Given my emails and hallway chatter in San Diego last week, what’s on people’s minds? The state of the housing market is one, and Ivy Zelman, CEO of Zelman & Associates and author of “Gimme Shelter,” co-hosts The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown with Rich Swerbinsky, the COO of The Mortgage Collaborative, and me as we discuss current events in the housing market for 45 minutes on Friday at 3PM ET in “The Rundown with Rich and Rob.” Several readers have asked me about AEI’s Housing Center recent report which critiques The Markup/Associated Press’s recent analysis on racial disparities in mortgage decline rates. “Our research finds that contrary to The Markup/Associated Press’s report, HMDA data on purchase loans do not show evidence of systemic discrimination by the mortgage lending industry when accounting for risk-adjusted loans… We are, however mindful that many past and continuing housing and other policy actions to address racial discrimination have had unintended consequences that have done substantial harm to low-income households generally, and minority households in particular… we found that loans to protected class borrowers have higher risk-adjusted default rates than for Whites, this indicates lenders are extending more lenient underwriting to protected class borrowers than would otherwise be justified based on risk characteristics.” Today’s audio version of the commentary is available here and this week’s is sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized advisory, audit, tax, technology, and other services in the mortgage industry and in banking.

Employment

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“As part of our integration with Newrez, Caliber Home Loans is proud to offer three new non-QM products: SmartEdge, SmartSelf and SmartVest. This Smart Series expansion provides us with more opportunities to better serve our customers through non-traditional elements. SmartEdge presents competitive financing for those who are unable to secure traditional lending due to a recent credit event. SmartSelf is a useful option for self-employed borrowers interested in using bank statements to qualify for a mortgage. SmartVest is for experienced real estate investors seeking a business investment property with complex finances. Interested in joining an industry-leading company where you can provide your clients with a wide range of options to suit their specific needs? Reach out to James Hecht.”

Mortgage technology company Xpanse has announced the appointment of industry veteran Phil Huff as its CEO. Congratulations.

Lender & broker services and products

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“A suite of precision, tech-forward, customized mortgage lending solutions. It’s what you need. And it’s what Flagstar Bank delivers. Flagstar’s mortgage solutions live under one roof and one philosophy: clients first. Flagstar’s highly personal warehouse-lending approach has made it one of the largest warehouse lender’s in the country. Flagstar can fund your MSR purchases to maximize MSR value over time, regardless of portfolio size, and can ease the burden of servicing advances in your portfolio and manage your liquidity with servicing advance financing. And in terms of subservicing, Flagstar’s nearly 1.2 million borrowers representing over $255 billion in home loans are testament to its award-winning capabilities which are geared to minimize risk and maximize returns. Flagstar is built for best-in-class service that always keeps our client’s integrity and needs top of mind. Contact Jeff Neufeld or Joe Lathrop today to discuss what Flagstar can do for your business.”

Have you tapped into your refi opportunities? The other day, one of Usherpa‘s top enterprise clients wondered if their closed loan database still had any untapped refinancing opportunities. They wanted Usherpa to apply specific criteria to the database and launch an email campaign followed by a direct mail piece. 2,283 past clients met the criteria! The marketing team knew they were onto something when Usherpa reported an amazing 39.23% open rate. A week later, the direct mail piece went out. The mortgage company was pretty sure they would get the 1-2 loans needed to pay for the campaign, but they were shocked when just over a month from the initial email launch, their LOs had 261 new loan applications in the pipeline. Find out what Usherpa’s SmartCRM can do for your company. Schedule your personalized demo today.

If the last two years have taught us anything, it’s to prepare for the unexpected. The pundits continue to debate a potential default wave, but all seem to agree that a wave is coming. An inevitable increase in foreclosures and REO activity is on the horizon, and Computershare Loan Services (CLS) has the REO expertise to help servicers weather the storm. CLS efficiently manages portfolios with strategies that utilize clean data and local agents to get results. In fact, CLS consistently exceeds its net proceeds goal with a 90.6% sell rate of vacant and occupied, traditional, and auction properties. Contact Ron Rooney, and find out what CLS’ REO team can do for your portfolio.

Looking for an exceptional VA/FHA purchase or refi experience with a winning price? As the #1 VA and FHA Lender*, the Freedom Mortgage Wholesale Division is proud to offer two business day underwriting on all VA and FHA transactions, and a (.250) LLPA Incentive for all VA Purchases. Additionally, offer more buying power for eligible VA borrowers** with no maximum loan amount, no down payment! To learn more, email Freedom to have an Account Executive contact you. *Inside Mortgage Finance, Jan-Jun 2021. **For eligible veterans, service members, and survivors with full entitlement who are borrowing over $144,000 on a purchase or cash-out refinance, there is no down payment requirement. Maximum loan amount for such loans is subject to credit approval. For IRRRLs, VA will continue to guaranty 25% of the loan amount without regard to the Veteran’s available entitlement and/or county loan limits.

The Loan Store has ARIVE’d! See why brokers across the country are raving about one of the newest lenders on the ARIVE platform. Along with its 5-Star average Google and Yelp service reviews, TLS continues to offer consistently aggressive pricing across all products. Be sure to add The Loan Store as an eligible lender in Loansifter and price them against the competition today. TLS maintains the highest level of customer support by giving all broker partners direct access to their own support team, underwriters, and management. TLS prioritizes purchases and are closing all loan types in less than 30 days on average! To request an application with TLS visit www.theloanstore.com or email Brandon Stein.

In a strange-but-true story popularized by fictional White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry on “The West Wing,” “Andrew Jackson, in the main foyer of his White House, had a big block of cheese…. The block of cheese was huge — over two tons. And it was there for any and all who might be hungry.” Before leaving office, Jackson had a party and shared his cheese with roughly 10,000 visitors. In a recent case study, Success Mortgage Partners’ Brett Miller equated Sales Boomerang alerts to “hot, fresh donuts” ready to share with any and all who might be hungry for leads. On Oct. 27 at 1 pm ET, join Miller along with Sales Boomerang’s Alex Kutsishin and Mortgage Champions’ Dale Vermillion as they flip on the ‘HOT’ sign, share some donuts, and reveal the secret to keeping customers coming back. Register here.

FundingShield, the market leader in wire & title fraud risk management and closing agent compliance, released its Wire & Title Fraud Analytics Report for Q3 2021 showing 47% of loans reviewed by FundingShield had at least one risk finding, and of those loans an average of 2.1 risk findings existed per transaction. Ike Suri, CEO & Chairman shared “E-closings and other closing automation technologies continue to gain traction and simultaneously with new technology new fraud schemes and vulnerabilities have emerged. In our recent dialogues with the FBI they identified the lending, title, and settlement space to be a hotbed for potential first party and third party (cyber) crime due to the amount of data, funds and unsupervised access to recordable instruments that exists.” Recent CFPB concerns on third-party vendor IT risks are driving a rapid rise in clients, contact [email protected] to learn about the automation tools to lower cost & prevent wire/title fraud.

The StorySeller events kick off in OH, PA NJ, and NY next week, and then on to CA and WA two weeks later. “We created this event series to help loan officers and their Realtor partners convert more leads and overcome objections about today’s housing market,” says Gibran Nicholas, CEO of Momentifi and host of the events. “Realtors who attend get free CE credit, so invite your strategic partners to join you at a live event in your market. This is a great way for loan officers to connect with current and new strategic partners before year-end.” Attendees will receive templates to create your 2022 business plan and illustrate the cost of waiting for buyers and sellers. Don’t miss your chance to reconnect with Realtors and set yourself up for success as we move from a primarily refi market to a primarily purchase market. Click here for more information or to reserve your spot.

Decisioning tools

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One UW touch on 70% of loans. 1,100 data cross checks on every click. 7.92 autonomous underwrites per minute. >$1,000 more profit per loan. 0 defects. 0 put backs. Decisions rep & warranted. Happy clients. It’s hard to think of a reason to not contact Candor for more information.

