Oct. 22: Bank, construction, Ops jobs: 203(k), credit, doc tools; IPOs, debt offerings, lenders & investors making moves
40 million people have already cast their vote in the election is unprecedented. I can hardly wait to return to “precedented times,” “unprecedented” favored to win “Word of the Year” in 2020. Even the colors are unprecedented. When I was a kid, people would paint their room or house white. Maybe green, or a bold shade of beige. That’s all gone out the proverbial window as current house & room colors include Muslin, Foggy Morning, Rosy Peach, Beacon Hill Damask, Potters Clay, or Amazon Soil. And the “Color of the Year” award goes to… Aegean Teal! (Go ahead and takes those gallons of Adriatic Teal to the dump, they’re passe.) It is more fun to talk about creative colors than the unprecedented debt being issued by countries around the world, which economists tell us leads to higher rates, which in turn leads to fewer rate & term refis. But hey, with all this house price appreciation, is some cash out refi action in our vision for 2021, especially in the Agency sector? Meanwhile nearly every lender is working hard, focusing on helping clients. Ordinarily there would be a certain amount of planning around Halloween, of course. Someone in capital markets will have to wait until 2021 to take the prize with their “hedgehog” costume.
Employment
A publicly traded bank located in Colorado is looking for an experienced and growth-oriented manager to lead its sales team in the Kansas/ Missouri market. The Bank is FNMA/FHLMC/GNMA approved and experiencing record growth. Candidate will be located in Kansas City are and must have strong sales connections and focused on associate and market expansion. Please send resumes to Anjelica Nixt for consideration/forwarding.
“Citizens Bank’s Home Mortgage business is booming because of our colleagues. They’re the secret ingredient in our recipe for success! They understand that our goal is to build lifelong customers, so they always work to establish and maintain multi-channel relationships and partnerships. Our colleagues know they’re part of a winning mortgage team and are an integral part of our growing business. They’re ready to seize the unique opportunities our industry will see in the future, and they know they have a dedicated and supportive leadership team who provides the tools they need to succeed and recognizes their accomplishments. Are you ready to join our winning culture by becoming a colleague? Visit jobs.citizensbank.com to see all of our openings today.”
Earlier this year, Caliber Home Loans sponsored an inspirational and heartwarming documentary, “The Greatest Bond”, which aired May 22 on PBS. The film highlights the journey of disabled veterans whose lives are forever changed through the unconditional love of service dogs that have been expertly trained by female prison inmates in the Patriot Paws organization. Caliber is proud to continue our partnership with Patriot Paws and has sponsored a service dog, aptly named “Caliber” who will support a veteran who is facing physical and emotional challenges. Patriot Paws provides a sense of family along and enables veterans to enjoy the freedom that they fought for. Caliber’s Bryan Bergjans, SVP National Director of Military stated, “I’m thankful that we have the opportunity to support Patriot Paws, an organization that gives Veterans purpose and pulls them out of a dark place. Saving veterans, saving lives.”
GO Mortgage’s Construction Lending Division continues to expand with eligible builders across the country. Recent economic reports indicate that single-family construction activity is booming and will continue to do so for years to come. GO Mortgage is actively looking for talented individuals with the experience and interest in the Single Close Construction product suite to add to its growing and experienced team. GO Mortgage delivers leads, builder relationships, and marketing tools for skilled professionals motivated to grow their revenue. If you think you’re a great fit for this opportunity, please contact Frank Papaleo, VP of Retail Construction Lending, for more details.
AmeriHome Mortgage, the 3rd largest correspondent and 11th largest mortgage lender in the country according to Inside Mortgage Finance, is still growing and hiring! AmeriHome is looking for Non-Delegated Underwriters, Loan Review Specialists, Operations Managers, and an Operations Account Manager in their Correspondent Division. It is also looking for a Processing Manager in its Consumer Direct Division. Why AmeriHome? One employee had this to say: “I can’t put a price tag on the valuable learning experiences AmeriHome has provided me. Working with talented and hard-working people inspired me to grow and learn as much as I could. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the opportunities, support and encouragement from my mentors and managers over the years.” If you’re looking for a great, supportive culture, career growth opportunities, and stability, visit AmeriHome’s careers page to view all open positions, and submit resumes to careers@amerihome.com to schedule an interview.
