Loan Think

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.

JPMorgan Chase released its mortgage earnings this morning (along with all that banking stuff that our readers probably don't care about) and it sure as heck looked ugly on the revenue side: Just $696 million in residential-related revenue in 1Q compared to $2.78 billion in 4Q.

In case you are just tuning in to this article we have been covering a very important marketing lesson. It’s one that might explain why your current marketing efforts may not be working.

Yesterday National Mortgage News broke the news that Southern Trust Mortgage Co. of Virginia Beach had exited the wholesale channel, citing what it calls "increasing compliance implications" tied to the Federal Reserve's new loan officer compensation rule. Translation: management didn’t want to hassle with the reporting requirements and compliance.