Chrisman Commentary - Daily Mortgage News
The Chrisman Commentary podcast provides daily insights into the mortgage industry, covering market trends, capital markets, and regulatory changes. Hosted by Robbie Chrisman, each episode delivers expert analysis and industry perspectives on the forces shaping housing finance. Whether it’s mortgage rates, lending news, or economic shifts, the podcast offers a clear, concise breakdown of the most important developments. More at www.chrismancommentary.com.
Chrisman Commentary - Daily Mortgage News
5.10.24 Funded Volume Stats; Brian Vieaux and Kyle Draper on Next Generation Origination; Global Outlook
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Today’s podcast is brought to you by Matic, the digital insurance marketplace built for the mortgage industry. Matic works with over 100 financial institutions to integrate home insurance shopping into the lending and servicing experience. Customers can shop over 50 carriers and find a policy in minutes. See how mortgage leaders can create a new revenue stream that boosts customer happiness today at go.matic.com/chrisman.
Welcome to the Crispin Commentary, Daily Mortgage News Podcast. I'm your host, Robbie Christman. Topics on today's episode include some travel tips for coming to New York, an excerpt of an interview I did earlier this week, with Brian Bowe and Kyle Draper on how to be a next generation loan officer and build your book of business. And once again, there's not that much to report from the capital markets. Today's podcast is brought to you by Matic, the digital insurance marketplace built for the mortgage industry. Matic works with over 100 financial institutions to integrate home insurance shopping into the lending and servicing experience. Customers can shop over 50 carriers and find a policy in minutes. See how mortgage leaders can create a new revenue stream that boosts customer happiness today at go.matic.com slash Christman. You know, I listened through to the sponsor message today. It's funny how my voice changes. You guys mind that? Should I re-record the sponsor message every day? Let me know. For those of you on flights next weekend, as you head to the NBA's secondary in the Big Apple, which the origin of the Big Apple is actually a jazz age term for a sure bet on horse racing. I have a travel tip for you. Did you know you can text your flight number to yourself and preview the flight without going into whatever airlines app? For example, text AA0672 to yourself on yourself. Then double-click the flight number and select preview flight. Voila. Okay. Getting back to mortgage, according to Kiranos, April 2024, funded volume increased 7% year over year, and increased 10% month over month. In the retail channel, funded volume increased 1% year over year, and increased 8% month over month. The average 30-year conforming retail funded rate in April was 6.94%, 8 basis points higher in March of 2024, and 71 basis points higher than the same month last year. Purchase rates were 9 basis points higher month over month, and 46 basis points higher year over year, while refinance rates were 12 basis points higher month over month and 126 basis points higher year over year. Here no sources a statistically significant data set directly from lenders to produce these benchmark figures. For today's interview, I wanted to play for you an excerpt of an interview with Brian Vowe and Kyle Draper on how to be a next generation loan officer and build your book of business. I say an excerpt because, like yesterday, it's from the Mortgage Matters show that I host. And I apologize for some of the editing that happened yesterday. Brian and Kyle just finished co-authoring a book called Rethink Everything about being a next-gen loan officer. We're at a time when volume is down, units are down, people have more free time. People have time to go on LinkedIn and read whatever thoughts are being published and floated around on LinkedIn for better or worse. Does that make it that much more important? Or is it like you get in now while you have the eyeballs because it might not be the same when things accelerate? How do you view the importance of LinkedIn currently or social media currently?
SPEAKER_04So uh here's how I will how how I view it, but more importantly, how I use LinkedIn. LinkedIn today is my CRM.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04Period, end of story. It I have more active conversations, digital conversations that happen on LinkedIn than are happening, you know, through my CRM or through email anymore. But I I truly use it as my you know as my CRM. And so um like I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to operate without it, frankly, today. And but I've I've built a significant following that's taken you know almost 20 plus years to get to where it's at. And so I have the benefit of having a a lot of followers that happen to be mostly in mortgage, and it also happened they happen to be the exact people that I want to know who I am and what I do and what my company does.
