As an industry, we tend to care about interest rates, especially mortgage rates. (A recent STRATMOR piece is titled, “Mortgage Rates Are Not Random.”) But there is a group of people much less sensitive to rates and represent competition to lenders. All-cash home purchases have remained structurally elevated since early 2023, averaging 28 percent of existing home sales, well above the post-2015 norm of 23 percent, and consistently exceeding that benchmark since late 2022. Affl

“This is the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl radiation disaster. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been there. It’s 11.” Ah, fun with numbers… The numbers are good at the Texas Mortgage Banker’s 110th Annual Convention in Austin, and the attendance is nearly 500. Attendance is solid at the simultaneous The Gathering. Rumors that all of them will be hopping on trains to attend next week’s Great River MBA Conference at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN are unver

“Why did the judge stop the merger of Duracell and Morton's? He couldn't allow a salt and battery in his court!” The big keep getting bigger: Real Brokerage announced that it is purchasing RE/MAX for $550 million, revealing that, including debt, the deal is worth an estimated $880 million. The name will be the Real REMAX Group (“a transformative opportunity to fuse REMAX’s strong brand equity with leading AI technology”) and it’s been reported that Motto Mortgage, owned by RE

“You can't blame anyone else if you fall in your driveway...it's your own asphalt.” What happens if labor or materials become too expensive here in the United States? Despite the move toward rejuvenating the manufacturing-based economy in the United States by the current Administration, people will follow the money and go elsewhere, whether it be dental work, hair transplants, or… manufactured housing. With the high cost of home construction, more Americans are becoming curio

In the United States, as the industry dissects the credit news this week, in a month it will be Memorial Day, honoring those who died while serving (not veterans, and not veterans who eventually passed away). Looking at the holiday calendar, Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays considered to be federal holidays in many countries… but not all countries. In fact, those days are not ones that most people observe worldwide! There are 5.5 billion people who live in a country wher

“Home is where you know exactly how far to turn the knob to get a perfect temperature shower.” “Home” conjures up varied thoughts depending on who you ask; even those who prefer ‘van life’ will call their van a home. But things aren’t cheap out there: With housing costs consuming up to 50 percent of the median income in some states, the personal-finance company WalletHub released its report on the States Where People Spend the Most & Least on Housing to highlight where homeow

Does it bother you when you read, “Meta plans to start collecting U.S.-based employees' mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, and occasional screen snapshots to train AI agents that can better learn how humans use computers.”? (I wouldn’t want them watching me play Tetris.) But face it: we’re in a people business. After over 40 years in this industry and capital markets, I've learned that the best conversations are… with people. For example, a flyer could have been sent out ye

It’s a dog eat dog world out there. You gotta stay up on the news. Baltimore homes being stolen? Yup. As noted yesterday, today we have a press conference with HUD Secretary Scott Turner and U.S. Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte announcing “a significant development in the U.S. housing finance system” at 12:45PM ET. Rumors run the gamut from “operationalizing” VantageScore to moving control of the FHA & VA programs under Pulte and the FHFA. Meanwhile, the capital markets h

Thank you to everyone who wrote to me yesterday, celebrating “420 Day,” synonymous with marijuana. Celebrate "Surprise Drug Test Day” to you all today. If you’re looking for something to celebrate tomorrow, how ‘bout a press conference with HUD Secretary Scott Turner and U.S. Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte announcing “a significant development in the U.S. housing finance system” at 12:45PM ET. Let’s hope it’s not about 50-year or assumable mortgages, or about legally pur

“Our local auctioneer has passed away. He was somewhere around 60? 65? 65? 70.” I met an auctioneer over the weekend at a social event, and I asked her, given her 30+ years of doing it, if she could gauge the economic mood or climate based on bidding activity. She replied that she’s never seen more hesitation and lack of buying interest than now. Maybe it’s a great time to buy something! War in the Middle East made oil prices go up, higher oil prices hurt world economies and

