While the industry digests Freddie Mac’s first quarter earnings (47 percent purchase, 53 percent refi), if you try to correct my grammar, I will think fewer of you. Speaking of language, did you know that the alphabet in Hawai’i only contains 12 letters: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, and w. Every word ends with a vowel. (Sticklers may include an apostrophe – okina - as a separate letter.) I am spending some time in this marvelous area of the world, although a cynic would say, for me, it is merely working from a different place and waking up at 1AM instead of 4AM to send out the commentary. It is 2,500 miles Los Angeles to Honolulu (site of the annual MBAH conference in June), almost half of LA to Tokyo’s 5,500 miles. I mention this because Japan owns $1.3 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. And some of those have dropped as much as ten points in value since late December. YIKES. But wait… if an investor buys an older pool of mortgages at a price
Happy 420 Day. (Tomorrow, by the way, is Happy Surprise Drug Test Day.) Another day, another layoff story from Better.com. The human tragedy in Ukraine continues, but the world financial markets seem to be concentrated on the mounting inflation numbers. Our Federal Reserve is viewed as playing catch up, and we are reminded of its mandate of “maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.” Here in Atlanta, in the MBA and STRATMOR Peer Group Roundtable meetings, much of the conversation revolves around bank and non-bank lending. Banks and credit unions are interested in shifting to HELOCs, construction lending issues, and more portfolio lending due to excess cash and deposits, all the while trying to keep trained staff on board. For independent mortgage bankers, the attention is on reducing costs, adjusting staff levels, and how to work preapprovals and enable cash buyers. Indeed, IMBs need to hunker down to outlast their competitors. The human el
I happen to be visiting Manhattan this week. Besides the news about the subway shooting, the overall “hum” of this place being unmistakable and I mention this for two specific reasons. First, the bartender trainee at the restaurant last night was from Turkey. It was her first night on the job, and she had graduated from law school in Turkey but this newly minted attorney had decided to come to the U.S. and earn money! Second, in speaking to the manager of Javelina (which I’d recommend, although the habanero queso has quite a bite), the lion’s share of its revenue comes from delivery service business, and she is thinking about shutting down the expensive actual brick & mortar restaurant and strictly doing takeout and delivery. I found both tidbits interesting from an economics perspective since a) The U.S. continues to be land of opportunity, and b) the changes brought on by the pandemic will continue to change the business landscape. Speaking of