Mortgage Outlook: What If It is Cloudy? >
No one owns a crystal ball. Five years ago, nobody answered the interview question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” with anything close...
Knowing a Borrower’s Mind >
You may think that your daily life is a series of actions forced on you by others. Or perhaps it is a series of actions...
Reducing Friction >
Friction: “the force that resists relative motion between two bodies in contact.” For lenders, “friction” has come to mean the amount of paperwork, the number...
Loan Officers: Now More Important Than Ever >
Residential originators are facing not only helping each client navigate the current lending environment, but also the organizational challenge of transitioning all or part of...
Drinking From a Firehose is Not a Long-Term Business Model >
Over the last few weeks the United States has seen stocks prices sink, oil prices sink, and yields sink. The impact of the coronavirus, which...
How Epidemics Impact Lending >
It is important for STRATMOR clients, and lenders in general to remember how a large-scale disease, in this instance the coronavirus, can affect the U.S....
Home Ownership Is Still Part of the American Dream >
I recently had a neighbor with three young daughters move to Wisconsin from California because a) the husband’s family lives in Wisconsin, but also b)...
Politics Do Indeed Impact Interest Rates and Borrowers >
We have another eleven months of campaign rhetoric, posturing, clashing personalities, and hearing the results of hundreds of polls. Whether you’re a Democrat or a...
Fannie and Freddie: A Snapshot >
STRATMOR’s clients, and rightly so, are often focused on the details of the loan origination process. Those with the lowest cost to produce and who...
How Productive is Your Origination Team? >
The unexpected drop in rates in 2019 has caught lenders and investors off-guard. Personnel cutbacks seen in late 2018 and early 2019, which were necessary...
Mortgage Rates: Thinking About the Unthinkable >
Market participants now say there is greater likelihood of U.S. Treasury yields turning negative (a possibility once considered unthinkable) after recent trade talks. This makes...
Residential Lending, Banks, and Market Share >
In the not the too distant past, if you wanted a home loan, the first place you’d go was to your bank. And often it...