Navigating income taxes during retirement can be complex and your golden years are a time to relax and enjoy your hard-earned cash. Your IRAs, pensions, taxable accounts and Social Security distributions create various tax implications. So, it’s vital to understand them and implement strategies to reduce your tax liability and maximize your retirement funds. You may want to speak with a financial advisor to get a more personal look at how your income will be taxed in retirement.
Federal Tax Rates for Different Types of Retirement Income
Federal tax rates vary by income type and level. It’s important to evaluate what each type of income you expect is going to look like so that you can plan for retirement. Here’s a breakdown of the most common taxes during retirement:
IRAs and 401(k)s
Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s offer tax-deferred growth, meaning you don’t pay taxes on the contributions or investment earnings until you withdraw the funds in retirement. Withdrawals from these accounts are generally taxable income. The tax rate depends on your total income, filing status and the federal income tax brackets in effect during the year of withdrawal.
On the other hand, you fund Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s with after-tax contributions, meaning you pay taxes on the money before it goes into the account. Qualified withdrawals from Roth accounts, including both contributions and earnings, are tax free.
Taxable Accounts
Taxable accounts, such as brokerage and savings accounts, use after-tax money. Therefore, you’ll pay taxes on any interest, dividends or capital gains earned from investments in these accounts. Specifically, interest income incurs regular income tax rates, while dividends and capital gains receive different rates depending on how long you hold the investments before selling (short-term vs. long-term).
Selling assets after holding them for less than a year creates short-term capital gains taxes, which the government treats as regular income. On the other hand, selling assets after holding them for a year or more creates long-term capital gains taxes, as seen below:
Pension Income
Monthly payments from your employer’s pension program or a private annuity will incur standard income taxes. In addition, if you opt for a one-time lump sum payment that empties your pension, you’ll owe income taxes for the entire amount.
Remember, employer pension payments come to you after having a specific amount of taxes subtracted. This feature means a large tax bill won’t wallop you when you file (provided you haven’t had an unexpected infusion of income from elsewhere that year).
Earned Income
Earned income receives standard tax rates, like many other types of income listed. However, wages from an employer or self-employment are subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes, also known as FICA. FICA taxes incur an additional 7.65% rate on income from a part-time job and 15.3% from self-employment income (you’ll receive half of that back when you file taxes).
Remember, earned income can run up against Social Security benefits if you make too much. Specifically, for 2023, earning more than $21,240 results in a $1 reduction for every $2 earned after the threshold if you’re under what the government considers full retirement age. Once you reach full retirement age, the limit changes to $56,520 and the penalty is a $1 reduction in benefits for every $3 earned.
Social Security
Social Security also receives taxation based on your income level and filing status. The Social Security Administration adds your adjusted gross income with nontaxable interest income and half of your Social Security benefits when calculating income thresholds for taxes. Then, the government charges federal income tax rates on 50% or 85% of your Social Security check.
The chart below outlines the different possible circumstances and tax rates:
Single Filers
Income
Percentage of Social Security Income Taxed
$0 – $24,999
0%
$25,000 – $34,000
50%
$34,001+
85%
Married Filing Jointly
Income
Percentage of Social Security Income Taxed
$0 – $31,999
0%
$32,000 – $44,000
50%
$44,001+
85%
Keep in mind, if you are married and choose to file a separate tax return, it is likely that you will be required to pay taxes on your benefits.
How to Minimize Your Tax Liability in Retirement
Most people have the very similar goal of trying to reduce the potential tax liability during retirement. While the income you bring in and where you live are going to play a huge role in the taxes you pay, there are some things you can do to improve your situation. In fact, the tips below can help reduce your tax burden during retirement.
1. Remember To Withdraw Your Money From Your Retirement Accounts
Once you reach the age of 73 (or 70½ if you were born before July 1, 1949), you must begin taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) from most retirement accounts, such as traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. Failing to withdraw the RMD amount results in a 25% penalty on the neglected sum plus the income tax it would have incurred.
However, if you have multiple retirement accounts, you have some flexibility in choosing which account(s) to withdraw from. By strategically planning your withdrawals, you can control the timing and amount of taxable income and optimize your tax situation.
2. Understand Your Tax Bracket
Understanding your tax bracket is crucial for retirement planning. You can minimize your tax liability by managing your taxable income to stay within a lower tax bracket. So, it’s best to use the tables above and the federal income tax brackets for the year to calculate a comfortable amount of income without exposing your money to higher rates.
3. Make Withdrawals Before You Need To
You can plan your withdrawals strategically if you have a mix of taxable and tax-advantaged accounts, such as a 401(k) and a Roth IRA. Making withdrawals from taxable accounts or tax-free accounts like Roth IRAs before you need the funds can help reduce your future RMDs and potentially lower your overall tax burden in retirement.
4. Invest in Tax-Free Bonds
Tax-free bonds, such as municipal bonds, can be an attractive investment option for retirees seeking tax efficiency. Interest income from municipal bonds is usually exempt from federal income tax and sometimes from state and local taxes.
5. Invest for the Long-Term, Not the Short-Term
Holding investments for the long term, particularly in taxable accounts, can be advantageous from a tax perspective. Specifically, when you sell investments held for more than one year, you qualify for long-term capital gains tax rates, which are typically lower than ordinary income tax rates. By avoiding frequent buying and selling, you can minimize the realization of short-term capital gains, which receive the standard federal income tax rates.
For example, say you’re a single filer with a $44,000 income. Part of that income is from capital gains. However, if the capital gains are short-term, your marginal tax bracket is 12%, while your long-term capital gains bracket is 0%.
6. Move to a Tax-Friendly State
Some states have lower or no state income taxes, which can significantly impact your overall tax burden in retirement. If feasible, consider relocating to a tax-friendly state. However, before making such a decision, it’s essential to assess various factors like cost of living, healthcare and personal preferences. Remember, the states that don’t charge personal income taxes are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
The Bottom Line
The type of income that you receive in retirement could change the way that it is taxed. Many can avoid some of this by moving to a tax-friendly state, but most people can’t avoid it entirely. It’s important to understand what your personal tax liability could potentially become and to plan accordingly so that you’re prepared for retirement when it comes.
Tips for Being More Tax-Efficient
The road to financial stability in retirement looks different for everyone. Your investment account types, medical conditions and desired lifestyle can present unique challenges but a financial advisor can help. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
Amid all the uproar surrounding the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), it was revealed today that Bank of America completed just 98 permanent loan modifications.
While that figure is certain to rise thanks to the bank’s 156,864 active trial modifications currently underway, the numbers are seriously weak compared to other major loan servicers.
GMAC Mortgage managed to make 7,111 loan modifications permanent, while Chase has 4,302 on the books, followed by Ocwen with 4,252, Aurora Loan Services with 3,622, and Wells Fargo with 3,537.
In recent weeks, both Bank of America and Chase have complained about the government-sponsored loan modification program, saying it has been difficult to get all the required paperwork from borrowers.
But all excuses aside, Bank of America is well behind its peers, and as the top mortgage lender and servicer in the nation, it seems pretty inexcusable.
In total, only 31,382 loan modifications have been made permanent, while 697,026 are in trial mode; yep, just over four percent have gone the distance so far.
Per HAMP rules, to receive a permanent modification borrowers must make at least three trial payments, provide documents that include proof of income and hardship verification, and have their credit re-underwritten.
To facilitate the process, the Obama Administration recently extended the trial period for modifications started on or before September 1 so borrowers have more time to submit required information.
California leads the nation in total loan modifications (trial+permanent) with 148,350, followed by Florida with 90,575 and Illinois with 37,552.
Oh, and more than a quarter of trial loan modifications executed under HAMP are already delinquent…
Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released updates on Wednesday related to condominium and co-operative project standards policies for properties in need of critical repairs and special assessments.
“At the direction of the FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have worked together to update project review requirements to assist lenders in identifying projects that may have issues that result in unsafe conditions, and to promote sustainable homeownership,” the update states. “Fannie Mae is updating its project standards policies to address projects in need of critical repairs, and projects that have material deficiencies (such as significant deferred maintenance) or special assessments.”
The new project review requirements include defining “critical repairs, material deficiencies, and significant deferred maintenance,” including routine repairs not considered critical; the prohibition of the sale of condo units or co-op shares in complexes that require either critical maintenance or are under evacuation orders due to unsafe conditions; and the creation of a required review of “all structural or mechanical inspection reports that have been completed within 3 years of the project review date.”
Fannie Mae’s guidance comes as an update to its Selling Guide in consultation with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The update will prohibit the sale of condo units or co-op shares in projects with unfunded repairs totaling more than $10,000 per unit.
Freddie Mac’s new guidance was issued as an update to its Condo Project Advisor, an informational platform with information about buildings.
“Currently, if a Project Assessment Request (PAR) submitted to Condo Project Advisor receives an ‘Incomplete Assessment’ feedback message, that’s an indication that the tool can’t assess the project,” the guidance states in part. “On July 29, 2023, we’ll make things easier for you by updating one of the ‘Incomplete Assessment’ messages to alert you that the project may need critical repairs. You can determine whether or not a project does indeed require repairs.”
All requirements go into effect on September 18.
This new guidance follows a letter issued in 2021 by Fannie Mae that created temporary requirements for condos and co-op projects after the partial collapse of condominium complex Champlain Towers South in Florida that claimed the lives of 98 people and injured 14 others.
