6.11.24 Florida Insurance and Growth; NEXA Mortgage's Mike Kortas on Brokers; Quiet Ahead of CPI and Fed

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I head to Sarasota, Florida this morning, not to look for Florida Man, but for the MBA Florida Conference. A big topic will be homeowner’s insurance. What do Allstate, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, USAA, and Travelers have in common? They were singled out for being good insurance companies in the state. (Any insurance company is a good company in some places these days.) This is good for LOs to know, especially given Florida’s growth. The U.S. Census Bureau tell us that Florida was home to four of the nation’s top five fastest-growing metropolitan statistical areas and three of the top 10 that gained the largest number of people from 2022 to 2023, reflecting continued population growth across the South. Three metro areas collectively added nearly 150,000 residents from 2022 to 2023: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (54,916); Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (51,622); and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach (43,387). (Today’s podcast is found here, and this week’s are sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized advisory, audit, tax, cybersecurity, technology, and other services to the mortgage industry. Hear an interview with NEXA Mortgage’s Mike Kortas on the success of the broker model and recent news out of the company.)

Employment & transitions

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Fairway Independent Mortgage is hosting a confidential Virtual Fairway Day Thursday, June 13, at 3 PM ET. "Want to know what makes Fairway the best mortgage company to work for? Now’s your chance! Join us and learn everything you need to know about Fairway's products, platforms, training and coaching directly from Fairway CEO, Steve Jacobson, President of Retail Sales East, David Lazowski and other executives​."

Movement Mortgage, a top 10 national retail mortgage lender, proudly announces the addition of Joe Thompson as Regional Director and Jeff Coady as Greater Houston Market Leader. Joe Thompson, with over 20 years of sales leadership, will oversee operations in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, focusing on growth and market presence. His impressive track record includes managing $1 billion in annual retail volume at PrimeLending and serving on various mortgage banker association boards. Jeff Coady, bringing nearly 25 years of industry experience, will lead the Greater Houston market. Known for his top 1 percent producer ranking and commitment to excellence, Jeff will grow and mentor a talented team. Both leaders align perfectly with Movement Mortgage's mission to serve clients and communities with love and value. President Mike Brennan and National Sales Director Brady Yeager expressed excitement for their new roles, emphasizing their leadership skills and dedication to developing talent. Movement Mortgage is thrilled to welcome these industry veterans to their team, confident in their ability to drive success and foster a collaborative environment.

UMortgage announces Andrew Chavez as National Director of Sales Development, a move that underscores its momentum following several record-breaking months in 2024. In May, UMortgage achieved its highest monthly production numbers yet, totaling more than $253 million in loan volume and 715 families served. In his new role, Andrew will collaborate with Branch Managers to craft innovative sales strategies, lead impactful training seminars, and spearhead initiatives to catalyze the company’s continued growth. Andrew brings a wealth of leadership experience from his 9-year tenure as a Green Beret in the United States Army Special Forces, where he honed his skills developing Special Forces soldiers and national defense contractors. With Andrew's expertise, UMortgage is poised for continued success throughout 2024 and beyond. Discover more about Andrew’s vision for future growth here.

Software, products, and services for lenders and brokers

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“PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), is committed to providing mortgage lenders with a sustainable funding source in an uncertain market. With over 30 years’ experience and a well-capitalized, diversified financial holding company. PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending provides confidence to meet our mortgage lending partners funding needs. With exceptional operational performance, and a focus on relationship-driven business geared towards long-term success, we do not dwell on unnecessary fees. With PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending there are NO non-usage fees, NO application or renewal fees, NO third party due diligence fees and NO interest charged on the day your loan funds. If you are interested in learning more about PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending please contact Deric Barnett (469-955-6786).”

