Servicing, Marketing, DSCR, Correspondent Tools; STRATMOR on Customer Service; RESPA Loan Comparison Sites
Not every house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, single story subdivision home. Appraisers and underwriters aren’t big fans of places that aren’t, due to the lack of comps or the problems in “salability” should something go wrong. Inventive housing? Watch this house slide open to reveal Flexible Spaces (and an open-air bathroom). Some people have a home theater, but here’s a theater home for sale. And, finding homeowner’s insurance aside, what do kids do in this house when told to clean their room? Housing prices, just like mortgage rates, have at their base the influences of supply and demand. So this story is particularly interesting: “Investor purchases of U.S. homes fell by 45.8 percent on a year-over-year basis, with the largest declines occurring in pandemic boomtowns such as Las Vegas and Phoenix.” In other housing and finance trends, Seattle-based Flyhomes’ mortgage division is offering a “Buy Now Refi Later” promotion, where a homebuyer who takes out a loan with the company can refinance for free later if rates drop. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Agile, bringing the mortgage capital markets into a new digital era. From lenders to dealers, Agile is the new way to quote MBS. Listen to an interview with Ally Home’s Brandon Snow on the latest health gauges of the American housing market.)
Lender and Broker Services and Products
Real Data. Real Knowledge. Real Wealth. Homeowners and home buyers need insights into financial property data to manage their real estate and prospect properties to build lifelong wealth. Realfinity.io is now offering its white-label platform, HomeDashboard, to lenders and LOs, allowing them to deliver property data and mortgage products throughout the entire real estate lifecycle. The question isn't whether your clients will get a platform to manage their home's finances. The question is who will give it to them. HomeDashboard leads to higher deal certainty, repeat business and more referrals. Empower your clients to make data-driven decisions using your brand’s HomeDashboard. Let’s chat about what Realfinity can do for you! More at Realfinity.io, trusted by clients like Cross Country Mortgage and NFM Lending.
“Experience fast turnaround times at competitive pricing with QC reviews from Maxwell Diligence. QC doesn’t have to burden your lending business with slow, inconsistent results. While many quality control firms are months behind on reviews, Maxwell Diligence delivers trusted outcomes fast, leveraging an experienced team of 100 percent onshore talent. Its technology-enabled platform streamlines the process and produces competitive turnarounds, including 36 hours for initial review and 24 hours to review and clear conditions. Plus, Maxwell’s client-dedicated customer service ensures transparency and support throughout the process. To learn how QC from Maxwell Diligence can save you money while driving reliable results, click here to schedule a call with our team.”
In this market, you can’t afford to fly blind. If you don’t have access to reporting that tells you how you’re doing in real time compared to your peers, you risk not being able react quickly enough to changing market conditions. Richey May's RM Analyze gives you the insights you need to react quickly to create operational efficiencies and protect your profitability as the market changes. Developed by mortgage industry experts and boasting powerful features like cross-functional data integration, easy to use dashboards for reporting from the C-suite to branch managers and operations team leads, and real time comparison against peers, it really is an invaluable asset for any organization looking to be successful this year. And Richey May’s RM Analyze is the only place you can get this type of data in real time. Don't wait, contact us now if you're ready to maximize efficiency through valuable data insights.
The investments you make in your sales and marketing strategy today are your loans for tomorrow. Take advantage of the down market to lay the foundation and build the relationships that are going to make you successful in the years to come. Social selling with Denim Social provides opportunities to meet customers where they are, no matter what stage of the journey they are in. Social selling requires continual care and management, but it’s worth the investment of time and effort to drive business results. Here’s where to start: How to build a social selling program, How to grow your mortgage business online, and See what other lenders are doing on social media. With the right tools like Denim Social, both marketing teams and mortgage loan officers can efficiently execute and scale to drive big results on their networks. See how it works in a free interactive demo.
The Empire State Building has been an architectural marvel for nearly a century, though building a skyscraper amid the Great Depression was no easy feat. For lenders, constructing a mortgage marketing plan that withstands the tests of time can feel like a similar undertaking. A thorough marketing plan is vital for capturing leads and remaining top of mind across the loan lifecycle. When market tides inevitably shift, forward-thinking lenders will have already realigned their outreach strategy to fit the new housing landscape. But where do they find the time? From identifying opportunity-rich homebuyer markets to automating communications across multiple channels, Surefire CRM and Mortgage Marketing Engine by Black Knight makes developing a standard-but-flexible mortgage marketing plan a turn-key experience. Get the blueprints for mortgage marketing success.
“Correspondent Channel at PenFed: Are you looking for the flexibility of delivering Best Efforts or Mandatory? PenFed Correspondent is pleased to announce we are adding lenders to our mandatory delivery program. Reach out to our dedicated Sales Team or email CorrSupport@PenFed.org to learn more about PenFed’s Mandatory Delivery option. PenFed proudly serves all 50 states and purchases loans up to $3MM offering an expanded suite of products including Conventional Conforming, Jumbo, Super Jumbo and VA. As the nation’s second-largest federal credit union operating since 1935, PenFed partners win more deals while lending with ease and confidence. Contact us for more information.”
