Boudreaux was out of
work and found an ad in the paper that said "Electrical engineer
needed."
So, he went to the power
company and hand delivered his resume.
After reviewing the
resume, Mr. Don (da boss) was astounded by Boudreaux's tenacity to apply, even without a formal education.
Well, the power company had a policy that you must take a 10-question test before you can
get hired. There were two people there to take the test that day. One was Mr. Fred, who
was a certified electrical engineer. And, of course, Boudreaux was the other.
They each took the test
and returned to Mr. Don's office to hand in their test papers. Mr.
Don asked the both of them
to wait outside until he was done reviewing the two exams.
After about 10 minutes,
Don called them back in and this is how it went.
Don: "Thanks to the
both of you for applying for the position. But, we have made our
decision and
that decision is to hire Fred."
Boudreaux: "What
did Fred score on dat test?"Don: "Ya'll both scored 9 outta ten. You both only missed one question."
Boudreaux: "Mais,
why you gonna hire him den?"
Don: "Because on
question #7, Fred answered 'I don't know' and you answered 'me neither.'"
Monthly Ginnie Mae MBS Issuance Dips. Monthly
securitizations on behalf of the GNMA eased, though the firm's book of business
grew. Monthly operational data indicate that there were $1.75 trillion in
outstanding GNMA MBS as of Nov. 30. The Washington-based organization's book of
business grew from the end of the previous month, when the total was $1.73
trillion.
M&T Bank's FHA 203(k) Product Pages have been
edited to clarify and add content as follows: Repair types permitted and not
permitted (both Limited and Standard) section, As-Is appraisal requirements,
Contingency reserve requirements, draw disbursements at closing, and partially
completed or work in progress projects section has been edited.
Plaza posted the following reminders: regarding
Regulation Z Annual Threshold Adjustment, effective January 1st, the
threshold increased from $20,350 to $20,579 for determining whether a loan is a
High-Cost Mortgage (HCM) based on whether the points and fees are either 5% or
8% of the loan amount. Also, the CFPB decreased the 5-tier total points and
fees thresholds used to determine whether a loan is a qualified mortgage,
pursuant to Regulation Z. The maximum claim amount for FHA-insured Home Equity
Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), or reverse mortgages, will increase to $636,150.
These loan limits are effective for case numbers assigned on or after January
1, 2017. Plaza will align with FHA and accept the new loan limits for
case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2017. In addition, Plaza's Elite Jumbo Program Guidelines have been updated.
Effective with loans locked on and after December 15,
2016, Mortgage Solutions Financial is offering a purchase incentive of
0.250 for all purchase transactions with FICO ≥ 620 and FNMA, FHLMC, FHA, VA,
and USDA financing.
NYCB Mortgage Banking issued the following
reminders: 2017 Conforming Loan Limits are in effect as of 12.12.16. 2017 FHA
Loan Limits will be available 01.01.17 and New 2017 High Balance Loan Limits
are effective 12.19.16.
FHA published Mortgagee Letter 2016-21, Direct Endorsement Program -
Timeframe for Conducting Pre-Endorsement Mortgage Review for Unconditional
Direct Endorsement Authority. Concurrently, FHA today published a notice in
the Federal Register (Docket No. FR-5658-N-02) that provides the required
response to comments received from a March 2013 notice (FR-5658-N-01) where FHA announced it was considering this
change. With this Mortgagee Letter, mortgagees approved to enter the
Unconditional Direct Endorsement (DE) authority Test Case phase on or after
April 1, 2017, will be required to submit only closed mortgages for FHA's
pre-endorsement review. Currently, FHA allows the submission of test case phase
loans pre-closing or post-closing.
With two business weeks left (kind of) in 2016 it will be
hard for the new political administration to claim that the economy was sagging
when it took office. Last week was another positive data week for economic
news, consistent with near 3% real GDP growth. Only two data points for
November were worse than expected: Retail Sales and Housing Starts. It appears
that both data sets were quirky. They are reminders, however, that the post-
election surge in business and consumer confidence is not enough to support a
lift to our fairly low potential GDP growth track.
The big, but expected, news of the week was the Federal
Reserve announcing a rise in the Fed Funds interest rate. The Fed commentary in
the policy statement and the economic projections from FOMC members show there
is positivity in the air about the U.S. economy for 2017. Many expect three
more rate hikes in 2017 according to the new "dot plot." The
motivation for these hikes with be inflation, and the Fed will be watching
inflation indicators closely this spring. There is potential for the Fed to
tighten policy, providing a "monetary offset" to new fiscal policy.
Looking at Friday, the U.S. Treasury yield curve steepened
sharply as all the notes rallied but the bond declined. The expected future
chair of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, Larry Kudlow, sent a
tweet that indicated he would probably support the U.S. Treasury issuing debt
with maturities beyond 30 years, a topic on fixed-income traders' minds since
Treasury Secretary Nominee Steven Mnuchin suggested the possibility three weeks
ago. The change in the yield curve since last week's FOMC rate decision
indicates higher short term rates but it does not indicate economic
expansion as the back end the curve didn't move much.
Perhaps more important were the comments by one Fed
President. Bullard's comments, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal,
raised further angst for the basis when he talked of a preference for the Fed
to begin shrinking its balance sheet saying, "The new year possibly might
be a good time to play that card" and start allowing maturing bond
securities not to be replaced as they are now. He added that he would prefer to
let positions roll off. Speaking of which, due to the Fed's break from
reinvestments during the holiday this week sees eight FedTrade operations for
the week including two each on Monday through Wednesday.
Real estate agents, lenders, and builders certainly tuned
in to the news that U.S. housing starts fell to 1090K for the month of November
from an upwardly revised reading of 1340K for October. Building permits fell to
1201K from the upwardly revised October number of 1260K for October. Although
most of the decline was attributed to multi-family figures, let's hope it is
not the start of a trend.
Looking at news for this week, today and tomorrow, for
some odd reason, there are no scheduled market-moving economic announcements.
(Fed Chair Yellen is, however, speaking on the job market at the University of
Baltimore 2016 Midyear Commencement ceremony.) That changes on Wednesday,
however, when we have the MBA Mortgage Index for last week, and November
Existing Home Sales.
Thursday (22nd) the excitement continues with
an avalanche: the third estimate of Q3 GDP and the GDP Deflator, November
Durable Orders and Durable Orders ex-trans, Initial Jobless Claims for last
week, October FHFA Housing Price Index, November Leading Indicators, November
Personal Income and Spending, and the November Core PCE Price Index. We'll have
an early close Friday but prior to that are some December University of
Michigan Sentiment number and November New Home Sales.
For those who like numbers on Friday the 10-year note
worsened about .125 in price to close yielding 2.60% and agency MBS prices
worse about .125. This morning, on no news, the 10-year is hovering around
2.57% and MBS prices are better .250 versus Friday's close.
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