SPEAKER_00Shoot, that's odd. That I love what Brian said. I think, Robbie, like we have time, right? So I think now what what's best for for most people in mortgage is use now the time we have to develop a cadence that you can be consistent with when it comes back. Because it's not gonna do people very like a it's not gonna do them much good if they start doing a lot of it now, and then they actually get busy and then they stop, and then they're in a rut again, and they're just on this, this, this hamster wheel of social media. And and so I I would figure out like what can I be consistent with, you know, and and and use the allotted time to stretch those muscles, right? Get comfortable with what you're currently uncomfortable with so that when the sea, the, the busy season comes back, you know, that cadence helps you stay consistent. Because what I believe wholeheartedly is every LO I've ever met, they know people right now that are buying houses. They're just not using them because they're not top of mind. They're not creating any value in their life. And so even when inventory is low, units are down, it it doesn't mean there's not still millions of people buying homes and hundreds in your market, thousands in your market. And so we've got to leverage whatever we need, whatever we can to be top of mind. And there's just no better resource, in my opinion, than social media at the moment. So I would have them collect 10 to 12 of what we would say are the most frequently asked questions in mortgage. If they already knew that, like, well, I want to serve veterans and so I really want to do the VA loan, right? We could niche down a little bit. But if I can get people to say, okay, here's the 10 to 12 most commonly asked questions, let's make videos for all 10 to 10 of those. And then let's go ahead and now start a YouTube channel so that your name is searchable through Google and there's 10 videos attached to you that instantly make you the expert. And I think this is a huge advantage for new loan officers because we've got all these seasoned loan officers that are like, but I'm already amazing. I shouldn't have to impress you online. Well, it doesn't matter how amazing you are if everybody forgets you're alive. And so if if we can just establish a baseline of I'm the expert, well, why are you the expert? Well, because that's what I see you talking about. That's what I love about the internet, right? If Robbie would have decided if to stop his bike at the Met Gala, pull out his phone, and try to start interviewing people, there would be people that go, Oh, I think he's like one of those reporter people. And it's like, no, I just stopped my bike and started asking, but they nobody knows any different. They only know what they're seeing. And so the faster we can do that, now people go, oh dang, Brian is the expert because I went and looked him up and I found a bunch of videos about him talking about fintech. They don't go, but he started three days ago. And so that's really what I would do first from a marketing perspective. And shoot, I could talk for an hour about then what I would do next. But if if that's where you start, you you've swallowed the frog, you've eaten the frog, like Brian Tracy says in his book, and I think everything else gets easier from there.
SPEAKER_03So Rob, you should have stopped and interviewed the drivers. I have a question for you because I and I know the answer. But you know, how long have you been doing this in the mortgage space, in the financial services space? Like where did you come from? And I think it's a good story because it goes on about getting doing doing you know the uncomfortable things, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Justin, I spent a decade as a pastor, and and I and so I was a youth pastor in Dallas Fort Worth for 10 years, left the church world, started a roofing company with my dad, my brother. And that's where I cut my teeth on sales and marketing and social media. Um, that was back when Facebook Live just came out. And so I was on the rooftops of houses, Facebook living roofs. Like, who the heck wants to see that? No one. But that's what I was trying because that's what we did for a living. And um nine months later, a hell storm came through and I received a hundred inbound leads in 24 hours, text message, DMs, emails, and I went, holy crap, this social media thing has some legs. I think, I think I'm on to something. And so then I started a company building websites for realtors, started helping realtors with their social media. And to this day, I've never like tried to sell to a lender, but lenders started watching my content because I was going after who they were going after. And three years ago, the lending community said, Man, I think we can use Kyle just as much as realtors can. And now I get to coach and speak and teach and travel and hopefully not have travel days like Rob. And uh I I just I accidentally got here. I I could not have got here on purpose if I would have tried my hardest.
SPEAKER_02Once you've like kind of established your present, the question that I like asking these influencers that are creating content, creating content, creating content. Yeah, how do you find what is a good balance of, hey, this has personality, but it's also educational? Or like what is the best, what is the most responded to content or the stuff that you see get the most traction? And and how do people kind of find their own lane? I'll add the caveat that you know, if you're making good content, you're not spamming people. People don't view it as spam, they want more of it. I want to see that person. That guy has a great personality. So both Kyle and Brian, you know, stuff that works really well for you, how you found that and how you kind of continue to build on it.
