Here’s one kind of advice. “Call your Dad now and ask him what the Wi-Fi password is now so he has time to find the little paper it’s written on before Thanksgiving.” What about something in our biz? “Rob, do you know of any warehouse lenders out there that don’t require audited financials?” Are you kidding? Every reputable warehouse bank requires year-end audited financials (despite 2017 being “long ago,”) along with monthly (or quarterly) financials (aka, “interims”) verified & signed by an officer of the company. There are a handful of captive warehouse providers that are also investors that require the funded loan be sold to them and who may be lenient but watch their pricing.
Jobs
“Powerhouse national lender PrimeLending just got stronger in the Midwest with the addition of superstar Branch Manager Cathy Bolton to our Omaha, Nebraska branch. Cathy brings more than 20 years of mortgage experience to PrimeLending after previously working with Franklin American Mortgage Company, Cherry Creek Mortgage and Wells Fargo. Her presence not only makes an impact throughout the greater Omaha area, but helps expand our footprint as a premier lender across the country. Cathy knew there was only one place where she could fulfill her passion for helping clients and business partners navigate the home loan process with ease: PrimeLending. If you’re ready to do the same for your career, connect with Brian Miller to get started.
“Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and Nations Lending is setting the table for continued success in 2019. While other lenders are losing steam in 4Q2018, Nations Lending is staying hungry, moving full-speed ahead with a strategic growth strategy. The focus on retail footprint expansion has already cooked-up opportunities in 8 new markets, and we’re looking for more. Are you ready to join a company that’s being talked about as one of America’s fastest growing private lenders by the prestigious MarketWatch financial and business site? Top producers like yourself shouldn’t settle for ordinary. Don’t become a turkey — seize the day and join Nations Lending — a company staying ahead of the industry curve – by providing more support, better execution, and a track record of closing loans. For more information and opportunity on how to join our growing organization, please visit the company’s website.”
In retail news, Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group® is continuing its expansion throughout the Southeast. Atlantic Bay, headquartered in Virginia Beach, is looking for growth-oriented brokerage companies, high performing mortgage teams, and companies with less than $500 million in sales who want to focus on production by removing obstacles to growth. Brokers who join Atlantic Bay experience growth rates in their personal production from 50 – 80 percent. Direct access to underwriting, secondary support, and realtor-focused marketing have all been drivers for increased growth. Two popular benefits of the Atlantic Bay way are simplicity in the compliance process and a mortgage banker assistant program. Atlantic Bay places great importance on culture, loving where you work, and giving back to the communities it serves. Email Justin Caplan to find out more about working at Atlantic Bay.
Flagstar Bank Retail Lending and Opes Advisors, a division of Flagstar Bank, are growing retail by hiring successful industry professionals around the country. Recent additions include Bryan Russell, branch manager in Las Gatos, CA, Tawnya Lettau Nodder, senior mortgage advisor in San Luis Obispo, CA, Scott Williams, branch manager in Spokane; Jim Demarco, branch manager in Seattle, Bill Lathrop, branch manager in Lacey, WA; Tram Bowen, branch manager in Seattle, Dina Thorsen, branch manager in Pensacola, and Jeff Maggio, branch manager in Baton Rouge. “Seasonality and over-capacity will continue to impact production into year-end, and competition will continue to be fierce,” said Scott Bristol, Flagstar’s new head of national production. “Flagstar is uniquely positioned to add talented people across the country,” he said. “Producers seeking to grow their business with substance, will want to reach out to Opes Advisors, a division of Flagstar Bank and Flagstar Bank’s Retail Lending. Opes has a robust offering, including internal portfolio capabilities, 50-state lending under a federal exemption, and a low cost of funds. Producers and leaders at Opes are benefiting from local opportunities, as well as the capability to originate nationally around their established relationships and centers of influence. To learn more, contact Steve Rennie, (408) 831-5042 or check us out.”
