May 27: AE jobs, corresp. transitions; AI leveraging, lead engagement, servicing, compliance tools; Non-Agency product news

How ‘bout this one: A firefighter went to the college graduation ceremony for a baby he helped deliver many years ago. Loan originators can be involved in many life events of their clients as well, as the months and years roll on, something that a software program can’t do. They’re also in a great position to explain the nuances of the summer home buying season to clients. They know that rates aren’t the only thing making homes unaffordable. The median home price rose from $274,900 in Q4 2019 to $414,900 in Q4 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors. That has affected affordability much more than the rise in mortgage rates (the average 30-year fixed rate increased from 3.90 percent at the end of 2019 to 6-something percent today, let’s say about 6.16 percent because I saw that number somewhere). If we apply those rates on top of the median home prices in question and assume a 20 percent down payment, we get monthly principal and interest payments of $1,037 at 3.90 percent and $1,341 at 6.16 percent if the home costs $274,900. With a median home price of $414,900, those monthly payments go to $1,566 at 3.90 percent and $2,024 at 6.16 percent. Higher prices are impacting affordability significantly more than higher rates. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by NFTYDoor, the white-label HELOC platform for banks, credit unions, and brokers. Close in zero days with warehouse funding. Power your home equity lending with NFTYDoor. Today’s features an interview with NEO Home Loans Ryan Grant on the evolution of interactions between mortgage professionals and borrowers, and how companies can best provide support to origination staff.)

Employment and transitions

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“Newrez Correspondent is thrilled to welcome Evelina Arena as Regional Sales Manager, in the Bank and Credit Union Division. Evelina will be covering 11 East/Northeastern states and will bring extensive experience in the Correspondent Lending space, along with a strong, relationship-driven approach in supporting her partners. Evelina looks forward to connecting and working closely with our clients. Please join us in welcoming her and connecting with Evelina. In addition, we are excited to announce that Amanda Johnson has stepped into the role of Regional Sales Manager, in the IMB Division at Newrez Correspondent covering the Mid-Atlantic region. Amanda’s comprehensive industry experience and commitment to the correspondent space make her an incredible asset to independent mortgage bankers throughout the territory. Please join us in welcoming Amanda. We thank everyone who met with our team at the MBA® Secondary Conference last week. We value the time our customers shared with us and appreciate the opportunity to continue the conversations that support our shared goals.”

“EPM is experiencing record-breaking growth in 2026 and is actively looking to bring on 50 new Account Executives over the next 12 months. EPM is one of the fastest-growing wholesale lenders in the United States, built on a mission of helping homeowners realize the American Dream. Ideal candidates are driven, experienced AEs ready to plug into a platform with real momentum and the support to match. We are also entertaining teams looking for a new home. This is a rare opportunity to join an organization that is scaling rapidly and investing heavily in its people. If you are ready to align yourself with the fastest-moving name in wholesale lending, now is the time. For confidential consideration, please email us.”

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.

Lender and broker products, software, & services

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Does your subservicer oversight actually hold up under review? Some lenders rely heavily on subservicer reporting and attestations, but still lack clear, documented, independent validation of how controls are being executed day to day. That can create real exposure with regulators, Agencies, and GSEs. Firstline Compliance performs independent subservicer oversight reviews designed to assess compliance programs, evaluate adherence to regulatory requirements, and provide optional targeted file review to help validate actual and historical performance. Our team understands what effective oversight looks like in practice because we’ve worked firsthand through the operational, compliance, and examination challenges tied to mortgage servicing relationships. The result is stronger oversight, better visibility, and documentation you can confidently defend. Contact Ashley Bradford at 469-717-4232 to learn more.

“Blue Water Financial Technologies, with VAULT (Verified Asset & Universal Loan Transfer)! Blue Water Financial Technologies delivers an IDP platform purpose-built for mortgage and financial workflows helping teams move from manual document review to structured, standardized, decision-ready data. We offer unlimited scaling; AI review partnered with Machine Learning Algorithms developed over the last 7 years of real-world mortgage production. Contact Michael Bender. Learn more here.”

“Do you ever run into situations where a realtor has a borrower assuming a VA or FHA mortgage with a low rate? Symmetry Lending can help! Did you know that Symmetry can close a 2^nd lien HELOC simultaneously behind an assumption to help bridge the gap between the loan amount of the assumption mortgage and the purchase price? On a primary residence, Symmetry’s 2^nd can go to 89.99 percent CLTV of purchase price or appraised value if less, up to 500K line amount, so your borrower would only need to bridge that gap for 10.01 percent! If you ever run into these scenarios, please give your Area Manager a call! Symmetry Lending.”