Decision Management: The next frontier of mortgage automation. While there is a high level of industry awareness and interest in automating decision management, mortgage lenders are also very cautious about a “black box” type of approach when it comes to rendering highly sensitive underwriting decisions. Simply put, lenders are reluctant to trust an algorithm to deliver a critical life-stage decision and impact customer experience. When lenders automate with DecisionGenius™, they see all the information they need to make an underwriting decision in one place, comparing application data to sourced data to investor guidelines. DecisionGenius™ combines all types of income (including self-employed!), credit, assets, and collateral, and an appraisal review, for cohesive, comprehensive decision-making. Indecomm’s automation approach resonates with lenders seeking to automate their decision management and improve their customer experience holistically, not just at the point of sale. Schedule a demo today.

Underwriting Growing Pains? Instead of hiring more underwriters, enable the ones you have to do more underwriting. Lender Toolkit’s AI Underwriter adds up to 90% of the loan conditions automatically by integrating directly with your service providers. Using direct integrations with your appraisal, credit, flood, and fraud providers along with DU, LP, and FHA instead of relying on OCR technology means real-time data and decisions. After four years in production, AI Underwriter has thousands of intelligent decision points that automate applying conditions to the loan. Skilled underwriters are hard to find and hard to retain. To recruit and keep the best underwriters, provide them a system that maximizes their value to your organization. Read Mortgage One’s case study here. Contact Lender Toolkit today to learn how you can double your production with your current underwriting staff. Schedule a demo today!

Capital markets

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Redwood Trust and its Q3 results? Redwood recently announced a business update and have scheduled Q3 results for release on October 27.

Some were expecting mortgage rates to keep their summertime levels and stay low into 2022. Indeed 30-year and 15-year rates are low by historical standards, but they aren’t as low as they were over the summer. The U.S. economy is picking up steam. The price of restaurant meals, cars, hotel stays, and nearly everything has moved up. Prices are increasing, impacting both consumer and producer price indices produced by the government.

Economic data over the last week pointed towards slower, but still moderate, growth in GDP throughout the second half of the year. Leading economic indicators increased 0.2 percent in the weakest month since February. Supply chain constraints lead to declines in manufacturing, mining and utility groups during September. Meanwhile existing home sales hit their highest annual rate since January at 6.29 million units as supply dwindled to a very tight 2.4 months’ worth. New construction of single-family homes eased 1.6 percent to a 1.55 million annual pace and permits declined to a 1.04 million annual pace. Both purchase and refinance mortgage applications were down during the week ending October 15 as the average rate for a 30-year fixed increased to 3.23 percent.

As we head closer to next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, expectations remain for the beginning of the tapering of asset purchases (or the slow removal of financial supports) that were implemented to combat the economic effects of last year’s lockdowns. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated on Friday that “it’s time to taper,” but he did also acknowledge a note of concern over persistently high inflation. Despite his position that it won’t be around past next year, he said supply chain bottlenecks could complicate matters since they may “last longer than previously expected, likely well into next year.” With elevated inflation less temporary than expected, rate hike odds later next year continue to ratchet higher.

On the data front this week, releases include updates on regional Fed surveys, home prices, consumer confidence, new home sales, durable goods, the first look at Q3 GDP, pending home sales, and inflation in the form of PCE. Today’s calendar is on the lighter side, with only the Chicago Fed National Activity Index for September (dropping to -.13) and the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Business Index for October due out later this morning.

The days of announcing this are perhaps numbered, but for now the Fed Desk will purchase up to $4.9 billion of conventional 30-year 2 percent and 2.5 percent and 15-year 1.5 percent and 2 percent. For those wondering about what percentage of Agency MBS the Fed is purchasing, last week the Desk purchased an average of $5.4 billion per day compared with $6.5 billion in originator supply. The $27.2 billion purchased was 33.4 percent of $81.4 billion that was submitted. 64 percent of purchases was UMBS30s, 10 percent was UMBS15, and 26 percent was GNIIs. Since the restart of asset purchases in March 2020, the Desk has purchased over $2.6 trillion MBS. The Desk will release a new schedule released on Thursday afternoon covering the October 29 to November 12 period and expected to total the same as the current schedule. We begin the week with Agency MBS prices worse nearly .125 from Friday and the 10-year unchanged from Friday night, yielding 1.66 percent.

A man was at a bar one night and saw a beautiful redhead sitting in the booth opposite him. After about 5 minutes, he got up the guts to go talk to her. Just as he sat down, she sneezed and her glass eye flew out from her socket.

On reflex, the guy shot out his arm and caught her eye and gave it back to her. They started talking and the redhead invited the man to go to a movie with her, then go back to her place for a nightcap. In the morning, she cooked him a big breakfast of bacon and eggs and the man said, “Why are you being incredibly nice to me? Is this the way you treat all men who start talking to you?”

The redhead replied, “No, you just happened to catch my eye!”

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Grow Your Business But Don’t Step Over a Dollar to Save a Dime.” The Commentary’s podcast is live and at any place you obtain your podcasts (like Apple or Spotify).

qoɹ

(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. This newsletter is for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2021 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)

Do you think putting together a loan is tough? How ‘bout a giant skeleton in your front yard? This dedicated individual has documented the process of his spooky creations on Instructables. This will be super helpful for when you create a giant skeleton of your own next year, or pass this along to a new home owner that recently bought a home with your company’s help. Like Halloween, which comes along every year, historically most home buyers make the choice of where to buy based on affordability, amenities, and major life events such as a new job, growing family or older kids moving out. That changed during the pandemic, however, when demand boomed in more affordable urban areas as people in larger, more expensive metros were not willing to pay premium prices for proximity to amenities that were no longer available, like restaurants, museums, and theaters. Despite some concern that a pandemic-related mass exodus from metro areas was changing U.S. cities, cities are still very much alive and the housing market in some has even grown. Inventory continues to be a problem, making for a buying market with hyper-competitive conditions.

Saturday Spotlight: PacRes Mortgage, putting people over profit

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In 3-5 sentences, describe your company (when was it founded and why, what it does, and recent growth & plans for near-term future growth). 

PacRes founders Matt Stashin, Melissa Stashin, and Eric Wiley joined together in 2004 and built PacRes on a foundation of deep experience in mortgage banking and a philosophy of service to others, a passionate pursuit of employee success, and a willingness to trust that good things come back to those who do good. Sustaining and growing our business amidst some of the hardest times our country has ever experienced taught us resilience, tenacity, and purpose. Values that provide the keystones to our brand promise: Keeping a guardian mindset about our clients’ financial lives, so we can not only finance their homes, but build their financial future.

 

And it’s our values that make “Dreams Approved Daily” far more than a tagline. Monday to Friday—and often on the weekends— we work tirelessly to help people achieve personal and professional aspirations. Sometimes that’s starting a career at PacRes. Other times it’s getting into a first home. In all cases, we’re there to build trust, get results, and make dreams come true.

 

Tell us about what type of volunteer work employees are encouraged to engage in, or charities your company supports, and why. 

As a company we are committed to supporting kids in all aspects of their lives with a hyper-focus on child and youth development. That’s why we actively and aggressively support the Boys & Girls clubs and other programs around the country that engage youth within their communities, schools, and families, and enable all young people to reach their full potential. At the heart of our core values, is Serve. It is our social responsibility to live our values and help those in need, by using our time and resources to improve the lives of others and make their dreams come true too.

 

What does your company do to help elevate your employees’ growth? Describe any mentoring programs, outside classes or training, in-house training. How does the company help people develop?

Because Dreams Approved Daily applies not only to our clients but also our team, that must be the starting point to helping everyone on our team achieve the success in our industry that they desire. And that starts with the on-going training and development that is baked into our culture. A highly evolved on-boarding process, weekly business development meetings, and one-on-one training, coaching and mentoring sessions all lead to the personal growth our team members crave and clients rave about as they experience the 5-Star Service that emanates from these efforts.

 

Tell us how your company maintains its culture in a work-from-home environment, or how you plan on bringing employees back into the office, if applicable.

 

As a tremendously fast-growing national brand, the challenges brought on by the pandemic were magnified for us as we had to stay focused on each individual state’s protocols. We immediately implemented a work from home program that involved a significant IT infrastructure investment. In retrospect, that investment turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it prepared us for both our hyper-speed national growth and the reality that we can now offer many of our formerly local office staffed positions as permanently remote. What started as a health safety protocol has morphed into an employee benefit for the many that choose this lifestyle.

 

Things you are most proud of that don’t have to do with sales.

