Nov. 14: LO jobs; webinars for LOs; non-QM product; chatter on QM patch, MBS/UMBS; Agencies address languages

Want to spend $100 monthly to pay for $40 parking and $20 beers, but not see the basketball court? Contact the Warriors for your pass. Speaking of monthly payments, borrowers are sometimes confused when they’ve been sending their P&I to one company, and they receive a letter stating their “servicing has been sold” and to start sending their payments somewhere else. LOs should know that servicing values impact borrower pricing just as much as the mortgage-backed security market. Rates go up, servicing becomes more valuable; rates go down and values go down due to refi risk. I have a few notes worth a skim of current servicing trends.

Jobs & business opportunities

A seasoned and highly productive Michigan-based Consumer Direct team, in the process of being misplaced through bank acquisition, is seeking a new home. The opportunity includes 1 executive leader, 1 producing sales manager, 8 originators, 2 processors and 1 sales coordinator. The platform specializes in purchase and refinance portfolio retention (inbound, outbound, credit triggers, home for sale leads, CRM) as well as new customer acquisition. The team works extremely well together and is highly motivated to stay intact as either an addition to an existing operation or as a start-up / build. A chartered bank is preferred but will entertain independent lenders as well. If seriously interested in learning more about this opportunity, please send inquiries to John Korch.

“It seems like every time you turn on the news, you hear something negative about mortgage industry layoffs. 180 there, another 400 over there…it can seem dire. But the good news? At Motto Mortgage, a rapidly expanding franchise network, we just don’t see it. In fact, the Motto Mortgage network is hiring. Motto is aggressively recruiting for Loan Originators in the following states: Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and others. Haven’t heard of us? Well, you will. With over 60 offices open in 28 states, the potential is limitless. Take that next step for your career and finally feel good about how you spend your 9-to-5. Contact us (866.668.8649) to learn more on why joining a Motto Mortgage office could mean big things for your career.”

A mortgage executive with over 20 years of industry experience is seeking a new opportunity. Previous experience includes senior management roles in operations, enterprise risk management, quality control/due diligence, and secondary marketing as well as company-wide workflow and systems development. Career highlights include reducing loan purchase time by 50% by optimizing the loan sale process, building the operations and servicing processes for a startup that grew to more than $4B in originations in less than 2 years, and lowering investor rejections 25% by developing and deploying an automated due diligence management system that streamlined reporting of investor concerns and improved file quality. If you’re interested in a leader with deep industry knowledge who can help you achieve your goals, send inquiries to me to pass along to the candidate.

For Loan Officers or Branch Managers looking for a change, MortgageRight sets itself apart from other companies by offering lower rates, better pricing, and higher compensation. MortgageRight is making a name for itself across the nation by operating with thinner margins than other industry players due to several key strategic factors put into place by ownership in order to help their producers win in a market like this one. Very simply, they can offer lower rates and/or a higher comp and they can back their claims up 100%. But don’t take their word for it. They’ll put any candidate in touch with recent hires and existing LOs to discuss their strengths along with everything else they have to offer. For a pricing engine walk through, contact Mike Russo at (866) 425-5456 or visit them at www.branchright.com.

Lender products and services

In continuing to honor veterans this week, TMS CAREspondent Lending is excited to announce it is now buying and accepting VA Alteration & Repair loans. To be eligible for purchase, the repairs must be completed, and the loan must be guaranteed. It’s a privilege to partner with correspondent lenders, to help those who served our country. For more information go here.

Floify, the mortgage industry’s next-gen point-of-sale, continues to live up to its reputation of delivering huge ROIs for LOs by automating their lending processes with borrowers, real estate agents, and other loan stakeholders. Floify’s interview-style 1003, secure document portal, automated email/text notifications, and dozens of integrations with credit reporting agencies, eSignature/disclosure vendors, and LOS providers, are just a few of the features that have helped mortgage pros hit record-breaking levels of production. Just ask Floify advocate and top-producing mortgage advisor, Alex McFadyen of The Mortgage Pug. With Floify, McFadyen experienced “double the clients” and “half the time spent in document collection,” as well as a “100% increase in profitability” – all without adding more staff. Now that’s some powerful stuff! If you’ve been considering Floify for your lending operation, there’s never been a better time to make your move to this leading mortgage solution. Request a live demo to learn more!

