Ops, LO, AE Jobs; Broker, Construction, MSR Management Products; Using Digital for Customer Service
I need to make a dart board for the wall behind me for Zoom calls that has “rates up” and “rates down” and “rates the same” on it. Until we see actual year-over-year inflation above 2 percent, the Federal Reserve will hold short-term rates near 0 percent. Any questions? The Fed believes it will take three years before employment returns to where it was a year ago. The pandemic has put us in a deep hole, let’s not underestimate that, and all parts of the economy are impacted. In many instances people adapt, right? The pandemic forced Oasis, a cabaret and nightclub whose drag shows were often packed, to close. Its owners had to furlough the whole staff. But then its owner had an idea. “If people couldn’t come to see drag, why not bring drag to the people?” Thus was born Meals on Heels. For Oasis, a cabaret and nightclub whose drag shows were often packed, to close. Its owners had to furlough the whole staff. But then its owner had an idea. “If people couldn’t come to see drag, why not bring drag to the people?” Thus was born Meals on Heels. For about $100, a drag queen or king will deliver dinner, drinks, and a curbside performance. The idea had its ups and downs. “I was definitely performing on driveways that were at a 45-degree angle,” said Amoura Teese, a drag performer whose given name is Ryan Maldonado. Can you pay $150 not to have them show up?
Broker and Lender Services and Products
Home Point Financial has announced that the Construction-to-Permanent (CTP) Modification product is now available for all Delegated Correspondents in all states. The CTP Modification is a single closing product that combines interim construction and permanent financing into one loan. Transactions will be exempt from the Adverse Market Refinance fee. Home Point continues its rapid surge as one of the fastest-growing correspondent and wholesale lenders in America. If you are a correspondent or broker that still needs to get signed up with Home Point, visit its website now.
Two million forbearance plans are set to expire at the end of this month. What comes next for borrowers and servicers? Get insight into 2021 housing prices, latest default projections, best REO/Auction strategies and more from leading economic and loan servicing experts Allan Weiss (co-founder of Case-Shiller Weiss), Sean Ryan ( CEO, Aspen Grove Solutions), Joe Chappell (EVP Covius Settlement Services), and Pete Pannes (Chief Business Officer of Covius/RealtyBid). Join us October 6 at 1pm ET. Register today!
ActiveComply: Did you know the FFIEC has outlined that lenders MUST have a social media risk management program? Surprise! Under this guidance, lenders are required to monitor, and control social media related to their brand as if it were traditional advertising. This also means social media must be archived to meet state advertising record retention laws. Failure to meet these requirements may result in regulatory audits, penalties, and even citations. ActiveComply helps lenders meet both responsibilities through our compliance system technology: find all company and LO accounts related to your brand, examine profiles for NMLS IDs & Equal Housing logos or verbiage, and ensure posts are compliant (image scanning included). Too busy with the industry boom to tackle social media monitoring on your own? ActiveComply now offers a Managed Services option to partner with individual lenders to better understand their risk level tolerance and company policy. Contact Melissa today!
GO Mortgage and NAIBRS are sponsoring the "Housing Leadership Summit for Realtors" webinar. This educational seminar is free and will cover how realtors can become the new construction real estate specialist in their market. There’s still time to register, the webinar is September 24th at 10:00 am Central. Guest speakers from Fannie Mae, Proposed Properties, and GO Mortgage will discuss how to leverage new construction to win more listing, how to market to today’s millennial consumers, and how to have commissions paid up front for new construction builds. Please register or learn more at https://bit.ly/realtorsummit.
Industry leaders, Cardinal Financial and Newfi Wholesale join Stearns Wholesale, PRMG, and other top wholesale lenders on the ReadyPrice Platform allowing them to promote their best loan products to brokers in desirable territories nationwide. ReadyPrice gives brokers a simple, alternative way to deliver complete and approved loans directly to their lender of choice through its cloud-based application. Now is the best time to become a ReadyPrice Lender Sponsor! Visit www.readyprice.com/lenders to learn more or schedule a call today.
“These are real leads that result in real loans in your pipeline. In short, the last time your company saw speed and accuracy like this, you were watching Lamar Jackson smoke the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Sorry Browns fans.” (Matthew Sell, GO Mortgage) Sales Boomerang combines customer analytics and engagement automation with borrower intelligence to give First Heritage an acquisition funnel equipped with detailed actionable data about the customer. This means that marketing is now contextual and relevant, and not random. “An unknown into a known refinance in a heartbeat.” (Phil Denfeld, First Heritage Mortgage) The numbers speak for themselves: 20X Avg ROI, $240 Avg Cost Per Acquired Loan, 10-20% Avg Lift to Loan Volume. Want to see exactly how much you lost this year? Request your report today. We will show you which competitor took your deal, what was the loan amount, and what type of loan it was.