Broker & lender services & products
Lakeview Loan Servicing is pleased to announce a new partnership with the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA). Lakeview has been a proud partner of state and local HFAs for a number of years, and is thrilled to be announced as the new Master Servicer for DCHFA’s DC Open Doors and DC4ME programs. Offering optional down payment and closing cost assistance for both Conventional and Government loans, these programs help make home ownership affordable and attainable in Washington, DC.
Are you ready for 2021? Today at 1PM EST join Alex Kutsishin (Sales Boomerang), Joe Zeibert (Nomis), Kurt Reisig (APM), Christy Soukhamneut (Flagstar), Devin Norales (Premier Lending), and me in a presidential-worthy discussion about how lender should be using technology to prepare for the eventual slow down to the refi boom the mortgage industry is experiencing. You’ve broken records every month in 2020, and you know it won’t last forever. What goes up must come down so how can you use technology to prepare for the eventual downturn that you know is coming? Register here: Chance favors only the prepared Lender: The Ultimate Preppers Guide.
Word on the street is UWM has significantly sharpened rates on its non-Conquest conventional, VA and High Balance loan products. Loans that will have the biggest advantage include loans that require longer than a 22-day lock period, loans that were closed with UWM within the last 18 months, VA Cash-Out loans, and investment properties. You can check out pricing here.
Lenders, your business is BOOMING. Your teams are all hands-on deck trying to keep up with the record loan volume. Who is dealing with your final documents, the one part of your business that is terribly tedious, time-consuming, and won’t go away? Join dozens of lenders nationwide who in the past few months alone have partnered with DocProbe to manage their trailing documents. DocProbe becomes an extension of your Post Closing operation and retrieves all documents from the settlement agents. Let DocProbe work on scanning, indexing, and auditing the documents. Let DocProbe work with the title companies on curing any corrections. Let DocProbe prepare and ship to your investors or custodians and work on their exceptions reports. All you will need to do is log onto your DocProbe account to view the action, run reports, and feel confident that this small but integral part of your world is streamlined. Email Nick Erlanger or visit www.docprobe.net to learn more.
How streamlined is your asset, income, and verification process? Informative Research is pleased to present its new partnership with FormFree! With AccountChek and AccountCheck Plus solutions, you can verify essential information quicker and more efficiently than ever before! With access to over 48,000 data connections, you now have even more options to expedite credit decisions, reduce risk, and ultimately improve the borrower experience. “This is an important partnership we’ve begun,” explained Matt Orlando, President of Informative Research Mortgage Solutions. “FormFree has been instrumental in developing standards alongside the GSE’s. Our customers are actively looking for options to help streamline and improve their process and customer experience.” For more information on Verification Solutions, contact Informative Research today.
Home Point Financial has reinstated the FHA 203(k) Standard and Limited and Fannie Mae HomeStyle Renovation Programs for delegated correspondents. The programs are reinstated with no material changes to the eligibility or delivery requirements. Contact your account executive for more information. Correspondents that still need to sign up with Home Point should visit its website.
Retail, wholesale, & correspondent jungle drums
With the approaching half point refi hit, and rates creeping higher, originators have watched those free extensions disappear. But the wholesale battle continues (remember that from a year ago?). Broker ranks are filled with rumors out of Michigan. There are stories of Quicken/Rocket giving free lock extensions and no EPOs if the broker closes 10 loans per month. Up the highway, more tales of UWM’s LO Partner Point Program where brokers are rumored to earn points for minimizing underwriter’s workloads, shortening closing times, or using UWM’s Home Listing Tool. Someone told me about, “Assist your borrower by crediting $500 for QM Fails or cash to close outside of the minimum required on the UW approval. Only available in Closing status. (Will not replace minimum funds from borrower requirements.)”
There are other stories about brokers being able to redeem the points through waiving the 10bps re-lock fee on loans of any size, or a broker’s staff receiving a cookie or balloon bouquet. I like cookies – sign me up!
(I am not an attorney, but in this case, apparently the credit is coming from the Lender and not the Broker’s compensation, so apparently credit can be passed to the borrower. Remember that every lender or investor must adhere to Section 8 by providing the broker with “something of value” in exchange for business. Those points are probably “quality” bonuses, and are bona fide; if you have questions, ask your compliance team.)
