Loan Think

In case you are just tuning into this article we have been covering a very important marketing lesson. One that might explain why your current marketing efforts may not be working. Last week we spoke about the Market and how you really need to know your market and their issues before you can effectively market to them. If you haven’t answered the questions from that article go back and do that now -- We’ll wait.

If it weren't for those darn mortgage lenders and their ultra-tight underwriting standards, the housing market would be much improved, or so the National Association of Realtors keeps telling us every month when the new existing home sales figures come out.

Whether the U.S. is in an economic recovery or not is debatable. But things are easing for many small businesses; even mortgage originators with a purchase orientation are seeing signs of better times ahead.

If ever there was a conundrum to improving housing values it’s the riddle of underwriting. Few will disagree that during the housing boom lenders such as Ameriquest and New Century would fund almost any type of mortgage as long as the borrower was still breathing.

Usually, when the stock market tanks money moves into bonds, driving up prices and lowering yields. Not today, though. As of this writing the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 200 points and the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was up slightly at 3.41%.

On April 8, FIRST AMERICAN MORTGAGE TRUST OF BROOKLINE, MASS., and the Federal Housing Administration's Mortgagee Review Board announced a settlement agreement for failing to fully verify whether borrowers could sustain their mortgage payments prior to refinancing their loans.

THIS JUST IN: In Monday’s National Mortgage News (the paper version, that is) you’ll see a story about the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals throwing in the towel on its lawsuit against the Federal Reserve. However, NAIHP chief Marc Savitt promised that he’s not done fighting the loan officer compensation rule—though he’s not ready to reveal his exact strategy either.

Leif Thomson is the founder and CEO of Mortgage Master, one of the largest retail home lenders in all of New England. The firm has been around for 24 years – in good times and bad.

On Thursday afternoon Congress will hold a hearing on the 'qualified residential mortgage' test and what it means for the industry and the world at large. But if you think Congress or banking regulators will cut lenders any slack on the 20% downpayment measurement, you can forget about it.

I just completed a killer interview with Denise Phillippi, a branch manager in Overland Park, Kans. Every single week, she has at least one file transferred to her (requested by the real estate agent or the buyer) because her competition simply screwed up.