The team has really pulled together while working remotely and from home. People have learned to accept technology at a much higher rate than prior to Covid. And productivity is up. Most importantly, we’ve all learned from our team’s individual efforts just how much more efficient people can be with flexible schedules, dedicated group checkpoints, video conferencing vs. the old-fashioned conference call and proliferation of instant messaging. We’ve now got remote processors, underwriters, etc. spanning different time zones and working together in numbers we not only didn’t see in the past, but we also didn’t think was possible in the past. For us, distance has taught us new and better ways to communicate, and how to work as a team, even remotely, and still cross the finish line.

 

Fun fact about PacRes. 

It’s such a fun feeling to know that we have been approving dreams for so long that we now have many of our employees’ children, now young adults, joining our team! It just thrills us that those young bright minds who have observed Mom and Dad go off to work every day say, “I want to start my career at PacRes!”

(For more information on having your firm, employee growth, and your charitable side featured, contact Chrisman LLC’s Anjelica Nixt.)

Vendor nibbles

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Third-party providers to residential lenders do a lot more than make up company names with letters capitalized in the middle of them. Let’s take a random look at who’s doing what, especially given the large number of vendors at the MBA conference.

SimpleNexus rounded out its Nexus Closing eMortgage solution with DocMagic’s eVault and eNote technologies, a secure repository that provides lenders with the ability to access, manage and store eNotes and other electronic mortgage records on a short- or long-term basis. The integration enables fully digital loan closings creating multiple improvements and efficiencies. Lenders delivering loans to the secondary market will experience improved accuracy, security, and speed. The integration also enables automated generation of an eNote with a tamper-evident seal and delivers the eNote to a secure eVault for delivery to the MERS® eRegistry.

StoicLane, a long-term growth platform announced that its principals led a $175M strategic investment in Interfirst Mortgage Company, a tech-enabled mortgage originator through a special purpose vehicle with funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. Interfirst aims to eliminate the upfront fees, cut interest cost, and decrease the complexity of a traditional mortgage by utilizing technology and artificial intelligence (AI). StoicLane’s strategic partnership is designed to accelerate growth, innovation, and technology advancement.

TitleEase, a title and settlement services franchise business, provides a simplified, streamlined and fully compliant path for mortgage professionals to own and operate a title agency without the burden and expense of building a platform from scratch.  A new franchisee was announced by TitleEase, a collaboration between Northwind Financial, a direct lender for private commercial real estate transactions and residential loans and CFSI Loan Management, one of the nation’s largest providers of construction loan risk management services to lenders and private clients. The new franchise is located in Grand Rapids, MI and will initially serve customers in Michigan, Colorado, Florida, and Georgia, with additional states scheduled to come online.

Wemlo,^SM the first third-party mortgage processing solution with an all-in-one digital platform, announced the upcoming launch of an innovative new technology that aims to transform the mortgage brokerage industry. The wemlo Loan Brokering System℠ (LBS℠) is unlike other mortgage loan origination systems and software on the market. It’s the first purpose-built loan software that understands the specific needs of the broker business, compliance priorities, workflows and offers a built-in processing team. Wemlo’s LBS℠ planned all-inclusive pricing removes hidden costs, giving brokers everything needed to run their brokerage smoothly and efficiently, for a flat monthly or annual fee. Sign up now for exclusive sneak peeks of wemlo’s revolutionary Loan Brokering System and be the first to know when the technology goes live in January 2022.

Providing enterprise-class vendor management technology for forward-thinking mortgage organizations for more than a decade, ClearValue Consulting launched Property VeriPix™, a photographic validation and chain of custody technology that verifies the location, date and time of subject property photos provided by third parties. Property VeriPix helps weed out fraudulent activity and engenders greater trust between property inspectors, field agents and other third parties. Property VeriPix is available at no cost to users of ClearValue Consulting’s Acuity platform and also works in tandem with ClearValue’s Sluice mobile application, a best-in-class vendor communication and data harvesting management platform.

SimpleNexus debuted Nexus Pay powered by global payment technology provider

Global Payments (NYSE: GPN). Nexus Pay makes it easy for loan applicants to submit payments via credit card or ACH within the SimpleNexus app without human assistance, accelerating delivery of payments and creating process efficiencies for mortgage lenders. In-app push notifications alert applicants when they need to complete a payment task, and lenders can use the SimpleNexus admin portal to track payment history; view payment status on the borrower’s loan details page; and edit, void or refund payments if necessary.

Mortgage Cadence announced a new look and feel to its brand, paving the way for its New Platform and reflecting how its growing and evolving as its platform evolves. This new branding includes a new, more user-friendly website. Mortgage Cadence “delivers the industry’s most modern, complete, cloud based digital lending platform. Uniquely positioned to bring a full end-to-end single system, while still working at scale with a customizable and configurable, open architecture, the Mortgage Cadence Platform delivers an exceptional user experience throughout the entire lending lifecycle across all channels and products.”

Redwood Trust announced an investment in Canopy Financial Technology Partners, completed through Redwood’s RWT Horizons venture investment arm, which targets early and mid-stage companies transforming financial and real-estate technology. Canopy is a consumer finance due diligence and third-party review firm that leverages emerging technology to deliver services and solutions for the Residential and Business Purpose mortgage lending markets.

First American Docutech^®, provider of document, eSign, eClose and print fulfillment technology for the mortgage industry, and member of the First American family of companies, announced that lenders using First American Docutech’s Solex^® eClosing solution can now provide their customers the convenience and speed of digitally notarizing closing documents from anywhere through a direct integration with Notarize, an innovative leader in remote online notarization (RON). Find the full press release here.

Created to simplify and accelerate loan funding and disbursement, WFG Enterprise Solutions MyHome Funder Dashboard gives loan funders and closing personnel real-time insight into loan status as it progresses through closing funding. Access to a loan’s history, current status, and remaining milestones provides efficiency. Additionally, MyHome Funder Dashboard makes vital information available instantly, including notary name, location and signing time; access to the executed loan package and conditions immediately after the borrower signs; a balance figure (including all fees escrow believes the lender is withholding); and even recording information.

Rate Reset’s digital retention and acquisition platform called KNOCK KNOCK provides an automated process using patented technology that allows a borrower to Reset their loan in less than 90 seconds. Reset Mortgage is the pioneer solution used by some of the largest banks and credit unions for over 10 years, helping banks and credit unions retain over $47.8 billion in mortgages in 12 months. “Reset Mortgage has an 75% retention rate and does not require any back-office departments.”

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. “One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me,” said one boy.

Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence. Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery, so he slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, “One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me…” He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.

“Come here quick,” said the boy. “You won’t believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls!”

The man replied, “Beat it kid, can’t you see it’s hard for me to walk.”

When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they heard, “One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me.”

The old man whispered, “Boy, you’ve been tellin’ me the truth. Let’s see if we can see the Lord!” Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord. At last they heard, “One for you, one for me. That’s all. Now let’s go get those nuts by the fence and we’ll be done!”

They say the old man had the lead for a good half-mile before the kid on the bike passed him.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Grow Your Business But Don’t Step Over a Dollar to Save a Dime.” The Commentary’s podcast is live and at any place you obtain your podcasts (like Apple or Spotify).

qoɹ

(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. This newsletter is for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2021 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)

Semper Fi! Tomorrow marks the 38^th anniversary of the 1983 bombing in Beirut of a U.S. Marine barracks in the largest conventional explosive blast in history killing 241 Americans. San Diego has a huge military presence, and while there I spent a few hours with the folks at PenFed discussing trends in jumbo lending and the overall market for the near future and for 2022; more jumbo tidbits below. In the very near future, Halloween is only nine days away! Dating back 2,000 years to the Celtic festival of Samhain, Halloween has evolved into a celebration characterized by child-friendly activities like dressing in costumes, trick-or-treating and carving pumpkin. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates 73.1 million children under the age of 18 that are potential trick-or-treaters… and future home financers. Which of these is the spookiest-sounding spot in the nation to you: Tombstone (AZ), Truth or Consequences (NM), Kill Devil Hills (NC), Transylvania County (NC), Slaughter Beach (DE), or Scarville (IA)? (Today’s audio version of the commentary is available here. This week’s is sponsored by Triserv, a national AMC with client-specific, dedicated teams on both coasts that get to know their lenders, providing a high-touch, personalized order follow-up so that clients will always know what’s going on with the appraisal.)

