With the new URLA behind us…along comes the next major change in residential lending. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (aka the GSEs) have provided an update on the new URAR. Yes, the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report is undergoing some major changes. Here are just a few highlights: Input was gathered from 107 stakeholders across the industry in designing the new form. The key benefits of the new form are: Dynamic output with commentary placed within each …
A picture is worth a thousand words! Take a good look at that image; then ask yourself, how long will you wait before you really learn the business? Why do top producers have time to bring in more business? Minimum knowledge to fill out a 1003 doesn’t cut it! To assume it’s enough, indicates the lack of knowledge about the real business of residential lending. Analysis, critical thinking, mathematics, problem solving, communications and the ability …
It’s a new year with all the hopes that January brings…it’s also Monday. New week, same old issues. You are in charge of “training.” You yawn, sip your coffee and try to remember where you left off on Friday afternoon. In-house training departments face many challenges. They are expensive and labor intensive. The cost to acquire, develop, maintain, update and deliver content and systems is an ongoing battle. Compliance takes over when new mortgage laws …
Years ago, a local competitor asked me, “Why do you attend all these mortgage conferences? What a waste of time.” I responded “because that’s where Professionals learn.” Several years later one of his originators had their license revoked for copying and pasting signatures! Not all associations or conferences make sense for all participants. Being a member of more than one association can yield better results than the voice of one. When reviewing conference agendas narrow …
Every time I finish writing another episode on mortgage financing, as if on queue, something significant changes. If you sell financial products linked to LIBOR, changes may be heading your way…okay so maybe not till 2021! Today, Timothy Kitt, Senior Vice President, Head of Pricing and Execution for Freddie Mac released a statement on the replacement of the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) with the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), in support of the recommendation …
With low rates and refinances slowing down turn times in the middle of the summer selling season, changes may be coming that are most likely not on your radar. Depository institutions may want to begin to develop a strategy for Transitional Licensing Authority that could change the originator pool. The real estate industry is being sued for anti-competitive practices and NAMB is calling for Congress to open the SAFE ACT! What has me interested is …
It’s December 2019. Your entire origination staff just got Certified by a 25 year mortgage veteran. Your underwriting conditions are cut in half due to less touches on more profitable files. Your customer service has improved dramatically and the stress level with all employees is greatly reduced. Not to mention, there is a significant reduction in potential compliance issues. New applications are increasing because originators are not babysitting files with more time to originate new …
Our CLOES.online Mortgage Professional Program is coming soon and I am in “content hell” but, happy to say with light at the end of the tunnel. The program will be available April 1, 2019 but there is one area I want to share because we are in tax season and it may be helpful, a sneak preview! Mortgage Practices 1 includes an episode on Mortgage Math & Income Calculations, with a detailed review of tax …
Charter Oak Systems, LLC and CLOES.online is pleased to announce the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) now offers a new Online, On Demand Video-Recorded course, Mortgage Professional Practices. NAMB is committed to continuing to build a robust, education platform to support the professionalism of all mortgage originators. Most originators agree, none of us were really ever educated. Yes, we got on-boarding, prospecting, internal systems, policies and procedures training but, where would we have gone …