Walt Disney World Resort is a sprawling resort complex consisting of theme parks, a shopping district, hotels and more. There are a host of methods to get around the entire resort, including bus, boat and monorail.
Let’s take a look at all the ways to navigate Walt Disney World, whether you’re looking to rent a car or rely on those good old feet to get around.
How to get around Disney World
Boat
You’ll find a few different boats within Walt Disney World. The biggest (and most well-known) is the ferryboat that takes guests from the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) to Magic Kingdom. The TTC is where those who are driving into the park will leave their vehicles.
Many different resort hotels also have water taxi access. If you’re looking to take a water taxi to Magic Kingdom, you can do so from any of these resorts:
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows.
Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.
You can also use a water taxi to get to either Epcot or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This is available to guests staying at these resorts:
Disney’s BoardWalk Villas.
Disney’s Beach Club Villas.
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.
Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel.
Walt Disney World Swan Hotel.
Bus
Disney operates a vast system of buses throughout its Orlando resort. This means it’s possible to take a bus from any Walt Disney World Resort to any of the theme parks, water parks or Disney Springs.
Even if you’re not staying at a Disney property, you may want to take advantage of the bus system to get yourself from one park to another. This is especially true if you don’t have a car.
Disney’s buses are free to use and run 45 minutes prior to park opening until 1 hour after park closing.
Car
It’s possible to park at any of Walt Disney World’s theme parks, though you’ll need to pay $25 per day to do so.
If renting a car doesn’t catch your fancy, you may want to consider ride-sharing. Because so many hotels are close to Walt Disney World, it may actually cost less to use a ride-sharing service to drop you off at the entrance rather than paying the fee to park.
🤓Nerdy Tip
If you’re arriving from Interstate 4, take exits 64, 65 or 67 to get into the parks.
Disney has also partnered with Lyft to offer the Minnie Van service. You’ll need to have the Lyft app and pay for the service. This allows you to request a polka-dot van that’ll seat up to seven guests, and each van comes with one complimentary car seat. It can also be faster than waiting for complimentary transportation, which can be pivotal during those late-night returns.
On foot
This is a little tongue-in-cheek, but it’s as valid as any of these other options. There are a handful of Walt Disney World resorts that are within walking distance from the theme parks.
If you’re wanting to visit Epcot, you can walk from any of the following hotels:
Disney’s BoardWalk Villas.
Disney’s Beach Club Villas.
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.
Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel.
Walt Disney World Swan Hotel.
If you’re looking to visit Magic Kingdom instead, you can also opt to walk from these hotels:
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows.
Monorail
If you’re not staying at a Walt Disney World hotel, you’ll likely find yourself on the monorail at least once. This is because anyone wishing to visit Magic Kingdom by driving in will need to either take the monorail or the ferryboat to get to the entrance of the park.
However, the monorail also connects Magic Kingdom and Epcot, which makes it simple to figure out Disney World transportation between parks.
Finally, those who are staying at any of these properties will use use the monorail to travel directly from their hotel to Magic Kingdom:
Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.
Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows.
Skyliner
Disney’s Skyliner opened in September 2019 and creates a new link between many of its properties and theme parks. The Skyliner is a massive gondola system that operates much like one you’d see on a ski slope.
The Skyliner has two main stops, one located at Epcot and one at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If you’re staying at any of these Walt Disney World Resorts, you’ll be able to take advantage of the Skyliner system, though you may need to make a connection to do so:
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.
Disney’s Pop Century Resort.
Disney’s Riviera Resort.
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.
Disney’s Beach Club Resort.
Disney’s BoardWalk Inn.
Disney World transportation recapped
Disney does transportation well. This is a good thing since Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom averages roughly 57,000 guests per day, and nearly everyone needs to take advantage of its transportation services.
If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World resort, you have plenty of options for getting around without needing to rent a car. And even if you’re staying off-property, you can take advantage of Disney’s complimentary transportation services to make your way through the resort.
(Top photo courtesy of Walt Disney World)
How to maximize your rewards
You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2023, including those best for:
High above the Las Vegas Strip, solar panels blanketed the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center — 26,000 of them, rippling across an area larger than 20 football fields.
From this vantage point, the sun-dappled Mandalay Bay and Delano hotels dominated the horizon, emerging like comically large golden scepters from the glittering black panels.Snow-tipped mountains rose to the west.
It was a cold winter morning in the Mojave Desert. But there was plenty of sunlight to supply the solar array.
“This is really an ideal location,” said Michael Gulich, vice president of sustainability at MGM Resorts International.
The same goes for the rest of Las Vegas and its sprawling suburbs.
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Sin City already has more solar panels per person than any major U.S. metropolis outside Hawaii, according to one analysis. And the city is bursting with single-family homes, warehouses and parking lots untouched by solar.
L.A. Times energy reporter Sammy Roth heads to the Las Vegas Valley, where giant solar fields are beginning to carpet the desert. But what is the environmental cost? (Video by Jessica Q. Chen, Maggie Beidelman / Los Angeles Times)
There’s enormous opportunity to lower household utility bills and cut climate pollution — without damaging wildlife habitat or disrupting treasured landscapes.
But that hasn’t stopped corporations from making plans to carpet the desert surrounding Las Vegas with dozens of giant solar fields — some of them designed to supply power to California. The Biden administration has fueled that growth, taking steps to encourage solar and wind energy development across vast stretches of public lands in Nevada and other Western states.
Those energy generators could imperil rare plants and slow-footed tortoises already threatened by rising temperatures.
They could also lessen the death and suffering from the worsening heat waves, fires, droughts and storms of the climate crisis.
Researchers have found there’s not nearly enough space on rooftops to supply all U.S. electricity — especially as more people drive electric cars. Even an analysis funded by rooftop solar advocates and installers found that the most cost-effective route to phasing out fossil fuels involves six times more power from big solar and wind farms than from smaller local solar systems.
But the exact balance has yet to be determined. And Nevada is ground zero for figuring it out.
The outcome could be determined, in part, by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
The so-called Oracle of Omaha owns NV Energy, the monopoly utility that supplies electricity to most Nevadans. NV Energy and its investor-owned utility brethren across the country can earn huge amounts of money paving over public lands with solar and wind farms and building long-distance transmission lines to cities.
But by regulatory design, those companies don’t profit off rooftop solar. And in many cases, they’ve fought to limit rooftop solar — which can reduce the need for large-scale infrastructure and result in lower returns for investors.
Mike Troncoso remembers the exact date of Nevada’s rooftop solar reckoning.
It was Dec. 23, 2015, and he was working for SolarCity. The rooftop installer abruptly ceased operations in the Silver State after NV Energy helped persuade officials to slash a program that pays solar customers for energy they send to the power grid.
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“I was out in the field working, and we got a call: ‘Stop everything you’re doing, don’t finish the project, come to the warehouse,’” Troncoso said. “It was right before Christmas, and they said, ‘Hey, guys, unfortunately we’re getting shut down.’”
After a public outcry, Nevada lawmakers partly reversed the reductions to rooftop solar incentives. Since then, NV Energy and the rooftop solar industry have maintained an uneasy political ceasefire. Installations now exceed pre-2015 levels.
Today, Troncoso is Nevada branch manager for Sunrun, the nation’s largest rooftop solar installer. The company has enough work in the state to support a dozen crews, each named for a different casino. On a chilly winter morning before sunrise, they prepared for the day ahead — laying out steel rails, hooking up microinverters and loading panels onto powder-blue trucks.
But even if Sunrun’s business continues to grow, it won’t eliminate the need for large solar farms in the desert.
Some habitat destruction is unavoidable — at least if we want to break our fossil fuel addiction. The key questions are: How many big solar farms are needed, and where should they be built? Can they be engineered to coexist with animals and plants?
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And if not, should Americans be willing to sacrifice a few endangered species in the name of tackling climate change?
To answer those questions, Los Angeles Times journalists spent a week in southern Nevada, touring solar construction sites, hiking up sand dunes and off-roading through the Mojave. We spoke with NV Energy executives, conservation activists battling Buffett’s company and desert rats who don’t want to see their favorite off-highway vehicle trails cut off by solar farms.
Odds are, no one will get everything they want.
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The tortoise in the coal mine
Biologist Bre Moyle easily spotted the small yellow flag affixed to a scraggly creosote bush — one of many hardy plants sprouting from the caliche soil, surrounded by rows of gleaming steel trusses that would soon hoist solar panels toward the sky.
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Moyle leaned down for a closer look, gently pulling aside branches to reveal a football-sized hole in the ground. It was the entrance to a desert tortoise burrow — one of thousands catalogued by her employer, Primergy Solar, during construction of one of the nation’s largest solar farms on public lands outside Las Vegas.
“I wouldn’t stand on this side of it,” Moyle advised us. “If you walk back there, you could collapse it, potentially.”
I’d seen plenty of solar construction sites in my decade reporting on energy. But none like this.
Instead of tearing out every cactus and other plant and leveling the land flat — the “blade and grade” method — Primergy had left much of the native vegetation in place and installed trusses of different heights to match the ground’s natural contours. The company had temporarily relocated more than 1,600 plants to an on-site nursery, with plans to put them back later.
The Oakland-based developer also went to great lengths to safeguard desert tortoises — an iconic reptile protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, and the biggest environmental roadblock to building solar in the Mojave.
