Underwriting, Temp Buydown Products; Upcoming Events; Capital Markets Update

As most of us gird our loins for “springing ahead” this weekend, it is important to remember that U.S. citizens are, in general, a giving people. Thank you to John Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Birmingham’s MortgageAmerica, for passing along this site to anyone who’d like to donate to help the victims of the tornadoes in Alabama. Meanwhile, VP Mike Pence is heading to Ohio for a fundraiser for the oil and gas industry. It needs fundraising?

Lender Products and Services

Ellie Mae Experience19 in San Francisco is quickly approaching. The Lender Price team will be demonstrating its robust Product Pricing and Eligibility Engine (including support for non-QM, home equity and margin management), combined with a flexible Digital Lending Platform (omni-channel, completely configurable and built on an open API). These powerful platforms are available either stand-alone or as a unique, bundled solution. Send an email to sales@lenderprice.com to schedule time for a quick demonstration or stop by Booth 506 in the Exhibit Hall at your convenience.

Did you know Floify is one of the only mortgage point-of-sale solutions to natively provide SMS/text loan status notifications for your borrowers and referral partners? Considering 98% of all text messages are read within two minutes, this is a huge benefit for loan originators looking to reduce loan cycle times! When you compare text message read rates with email, where messages average only a 20% read rate, texts receive faster attention, which drives a deeper and more personal connection between you and your loan stakeholders. And for better or worse, most attention spans are shortening; therefore, text messages fit perfectly into how your borrowers are consuming information, including updates on their loan progress! If you’re not offering text messaged loan status notifications to your borrowers, what are you waiting for? Discover how Floify can help turn your borrower communications into action – request a live demo to learn more.

Deephaven Mortgage continues to heat things up this winter by “amplifying” the impact of its Bank Statement Product, expanding the maximum LTV on their 1 Year Alt Doc program by increasing the LTV to 90% for clients with a 680+ FICO score. Deephaven is in the business of helping originators understand Non-QM. It's time to get into the product line and get started with Deephaven today. Pricing engines, Identi-Fi tools, and Rate Sheets/ Matrices have been updated, and Deephaven is ready to help you. So, what are you waiting for? Get moving! Contact Wholesale or Correspondent.

“As our Strategic Partners, many Real Estate Brokers are beginning to crush the competition by offering more to their agents without having to give up too much of what matters most – revenue and profitability. Our compliant, hyper-unique Joint Venture program provides much needed revenue and profit life-support, enabling our Strategic Partners to remain competitive in today’s real estate environment and to attract the best talent. With backing from nationally recognized and credentialed partners, we invite you to contact Brian Clark for more information regarding our nationwide Joint Venture footprint.”

The MBA Tech Conference is later this month in Dallas from March 24 to 27. Asurity will be there to show how their mortgage ecosystem combines data-driven, dynamic document architecture and compliance testing, reporting, and analytics tools into one powerful solution.  It’s not just about the docs, but rather the data driven result from origination through close and beyond. Their systems’ data validation prevents package generation when a loan is out of tolerance and performs compliance testing at the loan-level through bi-directional integrations with your preferred LOS. From disclosure to close, all dynamic content, calculations, and compliance tests are fully warranted and defended by a $10 million E / O policy. If you are heading to Dallas, be sure to connect with one of their experts to see how they can help streamline your lending processes. Better yet, schedule a meeting beforehand.

Mr. Cooper Correspondent Lending “continues to be a leader in the market and is excited to announce the addition of Temporary Buydowns to our menu of purchase money products! Temporary buydowns provide a valuable tool in the rising rate environment to help meet the needs of more borrowers and solidify relationships with your Builder and Realtor partners. As a full-service investor to our valued clients, we appreciate the opportunity to help more homeowners achieve their dream of homeownership through a reduced mortgage payment for 12 or 24 months. This option is eligible for all Agency, Government and Co-issue transactions. We’re proud to offer one of the most comprehensive menus of offerings including Delegated/Non-Delegated, eNotes, Comprehensive Capital Markets solutions inclusive of Hybrid AOT, Expansive Credit Box, Non-QM, and Co-Issue. Mr. Cooper is a premier Correspondent and Co-Issue investor and the largest non-bank servicer with a servicing portfolio exceeding $500B. Visit www.mrcooper.com/correspondent to learn more.”

Have you heard?  Why the name change? Well, over the last few years the firm, which is a member of the Firstsource family of companies, has transformed into a premier provider of productized solutions for the mortgage and financial services industries. Along the way, it discovered the early contours of a company that is uniquely positioned to help its clients succeed. Sourcepoint’s flexible, individualized delivery model distinguishes it from competing companies because it allows it to quickly adapt to clients’ existing processes, cost-effectively enabling them to stay ahead of the rapidly changing mortgage market. For more information about Sourcepoint and the productized solutions it offers, visit www.sourcepointmortgage.com.

