Loan Think

Just wanted to give you a few more observations from Barry Habib from his presentation at the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City.

As if today's changing regulatory environment was not enough for the industry to contend with, the recent federal government and state attorneys general settlement for $25 billion with the country's top servicers has added a new wrinkle.

If we’re going to tackle our industry’s areas of weakness, we need to be able to define risk. We need a standardized way to classify the various types of risk.

What's the most common complaint I hear these days from mortgage executives? Answer: too much regulation. I'm not going to sit here and tell you to "get used to it" but we all know that given the continued housing recession/depression that there will be no easing up on the regulatory climate any time soon.

Mortgage originators have a moment now that could be their defining moment in dealing with consumers, declared Barry Habib, one of the industry's top trainers. I had the opportunity to once again listen to Barry give his views on the mortgage market, this time at the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City.

The inaugural Zillow Rent Index shows "a healthy and growing rental market" across most of the country, even as home values continue to fall. And according to Zillow's chief economist Stan Humphries, rents are not rising at the expense of home values. "The opposite is true."

Remember the good old days when mortgage bankers were considered the "good guys," the ones who put people in houses? And remember when it appeared that plenty of outside capital was itching to get into this industry?

In my last article I started by saying that whether you like it are not, you are a manager. The only question: Are you a good manager?

Everyone knows that if you are looking to purchase a home, the time has never been better than right now. Tenacious builders that survived the housing market plunge are gearing up; they are building new homes and remodeling existing ones at a rate that we have not seen for many years.

It's hard out there for an LO - unless, of course, you have purchase money experience. The ongoing refinancing boom won't last forever. (Then again, we've heard that before.) Talk to any mortgage CEO or sales executive and chances are he'll tell you that he's hiring - but only loan officers with key contacts with Realtors and builders, which means housing may finally be poised for a true recovery.