This morning (as I head to Chicago) and every morning, I keep myself sharp by regularly asking myself the tough questions like, “What happened yesterday?” and “What was I planning on doing just now?” Looking forward, as some attendees of last week’s conference made note of the MBA Annual’s dates in Denver for next year butting up against Halloween, successful salespeople will tell you that many of their best business meetings last week, or at any conference, contained very little business and didn’t take place in a meeting room. I’ve seen this in action many times over the years. Numerous conversations were personal in nature and took place in the hallways or at social events. Yes, the sessions were valuable, although if you’re a company whose unofficial slogan is, “Survive until ’25,” you’re not likely to care much about some Agency’s “Five Year Plan.” (Today’s podcas
Today I head to Phoenix area for the AzAMP annual conference, and am reminded that, “Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.” The mortgage industry is constantly changing, although Freddie and Fannie have been a somewhat stabilizing influence. But explaining to someone not in the mortgage business what they, the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) do, is not easy, but in another one of his Mortgage Musings, attorney Brian Levy offers his thoughts on 15 years of being in conservatorship and whether that means it’s time to drop the “S” in GSE. Let’s just hope they don’t become another Amtrak. (Sign up for Musings here.) One topic that has come up at a few conferences, besides Agency buybacks, is demand for “LIP” and “VLIP” borrowers. Are F&F pushing hard for Low Income Purchase and Very Low Income Purchase business, and requesting high percentages of those products with the “t
Sometimes I send this Commentary out from some pretty nice places, sometimes not. Today comes from the tarmac at the Newark Airport, in Row 22, sitting next to some hairy guy who’s snoring and apparently went with the “Garlic Lover’s Pizza” last night. You can decide which category today fits in. “What do you call a small pepper in the autumn? A little chili.” Tomorrow is the fall equinox. Autumn? Autumnal? Different ways of saying similar things? Do you know the difference between a loan, a mortgage, a lien, a note, and a deed of trust? There are differences, just like there are differences in the reasons why people move. Unlike the convicted felon that I spent some time with yesterday, wanting a newer, better, or larger house or apartment has been the most common specific reason cited for moves over the past two years. That's followed by establishing one’s own household, evidenced by a change in marital status becoming a more c
If you’re staying here in Manhattan, space is at a premium. I don’t recall the last time my room had a bathroom where one could turn the shower on, flush the toilet, and brush their teeth in the sink, all for a nightly tariff that would more than cover the monthly rent in many places around the world. Although this conference is about all things capital markets, like screaming buybacks from the Agencies, especially Freddie Mac, the primary markets are also a source of conversation. “Good originators don’t always make good branch managers.” “Many LOs have high emotional IQs, so it is very difficult for them to let an LOA or processor go. If LOs were doing 20 loans a month, an LOA makes sense, but when they’re doing five?” “Forget volume: A roughly 67 percent drop in units in two years… How are lenders handling that?” Stay tuned for more topics from the hallways at the National Secondary! (Today’s podcast
While here in Denver I received an email. “Rob, does what’s going on in Florida impact lenders?” I had to figure out if the author was asking about Disney/DeSantis, new Florida Man news, climate change, or insurance issues. Florida has a lot of cool things: manatees, Dry Tortugas National Park, Epcot Center, and cigar rollers in Tampa who do parties. Unfortunately it now has an additional insurance fee, as Florida has imposed a 1 percent “emergency” fee to property insurance premiums due to property-insurer insolvencies. Lenders in Florida often mention the Agencies, including HUD, and loan amounts. More specifically, many people living in Florida (“locals”) couldn’t buy their own homes due to wages versus values. Many of the Florida home loans that LOs have crossing their desks are now true jumbos. Buyers don’t get much in Tampa for $700k, and eastern Florida is worse. The loan limits are out of adjustment for the locals.