So, 2020 is off to a good start, right? I mean there isn’t too much going on… the 10-year bond fell under 0.400% and subsequently split from its normal trend of following the MBS market, we saw the largest single day drop in the Dow’s history, then the largest single day rally, then Non-QM lenders “paused” their lending activities (c’mon nobody “pauses”) after their securities dried up, Jumbo Lending, HA! Forget about it… for now at least, margin calls are depleting independe

As the summer months start to take shape it appears as if there is a refinance storm brewing. The Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday that touted strong phrases like “trade tensions” and “dark economic outlook”. Now, most people would read this article and *gasp* at the fear that our strong economy looks more like that picture of flabby Arnold Schwarzenegger… but not the mortgage industry. Every single one of us is waiting in the wings licking our chops with dr

You know, just when I thought our industry had gone soft… the week of March 25th, 2019 happened, and we totally redeemed ourselves (think Harry Dunn in Dumb & Dumber)!! Let’s take a look around the industry and see what the heck has been happening! March 25th – Goldman Sachs issued its first MBS (since before the crash) with a mix of prime jumbo loans & Fannie/Freddie eligible product March 26th – Anthony Casa declares war on retail lenders claiming they are overcharging vete

In 1997 Paula Cole came out with the smash hit “Where have all the cowboys gone?” and as I sipped my cup of Folgers (don’t judge me… boujee coffee just doesn’t do it for me) and read this Wall Street Journal article I couldn’t help but sing the catchy tune. WSJ reported that jumbo mortgage originations have dropped 12% over the last year and are down 27% from their post-crisis peak in 2017 (data was provided by Inside Mortgage Finance). This has created a ripple effect at the

Okay, so I’m working out getting back into the swing of things with the blog and what I’m realizing is that developing brand new content is exhausting… especially considering the fact that writing about the mortgage industry means re-purposing the same thing over and over again. So… with that in mind. Let’s just take a quick spin around the horn and look at what happened this week. First and foremost, let’s take a look at the 10-year Treasury Note. We’re sitting around the mi

Home prices are up, inventory is down, lets increase rates a little bit and see what happens. I imagine that’s how the conversation in Jackson Hole went yesterday. With a rate hike coming in September I think I’m officially a believer in this 2020 recession theory. I’m also starting to question whether the Feds are in on it. It’s easy to turn on the news and see that unemployment is at an all-time low. However, there is an interesting conversation about underemployment going

There has been a large movement happening inside of the Wholesale Lending space and if you haven’t been following the BRAWL Movement (Brokers Rallying Against Whole-tail Lenders) …let me catch you up to speed. Late last year, mortgage brokers took arms against wholesale lenders who were stealing their customers. If you happen to follow any brokers on LinkedIn, you’ll find some pretty amazing videos of them tearing up their contracts with alleged “Whole-tail” lenders. Well… it

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the delay in getting the blog back up and running. As I mentioned in my last post we’ve been growing as a company and as a result, certain things (the blog) had to take a back seat… but we’re back! To be perfectly honest with you writing about our industry is boring… we drone on and on about the same things day in and day out (I said this before… I don’t need to elaborate any further). So… with that in mind, I’m going to try a

$8,957. That was the per loan cost to originate a mortgage in Q1 of 2018. We haven’t seen the costs this high since 2013 – 2014 and it doesn’t appear that things are going to change any time soon. As an industry we lost $118 per loan in the first quarter and Loan Officers are reporting negative profits for the first time in a while. Soooo… what’s causing this mess?! The truth is it’s a bunch of different things, but let’s not act like we didn’t know this was coming. Productio

Before we get into our newest message from our CEO… I’d like to shout out the country of Italy for creating some political turmoil. You can check out more on the situation by clicking here. I hate to say it because I know it’ll be devastating for the world economy… but if Italy moves their vote up to July and exits the European Union we’ll have Brexit round 2 just in time for the end of summer/early fall season. Don’t bank on it… just be ready! Industry news aside… I’m happy

In February 1976 Maxine Nightingale’s version of “Right Back Where We Started From” hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 list… so what’s that have to do with the mortgage industry? Well… other than it being a great song it doesn’t have much to do with this blog or the mortgage industry. However, it seems that our industry is coming along and we’re getting back (kinda) where we started from. The 10-yr is back down below 3% at 2.934%... the lowest it’s been since mid-April. We’re no

Yesterday, the leader of the free world did what he tends to so often… talk. However, what he said (meeting with North Korea probably won’t happen and that he’s not satisfied with the latest trade talks with China) helped the mortgage industry by driving investors to safer assets (U.S. Government Bonds) thus driving the 10-yr Treasury down 5 basis points from 3.125% to 3.012%. It’s not a significant drop, but it’s something… it’ll probably be all for not though, as the Fed wi

Over the past week or so we’ve diverted our attention off the details of the mortgage industry to discuss more whimsical topics… like the Pittsburgh Marathon, Amazon and Apple’s breach into the housing market and why you should move to Charleston, SC… so I’d like to roll up our sleeves are dive back into the details. First and foremost, the 10-yr Treasury is up over 3% and will probably stay that way until the end of the year. It’s time to get used to these numbers…4.5%, 4.62

It’s funny to me that as a nation we can’t just bask in the fact that our economy is strong. It’s good right now. It’s healthy (kinda). The US Dollar is worth more. Gas is $3 bucks a gallon and nobody is complaining. Nobody wants to refinance their home… unless of course it’s a cash out (everybody needs cash) and current homeowners won’t give up their property unless top dollar is offered… which in most cases it is. So… why worry? Why shouldn’t we just enjoy this strong econo

The 10-year Treasury Note is about 25bps from hitting 3%. This is the 10-year’s highest level since January of 2014. Okay? So, what does that mean? Well… the 10-year Treasury yield is a good barometer for long-term fixed rate loan products and when the 10-year goes up, typically mortgage interest rates follow suit. Typically, stock market movement like we’ve seen means that investors will move their money to the bond market, but because of growing concerns for the U.S. defici

Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is ragin'. It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'. Bob Dylan wrote this song in 1963 and 55 years later it’s still kinda relevant. Now, I’m no theorist or academic scholar, but there must be a reason why this song still holds up after 5 decades

Greetings from New Jersey! To top off an already jammed pack week our Operations Manager, Matt Pfrommer and I will brave Nor’easter and head back across Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh later this afternoon. Road trips are already fun (again, lots of sarcasm here), but add in snow/rain cover roads along with 50 mph winds… it should be a real treat! Speaking of treats… seeing the 10 Year Treasury drop 6bps yesterday was a tasty one! Lenders across the board repriced for the better (

Yesterday, we saw a huge sell off in the bond market that led to… quite honestly, scary looking rate sheets. Mortgage rates aren’t entirely dependent on the 10-year Treasury note, but for the most part it’s the best barometer we (the mortgage industry) have to anticipate where rates are going to be… after yesterday we saw the 10-year at it’s highest since 2014 at 2.727. Long gone are the days of the sleek 3.5% rate… the reality is that we’re living in the 4% bucket now, so hu