What do we have to look forward to? The next Federal holiday isn’t until the end of May (Memorial Day). There’s Easter, a month and a half away (April 4), and most states’ clocks “spring ahead” on March 14. The employees of People’s United Financial, Inc. and M&T Bank can look forward to working through their $7.6 billion announced merger/M&T acquisition. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae can look forward to earnings. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac funded about 1.2 million adverse market qualified refinance mortgages totaling $350 billion from Dec. 1 through Jan. 31, according to IMF. At a one half-point charge, that’s a jaw-dropping $1.75 billion in adverse market fees collected in the first 60 days. Besides people wondering where the “adverse market” is, what is the motivation for the U.S. Government to cut them loose? Yes, those involved in residential lending tend to be doing well. Home life? Maybe not so much. Thank you to Ken S. who sent this musical update on staying at home during the pandemic.
Employment & hires
loanDepot Wholesale is looking for two new Operations leaders in the Midwest & South regions to oversee Operations and support regional growth through strategic leadership and collaboration with Divisional and Regional Sales Leaders. The right Leaders will be dynamic and highly motivated with a strong desire to be an integral part of taking their Region to the next level. To learn more about these exciting opportunities, click on your market of interest Regional Operations Director – Chicago, IL or Regional Operations Director – Tampa, FL.
“Caliber Home Loans is proud to be a lender that puts our veteran and active-duty service members first. We’ve helped over 80,000 military families receive VA loan funding since 2016. Caliber is always working to improve customer experience, which is why we’ve launched a redesigned and revamped military website. The new design gives military families easy access to countless solutions from one of our 700 designated VA loan consultants. Our website has everything a loan consultant needs to assist customers with calculating a mortgage payment or learning about Caliber’s Challenge Coin. We’ve been a Military Friendly® Brand five years in a row for a reason — we’re dedicated to our American heroes. Visit our new military website. To be immediately considered for Operations or Sales positions, email Jonathan Stanley or Brian Miller respectively.”
Unmatched marketing platform for originators at no cost: Geneva Financial has been named the #1 Mortgage Lender by consumers in Arizona, home of our Corporate Office, on the 24th Annual Ranking Arizona Consumer Poll of best businesses! Further proof that Home Loans Powered By Humans® is the mortgage experience consumers want and expect! Geneva Financial is filling Branch Manager and Loan Officer positions in 44 states. With the recent addition of a National Operations Manager focused on industry-leading turn-times, Geneva is committed to closing your deals while paying you more! Explore Branch and Originator opportunities and our unmatched no-cost marketing platform for our Originators.
Knock, the real estate technology company, has hired mortgage and home loan industry vet Laura Gray as Head of Lending to “lead the day-to-day operations of Knock’s innovative lending operation that powers the Knock Home Swap™, a revolutionary way for homeowners to buy their new home before they sell.”
Shane Jones recently joined SLK Global Solutions as VP tax outsourcing operations. Jones, with his 25-plus-year career, wrote that servicers are working “through a record number of residential onboardings due to tremendous refinance volume.” He added, “I am glad to be a part of a company whose vision is to help clients drive tangible business outcomes and make the tax servicing process simpler for lenders.”
Spring EQ hired Saket Nigam to be its SVP, Capital Markets, responsible for leading the company’s continued growth in the consumer-direct and wholesale mortgage markets for first and second mortgage products.
Broker & lender products and services
Exciting things are happening at TCF Bank! TCF continues to expand programs by lending to 89.99% CLTV on purchases, refinances and piggyback delayed transactions where the first has closed within the last 90 days. TCF also makes it easier for transactions that require a non-occupant co-borrower, borrowers with all types of visas and borrowers with limited assets. Recently, the MBA reported a record-high $20.4 trillion in homeowner equity in the third quarter of 2020. It’s a great time to help borrowers leverage the equity in their home for their immediate or future needs. As a leader in home equity lending for third-party partners, TCF continues what it started in 2012. See the difference that years of experience in this space can provide to you and your borrowers. ©2021 TCF National Bank. Equal Opportunity Lender. Equal Housing Lender. Member FDIC. For approved professionals only. All loans are subject to credit approval.
