Upcoming Training and Events; Joint Venture Legal Case; Capital Markets
Studies indicate 1.2 billion people worldwide do not have proper shelter. A startup in Austin, Texas decided it would work to change that. Using a heavy-duty 3D printer, the startup can “print” a single story, 650 square foot house out of cement in 12-24 hours. This may seem a little unbelievable, but if all goes well, the company will be building 100 homes in El Salvador in 2019. A “printed” house only costs $10k and the startup expects that will eventually come down to $4k. It looks like the tiny home market could have an impressive competitor. But technology is a double-edged sword. Facial recognition to dispense toilet paper? What if you have the mumps?
Lender Legal News
Attorney Phil Schulman, with Mayer Brown LLP, writes, “There is an interesting court decision that lenders should be aware of from the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in the Borders & Borders case. The CFPB had asked the District Court to reconsider its July 2017 decision in favor of B&B. The Court denied the motion for reconsideration and revised its previous decision that relied upon Section 8(c)(4) of RESPA to find in favor of B&B. Now the District Court finds in favor of B&B based on Section 8(c)(2), citing the PHH decision.
Phil elaborated. “The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on March 22, denied the CFPB’s motion for reconsideration in the Borders & Borders affiliated business arrangements case. In July 2017, the District Court found that B&B violated the anti-kickback prohibitions in Section 8(a) of RESPA but decided in favor of B&B because its activities were protected by the safe harbor provisions of Section 8 (c)(4). The CFPB requested reconsideration and the District Court applying a heavy helping of the en banc decision in PHH denied the CFPB’s request.
“Now the District Court finds that B&B did not violate Section 8(a). Citing PHH, the District Court found that the payments the joint venture title agency received from consumers were for services rendered to the consumers at reasonable market value and therefore 8(c)(2) somehow protected the dividends shared between B&B and its affiliated business partners. Not exactly what the en banc court had in mind in deciding PHH. In PHH the issue was not whether the consumers received mortgage insurance at reasonable rates, but rather whether the amount of the fees received by PHH’s captive from the MI companies were commensurate with the services rendered by the captive. That said, B&B will savor the victory. It’s likely the CFPB will appeal the case to the 6thCircuit. This District Court decision is among the first to cite the PHH decision. It won’t be the last.” Thank you, Phil!
Events and Trainings
Insellerate has a webinar coming up on 4/3 with Home Captain titled, “How Consumer Direct Lenders Do Purchase Transactions.” The idea is the purchase market shift and combination of new technologies are inspiring new pathways for lenders to close more loans. This is a how-to on selling purchase mortgages from a consumer direct shop.
NYMBA’s 4th Annual Convention, “Exceeding the Vision”, kicks off April 3rd in Albany, NY with a full afternoon of break-out sessions. NYS Rep. Congressman John Faso is the keynote Dinner speaker with updates on the state and national political landscape, followed by the installation of the 2018-2019 Board. Speaker highlights include National MBA Chairman Chris George, Blaine Rada from Arch MI on “Ten Tips to Turn the Tide in Your Favor,” Dr. Ted Jones, Economic Forecaster (Stewart Title), Peter Dean - NYS Deputy Superintendent for the Department of Financial Services, “What Realtors Want,” cyber security from an expert and law professor, and Non-QM loans: more opportunities for purchasers that fall outside “the box.”
TrueHome Solutions is accepting registrations for its April 3rd webinar, “Top 5 strategies for real estate lending in a purchase market”.
Come to Bellevue on April 5th for WAMP’s series. Register for the WAMP Camp breakfast series, doors open at 8:00 and say hi!
Join Mountain West Financial on the first Tuesday of every month for its “Monthly Mortgage Insights” webinar. Register for the next installment, April 3rd.
Join, Ginger Bell, Education Specialist, Go2Training as she hosts a panel of industry experts on "Becoming Independent" Webinar Series, focusing on what it takes to ‘Set Up Your Own Mortgage Shop’. From deciding to be a broker or non-delegated lender, to setting up your compliance, to looking at new trends that have emerged like mortgage franchising. This webinar series begins April 11th.
The 19th Annual Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Lenders Conference, hosted at the Hilton Miami Downtown, will be held April 10-12. Come “discuss a variety of topics and issues related to the VA-Guaranteed Home Loan program.”
The California MBA’s Inaugural Chairman’s Conference is coming up on April 8th-10th at The Lodge at Torrey Pines. the event is limited to ‘C-Suite’ executives at companies that are members of the California MBA.
During Reverse Mortgage Education Week (April 23-27), the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association hosts a series of free informational webinars for older homeowners, their loved ones, and the professionals who serve them, to explain how the loans can be used to supplement retirement savings and support aging in place.
With a rapidly changing regulatory landscape in Washington, it is essential to remain informed. Register for this year's American Mortgage Conference to discuss important issues in the mortgage field and the progress being made in Washington. The conference will be held at the world-renowned Pinehurst Resort, "the Cradle of American Golf" April 30th-May 2nd.
If you’re in Georgia or Florida, MBAG's 2018 Annual Convention will be held May 3-6 in Destin, Florida. Click here for the agenda.
It's the debut of the Chicago Mortgage Originators Expo, being held Thursday, May 3, at the Holiday Inn Countryside SW Conference Center (with a bonus 8-hour NMLS class there on Friday, May 4).