SPEAKER_00Well, the the first thing is I think we've got to do a good job to remove ego from the content we're creating because this whole word influencer, and then really I think it's stupid trying to convince LOs like you need to be an influencer. Like, what does that mean? Like we're trying to do loans, right? So I think it it kind of perverts what it is from the very beginning when we carry that mindset to it. And so for me, Robbie, it's about, okay, what are you the expert of? You're the expert of finance, right? Like you're you do financial literacy through loans, through education, right? All that stuff. So I think we can kind of accept, like, well, that's not sexy and cool, right? Nobody woke up today going, I can't wait to watch more mortgage videos. And so what I try to help people do is understand what they're educating to, but then using our backgrounds to tell additional stories. So, like before anybody else jumped on, Rob was like, man, what's going on in your background? I was kind of telling him like what some different things were. But what I what I love, Robbie, is when a lender, right, they're gonna go do a video about a loan product, right? That in and of itself sucks. Nobody cares about that. But what if you love dogs? You have four dogs, and so you do the video in an environment where one of the dogs might jump in your lap, or a dog might jump up on the couch and lay on your shoulder, or or we just hear the dogs bark. And so now we've combined what I'm the expert of, but also what I'm the passion, what I'm passionate about. And so it bridges that gap, it keeps it from feeling super selsy, and it fills more along the lines of like you came over to my house and we just happen to be in a conversation about mortgages. And so that is where where I really believe the sweet spot is. Other people are gonna say, you got to follow trends, you got to use trending sounds. I think it's bull crap because most loan officers aren't gonna ever get a deal by pointing at things with trendy music. Like that doesn't make me go, ooh, you're my girl. Yep, next time I need a loan, I'm coming to you. It'll give views, but it most likely isn't going to ever get a closing. So I lean more towards like, let's be a little bit more boring, right? Like in theory, understanding that I'm just a normal person. I'm not an influencer that somebody's gonna come want to take a picture with. And and so that's that's how I love to do it. Um, Brian, you may what what would you say?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'll I'll just kind of speak to my own use case and story, right? So um I I the way LinkedIn works for me, and we're all out there on the circuit hitting the conferences and you know, been at this for a long time, but inevitably there's like two or three talk tracks that happen right away when I see someone at a conference. Typically, it's gonna be something I posted in the last you know week or so. They're like, hey, I saw your video on such and such, whatever it was, or I saw your post on this or that. So there's like an immediate connection where they feel like they're they they they're I'm I'm relevant to them in in in a current state, so to speak. And then um a lot of people know I have I also have a baseball player son who's still chasing it, still playing. And so one of the posts that actually did best for me on LinkedIn from a you know, impressions and engagement and all that was me last spring, I think it was, taking a video from spring training at the uh Angels facility in Arizona with my son on the on the pitching, you know, warming up to go into the game. Had nothing to do with mortgages, nothing to do with technology, but that thing blew up and still gets views. And now when I go to the other talk track that comes up in conversations at conferences when I meet people in person or come on a Zoom, is how's your son doing with baseball? Which is there's a picture of him. I don't know, I got my camera backwards here up in the corner. Um, so it to Kyle's point, it kind of personalizes you know, there's a connection that people feel to me through how I mix spin locker content, financial education, financial preparation, content with stuff that's happening in my in my real life.
SPEAKER_02Is partnering with realtors or referral partners who are big on social media, arguably equal to or more important than your own presence on social media, in the sense that realtors are often the first point of contact for clients.
SPEAKER_00Well, so kind of.
SPEAKER_02I have my own view too.
SPEAKER_00The like the way this is worded, and I hate to assume, but but if if your online presence sucks, no realtor with a good online presence is gonna choose you. So, in theory, I think the question is a great question, and the answer is yes, but I better have good content. Like, I I don't necessarily need to have as many followers. Like I have a ton of friends that like I think like on Instagram, I have like 5,000 something followers. Who cares? No one does. But I can go run with friends that are in the hundred thousand, three hundred thousand because we're both creating content. And so I think for the low, you better at least be in the game if you want that type of realtor to see you as a viable referral partner.
