Mar. 4: Engineer job; AOT execution, CRM, advisory, virtual economist, non-QM tools; Redwood's first non-QM deal

Years ago, I commented that, “March 4^th is the only day that is a command.” It didn’t take long for someone to rejoin, “Every day in March can be a command.” It isn’t a topic that is mentioned often, versus… credit. Credit is certainly a topic as of late, both its process and its cost, but I received this note from an industry vet in the South. “Rob, I’m tired of lenders having ‘a come apart’ over FICO’s costs. No one talks about the fact that FICO held its prices steady for over 20 years, and the 1400 percent price increase came from a base of 69 cents. I don’t think FICO is running away from competition. Everyone is talking about ‘1B’ (one bureau), but the bigger issue is lender choice, where the lender or LO chooses which score they’re going to use. Not all the bureaus have the same data, and that opens the door to adverse selection, increased risk, and gaming, which all leads to increased costs to consumers.” While we’re talking credit, here in Florida at the Lenders One Summit, I spoke to a few people about what they were doing to try to save money, and a few of them mentioned FICO’s Direct License Program. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by Feewise, which turns mortgage compliance from bottleneck to business accelerator. Handle all the complexities involved with establishing TRID compliant fees and disclosures, achieve sign off, and deliver packages to your consumers for review or signature. Hear an interview with Depth’s Lindsey Neal on modern relationship management, marketing, and PR strategies in the mortgage industry.)

Employment

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“Button Finance, a fast-growing home equity lender offering full-doc and bank-statement home equity loans up to $1,000,000 across all channels, is hiring a Lead Engineer as we continue to scale. We're looking for a hands-on technical leader with deep Encompass experience, strong mortgage workflow knowledge, and the ability to build and lead, not just manage vendors. This is a full-time hybrid role requiring full U.S. Eastern hours overlap. Early career or seasoned, we care about talent, ownership, and execution over titles or years on a resume. Please send resumes to rose@buttonfinance.com.”

The Chrisman Job Board is the go-to platform for employment opportunities across the mortgage industry. For employers, adding a job listing is easy. Simply create an account and drop in your existing application link, or forward the details to our team and we’ll take care of it for you. For job seekers, joining our Talent Community is completely free. Upload your resume to be visible to hiring companies across the industry and stay connected to new opportunities as they go live.

Products, services, and software for brokers and lenders

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“Spring is the season for fresh starts… even better to have a fresh start at prime minus 0.25% margin start rate! Take advantage of Symmetry’s Concurrent or Post-Close Piggyback Special and give your borrowers a smart solution to help them move forward with confidence. This offer is available for borrowers with a 760+ mid FICO, a minimum $300K draw at closing, and up to 80% max CLTV on primary residence Piggyback HELOC transactions. It features a 5-year draw term, with a 10-year draw term available for a +0.25% margin add-on. Your borrower's home has been working hard for them, and now it’s time to help them reach their financial goals. Symmetry Lending.”

As market conditions continue to shift, lenders need on-demand forecasting tools that connect economic insight to everyday capital markets decisions. Optimal Blue just announced Virtual Economist, the industry’s first AI-powered, machine learning forecasting tool, at this year’s Optimal Blue Summit in Scottsdale. Virtual Economist merges public economic indicators with Optimal Blue’s proprietary lock volume data to deliver real-time rate and volume predictions and instant scenario analysis. The experience is designed to help capital markets teams evaluate macro and microeconomic changes without the delays of manual research and modeling. Users can choose a conversational economist avatar and engage with it through voice or text. Virtual Economist allows users to ask questions like “What happens to mortgage rates and lock volume if the Fed cuts rates?” To learn more, watch the Summit keynote with CEO Joe Tyrrell, Chief Product Officer Erin Wester, and Director of Product Management Kevin Foley now.

