What We're Hearing

First, off I'd like to thank the White House and Congress -- and all those consumer activist groups (accept maybe ACORN) -- for putting the heat on mortgage servicers to do more with loan modifications. We can talk all we want about the $787 billion "stimulus" package but the swelling tidal wave of delinquent loans, to some degree, creates jobs. The more loans go south, the more need there is for loan modification experts, REO managers, auctioneers and so on. So, this morning when I saw that the national unemployment rate had fallen to 10% in November, I thought, "Wow, can that number be right?" On Thursday word was already leaking out that the White House was anticipating that the October reading of 10.2% might edge even higher. Today, the White House staff is giving each other 'high fives,' while praying that they don't have to revise the number upward next month. One mortgage lender in New Jersey told me this morning, "I know a lot of guys who were on the trading floors are saying their jobs are just gone and never coming back." In a few months we'll know whether the job picture is truly better or whether it's all a mirage. Let's hope for the sake of the nation's workforce (and all the state and federal budgets that depend on worker tax revenue) that we've turned the corner. In an hour or so National Mortgage News will post the mortgage employment numbers on its website: http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/...