Long-term Rental or Vacation Rental? Visio Lending is the nation’s leader in Non-QM Investor DSCR loans for buy and hold SFR rentals with nearly a decade of experience and over $2.1 billion in originations. No-DTI, 30 year term, rate buy downs, free 45-day rate locks; I/O and Sub-1 DSCR options available. 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.
Watch the ICE Experience general session via live stream. Can’t make the trip to Las Vegas for ICE Experience 2023? Don’t fret! This year’s general session live stream will give you a front row seat to the stellar line up of speakers from anywhere, and at no cost to you. Log on February 28 and March 1 to see Steve Young, Football Hall of Famer and Football Analyst, Egypt Sherrod, HGTV TV Personality and Real Estate Broker, and other renowned industry leaders and special guests. Click here to see the full agenda and register now.
Yo, Rob, let’s kick it. ICE, ICE baby. ICE, ICE baby. All right, stop at booth 113 and listen. We’re back with a brand new invention. LiteSpeed grabs hold of you tightly, flow improves for leads daily and nightly. Will it ever stop? Only if you do. There’s nothing vanilla about LenderLogix or its digital mortgage solutions. Meet up with the LenderLogix team next week at ICE Experience to learn how they can help you improve lead flow, increase conversions, streamline operations and enhance the digital mortgage experience for your borrowers. LenderLogix DJs will be spinning live demos of Lite Speed, QuickQual, and Fee Chaser, so be sure to check it out.
Without control of the entire mortgage process, you’re stuck with inefficiencies and delays. Matic helps you embed home insurance offers from 40+ top-rated carriers into your existing journey for end-to-end control of your customer experience. Lenders can delight their borrowers with a simplified way to shop for a policy and add a low-lift revenue stream along the way. See how easy it is to get started with Matic by BOOKING A DEMO with our team of mortgage experts.
Big Purple Dot, provider of an ecosystem of mortgage marketing technologies, has hired Masana Noma-Weprin as its new chief product officer (CPO) to oversee marketing, product enhancement and product development, including Big Purple Dot’s robust recruiting platform, which enables home lenders to identify, engage and recruit top loan originators.
Servicing Products and Tools
“Get on the list for the hottest party at MBA Servicing. Get swanky with Sagent at the hottest party at Mortgage Bankers Association Servicing ‘23 on 2/22 @ 6:30 PM at Cuba Libre where we’ll be serving up some signature cocktails, like Risk ManageMINT, cigar rollers, Cuban cuisine, spicy entertainment …need we say more?? Click here to reserve your spot. And speaking of swanky, don’t forget to pack your Sagent socks! Be sure to connect with us at our booth (700), wearing your Sagent socks, and you’ll be a brand new owner of a JBL mini speaker! Looking forward to a week of making connections, talking shop, and sharing intel, all while reimagining the future of servicing. Click here to see what else we’ll be up to at servicing.”
TMS, a national Top 10 Subservicer, has a big announcement: it is officially transitioning to the name Servbank. While the name may be changing, it will continue delivering the same great service you expect with the surety you deserve under a depository institution. In case you forgot, that great service means 99 percent customer satisfaction, a 91 percent first-call resolution rate, an 83 percent Net Promoter Score, and <1-min average call wait times. Plus, access to SIME, Servbank’s proprietary servicing portal that gives lenders 24/7/365 real-time, fully transparent views into their loan portfolios. Curious to learn more about the transition? Contact Servbank today, check out their new website, and follow them on LinkedIn @Servbank.
STRATMOR on Customer Service
Every mortgage loan journey is going to have some bumps in the road, and borrower tolerance for those bumps varies widely from lender to lender. In his February Customer Experience Tip, STRATMOR Group’s MortgageCX Director Mike Seminari asks, “How can lenders preserve borrower delight amidst inevitable bumps in the loan journey?” and offers three strategies mortgage lenders can adapt from Tesla’s highly successful customer satisfaction strategy. If you’d like to learn how to flip the script and turn a potentially bad experience into a delightful one, don’t miss the February Customer Experience Tip, “How to Preserve Mortgage Borrower Delight on a Bumpy Loan Road.”
RESPA in the News
Two weeks ago, the CFPB issued an “Advisory Opinion” to address the applicability of RESPA Section 8 to operators of digital mortgage comparison-shopping platforms. CFPB says that such sites need to neutrally present their lending options lest CFPB will find that they might violate RESPA. Right on cue, attorney Brian Levy has some RESPA “advisory opinions” of his own in his most recent Mortgage Musing and he is definitely not neutral in what he has to say.