With Rocket Companies’ IPO earlier this summer leading the way, San Diego based lender Guild is the latest mortgage banker who has filed to go public. There will be a dual voting class structure, which means McCarthy Partners, largest owner of Guild, will still control the vote. Rumors indicate that purchase-business-focused Guild will have roughly a $1 billion dollar market cap. What does that buy you? Over the 12 month period ending June 30, Guild originated $27.8 billion and earned $163 million. At $18 a share, Guild would be trading at 6.6 times earnings.
The AmeriHome IPO (AHM on the NYSE) is off and running, with Wells Fargo (with a division that competes with AmeriHome), Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase bookrunners for the $250 million deal. Obviously, the Starwood Capital Group is paying close attention, along with Bayview Asset Management, about what is rumored to happen next week with AmeriHome’s sale. Remember AmeriHome, with its correspondent, servicing, and consumer direct divisions, has only been around since 2013! 21 consecutive quarters of profitability says something, while growing its production volume 187.4% from 2015 to LTM Q2 2020, positioning the company as the third largest correspondent producer.
Would you like loan loanDepot some money? You may have a chance as a $400 million bond offering is rumored to be out in the market as soon as tomorrow. At these low rates, why not borrow money? As with the equity market, high yield is a space which has continued to be very active, with both seasoned and debut issuers taking advantage of favorable conditions to tap the market.
Capital markets
When The Monkees’ Michael Nesmith titled his album “And The Hits Just Keep on Coming,” it must have been a homage to MCT. The award-winning, comprehensive capital markets software platform with best-in-class client services released its latest blog post yesterday on Best Execution Analysis in the Mortgage Secondary Market. Whether you are selling on a Best Efforts or Mandatory basis, the article explains how to conduct a best execution analysis to determine the best outlet and method of delivery that will maximize price when selling your loans to investors. The blog is the most recent release in the MCTLearning Center, which allows top mortgage professionals to gain insights from MCT experts and industry leaders via webinars, whitepapers, a mortgage dictionary and market commentary. Stay informed on the latest mortgage industry news, insights, and trends brought to you by the professionals at MCT by joining its Newsletter.
Let’s take a quick look at yesterday’s bond market. The NY Fed’s purchases continue to drive demand, and yesterday Fed support was the strongest all week, including over $6 billion UMBS30s, of which more than $4 billion was in 2%. The 10-year’s yield closed at its highest level (0.82%) since early June. Speaker Pelosi’s threatened deadline for fiscal stimulus came and went without any agreement, and despite the optimism she expressed to news networks, it appears there isn’t enough support in the Senate for passage of any bill before the election. Pelosi and Mnuchin will talk again today. Neither side wants to take the blame for failure, so it seems everyone continues to pretend the stimulus bill is still alive.
The Federal Reserve’s October Beige Book noted a continued increase in economic activity, though the pace was described as slight to modest. Activity was inconsistent across industries. Banks reported higher demand for mortgages while commercial real estate weakened. Employment grew at a slow pace while prices rose modestly. Separately, the day’s $22 billion 20-year bond reopening was met with good demand.
Today’s economic calendar is already underway. Initial jobless claims for the week ending October 17 (787k, a major drop from 842k), while continued claims for the week ending October 10 (). Later this morning brings September Existing Home Sales, September Leading Indicators, Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending October 22, and KC Fed manufacturing for October. There are three Fed presidents with scheduled appearances: Richmond’s Barkin, San Francisco’s Daly and Dallas’s Kaplan. The final presidential debate will be held after the close. The Desk will again conduct three MBS purchase operations today, which will total up to $5.6 billion. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices unchanged from Wednesday and the 10-year yielding .81 after closing yesterday at .82 percent.
Do you admire Superheroes? The next time your wife gets angry at you, drape a towel over her shoulders like a cape.
Tell her, “Now you’re Super Angry!”
Maybe she’ll laugh. Maybe you’ll wind up in the hospital.
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, “Do Lenders Care About Forecasts or Predictions?”
qoɹ
(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. This newsletter is designed 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 2020 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.)
