A bachelor, who for companionship owned a
beloved cat for over 10 years, plans a vacation to Iceland and entrusts the cat
with his brother.
As soon as he arrives in Reykjavik he calls
his brother and asks how his cat is doing without him. "Oh, the cat? He's
dead." said the brother bluntly.
"I can't believe this!" yells the
bachelor. "How could you tell me he's dead like that?"
"How else was I supposed to tell
you?" the brother asked.
"Well you could have broken it to me
gently." the brother went on. "When I called today you could have
said he is up on the roof but the fire department is getting him down. Then
tomorrow when I called you could have said that he fell while they were trying
to rescue him and broke his back but, don't worry, the best vet in town was
doing the surgery to repair it. And then when I called the third day you could
have said they did all they could do but they couldn't save him."
The brother thought about this and says,
"That does sound better than the way I said it. I'm sorry."
"Never mind," says the bachelor
exasperated, "How's Mom?"
The brother replies, "She's on the
roof but the fire department is getting her down.
How much free time do you have? Not much? You're not alone, as this story points out,
"The rich were meant to have the most leisure time. The working poor were
meant to have the least. The opposite is happening. Why?" An interesting
skim for any junior economist. "Elite men (and women) in the U.S. are the
world's chief workaholics. They work longer hours than poorer men in the U.S.
and rich men in other advanced countries. In the last generation, they have
reduced their leisure time by more than any other demographic. As the economist
Robert Frank wrote, 'building wealth to them is a creative process, and the
closest thing they have to fun.'"
New Products
The world of subservicing just got disrupted. The Money Source Inc. has launched SIME
(pronounced Sim-mee), which stands for Servicing Intelligence Managed Easily.
"SIME is a new web-based loan servicing platform that provides full
transparency into your loan portfolio while giving servicers/lenders the tools
for oversight they have been lacking with their subservicer. The Money Source
is one of twenty GNMA-approved subservicing platforms, and recently received an
above average rating with Morningstar for their servicing platform. To see how
SIME can help your servicing business, visit getSIME.com."
"Need to increase your purchase business? Gooi Mortgage, Inc. can help. With the growing
success of their mortgage fulfillment company, Gooi Mortgage is now offering
Morelity, a platform created under the Gooi Global umbrella that offers data
analytics to the financial industry. According to Gooi Mortgage's CEO Jeff
Jensen, 'Big banks have and can afford teams of data scientists and analysts to
help stay on top of their consumer targeting. We are bringing these same
resources to customers to help them compete at an affordable price.' With the
sharp decline in refinances, more emphasis is being placed on the purchase
business. Morelity helps you focus your marketing efforts on individuals
most likely to need a new loan, and also helps reach borrowers before they
apply with another lender. To set up a demonstration on how this platform may
help your business, please contact Leah Roling, director of product development (515.865.6716)
or Matt Allison,
national accounts manager.
Industry leader enhances business with X-Ray intelligence platform. Rolanda Legg, VP of
production with First Arkansas Financial/FirstTrust Home Loans, knows the
mortgage industry often relies on outdated information to make critical
business decisions, which results in spending too much time/money trying to
collect data to forecast loan close times and provide loan status updates.
"With the old way of doing things, you had to commit time to building
reports with limited fields and then you were forced to filter and re-filter
until you had the specific information you were needing," Legg said. Not
anymore since FirstTrust started using X-Ray. "It assists us in
identifying areas that need attention in terms of turn times in the milestones
... It gives us our time back as we no longer are tied down to manually
preparing reports," Legg said. Is your mortgage company using the latest
intelligence software? Visit specialagentx.com.
Lendsnap announced Online Signup, making it easier than ever for
lenders and brokers to offer their customers automated document collection.
Get your free 15-day trial of Lendsnap before this offer expires! Lendsnap
automatically gathers original bank statements, W2s, pay stubs, and tax returns,
providing lenders authentic electronic statements directly from the source
institutions. Whether the loan type is conventional, subprime, FHA/VA, or any
non-agency, Lendsnap delivers the universally accepted documents you need to
make a credit decision. Visit Lendsnap to start your free trial now, or contact Mike Romano to schedule a
demo/conversation.
Personnel news: a constant state of flux
Twelve 11 Media, the Publisher of Mortgage Women
Magazine and Mortgage Compliance Magazine, announced that Kristin
Messerli has been named Managing Editor of Mortgage Women Magazine.
Kristin took over on April 1 and will be responsible for leading and overseeing
all editorial content of the magazine as well as being the magazine's
spokesperson.
Eagle Home Mortgage, a full-service residential
mortgage lender, announced that industry veteran Paul Butler has joined
the company as SVP of National Business Development and will "lead the
company's rapidly-growing team focused on recruiting top talent that aligns
with the company's high-quality growth goals and potential." Robert
Bautista has been promoted to Vice President, Business Development Manager at
Eagle.
The StoneHill Group, a national provider of quality
control, due diligence, and mortgage fulfillment solutions for mortgage
lenders, banks and credit unions, announced it has hired T. Gail Callueng as
the company's new quality control manager. She will be directing quality
control services for The StoneHill Group as well as overseeing QC reviews on
behalf of clients.