In Ohio, the OMBA Annual Convention, May 7-9 at the Marriott Northwest Columbus (Dublin) has a new venue, new sponsor and exhibitor packages, all containing full convention registrations. With new expanded exhibit hours, the convention includes eight hours of CE.
In Oklahoma, the 2018 OMBA Conference May 9th -11th is approaching fast with an incredible line-up of speakers who will discuss industry related topics, political developments, business development and business insights.
NEXT Mortgage Events LLC, creator of NEXT, the mortgage technology conference for women, has announced the first round of sessions for its event on June 21-22, 2018 in Dallas. Speakers include Rebecca Blabolil, chief compliance officer for Guaranteed Rate; Neenu Kainth, SVP, product management for Mr. Cooper; Diana McKeever, VP, technology product manager for PrimeLending; Blockchain expert Debbie Hoffman, co-founder of Symmetry Blockchain Advisors; and more.
Capital Markets
Looking at the bond market, rates were steady Monday amid reports U.S. and Chinese trade officials are working on ways to address imbalances in trade, a good step towards averting many people’s fears of a trade war. Stocks certainly liked the news. (Fortunately, Myrtle only eats American-made kibble and doesn’t care much for the media’s exaggerated rhetoric.) We do have more geopolitical news for markets to digest, as the U.S. will expel 60 Russian diplomats for Russia's alleged poisoning of a former intelligence officer living in the UK. More than 100 Russian diplomats have now been expelled from 18 countries, making for the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history. Finally, North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un is rumored to have visited Beijing ahead of an expected summit with President Trump, the first time that an active North Korean ruler has stepped foot outside of his country, if the reports are true.
Turning to strictly this country, there isn’t much scheduled news to move the market. We have the Redbook Same-Store Sales Index, S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for January will be released later in the morning (expectations are for a 0.8% MoM and 6.3% YoY increase versus 0.6% and 6.3% previously), March consumer confidence and the Richmond Fed surveys will be released at 10AM ET, and the Dallas Fed Texas Services Outlook Survey for March. Rates are a smidge lower versus Monday evening, with agency MBS prices a few ticks better and the 10-year yielding 2.84%.
LO and Broker Products
Fundingshield recently released its Newsletter 123 on how the purchase market is causing increased use of closing parties that are not in the known universe of lender approved vendors. This is taking place while increased risk of wire fraud, cyber security breaches and other fast evolving risks in the mortgage closing process grow and mortgage market participants seek more efficient ways to manage a large amount of closing parties. Fundingshield has several services ideal for use by mortgage banks, asset managers, warehouse lenders, tile/settlement companies and servicers for managing closing agents and wire fraud risks to at the enterprise and loan level which they would like to share via a WebEx (please email Sales@fundingshield.com or call 800 295 0135 x2). Fundingshield’s cost & time effective solutions deliver the highest level of control & risk mitigation around cyber based threats of wire fraud / diversion helping you improve your bottom line.
For brokers, the Stearns Wholesale Ruby Jumbo program is big on value and small on price, with low minimum credit scores to help you open more doors. Give buyers more loan for their money with a $1M maximum loan size, and 80% maximum LTV. And with a minimum credit score of 680, you can qualify more buyers. Stearns also offers pricing incentives for higher-FICO loans. Got buyers who love HGTV? With cash outs available up to $1M, they can access the funds to DIY whatever they want —or pay someone else to. Ruby Jumbo Loans can also be used for investment properties,with up to $1M available. These loans are fixed rate only. Ready to go big or go home? Contact us to learn more about the Ruby Jumbo Loan and all the programs Stearns Wholesale offers to give brokers a better way to do business.
In a purchase driven market, the race to cut cycle times and provide a streamlined borrower process is a must. Mortgage giants like Quicken and Movement Mortgage have set borrower expectations on how quick a mortgage should be, and that technology should be integrated the entire time. But all lending teams can compete using lightweight and easy to deploy platforms from players like Maxwell. Maxwell’s award winning digital POS automates document collection, borrower task lists, and communication in one secure platform, which works with all top LOS providers. The team at Maxwell tells me teams using Maxwell are collecting documents 73% faster and reducing underwriting turns by 25%. To learn more about Maxwell’s fast deploying digital platform, visit www.himaxwell.com or request a demo here! Maxwell provides a lightweight digital mortgage platform for lending teams to delight their borrowers and improve their team's performance.
ResMac is pleased to announce the release of its fully automated origination software LendGenuity on a private label basis to its wholesale, correspondent, bank and credit union customers. “As the digital origination paradigm continues to shift at an astonishing pace, we are able to assist our clients with the transition. LendGenuity offers customers an extremely affordable and exceptionally robust solution for migrating to the consumer-direct, online digital origination market” states Nelson Haws, CEO. The LendGenuity portal sits on top of ResMac’s marti technology, a POS/AUS/LOS. Borrowers are empowered to access pricing and eligibility 24/7, complete the 1003 application, run credit/AUS and register an eligible loan completely on their own. Borrowers e-sign disclosures, order/pay for appraisal, upload conditions, and even rate lock all on a fully-automated basis. If you are thinking about a digital mortgage solution, contact Nelson Haws (561.288.5726) for a 15-minute demo.