“RM Analyze: Business Intelligence by Richey May. RM Analyze, Richey May’s business intelligence platform, is the analytics “easy button” for mortgage companies. In a volatile industry currently enjoying a tremendous swell in production, you can’t afford to wait for your data or build a solution on your own. RM Analyze is out-of-the-box BI that is built and supported by consultants with decades of cumulative mortgage experience. It connects to any source of data (LOS, GL, CRM, HRIS, and more) to help you see clearly into your business. With mobile in mind, you can get clear visualizations into any department within your business right in the palm of your hand. Log in from your laptop, desktop, tablet, or phone to see all of the metrics you need. From Production, Operations, Finance, and more, RM Analyze meets your data needs from end to end. Contact us to schedule a demo.”
Are you ready for FHA Streamline opportunities in this market? Learn how to efficiently submit your files once for a final approval! Join Freedom Mortgage Wholesale for a live webinar training session on FHA Streamline mortgage products and origination processes. Ideal for new or experienced government originators. Sign up for an FHA Streamline webinar on 3/02.
“MAXEX brings together the industry’s most active investors to simplify liquidity for non-agency loans. We recently expanded our national sales team and are happy to welcome Steven R. Valladares, CMB as Head of Sales as well as Kelly Krause, Paul Chessare, Susan Ramos and SuSheila Dhillon to our national account team. Visit us at maxex.com to learn about how you can get competitive daily pricing, fast liquidity, and better execution on a broad range of programs including jumbo, non-QM, ESG and more.”
Wholesale lenders continue to adopt ReadyPrice as an innovative new way to enhance their product’s reach, improve the quality of loan submissions, and make loan delivery effortless. As MLO’s across the country are signing up daily for instant access to the ReadyPrice platform, there is no better time for mortgage lenders specializing in all types of loan products to consider ReadyPrice as one option to broaden their broker base. Schedule a call with ReadyPrice founder Rick Soukoulis today or visit www.readyprice.com/lenders to learn more.
“Imagine the critical insights you could gain from daily, near real-time loan-level information on the majority of U.S. mortgages. Whether you’re an asset manager, MBS trader, servicing portfolio manager or other industry professional, the ability to perform intra-month analyses would be a game changer. With Black Knight’s McDash℠ data you can do just that. Our McDash mortgage-performance data set now offers an option for clients to get daily delinquency, forbearance and payment data, an industry first. Our servicer-contributed McDash data spans the full spectrum of agency, non-agency, and portfolio mortgages so you have visibility into a comprehensive representation of loans. If you’re buying and selling MBSs, valuing MSRs, creating retention strategies or involved in other high-stakes activities, why not include the most current loan-level data available as part of your analysis? Schedule a demo today.”
Conventional conforming shifts
As a reminder, the Agencies extended the flexibilities related to COVID-19. For example, here is Freddie Mac’s Bulletin 2021-7.
Fannie Mae issued updates to the impact of COVID-19 on Originations in LL-2021-03 extending the verbal verifications of employment and power of attorney flexibilities to March 31st. Also,
LL-2021-04 extends the temporary flexibilities on appraisals due to COVID-19 until March 31st.
Fannie Mae has updated servicing requirements due to the Impact of COVID-19 including extending the suspension of certain foreclosure-related activities discussed in LL-2021-02 and changes to the COVID-19 Payment Deferral Lender Letter formerly addressed in LL-2020-07, updated in LL-2021-07.
Earlier this month, Fannie Mae issued Lender Letter LL-2021-05, elaborating on Fannie’s advanced notice of its intention to cease purchasing Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM) products that use the Constant Maturity Treasury (CMT) index as described in Lender Letter LL-2020-02.
PennyMac Correspondent posted a new announcement regarding aligning with the Freddie Mac reduction to the maximum LTV for Home Possible Mortgages secured by 2- to 4-unit properties. In announcement 21-09, PennyMac provided information regarding its alignment with Fannie Mae SEL 2020-07, with the exception of the updates on single-width manufactured homes and community land trusts. PennyMac is aligning with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidance for borrowers using self-employment income to qualify and the age of tax return requirements from Freddie Mac. View the PennyMac Correspondent Group Announcement 21-12 for details.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are updating guidance to clarify requirements when solar panels are leased, financed, or owned. Read the Mountain West Financial Wholesale Bulletin 21W-015 for more information.
Plaza Home offers Agency Express for Fannie Mae® and Freddie Mac loans. Visit its information page for more details.
