When you’re working from home, how interesting can next Thursday’s, April 28th, “Take Your Children to Work Day” be? WFH, or hybrid arrangements, is a continued concern for managers, and one of the informal topics in the hallways here in Memphis at The Great River Conference is how the next generation of leaders can’t learn how to run a company over Zoom. There are plenty of other things being discussed, such as the cost per loan, as measured by the MBA, increasing for six straight quarters in a row beginning in the 3rd quarter of 2020. On the good news category, it appears that developers are building houses again: Residential home construction unexpectedly rose in March to the highest level seen since 2006, hitting an annualized rate of 1.79 million new homes. That also seems poised to rise, as applications to build hit 1.87 million, which is a proxy for future construction. New house construction in single-family dwellings hit 1.2 million, well above pre-pandemic levels, and multifamily starts hit 593,000. This is likely a sign that builders who have held off to wait for lower prices on materials are beginning to start work on their backlogs. (The audio version of the commentary is available here and this week’s is sponsored by Candor: AI that puts your underwriting on autopilot. Today’s features an interview with millennial homeowner David Ring on his thoughts on selling in the current market and how he chose a lender.) Lender and Broker Software and Services