Webinars and Training to Wrap up February
How is AI changing the appraisal industry? Join The Appraiser Coach and dive into Artificial Intelligence. How is it changing the writing industry, the world of art, and the appraisal industry? All Star Team Virtual Conference, February 21st 10:30am to 12:30pm. New topics each month, your first month is free.
Join Plaza Home Mortgage, Wednesday, February 22 at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET and discover How Reverse Mortgage Loan Amounts Change in a Rising Rate Environment.
The transition from mortgage broker to mortgage banker has been a popular trend among lenders in recent years. Tune in on February 22nd where experts from Independent Financial and Richey May will cover what you can expect from this transition including how the warehouse lender views the banker, the economic entity principle when talking about net worth and liquidity, and the accounting implications surrounding this transition. They will also give you tips on how your CPA and warehouse lender can help advise you through this difficult process. Register here.
It's a new year in an ever-changing market and I am teaming up with Kind Lending to help you understand the ins and outs of the mortgage world with a few tips to help you & your business thrive! Join us Wednesday, February 22nd at 10:30 am (PST).
Ginnie Mae and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) will co-host a February 22nd webinar, “Ginnie Mae 101” covering topics such as Ginnie Mae’s business model, mortgage-backed securities programs, and partnership opportunities. Read the Press Release for complete details.
SimpleNexus, an nCino company: Join SimpleNexus’ Ben Miller and David Bolin on February 22 at 3:00 PM EST for a live webinar highlighting strategies and tools that drive production, performance, and profits in a tight market. Register now to save your seat!
On Thursday, February 23rd at 11 am PT | 2 PM ET, join Carrington Correspondent for FHA Manual Underwriting: Credit Fundamentals webinar. Carrington will bring its many, many years of manual underwriting experience to the table and show you how we look at the borrower's entire story, including extenuating circumstances and compensating factors, to justify loan approvals.
The next monthly Mortgage Quality and Compliance Committee (MQAC) webinar, Demystifying the SCIF Form, is on Thursday, February 23rd at 11 AM PST. Guaranteed Rate and Firstline Compliance explore the SCIF Form (Supplemental Consumer Information Form), creating a robust limited English program, and how to implement IT, scripts, forms, and training.
Join AIME and MMBBA for breakfast, networking and a top producers panel on Thursday, February 23, 2023 | 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM at Busboys and Poets.
AD Mortgage presents, “Finding the Best Conventional and Government Loans” on February 23 at 1PM ET. Speakers Mike Pearson, SVP of Business Development and Denysis Rodriguez, Account Manager at MGIC discuss the benefits of each program and help you decide which one is right for your clients. We'll also answer all your questions so you can be sure you're getting the best possible deal on their home loan.
October Research, LLC has brought together leaders from the American Federal Mortgage Corp. and Florida Agency Network to share their experience on the Evolving Lender and Title Relationships webinar. They will be live at 2:30 p.m. ET Feb. 23rdRegister today at DoddFrankUpdate.com.
This Friday the 24th at noon PT is the next edition of The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown with Rich Swerbinsky, and me. It will be co-hosted by National MI’s Dominic Lavoie. We’ll will be covering current events in the mortgage market for 30 minutes starting at noon PT in “The Rundown with Rich and Rob”!
Lender Toolkit is putting on its 2023 Lender Toolkit Supercar Experience, brought to you by Lender Toolkit, Lenders One, Reggora, Lodestar and KPMG, the exotic car racing event will take place on February 27 from 12:30-4:30 pm just before the start of ICE Experience 2023 Feb 27 – Mar 1.
Capital Markets
In a week full of significant economic releases, inflation took centerstage last week. January’s monthly inflation came in hotter than expected at 0.5 percent and December prices, previously negative, were revised to a small increase. If there was a silver lining, it was that year-over-year inflation moderated slightly to 6.4 percent from 6.5 percent. Shelter costs, food costs, and energy prices all saw large year-over-year increases.
Producer prices also experienced an acceleration in January with PPI up 0.7 percent month-over-month. Prices for goods rose 1.4 percent while prices for services were up 0.4 percent. Retail sales blew out expectations, increasing 3.0 percent last month while core retail sales were up 1.7 percent. Stronger than expected economic data at the start of the year combined with slower than desired declining inflation has shifted expectations for monetary policy. Analysts are now forecasting three more 25 basis points rate hikes.
After financial markets in the U.S. were closed for the Presidents’ Day holiday yesterday, this holiday-shortened week is jammed packed with Treasury supply, as well as economic updates on S&P Global PMIs, the state of the housing market, the second look at Q4 GDP, PCE, and Michigan Sentiment. Fed speak continues, while the minutes from the latest FOMC meeting will be released Wednesday afternoon. Kicking off the economic calendar is S&P Global manufacturing and services indices later this morning. That will be followed by existing home sales. We begin the trading week with Agency MBS prices worse .250 and the 10-year yielding 3.89 after closing Friday at 3.83 percent; 4.66 percent on the 2-year.