Patrick Welberg News Today

It’s Fed decision day today and another 75-basis point rate hike is expected. Mortgage rates have surged to 14-year highs, deterring both buyers and builders, who have begun making the shift to apartments. ArchMI released its quarterly Housing and Mortgage Market Review, which said that rates aren’t expected to return to the sub-3 percent, or sub-4 percent, range any time soon. Existing home sales have declined sharply to sit nearly 30 percent below the January 2021 pandemic peak o...

We began 2022 thinking that this might be the “Year of Non-QM.” The product certainly has its advantages for some borrowers, and lenders & investors. And then First Guaranty and Sprout vanished, and the herd of lenders was spooked, began talking about March of 2020 when some investors backed away from the market, and everyone was reminded to never have only one “take out” for a given loan or product. And then the headline yesterday: “SEC Charges Ang...

“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 ...

Running feels great unless you compare it to not running. While here in Northern California for a board meeting, I received, “I read your capital markets section every day because I can understand it, but can you please knock off using ‘basis points’? They are confusing.” I admit they take a while to understand, but easy to compare & convert the two. 1 percent is 100 basis points. 50 basis points is ½ of one percent. 75 basis points is ¾ ...

Retail, Correspondent Jobs; Performance, Non-QM, Sales Tools; STRATMOR Strategy Paper; DACA and FHA Jan 21 2021, 8:19AM “Do y’all remember, before the internet, that people thought the cause of stupidity was the lack of access to information? Yeah, it wasn’t that.” The internet has brought a lot of change to the world, and to our industry. But we don’t need the internet to drive changes, and potential changes, in our biz. HUD has declared that it will once a...

Sales Jobs; Lending Shell Wanted; Non-QM, VA IRRRL Products; Investors Agency Changes Dec 14 2020, 9:43AM With the snow expected in the Northeast this week, countless households washed loads of pajamas yesterday so that they could have clean work clothes this week. Y’all think 2020 is bad? Just wait until it turns 21 and starts drinking. Yet 2020 has been good for rates. The Fed has tamped down Treasury yields since the start of the pandemic in March, though those y...