Preclose announced the addition of long-time
mortgage, SaaS exec, Scott Stein, to its leadership team as VP of Sales to help
drive its mission of bringing real estate transactions 100% online. Preclose,
the closing management software provider for real estate brokerages and teams,
works with agents to bring transparency to a fragmented closing process and
reduce transaction time for real estate agents, home buyers, and service
professionals, such as mortgage lenders, title and escrow companies, and home
insurance providers.
M&A - it doesn't stop
We've seen a lot of mortgage lender mash-ups in these past
24 months, but this is one to watch... Troy, Michigan's Flagstar Bank
announced its intent and desire to acquire Opes Advisors, Inc., a $3.1 billion regional
mortgage lender and wealth advisory firm with 39 locations in California,
Washington and Oregon. The upside is huge for both parties - Flagstar,
which did $32.5 billion in residential mortgage origination for 2016 with
majority in wholesale and correspondent lending, now gets an instant retail
boost with a respected, premier retail platform in strategic markets on the
West coast. Opes Advisors will continue to operate with its name and brand,
leadership, ops and current offerings; now with an expanded product selection
including portfolio jumbo, construction loans, the ability to have national
lending, and the strength of a top 12 national mortgage lender.
In depository bank M&A news...Inland Northwest
Bank ($636mm, WA) will acquire CenterPointe Community Bank ($131mm, WA) for
consideration of approximately $12.85 per share if electing cash (40%) or
1.0280 shares of common stock if electing stock (60%). FNB Bank ($373mm, AL)
will acquire Peoples State Bank of Commerce ($157mm, TN). In Georgia PrimeSouth
Bank ($373mm) will acquire Atlantic National Bank ($165mm). Midland States Bank
($3.2B, IL) will acquire investment advisory firm CedarPoint Investment
Advisors (WI). CedarPoint manages $180mm in assets. Centennial Bank ($9.8B, AR)
will acquire Stonegate Bank ($3.1B, FL) for about $778.4mm in cash (6%) and
stock (94%). First Bank ($1.1B, NJ) will acquire Bucks County Bank ($198mm, PA)
for about $27.2mm in stock (100%) or 1.24x tangible book. In Pennsylvania, Mid
Penn Bank ($1.0B) will acquire The Scottdale Bank & Trust Co ($263mm) for
about $59.1mm in cash (10%) and stock (90%) or about 1.30x tangible book.
Synovus Financial Corp ($30B, GA) said it will collapse 28 locally branded
banking divisions into the parent's name as it seeks to reduce customer
confusion and increase awareness of broader capabilities.
The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate
Professionals update
Driven industry professionals, top government officials,
and high ranking housing and real estate executives convened for the NAHREP's yearly policy conference. The conference focused
on educating attendees on important housing policy changes, the future of
lending, credit access, diversity in the industry, and NAHREP's policy
recommendations for the government. It is also the site for the unveiling of
the annual State of Hispanic Homeownership Report, NAHREP's leading publication
which highlights the homeownership and economic growth of Latinos in the United
States over the past 12 months.
According to this year's report, the Hispanic rate of
homeownership increased from 45.6 percent in 2015 to 46 percent in 2016, while
the nation's overall homeownership rate decline to 63.4 percent, a 51-year low.
"The Hispanic market is no longer a niche market," observed Maria
Zywiciel, President of NAHREP Consulting Services, a consulting firm that
specializes in the Hispanic market and lending. "This is a business
development opportunity for all lenders and realtors. If a company doesn't have
a Hispanic Market Strategy, they don't have a market share
strategy." (For more information or to read the whole report, contact
NAHREP Consulting Services at info@nahrepconsulting.com.)
Capital Markets
U.S. Treasuries, and along with them MBS prices, moved
higher yesterday despite generally positive U.S. macroeconomic data as weaker-than-expected
vehicle sales for March sent U.S. equities lower and sent investors scrambling
into safe-haven assets. U.S. auto sales have been down year-on-year for nine of
the last 13 months and there are concerns about a glut of used car supply
causing problems for automakers who have to resell vehicle when they come off
of lease. There is also a subprime auto loan market that some investors are
worried about collapsing.
For good news, U.S. construction spending rose 0.8% month
over month in February and was revised higher in January. Both private
construction spending (+0.8%) and public construction spending (+0.6%) expanded
in February; total construction spending is up 3.0% year-over-year. The 10-year
yield hit a low yield of 2.33% which it touched right around the time of the
European close before pulling back slightly with equities staging an afternoon
recovery; it ended the day at 2.35%. Agency MBS and 5-year T-note prices
improved about .250.
What happened overnight? Not much. The press is talking
about the potential for a Trumpcare
revival and the soft March auto sales. There wasn't any major
Tuesday overnight news or monetary policy headlines. In this country, this
morning we've already had the February international trade situation (narrowing
to a deficit of $43.6 billion), which I think has had a deficit for our entire
history. The Redbook Same-Store Sales Index will be released, as will the March
ISM-New York and February Factory Orders & Durable Goods. After the trade
number, we find the 10-year yielding 2.32% and agency MBS prices a smidge
better than last night's close.
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