Jobs

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Come grow with Sprout. Sprout Mortgage is a fast-growing lender with national scale, now expanding its client-focused mortgage solutions into a retail sales channel. Sprout offers a traditional set of mortgage products, but more importantly, they have an industry leading set of non-QM products that position loan officers well for the next business cycle and beyond. Sprout has what high performing loan officers want, from product, pricing, technology, marketing, and recognition – collectively, they’ve got what’s needed to create opportunities for a loan officer to grow. Sprout is actively growing this retail channel via direct-to-consumer outreach, brick-and-mortar retail facilities, and strategic joint ventures in local markets throughout the country. If you are looking for an opportunity to grow in a place that offers tremendous flexibility to meet your client’s needs, contact Cheri Brousseau at 888-505-7568.

Track record of long employee tenure = Assurance Financial, a profitable and well-capitalized full- service mortgage banker offering an entrepreneurial, customer-focused sales support environment, FNMA/FHLMC/GNMA direct status, and well-positioned to compete for more growth with state-of-the- art operations/support technology. Best tech stack in the mortgage marketplace = Assurance Financial. Exemplary record of servicing purchase money market MLOs = Assurance Financial. Incredible entrepreneurial branch manager business and compensation model = Assurance Financial. Community-service oriented in all markets with St. Jude as our philanthropy partner = Assurance Financial. Founded in 2001, licensed in 43 states, not controlled by private equity, and growing in all markets. If you are an aggressive producing branch manager or senior mortgage loan officer considering a step up in your career – contact Paul Peters, CMB to discuss a mutual opportunity or visit AssuranceMortgageLO.com to learn more!

It’s still tough to recruit millennials, but not impossible as Sun West Mortgage Company points out in a new case study. Dexter Gregory is one of Sun West’s most successful originators. He’s a millennial who chose Sun West for two reasons: (1) its excellent workflow, systems, and worldwide team that keeps loans in process while Loan Officers sleep and (2) the company’s incredible Loan Officer Reinvestment Act. Ty Kern, Executive Managing Director, National Production for Sun West, launched the program in mid-2020 to help every Loan Officer in the company double their personal loan production. It works by investing in human support in the form of marketing, training, and administrative assistance, with an emphasis on good mentoring. It allows everyone in the organization to shift from ‘manufacturing’ loans to building relationships. The results speak for themselves, just ask Dexter Gregory. To join the team, visit the company online.

Lender & broker services and products

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On this day in 1797, André-Jacques Garnerin made history as the first person to successfully execute a parachute jump from a hydrogen balloon 3,200 feet above Paris. It was a tremendous leap of faith, and it reminds me that mortgage lenders are sometimes guilty of forgetting what a big leap buying a home really is, especially the first time around. Borrowers, including first-time buyers, can feel confident taking that leap thanks to HomeBinder, a centralized home management platform that keeps lenders engaged with borrowers throughout homeownership. The latest update to the HomeBinder platform debuts several new features, including a home valuation tool, maintenance reminders and an enhanced user interface, making it even easier for borrowers, lenders and other home service professionals to stay connected. Email [email protected] to schedule a personalized demo.

Interest rates are expected to jump in the coming months, and this is the perfect time to create your 2022 business plan. Attend an upcoming StorySeller event in your area to get some new market insights and create your 2022 business plan! You’ll also get new StorySelling skills to convert more leads in today’s super-competitive market. Topics include: (1) How to convert more borrowers and stand out from your competition as the #1 mortgage expert in your market; (2) How to overcome objections about today’s housing market, including housing bubble concerns and whether clients should buy or rent; (3) Templates to create your 2022 business plan and a proven structure to grow your business. The events are free for the first 50 registrations. Invite your Realtor friends and they’ll receive free CE credits! Seating is very limited so sign up today to reserve your spot.

Mortgage LOs: Did you know the quality of your relationships will determine your 2022 business success? As the number of Refi loans drop significantly in 2022, Purchase loans will become much more important to your loan volume. Effectively creating and nurturing your relationships with prospects, clients and realtor partners will be essential.  Unify has 3 features that will help you become a fantastic relationship builder. 1 – Automated Marketing with done-for-you content will drive the “Know-Like-Trust” that is essential to turn prospects into clients. 2 – Client Retention tools utilize email, direct mail and phone calls to make sure you secure your clients’ next loan. 3 – Unify’s Rainmaker Business Organization System ensures you are always in front of your realtor partners with personal and relevant content. Click here to see how Unify can help your drive your 2022 business success!

CMG Financial  continues to grow in the joint venture space and is set up to be the lender to watch! With an exciting 2022 ahead, the Joint Venture Channel continues to thrive. CMG Financial is firmly positioned to be the # 1 premier partnership model for Brokers, Builders, and Fintech companies. We establish partnerships with one focus in mind: the partner. Chris Harris, SVP, National Joint Venture Manager, said in a statement, “the key to our growth has been working with supportive partners who are interested in developing a successful company around great people.” If you are mortgage professional interested in joining one of our existing partnerships throughout the country or have a referral partner that would be interested in exploring a new Joint Venture partnership, contact Kevin McGarrity or 856-287-2659 to learn more.

The Symmetry Piggyback HELOC is a great alternative to jumbo financing for your borrower’s purchase or refinance needs. Use your in-house 1^stmortgage, or your favorite 1^st mortgage provider, and pair it with a Symmetry HELOC up to 89.99% CLTV.  Maintain control of your 1^stmortgage, and enjoy the Service, Speed, and Simplicity that Symmetry delivers on the piggyback HELOC. We’ll be with you, maybe even ahead of you, every step of the way! Contact your Symmetry Area Manager today to learn how simple it is to close faster and deliver a more competitive solution to your borrowers.

Ready or not, year-end report season is coming. Make this the year to step up your game with Richey May’s RM Analyze, business intelligence designed by and for mortgage industry experts. Our platform consolidates data from every department and every piece of software you use. It provides just the right reporting from the C-suite to the front line, plus custom apps to build visually engaging reports on key indicators. Bonus: our analysts have deep mortgage experience, so you don’t need to train us on your business. Don’t wait any longer to set up the reports you needed yesterday. Cross-functional data. User-friendly dashboards. Real-time analysis. Contact us today for a walk-through and custom implementation plan.

Market share: IMBs versus banks

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A lot can change in 10 years. Back in 2010, we had the iPhone 4 in our pockets, Toy Story 3 in our movie theaters, and banks were originating 76 percent of all mortgage volume. According to the MBA’s presentation of HMDA data this week at the 2021 MBA Annual Conference, IMBs are now doing 8 out of every 10 government loans and 6 in every 10 conventional loans. If banks are to turn the tide and find their way “back to the future,” they must start with a laser-like focus on providing a stellar customer experience. STRATMOR’s Mike Seminari suggest three steps banks can take to adapt and compete with independents in his October Customer Experience Tip: “What Can Banks Do to Win Back Market Share?”

Jumbo tidbits

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Jumbo? For a broker, the jumbo market has basically two options; one into the portfolio of larger institutions, the other securitization. The usual suspects continue to be discussed as outlets for jumbo production, based on product, price, and service (in no order): Citi, Bayview/Lakeview, Chase, PenFed, Truist, Wells Fargo, Flagstar, AIG, loanDepot, CMG, Redwood Trust, UBS, and AmeriHome, along with a myriad of smaller, often regional investors.

Flagstar Bank posted eligibility updates to its Non-Agency Underwriting and Jumbo Advantage.

Effective as of Friday, October 8, Flagstar Bank relaunched the Jumbo Express 15-Year Fixed product, which had been suspended last year early in the pandemic. The Jumbo Express program will now include both 15- and 30-year loan terms to meet the needs of more potential borrowers, and the new 15-year product will follow the same enhanced Jumbo Express guidelines introduced in the Flagstar Bank Enhanced Jumbo Express Program announcement.

AmeriHome introduced a new Portfolio Jumbo Program, providing expanded options for Non-Agency loans. The Portfolio Jumbo program is a manually underwritten full income documentation jumbo program that expands AmeriHome’s Non-Agency program offerings. For more information, view AmeriHome Product Announcement 20211003-CL.