Desert tortoises are sensitive to global warming, residential sprawl and other human encroachment on their habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated tortoise populations fell by more than one-third between 2004 and 2014.
Scientists consider much of the Primergy site high-quality tortoise habitat. It also straddles a connectivity corridor that could help the reptiles seek safer haven as hotter weather and more extreme droughts make their current homes increasingly unlivable.
Before Primergy started building, the company scoured the site and removed 167 tortoises, with plans to let them return and live among the solar panels once the heavy lifting is over. Two-thirds of the project site will be repopulated with tortoises.
Workers removed more tortoises during construction. As of January, the company knew of just two tortoises killed — one that may have been hit by a car, and another that may have been entombed in its burrow by roadwork, then eaten by a kit fox.
Primergy Vice President Thomas Regenhard acknowledged the company can’t build solar here without doing any harm to the ecosystem — or spurring opposition from conservation activists. But as he watched union construction workers lift panels onto trusses, he said Primergy is “making the best of the worst-case situation” for solar opponents.
“What we’re trying to do is make it the least impactful on the environment and natural resources,” he said. “What we’re also doing is we’re sharing that knowledge, so that these projects can be built in a better way moving forward.”
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The company isn’t saving tortoises out of the goodness of its profit-seeking heart.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management conditioned its approval of the solar farm, called Gemini, on a long list of environmental protection measures — and only after some bureau staffers seemingly contemplated rejecting the project entirely.
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife show the bureau’s Las Vegas field office drafted several versions of a “record of decision” that would have denied the permit application for Gemini. The drafts listed several objections, including harm to desert tortoises, loss of space for off-road vehicle drivers and disturbance of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail, which runs through the project site.
Separately, Primergy reached a legal settlement with conservationists — who challenged the project’s federal approval in court — in which the company agreed to additional steps to protect tortoises and a plant known as the three-corner milkvetch.
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The company estimates just 2.5% of the project site will be permanently disturbed — far less than the 33% allowed by Primergy’s federal permit. Regenhard is hopeful the lessons learned here will inform future solar development on public lands.
“This is something new. So we’re refining a lot of the processes,” he said. “We’re not perfect. We’re still learning.”
By the time construction wraps this fall, 1.8 million panels will cover nearly 4,000 football fields’ worth of land, just off the 15 Freeway. They’ll be able to produce 690 megawatts of power — as much as 115,000 typical home solar systems. And they’ll be paired with batteries, to store energy and help NV Energy customers keep running their air conditioners after sundown.
Unlike many solar fields, Gemini is close to the population it will serve — just a few dozen miles from the Strip. And the affected landscape is far from visually stunning, with none of the red-rock majesty found at nearby Valley of Fire State Park.
But desert tortoises don’t care if a place looks cool to humans. They care if it’s good tortoise habitat.
Moyle, Primergy’s environmental services manager, pointed to a small black structure at the bottom of a fence along the site’s edge — a shade shelter for tortoises. Workers installed them every 800 feet, so that if any relocated reptiles try to return to the solar farm too early, they don’t die pacing along the fence in the heat.
“They have a really, really good sense of direction,” Moyle said. “They know where their homes are. They want to come back.”
Primergy will study what happens when tortoises do come back. Will they benefit from the shade of the solar panels? Or will they struggle to survive on the industrialized landscape?
And looming over those uncertainties, a more existential query: With global warming beginning to devastate human and animal life around the world, should we really be slowing or stopping solar development to save a single type of reptile?
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Moyle was ready with an answer: Tortoises are a keystone species. If they’re doing well, it’s a good sign of a healthy ecosystem in which other desert creatures — such as burrowing owls, kit foxes and American badgers — are positioned to thrive, too.
And as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, human survival is inextricably linked with a healthy natural world.
“We take one thing out, we don’t know what sort of disastrous effect it’s going to have on everything else,” Moyle said.
We do, however, know the consequences of relying on fossil fuels: entire towns burning to the ground, Lake Mead three-quarters empty, elderly Americans baking to death in their overheated homes. With worse to come.
The shifting sands of time
A few miles south, another solar project was rising in the desert. This one looked different.
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A fleet of bulldozers, scrapers, excavators and graders was nearly done flattening the land — a beige moonscape devoid of cacti and creosote. The solar panel support trusses were all the same height, forming an eerily rigid silver sea.
When I asked Carl Glass — construction manager for DEPCOM Power, the contractor building this project for Buffett’s NV Energy — why workers couldn’t leave vegetation in place like at Gemini, he offered a simple answer: drainage. Allowing the land to retain its natural contours, he said, would make it difficult to move stormwater off the site during summer monsoons.
Safety was another consideration, said Dani Strain, NV Energy’s senior manager for the project. Blading and grading the land meant workers wouldn’t have to carry solar panels and equipment across ground studded with tripping hazards.
“It’s nicer for the environment not to do it,” Strain said. “But it creates other problems. You can’t have everything.”
This kind of solar project has typified development in the Mojave Desert.
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And it helps explain why the Center for Biological Diversity’s Patrick Donnelly has fought so hard to limit that development.
The morning after touring the solar construction sites, we joined Donnelly for a hike up Big Dune, a giant pile of sand covering five square miles and towering 500 feet above the desert floor, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The sun was just beginning its ascent over the Mojave, bathing the sand in a smooth umber glow beneath pockets of wispy cloud.
On weekends, Donnelly said, the dune can be overrun by thousands of off-road vehicles. But on this day, it was quiet.
Energy companies have proposed more than a dozen solar farms on public lands surrounding Big Dune — some with overlapping footprints. Donnelly doesn’t oppose all of them. But he thinks federal agencies should limit solar to the least ecologically sensitive parts of Nevada, instead of letting companies pitch projects almost anywhere they choose.
“Developers are looking at this as low-hanging fruit,” he said. “The idea is, this is where California can build all of its solar.”
We trekked slowly up the dune, our bodies casting long shadows in the early morning light. When we took a breather and looked back down, a trail of footprints marked our path. Donnelly assured us a windy day would wipe them away.
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“This is why I live here, man,” he said. “It’s the most beautiful place on Earth, in my mind.”
Donnelly broke his back in a rock-climbing accident, so he used a walking stick to scale the dune. He lives not far from here, at the edge of Death Valley National Park, and works as the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity’s Great Basin director.
As we resumed our journey, the wind blowing hard, I asked Donnelly to rank the top human threats to the Mojave. He was quick to answer: The climate crisis was No. 1, followed by housing sprawl, solar development and off-road vehicles.
“There’s no good solar project in the desert. But there’s less bad,” he said. “And we’re at a point now where we have to settle for less bad, because the alternatives are more bad: more coal, more gas, climate apocalypse.”
That hasn’t stopped Donnelly and his colleagues from fighting renewable energy projects they fear would wipe out entire species — even little-known plants and animals with tiny ranges, such as Tiehm’s buckwheat and the Dixie Valley toad.
“I’m not a religious guy,” Donnelly said. “But all God’s creatures great and small.”
After a steep stretch of sand, we stopped along a ridge with sweeping views. To our west were the Funeral Mountains, across the California state line in Death Valley National Park — and far beyond them Mt. Whitney, its snow-covered facade just barely visible. To our east was Highway 95, cutting across the Amargosa Valley en route from Las Vegas to Reno.
It’s along this highway that so many developers want to build.
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“We would be in a sea of solar right now,” Donnelly said.
Having heard plenty of rural residents say they don’t want to look at such a sea, I asked Donnelly if this was a bad spot for solar because it would ruin the glorious views. He told me he never makes that argument, “because honestly, views aren’t really the primary concern at this moment. The primary concern is stopping the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis.”
“There are certain places where we shouldn’t put solar because it’s a wild and undisturbed landscape,” he said.
As far as he’s concerned, though, the Amargosa Valley isn’t one of those landscapes, what with Highway 95 running through it. The same goes for Dry Lake Valley, where NV Energy’s solar construction site is already surrounded by energy infrastructure.
What Donnelly would like to see is better planning.
He pointed to California, where state and federal officials spent eight years crafting a desert conservation plan that allows solar and wind farms across a few hundred thousand acres while setting aside millions more for protection. He thinks a similar process is crucial in Nevada, where four-fifths of the land area is owned by the federal government — more than any other state.
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If Donnelly had his way, regulators would put the kibosh on solar farms immediately adjacent to Big Dune. He’s worried they could alter the movement of sand across the desert floor, affecting several rare beetles that call the dune home.
But if the feds want to allow solar projects along the highway to the south, near the Area 51 Alien Center?
“Might not be the end the world,” Donnelly said.
He shot me a grin.
“You know, one thing I like to do …”
Without warning, he took off racing down the dune, carried by momentum and love for the desert. He laughed as he reached a natural stopping point, calling for us to join him. His voice sounded free and full of possibility.
Some solar panels on the horizon wouldn’t have changed that.
Shout it from the rooftops
Laura Cunningham and Kevin Emmerich were a match made in Mojave Desert heaven.
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Cunningham was a wildlife biologist, Emmerich a park ranger when they met nearly 30 years ago at Death Valley. She studied tortoises for government agencies and later a private contractor. He worked with bighorn sheep and gave interpretive talks. They got married, bought property along the Amargosa River and started their own conservation group, Basin and Range Watch.
And they’ve been fighting solar development ever since.