Connect with SettlementOne at ICE Experience 2026 in Las Vegas. For more than 25 years, SettlementOne has delivered trusted credit reporting and verification solutions to leading lenders nationwide. In Q2, we’re helping clients implement smarter credit and verification workflows, optimize cascades, reduce unnecessary pulls, and leverage intelligent automation to improve speed, accuracy, and cost control. From comprehensive credit reporting and advanced verification strategies to tools like the FICO® Score Mortgage Simulator and ScoreNavigator, our integrated platform empowers lenders to minimize risk, enhance operational efficiency, and build stronger borrower relationships. Meet with our team at ICEX26 to see how streamlined, data-driven workflows can elevate your origination strategy in today’s evolving market. Email us or connect with us on LinkedIn to schedule time.

“PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), focuses on relationship-driven business with long-term success, by-the-way, have you heard about our BTW Services? We are pleased to offer all customers our Broker-Dealer, Treasury Management and Warehouse Lending (BTW) services. Our Broker-Dealers can help customers hedge their origination pipelines by buying and selling TBAs, specified pools and whole loan trading. Our Treasury Management team helps customers with escrow and cash management. Finally, the Warehouse Lending team provides customers with confidence to meet their loan funding needs. If you are interested in learning more about our BTW Services please contact Deric Barnett or Justin Tannen.”

Did you know eRESI offers both Delegated and Non-Delegated options? This month, we're rolling out exciting enhancements to the Non-Delegated program to deliver greater transparency and a more seamless experience. This flexibility, paired with our best-in-class execution, helps lenders drive reliable, scalable growth… Contact us to learn more about how Non-QM can help you grow your business. eRESI is on the move! Connect with our team at ICE Experience 2026 (March 16–18) or the 42nd Annual MBANJ Regional Conference (March 22–24), where eRESI is a proud sponsor. Lisa Schreiber will be speaking on key non-QM panels at both events, sharing actionable insights to help you grow your non-QM business. And don't forget: do you know a non-QM Hero making a difference? Nominate them for eRESI's Non-QM Heroes campaign and help us celebrate the people powering non-QM forward. Submit your hero today! 

With over 40 years of experience in mortgage banking, Richey May knows the industry from every angle. Many of our team members are credentialed industry experts who dedicate significant time to developing other industry experts. From this expertise, we’ve created a wealth of services and products to help lenders stay ahead - audit and tax services, robust cybersecurity solutions designed to protect company assets and sensitive borrower information, business intelligence to enhance your operations...you name it! Whether you're leveraging our innovative platforms or having us work as your extended team for outsourced internal audit or accounting services, get ready to tackle challenges faster with some serious firepower on your side. Everything you need… contact our experts today!

From conversations at the TMC Conference in Scottsdale last week came a clear theme: the mortgage industry is leaning into AI, but no one is ready to hand the keys over to it. Speed and efficiency matter, but lenders remain cautious about over-reliance. Judgment, compliance, and the human touch still play a critical role in this business. That thinking echoes a premise Usherpa’s founder shared in Authentic Intelligence: technology should amplify human relationships, not replace them. It is also the philosophy behind the Usherpa platform. AI can improve outreach and automate routine tasks. But a CRM’s real job is helping loan officers nurture relationships at scale, prompt the right conversations, and stay consistently connected with past clients and referral partners. In a relationship-driven mortgage industry, that balance matters. AI can enhance communication. Relationship intelligence drives repeat business and referrals.

The Chrisman Marketplace is a centralized hub for vendors and service providers across the mortgage industry to be viewed by lenders in a very cost-effective manner. We’re adding new providers daily, so check back often to see what’s new. To reserve your place or learn more, contact us at info@chrismancommentary.com.

Capital markets: Redwood Trust’s first non-QM deal

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In a new case study, Tyler Anderson, Director of Secondary Marketing at First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO), describes how they transformed their hedge strategy and operational efficiency with MCT. By leveraging MCT’s solutions, FNBO modernized workflow, expanded execution mix, and reduced manual processes, driving a +25 BPS year-over-year profitability lift. With AOT automation, the bank unlocked more than $20K in annual savings, while competitive TBA trading delivered an additional $11K per year. Agency cash window integrations now save 2 to 3 hours per day on single cash commitments, and process automation through the Lock Desk saves 12 hours per month. As Tyler shares, “MCTlive! makes hedging conventional pipelines about as easy as it gets. It has allowed me to focus on strategy rather than the small details of entering prices into a system.” Read the full case study to discover how FNBO elevated execution, efficiency, and profitability with MCT.