Lender products & services
LendingPad is a leading Cloud-based Loan Origination System (LOS) for retail, wholesale lenders, banks, credit unions and independent mortgage brokers. It acts as a hub connecting customers with wholesalers, service providers and preferred CRM, POS systems. Unique features include same-file multi-user edit capabilities and real-time pushed updates. It’s fast, mobile friendly, with a wide range of customization including forms, labels, fields and milestones. Enterprise Edition provides API to import and export data in/out of the system synchronously. Manage large teams with ease, use built-in controls or add your own, audit controls. It works on any browser off any OS/device. Fast to deploy, easy to implement and administer. Priced reasonably and competitively. Check out LendingPad’s Youtube channel, Capterra reviews for more information. Go to www.lendingpad.com to request a demo.
Angel Oak Prime Bridge has chosen Lendsnap as their Digital Mortgage PoS to radically improve the consumer experience of their Real Estate Investor lending operations. Prime Bridge currently lends in 16 states and is positioned strategically to meet the needs of investors including Fix & Flip, Landlord Financing and Blanket Loans with great ratios. Robert Mulcahy, SVP of Production and Strategic Initiatives reports “Lendsnap enables us to pull 24 months of bank statements in minutes instead of days and pulls new statements automatically. Our investor clients love it because savvy people don’t want to be bothered with tedious document updates.” Lendsnap is excited to partner with Prime Bridge, an innovative firm that’s ahead of the curve. Our web and mobile PoS includes eSignatures for LOE’s and borrower authorizations and an intelligent 1003 powered by PerfectLO. Request a free consultation with CEO Orion Parrott to go Digital with Lendsnap.
Attracting and retaining top originator talent is an increasing challenge in this market. For small and mid-size lenders, technology can play a big role; however, not all providers are created equal. The right platform enables your LOs to be more productive and efficient, delivering trust in your organization to invest in their future. Maxwell stands out from all other digital mortgage providers. They allow entire teams of LOs to incorporate technology as a natural extension of their work, allowing them to accomplish more every day, delight their referral partners, and attract new business. Maxwell was developed with input from thousands of LOs. The efficacy of their intuitive design is apparent in their high adoption rates across lending businesses. Request a demo to learn more about Maxwell today.
“I don’t know why anyone would want to do anything different than this!” Mortgage Lenders are praising SCP Onsite Compliance, a total compliance management system offered by Strategic Compliance Partners. SCP Onsite includes a dedicated onsite Compliance Officer supported by team of consultants, attorneys, and tech solutions combined with the all the compliance services and support a mortgage lender needs to be compliant and grow – all at a fixed-cost. “Why would you ever want to recruit a Compliance Officer on your own again when you can get a better compliance solution and save tons of money at the same time?!” To learn how you can benefit from SCP Onsite today, email Leslie Benjamin (646.418.6635) for a free compliance savings evaluation that could save you $100,000 or more.
Fannie & Freddie’s future
Folks are talking about this article in the Wall Street Journal. “Split power in Congress means lawmakers are unlikely to overhaul how the government backstops more than half the U.S. mortgage market. That provides an opportunity for the Trump administration to take steps on its own—and the industry is lobbying to soften any potential changes… The White House is expected to consider steps in the coming months that could reduce the government’s footprint in backstopping the market through mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“There are limits on what the administration can do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac absent legislation. But their overseer, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has the authority to raise fees on lenders and adjust the size of loans the companies can buy, among other things. The president is expected to nominate a successor to the agency’s Obama-appointed director in the coming weeks. The changes under consideration wouldn’t affect existing mortgages but could make it tougher and more expensive for people to get new ones.
“Some two dozen housing groups urged Washington policy makers in a September open letter to take ‘great care’ that any efforts to remove Fannie and Freddie from government control ‘are prudently developed and implemented over a sensible time horizon.’ Getting Fannie and Freddie out of government conservatorship is the largest piece of unfinished business from the crisis era. While lawmakers have said overhauling the companies is a priority, they disagree on how to do it. The split in Congress come January means there is likely even less of a chance that legislation affecting Fannie and Freddie will become law.
“In the coming weeks, the Trump administration is expected to signal its intentions for the companies when it nominates a successor to current FHFA Director Mel Watt. A conservative FHFA chief focused on drastically shrinking the government’s role in housing could raise the fees the companies charge lenders to guarantee loans, potentially making it more expensive for borrowers to complete a loan backed by Fannie or Freddie. The new FHFA director also could decrease the maximum size of a loan that the companies could purchase, reversing increases during Mr. Watt’s tenure that allowed larger loans to get Fannie and Freddie’s backing. Such a move could have outsize effects in expensive coastal states such as California and New York, according to housing experts.