Events

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Are you looking for speakers for your annual mortgage meetings?  Awards Trip?  Mortgage association events?  Check out www.MortgageWomenSpeakers.com where you will find 18 mortgage experts who speak on a variety of topics from Motivational.  Sales. Marketing. Social Media. Compliance.  Look who’s available to hire:  Ginger Bell.  Christine Beckwith, Laura Brandao, Jodee Brydges, Cindy Ertman, Tammy Butler, Katey Dallosto, Karen Deis, Megan Marsh, Susan Meitner, Jessica Peterson, Donna Quisenberry, Louise Thaxton, Kelly Resendez, Leora Ruzin, Sue Woodard, Suha Zehl and Kelly Zitlow. Contact [email protected] and she can advise you which speakers would be a good fit for your event.

Today join The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown with Rich Swerbinsky, the COO of The Mortgage Collaborative, and me as we discuss current events in the mortgage market for 30 minutes on Friday at 3PM ET in “The Rundown with Rich and Rob.”

Infosys, a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, is hosting an exclusive roundtable “How the mortgage industry can prepare for a digital future” on October 28, at 1PM ET.

Hosted by Sheila Meagher and Scott McNulla, register for SitusAMC’s complimentary webinar. Compliance Corner with Sprout Mortgage’s Laura LaRaia and Hudson Cook’s Jed Mayk on October 26^th. The panel will discuss the outlook on the ATR/QM Rule and what changes the rule may see before mandatory compliance is required and What is the state of the regulatory landscape as it relates to fair servicing and loss mitigation?

Discover why analysts and mortgage leaders make time for the industry’s most informative housing webinar. Register for Arch MI’s Oct. 28^th complimentary Housing Update webinar with new HaMMR^SM author and Arch’s Global Chief Economist Parker Ross who will present detailed data and additional context to support his view that home-price gains will normalize going forward as the supply of homes continues to climb and affordability becomes a headwind.

Join MCT and Verity Global Solutions on October 28th at 11am PT for a Halloween-themed industry webinar titled “Don’t Let Margin Compression Scare You.” Review which stages of the mortgage origination life cycle are best to outsource and if it makes sense for you. It’s time to embrace the new normal of remote working as waves of mortgage lenders are adopting the concept of a global team with powerful results. Register today for their webinar on October 28^th at 11am PT.

Searching for a Winning Game Plan to Improve Your Origination Team? Register for the MBA of Eastern PA November 3^rd Webinar for a discussion on what works in improving “B” originators who could do more but have not. It isn’t just more sales training. Improvement starts with correcting the individual’s mindset regarding their fear of failure and addressing the individual’s selling skills that must be updated to today’s selling techniques.

The Mortgage Bankers Association of Kentucky Education Conference is November 3rd at the Galt House in downtown Louisville. (The 2nd just has a social event in the evening.)

The New England Mortgage Bankers Conference is live and in-person this year: the conference is in Newport, RI on November 3-4. Since the health of our attendees is paramount, organizers are deliberately keeping the number of programs smaller (no breakout sessions). Hear from industry experts including Economist Joel Kan along with topics that include Fair Lending, Diversity & Inclusion, eClosings and even comedian Lenny Clarke. COVID-19 precautions will be followed!

In Oklahoma, the OMBA is hosting its annual conference in OKC November 8^th and 9^th.

Capital markets

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Ginnie Mae (with its 140 employees, although it uses many subs) is busy: Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issuance volume for fiscal year 2021 was a record $939 billion. Issuance for September came in at approximately $73 billion, more than 263,000 homes financed. A breakdown of September 2021 issuance of $72.88 billion includes $69.26 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and $3.63 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, which in turn includes approximately $3.5 billion of loans for multifamily housing. Total outstanding principal balance as of September 30 was $2.130 trillion, up from $2.124 trillion in the prior month, and up slightly from $2.117 trillion in September 2020.

Given the lack of substantive economic news, including today, we’ve had plenty of time to let rates adjust to the thought of tapering. They have gone up, but not dramatically, as the Fed seems to be doing its best to reasonably manage expectations. Freddie Mac reported only a 4-bps increase in the average 30-year fixed rate over the last week in its latest market survey. And the housing market remains strong. We saw yesterday that existing home sales increased 7.0 percent month-over-month in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.29 million, beyond expectations. Total sales in September were only down 2.3 percent from the hot pace of a year ago, and it looks as if price increases are coming back down toward more reasonable gains. However, prices do remain high, inventory remains tight, and that dynamic continues to restrict first-time buyers.

Today’s only release of note will be preliminary October readings for manufacturing and services PMIs from Markit, due out later this morning. Fed Chair Powell is scheduled to speak along with San Francisco Fed President Daly. The MBS purchase schedule to close the week sees the Desk in for up to $5.9 billion 30-year 2 percent and 2.5 percent. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices a shade better and the 10-year yielding 1.68 after closing Thursday at 1.68 percent.

A lawyer had a wife and 12 children and needed to move as his rental agreement was coming to an end for the home where he lived.

When he said he had 12 children, no one would rent a home to him because they knew that the children would destroy the home.

But lawyers don’t lie.

He could not say that he had no children, he could not lie, after all, lawyers cannot and do Not lie.

So, he had an idea. He sent his wife for a walk to the cemetery with 11 children. He took the remaining one with him to see homes with the real estate agent.

He liked one of the homes and the agent asked, “How many children do you have?”

He answered, “12 children.”

The agent asked, “Where are the others?”

The lawyer answered, with a sad look, “They are in the cemetery with their Mother.”

And that’s the way he was able to rent a home for his family without lying.

MORAL:

It is not necessary to lie, one only has to choose the right words.

Lawyers don’t lie …they are creative…and don’t forget: Most politicians are lawyers.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Grow Your Business But Don’t Step Over a Dollar to Save a Dime.” The Commentary’s podcast is live and at any place you obtain your podcasts (like Apple or Spotify).

qoɹ

(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. This newsletter is for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2021 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)

 

Thousands of people in the residential lending biz headed to the San Diego aerodrome and flew home. Plenty were sore from wearing dress shoes everywhere, although I saw plenty of gals in flip flops while in transit. Guys are happy to stop wearing ties. Masks at the airport sure cuts down on recognizing someone you may have met with the day before. What’s the chatter? Efficiency and cost cutting, the subject of this month’s STRATMOR blog. At the MBA event the vendors were out in force. Vying for the coolest name is Digital Silence, a firm focused on information security research and consulting services. There was the digital loan closing specialist Stavvy party. Househappy allows your client to take care of all their home project needs with a simple phone call or click. And a company for MLOs financing anyone with student debt there’s LoanSense. (Write to Cat Kaiyoorawongs if you have questions.) Today’s audio version of the commentary is available here. This week’s is sponsored by Triserv, a national AMC with client-specific, dedicated teams on both coasts that get to know their lenders, providing a high-touch, personalized order follow-up so that clients will always know what’s going on with the appraisal. Today’s features and interview with Seth Appleton, President of MISMO, on initiatives of the organization and why it is more important to lenders than most realize.

Jobs & hires; position wanted

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An industry business leader is seeking position as President, CEO or COO. The ideal position is President reporting to a dynamic CEO and/or board. Size of company less important than it’s strategies, goals, and key staff. Broad industry experience in Mortgage, Building, Land Development, Insurance, Financial Services, Marketing, Software Development, Capital Markets, TPO, Private Lending, Data Analytics, Tech Stacks, M&A, turn arounds, project building/deployment, and leadership/team building. Have owned and sold multiple companies. Looking for company that has tech/digital/DTC as part of strategic plan, Fintech relationship a bonus. Professional Adviser nationally to C-Suite level staff. Currently living on West Coast, relocation considered or will do long distance commute. Ego is in check, even tempered, highly goal driven, innovative and creative problem solver, excellent communicator. Please email Anjelica Nixt for additional information and connection.

“Planet Home Lending is designed to expand, even if the market retracts. As the industry pivots from the refi boom to a more purchase-driven environment, we’re onboarding new branches each month, and we have no intention of slowing down. We’re looking for growth-oriented mortgage professionals, so we provide professional support. Branches work with the same dedicated processors, underwriters, and support team, every day & every file, so you can concentrate on reaching more borrowers and closing more loans. Watch our Retail Sales Leader Caleb Mittelstet talk about why originators are moving to Planet. Then send a note to Caleb or SVP Talent Acquisition Brian Miller. Grow your business with Planet Home Lending: Right Place, Right Size, Right Now!”

