people in our industry in their 40s. You know, the 40s… when you’re like an iPhone 6: you don’t have all the features of the newer models but you’re dependable and affordable. While we’re on ages, yesterday a few folks pointed out that Happy Days first aired on ABC (remember network TV?) fifty years ago yesterday. (It went for 10 years until July 1984.) The show was “set” in Milwaukee but filmed in California which accounts for 20-25 percent of residential loan production and is in the news for its ADU policy. (More below.) Today’s podcast can be found here, and this week’s is
The MBA’s servicing conference is taking place, and it is an important subject, along with the impact of the 30bp cut in MIP for FHA borrowers. Owning servicing rights certainly helped the bottom lines for many lenders last year, some would say it “saved their bacon.” There are always those warning us of impending doom and gloom scenarios regarding the trillions of mortgages outstanding. But really, come on. We may see an uptick in delinquencies and foreclosures, possibly because the numbers are so low now there’s nowhere to go but up. Borrowers have outstanding credit quality, and huge amounts of equity. And investors and the government offer many loss mitigation options. The industry has other things to worry about. Meanwhile, owners of mortgage servicing rights continue to sell packages, large and small, for various reasons, not the least of which is to raise cash. For the uninitiated who’d like to know exactly what a “servicing package