That’s how we ended up in the back of their SUV, pulling open a rickety cattle gate off Highway 95 and driving past wild burros on a dirt road through Nevada’s Bullfrog Hills, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
They had told us Sarcobatus Flat was stunning, but I was still surprised by how stunning. I got my first look as we crested a ridge. The gently sloping valley spilled down toward Death Valley National Park, whose snowy mountain peaks towered over a landscape dotted with thousands of Joshua trees.
“Everything we’re looking at is proposed for solar development,” Cunningham said.
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Most environmentalists agree we need at least some large solar farms. Cunningham and Emmerich are different. They’re at the vanguard of a harder-core desert protection movement that sees all large-scale solar farms on public lands as bad news.
Why had so many companies converged on Sarcobatus Flat?
The main answer is transmission. NV Energy is seeking federal approval to build the 358-mile Greenlink West electric line, which would carry thousands of megawatts of renewable power between Reno and Las Vegas along the Highway 95 corridor.
The dirt road curved around a small hill, and suddenly we found ourselves on the valley floor, surrounded by Joshua trees. Some looked healthy; others had bark that had been chewed by rodents seeking water, a sign of drought stress. Scientists estimate the Joshua tree’s western subspecies could lose 90% of its range as the world gets hotter and droughts get more intense.
But asked whether climate change or solar posed a bigger threat to Sarcobatus Flat, Cunningham didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, solar development hands down,” she said.
Nearly 20 years ago, she said, she helped relocate desert tortoises to make way for a test track in California. One of them tried to return home, walking 20 miles before hitting a fence. It paced back and forth and eventually died of heat exhaustion.
Solar farms, she said, pose a similar threat to tortoises. And at Sarcobatus Flat, they would cover a high-elevation area that could otherwise serve as a climate refuge for Joshua trees, giving them a relatively cool place to reproduce as the planet heats up.
“It makes no sense to me that we’re going to bulldoze them down and throw them into trash piles. It’s just crazy,” she said.
In Cunningham and Emmerich’s view, every sun-baked parking lot in L.A. and Vegas and Phoenix should have a solar canopy, every warehouse and single-family home a solar roof. It’s a common argument among desert defenders: Why sacrifice sensitive ecosystems when there’s an easy alternative for fighting climate change? Especially when rooftop solar can reduce strain on an overtaxed electric grid and — when paired with batteries — help people keep their lights on during blackouts?
The answer isn’t especially satisfying to conservationists.
For all the virtues of rooftop solar, it’s an expensive way to generate clean power — and keeping energy costs low is crucial to ensure that lower-income families can afford electric cars, another key climate solution. A recent report from investment bank Lazard pegged the cost of rooftop solar at 11.7 cents per kilowatt-hour on the low end, compared with 2.4 cents for utility solar.
Even when factoring in pricey long-distance electric lines, utility-scale solar is typically cheaper, several experts told me.
“It’s three to six times more expensive to put solar on your roof than to put it in a large-scale project,” said Jesse Jenkins, an energy systems researcher at Princeton University. “There may be some added value to having solar in the Los Angeles Basin instead of the middle of the Mojave Desert. But is it 300% to 600% more value? Probably not. It’s probably not even close.”
There’s a practical challenge, too.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated U.S. rooftops could generate 1,432 terawatt-hours of electricity per year — just 13% of the power America will need to replace most of its coal, oil and gas, according to research led by Jenkins.
Add in parking lots and other areas within cities, and urban solar systems might conceivably supply one-quarter or even one-third of U.S. power, several experts told The Times — in an unlikely scenario where they’re installed in every suitable spot.
Energy researcher Chris Clack’s consulting firm has found that dramatic growth in rooftop and other small-scale solar installations could reduce the costs of slashing climate pollution by half a trillion dollars. But even Clack said rooftops alone won’t cut it.
“Realistically, 80% is going to end up being utility grid no matter what,” he said.
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All those industrial renewable energy projects will have to go somewhere.
Sarcobatus Flat may not be the answer. Federal officials classified all three solar proposals there as “low priority,” citing their proximity to Death Valley and potential harm to tortoise habitat. One developer withdrew its application last year.
Before leaving the area, Cunningham pointed to a wooden marker, one of at least half a dozen stretching out in a line. I walked over to take a closer look and discovered it was a mining claim for lithium — a main ingredient in electric-car batteries.
If solar development didn’t upend this valley, lithium extraction might.
On the beaten track
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The four-wheeler jerked violently as Erica Muxlow pressed her foot to the gas, sending us flying down a rough dirt road with no end in sight but the distant mountains. Five-point safety straps were the only things stopping us from flying out of our seats, the vehicle leaping through the air as we reached speeds of 40 mph, then 50 mph, the wind whipping our faces.
It was like riding Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds — just without the Yeti.
Ahead of us, Muxlow’s neighbor Jimmy Lewis led the way on an electric blue motorcycle, kicking up a stream of sand. He wanted us to see thousands of acres of public lands outside his adopted hometown of Pahrump, in Nevada’s Nye County, that could soon be blocked by solar projects — cutting off access to off-highway vehicle enthusiasts such as himself.
“You could build an apartment complex or a shopping mall here, and it would be the same thing to me,” he said.
To progressive-minded Angelenos or San Franciscans, preserving large chunks of public land for gas-guzzling, environmentally destructive dirt bikes might sound like a terrible reason not to build solar farms that would lessen the climate crisis.
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But here’s the reality: Rural Westerners such as Lewis will play a key role in determining how much clean energy gets built.
Not long before our Nevada trip, Nye County placed a six-month pause on new renewable energy projects, citing local concerns about loss of off-road vehicle trails. Similar fears have stymied development across the U.S., with rural residents attacking solar and wind farms as industrial intrusions on their way of life — and local governments throwing up roadblocks.
For Lewis, the conflict is deeply personal.
He moved here from Southern California more than a decade ago, trading life by the beach for a five-acre plot where he runs an off-roading school and test-drives motorcycles for manufacturers. His warehouse was packed with dozens of dirt bikes.
“This is my life. Motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles,” he said, laughing.
Lewis has worked to stir up opposition to three local solar farm proposals. So far, his efforts have been in vain.
One project is already under construction. Peering through a fence, we saw row after row of trusses, waiting for their photovoltaic panels. It’s called Yellow Pine, and it’s being built by Florida-based NextEra Energy to supply power to California.
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Lewis learned about Yellow Pine when he was riding one of his favorite trails and was surprised to find it cut off. He compared the experience to riding the best roller-coaster at a theme park, only to have it grind to a halt three-quarters of the way through.
“I don’t want my playground taken away from me,” he said.
“Me neither!” a voice called out from behind us.
We turned and were greeted by Shannon Salter, an activist who had previously spent nine months camping near the Yellow Pine site to protest the habitat destruction. She and Lewis had never met, but they quickly realized they had common cause.
“It’s the opposite of green!” Salter said.
“On my roof, not my backyard,” Lewis agreed.
Never mind that conservationists have long decried the ecological damage from desert off-roading. Salter and Lewis both cared about these lands. Neither wanted to see the solar industry lay claim to them. They talked about staying in touch.
It’s easy to imagine similar alliances forming across the West, the clean energy transition bringing together environmentalists and rural residents in a battle to defend their lifestyles, their landscapes and animals that can’t fight for themselves.
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It’s also easy to imagine major cities that badly need lots of solar and wind power — Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix — brushing off those complaints as insignificant compared with the climate emergency, or as fueled by right-wing misinformation.
But many of concerns raised by critics are legitimate. And their voices are only getting louder.
As night fell over the Mojave, Lewis shared his idea that any city buying electricity from a desert solar farm should be required to install a certain amount of rooftop solar back home first — on government buildings, at least. It only seemed fair.
“Some people see the desert as just a wasteland,” Lewis said. “I think it’s beautiful.”
The view from Black Mountain
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So how do we build enough renewable energy to replace fossil fuels without destroying too many ecosystems, or stoking too much political opposition from rural towns, or moving too slowly to save the planet?
Few people could do more to ease those tensions than Buffett.
Our conversation kept returning to the legendary investor as we hiked Black Mountain, just outside Vegas, on our last morning in the Silver State. We were joined by Jaina Moan, director of external affairs for the Nature Conservancy’s Nevada chapter. She had promised a view of massive solar fields from the peak — but only after a 3.5-mile trek with 2,000 feet of elevation gain.
“It’ll be a little StairMaster at the end,” she warned us.
The homes and hotels and casinos of the Las Vegas Valley retreated behind us as we climbed, looking ever smaller and more insignificant against the vast open desert. It was an illusion that will prove increasingly difficult to maintain as Sin City and its suburbs continue their march into the Mojave. Nevada politicians from both parties are pushing for legislation that would let federal officials auction off additional public lands for residential and commercial development.
Vegas and other Western cities could limit the need for more suburbs — and sprawling solar farms — by growing smarter, Moan said. Urban areas could embrace density, to help people drive fewer miles and reduce the demand for new power supplies to fuel electric vehicles. They could invest in electric buses and trains — and use less water, which would save a lot of energy.
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“As our spaces become more crowded, we’re going to have to come up with more creative ideas,” Moan said.
That’s where Buffett could make things easier.
The billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway company owns electric utilities that serve millions of people, from California to Nevada to Illinois. Those utilities, Moan said, could buck the industry trend of urging policymakers to reduce financial incentives for rooftop solar and instead encourage the technology — along with other small-scale clean energy solutions, such as local microgrids.
