Appraisal White Paper; Data Filter Product; Capital Markets News

Everyone, and their brother, knows that the costs for builders to build a home are increasing. Politics aside, it turns out that the tariff changes are indeed impacting the cost of remodeling and building, and NAHB released a list of products affected by tariffs, including nails. Did you know that, per a Freddie Mac poll, 78% of Americans now say that renting is more affordable than owning? Higher rates and home prices are the obvious factors although in some areas wage growth has overtaken house price appreciation. New rental supply, on the other hand, has hit a three-decade high.


Appraisal and valuation news 

In 2017, more than six million homes were sold in the U.S. and there were more than two million licensed real estate agents. By contrast, there were only about 80,000 appraisers. The appraisal business is changing. Technology is becoming more prevalent and with rising turn-times and costs, the need to adapt is more apparent. As appraisers begin to embrace new methods of collecting and sharing data, the industry will likely see a dramatic increase in efficiency. Property Solutions, part of the Computershare Group, recently conducted a survey of its network partners. The results, which take into account 400+ responses, contributed to Property Solutions' latest white paper and lends insight into current industry thinking.

AVM cascades, the go-to application for Home Equity lenders and other lending needs, can carry unintended and potentially unpleasant consequences. Although most properties are viable candidates for AVM use, it is increasingly important to know if an AVM is not appropriate for a specific property. To understand the limitations of AVM cascades and the benefits of optimizing AVM valuation performance by determining viability for each subject property, download Veros Real Estate Solutions' new white paper, "The Case for Choosing AVM Accuracy and Suitability Over the Traditional AVM Cascade". Then, test VeroPRECISION^TM free of charge.

ditech announced that streamline refinance applications do not require a disaster inspection and may proceed to closing and/or endorsement. Applications that have closed but are pending mortgage endorsement require an exterior disaster inspection with photographs completed by an FHA Roster Appraiser. Streamline Refinance applications do not require a disaster inspection and may proceed to closing and/or endorsement. If the original appraiser is not available, another FHA Roster Appraiser may complete the disaster inspection. The original appraisal report must be provided to the appraiser completing the damage inspection report. The inspector must include a statement that the property has not sustained any fire damage. If the property sustained damage, all damage, regardless of the amount, must be repaired and the dwelling restored to pre-loss condition before the loan is sold to ditech. Per the FHA waiver issuance of its policy on the timeframe for completing the inspection of properties due to the California Wildfires and High Winds declaration in Lake and Shasta Counties, Ditech has posted the following: Applications with pending mortgage closings require an interior/exterior disaster inspection with photographs completed by an FHA Roster Appraiser. Mr. Cooper continues to monitor FEMA Disaster Declarations and concerns regarding ongoing flooding resulting from Hurricane Florence. Accordingly, Mr. Cooper is announcing the following update. Effective October 4, 2018, FEMA has approved 2 additional counties in South Carolina for Individual Assistance: Darlington and Florence.

Lender products & services

We're all in the data business - accumulating it from borrowers and vendors, creating it, verifying it, acting on it, and forwarding it to investors and servicers. Your business floats on a deep pool of data.  Unfortunately, most lenders are frustrated by fragile reporting and a cloudy data story - data rich, knowledge poor. Teraverde Management Advisors created the Coheus Profit Intelligence solution to converge and shape your data to foster clear vision and insight, creating knowledge. Coheus associates loan data with your people, status transitions, costs, revenue, and payroll events. Coheus provides a mortgage-specific, coherent, highly-flexible way to explore, visualize and interpret your data. With Coheus you get a complete perspective on your business, allowing you to Manage Differently, maximizing profitability, productivity, and customer service. With Coheus you can clearly see through the deep end of the data pool. Contact Frank Poiesz or visit Coheus.com today.

Amidst rising interest rates and declining origination volume, lenders must cast a wider net for customers, a growing number of which are self-employed. To capitalize on this trend, lenders need a simpler, faster way to underwrite mortgages for Americans who are their own bosses. To this end, Freddie Mac has ®, our  automated underwriting system, to introduce the first and only integrated self-employment income solution for the market. LoanBeam's software uses optical character recognition technology to extract and digest a borrower's tax returns and other financials, and then calculate a total income figure that aligns with Freddie Mac's guidelines. This integration offers lenders several advantages, including an automated review of the accuracy of qualifying income, eliminating the need to chase down unnecessary documents that support residual/excess income and certainty that the income calculation is eligible for representation and warranty relief. Learn more.


Capital markets

There are changes with investors and vendors in the secondary marketing arena. For example, Fannie'sFlash MBS "offers more flexibility, saving time and money." "Use Fannie Mae's Flash MBS® to receive book-entry delivery as soon as 4 days after we receive your Loan Delivery submission. Or, select Fannie Majors and receive book-entry delivery on Fannie Mae's published Majors as soon as 3 days after we receive your submission. Both options provide additional business days for pooling, up to 2 days for Flash MBS and up to 3 days for Fannie Majors, compared to the standard pool processing option. Plus, there are no processing fees. Please see the pool settlement calendar, which includes eligible flash dates, on the Loan Delivery page."