Deephaven Mortgage, a leading Non-QM lender, shines the light on Non-QM through its loan programs & technology, aimed at making loans responsibly for millions of Americans locked out of the market. The primary mortgage origination market continues to experience challenges in the form of margin compression, low inventory, and declining volumes. Originators are actively evaluating the introduction of Non-QM products to help offset some of the current market dynamics. Deephaven continually evaluates its products knowing the target market is significant. Studies show 16+M self-employed Americans (Bank Statement Loans), 83M Millennials (Non-Warrantable Condos), 75M Baby Boomers (Asset Depletion), and 57M Americans earned more in 17′ than 16′ (1 Year Alt Doc), and these are just a few underserved segments that represent a significant opportunity for originators. To find out more about how Non-QM can grow your business, contact Deephaven Wholesale or Deephaven Correspondent. (Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, CNN.)

Lender training events

Fintech is evolving faster than ever, and consumer expectations for speed, convenience and personalization are at an all-time high. Lenders find themselves continually identifying and integrating new technologies, often without knowing whether they’re making the right choice to grow their business. Join Total Expert and Guaranteed Rate on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 1PM CT for a webinar on Best Practices for Better Tech Implementation. Total Expert and Guaranteed Rate will share top strategies to empower your organization with the right technology. Explore how to establish pre-implementation goals that ensure success, avoid common implementation mistakes, onboard in record time, bolster adoption rates and design a future-proof tech stack for revenue growth. Interested but can’t attend? Sign up anyway to receive the recording.

Insellerate is hosting a webinar titled, “3 Secrets to Selling Cash Out Loans. As the mortgage market continues to evolve, top lenders are taking advantage of the cash out loan. They understand the value of this powerful revenue stream. Join the Insellerate webinar to learn an effective step-by-step process to selling cash out loans. This webinar will cover how you can craft the right messaging, develop the right sales approach, and which common myths might be holding you back. 3 Secrets to Selling Cash Out Loans, Thursday, 11/15, at 10am PST.

On Tuesday, November 20^th at 10AM PST, Sierra Pacific Mortgage will be hosting a webinar, “Not your Ordinary Assets”. Take this opportunity to become familiar with some common – and not so common – asset types that may support your borrower in closing a mortgage. This one-hour webinar will focus on the less common assets that your borrower may use in their mortgage transactions like tax refunds, real estate commissions, life insurance payments, and loans against retirement funds. Register today. Knowledge is power, and Sierra Pacific is determined to make you more powerful.

A few weeks back, Maxwell hosted “The Mortgage Executive Q4 Outlook” Webinar featuring a panel of seasoned mortgage industry executives sharing their own focus areas for Q4 and discussing how mortgage companies can navigate market challenges. Although we are just about halfway through the quarter, the insights are as relevant as ever for mortgage leaders and executives. They just released their recording of the webinar for all to listen. Click here to listen!

Borrower customer service

Clear communication is essential throughout the loan process, and the closing is no time to let communications fall off. When lenders call borrowers prior to closing to discuss figures, only 11 percent of borrowers go on to report unexpected rates and fees. Compare this with 38 percent who report unexpected rates and fees when they receive no call. In the latest edition of the MortgageSAT Monthly Tip, STRATMOR Group’s MortgageSAT Director Mike Seminari explores the NPS impact around this topic and answers the question, “How important is it to call the borrower before the closing?” Find this tip and others at MortgageSAT.com.