That would limit the need for big solar farms — at least somewhat.
Berkshire and other energy giants could also build solar on lands already altered by humans, such as abandoned mines, toxic Superfund sites, reservoirs, landfills, agricultural areas, highway corridors and canals that carry water to farms and cities.
The costs are typically higher than building on undisturbed public lands. And in many cases there are technical challenges yet to be resolved. But those kinds of “creative solutions” could at least lessen the loss of biodiversity, Moan said.
“There’s money to be made there, and there’s good to be done,” she said.
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It’s hard to know what Buffett thinks. A Berkshire spokesperson declined my request to interview him.
Tony Sanchez, NV Energy’s executive vice president for business development and external relations, was more forthcoming.
“The problem for us with rooftop solar,” he said, is that it’s “not controlled at all by us.” As a result, NV Energy can’t decide when and how rooftop solar power is used — and can’t rely on that power to help balance supply and demand on the grid.
Over time, Sanchez predicted, a lot more rooftop solar will get built. But he couldn’t say how much.
Rooftop solar faces a similarly uncertain future in California, where state officials voted last year to slash incentive payments, calling them an unfair subsidy. Industry leaders have warned of a dramatic decline in installations.
As we neared the top of Black Mountain, the solar farms on the other side came into view. They stretched across the Eldorado Valley far below — black rectangles that could help save life on Earth while also destroying bits and pieces of it.
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Moan believes the key to balancing clean energy and conservation is “go slow to go fast.” Government agencies, she said, should work with conservation activists, small-town residents and Native American tribes to study and map out the best places for clean energy, then reward companies that agree to build in those areas with faster approvals. Solar and wind development would slow down in the short term but speed up in the long run, with quicker environmental reviews and less risk of lawsuits.
It’s a tantalizing concept — but I confessed to Moan that I worried it would backfire.
What if the sparring factions couldn’t agree on the best spots to build solar and wind farms, and instead wasted years arguing? Or what if they did manage to hammer out some compromises, only for a handful of unhappy people or groups to take them to court, gumming up the works? Couldn’t “go slow to go fast” end up becoming “go slow to go slow”?
In other words, should we really bet our collective future on human beings working together, rather than fighting?
Moan was sympathetic to my fears. She also didn’t see another way forward.
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“We really need to think holistically about saving everything,” she said.
The sad truth is, not everything can be saved. Not if we want to keep the world livable for people and animals alike.
Some beloved landscapes will be left unrecognizable. Some families will be stuck paying high energy bills to monopoly utilities, even as some utility investors make less money. Some tortoises will probably die, pacing along fences in the heat.
The alternative is worse.
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In a nondescript building adorned with the LATAM logo sits a handful of Delta Air Lines employees — an arrangement that would’ve been unthinkable just a few years ago.
Earlier this month, Delta officially inaugurated its new South Florida offices, which are now in LATAM Cargo’s Miami headquarters.
There you’ll find about 10 full-time Delta employees, some of whom are working closely with LATAM to build out a joint-venture partnership between the two carriers.
The walls feature pictures of Delta and LATAM airplanes, and the space is so new that one of the conference rooms hasn’t even been built yet.
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The Delta employees working from this office even have a front-row view of LATAM’s cargo operations, watching as some of the airline’s freighters load and unload their goods before their next mission.
Every few minutes, you might even glimpse an American Airlines jet taking off in the distance — a somewhat ironic sight considering the circumstances.
Until mid-2020, the South American conglomerate LATAM was a member of the Oneworld frequent flyer alliance and a partner with American Airlines.
However, Delta wooed the airline away from its U.S. rival back in late 2019, in a move that shocked many industry observers. It acquired a 20% ownership stake in LATAM and also filed plans to begin a joint venture partnership (that includes profit sharing and schedule coordination) between the U.S. and South America.
That joint venture was approved in late September, and both Delta and LATAM have raced to implement it.
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Now that we’re nine months into the tie-up, Delta and LATAM invited me to check out their new digs and learn more about their nascent joint venture. Here’s what I learned.
Delta bolsters presence in key region
From Delta’s perspective, the joint venture was designed to quickly fill a noticeable gap in the airline’s global route map, Perry Cantarutti, senior vice president of alliances for Delta, said.
“When we looked at the world, that was one part of the world where we were not very well covered,” Cantarutti told TPG.
Before the tie-up, Delta was far from being the market leader in flights between the U.S. and South America. It offered just 122 flights on average a week between the two regions. Cirium schedules show that this was well below the 475 and 200 weekly flights American Airlines and United Airlines offered in 2019, respectively.
Nowadays, “We are together the No. 1 player between North and South America,” Cantarutti was proud to share.
The joint venture already connects more than 200 North American destinations served by Delta to the more than 120 South American destinations served by LATAM.
Also, at least nine new routes were teased as part of the pact, and five of them were formally announced, including:
Orlando-Bogota, Colombia (starts July 1)
Los Angeles-Sao Paulo (starts Aug. 1)
Miami-Medellin, Colombia (starts Oct. 29)
New York-Rio de Janeiro (starts Dec. 16)
Atlanta-Cartagena, Colombia(starts Dec. 22)
Together with some additional frequencies on existing routes, this translates to a 75% capacity increase since the pact was implemented — an impressive feat for such a new partnership.
Miami is becoming a ‘gateway hub’
When the joint venture was announced, Delta promised to turn Miami into a “gateway hub.”
Since then, Delta and LATAM have grown the Miami operation by nearly 40% more flights, according to Luciano Macagno, Delta’s managing director of Latin America, the Caribbean and South Florida.
From Miami, Delta has launched or recently increased service to Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando, Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C.
Additional domestic connectivity may be in the works. However, Delta’s existing domestic flights now cover most of the demand for travelers headed to or from Miami and those connecting beyond Miami into South America (and vice versa), Macagno said.
For instance, that short Orlando flight — a rare point-to-point route for Delta — is largely about funneling connections through Miami.
In addition to the new routes, Delta is upgrading its Miami terminal to better support the LATAM joint venture. This includes a more streamlined connecting experience when landing from an international destination, as well as adding Spanish signage across the entire facility.
Delta’s operations are co-located with LATAM’s in Miami (and a handful of other key airports). That’s a big improvement for travelers who used to connect from LATAM to American — a process that required a ton of walking and maneuvering around the airport.
The airline is also modernizing and expanding its Miami Sky Club to accommodate a total of 320 flyers with more than 12,000 square feet. Delta is even starting to insource its ground handling in Miami, too.
Although it’s not necessarily specific to Miami, Delta unveiled a Spanish version of its mobile app last week, a project that was accelerated due to the joint venture. Portuguese support is coming soon, according to Cantarutti.
Delta fills a bigger gap than American
When Delta purchased a stake in LATAM, it sent shockwaves throughout the aviation industry. The news upended some long-standing alliances throughout the hemisphere, perhaps most notably the deep-seated tie-up between American and LATAM.
While some industry insiders might’ve been surprised by the move, it makes total sense from LATAM’s perspective: Delta fills a bigger gap than American, providing access to more one-stop destinations for flyers.
“We’re very excited about the access to the interior of the U.S. and their gateways,” Marty St. George, chief commercial officer at LATAM, said in an interview.
Relative to American’s operation in Miami (the key connecting city under the American-LATAM pact), Delta’s Atlanta hub offers “many, many more destinations,” St. George said. “The thing I say to my team is that we will be selling customers to cities you have never heard of in your entire life.”
There is a “very, very long tail of demand to and from South America,” which accounts for roughly 20% of the traffic between the two continents, St. George added. The Delta joint venture enables LATAM to serve these cities with one-stop itineraries that wouldn’t have been possible with American.
While LATAM isn’t as big in Miami — the key U.S. gateway to South America — as it was with access to American’s big hub there, St. George isn’t worried. “We can manage Miami on our own … we have a lot of service there anyway,” he said.
SkyTeam membership could be coming
Delta and LATAM have already added reciprocal loyalty benefits, giving frequent travelers access to perks, such as lounge access, regardless of which airline they fly.
You can now earn and redeem miles on either airline, too.
But as exciting as the Delta partnership is, LATAM was once a key member of the Oneworld frequent flyer alliance. Membership in a global airline alliance helps boost connectivity and provides access to a broader network of customers. LATAM might consider joining Delta’s alliance, SkyTeam.
“Our focus right now is Delta … I think the concept of SkyTeam is a little bit in the future,” St. George said.
Pressed further, he added that the “experience working with Delta has been fantastic so far. They’re a great poster child for what the possible benefit of the SkyTeam would be.”
Reading between the lines, I wouldn’t be surprised if LATAM’s long-term plan includes membership in SkyTeam.
For now, though, it maintains a limited partnership with two Oneworld airlines, Iberia and Qantas, which help bolster its connectivity to Europe and Australia, respectively.
Metal neutrality is the goal
So far, executives at both airlines are happy with the progress that they’ve made in just under a year.
In the future, Delta and LATAM will continue working toward “metal neutrality,” Alain Bellemare, Delta’s president-international, said. This basically means that fares, loyalty benefits and the passenger experience will be aligned between both airlines.
The executive teams at both carriers meet once a quarter to go over long-term plans. They gather in cities that are commercially important to the joint venture, such as Atlanta, Miami and Lima, Peru.
While more route announcements and flyer benefits are in the works, both carriers are also doubling down on building their brands and awareness across the continents; this is especially true for Delta, which has historically been weak in South America.
