9.27.24 Refinance Candidates; CNET Money’s Katherine Watt on Rate Pessimism; Data Over Speculation

Thanks to Silk Title Co. Silk is for lenders who have centralized operations, are tech driven, process oriented, focused on the borrower experience, standardized in their approach, and most importantly… collaborative.

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“Who was the first person that used technology? Moses. He had two tablets that were connected to the cloud.” Technology is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, having everything on your phone is easy… until you lose it. Or it is confiscated. Tempted to voluntarily hand your phone to the police? I have heard repeatedly, “Don’t!” And here’s why. Technology has led to the popularity of Zoom & Team calls, but most prefer in-person events and workshops. (STRATMOR, for example, is conducting a typically well-attended Consumer Direct Workshop in Dallas in November that focuses on the CD channel.) Companies that service mortgages have a tremendous amount of tech at their disposal. Given the granularity of the data that is out there now, more parties than ever before know which loans/borrowers are “in the money” versus “out of the money” in looking at refinance candidates. Whoever holds the servicing rights, arguably, is in the best position to slice and dice the data and contact the borrower, although the LO will have the personal relationship. (Today’s podcast is found here and this week’s is Sponsored by Silk Title Co. Silk is for lenders who have centralized operations, are tech driven, process oriented, focused on the borrower experience, standardized in their approach, and most importantly… collaborative. Listen to an interview with CNET Money’s Katherine Watt on a recent survey that found 40 percent of U.S. adults are pessimistic about mortgage rates becoming affordable by the end of 2024.)

Jobs and transitions

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“Mutual of Omaha Mortgage and Keller Home Loans is experiencing explosive growth and has added $300MM in annual production this summer. At Mutual of Omaha Mortgage and Keller Home Loans, our mission is clear: to help Americans become homeowners and stay in their homes. This summer, we’ve made tremendous progress by welcoming three powerhouse teams into our family: the Dan Hrey Team from Arizona, the Ray Patterson Team from the Carolinas, and the Paul Beatty Team from the Northeast. Together, these teams bring decades of mortgage expertise and play a pivotal role in our strategic growth initiatives across key market areas. We’re now looking for passionate professionals to join us on this exciting journey. As a part of two trusted brands, you'll gain the leverage needed to expand your business with agents and clients, offering a broad range of products and services. With our 'Hometown Value' approach, a commitment to operational excellence, and an accessible Executive Team deeply invested in your success, you’ll have the support and resources to thrive. Join us today and elevate your career with the strength of two trusted brands behind you! Inquire here!

loanDepot continues to demonstrate its commitment to growth with a series of high-profile leadership hires over the last several weeks. Recent additions include Nancy Smith, who joins as regional vice president to grow the company's Colorado and Wyoming teams, and Carol Cole, a standout area manager in Louisiana who is part of a wave of "boomerang" originators returning to loanDepot. Additionally, U.S. Navy veteran and VA lending expert Bryan Bergjans has been named national director of military growth and strategy, further strengthening the company's leadership in VA lending. loanDepot is well-positioned for future growth and actively recruiting, whether through individual hires, acquisitions of high-performance teams, or strategic partnerships with independent companies. Sales leaders interested in exploring opportunities are encouraged to contact Shane Stanton.

Lender and broker software, services, and loan programs

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“MortgageFlex is hitting the road for the fall conference season and bringing our new cloud-native solutions along for the ride. As the first provider to bring enterprise level servicing technology in a cloud-native tech stack to market, we know something about enterprise development for the cloud. No clunky client or installed software. Today, lenders and servicers need to be fluid and nimble, so we rebuilt all our solutions on the industry's most modern tech stack to date. The system uses internal APIs to run all the POS/LOS/TPO/Servicing/Default screens on the same user interface and shared open database with no code/low code toolkits. No more disparate systems to manage. Visit us at ACUMA, and MBA National this fall, or contact John McCrea. See why Flex is changing the technology landscape.”

It’s the end of the month, and there is no doubt you should have closed more loans. Mortgage Call Centers and direct-to-consumer lenders can achieve a new level of efficiency and increased conversions with AI Call Assistant. From listening to one call, AI Call Assistant can predict whether a prospect will close with an 89.4% accuracy. Reduce unqualified inquiries by 21% and stop wasting time on garbage leads. AI Call Assistant works with any CRM. Learn how AI Call Assistant can improve your business and schedule a demo today!

Recently Xactus, the leading verifications innovator, conducted an extensive review of approximately 1.2 million credit reports and scores across eight different lenders to gain an understanding of credit score “drift”: The fluctuation between the initial credit pull when a consumer is applying for a mortgage and the subsequent credit pull within one month of the first pull. Learn what our experts discovered in a new, short 30-minute webinar titled, Understanding Credit Score Drifts, taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at Noon EST. In this webinar, Xactus will review its score drift findings and how to apply them to your business. Register here. Learn more about Xactus and how it is advancing the modern mortgage. Schedule a meeting at the MBA Annual in Denver. Or email sales@Xactus.com for more information! Be sure to follow Xactus on LinkedIn.

STRATMOR on the “personal touch”

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Everyone, and every business, has a story. And we all love to hear stories. They help us connect with people, simplify complex ideas, and leave lasting emotional impressions. In STRATMOR Group’s latest Insights Report, Customer Experience Director Mike Seminari shares his own journey from aspiring musician to mortgage industry and customer experience expert to illustrate how taking a personal approach with borrowers through storytelling can build relationships, retain leads, attract recruits, and even drive revenue.