Today’s mortgage servicing landscape demands speed, accuracy, and adaptability. MSP®, ICE’s industry-leading loan servicing platform, helps servicers streamline operations while staying ready for what’s next. Designed to support the entire servicing lifecycle, MSP delivers the scalability, reliability and compliance support servicers need to operate with confidence. Built-in automation and intelligent decisioning reduce manual work and operational risk to not just streamline tasks but deliver greater overall scale and efficiency. This frees up teams to focus on what matters most: delivering a consistent, high-quality homeowner experience. It’s no surprise MSP is trusted by more servicers than any other loan servicing software. Discover how MSP can help simplify complexity, drive efficiency, and power smarter servicing.

Less back-and-forth. More first-time-right verifications. Truework replaces manual verification waterfalls with a single automated platform, so underwriters, LOs, and ops can cut down the document chasing, conflicting numbers, and last-minute corrections. Lenders see up to 50 percent cost savings on verifications, with faster turn times, higher accuracy, and stronger R&W relief. Trusted by top lenders in the U.S., Truework gives your team verification results they can rely on. Learn more.

Most mortgage AI focuses on automating individual tasks, but the real inefficiencies live between them. Handoffs, exceptions, and cross-functional decisions are what keep costs high and limit true transformation. JazzX AI digital assistants go beyond step-level automation, coordinating work end-to-end across processing, underwriting, QC, and servicing. Every finding is reasoned against your guidelines and overlays, continuously updated as new data comes in, and tied back to the exact policy behind it, so your team stays in control. The result: lower cost per loan, faster decisions, and higher loan quality. Book a demo to see how JazzX AI drives end-to-end execution.

Lower & CANDID: A Tech100 Blueprint for Mortgage Scale! When Lower acquired Movoto, Lower secured a top five real estate portal and a massive front-end engine with 150 million annual visits; by partnering with CANDID, they’ve gained the mortgage marketing and sales operating system required to turn that traffic into lifelong enterprise value. Recently recognized on HousingWire’s Tech100 list, this partnership solves the industry's biggest disconnect: the gap between lead volume and LO adoption. By consolidating real-time lead engagement via Group SMS, CRM, mortgage presentation, Experience Cloud, and Client Retention Cloud into one system, Lower achieved a 61 percent+ adoption rate. This shift proves that elite lenders are moving beyond a patchwork of legacy tools in favor of a unified foundation that owns the customer relationship from the first click to the next refinance. The standard has been set. Is your organization built to compete?

AI continues dominating conversation across the mortgage industry, but lenders gaining traction are not using it to replace loan officers. They are using it to help originators operate more effectively. That is the foundation behind Usherpa and Dan Harrington’s book, Authentic Intelligence: The Other AI. Harrington, co-founder of Usherpa and longtime mortgage industry leader, believes technology should strengthen relationships, not replace them. By studying the habits of top-producing loan officers, Usherpa identifies behaviors and relationship strategies driving production. Combining those insights with AI-powered technology helps originators prioritize outreach, uncover opportunity, and strengthen relationships driving referrals and repeat business. Technology alone does not create peak performance. The right technology supporting the right habits does. See why more lenders are turning to Usherpa to help loan officers perform at a higher level.

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.

Non-Agency/product lending news

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There are some who believe that, given the Agency’s stance on pricing and underwriting guidelines, volume will move away from them to the tune of 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 loans. Will we see $400 billion in non-Agency production in 2026? Stay tuned. Who’s doing what?

United Wholesale Mortgage is offering two new products: free 1-0 temporary rate buydowns and home equity loans. Effective immediately, UWM will cover the cost of lender-paid temporary rate buydowns on conventional and government purchases by providing credit to offset the buydown experience. This gives borrowers a payment equivalent to a 1 percent lower interest rate in the first year at no additional cost to them or the broker, providing a lower monthly payment and easing the transition into homeownership. This free offering is available through June 30, 2026.

Onslow Bay Financial has recently enhanced its product offerings to now offer DSCR from $100k-$3mm. “We've also sharpened our prepayment penalty LLPAs by 37.5 bps. With a full suite of Non-QM, Agency 2nd Home / Investor, CES, HELOC, and Jumbo products, Onslow Bay offers unparalleled product flexibility and superior secondary market execution. New technological innovations like our Laminr bank statement calculator help streamline purchases. We had a record-setting 2025. Our flow channel funded $16.5B in loans and completed 29 securitizations totaling $15.2B in proceeds. And starting off 2026, with a record first quarter funding nearly $2 billion in March and ended the quarter at $5.1 billion of purchases. Interested in learning more about how our products, pricing, and technology can work for you? Please reach out to OBSales@onslowbayfinancial.com."

Due to recent CFPB Regulation B amendments, Citi Correspondent Lending has made the decision to discontinue its Special Purpose Credit Program. Access announcements for critical dates related to new registrations and locks, deadline for credit package submissions, and the final date for SPCP loan purchases.

Onity Mortgage, formally known as PHH Mortgage, published announcements regarding revisions to several topics in the Correspondent Seller Guide and Non-Agency Addendum, updates, and clarifications to FlexIQ Non-Agency product offerings, and addressed the VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T credit score model announcements issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Onslow Bay Financial has incorporated multiple changes to its Non-QM Seller Program Underwriting Guidelines with version 8.9. Additionally, updates were made to the LLPAs on their DSCR Program. Loans locked prior to the effective dates will continue to be priced with the LLPAs at the respective lock date.