“New American Funding is expanding its dynamic Strategic Growth Team and is seeking experienced Regional Talent Acquisition Managers across the U.S. with multiple positions available in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Midwest Great Lakes regions. Our Strategic Growth Team is committed to steady expansion of retail branch locations reaching out to top Regional and Branch Managers, Top Originators, and sales support nationwide. Our Regional Talent Acquisition Managers enjoy competitive compensation and unlimited opportunities for expanded territories which are among the benefits of joining one of the largest privately held lenders in the country. As an MPA 5-Star Retail Lender and a champion in diversity we offer an award-winning culture focused on supporting employees in business and in life. We believe in development through mentorship, coaching, and support. To explore this great opportunity and more please reach out Sam Ellsworth, SVP National Retail Sales at PH 714.401.0183.”

Digital Silence is expanding its senior leadership team with the addition of JT Gaietto, a cybersecurity leader with more than 23 years of experience, joining as Chief Security Officer and co-owner.

Lender & broker services and products

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When “Back to the Future” writer Scott Gale predicted the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series in 2015, it was “the most absurd” prediction he could make. Except he was only a year off because the Cubs actually won the World Series in 2016. Sales Boomerang offers lenders better predictions than those from “BTTF,” because they won’t be a year off and they’re based on the lender’s own database. Success Mortgage Partners has used Sales Boomerang’s predictions to add 1.21 gigawatts of power to its borrower retention efforts. Want to learn more? Download this case study. Then join Alex Kutsishin and Mortgage Champions’ Dale Vermillion on Oct. 27 at 1 pm ET as they interview Brett Miller and share some of Success Mortgage Partners’ secret sauce. Register now and learn how to take your borrower retention efforts from 0 to 88 MPH in the blink of an eye.

With over 20,000 taxing agencies across the U.S., it’s challenging for many lenders to quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively access property tax data during loan prequalification. Now, lenders can overcome that challenge. Black Knight’s Tax for Loan Estimation offers an affordable solution that delivers instant, nationwide, accurate estimates of current-year property taxes, even on new construction. This powerful solution identifies all applicable taxing agencies and determines the most accurate method of estimating taxes in each geography. A report is produced that includes property and agency addresses, total tax estimate, estimates per agency, and confidence scores. Armed with fast, accurate tax data, you can provide a better borrower experience, increase efficiencies, and reduce the need to rework estimates. Learn more here.

Snapdocs, the industry’s leading digital closing platform, recently announced two new enhancements to its mortgage closing solution. The first is Snapdocs eVault, a modern eVault built from the ground up for the mortgage industry. The company offers a turn-key eNote solution to lenders today, including integration with Evolve or eOriginal eVaults, and is expanding its offering with the addition of this proprietary eVault. The second is Closing Quality Control, a new solution designed to completely eliminate errors (missing pages, signatures, notary stamps, etc.) from your closings. Contact Snapdocs to learn more about these new solutions, as well as how to implement digital closings at your organization.

“What do a nationwide TPO vendor, a large wholesale HELOC lender, a top Non-QM wholesale lender, a foreign national retail & wholesale lender, a HELOC/Consumer lender/servicer and a nationwide manufactured home chattel lender all have in common? MortgageFlexONE Origination and Servicing. If you have unique lending needs and are tired of work arounds, we can help. From POS to LOS to servicing systems, we can customize your everything to meet lender/servicers needs, not the other way around. We also have an extensive SDK so lenders can make their own changes. We look at each customer individually and work with your team to add the required functionality to your system. We have a long track record of meeting the needs of lenders with business cases that other providers cannot or will not handle. Just ask our customers, flexibility, it’s in our name. Please contact SVP John McCrea.”

AmeriHome Mortgage, the 2nd largest correspondent and 14th largest mortgage lender in the country, had an amazing time at the MBA Annual this week, and were thrilled to connect with so many clients and partners in person! AmeriHome continues to expand its new Non-Agency Portfolio Program, and is excited to welcome Scott Vieregg and Colleen Cawley as its Non-Agency focused Sales Account Executives for the West and East, respectively. AmeriHome is also looking to hire a Non-Agency focused Sales Account Executive for the Central region! AmeriHome currently offers Portfolio Express and Portfolio Jumbo and will be rolling out Portfolio Expanded in December! For more information about AmeriHome’s Non-Agency line of products or any other services they offer, email [email protected] to connect with the AmeriHome sales team, and be sure to follow AmeriHome Correspondent on LinkedIn for the latest updates.

Don’t miss the next live webinar hosted by NAMB and presented by ReadyPrice’s Rick Soukoulis and Plaza Home Mortgage’s Jeff Lienan, as they talk about how your AEs can become an invaluable extension of your business! Uncover how you can tap into your committed workforce of AEs and empower them to Go Beyond Rate Sheets to Helping Develop & Grow Your Business. This webinar touches on important topics like how AEs can go beyond transactional support and help you build your business, and how their knowledge and experience, and the unique skills they possess can be advantageous to your business. It will also talk about how your sales team can help you uncover new market opportunities and guide you to success while avoiding pitfalls. Be sure to join us! Click on this link to register.

Why wait until next year to automate the business processes you needed to automate last year? RM Automate, powered by Zoral, blends Richey May’s expertise in mortgage banking with Zoral’s best-in-class intelligent automation platform. An exclusive end-to-end solution that streamlines and optimizes your entire organization by automating manual, repetitive work and freeing up your team to focus on more high-value tasks. Scalable, fully customizable, and easy to implement, it brings a host of benefits to every phase of your operation from lead generation to post closing and accounting. RM Automate powered by Zoral. Easy automation. High impact. Great news for your back office! Schedule your customizable demo today.

Introducing the Maxwell Mortgage Optimization Platform: a collection of solutions that change the game for local lenders throughout the mortgage origination process. Going beyond loan applications and document management, the Maxwell Mortgage Optimization Platform includes Maxwell’s Point of Sale, Fulfillment, Diligence, and Secondary Market Trading solutions. While available a la carte, when used collectively, these solutions offer transformative efficiency, scale, and agility to the lenders that serve America’s communities. Backed by leading technology paired with deep industry expertise, the Maxwell Optimization Platform gives small and midsize lenders the permanent, disruptive financial advantage they need to compete against the industry’s largest players. Click here to learn more, or request a demo today.

Correspondents & wholesalers evolving

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Rocket, as announced in this commentary a few days ago, told brokers that it would “build bridges” for their partners by connecting them with real estate agents. Austin Niemiec, EVP of Rocket Pro TPO, said broker partners will now have access to agents through Rocket Homes, the company’s real estate listing platform. “When Rocket Homes connects homebuyers with one of its partner agents, the company will also introduce select buyers to one of Rocket Pro TPO’s Pinnacle Partners.”

And Rocket is moving, for new registrations starting yesterday, agency high balance loan limits to the anticipated 2022 max loan amount limits in 49 counties across several states. “The new limit is $937,5001 in 42 of the 49 counties impacted. The remaining seven are between $811,440 and $885,925. Visit Pathfinder for more details. “A/I findings ONLY for exceeding 2021 high balance loan limits may be submitted to underwriting. All A/I loans require a full appraisal. 2021 Jumbo Smart minimum loan amounts are still in effect. Loan Amounts between the 2021 HB limit and the new HB limit are capped at 90% LTV on purchase and R/T refinance.”

loanDepot Wholesale announced the removal of COVID-19 overlays for government loans, effective immediately. The mello® Broker Portal reflects eligibility changes.

Fairway Wholesale Lending announced Dual AUS for Conventional Products. Now, it’s possible to run DU, LPA, or both at the same time and all within Fairway Wholesale Lending DRIVER portal. This one-click feature is specifically designed to automate the review process of the DU and LPA findings reports for Conventional products by providing a side-by-side comparison of documentation requirements. It offers more efficiency when determining the eligibility of your borrowers and more easily provides appraisal and property inspection waiver comparisons.

Effective with Best Effort Commitment Confirmations issued on or after October 13, 2021, Caliber Home Loans is offering the eligibility of increased conforming loan limits for Conventional, VA and USDA. Some of the pricing engines may not reflect the updates and therefore, the Caliber Correspondent Portal should be used for pricing and locking.