“I got my best friend a fridge for her birthday. I can't wait to see her face light up when she opens it.” Birthdays, and years, pass. As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, its population is aging steadily , with the median age rising from 35.6 in 2001 to 39.4 in 2025, reflecting a broader shift driven by lower fertility rates and longer lifespans. While women still outnumber men at older ages, that gap has narrowed significantly as male mortality has decline

The MBA's National Advocacy Conference in DC wrapped up this week, and any time you have a gaggle of mortgage personnel in one place, talk in the hallways inevitably turned to current market conditions. For example, servicing rights have increased in value, and MSR trading multiples are in the mid 5x range for certain cohorts (markedly higher than the 4x1 value where it was for years), depending on asset mix, recapture assumptions, and servicing execution. Servicing portfolio

“People who cheat on their taxes disgust me. This is not the kind of world I want to raise my 23 dependents in.” While FHFA Director Pulte is caught up in another controversy , this time with Donald Trump’s Jesus meme, wanna know how much your state makes in taxes every year? Here you go. Mortgage loan originators are very concerned with fiscal issues, as well as who their clients are. What better way than… the Census Bureau! The U.S. Census Bureau released a downloadable fi

April 15… Tax Day. “Donald Trump is introducing a 30 percent tax on shredded cheese. It's part of his plan to Make America Grate Again.” Plenty of people were, no doubt, working on their federal taxes last night, as well as state income taxes although nine states don’t have income tax and others, like Mississippi and Oklahoma, are seeking to eliminate it altogether. Some of those working on their taxes could very well have bought or refinanced a home last month. According to

“A tax versus a fine? A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right.” Yes, the traditional tax deadline is tomorrow, with our tax dollars funding a plethora of government programs and payrolls. Money for the government can come from individual income taxes, payroll taxes, and corporate income taxes, and it collects revenue from excise taxes, estate taxes, tariffs, and fees, which together finance public services and programs. It’s hard t

If you want to be paid to move to, or stay in, Detroit, this new program paying big bucks is your chance! Hats off to those marketing folks… Do you know the difference between “used,” “pre-owned,” and “pre-loved?” Marketing. Words matter. Do you know the difference between a mortgage and a lien? A mortgage (“death pledge," same root as mortician or mortuary) is the loan you take out to buy property, and a lien is a clause in the mortgage contract which gives the lender the r

Collections of people who work at lenders, investors, and especially third-party providers spend a chunk of their time in hotels, probably rack up loyalty points with certain hotel chains. They’re an “asset” for you, but a “liability” for hotels. Hotel and motel chains have to literally account for the fact that they technically owe their customers money. This adds up: seven large hotel groups collectively owe $11.6 billion to their guests , squirreled away across millions of

Let’s take a look at the mail bag. “Rob, with the war in the Middle East pushing gas prices higher, and transportation costs impacting everything, are you seeing a shift in what lender sales managers are telling their staff? ” Absolutely. We are constantly reminded that interest rates are out of our control, and lenders are focusing on how to grow in a tough market, and training and encouraging MLOs to use the tools they have to help borrowers and “play the long game.” Having

My cat Myrtle never had much use for a credit report. Nor credit scores, which came along in 1958, nor a FICO score (1989). Millions of borrowers were analyzed without them. Rumors swirl of the FHFA, overseer of Freddie and Fannie, “operationalizing” VantageScore any day now. VantageScore, created in 2006, is a joint venture by the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Will it change your lending process? Possibly. Do government regulations change yo

“You’ll never guess what this 1980’s actress looks like now !” Okay, that’s an example of a sensationalist click bait headline. Farce aside, nearly everyone changes in 40 years, anyway, as does the population. U.S. population growth slowed sharply between July 2024 and July 2025, rising just 1.8 million people (0.5 percent) to 341.8 million, the weakest growth since the early pandemic. This was driven primarily by a steep 54 percent drop in net international migration from 2