Such measures include an advertising campaign and customer outreach across the continent. “We find it’s important because people don’t know what Delta is as a credit card or a faucet,” Cantarutti said.
Fast forward a few years, and I bet South American flyers will know Delta as the airline that’s partnered with LATAM — and vice versa in the U.S.
AnnieMac is suing a former branch manager to recoup an alleged $500,000 signing bonus, its second such federal lawsuit against a former employee in the past two months.
Peyton Elizabeth Fullerton, a Denver-based originator, owes $496,136.63 after voluntarily leaving the company in January, AnnieMac alleges in its complaint filed last week. The sum stems from a $500,000 retention bonus Fullerton signed when she joined the company last July as an originating branch manager, and it mandated she stay with the firm for at least 18 months or repay the bonus.
Neither AnnieMac, its attorney, nor Fullerton, who is still working for the Denver-based The Mortgage Project, responded to requests for comment last week. A summons for Fullerton in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey was issued June 28.
The lawsuit includes an alleged copy of Fullerton’s electronically signed retention bonus, which said she would receive the sum across her first two paychecks last July. Sections describing Fullerton’s salary and compensation in basis points per volume threshold are redacted.
Fullerton had $3,863.37 deducted from her final paycheck in January to cover the retention bonus, the complaint said. The employment agreement also requires Fullerton to pay for costs of litigation and to consent to litigation in a New Jersey state or federal court.
AnnieMac earlier this month voluntarily dismissed a similar suit against former Pennsylvania-based branch manager Nicholas Roberto DeJesus, who allegedly owed the firm $102,133.01 after his departure. DeJesus, according to the complaint, received a $144,000 retention bonus when he joined in October 2021 but quit last October, falling just short of his agreement’s 12-month stipulation to keep the bonus.
The lender allegedly deducted $41,867 from DeJesus’ final paycheck, and the former branch manager refused to repay the rest. AnnieMac’s voluntary dismissal of the suit June 1 didn’t say whether the sides had reached any agreement.
The company is also facing a discrimination complaint from a former Florida-based mortgage closer, who alleged disparate treatment of Black workers during her employment, and AnnieMac has yet to respond to a summons in that case.
The Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based firm originated over $731 million in mortgage volume between January and April this year and over $4 billion in mortgage volume last year, according to data from analytics firm S&P Global. AnnieMac counts 450 mortgage loan originators according to Nationwide Multistate Licensing System records, and in March it acquired in-state competitor Family First Funding.
The lawsuits over retention bonuses resemble an action by megalender CrossCountry Mortgage, which is also suing at least one former employee to recoup an alleged five-figure sign-on bonus. That case remains pending in an Ohio federal court.
No one said life was fair—which becomes even more poignant when it comes to losing a beloved celebrity. Many of our favorites are remembered not only for their entertainment abilities, but for their big personalities and their heart. From the controversial rapper who changed an entire genre to the movie star with millions of adoring fans, these 15 celebrity deaths shook the world and caused us all to collectively weep in grief. Here is a look back at some of the most impactful recent losses in entertainment that still linger today.
1. Robin Williams
One user posted, “Robin Williams. I loved that man.”
A second user replied, “I’m still pretty torn up about him and Steve Irwin.”
Another commenter added, “Happy to find both of these at the top. Certainly, my choices RIP.”
One Redditor also commented, “I think they were gonna do a movie together, and all the gods were like, nope, the mortals can’t have such entertainment. Seriously, though, a movie with Mr. Williams, Mr. Irwin, and Mr. Farley. Beautiful people, those guys.”
2. Alan Rickman
One Redditor also posted, “Alan Rickman.”
Another commenter replied, “My first movie introduction to him was the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and I still threaten to take someone’s heart out with a spoon. [God] rest his soul…”
One commenter quoted, “’But why a spoon, cousin?’”
Another Redditor replied, “’Because it’s dull. It’ll hurt more, you TW*T.’”
3. Grant Imahara
“Grant Imahara,” one user commented.
Another user responded, “His death was so random and unexpected that I genuinely didn’t believe he died. For a couple days after it happened, I was silently convinced it was an internet prank. Watching the videos of Adam Savage touring his workshop was really hard too.”
One Redditor replied, “Aneurysm is a silent killer, even perfectly healthy people can get it suddenly, sometimes during the night. It’s terrifying. You just go to sleep and never wake up again, because of the faulty vein in your brain.”
4. Steve Irwin
One user commented, “I’m Australian and was in class when I found out that Steve Irwin passed over. It was physically upsetting. I was really distressed all day. I don’t remember feeling that shock since Princess Diana.”
A second user replied, “Steve Irwin is the first celebrity death that I remember happening. Sometimes I wonder what he’d be up to if he was still alive today.”
Another added, “I imagine that, if he had survived the stingray attack, he’d be back swimming with a school of stingrays in the next show. To show that there is nothing to fear and that the stingray that hit him didn’t really mean to do it. Then he would explain how they defend themselves, and he’d also kiss a ray at the very end of the show and call it his ‘little mate’ before releasing it.”
A user also shared, “I remember that Animal Planet had his family and friends over to announce it. It completely destroyed me, it was like my favorite uncle had died. I was so upset that my parents couldn’t get me to school for days. The saddest, most frustrating part of it all is that you know, we all know, anyone that had 15 minutes to hear him talk knows… If he had had a chance to say some last words, they would’ve most likely been, ‘It was my fault, please don’t blame, hate, or hurt the animal.’ He taught me to see beauty in all living things, even creatures our primal instinct rejects. My tribute to him is trying to spread his message that all life is precious and should be respected, admired, and protected, not feared or destroyed.”
5. Anthony Bourdain
One user posted, “Anthony Bourdain. I miss his snarky attitude.”
Another commenter replied, “I think it hit me because, as a pessimistic and generally melancholy sorta person.. I saw within him a kindred spirit with similar tastes and hobbies, etc… Seeing someone who kind of has an idealized version of a life I’d want and that they couldn’t handle and make it out of here so to speak… it kind of dampens the morale a bit when it comes to your own chances of finding peace and happiness.”
“This is a perfect summary if you ask me. His snarky attitude, his love for food and other cultures, and meeting people. And indeed his somewhat melancholic personality… That’s me. That’s about as perfect as a match can be on paper. And I get it. That’s what hit me even harder. Sometimes, I really do get it. And I agree,” added one user.
Another user replied, “It’s hard rewatching all his stuff now. Some of the things that he said really made me sit up and think to myself that we all missed the signs and taught me to listen to people more carefully.”
6. Chester Bennington
One user shared, “Chester Bennington.”
Another user replied, “’When my time comes, forget the wrong that I’ve done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed.’”
One user commented, “I bawled my eyes out and had to pull over and park my car when “Leave Out All The Rest ” played off my Spotify playlist in 2019. It took on a whole new meaning for 2 reasons:
“I had recently moved to Florida after a really bad divorce, so I lost my entire support base of family and friends from my home state with that move. I’m South Asian, and the stigma of divorce and all of that stupid stuff that our community has, weighed heavily on me because of what my parents were experiencing from people in their lives. The shame was getting to me, I was just driving around waiting for my flight back to my home state. I booked my flight the night before Christmas, because I felt too ashamed to show my face to my family. Somehow I gathered the strength to purchase those tickets and come back to Michigan for a while. This song reminded me of how small this feeling was, that I had nothing to be ashamed of anymore, and that I also needed to leave those parts alone, so to speak.
“It was like a friend of mine gave me a ton of wisdom, love, and support. Then reality sank in, he was gone for good. I took out what I thought were all of the Linkin Park songs from my playlists a few days after he passed because I couldn’t help but feel extremely sad when I would hear them (all the songs are back on my playlists now). But back in 2019, his death was still relatively fresh in my mind, and I thought I took out all of the band’s songs. I missed this one, and I swear, it helped me so much.
“Wherever you are, Chester, I hope you have peace and tranquility. My only regret is not being able to help you, but I will continue to be compassionate and helpful towards others in life the way I have been. Thank you for helping me along with so many others, whether you know it or not man.”
One user also added, “That moment in the memorial concert when they play Numb without the vocals, but have a spotlight on an empty microphone wreathed in flowers kills me every time. That the crowd picked up on it right away and sang the whole song too…”
7. Mr. Rogers
One user posted, “It was pouring rain that morning and I’d stopped to grab breakfast before a looming nightmare commute to work. Right as I was about to pull the key out of the ignition, I heard them say on the radio that he’d passed and just sat there in my car, sobbing.
“I met him in 1983 when he came to my elementary school with the Purple Panda and for a 4 year-old, it was like meeting Jesus. I was so overcome I just blurted out, ‘You’re my best friend!’ and he smiled and said, ‘I’m so glad that we’re friends.’ We didn’t deserve Fred Rogers.”
A second user commented, “My parents were mildly abusive. It was only because of Mr Rogers that I knew something was wrong in my household. The amount of love he shared with people on the other side of the TV was awe inspiring. I think if someone tried to do that today they’d come off as insincere or [trying too] hard.”
Another user shared, “I think he’s the celebrity the world needs most right now. Though I think he’d be so disappointed in all of us to see how we treat each other. I still remember where I was when I heard he’d passed away. My high school band was at Disney World. I can’t remember what park we were at that day but there was a bust there of Mr. Rogers that was already covered in flowers when we got there that morning and people of all ages were stopping there to pay their respects even though it was raining. It just showed how truly beloved he was that so many generations felt like they’d lost a friend when he passed.”