“In Congress, it remains unlikely that lawmakers will be able to overcome major philosophical differences to hammer out any deal, despite pledges from some of them. Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), the expected new head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, recently said she would make the issue a priority. Senate Republicans, likewise, have put the issue at the top of their to-do list.”
Moelis & Company, a global independent investment bank and financial advisor to certain non-litigating junior preferred shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced the release of the Blueprint for Restoring Safety and Soundness to the GSEs: One Year Later.
In response to the Moelis release Dave Stevens (ex-MBA president) wrote, “While the most thoughtful plan offered by shareholder interests, that is not enough. Their primary objective is monetizing the stock – it’s the wrong priority, and this is a critical point. The collective ‘we’ will only have one chance to get it right – and sending them back in the wild before defining both purpose and boundaries is the wrong order. Keep in mind that all of the regulatory fixes they propose can be done today by the regulator without recapitalization. In fact, the regulator has more authority as Conservator to make these changes than it will post conservatorship. What makes anyone think that will somehow magically happen if we start recapping them?”
Dave points out several issues that Moelis is correct on: it was not the core TBA guaranty book but rather the actions taken with the portfolios of both firms in purchasing lower quality and riskier PLS, subprime, and alt-a mortgage product, the principles set forth by Moelis appeal to most stakeholders (protecting the taxpayer, leveling the playing field permanently for all lenders regardless of size, and affirming the affordable lending regime that currently exists today), and pointing out the deficiencies in size and scope of GNMA (understaffed, overwhelmed, and undercapitalized).
Mr. Stevens also opines that the Moelis write up has several problems. For example, all profits from both institutions go to the taxpayer, so it is difficult to imagine how the taxpayer would manage to reap greater returns by selling its position. The plan starts with recapitalization. In essence, they are putting fuel back into the tank of the car before it is fixed. This poses the very real risk that we never fix the car adequately before it’s entirely refueled and ready to drive off. “Frankly, the housing system might be better off retaining the current structure than letting free market capitalism with a government backstop back out in the open before insuring that they are framed in with the appropriate policies and a commitment behind them and to the markets for safety and sustainability first.”
While agreeing that an explicit federal backstop is needed, Moelis explains that this requires legislation. “Investors in a forward-looking global market will ultimately have to believe that the US Government will bail these entities out in the future just as they did a decade ago. The plan leaves in place the duopoly model. Unless we end the system’s reliance on a TBTF duopoly we are simply not addressing the fundamental flaw in incentives that got us into so much trouble. You can do that by increasing the number of guarantors so that anyone can fail, or collapsing them into one that is treated like a market utility. But you’ve got to do one or the other to have any real reform. The duopoly model would be the worst of all outcomes, resulting in too much risk and too little competition.”
Capital markets
The U.S. 10-year closed the week -5bps to yield 3.19% after the release of a “hotter than expected” PPI (Producer Price Index) report for October.
All that is happening today since it is Veterans Day is San Francisco Fed President Daly speaking. When the bond market opens tomorrow, we have the NFIB Business Optimism Index for October. We also have Fedspeak and the October budget deficit. Wednesday, we receive the weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior -4.0%) and October Consumer Price Index (prior 0.1%).
Thursday brings October Retail Sales (prior 0.1%), Jobless Claims, November Empire Manufacturing (prior 21.1), and October import/export prices before the week concludes with October Industrial Production (prior 0.3%) and Capacity Utilization (prior 78.1%).
With the U.S. bond markets closed today, there is no market to discuss. Many lenders will still publish a rate sheet, however, despite a) not being able to use an active U.S. bond market, and b) not being able to sell mortgage-backed securities to hedge locks. If you’re driving in a thick fog, you’re probably not going to drive 65 mph.
Veterans are people who, at one point in their lives, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America, for an amount up to and including their lives. Remember ALL of our Vets. Vets and active military personnel are eligible for free items or discounts at many stores and services: ATT, Lowes, Home Depot, the list goes on and on – pass this link on to vets!
Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “The Rise of the Credit Unions.” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.
Rob
(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. Currently there are hundreds of mortgage professionals looking for operations, secondary and management roles. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2018 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)
ABLEnding 