We are halfway through 2021 and the 2nd quarter is now history. The world is forging ahead and trying to put the pandemic in the rearview mirror. Who isn’t planning a family vacation right now! Interest rates remain low and origination volumes remain strong, though pressures are rising.  Refinances have slowed and margins are tightening. Many originators are already evaluating …

A dynamic and changing landscape continues in mortgage land and the financial markets. What a difference a year makes! COVID vaccinations are out in widespread supply and there is light at the end of the tunnel. States that have been in shutdown mode are slowly opening up and lifting restrictions. The pandemic hit just over a year ago and the …

While most people are happy to have 2020 in the rearview mirror, the liquidity crunch in March did not last long, and it ended up being a very good year for mortgage bankers, who enjoyed record volumes (perhaps the most in history – $4 trillion), high margins, and profitability.  Not only was it a good year for origination companies, but also …

It’s a busy time in mortgage finance.  Another strong quarter is in the books with production volume and margins at all-time highs. Quicken, Caliber, United Wholesale Mortgage, Loan Depot, Amerihome, Guaranteed Rate, and Guild are all looking to go public. Funding costs and yields have dropped and credit spreads have tightened close to pre-crisis levels.  There’s plenty of cash in …

It’s great to be a mortgage originator and even better to be a loan officer! Origination volumes and margins are at all time highs.  Originators are working for 350bps PLUS the value of MSRs.  Lenders are growing in order to absorb and manage the new volume. It’s the “pig through the python” conundrum as many lenders are managing capacity by …

We hope everyone enjoyed a nice Father’s Day weekend. Non-QM Non-QM is back in action and has made a big recovery in the last couple weeks as the new issue, private label, market has repaired itself.  New deals are flowing, and spreads are tightening. We’re still not at levels that can spur on new production, but this activity has impacted …

Here is an inspirational quote we want to share: “The struggles we endure today will be the “good old days” we laugh about tomorrow.” Aaron Lauritsen. A well-deserved, and needed, long weekend! Most of us didn’t hop on a plane to spend the long weekend at a beautiful beach, or a crowded resort, but, hopefully, you were able to get …

Another week behind us and there is good news and bad news to report. Another rough week for the job market.  We hit 14.7% unemployment, the highest level since the Great Depression, with more job losses expected in the coming months. Consumer spending and sentiment have dropped commensurate with the increase in unemployment.  Black Knight reported 4.1 million loans in …

Everyone has heard by now the big news regarding servicing advance facilities and the agencies now accepting delivery of loans (excluding cash out refinances) with forbearance requests but at a large cost.5% for first time home buyers and 7% for all other loans. This sets a mark for the industry relative to future trading in the secondary market.  We saw …

In this week’s update, we address some of the questions asked over the past few weeks.  Here we go…….. I see so many pools from RAMS, does any of it trade?Over the last 45 days, we’ve marketed 262 pools with an aggregate UPB of approximately $4.7BB. We have traded ~23% of these pools.  We estimate that ~43% of these pools …