“We knew this would happen. We controlled this.” That was the confident, arguably boastful claim of United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishiba this week when discussing his company’s recent quarterly performance and what it means for traders on the stock market. Ishiba was speaking to CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer about UWM’s recent drop in margins and whether the stock market “overvalues” those types of metrics. “I don’t think so,” Ishiba responded. “I don’t really understand why people focus so much on that. We control the margins. The margins didn’t collapse. I control the margins. I dropped the margins to focus on putting a lot of pressure on my competitors, which we did successfully. The top mortgage lender went…
As the chaos in Afghanistan continues, significant attention is being paid to the veterans returning home from that lengthy war and the challenges they face upon arriving home. Among those challenges is finding adequate housing for themselves and their families. Governments and private charities have developed numerous initiatives to help facilitate easy veteran entry into the housing market, including favorable loan terms and gifts of debt-free newly built housing. Numerous private lenders have also launched programs to help veterans obtain homeownership in a variety of ways. Among them is JP Morgan Chase, one of the largest lenders in the U.S. Company spokeswoman Ashlei Bobo told the Mortgage Note this week that the company partners with the U.S. Department of Veteran…
The dramatic fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban over the past week has underscored the instability of the region and the difficulties of engaging in a two-decade-long conflict in a foreign country. It has also highlighted the difficulties faced by many U.S. veterans who have been serving in that country for years—the tremendous challenges of deployment can often be exacerbated by the concurrent difficulties in returning to civilian life. Among them can be finding housing, whether it’s a rental apartment or a mortgage-financed home. The Disabled Veterans National Foundation notes that, while veteran households tend to have higher homeownership rates than non-veterans, younger veterans have “astonishingly higher cost burdens” than older ones. “Twenty-first century veterans are far less likely than previous generations…
One possible explanation for the sharp decrease in housing stock throughout the U.S.? Demographics. Some analysts believe a wave of Millennial homebuyers are at least partially responsible for the severe housing crunch that has sent U.S. home prices skyrocketing and launched a seemingly endless frenzy in which buyers are competing in a cutthroat market for a dwindling supply of homes. Data indicate that Millennials form the largest share of current homebuyers: Older and younger members of that group make up nearly 40 percent of all homebuyers today, according to data from the National Association of Retailers. Millennials still make up the smallest share of U.S. homeowner demographics, but data from Apartment List show that, among major U.S. age groups, their…
You may have been surprised recently to find yourself laughing at real estate listings and mortgage broker commercials. That’s the point. The real estate industry—not a dependably reliable source for gut-busting jokes and gags—has been increasingly turning to comedy to make itself stand out in the hyper-competitive digital market of the 21st century. Rocket Mortgage, for instance, this year deployed a series of commercials featuring veteran comedian Tracy Morgan and other celebrities. The company regularly uses humor in its advertising material, such as one advertisement that featured a ghost looking for “a new home to haunt.” Rocket isn’t the only major real estate company using gags to catch consumers’ attention. Realtor’s “Home for Every Buyer” campaign featured one spot in…
The most important question about the federal government’s latest nationwide ban on evictions isn’t whether it’s the right thing to do or whether it will even accomplish much—it’s whether or not it’s actually legal. Tellingly, President Joe Biden himself doesn’t seem to have much faith that it is, a sign that the current administration considers the move less a practical solution and more a political feint or strategy. The federal eviction moratorium was first put in place last year. But it was done so via the executive branch—specifically the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—rather than Congress. That distinction is critical. The Supreme Court has decided over several decades that Congress, under the U.S. Constitution, has fairly broad latitude…
Virtually every industry in the modern economy has been subject to intense scrutiny over its approach to gender equity and inclusivity. The mortgage industry is no different. While mortgage lending may not be the sector of the economy that immediately springs to mind when the issue of gender equity is raised — Industries such as art, entertainment, media, and politics tend to be more subject to cultural and political trends — a growing chorus of voices is demanding change in mortgage lending. Specifically, they’re calling for an increase of women in leadership roles, along with accountability for men who reportedly abuse their authority within the industry. “It is imperative for all of us to focus on inclusion at every level,”…
The debate over the federal eviction moratorium is raising widespread concerns that renters may be facing a national-level crisis of evictions as landlords move to throw out tenants who are significantly behind in their rent payments. Landlords, meanwhile, argue the moratorium has delivered a crushing financial blow to their industry, forcing them to scramble to make ends meet as much of their income stream has essentially vanished and they have been left with no means of recouping it. The Biden administration has added its own uncertainly. After declaring an extension of the moratorium almost certainly illegal (“any call for a moratorium based on the Supreme Court’s recent decision is likely to face obstacles,” Biden said Tuesday) the CDC announced a…
Mat Ishbia appears to be the odd man out when it comes to handling fees from customers the feds are no longer collecting. On July 16, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced it was ending the adverse market refinancing fee for loan deliveries effective August 1, 2021. The fee, designed to address risk from anticipated losses due to COVID-19, was always unpopular. Proposed by the Trump administration last summer, it was repeatedly delayed before going into effect in December. It was welcome news to the entire industry — data show a surge in mortgage applications in the week after the 50 basis point fee was lifted — but it may have been exceptionally good news for United Wholesale Mortgage…
In this white-hot real estate market, some fear the U.S. may be headed toward a second housing crisis similar to the one that sent the country into a deep recession in 2008. Experts argue that’s unlikely due to the differences between the 2008 market and today. The likelier scenario, many are positing, is not the bursting of a market bubble, but rather a more conventional cooling-off and gradual balancing of prices. The 2008 crisis was precipitated by a broadly complex variety of interrelated factors. Chief among them was what’s known as “subprime lending,” where homebuyers were given loans they were unlikely to maintain given their financial situation. Such loans are often accompanied by provisions such as high interest rates to…
