Loan officers and mortgage brokers spend hours calling or e-mailing wholesale account executives to see if a difficult loan scenario meets an investor’s underwriting guidelines and whether or not their rate is the most competitive.”Whenever I get an application for a tough loan that most lenders wouldn’t touch, I have to spend hours calling and e-mailing numerous sub-prime and hard money lenders to see if anyone could fund the loan.” said, Jim Martens, a loan officer in Rockville, Maryland, whose business mainly consists of Alt-A and sub-prime loans. “Being able to fill out just one short form online that will be seen by hundreds of account executives, within seconds of submission, is going to save me at least five hours of tedious work every week. This will allow me to originate at least one or two more loans and it doesn’t cost me anything.”
Broker Network, based in Maryland, has developed a software program that will generate an RSS feed as soon as a loan scenario is submitted by a mortgage broker. The RSS feed will be available to all wholesale account executives who subscribe to the service, which is completely free to mortgage brokers. For a small subscription fee, wholesale account executives will now have instant access, on their desktops and cell phones, to fresh, hot leads from motivated mortgage brokers looking for a lender.
According to Julian Bond, who developed this software program and business model, no one in the mortgage industry has ever used RSS feeds for submitting loan scenarios and pre-qualification data to wholesale lenders. “As far as I know, we are the first to have developed this solution” said Mr. Bond. He also hinted that soon his company will be launching a retail lead generating platform using a similar concept but with much more security features to protect the confidential data of prospective borrowers. Currently this product is only available to mortgage professionals.
For more information on how to become a member of Broker Network and subscribe to this service please contact Julian Bond via e-mail: broker@brokerwatchdog.com or visit his Blogazine at www.brokerwatchdog.com.
There are several important pieces of economic news scheduled to be released this week. There are a total of five reports scheduled, but two particularly stand out above the others. There is no relevant data due out tomorrow or Friday, so expect the stock markets to help drive bond trading and mortgage rates those days.Tuesday brings us the release of t hree economic reports. The first release of the week is April’s Housing Starts early Tuesday morning. This data measures housing sector strength and mortgage credit demand by tracking new permits and actual starts of new home construction. It is expected to show a sizable increase in new starts from March’s readings. But, since this report is not considered to be of high importance to the bond market, it likely will have little impact on mortgage rates unless it varies greatly from forecasts.
Also Tuesday morning is April’s Producer Price Index (PPI), which helps us measure inflationary pressures at the producer level of the economy. If this report reveals weaker than expected readings, we should see the bond and stock markets rally. The overall index is expected to show an increase of 0.7%, while the core data that excludes food and energy prices is expected to rise 0.2%. A smaller than expected increase in the core data would be ideal for mortgage shoppers.
The last piece of data due Tuesday is April’s Industrial Production. It measures manufacturing sector strength by tracking output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities. It is expected to show a 0.4% increase in production, indicating that manufacturing activity is growing moderately. A smaller increase in output would be good news for the bond market and mortgage rates.
Wednesday’s only report is April’s Consumer Price Index (CPI). It is similar to Tuesday’s PPI report, but measures inflationary pressures at the more important consumer level of the economy. Its results likely will have a similar impact on the bond market and mortgage rates as Tuesday’s PPI release does. Current forecasts are calling for increases of 0.5% and 0.2% respectively in the overall index and core data.
Closing out the week’s economic news is April’s Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) at 10:00 AM ET Thursday. This Conference Board report attempts to measure economic ac tivity over the next three to six months. It is expected to show an increase of 0.2%, meaning that economic activity is likely to rise during the next few months. A decline would be good news for the bond market and mortgage rates, while a larger than expected increase could cause mortgage rates to inch higher Thursday.
Also worth noting are public appearances by Fed Chairman Bernanke and former Chairman Alan Greenspan. Mr. Bernanke makes public speeches Tuesday and Thursday while Mr. Greenspan will talk Thursday. If their speeches give any indication of a future Fed move, expect the markets to react accordingly. Their words will be watched closely.
Overall, look for Wednesday to be the biggest day of the week due to the CPI release. But, Tuesday’s data could also cause fairly significant movement in rates with three pieces of data scheduled. I would expect to see the most attention paid to the PPI and CPI reports as they measure inflationary pressures that are so important to bond traders.
If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would…. Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days… Float if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days… Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days… Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now… This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.
a la mode