Read Announcement CL21-68 to view the new loan limits and Loan Level Pricing Adjustments (LLPAs).

Capital markets

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The economy continues to heal from the pandemic and MSR pricing has seen improvement as a result. Many servicers are still sitting on large portfolios as a result of MSR multiples/prices going to zero in early 2020, and the market is becoming ripe for MSR bulk sales and there is ample capital/liquidity from buyers ready to purchase. Learn more about the bulk MSR market in MCT’s latest article, Top 5 Takeaways for the Bulk MSR Market in Q4 2021. If you are interested in a bulk MSR transaction, MCT’s MSR division can help. In a recent case study, Matt Danilowicz, CEO of Doorway Home Loans, describes how MCT’s “MSR team was absolutely crucial to the success of our MSR sale. I’m confident that with MCT’s guidance, we added 15bps of additional profitability on our $1 billion portfolio sale or approximately $1.5 million.” Contact MCT today for a demonstration of its services.

With Polly’s revolutionary Loan Trading Exchange, it’s now easier than ever to optimize your bottom line. As a trusted provider of innovative software solutions for the mortgage industry, Polly’s best-in-class trading tools and analytics ensure execution optimization on every trade across each agency, aggregator, and co-issue buyer, including Fannie SMP & Freddie CRX. Users can publish bid tapes and select best-ex in under 15 minutes by utilizing advanced filters, sorting, and automated last look functionality. Choose from a best ex or preferred investor point of view to maximize gain on sale. Additionally, loan level and pool level best-ex analysis ensure traders never miss a pay up with automated spec, high balance, CRA and spot vs. forward commitment optimizations. To learn more about how Polly’s Loan Trading Exchange is helping customers maximize gain on sale, email Jeff Krischer or visit www.polly.io.

Looking at rate sheets, the financial markets did not receive any top-tier data yesterday, and MBS prices and rates responded accordingly. The Fed did release its Beige Book for October, which described overall economic growth as “modest to moderate,” aka “not much going on,” with supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and uncertainty about the coronavirus restraining overall activity. The Beige Book was mostly focused on inflation, with most districts reporting growth in consumer spending, but low inventory and high prices. In addition to significantly elevated prices, the majority of Districts did report robust wage growth. Fed Governor Quarles said that substantial further progress toward the Fed’s employment and inflation mandates has been made and that he would support a reduction of asset purchases at the November policy meeting. Rate hikes are now priced in less than a year away, which should result in faster tapering than what the market has seen in the past.

 

Philadelphia Fed manufacturing (23.8) and weekly jobless claims (290k, as expected) kicked off today’s calendar (). Later this morning brings September leading indicators, existing home sales, Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, and remarks from a couple Fed speakers. Today’s MBS purchase schedule sees the Desk targeting conventionals for up to $4.9 billion. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices worse nearly .125 and the 10-year yielding 1.66 after closing yesterday at 1.64 percent.

We’re approaching Halloween and the weather is turning cold, so the other day I picked up a hitch-hiker. He seemed like a nice guy. After a few miles, he asked me if I wasn’t afraid that he might be a serial killer?

I told him that the odds of two serial killers being in the same car were extremely small.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Grow Your Business But Don’t Step Over a Dollar to Save a Dime.” The Commentary’s podcast is live and at any place you obtain your podcasts (like Apple or Spotify).

qoɹ

(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. This newsletter is for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2021 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)

Someone here in San Diego asked an audience, “Who out there misses their Blackberry?” and many raised their hands. Technology… an interesting thing. How about the ability to look at this “Star Wars House” in Florida: $11.5 million, not even on the water, but page down a few times in the photos. Many of the technology changes announced or advanced here in San Diego are focused on reducing the friction between application and funding. Part of that is the appraisal process, and acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Sandra Thompson announced a change: allowing banks and mortgage lenders to use desktop appraisals in lieu of in-person home valuations. (The change makes permanent a measure that Fannie and Freddie instituted during the pandemic.) In other words, home appraisals conducted without the physical presence of an appraiser will be allowed permanently on loans bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, starting in early 2022. (Today’s audio version of the commentary is available here. This week’s is sponsored by Triserv, a top national AMC with client-specific, dedicated teams on both coasts that get to know their lenders. Today’s includes Part Two of an interview with Triserv’s President Joe Bryant on AMCs during the pandemic.)

Jobs & Position wanted

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Do you have the right tools to capture new home business? Top-ranked Embrace Home Loans has rolled out an Extended Rate Lock program that lets new homebuyers lock in today’s rates with no rate add-on or cap for up to 360 days while their home is being built. “Our new program gives buyers peace of mind that their monthly payments will remain the same even if rates rise before closing,” says Jason Will, SVP of market growth. The program provides a free float-down option should rates fall before construction is completed. With the current shortage of inventory, Will sees a lot of potential in new home business. Embrace offers a renovation program for existing homes, too. “We’ve got great options for both new construction business as well as for fixer-uppers,” he says. If you’d like to attract more buyers with top-notch loan programs, contact Jason Will.

American Pacific Mortgage’s Fall Symposium will be November 3–4, 2021, at the Arizona Grand Resort. The lineup of speakers for this year’s event includes Dr. Amy Cuddy, economist Elliot Eisenberg, AJ Vaden of Brand Builders Group, Josh Pitts from Shred Media, Megan Anderson and Barry Habib with MBS Highway, and Geoff Zimpfer of Mortgage Marketing Institute, and the APM leadership team. This event is designed to help APM loan officers sharpen their edge, shift with the market, elevate their connections and influence. If you’ve been considering a move to APM, this is a great opportunity to explore all that APM has to offer, including what it means to be an employee-owner of a Top Mortgage Lender. To learn more about this event, click here. And if you’d like to be a guest at APM’s Fall Symposium, email Dustin Block.

First Guarantee Mortgage is looking for #MortgageMavericks to join the team! If you’re an Account Executive with Non-QM experience reach out to Tom Davis today. Maverick has new expansions to its Non-QM Maverick Solutions Products! “At FGMC we are committed to the expanding Non-QM market and are excited to announce our newest updates.” (See below.)

A capital markets professional with significant experience is searching for a position in the capital markets/secondary area, and is open to remote work. Has experience in most operational areas of a mortgage banker, including using hedging software, best execution and delivery, Agency delivery, managing a lock desk, hedging interest rate risk, broker dealer forward positions, funding of mortgage-backed securities, as well as investor and agency relations and, product negotiation. Interested parties should contact Chrisman LLC’s Anjelica Next to forward their note of interest.

Lender & broker services and products

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It’s a fitting coincidence that MBA Annual21 is coming to a close on International Sloth Day, as I’m sure we’re all ready to slow down and relax after such an action-packed conference. Sloths have been living life in the slow lane, earning a reputation as the world’s laziest animal, for over 64 million years. Lenders, on the other hand, must constantly evolve if they want to remain competitive. SimpleNexus’ latest feature, Nexus Pay, helps lenders avoid the time-consuming hassle of requesting and collecting borrower payments. The new click-to-pay solution is embedded in the SimpleNexus digital mortgage app to get borrower payments to you quicker, saving everyone time and energy. Take your place at the top of the digital mortgage food chain and find out how SimpleNexus’ Nexus Pay can simplify your company’s lending experience.

What are your growth plans for 2022? The challenge for some companies is that many stopped recruiting sales talent over the last year and are now playing catch up. Model Match creates an environment to build and sustain your recruiting pipeline, no matter the shifts in the industry. Don’t know who to start recruiting? Model Match Market Insights will allow you to source specific Loan Originators with a targeted production volume profile and contact information in your market. Run your own searches and pull in Candidates that you can engage with immediately. Our Talent Management System will provide an actionable recruiting plan, team collaboration and tasks designed to never let another Candidate slip through the cracks.  Stop wasting time and resources trying to manipulate your CRM, and partner with Model Match’s 20+ years of MLO recruiting expertise.