8. Heath Ledger
One Redditor posted, “In 8th grade English class we read Taming of the Shrew and then the teacher let us watch 10 Things I Hate About You to show us how his works still impact writing today. So I had JUST discovered Heath and had a massive crush on him when he passed away less than a year later. It was the first celebrity death that really impacted me.”
Another user also shared, “Still makes me so sad. I thought he was an amazing actor. He just seemed to exude joy.”
“More than exuding joy, he was a remarkable actor. There is a scene in A Knight’s Tale in which he and his cohorts are looking towards the camera as someone is telling them some news. Heath Ledger’s face passes from subtle emotion to emotion. You could read his entire thought process as he absorbed the news. The other actors’ faces were just one look of surprise at the news. I so regret we didn’t get to see Heath Ledger continue to develop because he had a rare gift.” one user replied.
9. Chris Cornell
One Redditor also shared, “Chris Cornell. So talented; gone too soon and died so tragically.”
Another user replied, “I saw him and Chester Bennington in 2007 together. Hell of a show. They’re the reason I never hesitate to say yes to a concert now.”
One commenter added, “Yeah, I’ll forever regret never seeing Linkin park in concert. They were my favorite band as a teenager, and I had one opportunity to see them live when I was in high school and skipped it because I was sure I’d have another chance. Nope. Damn.”
10. Chadwick Boseman
One Redditor shared, “Chadwick Boseman R.I.P. Black Panther.”
Another user commented, “He was such a humble, thoughtful, and selfless dude. I remember watching 21 Bridges and Black Panther and wishing I was as bad-ass and self-less as his characters were. Knowing he was battling cancer while working on several of his movies blew me away, he knew how important Black Panther was to people and continued to train and study every day while battling cancer. Not to mention visiting children battling cancer and hoping to make their day a little happier and a little easier. He continues to motivate me every day to be a more selfless and stronger person and remind me not to waste my life worrying about what others think of us and just doing what you know is right. He’s one of the few people I look up to and strive to be [like. Rest] in peace Chadwick.”
One Redditor added, “A friend of mine went to middle school with him. She had just moved to a new town, after her parents split up, and was having a really rough time; she says that he was one of the only people at that time who was genuinely nice to her. Chadwick Boseman was organically, truly good and that’s a rarity, these days.”
11. Sir Terry Pratchett
One user commented, “Sir Terry Pratchett. He and his works both made the world a better, more interesting place.”
A second user replied, “Terry Pratchett is the reason I evolved from a scared and nerdy introvert kid to the sociable ‘nerd whisperer’. He instilled in me the idea that the filters you use shape your reality, because the actual one is absurd, bizzare, weird, sad and funny, on every scale and step. It is up to us, how we perceive and handle it. Thanks and GNU, Sir Terry Pratchett.”
Another commenter added, “Terry Pratchett is and always will be my favourite author. He could make me laugh and cry in the same sentence. Even now years later when I reread his books I find references or subtleties I missed the last time. He died towards the end of my pregnancy with my youngest. It was a horrible, very traumatic pregnancy and very dark time for me. His death made it worse, especially as his books always brought comfort. It has been several years since then and I still cannot bring myself to read the last book as I am still not ready for it to be over.”
12. Anton Yelchin
“Anton Yelchin,” one user shared.
A second Redditor replied, “Dude had cystic fibrosis. And that isn’t even what killed him.”
Another user added, “He was in my extended friends group…grew up as besties with my buddy’s kid. I used to see him at pool parties and stuff, and he had seen one of my bands, so we would chat about that. Super nice guy with a ton of amazing stories…and then one day, it was just like: ‘Oh my god. Did you hear about Anton???’ Totally f*cked.”
Another user added, “I hope y’all check in on his mom. Last time I was regularly in Hollywood she was still going to his grave for hours every day. Very sad.” Another user added, “He’s my go to for this question. Poor guy had the whole world in front of him. He was in great movies (hell even his voice work in Trollhunters was great) , and the way he went is just so random and awful. Not to say other deaths aren’t tragic, but I think his was more so when compared to the natural death of someone 99 years old, or a drug-related death of someone or someone taking their own life.”
13. Carrie Fisher
One user ended, “We never deserved Carrie Fisher.”
Another Redditor commented, “Followed immediately by Debbie Reynolds 🙁 I felt so bad for Billie Lourd.”
One user replied, “I met her at a Comic-Con right before she died. She was still so beautiful, funny and classy. I was heartbroken when I heard she died.”
14. David Bowie
One user posted, “David Bowie.”
Another replied, “That would be my pick. Knowing he made his last album, released it, and then died 3 days later. It was beyond spooky, but also really cool and creative.”
One Redditor added, “The music videos he created for that album were eerily beautiful.”
Another commented, “My nan bought on the day he died she was on the way back home to listen to it turned on the radio and it announced he had died. She still has the album unopened; she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.”
15. Jim Henson
A user shared, “Jim Henson, too early and such a source of joy to so many.” Another user commented, “Yes. Every time I go to Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World I have to go to the Muppets 3D movie, it was the last thing he did as Kermit. It makes me sad that he died before the paperwork with Disney was complete and because of that a lot of the plans for the muppets at that park never happened. Watch his funeral on PBS, it’s one of the best celebrations of a human’s life you can see.”
Do you agree with the list above? Share your comments below!
Source here.
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Profitability Analysis, Closed-End 2nd Products; Ginnie Ticket Primer for Government Program Lenders
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Profitability Analysis, Closed-End 2nd Products; Ginnie Ticket Primer for Government Program Lenders
By: Rob Chrisman
1 Hour, 19 Min ago
Hey, I’ve got news for you: 2023 is half over. Sometimes reality bites, and vendors and lenders can’t sit there, wringing their hands, waiting for things to get better on their own. Are lenders suddenly going to make huge margins on lots of volume in the second half? Are LOs who were doing 2-3 loans a month in the first half suddenly going to do 4-6? Are vendor reps suddenly going to double their clients? Are rates going to plummet? Is the number of houses for sale going to skyrocket? Banks, credit unions, and depositories are certainly doing something. An analysis of call reports shows that mortgage banking income at banks and thrifts increased by 36 percent on a sequential basis. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo individually more than doubled their MB income from the fourth quarter to the first. Others, like Truist and PNC followed, as Inside Mortgage Finance points out. That said, to the surprise of no one, mortgage-banking income at banks and thrifts was down 38 percent from the first quarter of 2022. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Gallus, the premier business intelligence tool for the mortgage industry. With hassle-free insights and user-friendly functionality, Gallus empowers you to make faster, data-driven decisions for enhanced profitability. Hear an interview with Gallus Insights’ Augie Del Rio on how mortgage companies are best leveraging data in a high-rate environment.)
Lender and Broker Software, Services, and Products
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here, and as everyone works to determine how AI can enhance business processes, many are also scratching their heads over the new challenges. If you’re attending the American Legal and Financial Network (ALFN) Answers 2023, don’t miss the panel on Tuesday, July 18, “AI: Like It or Not, It’s Here. Are You Ready? Ethical and Business Challenges to the Utilization of Technology in a Default World.” This lunch session will cover current and future AI uses for industry law firms, service providers and others. Black Knight SVP of Servicing Technologies & Product Innovation Dana Federspiel will participate in this informative discussion to share her expertise in default processing within the mortgage industry. Take advantage of this opportunity to gain a better understanding of the intersection between AI and its potential uses in our industry. Contact Black Knight to learn more about solutions for today’s market challenges.
“I love chasing borrowers down for appraisal fees” said no one ever. With Fee Chaser by LenderLogix, you definitely won’t be saying that. Give your borrowers an easy, secure way to pay their appraisal, lock-in and condo doc fees with Fee Chaser’s seamless integration into Encompass® by ICE Mortgage Technology™. It can even handle first mortgage payments. Head over to LenderLogix and get a demo texted to your phone.
“Did you know that by yearend 2022, a remarkable 82 percent of homeowners enjoyed an interest rate below 5 percent, and an impressive 92 percent of homeowners had an interest rate below 6 percent? Consequently, there has been a decline in the demand for traditional cash-out refinancing. This is exactly where Vista Point’s Closed-End Second loan proves valuable! Rather than discarding the original low interest rate, a second loan creates a blended rate giving your borrower a lower payment solution while tapping their built-up equity. Discover the potential savings for your specific situation by visiting here and see how much your borrower can reduce their monthly mortgage payment by using our Closed-End Second Cash-Out Equity Solution. Give your borrower access to the cash they need without sacrificing their advantageous interest rate, with second line amounts up to $550K and combined lien amounts up to $2.5M. For more information, please contact us.”
Does your mortgage accounting team dream about having the ability to analyze the profitability of each loan the company originates? For Smartfi Home Loans, this dream came true with its new, industry-focused finance system, Loan Vision. Smartfi found they were able to gain efficiency and improve their processes with the help of Loan Vision’s immense drill down capabilities. “With Loan Vision, there is this wealth of information at your fingertips,” says Bill Berg, Finance, Technology, and Servicing Leader at Smartfi®. “To understand the ins and outs at the loan level, there’s a tremendous amount of analytical power there. I’m not sure how you would be able to successfully understand your business without it.” Interested in learning more about how your General Ledger should be helping you maximize efficiencies in your accounting department and gain access to financials faster? Contact Carl Wooloff to schedule a call today.
