Another day of travel, heading to California and its Central Coast. The state has seen its share of house price appreciation, as has the nation, and in terms of actual sales there are some who are predicting a steep decline in sales activity despite heading into the traditional summer buying season. (And there are stories about home “buyer’s remorse” which to me sound like whining.) Yes, as prospectors said starting in 1849, “there’s still gold in them thar hills.” There’s gold in startups also: Of course the co-founders are beaming in the photo from Tomo, a startup founded by former Zillow execs that aims to speed up the mortgage approval process, raised a $40 million Series A round at a $640 million valuation, doubling the company’s value after it raised a $70 million seed round last year. But there’s less gold in lending. Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a net gain of only $1,099 on each loan they originated in the fourth quarter of 2021, down from a reported gain of $2,594 per loan in the third quarter of 2021, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) newly released Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report. Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s VP of Industry Analysis, observed, “Among the headwinds were lower revenues and higher production costs… The average cost to originate a mortgage has now risen for six quarters in a row, reaching a study-high of almost $9,500 per loan by the end of 2021.” (More below!)