While here in Denver I received an email. “Rob, does what’s going on in Florida impact lenders?” I had to figure out if the author was asking about Disney/DeSantis, new Florida Man news, climate change, or insurance issues. Florida has a lot of cool things: manatees, Dry Tortugas National Park, Epcot Center, and cigar rollers in Tampa who do parties. Unfortunately it now has an additional insurance fee, as Florida has imposed a 1 percent “emergency” fee to property insurance premiums due to property-insurer insolvencies. Lenders in Florida often mention the Agencies, including HUD, and loan amounts. More specifically, many people living in Florida (“locals”) couldn’t buy their own homes due to wages versus values. Many of the Florida home loans that LOs have crossing their desks are now true jumbos. Buyers don’t get much in Tampa for $700k, and eastern Florida is worse. The loan limits are out of adjustment for the locals. (Today’s podcast can be found here and is sponsored by LoanCare, a Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF) division and award-winning developer of the most sophisticated mortgage servicing portfolio management tool, LoanCare Analytics, built to support MSR investors with a focus on customer engagement, liquidity, and credit risk. Today’s has an interview with MonitorBase’s William LeBaron on borrower retention and leveraging contacts to improve volume.)

Lender and Broker Products, Services, and Software

Are you a mortgage leader looking to lower costs and make your teams more efficient? Matic, a home insurance platform built for the mortgage industry, helps lenders and servicers reduce friction for processors, speed up loan closings, and improve customer happiness and retention. Through a digital marketplace of 40+ top insurance companies, you’ll delight your borrowers with value and savings and even make life easier for your loan teams. Plus, mortgage enterprises can add a passive revenue stream with little to no lift. Want to learn more? Book a demo with our team of mortgage experts to learn about partnerships.

What’s one of the biggest cybersecurity risks in mortgage lending? Loan origination, and specifically forms, because they invite fraud. Forms bring in leads and with them, personal information. On face value, those leads may seem legitimate, but what if they’re not? What if they’re encoded with malware? Whenever you collect data, you need to verify it. So first ask: Are you collecting it or is a third party doing it? Can you trust the legitimacy of each lead? Then ask: Who’s holding onto that data? If it’s you, you’re liable for protecting it. Safeguard client data and your business by making an investment in cybersecurity before a breach. According to IBM’s 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report, phishing was the costliest initial attack vector at $4.91 million. Learn how to identify and mitigate the inherent risks in processes like loan origination. Talk to Richey May’s cybersecurity experts today.

In a recent survey conducted by Wolters Kluwer, 71 percent of lenders indicated that they saw higher value in operational profit level through the use of digital lending technologies over human capital management. For forward-thinking lenders, digital mortgage technologies can prove far more efficient in the long run. Wolters Kluwer’s ClosingCenter is designed to be simple, allowing your settlement agents and stakeholders to easily utilize the platform. ClosingCenter is also integrated with top technology solutions in the industry, eliminating duplicate data entry that can add errors to the process. Scalable to suit your business, ClosingCenter provides digital and hybrid support to empower your lending through all stages of business growth. As more lenders are adopting digital solutions in a competitive market, stay ahead of the curve. Learn more today!

In an article about banking loyalty, The Financial Brand recently shared some insights that mortgage originators should pay attention to: “Research suggests that there is still an abandonment rate in excess of 50 percent if the new account opening process takes more than 3-5 minutes…” Now replace “new account opening” with “online mortgage application,” and you have a metric to look into. How is your online application performing? Is it driving the type of business you want it to? By meeting your borrowers where they are, banking loyalty becomes organic. If you’re using Encompass® and want to provide borrowers with a better digital mortgage experience, check out LiteSpeed by LenderLogix, the industry’s newest point-of-sale for small to medium lenders.

Stewart Valuation Intelligence (SVI) has been approved to support Fannie Mae’s new Value Acceptance + Property Data through its VALIDITY platform, which satisfies the needs of both GSEs, allowing for one inspection that can be delivered to both entities with a unified data set. SVI has an extensive and experienced national network of real estate agents and brokers to collect property data; all are trained, vetted, and screened via annual background checks. Through VALIDITY, SVI helps lenders expedite the lending process and save time and money for borrowers. For more information about how Stewart Valuation Intelligence supports Valuation Modernization, please visit us, an important part of the Stewart Lender Services offering.

