When I win the lottery, I am going to buy one of these to heat my blankets at home. Of course, that would mean that I will have to start playing the lottery, so until then I’ll just have to rely on my cat Myrtle to prep things. Just because you own a home, doesn't mean you're wealthy; some homeowners live in poverty. A LendingTree analysis shows that more than 3 million families who live in owner-occupied homes in the U.S. earn incomes below the poverty threshold for their family. 7.4 million families across the nation earn incomes below their poverty threshold… nearly 9 percent living in poverty! Of the families in poverty, 41 percent live in owner-occupied housing units and 59 percent live in renter-occupied housing units. Montana, Vermont, and Idaho have the largest share of impoverished families living in owner-occupied homes, 55 percent on average. New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey have the smallest share of impoverished families living in owner-o
As attendees head home from the MBA’s IMB in New Orleans, plenty will be eating airplane chow. Maybe you should buy vittles on the ground instead. Given the breezy weather in New Orleans, leather jackets are out in force. Those in attendance are talking about several good things that happened in 2023, impacting mortgage rates and lenders. Inflation has come down, hourly wages outpaced inflation the last seven months of the year, we didn’t have a recession or a banking crisis that some “experts” expected. In fact, the S&P 500 was up 23 percent, and the economy grew a decent 2.6 percent. Credit costs and trigger leads are a big item; today’s L1 Mortgage Matters session at 2PM ET features John Fleming, of John Fleming Law and the Texas MBA, and a good update on the trigger lead situation. Basel III is a concern; as MBA President Bob Broeksmit points out, no bank has ever failed due to servicing requirements, and we should guard against non-se
Here in Chicago, there are several restaurants that are “the place” to have afternoon tea. Tomorrow is the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. (And no, I was not working on a trading desk slinging MBS back then.) In those days, news traveled via word of mouth, rare newspapers, sermons, personal letters, or broadsides. People had time to think about things and contemplate. Nowadays, there are plenty of places from which to glean financial news. Unfortunately, the press is not one for putting good news in the headlines, and Navy Fed finds itself in the crosshairs of CNN breaking news of data on black and white borrower approval rates. Can regulators be far behind on this one? Industry vet Brian B. asks, “How much wealth was not created for minorities because of these actions? How did they treat other groups, i.e., single females, or Hispanics?” Lenders everywhere are interested in passing more costs on to borrowers regardless of race, and if so which co
This morning I head to Kansas, greeted by the news that Southwest is raising drink fees for the holidays. Has the “Let’s circle back after the holidays” season officially begun in your office or in your meetings with vendors? Chortles aside, one of the discussion topics in KC will certainly be the impending move in credit prices as lenders everywhere move toward charging borrowers up front. Whether the cost change is driven by Fair Isacc or the credit bureaus, and then being passed along by the CRAs, it doesn’t matter. It’s coming, and the jungle drums are saying the price changes will impact soft credit pulls, which (or course) many lenders implemented to reduce their costs with the amount of credit reports run as it’s cheaper than the full hard credit pull. Some lenders may use Freddie or Fannie AUS. (Today’s podcast can be found here, sponsored by LoanCare, the mortgage subservicer known for delivering superior customer experience thr
If you can't think of a word or phrase, say, "I forgot the English word for it." That way people will think you're bilingual instead of an idiot. It is not hard to remember the phrase, “Rates are going higher.” While independent mortgage banks continue to compete with the intermediate ARM offerings from depositories in the 3 percent range, and originators shift their sales techniques, on a larger scale the Federal Reserve acted yesterday confirming its desire to slow inflation down by raising the target overnight Fed Funds rate by 75 basis points (.75 percent). (For a primer, MCT had a post, “How Does the Federal Reserve Affect Mortgage Rates”?) Forget worrying about lack of growth, or its market guidance credibility (Fed officials were talking about 50 basis points for weeks), the 75 “bps” helps the Fed’s inflation-fighting credibility. And remember that the Fed hasn’t even started the selling pr