What’s the real cost of your mortgage LOS? Your institution strives to provide a smooth, intuitive application journey that keeps borrowers engaged from start to finish, lowering abandonment rates and promoting portfolio growth. But behind the scenes, issues such as maintenance burdens, resource-intensive tasks, and escalating operational costs may be hindering your ability to effectively support borrowers. Not to mention legacy technology rife with latency issues and excessive vendor integrations, which cause further friction and stress. A holistic examination of your current system is essential to fully understand your total cost of ownership and increase efficiency, improve the borrower experience, and boost ROI: take the MeridianLink® Mortgage LOS Impact Assessment to see how your mortgage LOS stacks up.

Small credit unions are delivering high-tech mortgage experiences to their members just like the big guys. How? LiteSpeed by LenderLogix. LiteSpeed lays on top of Encompass® by ICE Mortgage Technology™ and supercharges your member experience. Slick online application, secure document upload, adjustable pre-approval letters, and text message loan updates. The best part is you can be up and running in a few weeks. Check out LiteSpeed here.

Visio Lending is breaking records with a relentless focus on improving our Broker Experience. We are the nation’s leader in Non-QM Investor DSCR loans for buy and hold SFR rentals with nearly a decade of experience and over $2.8 billion in originations. No-DTI, 30-year terms, rate buy downs, free 45-day rate locks; I/O and Sub-1 DSCR options available. Now choose your own title company (including on refinances). Through our top-notch Broker Program, brokers are able to earn up to 2 points YSP, and 5 points total. Visio Brokers can count on a designated Account Executive and in-house processing. 

With 30 percent of all real estate transactions coming from real estate investors, lenders need automated strategies to capture this competitive and thriving market segment. Privy places your brand, loan officers, and broker partners at the center of every real estate investment transaction. You are just a click away when your clients are ready to transact. Privy automates your borrower retention and acquisition strategies, benefiting your clients, brokers, and sales teams. Oh, and your CFO will thank you. Non-QM and private lenders need a data-driven strategy. Privy knows every borrower doing deals right now, with 55 percent of users logging in every 15 days. They search, find, and compare their next successful investment deal using patent-pending technology to stay ahead in their market. Now you can tap into this resource and elevate your lending game. Contact Brad Bieber to learn more about Privy’s Enterprise Solutions.

Deliver the best customer experience in mortgage servicing. LoanCare® helps you deliver exceptional customer experiences at a fixed servicing cost. Powered by proprietary software, our consumer digital experience is designed to help you maximize brand engagement, customer relationships and recapture opportunities. Frictionless functionality coupled with advanced security features, intuitive design, and a comprehensive line of oversight puts you in the driver’s seat in the development of long-lasting customer loyalty. We offer an award-winning website and mobile app, an end-to-end white label program, omni-channel marketing services, multilingual translations, and more. Contact us to learn more!

You may have heard by now that Truv saves lenders 60-80 percent on verification of employment and income, but did you know that re-verifications are also included for free? Most lenders pay $60+ for VOIE during application in the loan origination process, and then they are charged this same amount again 10 days before close when they have to re-verify the borrower. That’s over $120. If the borrower has a co-borrower, then it’s $240. Double the amount. For one file. When a borrower verifies with Truv, it’s at a fraction of that cost, and you get up to five re-verifications free of charge. The savings with Truv may be substantially more than you realize: Let’s chat.

STRATMOR on customer service & re-setting expectations

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We’d all like to believe we learn from our mistakes, right? Karl Marx once said, “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce,” suggesting not only that people rarely learn from their past mistakes, but that the first time a mistake is repeated it’s a tragedy, and the second time it’s absurd. In the world of mortgage, just like technology, it’s easy to become ingrained in a way of thinking that has produced past successes and expect that future models will be unsuccessful if they don’t fit the same mold. In his latest Customer Experience Tip, STRATMOR Group Customer Experience Director Mike Seminari explains why it’s time to reevaluate some of our industry’s outdated perceptions and expectations and ensure we’re ready for the future of the industry and the new path to success that lies before us. Check out, “Horses to Headsets: The Evolving Model of Mortgage Success,” for ideas on how to transform your old way of thinking to make sure you stay relevant as the industry evolves.

