There’s an old LO joke, telling their client, “When you’re buying a house, be sure to do it with a significant other, and make sure that one of you has good credit. That’s why it’s called ‘significant’ other: sign-if-i-can’t.” Everyone in our biz knows that owning property is a great way to build wealth, although between elevated inflation, stubborn mortgage rates, and general economic uncertainty (one can argue that the future is always uncertain, right?), it may not feel like the right time to plunge into the housing market. But every LO should know that if past patterns hold true, inflation can actually boost homeownership and people who are living through this time may be more inclined to buy a house in the future! A fine selling point when an originator is speaking with a potential client. (Found here, this week’s podcast is sponsored by Truv. Truv lets applicants verify income, employment, assets, insurance, an
Who doesn’t think swearing parrots are funny? Although you wouldn’t want your parrot talking about the clap when Aunt Beatrice comes over for Sunday dinner. I’m sure that every LO has heard their share of salty words, and they deal with much more for their clients than just a loan. Working with their client’s debts, assets, rental insurance until they buy a home, even servicing after the loan funds, you name it. Everyone across the nation is feeling the brunt of seemingly usurious homeowner insurance rates, and The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown tomorrow has Andrew Hellard, SVP of Products with Matic, discussing why homeowner’s insurance costs have skyrocketed. IMBs have not been retaining servicing. They needed the cash. Companies like Freedom, AmeriHome, Pennymac, and Planet Home have been buying up servicing. They will retain that customer if and when refinancing kicks in. Rate and term refis will probably go to the aggregators. They bough
Time flies (see joke at bottom), and here we are at Pearl Harbor Day already. “I'm a multitasker. I can listen, ignore, and forget all at the same time!” Occasionally someone will accuse me of having a sense of humor. If true, it can be traced back to my parents, but a portion of it came from watching Norman Lear’s shows like All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Maude, The Jeffersons, and movies like The Princess Bride (“as you wish”). Mr. Lear died yesterday, but his impact will be long felt. Audiences loved his shows. Does your customer love you, no matter the price? That’s the case with Coke. The average price of a 12-ounce can of Diet Coke in a package of 12 was 34 cents in 2018 but hit 56 cents per can in October 2023, a 65 percent increase. In general, Diet or regular, prices have shot up: The average price of a Diet Coke at a restaurant hopped up from $2.05 to $2.77. Inflation at many levels is impacting rates, including Treasury
Things are always changing. No bagpipe player I saw growing up looked, or played, like this. The MBA’s forecast for 2023 volumes changed, and here’s the latest by the MBA on 2023’s originations: $1.8 trillion. Technology is always changing. No, this Commentary is not produced by ChatGPT, nor will it ever be, unlike lesser publications. But if you’re a teacher, like my daughter with her classroom full of 7th graders, or a professor, how do you know that the paper turned in by a student wasn’t produced by AI? (Speaking of which, thank you to everyone who wrote yesterday that egg-laying chickens were killed by the “flu” not “the flue”… I should have caught that.) Economic conditions are always changing as well, and yesterday’s Federal Reserve Open Market Committee change of 25 basis points higher for its targeted overnight Fed Funds rate (what banks charge one another for overnight deposits) certainly sent a stat
Let me save you a web search tomorrow: 1-800-butterball. A web search turned up a misconception: It appears that robber Willie Horton, when he was asked why he robbed banks, never said, "That's where the money is." But banks are where the money is, and it is certainly catchy. You don’t think someone is making money off your money sitting in that bank? Another web search shows that the 1-year CD national average is 0.43 percent. The current 1-year risk-free Treasury bill is yielding 4.75 percent. How can you get around that spread where the bank earns 4.75 percent for a year but pays you less than .5 percent? Tip of the day: Go to https://www.treasurydirect.gov/ and see the yields of what you can buy directly from the government and the minimums required. I don’t recall anyone predicting 1-year rates would be near or at 5 percent by year end (or per loan costs would be over $11,000 per loan). Still, there’s a lot of planning going on for 20