Considering a higher-value home purchase? Priority is currently offering jumbo loan options up to $3,000,000, featuring 10/1 and 7/1 ARM programs with rates starting below 6 percent. These solutions may fit those who are seeking lower initial monthly payments, competitive interest rates, increased purchasing power without compromising flexibility, or financing tailored for luxury or high-value properties.

Pennymac updated non-QM LLPAs effective for all Best-Efforts Commitments taken on or after Wednesday, April 22, 2026. View Announcement 26-40 for details.

Newrez rolled out its Medical Professional Home Loan, a specialized mortgage solution designed to address common qualification challenges facing early‑career medical professionals, including student loan debt and limited savings. View Newrez’s media alert and blog post for additional details. It is designed to help early-career health care professionals achieve homeownership via reducing upfront costs by offering 100 percent financing with no traditional private mortgage insurance, alongside flexible student loan debt-to-income treatment and qualification based on projected earnings.

Capital markets: headlines over fundamentals

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Unsurprisingly, financial markets opened the shortened trading week focused almost entirely on the evolving conflict with Iran, as renewed White House optimism surrounding a potential peace framework was tempered by fresh military clashes near the Strait of Hormuz, including a “defensive” U.S. strike. Despite geopolitical tensions remaining elevated, investors are largely leaning into hopes for eventual de-escalation, driving a rally in both equities and longer-dated Treasuries, while pushing yields lower and flattening the curve further. Economic data and traditional fundamentals have temporarily taken a back seat to geopolitical headlines, though investors are aware that persistently high energy prices, weakening real wage growth, and mounting inflation pressures could eventually weigh more meaningfully on consumer spending, economic activity, and Federal Reserve policy expectations.

The FHFA House Price Index released yesterday showed that U.S. home prices continued to rise modestly over the past year (+1.7 percent), extending a streak of annual appreciation that has remained intact since 2012, though gains have become increasingly uneven across regions. While most states and major metro areas still posted price increases, several markets (particularly in parts of the South and West, including the Austin area and Colorado) experienced notable declines, reflecting a housing market that is gradually cooling and becoming more regionally fragmented.

The Treasury Department’s $69 billion 2-year note auction yesterday was well received by investors, with the notes yielding 4.07 percent (0.25 percent above where it was for the last 2-year auction) and demand metrics coming in close to historical averages, including a solid 2.64x bid-to-cover ratio and strong non-dealer participation at 88 percent. Direct and indirect bidders accounted for most of the demand, and despite Treasuries already rallying earlier in the day, the market reaction after the auction remained relatively muted. The front-end of the yield curve has been consistently underperforming as policymaker appetite for rate cuts diminishes, and the Fed moves toward a more neutral stance on the future direction of policy rates.

Agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) have staged a notable rebound recently, supported by improving excess returns, moderating volatility, and a relatively stable Treasury market, with the 10-year yield holding near the mid-4 percent range. Performance within the MBS sector has been mixed beneath the surface, with certain Fannie Mae 15- and 20-year products outperforming while higher-coupon pools and specs continue to attract investor interest due to favorable spread and valuation dynamics. MBS valuations currently appear somewhat attractive relative to investment-grade corporates, though less compelling versus Treasuries, as investors continue balancing elevated rates, convexity risk, and shifting expectations around Federal Reserve policy. Trading activity has remained relatively subdued, reflecting cautious positioning, selective demand, and ongoing focus on spread behavior and prepayment dynamics (rather than aggressive directional risk-taking).

Today’s economic calendar kicked off with mortgage applications from MBA, which revealed that activity declined sharply last week as rising interest rates continued to pressure borrower demand; overall applications fell 8.5 percent and refinance activity dropped 18 percent from the prior week. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 6.65 percent, its highest level since August 2025, discouraging many refinance borrowers, while purchase activity remains more resilient and continues to run modestly above year-ago levels. We’ve also received ADP Employment (+35.75k). Later today brings Redbook same store sales, Treasury activity that will be headlined by auctions of $28 billion 2-year FRNs and $70 billion 5-year notes, Richmond and Dallas Fed manufacturing data, and no fewer than three Fed speakers. We begin Wednesday with Agency MBS prices slightly improved from yesterday’s close, the 2-year yielding 4.03 percent, and the 10-year yielding 4.46 percent after closing yesterday at 4.49 percent.

Last night I made salmon for supper.

As it was gently cooking in a warm bath of garlic, herbs, lemon, wine, and onion, I got a visit from a Fish and Wildlife officer.

He knocked on the door and yelled, “Sir, we have reason to believe that salmon has been poached!”

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, “Mortgage Rates Are Not Random.” The Commentary’s podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple and Spotify.

qoɹ & ǝᴉqqoɹ

(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.)