Last week Mike walked into a post office
just before Valentine's day, he couldn't help noticing a middle-aged, balding
man standing in a corner sticking "Love" stamps on bright pink
envelopes with hearts all over them. Then the man got out a bottle of Channel
perfume from his pocket and started spraying scent over the envelopes.
By now Mike's curiosity had got the better
of him, and so I asked the man why he was sending all those cards. The man
replied, "I'm sending out 500 Valentine cards signed, 'Guess who?'"
"But why?" asked Mike.
"I'm a divorce lawyer," the man
replied.
Through the wonders of modern air travel, I find myself in
Miami. But everywhere, in front of the grocery stores, in truly exciting news,
are reminders that it's Girl Scout Cookie season. Yes, 200,000,000 packages every
year made by two companies. Although many view this as a sign that March
Madness will soon be here, or that baseball season is in the offing, they have
their own season. Did you know Thin Mints are vegan? And those TM freeze well - buy a
dozen boxes and throw them in the freezer for the summer - dinner party guests
will be astounded.
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next level? XINNIX is rolling out its newly-enhanced LEADERSHIP program on March 8th. Contact us now to sign up and learn more about how
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goals for 2017!
Product news?
Parkside Lending is pleased to announce the
release of HomeReady. This FNMA product allows access to mortgages for
creditworthy, low- to moderate- income borrowers who were previously
underserved in the marketplace. Key highlights include lower down payment
requirements, flexible income from non-traditional sources, and reduced MI
coverage for FICOs 680 or higher that can be removed before the life of the
loan. Combined with their recently expanded FHA guidelines, adding HomeReady to
their product mix allows Parkside to bring their excellent service experience
to that many more borrowers. Please contact your Parkside Account Executive for
more information or sales@parksidelending.com.
As of Friday, February 10, Flagstar made
significant enhancements to its Second Mortgage products. The program will now
allow applicants to obtain financing up to 89.99% combined loan-to-value
(CLTV). A Flagstar Second Mortgage can be paired with a conventional,
agency-eligible Flagstar first mortgage product to avoid the mortgage insurance
requirements of a single loan transaction above 80% LTV or an alternative to
jumbo financing.
Effective immediately, NewLeaf Wholesale updated
its NewLeaf 1 & NewLeaf 2 Conventional Hybrid ARM guidelines.
Sierra Pacific spread the word of some of its
Freddie Mac program changes. Businesses owned LESS than 5 years will require 2
years of business AND personal tax returns (currently, its only year of tax
returns AND one full year of being self-employed). Use of business bank
statements as verification of a business's existence when no other 3rd
party verification exists.
The use of handwritten paystubs will be allowed with additional
requirements. The use of year end paystubs and W2 transcripts in lieu of W2's will
be allowed. Allowing the use of income up to 60 days AFTER the note date
(example: promotion, raise, new contract, etc.). Income history and
stability LESS than 12 months may no longer be acceptable (example: recent
college graduate or returning mother to the work force). Verification of a
business will ONLY BE required when that income is used to qualify. Clients
should contact Sierra Pacific for full details.
Ditech Approved Wholesale Clients should note the
DU Refi Plus Fixed High Balance and DU Refi Plus Fixed Texas Equity products
will now offer 10 to30 year loan terms in annual increments.
Angel Oak now offers a 12-month personal bank
statement program.
Mountain West Financial, Inc. has temporarily
suspended the origination of all NHF Sapphire programs in all states. Until
further notice, new originations of the programs will not be accepted. MWF
is actively monitoring the situation surrounding these products and will update
its position as new information arises.
HomeXpress is offering loans up to 1.5MM.
Interested in details? Contact Andrew Goldthorpe.
As detailed last week in this commentary, Finance of
America is launching its new division, Finance of America Commercial
which will provide single-property, portfolio and short-term bridge loans to
real estate investors across the country. Jordan Capital Finance CEO Mark
Filler will serve as president of the new business unit. Jordan Capital SVP Ben
Fertig and B2R SVPs Joe Hullinger and Matt Soto will continue to lead sales
efforts and oversee operations for the organization.
Post-Merger or Acquisition Psychology
A fair number of lenders, both depository and
non-depository, merged or were acquired in 2016, and 2017 is expected to rival it. Owners
are aging, tired of the maze of rules and regulations keeping them from helping
their borrowers, or tired of watching costs mount. So much thought and work
is put into planning for a merger or acquisition, but how much is put into what
happens afterward? Do half the LOs go to lunch and not come back after the
acquisition?
I received an e-mail from Jeri Yoshida, founder of Yosh Communications (provider of PR & marketing
for the mortgage industry) who is moderating a panel at the MBA's Mergers and
Acquisitions Workshop this week in Dallas. Regarding M&A communications,
Ms. Yoshida observes, "Loss is almost inevitable if a company doesn't
control M&A messaging. Internal and external communications are one of the
most overlooked aspects of M&A transactions. Ineffective communication
increases the risk of employee turnover, reduced productivity and weakened
client and partner relationships. Most companies communicate too little or too late, or they
don't communicate at all. They need to take control of communication with
messaging that stabilizes the organization and establishes the company culture
moving forward. Silence is like a petri dish for rumors, which tend to
undermine employee commitment and morale.