MCT announced the addition of Multi-Factor Authentication to its MCTlive! Secondary Marketing Software. This addition is the latest in MCT's ongoing effort to lead the secondary mortgage market toward stronger data security. MCT also rolled out a program for "broken loans." MCT's S&D service has a deep network of solid, well-vetted end buyers. Its whole loan desk has years of loan trading experience helping to ensure maximum execution for our clients.

Compass Analytics announced that over $200B was bid through its whole loan trading platform, CompassBid, in the last quarter. CompassBid "remains the only bidirectional, fully self-contained whole loan trading platform in the industry, providing sellers the full breadth of investor eligibility, best execution delivery analytics, accounting, investor bid history, and integration capabilities, while giving bidders a loan bid calculation process that includes a secure portal, data normalization, eligibility determination, best execution, spec-payups, LLPAs, loan-level cash-flow MSR calculation, CRA determination and value, seller bid history, and a dynamic margin and incentive engine! MAXEX LLC, a residential mortgage loan exchange provider, announced that it successfully closed a $38 million new funding round led by Moore Asset Backed Fund, LP, an investment fund managed by Erik Siegel of Moore Capital Management, LP.

In relatively recent LIBOR replacement news, entities including government agencies, global institutions, banks and municipalities have issued more than $9 billion in debt tied to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate during the past two months, indicating increased adoption since the Libor alternative launched nearly six months ago. However, market participants say SOFR has progress to make, and concerns have been raised about volatility. A few issues need resolution, but industry groups are hard at work developing alternatives to Libor, panelists said at the SIFMA Annual Meeting. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate is promising because it is based on the repurchase agreement market, which handles "north of 700 billion daily transactions" and complies with standards of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, said Christian Rasmussen, managing director at UBS Securities.

There isn't much going on in the ol' bond market lately. Are investors regretting the big jump in rates recently? They aren't that sentimental. Yesterday there was some intra-day volatility due to random influence from stock market volatility, strong job numbers, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying that he will not participate in next week's Future Investment Initiative Summit in Saudi Arabia, U.S. manufactures being optimistic, and the Italian debt market slumping compared to other countries like Germany. Our 10-year closed the day yielding 3.18%. As I send this out due to travel, it is too darned early to know where rates are. But today's calendar is light (no 5:30AM PT potentially market-moving numbers) with Existing Home Sales (thought to be little changed from last month's figures) and a couple Fed speakers. So one would expect little or no volatility, and rates could be close to yesterday's closing levels.

Jobs & new positions

Community Banks Mortgage in Colorado is looking to add MLOs to its Downtown Denver Office.This office is in a vibrant, dynamic, bustling part of the city that has one of the strongest markets in the country. They can do all loan types in all 50 states and have a robust portfolio product offering. Send a resume to, or contact, Will Stingley (719-338-4970) for more information.

EMM Wholesale is looking for a dynamic inside sales manager with a book of wholesale broker business. Candidate must be familiar with FHA, VA, FNMA, FHLMC and other Wholesale Lending loan products and have a clear understanding of TRID. Candidate will be sales oriented and not afraid to do cold calls out to new brokers. Must be friendly and courteous in working with outside and inside staff. Motivated and able to build a team of inside Wholesale Account Executives, the candidate will have 5 Years Wholesale Mortgage experience. All resumes are held in confidence. Only candidates whose profiles closely match requirements will be contacted during this search. For more information visit us at: joinemmwholesale.com or send resume directly to: hr@emmloans.com

Prime Choice Funding, Inc. is a national leader in mortgage lending and while many in the mortgage industry have been struggling, PCF has been experiencing exponential growth and is looking to expand nationwide. To keep up with its growth, management has recently welcomed Evan Kidwell as Chief Strategy Officer and are looking to hire loan officers across the US to join the team. Prime Choice provides loan officers with highly competitive compensation, top tier fulfillment and paid marketing that actually drives business growth. It offers a variety of loan programs to fit any situation like FHA, VA, Conventional, Jumbo, Non-QM, Reverse, Reno and many more. If you're interested in joining the team, contact Evan Kidwell (714-640-5905).

When was the last time you closed a loan 10 days after taking the application? At Network Funding, 10-day closings are a way of life. With the addition of our sophisticated point of sale system, Simpl, to our industry leading operations team and our own Appraisal Management Company to guarantee appraisals within 72 hours, 10 day closings set Network Funding apart and allow everyone in the transaction to get paid sooner. Call or e-mail EVP Brett Snortland to start closing your loans in 10 days (832-545-4653).

AHP Servicing, Chicago's growing crowdfunded financial services company, is recruiting for a licensed Mortgage Loan Originator to serve as a Modification Specialist. AHP Servicing invests in non-performing residential mortgages and restructures the debt to keep families in their homes. It also actively services and sells both non-performing and re-performing loans. "This is a salaried, high impact role with growth potential. This is a great opportunity to broaden your residential lending career. If this profile sounds like you and you're ready for an exciting career opportunity with a dynamic company, visit Careers at www.ahpservicing.com to submit your resume. Contact mdoyle@ahpservicing.com or call us at 312-778-6061. AHP Servicing, LLC is an equal opportunity employer."

Congrats to Fobby Naghmi who recently accepted the position of SVP of the Eastern division at Planet Home Lending. "He is responsible for strategically building and managing the branch network in addition to recruiting, onboarding and transition activities in the division. His efforts will help Planet Home Lending continue to grow in new markets."