Community Lending Program News Today

Not all, but many, capital markets folks spent their college years rolling up their sleeves. Some not so much. When originators are asked about interest rates, some LOs may use the line in the clip above: “Oh, man. I only ride them; I don't know what makes them work.” (The current STRATMOR blog is titled, “Relying on the Fed: How Did This Happen?”) Yesterday the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) grabbed the headlines, despite doing exactly what ever...

Benco announces new partnership

/PRNewswire/ -- The Washington Trust Company ("Washington Trust"; "the Bank") today announced that the Bank has recently enhanced its RI Community Lending...

“Why did New Jersey get all the toxic waste and California get all the lawyers? New Jersey got to pick first.” (Hey, I don’t write ‘em.) Quips aside, California accounts for 20 or 25 percent of the nation’s residential lending, depending on who you ask. The Golden State’s economy has been growing steadily while the global economy has at times faltered, and as a result it’s poised to surpass Germany to become the fourth-largest economy on the plane...

While we had news today of the British Prime Minister resigning, yesterday my doctor asked if anyone in my family suffers from mental illness. I replied, "No, we all seem to enjoy it." Suffering from a lack of liquidity is the death knell for lenders and certainly nothing to joke about. Want to know the quickest way to shut your business down? Don’t return your warehouse bank’s phone call. In the secondary markets, if no one is interested in buying the products we...

Why aren’t there 103’s on rate sheets? With 30-year mortgage rates firmly in the 7 percent range, the market has moved too fast for any kind of substantive premiums for lenders or MLOs to offer borrowers. Put another way, there aren’t any securities trading at prices like 101 or 103 that offer above par pricing that can be passed along. And with volumes continuing to decline, it will take a while for the secondary markets to catch up with the primary markets. As one fellow c...

Lenders continue to adapt, and LOs are adding value by being subject matter experts and marketing accordingly. (For example, today’s podcast features an interview with Bob Griffith, General Manager of Home Services at Houwzer, on using a client’s 401k to help finance a house.) Marketing is a fickle mistress. Ever “opt out” of receiving ads? The people that advertisers most want to target are hiding from the advertisers (thank you to Carla M. for sending that in). The ...

Today is World Breast Cancer Research Day, a global recognition of the life-changing research (past, present, and future) to end breast cancer. That would be nice. What is also nice, so far, is the lack of named storms in the Southeast. Lenders, and servicers, and of course homeowners, in the Southeast dread “hurricane season.” Back in May, NOAA's outlook for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season (June 1 to November 30) called for “above normal” storm activity. B...

“Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels… Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields.” Yes, at the end of today we’re halfway through with 2022 (already). Time passes, hair styles, relationships, people, pandemics, and companies come and go. (Today’s joke has to do with the passing of time.) History is made and remembered. Woody Williams, the last surviving WWII Medal of Honor recipient (Iwo Jima), died yesterday at 98, as did Hells An...

“I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.” Management teams at lenders and vendors can’t be indecisive in this environment. Who’s going to be right, come Q4 of this year, and Q1 of 2023, which many believe are going to be extremely painful as the purchase market seasonally slows. Are the cuts lenders are making now enough to show warehouse lenders and broker-dealers profitable months and quarters? News continues to hit the tape, including Russia’s ...