Marketing, Lead Capture, and Sales Tools

Discover the ultimate resource for mortgage brokers looking to succeed in a competitive market. The “Mortgage Brokers’ Survival Guide” from Surefire℠ CRM and Mortgage Marketing Engine by Black Knight provides valuable insights, tools, and strategies to help brokers navigate a crowded industry and build a thriving business. Explore how to understand the competition, define a unique value proposition, build strong customer relationships, leverage technology, and develop a comprehensive marketing strategy. With the right tools and tactics, brokers can thrive in a competitive market and achieve lasting success.

Do you find the customer service with your point-of-sale provider lacking? Maxwell understands that today’s lenders need fast, reliable service. When you partner with Maxwell Point of Sale you’ll have a dedicated support manager. Maxwell’s support team averages a 43-minute response time, faster than its competitors, and a 91 percent satisfaction score. Maxwell is always on standby to help you make the most of your investment and ensure a seamless experience for you and your borrowers. With an average implementation time of less than 2.5 weeks, Maxwell Point of Sale can start working for your team quickly. Schedule a call to learn more.

Are you ready for a Spring with stalled application volume? Spring application volume trends reversed as interest rates increased by 13 basis points, prompting a decrease in application volume as evidenced by an 8.8 percent drop in the MBA Market Composite Index. This is not the normal volatility experienced as we enter peak homebuying season. Will your game plan withstand market fluctuations? Cole Information can make the difference. You can access the data that you’re missing from your current CRM, as well as tapping meaningful information that will immediately boost your purchase prospecting capabilities. Don’t wait to empower your loan officers as market pressures continue. Change your prospecting paradigm with comprehensive, targeted data that your loan officers can readily access, and make actionable. This is not like other prospecting tools or data sources. Contact Cole Information today to find out why and start embracing the power of real data!

When temperatures drop, the wood frog has a unique way of adapting: it embraces the cold (by freezing over!) to get a head start on spawning when spring arrives. Thriving in a frozen marketplace doesn’t come as naturally to lenders, but TrustEngine can help! Just ask the loan officers at PRMG, who achieved a 202 percent boost in loan applications thanks to TrustEngine’s Mortgage Coach Total Cost Analyses (TCAs). By offering consumers personalized, interactive comparisons of the financial benefits different loan scenarios can offer them, TrustEngine TCAs have become the #1 source of applications for PRMG’s Mortgage Coach users! The only way to thrive in today’s difficult housing market is to be a data-driven mortgage advisor. Let TrustEngine keep your pipelines from freezing over.

Webinars and Training to Wrap Up April

A list of conferences for 2023 can be found here under the “conferences” tab.

Expert Insights: Working Smarter to Broker More Business! Today at 1PM EST, listen to Carla Biancaniello, Wholesale Account Manager, Richard Dwyer, Wholesale Account Executive, David Colwell, EVP of Lender Price, and Rob Chrisman. “Brokers are always looking for reliable, expert-backed advice on how to optimize their workflows and maximize profitability. Our upcoming webinar is designed to provide brokers with just that: valuable guidance from top professionals in the business. You will have access to renowned experts who will share their knowledge on what it really takes to streamline processes and increase the amount of sales in your brokerage business with the least effort possible.

Register for the MMLA Lunch & Learn Webinar Series – In-Person Electronic Notarization (IPEN): The Simple Way to Close Loans Electronically and Efficiently on April 26th 12:00 – 1:00 P.M. Learn why IPEN has soared in popularity recently and how it is different from traditional wet-signed closings and Remote Online Notarization (RON) closings.