Fannie & Freddie keep on motoring

Let’s play some catch up on Agency news. It’s good to see what they’ve been up to over recent weeks to keep things in context. In the capital markets, Freddie has been on the common security platform for nearly two years. As a reminder, Freddie doesn’t know who actually owns its securities. It knows the couple hundred custodians. The “MBS” will be moving to “UMBS” (Uniform Mortgage Backed Security) next year, and hopefully lenders will see a cost savings by moving from hedging with Fannie TBAs, pairing off and putting loans into a Freddie security, into hedging and delivering UMBS.

One conversation topic is the “QM patch” that expires in January of 2021. As a reminder for non-underwriters, if a borrower’s loan is run through DU or LP, the DTI might be north of 43% on gross pay and still approved. Let’s say its 50% DTI on $10k per month of income. The borrower will basically have $5k to pay toward the loan payment and other debt, and $5k of cushion. But once you take out the typical borrower’s paycheck deductions, like taxes, medical insurance, and so on, the average borrower is left with very little. That doesn’t even take into account child care, tuition, car insurance, etc. – that cushion can disappear. Using net income may be one answer. Should the industry be focused on net or residual income instead of gross income in the DTI calculation? Let your Agency rep know and stay tuned!

FHFA, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have launched Mortgage Translations, a centralized clearinghouse to help borrowers with English language barriers. This clearinghouse of online resources will assist lenders, servicers, housing counselors, and other real estate professionals in serving limited English proficient (LEP) borrowers. The first phase of the launch consists of Spanish-language documents. According to the U.S. Census, persons who speak Spanish as their primary language comprise more than 60 percent of the LEP population in the U.S. Resources in four other languages commonly spoken by LEP households – Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog will be added in the coming years.

Native American tribes are dispersed widely throughout the U.S. and live predominantly in rural areas. When it comes to housing finance, they’re considered one of the most underserved populations in the country. The Duty to Serve rule issued by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directs the Agencies to improve the availability of mortgage financing for low- and moderate-income families, and specifically calls for a focus on federally recognized Native American tribes because of their unique circumstances and historical lack of access to mortgage lending. Freddie offers a program. In a new study, Kellie Coffey, Product Development Manager of Rural Initiatives, in collaboration with the Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research Group examined the unique cultural views on homeownership among Native Americans living on tribal lands by conducting individual interviews with lower-income Native Americans across seven tribes in New Mexico. Read the full report.

(Lots more Freddie, Fannie, conventional conforming updates tomorrow.)

Capital markets

Although oil prices are plummeting, yesterday the U.S. 10-year closed yielding 3.15% yesterday on no real news, save for the Treasury Budget. The Treasury Budget for October showed a deficit of $100.5 billion versus a deficit of $63.2 billion for the same period a year ago. This data is not seasonally adjusted, so the October deficit cannot be compared to the $119.1 billion surplus for September. Larger outlays were mostly due to higher Social Security spending, and higher spending on the Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Veteran Affairs. Internationally, the Italian government has reportedly maintained its fiscal targets for 2019 in written response to the European Commission. The refusal to lower next year’s deficit target could be met with disciplinary action from the EU.

Back here this morning, we’ve had weekly MBA mortgage applications for the week ending November 9 (-3.2% with refis at their lowest level in 18 years). After last week’s unexpected jump at the wholesale level, of particular interest is the Consumer Price Index report for October. Expectations were for headline and core to increase 0.3% and 0.2% MoM (versus 0.1% for both previously) and both met expectations. Fed Governor Quarles, Fed Chair Powell, SF Fed President Daly, and Dallas Fed President Kaplan all take the stage at some point today. Hump Day starts with Agency MBS prices unchanged from Tuesday’s close and the 10-year unchanged at 3.15%.

Local police are hunting for the “knitting needle lunatic” who has stabbed six people in the rump in the last 48 hours.

They believe the attacker could be following some kind of pattern.

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, “Servicing: Don’t Underestimate Liquidity.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. Currently there are hundreds of mortgage professionals looking for operations, secondary and management roles. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2018 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)