When I was saw the teasers for an announcement from QLMS, I knew it would be big, but didn’t realize just how HUGE it would be for brokers. The lender announced a rebrand to Rocket Pro TPO. This isn’t just a name change; it’s changing the entire game. With increased access to the revolutionizing Rocket technology that brought the industry into the 21st century, new co-branded marketing and the opportunity to leverage national ad campaigns, as well as the creation of one of the largest referral networks available - it is clear this is not just a one-time stunt. To celebrate its doubling-down on broker support, the lender is doling out 10,000 purchase leads to its partners. Rocket Pro TPO is here to push boundaries and help its partners thrive for decades to come. If you are a broker who wants to Rocket your business into the stratosphere, click HERE.
Customer Communication
When high loan volumes create capacity issues, lenders are often forced to choose efficiency (i.e. get the loans pushed through quickly) over customer service excellence (personal care with each loan). But what if you could have both? “It’s not only possible – it’s already happening,” says STRATMOR MortgageSAT director Mike Seminari. In 2017, just three percent of borrowers said the primary way they received loan updates was by text, mobile app or by logging into their lender’s website. In 2020, that number has grown to 19 percent. In his just-released September MortgageSAT Tip, Seminari offers three suggestions for employing digital update tools to achieve efficiency and delight borrowers at the same time.
Agency Changes at the Wholesale Level
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has been in the news about a planned merger to lead to it going public, but earlier this month it announced 30-year fixed cash-out refinances with rates in 2.5 percent rate range are now available. “UWM introduced this program to help borrowers update, upgrade or repair their homes as the popularity of home improvements continue to surge in America. The Conquest Cash-Out Refinance product is the latest in a series of releases recently announced by UWM including 30-year fixed with rates as low as 1.999 percent, 15-year fixed mortgage with rates as low as 1.875 percent, Conquest conventional loans offering rates as low as 2.5 percent and Conquest VA offering rates as low as 2.25 percent for both purchases and refinances.
Mountain West Financial Wholesale posted COVID-19 FHA Forbearance Guidance in Bulletin 20W-112.
Orion Lending issued a reminder that all agency refinance transactions, with the exception of HomeReady, Home Possible, and loans with loan balances less than $125,000, will be subject to the 50-basis point Adverse Market Refinance Fee. Additionally, Friday, September 25th is the last day to lock for 45 days without being assessed the 50BPS Adverse Market Fee on Conventional Refinances over $125,000.
FAMC provided an impact outline of the implementation of the Adverse Market Refinance Fee. The .50% Adverse Market Refinance Fee will be applicable for new Best-Efforts locks beginning September 14, 2020. Loan amounts less than $125,000 as well as HomeReady and Home Possible transactions are excluded. As a result, the current cash out refinance adjustment for conventional products will be eliminated. The Refinance Fee will also be applicable for loans locked prior to September 14, 2020 that are not purchased by November 6, 2020. The Refinance Fee will be applicable for mandatory commitments beginning October 15, 2020 and any mandatory loans not purchased by November 6, 2020.
Capital Markets
Ever since market volatility increased earlier this year and a myriad of changing forbearance provisions were included in the CARES Act, delinquencies and advances have had a material effect on servicing portfolios. MCT’s Phil Laren, Director of MSR Services, analyzes these effects and provides recommendations for how MCT is assisting clients in his latest published piece, MSR Forbearance in 2020: Challenges and Recommendations. In this paper, he provides a first-hand look at how market volatility, forbearance, prepayment speeds and other factors have affected your MSR portfolio.
Do you need help managing your MSR portfolio? MCT’s MSR Services Team can help you plan for cash advances based on the impact of market volatility on your portfolio. MCT can also help lenders develop their retain-release strategy with MCT’s Enhanced Best Execution (EBX) tool. Contact MCT’s MSR Services Team today for more information.