Redwood Trust completed its first securitization backed by non-qualified mortgages (non-QM), issuing $352.75 million across six tranches in Aspire Mortgage Trust 2026-1, structured and bookrun solely by Morgan Stanley. The deal is backed by $391.28m of non-QM loans and marks a strategic expansion for the California-based lender, which originated $1.5 billion of non-QM loans in fiscal 2025 (capturing roughly 2 percent to 3 percent of annual market volume) as it targets borrowers underserved by traditional Agency standards. Company president Dashiell Robinson highlighted securitization as key to scaling the business amid a growing non-QM market that Bank of America forecasts will rise to $90 billion in issuance in 2026 from $80 billion in 2025. Pricing on Redwood’s deal was broadly in line with recent transactions, with its two-year AAA tranche clearing at Treasuries plus 130-basis points, slightly wider than a comparable deal from Lone Star Funds. Additional supply is expected, including a forthcoming $411.98 million non-QM securitization from Balbec Capital.

The surge in Treasury yields due to inflationary fears eased yesterday, yo-yoing throughout the day before easing into the close, as the war in Iran continued to spur wild moves across asset classes. Since the flight to safety trade had been building since January (and we wrote about “selling the fact” in yesterday’s Commentary), yields now sit at their highest levels in nearly three weeks alongside weakness in global equities and other sovereign debt. The Trump administration announced that the U.S. military will help secure shipping lanes around the Strait of Hormuz, which helped pare what had been a 9 percent surge in oil prices. New York Fed President Williams, in remarks yesterday, unsurprisingly left the option open for further rate cuts should inflation follow his expected path. If February’s employment report (due out Friday) reverses January’s unexpected strength, it would strengthen the case among some Fed governors for renewed policy easing, making rate cuts later this year more likely even if the Fed’s March meeting is too soon for action.

Residential lending activity continues to be driven increasingly by refinancing, with refi volumes nearly doubling year-over-year in both conventional and Ginnie Mae 30-year sectors and now accounting for a sharply higher share of total issuance, while purchase originations have remained comparatively steady. Overall loan production rose more than 26 percent from a year earlier, signaling a broader rebound, even as UMBS and Ginnie Mae 30-year gross issuance declined month over month; issuance remained concentrated in 5.0 percent and 5.5 percent coupons amid a dip in conventional mortgage rates to 5.90 percent. Notably, Ginnie Mae’s share of total issuance slipped to 38 percent, its lowest since August 2024, suggesting that its recent market share gains may be stabilizing as conventional production regains momentum.

Today’s economic calendar kicked off with mortgage applications from MBA, which rose 11.0 percent for the week ending February 27, with both purchase and refinance activity contributing to the gain. Refinancing led the increase, climbing 14 percent week over week and surging 109 percent from a year earlier, while purchase applications rose 6 percent and were 10 percent higher than the same week in 2025. The uptick was driven largely by mortgage rates remaining near their lowest levels since 2022. ADP employment for February is also out (51k expectations and 22k previously). Later today brings S&P Global services PMI for February, the ISM equivalent, some short-duration Treasury auctions before the NY Fed conducts a buyback for liquidity support in 3- to 5-year coupons for up to $4 billion, and the latest Beige Book ahead of the March 17-18 FOMC meeting. Yesterday the 10-year closed at 4.06 percent.

For you math wizzes out there, my grandma is 80 percent Irish.

Her name is Iris.

Visit www.ChrismanCommentary.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. You can also explore the Chrisman Marketplace, a centralized hub connecting mortgage professionals with trusted vendors and solutions. If you’re interested, check out my periodic blog on the STRATMOR Group website. This month’s piece is titled, “Helping Borrowers in a Market Defined by Complexity and Change.” The Commentary’s podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple and Spotify.

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(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes, visit the Chrisman Job Board. This newsletter is intended for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For the latest mortgage news, visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.ChrismanCommentary.com. Copyright 2026 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman. The views and opinions in this newsletter are mine alone unless otherwise specifically stated herein.)