Today I’m in Manhattan, having flown in to one of the nicer malls I’ve ever walked through, aka LaGuardia Airport. ($8 billion goes a long way.) No, I am not here to avoid the terrible tornadoes that have hit our nation, and I didn’t use Rocket’s new pro-home buying credit card to book the flight. No, I am not here regarding Donald Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury, although he is expected to come to New York today and to be arraigned in criminal court tomorrow. I certainly didn’t come to spend $8 on a pack of Oreo cookies or $30 on pasta with tomato sauce, although I am. I could say that I was scouting restaurants for the MBA’s Secondary Conference next month, but I’m not. In fact, I can’t think of any really logical reason to come here, other than I wanted to be able to say I’d seen Bruce Springsteen play Madison Square Garden with my son Robbie (with MCT), which was a fine show and venue indeed. (Today&
I could tell that my cat Myrtle was incensed. I think that it may have had something to do with an email regarding artic krill oil, and her clicking on a link to check on the status of the prize that she’d won, supposedly a lifetime supply. After clicking on link everything she had in her trust fund vanished. Easy come, easy go. If Myrtle falls for something like this, how many employees fall for things like, “Your benefits have changed; click here to see your new health plan,” or, “Your retirement fund needs to be moved; please click here for options.” It’s critical to put your employees, old and new, through regular testing. (No, this is not a paid ad.) Switching gears, and very similar to the residential lending industry, according to a new DeWalt Powering the Future survey nearly half of U.S. contractors say training the next generation is critical for the industry’s 2023 growth followed by contingency planning and resilient supply c
If you’ve ever had to hire people, did you sort your applications into three piles: Mad, Hopeless, or Possible? For his Antarctic expeditions, Ernest Shackleton did, and thank you to Fairway Independent’s Guy Schwartz for sending along this article on recruiting. (At least click on the link to look at photos of when men were men, not like we are now when none of us even know how to change our own oil.) In the Antarctic it is springtime, the end of September and end of the 3rd quarter everywhere. In the Northern Hemisphere, places like Minneapolis are losing 3 minutes a day of sunlight. Lenders and vendors are certainly hoping that their company never sunsets…How profitable was your 3rd quarter? LOs and lenders are continuing to face hard times for the foreseeable future as we head into the autumn and winter. Be sure that your financial counterparties, such as warehouse banks, investors, and broker-dealers, are kept up to date on your P&L and plans for p
Here’s a stream of consciousness paragraph for you. “Rob, what are you hearing about companies laying off, furloughing, right-sizing, whatever, employees to cut costs while at the same time paying $500-$1000 to nominate one of their employees for some award?” I’m not hearing a lot, but I’ve always wondered about the value in publicizing your top employees for other companies and recruiters to learn about their accomplishments… To what end? And are you not going to send someone to a valuable conference, but pay a fee to nominate them for a soon-forgotten award? Lenders and vendors are coming off the sugar rush of the last two years and competing against companies who are weaponizing their two years’ worth of earnings. What are you going to do about it? Some lenders are fighting for their lives, dusting off notes on Homeowner’s Assistance or Down Payment Assistance Programs. No one seems to be using the term “recapture”
Grammar is important. What’s the difference between a kleptomaniac and a literalist? A literalist takes things literally. A kleptomaniac takes things, literally. How about the grammar of, “Rates ain’t going down any time soon.”? The global bond selloff continues as the day the Federal Reserve is expected to start downsizing its balance sheet draws nearer. On to QT (Quantitative Tightening?) The yield on the 10-year Treasury note is now above 2.6 percent, sending it back to ranges in which it traded in 2018 and 2019. For mortgage loan originators and lenders, rates are only one piece of the ugly landscape, and I received this. ““I have to take issue with your comments about LOs and higher rates. It's not just rates, it's the entire BS happening all at once. Rates I can handle, but what about inventory so no buyers? How about property values so high people can't buy? How about all the cash buyers and the investors buying u