"Even though mergers and acquisitions
look attractive in theory to management and investors, the reality of their
execution is that organizations are composed of employees who generally view
such organizational changes as a threat. Accordingly, many merger and
acquisition (M&A) deals have inherent retention issues resulting from
negative attitudes often felt by employees, including, but not limited to:
uncertainty about the future organizational direction, feelings of loss of
previous organizational culture, uncertainty about personal job security,
perceptions of lack of leadership credibility, feelings of confusion due to a
lack of communication, survivor guilt due to downsizing of other employees, and
perceptions of increased job stress and workload.
"In essence, employees often lose trust in their
organizations and feel betrayed by leadership. Consequently, in an attempt to
regain control over individual job situations, many employees begin to
contemplate 'jumping ship' as the merger or acquisition is implemented.
During a merger or acquisition, however, it is essential to keep employee
turnover low for two significant reasons. First, business continuity is key to
realizing the benefits of a merger or acquisition. And second, there can be large
financial implications from the cost of hiring new employees, the loss of
knowledge/ intellectual capital, and the loss of client relationships."
Thank you, Jeri!
Speaking of large financial implications, Ocwen will pay $225 million to settle allegations it violated
mortgage servicing rules. The $198 million in refund and loan forgiveness
money goes to Californians over the next three years, and settles &
terminates the January 2015 Consent Order between Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and
the State of California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) - without Ocwen
admitting any wrongdoing. The DBO has lifted its prior restriction on Ocwen's
ability to acquire mortgage servicing rights associated with California
properties. It also terminated the engagement of the independent auditor
Fidelity, which was previously in place under the prior Consent Order in
California.
What's new with vendors out there?
Lendsnap allows lenders and brokers to automate
document collection for all the borrowers they work with whether they need
conventional, non-agency, or FHA/VA financing. We gather original bank
statements, W2s, paystubs, tax returns, and more, directly from the source
institutions delivering the actual statements to our clients. Just ask our
customers what they think: "Lendsnap has improved our signed application
conversion almost overnight because of its speed and ease of use. Once clients
send us the documents and we can deliver a full Pre-Approval, they are more
likely to stay with us and use us to satisfy their mortgage needs." -
Jared, Access Mortgage Partners. Click here to schedule a demo or email Mike Romano to learn
more.
eValuation ZONE Inc., a business specializing
in real estate appraisal management services, received national certification
as a Women's Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Development Center-
Chicago, a regional certifying partner of the Women's Business Enterprise
National Council (WBENC). "We are thrilled to receive WBE Certification
and honored to be a part of this wonderful community of women-owned
business. The Certification brings many great opportunities for our
company, opening doors to compete in both public and private sector
projects," commented Inesa Tomaszewski, president.
Equator, a default software solutions for
servicers, real estate agents and vendors,released its end-of-year performance
metrics. Equator's REO, short sale and loss mitigation modules have now
processed transactions totaling more than $315 billion since its inception
with more than 2.2 million distressed properties sold to date. 2016 saw the
launch of new EquatorSaaS and data services aimed at helping Equator customers
improve their operational efficiency. Equator increased its nationwide network
of active real estate agents to over 60,000 and unveiled a new data-infused
product called Equator Agent Elite.
Interest rates & business days
That's right, yesterday was a holiday. Some lenders were
open yesterday, some offered floating holidays (mixed up with others days like
Veteran's Day, the day after Thanksgiving, etc.), and others took it off
entirely. Yesterday bond market was closed, no funds were wired, no fundings
took place, bulk trades executed, and the IRS, Federal Reserve, & Social
Security Administration Service Centers were closed. And yesterday is not
considered a specific business day for purposes of Closing Disclosure
delivery/waiting period or rescission timeline calculations.
Ahead of yesterday (looking back to the markets on
Friday), not much happened. Investors are still hopeful that fiscal stimulus
and tax cuts are forthcoming - remember the Laffer Curve telling us that with
tax cuts comes more money, with more money comes more spending, and with more
spending comes economic activity. Number-wise, on Friday the 10-year's price
rallied about .250 (and the yield closed at 2.43%) whereas the 5-year note and
agency MBS prices improved about .125.
And now we're into Tuesday already! And it's a light week
for economic news, with little of substance scheduled for today. Tomorrow we'll
have the MBA's read on applications for last week, along with Existing Home
Sales and the FOMC meeting minutes. Thursday holds Initial Jobless Claims, the
FHFA (overseer of Freddie and Fannie) House Price Index, and some other
secondary reads on the economy. Friday the 24th we will see New Home
Sales for January and a bunch of University of Michigan numbers of varying
& questionable importance. We start the week with rates nearly
unchanged: the 10-year is hovering around 2.45% and MBS prices are little
changed versus Friday afternoon.
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