Lender & investor news

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Ocwen Financial Corporation has officially rebranded as Onity Group Inc. and started trading on the NYSE under the stock symbol “ONIT.” The press release can be found here.

Houston’s InterLinc Mortgage announced that President & CEO Gene Thompson is now the majority owner of the company. Congratulations! “Transitioning into this position after serving various roles during his impressive 16 years tenure, Gene's unwavering commitment to honoring InterLinc's core values makes him the perfect leader to pave a new path forward. Looking ahead, he’s focused on preserving the company’s reputation and advancing its position in the market as a top choice for both homebuyers and referral partners alike… InterLinc is expanding and welcoming new opportunities for growth and innovation.

It may have begun with a glance across a crowded conference hall. Small talk and chit chat over carrot sticks and cheap Chardonnay ensued, one thing led to another, and soon enough… NAMB and NAMMBA are announcing a critical strategic alliance to advance diversity and inclusion within the mortgage industry, The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America (NAMMBA) are forming a strategic alliance to leverage “each organization's strengths to drive meaningful change in the industry. By combining resources, expertise, and networks, the alliance aims to provide enhanced support, education, and opportunities for minority mortgage professionals, while also advocating for policies and practices that promote greater inclusivity.

“A key aspect of this alliance is the mutual promotion of each organization’s annual conferences. NAMB and NAMMBA will collaborate to promote  NAMB National and NAMMBA’s NAMMBA CONNECT 2024, leveraging their extensive networks to boost awareness and attendance for both events. This cross-promotion aims to enhance the impact and reach of these flagship conferences, offering attendees unparalleled opportunities for networking, education, and professional growth.”

Capital Markets: pretty quiet out there

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Maximize your return on every loan with Maxwell Capital. Now more than ever, lenders need solutions that allow scale while reducing operational costs and increasing revenue per loan. With Maxwell Capital, lenders can access competitive secondary market pricing on a wide array of products, including agency, government, jumbo and non-QM across wholesale, delegated and non-delegated delivery options. Our seasoned sales team is here to help you, including Patrick Benoist (Plains and Southeast), Molly Delaney (Midwest and Northeast), Scott Greenway (Mid-Atlantic), Matt Mead (Texas and lower Plains) and Kymberly Wright (West and Southwest), along with our National Account Managers Kayla Morrison and Stacy Hall. Schedule a call with the Maxwell team today and start doing more for your bottom line.

There’s not a whole lot to report for you today. Same ol’ same ol’, so I won’t waste your time. Traders began the week bracing for potential volatility ahead of tomorrow’s Fed rate decision and the Consumer Price Index numbers. With inflation holding well above the Fed’s 2 percent target, the central bank is expected to hold monetary policy unchanged, while annual CPI inflation is also likely to be unchanged in May after mostly moving sideways since last fall. It wasn’t the most positive start to a week, with yesterday's $58 billion 3-year note auction meeting soft demand, continuing a trend seen at the end of May. Much of life is supply and demand, and if there’s “soft” demand for something, prices have to drop to attract buyers and rates go up.

Today’s economic calendar got under way before the open with NFIB small business optimism for May (). Later today brings Redbook same store sales and several Treasury auctions that will be headlined by $39 billion reopened 10-year notes. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices nearly .125 better than Monday’s close, the 10-year yielding 4.43 after closing yesterday at 4.47 percent, and the 2-year at 4.84.

(Warning: offensive language.)

This video of a strange flesh tearing beast has made the rounds, but worth a repeat.

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 titled, “Catastrophe and Climate Risk Is Only Increasing”. The Commentary’s podcast is live and at any place you obtain your podcasts (like Apple or Spotify).

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(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. This newsletter is 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 2024 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.)