Simplify your underwriting process with Loan Product Advisor® asset and income modeler (AIM). Through the expertise of third-party service providers, AIM automates the manual processes of assessing borrower assets and income. AIM reduces the burden of traditional documentation, speeds up the loan origination process and helps you close loans faster. Freddie Mac is working hard to bring you solutions that create efficiencies for your business and improve the borrower experience - giving you a competitive edge. These capabilities are available now. Gain greater efficiency in your underwriting processes with AIM - get The Freddie EdgeSM.

Upcoming Events

NAMB All-In is here! This new cloud-based platform, free for all NAMB members, is designed to help brokers grow their business and streamline their origination process. It includes a point-of-sale system, a loan origination system, and the Calyx Wholesaler MarketPlace, which enables brokers to seamlessly connect with industry-leading wholesale lenders from within NAMB All-In. And because NAMB believes in an open marketplace, brokers can still export their 3.2 files to any lender they choose. Want to learn more? Sign up for the NAMB All-In Overview Webinar on Tuesday, March 12, at 2pm ET. NAMB and Calyx Software will walk through the system and demonstrate how to: leverage and customize the POS; originate loans via the LOS; access the Calyx Wholesaler MarketPlace; request and manage documents; complete the 2019 URLA; and ultimately improve the borrower experience! Register today.

On March 13th the Mortgage Bankers Association of Kentucky is hosting its Education Conference in Louisville.

On Thursday March 14th the Nashville Mortgage Bankers Association will be hosting its March luncheon. Registration is open.

Mortgage bankers looking to expand their network and uncover strategies for surviving in an industry beset with change will gather April 24-26th in Atlanta for CONNECT19  — a chance to hear from industry stakeholders, high caliber speakers and to participate in one of the hottest topics in our industry: LO comp. Now in its third year, the three-day CONNECT19  Conference, hosted by the National Association of Minority Bankers of America (NAMMBA), the nation’s only conference for originators, operations and real estate professionals will feature a Technology Pavilion, 50+ exhibitors and a Sales Academy featuring 25 Top Originators from across the country sharing their success secrets. n Buckhead in Atlanta, GA.

The MBAG 48th Annual Convention “Engage 2019” is set for May 1st-4th at the Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Florida. The 2019 convention will feature more educational opportunities, high-quality networking events, the return of the MBAG Golf Tournament to the award-winning Jack Nicklaus-designed Oceanview Course (Friday, May 03), group dinners & functions. Updates regarding speakers, topics and events will periodically be posted.

Capital Markets

Treasuries across the curve ended Tuesday unchanged on no real news of note. China’s growth expectations for 2019 were announced, February Services PMI readings for major eurozone economies were revised higher from the flash estimate, we received a stronger than expected ISM Non-Manufacturing Index for February, and the U.K. will eliminate almost all tariffs on imports in the event of a no-deal Brexit. China is targeting GDP growth between 6.0% and 6.5% this year, down from the original 2018 forecast for growth. Targets for growth in retail sales or fixed-asset investment were not issued, but tax cuts were announced as a potential remedy to an economy that is expected to worsen. Finally, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said that it may take "several" meetings for the Fed to have a clear read on whether economic risks are becoming a reality.

As far as domestic economic data went, the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index increased beyond expectations for February, reflecting an acceleration in business activity in the non-manufacturing sector. New home sales increased, coinciding with a drop in both median and average selling prices as homes below $400k accounted for a much smaller percentage of total homes sold than in November, revealing supply constraints at more affordable price points.

MBA mortgage applications for the week ending March 1 kicked off today’s calendar, -2.5% with refis a solid 40% of overall business. Next was the February ADP report (+183K but with a strong January revision to +300k). We also have some U.S. “Fedspeak” from Cleveland Fed President Mester and New York's Williams and the Bank of Canada will be out with its latest decision (expected to hold rates steady at 1.75%). Finally, the latest Beige Book will be released at 2PM ET and should have the largest impact on markets of any of the day’s releases. We begin today with agency MBS unchanged from Tuesday’s close and the 10-year yielding 2.71%.

Employment

Are you ready to grow your business with the help of the top real estate company in Charleston, SC? If you are a purchase-oriented loan officer in the Charleston area,

NewRez wants to talk to you about an opportunity in its joint venture partner Carolina One Real Estate in Carolina One Mortgage. "We have a tremendous opportunity for a hungry and dedicated loan officer," said Kim Shelpman, President of Carolina One Mortgage. "A spot inside one of the busiest offices for the #1 real estate company in the region creates a fantastic opportunity to significantly grow your income. This position has averaged over $20 million in closed loan volume for the past two years. Contact Vince Daino, VP of Recruiting and Business Development, to learn how to step into an origination role with an in-house audience, and to find out about additional opportunities for loan officers and producing managers throughout the country within NewRez's other real estate partnerships.