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, or ridding themselves of unproductive salespeople. Lenders continue to cut staff (Wells Fargo being the latest example) or furlough employees for a portion of their workweeks and implementing salary cuts. Meanwhile, managers report that end-of-year reviews are resulting in employees asking for raises due to inflation. On a lager scale, uh, larger scale, mergers and acquisitions continue. The latest to cross the tape is that "Guild Mortgage is excited to announce the acquisition of Inlanta." (STRATMOR acted as the advisor.) (Today’s podcast is available here and this week’s is sponsored by Candor Technology: Home of the One Touch Underwrite, supporting lenders from Point of Sale to Post Close QC, to reduce repurchase risk, increase underwriter productivity by 400 percent, and decrease turn-times by 10.) Lender and Broker Software and Services “How is your profitability by loan officer? How is your profitability by branch? By region? If you want the answers to these questions, Richey May’s RM Analyze business intelligence can give you that visibility. Our platform is designed and implemented by mortgage industry experts to quickly set you up with the critical reports you need to run your business. We understand that having visibility into your profitability at all levels enables you to make powerful decisions that help your business succeed. If you don’t have the data at your fingertips that tells you how you’re performing in real time, you may not be able to act quickly enough in this fluid market. It’s time for you to get a deeper look at your business. Contact the RM Analyze experts to learn more.”