The Secondary Market’s Presence in the Primary Markets >
Every originator should know that the demand by investors, whether they are portfolio lenders or owner of securities backed by mortgages, is the primary driver...
Summer Concerns >
Last year is in the rearview mirror for lenders, and vigilant owners and senior management teams have their collective eye on the summer. Yet the...
Hiring: New Tactics for a New Day >
Everyone is sick of the pandemic (pun intended). More specifically, everyone is sick of the adjustments they’ve had to make to their personal and professional...
Ops: Reducing Friction for the Borrower >
As we head toward the end of the first quarter of 2021, lenders are still grappling with full pipelines and longer-than-normal processing times. For a...
Servicing: A Valuable Asset >
For decades, servicing residential mortgages attracted little attention. Set up a department of detail-oriented personnel, open the mail from borrowers in your portfolio, record that...
Lenders and Vendors Going Public: Pros and Cons >
Of the roughly six thousand lenders (based on HMDA data), very few think about “going public.” That said, there several dozen companies involved in residential...
Work Longer and Harder or Work Smarter? >
Lenders everywhere are “straining in their harnesses” as refinance volumes and locked pipeline size continues to set records. Capacity is a problem in the primary...
Time to Call the Landlord? >
Since mid-March of 2020 residential lenders, vendors, title companies, and thousands of businesses around the United States, and the world, have worked from home. Up...
Do Lenders Care About Forecasts or Predictions? >
Housing and residential lending are pretty much the only sectors that have steadily improved throughout the year. We are receiving credit for helping the economy,...
The Agency Refinance Fee: Delayed But Not Forgotten >
Now that the furor has quieted down over the .5 point “adverse market fee” rolled out by FHFA Director Calabria, the industry is left wondering,...
No One is Standing Over Anyone’s Shoulder >
Recently, I was on a Zoom call with my boss when she said, ‘I could use one of your jokes about now.” “Sure,” I said,...
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...