In Bulletin 2020-43, Freddie Mac updated its delivery requirements for two- to four-unit condominium (condo) projects and detached condo units. Purchase deadline for Loans underwritten to current Freddie Mac requirements must be purchased by Wells Fargo Funding prior to April 3, 2021.
This loanDepot Weekly Announcement discusses overlay matrix updates to Conventional, COVID-19 extensions and self-employment updates from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and product expansions on its loanDepot Select.
PRMG’s Resource Center has been updated with the following changes: updated AUS Tolerance Requirements, the addition of Account Executive and Account Manager Assignments – 117 (Wholesale), updated Tax Transcript / Tax Return Requirements, updated LoanBeam – Using with Freddie Mac LPA, the addition of Bulk PMI Quotes and posted updated Optimal Blue TPO User Guide (Wholesale).
Effective Monday, March 1, Flagstar Bank will only accept the redesigned URLA as mandated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To support the redesigned URLA, Rural Development is implementing a new Guaranteed Underwriting System effective Monday, March 1, 2021 Read Flagstar’s Memo 21024 for details.
Capital markets
Last week’s announcement regarding January’s surge in retail sales surprised all 68 economists on Bloomberg and highlighted the swiftness of the $900 billion stimulus flowing through the economy as most households received direct payments early in the month. With another, larger round of stimulus likely on tap, economists are adjusting their forecasts reflecting stronger personal income than previously expected that could bring forward spending from later quarters to the first half of the year. Should additional stimulus continue to buoy consumer spending imports may see a strong pace of growth as demand outstrips current inventory levels. Despite the drag rising imports have on GDP, economists are forecasting GDP growth for 2021 to be in the 4 – 6 percent range, which would mark the strongest annual pace of growth in over twenty years. This is also affecting market opinions on inflation as well and the direction of interest rates, which have trended higher although no one is currently forecasting runaway inflation. The Federal Reserve is content to leave monetary policy alone until employment sufficiently rebounds.
Last week closed with a strong Existing Home Sales report for January, which contributed to the daylong retreat in Treasuries, while the MBS basis ended tighter. Existing home sales increased 0.6 percent month-over-month in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million. Total sales in January were up 23.7 percent from a year ago despite the supply of existing homes for sale being at an all-time low. The 10-year Treasury note ended the week up +15 bps from where it started. More importantly, the Mortgage News Daily 30-year rate registered 3.04 percent, up +18 bps on the week. The combination of low homes inventory and increasing mortgage rates presents a big issue for affordability going forward.
For the week, the NY Fed Desk purchased an average of $6 billion per day versus $8.3 billion in originator supply. 66 percent was in Class A with the other 34 percent split evenly between Class B and Class C. Today’s schedule sees the Desk purchasing up to $7.6 billion MBS, including over $6.2 billion UMBS30s. Depository banks seem to be buying the lion’s share of the remaining Agency MBS.
This month-end week sees some potential major market moving events between the $183 billion in month-end coupon supply and Fed Chair Powell’s Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress. On the data front, investors will receive updates on consumer confidence, Q4 GDP and personal income and spending. Today’s economic calendar is already underway with the Chicago Fed National Activity Index for January (up to +.66). Later this morning brings the Leading Index for January and Dallas Fed Texas manufacturing for February. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices worse/down .250 and the 10-year yielding 1.36 after closing last week at 1.35 percent on continued expectations of the economy picking up steam as vaccinations increase.
AIDS Warning!
Senior citizens are the nation’s leading carriers of AIDS!
Hearing aids
Band aids
Roll aids
Walking aids
Medical aids
Government aids
Most of all, monetary aid to their kids
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, “Servicing: A Valuable Asset”. The Commentary’s podcast is live and at any place you obtain your podcasts (like Apple or Spotify).
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(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. This newsletter is designed for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2021 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)
Source: Rob Chrisman
- Feb. 26: Lenders hiring MLOs; correspondent, tech, servicing, tech products; what you should know about yesterday’s rate move - February 26, 2021
- Feb. 26: Lenders hiring MLOs; correspondent, tech, servicing, tech products; what you should know about yesterday’s rate move - February 26, 2021
- Feb. 25: Ops, MLO jobs; cap. mkts., valuation, default, fulfillment tools; technology & processing notes - February 25, 2021