Let me save you a web search tomorrow: 1-800-butterball. A web search turned up a misconception: It appears that robber Willie Horton, when he was asked why he robbed banks, never said, "That's where the money is." But banks are where the money is, and it is certainly catchy. You don’t think someone is making money off your money sitting in that bank? Another web search shows that the 1-year CD national average is 0.43 percent. The current 1-year risk-free Treasury bill is yielding 4.75 percent. How can you get around that spread where the bank earns 4.75 percent for a year but pays you less than .5 percent? Tip of the day: Go to https://www.treasurydirect.gov/ and see the yields of what you can buy directly from the government and the minimums required. I don’t recall anyone predicting 1-year rates would be near or at 5 percent by year end (or per loan costs would be over $11,000 per loan). Still, there’s a lot of planning going on for 20
I think that we can all agree that in 2017 not a single interviewee got the answer correct to, “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?” Heck, projections and forecasts in the first few months of 2020 didn’t foresee the drop in interest rates and rise in home values. But there some ways to influence residential lending, and have the inside track on changes coming our way, and that is through the MBA’s membership. (And no, this is not a paid ad.) The MBA is currently offering a deal: 2022 dues rate to enjoy member benefits through the close of the 2023 membership year. That is 19 months for the cost of 12 months. “Your MBA membership grants you access to education, research, committees, informational webinars, and so much more.” If you’re interested reach out to Laura Hopkins. Meanwhile, regardless of lending policies and pricing, the available inventory of homes for sale continues to be a topic of conversation. Land, lumber, and perm
As packages of mortgage servicing rights continue to hit the market, and some wonder at the high multiples, know that the percentage of borrowers current on their mortgage payments increased to almost 95 percent, 350 basis points higher than one year ago. Other stats show that foreclosure starts jumped in February. The MBA’s monthly Loan Monitoring Survey also revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 12 basis points to 1.18 percent of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior month as of February 28, leaving 590k homeowners in forbearance plans. That marks the 21st consecutive month that percentage of borrowers in forbearance has declined. Finally, the percentage of borrowers with existing loan workouts who were current on their mortgage payments improved for the first time since June 2021. Marina Walsh, MBA’s VP of Industry Analysis, said, “These three results (the lower forbearance rates and higher performance rates for bo
Everyone has a story about something they said or asked that they shouldn’t have. “When are you due?” is a good one, as is asking, “When did you turn 60?” when the person is only 55. But forecasters are out in force, saying things about interest rates they may, or may not, regret later. Analysts at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, for example, expect an interest-rate increase likely forthcoming from the Federal Reserve to be less than the widely predicted half-percentage point, noting a quarter point is a better bet. I heard an analyst this morning on the radio saying he believed that the yield on the risk-free 10-year should be up to 2.90 percent! Meanwhile, managers are trying to predict “where the puck is going” in terms of the pandemic and work from home moves. As staffers at financial institutions begin to return to the office in large numbers, there is an increasing trend to allow workers greater choice in the office-remote work balan
Here we are at Groundhog Day. A rodent predicting the weather has little tie-in with the 1993 movie of repeating the same day over and over again. Locks are certainly not repeating 2021 levels for January, with initial anecdotal pipeline numbers down 30-40 percent. Are you reducing costs accordingly? When the residential lending market is good, owners think they’re the smartest guys in the room, and in the last two years volume and margins have covered up a lot of faults. (And now, are homeowners all real estate geniuses?) Now, however, effective management is going to be tougher. Mortgage fraud is growing, and I’ve received more than one email about kickbacks on the rise. Great. At least you aren’t working in a Golden Corral in Pennsylvania! Never in the history of history of calm down has anyone calmed down by being told to calm down. Lender & broker services and products More than 100 people gathered in Kazan, Russia, last month to celebr