I was walking down North Wabash in Chicago yesterday and a beggar (is that politically correct?) yelled out at me, “You’re the reason this country has to put directions on cereal boxes!” Simple things like cereal boxes, shampoo, or soup didn’t used to have directions, but things are always changing. Including our industry. Another non-QM company appears to be exiting: As one AE wrote, echoed by a few others, “Athas Capital Group is shutting down its doors. We will be open for about two more months to fund out our remaining loans in the pipeline. But we are not allowed to submit any newer loans.” For confirmation or details, you should contact Athas Capital or your AE. Certainly the Agencies (namely Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) are always changing, and Chicago is one of six cities (along with Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis, and Philadelphia) that are targeted by Fannie Mae for an Equitable Housing Finance Plan. Freddie has a similar plan wi
Start the day with a little something non-mortgage? Ira S. with U.S. Mortgage, on his time off, of course, found “River Runner.” One can basically click anywhere in the United States, and it will tell you, and your kids, where a raindrop will flow to the ocean. (No stories of you stopping at the Continental Divide with your drunk buddies, please!) This is cool technology, as opposed to ads that pop up on my computer from something I bought two years ago online. While on technology, here’s something else that anyone working with builders, or having a new home built, will find interesting: “Three Technologies that Buyers Will Expect from Home Builders in the Future.” Technology helped Zillow, which has never set foot in a house, determine that homes that have a front door that is either black or gray, can increase the home’s value by at least $6,271. (Today’s podcast is available here and is sponsored by Black Knight, providing innovative
I recently opened my slang dictionary to the page that defined the origin of, “Different ways to skin a cat” and left it near my cat Myrtle’s water bowl. She didn’t seem interested. Which is fine. Lenders probably interested in that either, instead more intent on programs, pricing, and the general movement of interest rates. The Federal Reserve is interested in global events, and global events have been important to our economy. The war in Ukraine is something that has upset the global commodity picture, while also threatening the global world more broadly. Fed Chair Powell gave us the roadmap last week. “We are raising rates expeditiously to what we have been seeing is a more normal level, which is something that we will reach maybe in the fourth quarter. But it is not a stopping point… Monetary policy works through expectations." There is a growing belief, however, that despite what happens with the overnight Fed Funds rate, 30-year
I flew into San Diego yesterday for the MCT Exchange, and it is hard not to notice the number of boats in the harbor. For some quick “fun with numbers” on recreational boating: The U.S. state of Florida has the highest number of registered recreational boating vessels in 2020, with almost 959 thousand, closely followed by California. Hawai’i has half as many as Wyoming. In contrast, the District of Columbia had the smallest number of registered boating vessels, with just over two thousand in 2020. Keeping with the “numbers” theme, I receive my share of questions regarding mortgage-backed security statistics. Anyone doing research on them should check out FINRA’s Reporting of Mortgage and Asset Backed Securities (Securitized Products), a little dry but packed with information. I mention this because, as we know, soon the Fed is scheduled to stop buying MBS every week, and for those of you who like graphs, here is the link to the Federal Reserve&
Andy Rooney died over ten years ago. Many will say that Bill Mahr has taken his place, albeit with saltier language and a political bent. In this piece, Mahr discusses his thoughts on young people in “Gen Z” and “van life” which I found humorous. It reminds us that we are made up of different generations, and given the snow hitting much of the U.S. it isn’t only your parents that walked through the snow uphill both ways to school. The U.S. Census Bureau has not defined “millennials” but most groups tend to group them into those born between 1981 and 1996, which means the 72 million of them have begun turning 41. By the time 2030 rolls around, all “baby boomers” will be older than 65. It should be of no surprise that reverse mortgages, basically available to homeowners with equity who are 62 and older, are a fast-growing piece of the mortgage landscape. Lenders can’t do anything about an environment where higher mortg