How do you like this eye opener: “The value of the property being appraised should be adjusted downward if the ethnic composition of the neighborhood to which it belonged was not homogeneous.” (The Appraisal of Real Estate, 1970) Appraisal methodology and analysis have changed over the years, and we’re about to undergo another major alteration with UAD 3.6. Some investors are ahead of the 11/2/26 curve. For example, Newrez is now accepting loans from clients who have adopted

In 1983 there was a Cabbage Patch Doll shortage. In 1996 there was a lack of Tickle Me Elmo dolls, leading to stampedes. Really? Do you think we’ll see that with Needoh or Jellycat globs or dolls? Probably not. Do you remember when everyone was talking about the lack of housing inventory as a problem for buyers? Those days are long gone: There are now nearly 50 percent more home sellers than buyers as mismatch widens to a record 630,000 . (Of course this is depending on pric

In industry news, the big are getting bigger and CrossCountry has stepped in to buy Two Harbors (much more below). But on a more micro-level, Lenders, which include loan officers and underwriters, always have their collective eyes on income, debt, net worth, and personal finances. Did you know that at least 73 out of 100 sitting United States senators have a median net worth of over a million dollars, a financial feat that ordinarily applies to just seven percent of the popul

“I told my wife I wanted to be cremated. She made me an appointment for Tuesday.” There is plenty of humor between men and women, and also some things that aren’t so funny. Some of these exist in the mortgage industry and Bri Lees published a Chrisman LLC Thought Leadership piece titled, “The Month Mortgage Remembers Women Exist” worth reading. It is something to keep in mind, and I’ve received a fair number of emails about the piece. Something else worth thinking about is h

What’s new out there? Well, United Airlines is talking about having couches in the air . There’s always something new in compliance, and there are firms that specialize in it including Feewise , Truework ,  Asurity , RiskExec , TENA ,  ACES Quality Management ,  Firstline Compliance , and  LicensingStore.com listed in the Marketplace. There’s always something new impacting mortgage rates. “Rob, I know that short term rates have gone up more than long term rates. Doesn’t an i

I’ve been doing some flying recently, and have not seen the terrible security lines that the press has mentioned. Then I found out why . And there’s this perspective . On a more serious note, this week I was in Virginia, and the Commonwealth appears poised to follow Utah and become the second state in the country to approve plug-in solar , which are convenient panels that plug directly into a home’s electrical system through a standard wall plug and can significantly reduce e

Sometimes life comes down to a coin toss . Here in Virginia Beach, at the Southern Trust Mortgage Sales Summit, a conversation topic is originators not leaving their business to chance. Pricing practices are rarely left to chance, and Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to the CEO of Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), to inform the company of his investigation into FICO’s pricing practices in the mortgage credit scoring market. Public policy is not left to chance either,

I head to Virginia today for a Southern Trust Mortgage Sales Summit. With 9 million people, Virginia’s population has been steadily increasing, unlike… Japan. Japan’s economy is stagnant and its population of 123 million is slowly declining, resulting in many things, including 9 million vacant houses and Buddhist temples losing relevancy. The country’s solution? ChatGPT-designed AI robot monks. Thanks… I’ll pass. AI may have dominated the conversation at this year’s ICE con

Here we are, heading into the spring planting season, and U.S. fertilizer prices have doubled. In fact, with the Iranian War, the price of oil has moved higher, and while President Trump has said that it is a price worth paying, we are reminded that anything transported has become more expensive with the price of oil, adding to inflation and impacting the price of fixed-income securities and therefore interest rates. (Having your home or office flooded is also expensive, and

On this date, six years ago, Netflix released “Tiger King.” Say what you will about “watching a train wreck” or asking, “Is this the height of our civilization?”, we watched it. I bring this up because, while Joe Exotic (now in prison for animal cruelty) may be stuck in some people’s minds, we, as an industry, shouldn’t forget the magnificent job we did moving to a “work from home environment” and not missing a beat funding loans while people’s spending ground to a halt durin

