Mark Fogarty

The Nambe Pueblo Housing Entity, which is developing homes for members of its small (650 people) pueblo Indian tribe, knows it is a slow process to make the desert bloom with snug new houses.

While a lot of the president's remarks seem like warmed-up leftovers to those who follow the industry, there were a couple of interesting things a little farther down the prompter.

Eminent domain is a bad idea. Let’s put this as clearly as possible: cities, counties, don’t do it.

There has never been a time in recent memory that the mortgage business has been crippled by excessive regulation, but that could change.

Excessive housing cost burden is a big negative in a housing market that is continuing to turn around.

Housing bonds turned a hefty 80% gain for the first half even as the entire municipal bond market was showing a 12% decline.

Is the mortgage market robust enough to say no thanks to the Fed’s easing, which has kept rates at record lows for years.

Many American Indian reservations are mortgage deserts, with lenders avoiding them like the plague because of difficulties over land status, persistent poverty, and lack of lending infrastructure.

Mortgage industry executives may be forgiven for thinking that housing bonds are starting to look like pass-through mortgage-backed securities. They are.

Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation has included several housing initiatives in honoring 25 innovative government-related programs.

Housing developers looking for ways to build energy-efficient and culturally relevant housing now have a model for the task.

If you want to get something out to the industry in a hurry, Twitter is one of the fastest methods to get it done.

What do you think would happen if the CEOs and CTOs of mortgage companies were to switch jobs for a week?

The stalled market for distressed mortgage assets seems to have finally gotten untracked and a viable secondary market for these assets is heating up.

Mortgage bankers we spoke to recently felt there is no new bubble forming, and that what is happening is a normal correction. We hope they are right!

Mortgage bankers are not too worried about a new housing bubble forming as national real estate values rise by 10% per year.

What’s the No. 1 thing on any employee’s mind? It’s how do I get paid?

Servicers are performing origination functions, often using laid-off originators to do the work.

During 2012, the business as a whole added 29,000 jobs, an 11% boost not just to the niche but to the entire national economy.

I always have my eye out for booming sectors in the mortgage business, and I think I’ve found one.