“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

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

“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

(Yes, this is the non-April Fool’s edition.) Research suggests that by the time your child turns 18, you will have spent approximately 95 percent of the time you will ever spend with them in your lifetime. (Don’t worry, I am not going to break into Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.”) Time flies, Apple turns 50 today, the first quarter is in the books, and here in Northern Nevada, like everywhere, lenders are watching trends and technology. There are all kinds of lists ou

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

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 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 hate it when people subtly brag about where they went to college. I have this friend who went to Harvard, and he just won’t shut the hell up about it. He’s always been like this, even when we were in college together.” Nature abhors a vacuum, and if students don’t want to go to college in their own countries, where are they going to go? The environment for people around the world coming to the U.S. has changed, whether for college or to live, impacting to some degree the d

Wasn’t it just New Years Eve? Time flies, this morning Punxsutawney Phil "saw" six more weeks of winter, and “the IMB” is already here. What is the chatter in the hallways at the MBA’s Independent Mortgage Banker’s conference in Florida? “Holy smokes it's cold in Florida (Jacksonville’s low is 26 F today; everyone is bundled up to even go to the hotel lobby). The Ritz is relatively small, so the room block sold out quickly. As a result, many people are staying at hotels in th

Fans of MASH know that Alan Alda turned 90 yesterday, and the remaining actors from the show joined him on the beach . When you reach a certain age you don’t care about the employment picture. Amazon laying off another 16,000, as announced this week, won’t help anyone’s “the economy is doing great” argument. As economist Elliot Eisenberg points out, “The most disturbing piece of information from last week’s income data is the confirmation of a complete lack of income growth o

Yeah, I know that this is a daily commentary on the world of mortgages, often about how companies are evolving, leveraging technology, and constantly changing their product in their pursuit of customers. How about the opposite business model? Unlike just about every other online business today, Craigslist is a completely honest, straightforward business. There is no hidden toll or price (your data) for “free” (the company makes revenue elsewhere) and the transaction is straig