With classic Halloween skits like David S. Pumpkins and A Van Down by the River, SNL has turned spooky stories into laughing matters. Frighteningly low mortgage volumes, on the other hand, are anything but funny. Luckily, Sales Boomerang, the #1 automated borrower intelligence and retention platform, keeps your pipeline delivering treats, not tricks. Like Stefon’s Hottest Halloween Tips, Sales Boomerang has the hottest tips from your database and notifies you when your borrowers are eligible for a loan. Notifications include refi opportunities, home listings, credit improvement and more! Lenders using Sales Boomerang see an average 20-40% lift to loan volume and 65% borrower retention rate for around $299 per acquired loan — a 20x ROI. Any Questions? Schedule a demo.

Are you looking for a solution that will automate your appraisal management process by relieving your Appraisal Desk from a lot of manual work? What if this solution also provides instantaneous turnaround times? Then it’s time for you to look at Connexions. Connexions is an industry-leading valuation software company that is customizable to reflect your appraisal management workflows and includes Automated Valuation Model (AVM) and Insured AVM Products. Learn how to add efficiency and automation to your appraisal process by scheduling a demo today!

Stearns Wholesale continues to develop and enhance products to help brokers grow their business. This week, Stearns announced the launch of its exciting new Preferred Investment AUS product, which utilizes the power of securitization to provide a unique offering in today’s highly competitive marketplace. Available for both Wholesale and Non-Del, Preferred Investment AUS is an agency N/O/O option with a very compelling price points for higher FICO and LTV scenarios. Take advantage of this exclusive product to win more loans and gain an edge for you and your clients today! If you’d like to partner with Stearns or learn more, click HERE to be contacted.

“Check out the new expansions to our Non-QM Maverick Solutions Products! At FGMC we are committed to the expanding Non-QM market and are excited to announce our newest updates to our own product suite including: DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio) to 0.75 on Visionary, Stand-alone Asset Utilization, As Low as 560 Credit Score on Achiever, Relaxed First Time Homebuyer Requirements, 1099 Income Documentation Option, Foreign Nationals Offered, RSU Stocks can be used to qualify, and MORE! Make sure you refresh your pricing engine to see these updates. Sign up for our Flight School Webinar on October 28^th at 2:00 CST to learn more about these updates or schedule a free, personalized training for your sales or ops team by emailing [email protected].”

Floify, the leading provider of digital mortgage technology, just released Floify+, the company’s comprehensive mortgage loan origination solution for brokers. Lenders can use Floify+ to dramatically improve communication, transparency, and efficiency throughout their loan workflow, resulting in shorter loan cycle times and a dynamic mortgage borrowing experience. Floify+ enables mortgage brokers to streamline the application and documentation gathering process, integrate with existing productivity solutions, easily run loan scenarios through a built-in product and pricing engine, and produce fully-compliant quarterly mortgage call reports that can be easily downloaded for submission to the NMLS. Soon, brokers will have the ability to run dual AUS via Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter AUS and Freddie Mac’s Loan Prospector AUS. Inquire about the Floify+ Early Access program to learn more!

Monster Lead Group earned more than $16 billion in loans for their clients in 2020. It also claims to be able to identify new potential borrowers before they even start looking for a loan. Monster hasn’t quite told us how, but they may just tell YOU. John Kresevic, JFQ’s president, even said about the team, “Somebody can charge me half as much as you guys do, but I can’t get beyond the level of your results.” Find out what John already knows and schedule a call with the team at Monster OR learn how to deliver leads before they even “hit the market”. Take a look at what they have to offer and decide for yourself.

Processing & underwriting changes

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There is a constant stream of FHA, VA, Fannie, Freddie, non-QM, and nonconforming underwriting changes. But what about changes that lenders make that don’t strictly fall into those programs? Let’s take a random look.

PRMG Product Profile Update 21-16 updates to Requirements to Correctly Order Tax Transcripts, PRMG Insurance Requirements and Additional Information, Extended Lock Option. And PRMG Product Profile Update 21-49 explains updates to its Ruby Jumbo removing the requirement that if the subject property was purchased within the 6–12-month period prior to the closing date for the new loan the LTV will be based on the lesser of the sales price or the current appraised value (use current appraisal value instead). Also, for cash-out refinance transactions on an investment property, a borrower signed Business Purpose & Occupancy Affidavit indicating the loan purpose is for the acquisition, improvement or maintenance of a rental property is required. PRMG’s Chenoa FHA Edge received clarification on the Soft Second options are only available for borrowers with AMI of 115% or lower.

Texas homebuyers may now enjoy a competitively priced FHA or FNMA HFA Preferred 1st mortgage with up to 5% down payment and closing cost assistance through the SETH Star Partner Program, offered exclusively by Mountain West Financial®. Program excludes the cities of El Paso, McKinney, Grand Prairie and Travis County). Additionally, MWF introduced the SETH Extra Credit MCC Program. Highlights include This 40% tax credit Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) can be layered with the SETH Star program or used as a stand-alone MCC. Borrower receives a dollar-for-dollar tax credit (up to $2,000 annually) each year they are in the home. See AMP inside BOLT for complete details. And for all loans where a Verbal Verification of Employment (VVOE) is required, MWF will now require the VVOE to be obtained 7 days prior to the Note date. Definition of Note date is the date on the Note.

PRMG issued clarification regarding income documentation requirements on USDA transactions. PRMG will permit other acceptable alternative documentation as allowed per USDA. Additionally, MCCs must be added as income rather than reducing the principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. PRMG’s Ruby Jumbo product will require the following if the Seller has taken title to the subject property within 90 days prior to the date of sales contract: Property seller on the purchase contract is the owner of record, LTV/CLTV will be based on the lesser of the prior sales price or the current appraised value, loans that are bank or relocation sales are exempt from the above requirement. View PRMG Product Profile Updates 21-47 for details on USDA and Ruby Jumbo clarifications.

Flagstar Bank discontinued the 18 and 24-month construction periods options under the Jumbo One-Close Construction program, Doc. #5724. All loans previously registered under the 18 or 24-month product options will remain eligible and should not be affected. No new registrations for the 18 and 24-month construction periods will be accepted after Friday, September 3, 2021.

Increase in LTV information on Home Opportunity Loan (HOL) was posted in the First Community Mortgage Wholesale Announcement 2021-23 and First Community Mortgage Correspondent Announcement 2021-19.

The THDA Implementation of IRS Rev. Ruling 86-124 is effective for loans submissions on or after September 13^th. View First Community Mortgage Wholesale Announcement 2021-24 for details.

LendingHome lowered its bridge FICO minimum requirement to 600+ for qualifying clients and increased its bridge rehab limit to $500k maximum for clients of all REI experience levels.

Capital markets

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Inflation concerns steepened the yield curve yesterday, though mortgage rates were little changed. Jobs and housing drive our economy, and yesterday’s housing stats weren’t good. Housing starts declined 1.6 percent month-over-month in September, missing expectations though were up 7.4 percent year-over-year. Building permits missed expectations, falling to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.589 million and meaning the figure was flat year-over-year. It is important to note that the miss was driven by a -5.0% drop in multifamily construction. But we are seeing a slowdown in the pace of new construction due to supply shortages, labor constraints, and high prices.

Wednesday’s calendar of events began with mortgage applications decreasing 6.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the MBA Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. That’s it for scheduled news, but later today brings several Treasury auctions, a full slate of Fed speakers, and the release of the latest Beige Book in the afternoon. The Desk will purchase up to $5.8 billion 30-year 2 percent and 2.5 percent. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices little changed from last night and the 10-year unchanged from Tuesday afternoon yielding 1.64 percent.

A father told his three sons when he sent them to the university: “I feel it’s my duty to provide you with the best possible education, and you do not owe me anything for that. But I want you to appreciate it. As a token, please each put $1,000 into my coffin when I die.”

And so it happened.  The sons became a doctor, a lawyer, and a financial planner, each very successful financially.

When they saw their father in the coffin after his death, they remembered his wish.

First it was the doctor who put ten $100 bills onto the chest of the deceased.

Then came the financial planner, who put a $1,000 bill there, too.

Finally, it was the heartbroken lawyer’s turn. He dipped into his pocket, took out his checkbook, wrote a check for $3,000.

He put it into his father’s coffin, and took the $2,000 cash.

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “Grow Your Business But Don’t Step Over a Dollar to Save a Dime.” The Commentary’s podcast is live and at any place you obtain your podcasts (like Apple or Spotify).

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(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. This newsletter is for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2021 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)