Looking at the bond market Wednesday, Fed officials yesterday continued their pleas for more government relief. Fed Chair Powell disagreed with congressional suggestions that the Fed favored markets over people during the pandemic and said of the Main Street Lending Program that the Fed has "done basically all of the things that we can think of." Atlanta Fed President Bostic said, “the economic recovery will get much harder, with more permanent job losses unless there's additional fiscal support,” and Vice Chair Clarida chimed in, saying “we are still in a deep hole." The Fed asking for another bailout (in addition to the House passing a stopgap funding bill in Washington) caused a slight pullback in Treasuries although Agency MBS prices held in well. Congress remains deadlocked over how big that package should be, what it should contain and whether there should even be another one.
As far as economic releases went, the FHFA Housing Price Index increased 1.0 percent in September after increasing a revised 1.0 percent (from 0.9 percent) in August. That comes on the heels of August Existing Home Sales posting a 14-year high earlier in the week.
Today we receive August New Home Sales, though the calendar is relatively light on data. Markets have already received initial jobless claims for the week ending September 19 (+28k to 824k) but the Thursday morning jobless claims have become so splintered and varied (seasonal, continuing, California having stopped the process due to fraud) that it is hard to make sense of them! In addition to August new home sales, which are expected to decline marginally from July, the day is again packed with seven Fed speakers. After heavy support the last couple days, the NY Fed will conduct three operations totaling up to $6.4 billion MBS with two targeting up to $2.9 billion 2 percent and 2.5 percent and one targeting up to $669 million UMBS15 2 percent. On the supply side, look for a $50 billion 7-year Treasury note auction, as yesterday's $53 billion 5-year note auction was met with much better demand than Tuesday's 2-year note sale. Thursday starts with Agency MBS prices better a shade and the 10-year yielding .66 after closing yesterday at 0.68 percent.
Jobs
Don’t you want to spend more time on an island tropical paradise? There is a unique opportunity for an experienced Correspondent Operations Manager to join a well-capitalized start-up on the ground floor. “Join our team of industry veterans for this exciting journey, as we build a best-in-class company from the ground up! Must be able to work from the USVIs at least 50% of the time; relocation & housing to be discussed.” Interested parties may send their confidential resume to Chrisman LLC’s Anjelica Nixt for forwarding.
“Caliber Home Loans is excited to let you know about its new podcast called “The Home Connection.” The topics we cover will have a strong appeal to homeowners, realtors, and mortgage professionals, and it’s right for everyone in between, too. Our first two episodes are live. In the first, Andrew Berman of American Business Media gives his insight on how COVID-19 positively impacted the trade show industry. In our second, Caliber’s Stacey Gross will share her expertise on why it’s a good time to buy a home. Our podcast promises to be enlightening and informative. Subscribe and tune in every other Monday on Apple, Google, or Spotify. Caliber Home Loans is an innovative company, and we’re hiring right now. Visit our website today to view open opportunities. To be immediately considered for Operations or Sales positions, email Jonathan Stanley or Brian Miller respectively.”
A seasoned mortgage banking CFO with a proven track record is searching for a new home with a dynamic and growing mortgage bank. Areas of leadership and expertise include capital markets, agency and investor relationships, hedging, servicing, loan sales and delivery, warehouse financing, human resources, compliance, and operations. If you are in need of a passionate financial leader with direct experience in all aspects of mortgage banking please send confidential inquiries to Anjelica Nixt.
“The Citizens Bank Home Mortgage business is breaking records across the industry this year, and we’re looking for professionals who are ready to join a winning team! Here’s a snapshot of our most recent successes. Our Retail Lending channel just reached its third consecutive month of record-breaking purchase business, helping close to 3,500 families with their home purchases. Our Correspondent Lending channel climbed two spots in the IMF rankings to become a Top-10 channel nationally; volume increased 54% from Q1 to Q2, the second largest increase of any other top-25 investor. And our Wholesale Lending channel ended August with its largest funding month in history! If you’re ready to take your mortgage career to the next level, visit jobs.citizensbank.com to see all of our openings.”
Want to join the firm that is ranked the nation’s #1 VA, GNMA and FHA lender for the first half of the year according to Inside Mortgage Finance? The firm that just surpassed a $14B origination month, bolstered by a loan portfolio of over $300 billion in assets AND has some of the happiest employees in mortgage banking according to Glassdoor? The time is NOW to join Freedom Mortgage: bit.ly/SoarWithFreedom. Freedom is safely and remotely hiring thousands in several areas including: underwriting, processing, closing, sales, finance, IT and more! Come #SoarWithUs.
HUD is offering up a Program Analyst position in Washington DC.