Let’s dive into the mailbag. “Rob, the FHFA announced that Fannie and Freddie will remove ‘certain’ homeowners insurance requirements which may reduce costs. But what are your contacts saying about where their industry-facing priorities are?” Both are focused on leveraging technology and reminding lenders of their existing products. For example, Fannie offers a construction to perm program , as does Freddie Mac , and has “ MH Advantage ” for manufactured homes; Freddie has

“I started hiding from my boss because I heard good employees are hard to find.” It’s not hard to find good conversations among mortgage professionals, and among the hot topics in the hallways of the ICE Experience is the evolution in data contained in each lien, along with massive appraisal change hitting our biz. I was chatting with Class Valuation’s Mark Walser yesterday about UAD 3.6. (If you’d like a primer on it, and you should, see this write up by Mike Simmons .) On

I wonder if billionaires are insulted if someone tells them they look like “a million bucks”? Here in Las Vegas, at the ICE Experience, it’s impossible to tell who’s worth what, but we are reminded that correct data is worth a lot. In fact, data is critical… all important. The amount of data that lenders and vendors now have is incredible, and is being used to make technology and personnel decisions, on and offshore. “You can’t staff your way out of margin compression.” On th

Whether facing yet another bad winter storm, unusual March heat, or some kind of atmospheric river, people around the nation are dealing with extreme weather to come to this ICE Experience in Las Vegas. Oh, and then there’s about 58,000 TSA employees who make, on average, about $40k per year not being paid. Underwriters, and common sense, tell me that many of them don’t have a lot of savings to fall back on when their pay is eliminated. Home builders appear to be scaling back

I am soon heading to Las Vegas for the ICE Experience, along with hundreds, or thousands, of others. But let’s bask in today… nicknamed “pi day,” as in 3.14… Pi, often represented by the mathematical symbol “π,” represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. (Today is also, coincidentally, Albert Einstein’s birthday.) Pi’s numbers never repeat, and its value has been calculated out to over a trillion figures. That’s a lot! Something else that is “a lot” are

I will be forever disappointed that a group of squids is not called a squad. There’s really no name for that particular group (versus crows, or flamingos, or rhinos), but there is a name for a lack of privacy and raising prices for people in trouble. Let’s open the mailbox. “Rob, you mentioned ‘ surveillance pricing ’ where companies like Uber can change their pricing based on how desperate a consumer is. Can you imagine the backlash lenders would face if they changed prices

I’m sitting here, wondering how many numbers my phone can permanently block given the daily calls I receive about some personal loan I’ve never applied for. Speaking of applications, let’s see what’s in the mailbox. “Rob, are there any jobs out there that you know of that you don’t post in your Commentary?” Kind of: Lenders and vendors add jobs to the Chrisman Job Board which takes just a few minutes and the listing is seen by thousands of mortgage professionals. If you're

Most passwords that are suggested to me by a computer look like a cat walked over the keyboard. Technology is a two-edged sword. Have you ever heard of “surveillance pricing?” “Big brother” knows a lot about you. Ridesharing companies like Uber, for instance, can charge users more when they have  lower battery life  on their phone. “Democrats in Pennsylvania have introduced a bill that would stop retailers from changing the price of essential goods and services in a given 2

“I saw a man at Walmart with March Madness teeth... He was down to the final four.” Speaking of “4”, TransUnion turned some heads by announcing 99-cent mortgage pricing for VantageScore® 4.0 . While we’re talking about money, President Donald Trump called surging oil costs, which are now at their highest level since 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, a “very small price to pay” if the goals of the war are met. Politicians, regarding of party, are never good at cutting costs, a

One of the conversation topics late last week in Deer Valley is the weather and climate, and more specifically that Salt Lake City had received virtually no snow this winter, which means that places like Atlanta and Charlotte have received more snow than a city at 4,300 feet elevation. Syracuse, New York has received nearly 5 feet of snow so far this year. Ever heard of Commonspace in Syracuse? As another affordable alternative, it’s a “cohousing” community in a restored 19