If you’re in Chicago, the newest attraction is “the rat hole.” Here in Denver, besides the cat I saw in the airport yesterday being walked on a leash, one attraction is the National Ice Core Lab, where, you guessed it, ice sample cores from all over the world are kept for research purposes at temperatures even colder than those outside. It is around this time of year when plenty of people think about vacations or moving to warmer places… Like Phuket in Thailand. In 2023 it saw 6.24 million airport arrivals, up 88 percent from 2022, and the real estate market is booming. The island has 26 beaches and a population of 420,000. Phuket is trying to move away from over-reliance on tourism by simply selling to wealthy outsiders, often Russians: 27,000 Russians have moved to Phuket in the past 12 to 18 months, fueling a development boom. Follow the money, right? Today’s podcast can be found here, and this week’s is brought to you by nCino, makers of th
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
“My dog is really worried about the rising price of groceries, with a can of dog food now costing $3. That’s $21 in dog money.” As I travel and speak with originators, besides the regulatory environment being a concern (the latest example being the CFPB suing Freedom Mortgage yesterday), the cost to produce a loan is still a problem, and for some it is about to worsen. The last MBA’s study calculated that total loan production expenses (commissions, compensation, occupancy, equipment, and other production expenses and corporate allocations) were $11k per loan in the second quarter. Talk of another round of credit cost changes swirl, good and bad, similar to the end of last year, prompted by Fair Issac and rippling through the bureaus and CRAs. (Any questions should be addressed to your credit provider.) (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s is sponsored by NotaryCam, your partner for The Perfect Close! Ease of use, additional closing
Some things in life are fleeting, like a frosty glass of rose, enemy troops singing Christmas carols in the trenches during WWI, or the time when lenders couldn’t hire people fast enough because rates were at 3 percent. I mention this because Krispy Kreme’s Strawberry Glazed Donuts, a flavor not seen in two years, is back today but only through Monday, in participating Krispy Kreme shops nationwide. Fleeting for donut aficionados. (Who says this commentary never has anything newsworthy?) Also fleeting are some astronomical events. Some will tell you that NASA doesn’t have much else going on besides coming up with the names of moons every month or two. Along those lines, thank you to Eric D. who pointed out that the common definition of a “blue moon” (the second full moon in any month) is wrong. It is the third full moon in a season that has four full moons per NASA. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Black
When I grow up, I want to own a place at the beach. It turns out that if I’m not too picky, and don’t mind being within a mile of the surf, I might be able to swing it. Here are the “Cheapest Places to Own a Place at the Beach in the U.S.” People living there had better pay their property taxes, but it’s no surprise that more than $14 billion in property taxes go unpaid each year, according to the National Tax Lien Association (who knew there was such a thing?!). Each year, the average American household spends, if they pay it, $2,690 on real-estate property taxes plus another $444 for residents of the 26 states with vehicle property taxes. WalletHub's 2023’s Property Taxes by State report reveals that Hawaii has the lowest real-estate tax, $700, while New Jersey is highest at $6,057. Twenty-six states levy some form of vehicle property tax. “Blue” states have 30 percent higher real-estate property taxes than “Red&#