Attendees of next week’s MBA Secondary conference can look forward to… A giant hot dog in Times Square that spits out confetti at high noon. (Keep your risqué comments to yourself please.) They can obviously look forward to much more at the actual conference, including information about the economy, regulators, and seeing what the Agencies and aggregators are up to in terms of products. Every client is important, and originators want a full product suite from their companies and vendors. (The current STRATMOR blog is titled, “Down Payment Assistance Programs Helpful But Not a Universal Remedy.”) For good news, homeowner equity has hit almost $17 trillion, as values in March hit a historic all-time high according to a report from Intercontinental Exchange. But looking at units this year (a better measure than the estimated $1.5-2 trillion) the MBA expects the lowest production in decades. If recent conferences are any indication, look forward to atte
Property owners trying to make their monthly mortgage payments were left in the dark and unable to pay their bills after one of the nation’s biggest mortgage servicers was targeted in a cyberattack earlier this month.
As if lenders and vendors don’t have enough other stuff to worry about, the budgetary standoff in the U.S. doesn't look like it will abate soon, raising the likelihood of the first government shutdown since 2019. Current funding for federal operations will end on October 1 unless a deal is reached or the proverbial can kicked down the road. Thousands of federal workers might be furloughed without pay. Sure it will be temporary, and its wider impact will likely be limited, but still even talking about it is lousy. According to Morgan Stanley, the last 20 government shutdowns that occurred since 1976 "appear to have had limited impact on the economy." As for bond prices, a shutdown may cause some "temporary instability", but this is not a given. There is talk of a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) providing funding until later this year, but federal agencies, including HUD and Treasury, will cease to function normally. The National F