Who can think of September 21st without thinking about Earth, Wind, and Fire? Yesterday I was on a United Airlines flight out of San Francisco to Savannah, in Row 14. There was no row 13… but I knew what row I was really in! Speaking of numbers, obvious or otherwise, this article caught my eye: The Average American Spends This Much on a Mortgage.” Credit unions and banks have obviously seen their residential lending volume drop but are usually able to move personnel to other departments within the company rather than lay them off. Figuring out how to increase business is a big topic, and Black homeownership is being discussed. For some perspective I turned to the St. Louis Fed with its extensive library of graphs. In fact, if you want to look at the opportunity for growth, look no further than the disparity in homeownership between White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic populations. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by the Trade-In M
“I’m not a fan of elevator music. It’s bad on so many levels.” Whether or not you think that the environment and value of owning stock in lenders and vendors has been “bad” over the last year or two, it certainly has been dicey. If you want to “be long” lenders or other mortgage-related companies, you could put some of your hard-earned savings into RKT, ICE, GHLD, UWMC, HMPT, LDI, PMT, FOA, or COOP. Now you’ll have a new vehicle: BETR. Yes, Better.com is going public, in what many would term a “challenging” environment. In a combination of stock market news, along with the reminder that making predictions about markets is like throwing darts, an ETF that was started on March 1, 2023 to track Jim Cramer’s stock picks has only garnered $1.3 million in assets and is closing. Maybe this is the free market saying that Jim Cramer is full of fluff and no value. (Today’s podcast can be found here and thi
It isn’t as if building or lending products, or ways of doing business, were handed down by Trappist monks. Change is always afoot, for better or worse. What is old is new again. Teachers are moving to oral exams to counteract AI and ChatGPT, similar to ancient Greek and Roman times. In the West and Southwest, adequate water rights and supplies have always been contentious but have resurfaced (get it?) with news that may impact other cities and towns: Arizona began limiting approvals for new developments within the Phoenix area. It’s hard to build large affordable housing developments or swaths of housing in general if there is no water. Or road or sewage capacity. For fans of tiny homes, what is old is new again, and the Sears catalog kit houses (sold between 1908 and 1942) of old are back at Home Depot: Here’s 837 square feet for $43,000, 540 square feet for $44,000, and 444 square feet for $32k. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is
I head to Connecticut early today for the CMBA conference, but on another personal note, congratulations to Robbie Chrisman, host of the daily mortgage podcast based on this Commentary, who recently rode his single-speed bicycle from Manhattan, across the Appalachians, to Chicago, working when not pedaling. (In terms of physical prowess, I feel fortunate not cramping up putting my socks on in the morning.) The weather seems to have improved in most places, the Northeast included, and we’re approaching travel season. Here’s an interesting list of tourist scams to avoid during all seasons. (I’ve never had a baby thrown my way.) Perhaps the improving weather influenced homebuilder sentiment, as have falling lumber prices: sentiment has improved in May according to the NAHB off the lows of 2022. People need a place to live, but perhaps not one to work. “The ‘return to the office’ won’t save the office: More people are going to offices more o
My cat Myrtle never turns down a good helping of enchanting, diced, barbequed beef. (Sorry vegetarians: La Principessa is a carnivore.) I realize that Easter is still ahead of us, and summer a few months off, but who hasn’t driven by a field full of cattle in the heat and seen them standing in the shade? A shaded, comfortable steer produces more meat. No shade impacts profitability. Where am I going with this? Banks earn income by taking money from you and me, and business accounts, and lending it out to home and car buyers, people establishing businesses and so on. If people and companies are tired of earning near 0 percent on their bank deposit and putting their money in money market accounts instead, eventually banks have less money to lend out, things change. No money impacts profitability. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week it’s sponsored by Milestones. Giving homeowners an all-inclusive homeownership experience including home value and equity mo