SPEAKER_04And I and I I think of it a little similar but different. Um it's true that still a high percentage of mortgage referrals come from the realtor, right? But I I'm I subscribe to the theory that the next cohort or the next generation, if we want to tie it into the book, the next next generation of home buyers, especially first-time homebuyers, they're already learning today about what it means to be, you know, home buying ready, financially fit, financially ready. They're and they're learning through these social channels, and they and they have people they follow, they trust, and they're following their content and learning from them. And so in my mind, who is the who's better positioned, a realtor or a professional mortgage originator in providing financial education, financial literacy, financial preparation, tips and tools up the funnel in those two. I think a loan officer all day long is better positioned to be that source of of of information or content, if we want to call it. And so if if we all, and I think we're all nodding our head agree in agreement, then every loan officer should be thinking about how to get make themselves relevant on social and get in front of as many early journey, up funnel, prospective first-time homebuyers and start building trust and building relationships, leading with education, preparation, and literacy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you kind of cheated. You didn't really answer the question. You you like so that's how I roll it. That's how I roll it. I was just being good, I was being a good steward of the question. I also 1 million percent agree that it's so ignorant for the consumer to go to the realtor first. How we've allowed this to happen is beside me. And so every lender should be looking right now, while the market's weird, to position themselves as the first point of contact in the home buying journey. And it absolutely can happen through through literacy and and creating that educational content that makes them desire you first. I think there's no better time than right now to reposition the LO as the first point of contact.
SPEAKER_02And I'm I'm with you, Brian. I want to obviously I want to work with someone charismatic where you see them and you're like, oh, I really enjoy them as a person. I want to work with the most knowledgeable person too that's gonna put me in the best product that that can teach me about what's going on. I I've said this before on on other shows. I'm in the industry, and when I got a mortgage, I was like, how would I have ever known what to do if I didn't at least have a background in this? Right. We think we're ready, and then there's all these different options and paperwork and dates you gotta hit, and it's just it's overwhelming. So working with somebody that feels like they're educating you versus trying to just sell you on something. Well, bond yields and mortgage rates have trended higher over the course of 2024. There has been some recent relief. Some of the decline of late can be attributed to a softening labor market. Initial claims jumped to 231,000 yesterday, and market participants have finally come to grips with a more aggressive monetary policy stance from the Federal Reserve than had been hoped for and priced into markets at the beginning of the year. The slight decline in rates comes as we are in the thick of spring home buying season, which is welcome news. Rates that are higher than people are expecting, can slow down the pace of home sales and construction activity. Swaps markets are currently implying roughly 45 basis points of easing by year end, but any indications of a more hawkish stance from the Fed could both royal bond markets and reverberate across other asset classes. Developments in the broader economy outside of inflation, such as employment data and consumer spending, will likely play a crucial role in shaping market dynamics going forward and going beyond just the US. The world's economic outlook is looking up as growth proves more resilient and prices in many countries are set to cool faster than previously expected. Today's economic calendar kicks off with the first look of May Michigan sentiment due out later this morning. That will be followed by the April budget statement and a heavy slate of Fed speakers. We begin the day with agency MBS prices roughly unchanged from yesterday's close, and the tenure yielding 4.45 after closing yesterday at 4.45%. Let's wrap up with a joke and let's wrap up with a joke and some housekeeping. A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house, and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was watted against one wall. In the front room, the TV was loudly blaring, a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried that she might be ill or that something serious had happened. He was met with a strong He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside, he found wet towels, scummy soap, and more toys strewn on the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste heavens smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, What happened here today? She again smiled and answered, You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day? Yes, was his incredulous reply. She answered, Well, I didn't do it today. And happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there on Sunday. Thanks again to today's podcast sponsor, Matic, the digital insurance marketplace built for the mortgage industry. Matic works with over a hundred financial institutions to integrate home insurance shopping into the lending and servicing experience. Customers can shop over fifty carriers and find a policy in minutes. See how mortgage leaders can create a new revenue stream that boosts customer happiness today at go.matic.com/slash Christmas.
SPEAKER_01If you have any questions about the podcast or sponsoring opportunities, send me an email at Robbie at RobCrisman.com. Visit RobCrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access to archived commentaries, and how to subscribe to the daily mortgage news and commentary. To listen to or download past episodes of this podcast, search mortgage news on any platform you get your podcast from.