If you’re in Hawai’i, join MBAH on Wednesday, April 26th, 8:30 A.M. – 9:45 A.M. and get educated in Real Estate and Insurance. Todd Tamori of Atlas Insurance will discuss trending topics in property insurance including challenges with shoreline properties, secondary residences and rental properties, and the rising cost of insurance. He’ll also share helpful tips on establishing HO6 policies and understanding coverages. Also get the latest on the Hawaii real estate market from the President of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, Fran Villarmia-Kahawai.

On April 26, join Weiner Brodsky Kider’s managing partner, Mitch Kider, for a live webinar, at 1:00 PM ET, on current litigation risks affecting the mortgage industry and how mortgage professionals can effectively manage those risks from start to finish. Mitch will highlight recent litigation trends, the current market’s effect on litigation, and ways to successfully manage both litigation risks and costs.

Fair Lending for financial institutions encompasses a group of laws and regulations prohibiting discrimination in the extension of credit to consumers. Failing to follow the fair lending compliance regulations can result in civil money penalties, restrictions on branching and significant reputational damage for an institution. During GRCIQ’s webinar, Thursday, April 27th 12:00 PM PDT, Justin Muscolino who served as Head of Compliance Training at Bank of China, will discuss each of the regulations that fall under Fair Lending.

Most bankers run into a few money laundering cases which limit knowledge of what money laundering looks like and how to spot it. With over 25 years as a consultant to major banks in Associate Partner and Principal roles, Jim George developed a unique course to address this difficulty. Register for AML Red Flags – Signs of Money Laundering live webinar on Thursday, April 27th, 10:00 AM PST.

Join CMBA on Thursday, April 27th at 11 AM PST for the next Mortgage Quality and Compliance Webinar. Tune into this webinar to learn all the prospective opportunities with what you can do with your HMDA data compared to a few years ago.

This Friday at 3PM ET is the next edition of The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown with Tom Gallucci and me. We’ll be covering current events in the mortgage market including the 2022 HMDA data for 30 minutes starting at noon PT in “The Rundown”

Capital Markets: Bonds and Inflation Data

The opening of the week was met with a stagnant trading session as investors awaited key risk events and the Federal Open Market Committee rate decision next Wednesday. With the Fed entering the blackout period ahead of its May 2/3 meeting, investors will be scrutinizing quarterly corporate earnings and economic data, from home price inflation today to the PCE and University of Michigan gauges on Friday, as they search for clues on the Fed’s next steps.

While pricing in Fed Funds futures implies a better than 90 percent chance of a 25 basis points hike on May 3rd, markets are still at odds with recent Fed chatter. Specifically, pricing continues to imply roughly 50 basis points of rate easing prior to year-end. The Fed’s task now is to avoid over-tightening as, by design, the economy looks to be stalling and there’s softening in the labor and housing markets.

After a quiet calendar yesterday, today’s picks up with Philly Fed non-manufacturing firm and region indexes for March, February home price indexes from FHFA and S&P/Case-Shiller, April consumer confidence, March new home sales, Richmond Fed manufacturing and services indexes for April and Dallas Fed Texas services. Treasury’s month-end auctions will get underway in the afternoon with $42 billion 2-year notes. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices and the 10-year yielding 3.44 after closing Monday at 3.52 percent; the 2-year is at 4.05 as rates continue to chop around based on corporate earnings and Fed conjecture.

Jobs

“Citizens has a proven track record of successfully navigating challenging market conditions while our capital, liquidity and funding positions remain strong. Retail loan officers need a diverse product mix, reliable operations, and seasoned leadership to rely on to be able to win during these bumpy times. With great pay, generous benefits, and strong digital tools to help you get the job done, Citizens is looking for talented loan officers in the Northeast, MidAtlantic, Midwest, and Florida. Our deep product mix allows loan officers to help with many different loan needs, from affordable loan programs such as HomeReady to a best-in-class one-time close construction to permanent product, we have what you need to succeed. Citizens’ specialty programs, such as condo/co-op financing, rate protection programs with extended rate locks, and an amazing Private Wealth discount value proposition for high net worth banking clients, ensure you have all the tools to win. See why we were named 2022 Best Bank in the US by The Banker. Contact Sean Reilly.”