One Touch Underwrite News Today

My cat Myrtle (she/her/hers) doesn’t have a lot of financial savvy, and to the best of my knowledge has no 401(k). In another reminder not to put all of your net worth, or retirement money, in one place, Tesla has seen around $720B of shareholder value vaporize this year. Rivian truck stock, generally viewed as over-valued when it went public (sound familiar?), is down 89 percent. Rivian had a goal of manufacturing 50,000 electric pickup trucks this year, maybe hitting 25,000. Speaking of...

What does someone look like when they started working in our business at age 15? Well, there’s always this interview last week with Robbie Chrisman (yes, RCIII) about how he started his mortgage podcast and the potential influx of youth versus the 60- to 70-somethings. Yes, the industry continues to evolve, and not always in good ways. Every lender out there is coming to grips with the upcoming conventional conforming loan-level pricing adjustments hitting cash out refis. (Fannie Mae, Fre...

Have you ever heard the term “scuddle”? It’s an English term from the 1500’s meaning “to wash dishes,” something many of us did plenty of over Christmas. I bring this up because on this date in 1886 Josephine Garis Cochrane patented the world’s first dishwasher! Where would we be without women in schools or the workplace or being educated… Or thinking? (Let’s ask the Taliban in Afghanistan: hopefully you’re following this nigh...

Tired of playing Rummikub with the fam? (Why are those red 11’s always in short supply?) Let’s divert your attention and ease back into residential mortgages with a news story from the Census Bureau. Sorry California: for the first time since 1957 Florida is the fastest growing state. Sure, in “God’s waiting room” there are hurricanes, and the place is as flat as a pancake, but a 0 percent state income rate versus California’s 12 percent may have somethi...

Robert K. writes, “My Mom always said, ‘Work until your bank account looks like a phone number. Well, I did it! ‘Available balance: $911.’” Speaking of numbers, thank you to those who wrote to me correcting the GDP of Mexico here as being $1.4 trillion and not $1.4 billion. Numbers certainly tell the story with vendors and lenders. Owners of vendors and third-party providers are looking at middle layers of management, cutting back, certainly cutting salaries, o...

Our industry continues to be battered. Starwood Capital-backed Reverse Mortgage Funding and its parent company Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust have filed for bankruptcy. Inlanta Mortgage told the state of Wisconsin it plans to wind down its business. Switching gears, to celebrate the first day of December, spend 5 minutes taking one of my favorite quizzes, focused on figuring out where you’re from based on the words you use for certain common things. (What do you call the little bug tha...

In the secondary markets, lenders are trying to wring out every penny from loan sales. For example, in today’s podcast (available here) is an interview with Senior Director of MCT’s Investor Services team, Jennifer Kennelly, on MCT’s Bid Auction Manager (BAM) Marketplace, the nation’s first open mortgage loan exchange. In the primary markets, it’s rough, and I received this note from a senior executive. “In our branches, this is worse than the meltdown. ...

Lenders and vendors alike are emerging from Thanksgiving and looking ahead to which day they have off for Christmas in the U.S., the 23rd or the 26th. An informal Chrisman poll shows the 26th, but there is definitely a noticeable percentage who are taking both days off. It is good to keep things in perspective and appreciate what we have in the United States. Here in Mexico (yes, that Mexico; down here for a short visit) the daily minimum wage in pesos is $172.87 MXP (approximately $8.06 USD) fo...

Why does opening every ironing board sound like you’re dipping a witch in scalding oil? Cutting costs can sound like that as well, and while we await the 2023 conforming loan limits tomorrow, and the industry grapples with massive credit reporting cost hikes, lenders are not the only ones taking a close look at expenses these days. Owners of vendors and third-party providers are also looking at middle layers of management, cutting back, certainly cutting salaries, or ridding themselves of...

I was walking down North Wabash in Chicago yesterday and a beggar (is that politically correct?) yelled out at me, “You’re the reason this country has to put directions on cereal boxes!” Simple things like cereal boxes, shampoo, or soup didn’t used to have directions, but things are always changing. Including our industry. Another non-QM company appears to be exiting: As one AE wrote, echoed by a few others, “Athas Capital Group is shutting down its doors. We w...