In “Once Upon a Mortgage: Building Relationships Through Storytelling,” Seminari points out that cultivating and sharing company stories is just one piece of the puzzle. He encourages lenders to also consider the role they play in their borrowers’ stories. Seminari uses the “hero’s journey” story structure to point out where in the process loan officers should be providing valuable assistance along the way. Doing so makes the experience more memorable and worth telling others about, he says. Check out the full September Insights Report here.

Today’s live video shows

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Today listen in to opinions on current mortgage-related events from Kevin Peranio and Brian Vieaux in The Last Word today at 10AM PT, 1PM ET. Today’s features Jodi Hall of DANDAROAD Consultants.

End this week with The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown with Melissa Langdale and me covering current events in the mortgage market for 30 minutes starting at noon PT, 3PM ET. This week’s guests are Gabe del Rio with the Homeownership Council of America and Natasha Waddy from NFM Lending.

Misc. investor, lender, and wholesaler news

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Readers of the Commentary know that we try to group information so that it makes more sense, rather than just spit out Agency or non-Agency news when it is announced. But sometimes information just doesn’t fit, and then we glom it together. For example…

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) (which prides itself on not having a retail network) turned some heads when it announced BrokerX: a new initiative aimed at providing brokers with a streamlined solution for training and licensing new talent without needing their own training team. Through a structured development program, BrokerX  will transform individuals with no experience to licensed mortgage loan originators (MLOs) in just 5 weeks. The exclusive 5-week program includes comprehensive training, licensing prep and professional development for candidates seeking to become licensed MLOs. Participants will engage virtually in Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS)-approved training and test prep with OnCourse Learning for the first 4 weeks of the program. Upon passing the SAFE MLO test, they will then spend the 5th week on-site at UWM. The first session will begin October 21, 2024. 

The Pennymac AUS Jumbo product profile was updated with clarifications, provided in

Pennymac Announcement 24-98 and effective for applications dated on or after September 19th, 2024.

Citi Correspondent Lending is changing Agency and Non-Agency co-op adjusters, effective with new locks and commitments completed on/after Friday, September 20, 2024.

Jet Mortgage has the perfect program for S/E borrowers who can't go Full Doc or do a traditional Bank Statement Program. With the P&L Only Program (Profit & Loss) from Jet Mortgage, the P&L for the business is used to determine income, no bank statements are required.

AmeriHome Mortgage issued an announcement informing SellerWeb users that on October 31, 2024, accounts for users who have not accessed SellerWeb during 2024 will be disabled. If you wish to maintain access, see AmeriHome Mortgage 20240905-CL for more information.

Capital markets: actual news is prompting rate movement

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It certainly doesn’t seem like there is an imminent recession. Economic data of late is rosy enough that it makes you wonder how much more the Fed should cut rates, 50 basis points if at all. Yesterday’s reports brought a decline in U.S. jobless claims to a four-month low and a revised Gross Domestic Product (3.0 percent for the second quarter, and up 5.5 percent since the second quarter of 2020 through 2023), underscoring the economy’s strength. Keep in mind that GDP is a backward-looking report and we’re just days away from the fourth quarter.

As far as investors are concerned, it’s a good time to put money in U.S. Treasuries. The U.S. Treasury completed this week's strong auction slate yesterday with a stellar $44 billion 7-year note sale. The expanding conflict in the Middle East is a big reason for the demand, but it’s also a good time for investors to grab these higher yields before Fed cuts inevitably bring rates down along the curve. There was also another night of stimulus news from China, this time a pledge to spend enough to ensure that China's economy will reach its growth targets for the year.

On the housing front, U.S. mortgage rates fell for the third consecutive week to the lowest level in two years. Pending home sales increased 0.6 percent in August, falling slightly short of estimates, but rebounding after falling 5.5 percent in July. Month over month, contract signings rose in the Midwest, South and West, but dropped in the Northeast. Compared to one year ago, pending home sales decreased in the Northeast, Midwest ,and South, but increased in the West.

Today’s economic calendar kicked off with Fed-favorite PCE along with advanced indicators. Personal income and spending were+.2, lower than expected, +.2 percent, also lower than expected, respectively in August with the core PCE Price Index (+.1 percent, a shade lower than expected (expectations were of it increasing 0.2 percent month-over-month and 2.7 percent year-over-year). Later today brings the final Michigan sentiment for September and remarks from Fed Governor Bowman. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices better than Thursday’s close by about .125, the 10-year yielding 3.76 after closing yesterday at 3.79 percent, and the 2-year is at 3.58.

(Parental discretion advised. No complaints please.)

Betty and Barney have a dog named Tuffy that snores. Annoyed because she can't sleep, Betty goes to the vet to see if he can help. The vet tells Betty to tie a ribbon around the dog's testicles and he will stop snoring. "Yeah, right!" she says.

A few minutes after going to bed, the dog begins snoring as usual. She tosses and turns unable to sleep. Muttering to herself, Betty goes to the closet and grabs a piece of ribbon and ties it carefully around the dog's testicles.

Sure enough the dog stops snoring. Betty is amazed!

Later that night, Barney returns home drunk from being out with his buddies. He climbs into bed, falls asleep, and begins snoring loudly.

Betty thinks maybe a ribbon will work on him, so she goes to the closet again, grabs a piece of ribbon, and ties it around her husband’s.

Amazingly, it also works on him! Betty sleeps soundly.

A few hours later Barney awakes from a drunken stupor and stumbles into the bathroom. As he stands in front of the toilet, he glances in the mirror and sees a blue ribbon attached to his privates.

He is very confused, and as he walks back into the bedroom, he sees a red ribbon attached to Tuffy's.

He shakes his head and looks at Tuffy and says, "I don't know where we were or what we did, but, by God, we got First and Second place!"

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, “Lenders and Vendors Must Pay to Play.” 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. The views and opinions in this newsletter are mine alone unless otherwise specifically stated herein.)