“So, HBO Max is now just ‘Max.’ Your move, Peacock.” Lenders continue to cogitate on their next moves as rates remain stubbornly high and inventory available for sale stubbornly low, and neither appears ready to change much any time in the near future. As I continue to visit with groups of lenders and vendors, lender’s overhead, and how comp figures into that, continues to be a hot topic. STRATMOR’s current blog is titled, “Compensation: Ever Changing,” and I asked STRATMOR CEO Lisa Springer about what lenders are doing in that area. “Lenders in increasing numbers are reaching out to STRATMOR to advise on compensation strategies from a holistic point of view, seeing how changes fit within the entire company. Management teams are thinking about structural changes and capitalizing on the opportunity to create win-win comp programs for both the employees and the companies.” In housing and inventory news, a recent real e
Forget about layoffs, salary cuts, revenue problems. There’s extra leftover candy in the lunchroom! Uh… do we still have lunchrooms? I hope so. And Thanksgiving will be here before you know it, and with it, pumpkin pie. (Yes, I know that this is a mortgage commentary, but even pumpkins have their share of regulation and controversy.) Pumpkin is a variety of squash belonging to the “Cucurbitaceae,” or gourd family which also includes melons and cucumbers. The FDA allows for sweet squash blends to be sold under the label of “pumpkin.” Libby’s, for one, uses 100% Dickinson pumpkins in its Libby’s solid pack pumpkin, not squash. Although pumpkins and squash are very closely related, Libby’s denied that it ever used a “blend” of various squashes in its popular canned pumpkin. “But the ‘Libby’s Select’ strain of Pumpkin is a variety of squash belonging to the cucurbitaceae. “The &#
I’m visiting with lenders in Tennessee much of this week, and a fair amount of the talk revolves around conversations with borrowers “unlocking the equity in their homes.” We’ve shifted quickly, which reminds me… What do Howard Johnson’s, Red Barn, Burger Chef, Beefsteak Charlie’s (I could go on… Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor, Sweet Tomatoes, Chock Full o’ Nuts, although that is trying to stage a comeback…) have in common? They were all wildly popular and profitable, but went out of business. Few companies last forever, and corporate history is littered with big names. In lending, some top lenders from previous years are long gone. In unrelated, but related, news, Better.com was in the news again yesterday for another massive, publicized round of layoffs. (I use the term “publicized” since there are many lenders doing the same thing that don’t make the national news.) The online mortgage st
I’m visiting with lenders in Tennessee much of this week, and a fair amount of the talk revolves around conversations with borrowers “unlocking the equity in their homes.” We’ve shifted quickly, which reminds me… What do Howard Johnson’s, Red Barn, Burger Chef, Beefsteak Charlie’s (I could go on… Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor, Sweet Tomatoes, Chock Full o’ Nuts, although that is trying to stage a comeback…) have in common? They were all wildly popular and profitable, but went out of business. Few companies last forever, and corporate history is littered with big names. In lending, some top lenders from previous years are long gone. In unrelated, but related, news, Better.com was in the news again yesterday for another massive, publicized round of layoffs. (I use the term “publicized” since there are many lenders doing the same thing that don’t make the national news.) The online mortgage st
America's national debt topped $30 trillion for the first time, according to figures from the Treasury Department on Tuesday. Why might it matter for mortgage rates? When one combines a record amount of red ink, an aging population, elevated healthcare costs, and a tax system that doesn’t bring in enough revenue to cover spending, and a government that has become known for kicking fiscal cans down the road, well, you can see why there are worries about the long-term economic health of the country. Ignore at your own peril. Something else plenty of people ignore is climate change, natural or manmade, until it impacts their business model and profits. Mortgage analytics firm RiskSpan has collaborated with Verisk to create a first-of-its-kind solution for measuring and mitigating the risks of climate change to the housing finance industry. Dismiss the impact of climate if you like, but when leading insurance, re-insurance, corporate and government entities, and investors i