Loan Think

Personal energy is the only real asset that you have and you must protect it fearlessly. Unlike your car’s need for fuel, your personal need for energy is very complicated. The consequence of running low on personal energy is very damaging to your life.

Mortgage rates fell like a rock in Q4, that is, until early December. Now lenders (and consumers) are facing a benchmark 10-year Treasury that on Thursday morning was yielding north of 3.5%. Still, it should be pointed out that servicing balances at yearend were strong (according to preliminary 4Q figures compiled by National Mortgage News' Quarterly Data Report) with many firms reporting gains in their receivables.

Are you super challenged about the state of your business? Take note. There is a reason that old adages become old adages; it is because they say something true.

It appears that certain regulatory agencies want the 'qualified residential mortgage' test to be written in such a way that a QRM loan will be one with a downpayment of at least 10%. (If that happens you can bet that Wells Fargo will place a huge order for champagne.)

In last week's article we spoke about the one sentence that will generate more clients for you. Here’s the sentence: People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions and help them throw rocks at their enemies.

If you were listening to Ally Financial's fourth quarter earnings conference call this morning (as I was) you would've been struck by two things: (1)Boy, this company loves all facets of the auto finance business (2)it doesn't seem to fear, in the least, residential buyback claims from investors who bought GMAC's nonprime MBS during the go-go years.

Given all the trouble the mortgage broker industry has been through in the past three years, if a loan officer went up to his or her friends and told them he or she was opening up their own shop, the LO would get back a very puzzled look at best.

What will the legacy of the robo-signing scandal be? Will it be more careful servicers who don’t cut corners under pressure from huge pipelines of foreclosures? Will it be large settlement payouts by the largest servicers involved in the mess?

There's talk that an Irvine-based company called Roosevelt Management has received significant backing from Texas Pacific Group to buy distressed residential mortgage loans and has been quite active lately. A few of Roosevelt's top executives used to work at C-BASS.

As of Jan. 1, the Department of Real Estate has issued over 22,000 mortgage loan originator license endorsements. MLO license endorsements applications continue to flood in and the DRE expects to eventually issue over 30,000 endorsements. (cadrepr12011)