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...
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...