Loan Think

On Monday the Federal Reserve's point man on loan officer compensation, Paul Mondor, was a no show at a legislative conference sponsored by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. From what I understand, the week prior he had accepted an invitation to speak at the meeting — but that was before NAMB sued the Fed over the very same loan officer comp rule.

Our industry is going thru some major changes. Just when you thought you had seen it all we are now faced with some additional changes related to loan officer compensation. To me it feels as if we have been kicked, beaten up and are now being spit on while we are lying on the ground.

Mortgage originators that have been quietly trimming heads the past two months may want to call back some of their laid off workforce. Tuesday morning, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was down in the low 3.2% range compared to almost 3.8% a few weeks back.

In the neighborhood I live in, the bagel business is highly competitive. There are six stores that specialize in the product in my zip code and the adjoining one.

If anyone thought the nation's megabanks were going to take the "regulators' medicine" with their mouths widen open, they thought wrong.

AB 406- This bill would PROHIBIT BALLOON PAYMENTS from being included in the terms of an adjustable rate loan, as defined, for real property containing one to four residential units secured by a mortgage or deed of trust on real property.

THIS JUST IN: With fears mounting that the government may soon radically alter servicing compensation, at least one Wall Street firm is making the rounds offering a “sale leaseback” deal to some of the nation's largest holders of MSRs.

It used to be that if Fannie Mae did something it was a sure bet that "little brother" Freddie Mac soon would follow. But that may not be the case on revamping how servicers are paid by the GSEs.

What were you doing in 1999? Do you remember? Well, in 1999, I had 16 spec houses for sale. I was running a housing business that was running out of cash very quickly. I was doing my best to stay afloat. I needed more pull through and I started looking around for a resource to help me.

When the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals sued the Federal Reserve on Monday, the trade group kept it "all business" by naming the agency only. But not the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.