Government Loans and Servicing
Traditionally FHA and VA loans have a higher profit margin than other loan types. But originating them is not a walk in the park. James Hedvall, Chief Capital Markets Officer with Doorway Home Loans, put down some notes he titled a, “GNMA Primer.”
“I’ve been in this business for many years and have seen things done well and things done poorly. And I receive a fair number of questions regarding secondary execution. One typical question is whether a lender should pursue obtaining their ‘Ginnie Ticket,’ or to become a GNMA Approved Issuer.
“Having the ability to take FHA, VA, and USDA loans, turn them into securities, is a powerful tool for well-equipped secondary groups. Why? Well, first it allows you to underwrite straight to AUS findings, manual underwrites and originating loans that are outside correspondent overlays, provide competitive pricing and service to underserved communities, as well as allowing for efficient execution into the capital markets. However, there are a few considerations that need to be understood, because it’s not for every originator.”
James writes, “There are approximately 350 issuers spread across large and small depositories, credit unions, servicers, and independent mortgage bankers. The approval process, sometimes referred to sarcastically within capital markets circles as the GNMA Denial Department, can be long and challenging. There are plenty of cases out there where relatively large originators, with good balance sheets, are rejected by Ginnie Mae. I have witnessed first-hand the approval process a few times, and my best piece of advice is that ‘all battles are won, before they’re ever fought.’ Successful applicants have a few things in common: good financial standing, very competent Secondary and Accounting departments, plenty of operational redundancies, strong quality control oversight, last but not least, updated and complete Policies and Procedures which cover the entire origination cycle.
“For those interested in servicing, when you’re approved to issue GNMA bonds, you will be servicing your loans (PIIT agreements aside). This is why you deliver to the GSEs and issue GNMA bonds in the first place; originators should have a strategy with servicing and its intricate oversite, even if they are utilizing a sub-servicer. Historically, servicing GNMA loans (primarily FHA & VA) is costlier than its conforming cousin. A good sub-servicer can minimize this financial burden.
“In terms of keeping, maintaining, and tracking documents, if you’re FNMA/FHLMC approved, you certainly know what a document custodian does. More times than not, when I hear complaints about a custodian, it has to do with a problem on GNMA loans, as they will be the ones who review your loan collateral and initially certifies your pools for trade (most pools are traded after getting initial certification, although not a requisite).
“Ideally, a good custodian will perform a single document review that accommodates all requirements at once. This eliminates “exception surprises” at the time of sale due to different requirements delaying settlement. Choosing your custodian wisely can save headaches down the road, headaches which normally cause delays in settlements, resulting in an erosion of gain-on-sale.
“In the capital markets, broker/dealers come into play. Outside Secondary Marketing, Broker/Dealers are normally given very little thought by originators. If you’re hedging a pipeline for mandatory execution, broker/dealers are the ones your Secondary group trades forward TBA contracts with, that off-set interest rate exposure from the time the loan is locked, until the time the loan funds and gets committed. But for Issuers, they play an important role in the execution of GNMA pools as they are the ones who are buying them from the Issuer. A good relationship with your broker/dealer goes further than just execution. They can also help with pool formation and optimization. Without going down the rabbit-hole on coupons vs note rates vs high balance di-minimus requirements, B/D’s can help you build out pools that can increase the spread that is willing to be paid above (and sometimes below) what TBA’s are trading at; what you hear as the ‘spec pool pay up.’
“Lenders must pay attention to operations within the Originator. A strong Secondary Marketing team is imperative. Having a good Secondary Manager who understands the entire process: what can be pooled, when can it be pooled, when to create a pool in GinnieNet, and purview into the whole mortgage pipeline not just funded loans, helps in the dozens of moving parts in the process. A strong CFO/Accounting Dept who understands the financial risk of issuing GNMA securities pays dividends.
“Some may not know, but part of the financial risk in issuing has to do with covering P&I shortages every month. GNMA doesn’t buy loans directly like FNMA & FHLMC do. They act primarily as an insurance company, guaranteeing that bond holders receive timely payments of cash flow (for this service GNMA charges 6 bps on every loan, referred to as their Guarantee Fee, or G-Fee). When borrowers are late with payments, or miss payments, it’s the responsibility of the issuer to make up for the missed P&I payment to the holder of that security. This can be a huge outflow of cash per month considering your responsibility is to EVERY bond that has ever been issued by the originator. Anyone issuing GNMA securities back in early 2020 when COVID hit, and the term “forbearance” went mainstream, remembers that moment. Possessing the capital to weather P&I shortages is an absolute must.
“Most often overlooked is your Trailing/Final Docs department. Your last responsibility as an issuer is to make sure that trailing docs (final title/deed or mortgage) get to your custodian for final certification. This needs to be done within 365 days of issuance. This may not be a huge problem for some, but states like Hawaii come to mind, where turn times of county recorders are historically slow and getting a certified copies of anything may take months.”
James wrapped up with, “Everything above is scrutinized by GNMA during the approval process. As I mentioned before, possessing the right individuals, having strong relationships with vendors, and possessing very strong operational controls should be viewed as a requirement before submitting your application.” Thank you, James!
Capital Markets
Many mortgage rates are firmly in the 7 percent range now, and certainly 6 and 6.5 percent pass through mortgage securities are the norm for hedging. We might just be here for the remainder of 2023. The solid economic news certainly doesn’t point to lower rates any time soon.
Monday was a quiet day for those in the mortgage industry, with few locks, many people out of the office, and an early close ahead of the Independence Day holiday. Markets shook off warnings about cooling growth and a slowdown in manufacturing, likely because the highlight of the week will be Friday’s fresh look at the labor market, with June Nonfarm Payroll data following May’s big upward payroll surprise. U.S. IHS Markit Manufacturing PMI remained in contractionary territory for the eighth consecutive month in the final reading for June while the ISM Manufacturing Index fell further into contractionary territory. The manufacturing sector continues to operate in a state of contraction as optimism about the second half of 2023 weakens amid recession concerns. Some would argue that investors are still too optimistic about the prospects for economic growth and the ability of the Fed to stamp out inflation.
There was a better-than-expected Construction Spending report for May, in at +0.9 percent month-over-month. On a year-over-year basis, total construction spending was up 2.4 percent due to renewed strength in new single-family construction despite a jump in mortgage rates. Economic data over the last week continued to show a resilient U.S. economy. The final estimate of first quarter GDP was unexpectedly revised higher from 1.3 percent to 2.0 percent as additional data on consumer expenditures contributed to the increase. The personal consumption expenditures index (4.1 percent) remained well above the Fed’s target. Home price data from Case-Shiller indexes showed increasing prices in April while building permits increased 5.6 percent to an annualized rate of 1.496 million units in May. The lack of existing homes for sale has led to price increases on the limited available for sale inventory as well as an increase in new construction. Consumer confidence reached its highest level since January 2022 due to a strong labor market and receding fears of recession. We also learned last week that consumer confidence rose to its highest level in 17 months in June amid a brighter take on the current situation and a less dire assessment of the future.
Markets return to a relatively quiet calendar today, though there is some potential market moving potential from the release of the minutes from the June 13/14 FOMC meeting, Redbook same store sales, May factory orders, and remarks from New York Fed President Williams. We begin Wednesday with Agency MBS prices little changed from Monday and the 10-year yielding 3.86 after closing Monday at 3.86 percent; the 2-year is up to 4.91 percent.
Jobs
“In our most recent Chrisman post, MWF announced our Growth Strategy into the mid-west and Southeast markets. Most recently, we are pleased to announce the addition of Jeff Hemm RVP in Idaho and the Pacific NW, and the expansion of our new Branch in North Carolina. Jeff is a well-known leader in our industry and will bring a strong leadership presence in our new markets. MWF is excited to have TJ Powell on our team and the entire North Carolina team as we grow in new markets and expand in Florida. “I’m proud of our Team and the efforts to expand the MWF family in new areas. This is part of our written growth strategy and an important part of our overall company expansion,” Ed Adams, SVP Production. For information about our growth plans and career opportunities, contact Ed Adams.”
“Is your firm interested in launching a wholesale mortgage enterprise that’s mission-driven? Our group has a combined 100-year history in mortgage banking (operations, sales, underwriting, and capital markets) with a proven track record of generating over $2 billion annually over the last three decades. There are two participation opportunities: investment or joint venture. Our team includes an experienced and trusted sales force, operators, tech stack, warehouse lines, and take-out investors. Although we are currently based in California, we are actively working towards expanding to the East Coast and Southeast regions. Our expertise lies in Non-QM; however, we offer conventional and will offer government loans as well. Our focus is on serving underserved communities, and our long-term goal is to become a CDFI to ensure fair lending practices. If interested, please reach out to Chrisman LLC’s Anjelica Nixt to forward your note.
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If you live in Colorado or surrounding states, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Cherry Creek Mortgage Company.
The retail mortgage lender is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and does nearly half its total loan volume in the Centennial State.
They also have a sizable presence in California and Texas, along with Illinois, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin.
In all, they’re licensed in 41 states nationwide, which helped them generate nearly $9 billion in home loan origination volume in 2021.
Let’s learn more about Cherry Creek Mortgage to determine if they’re the right fit for your home loan needs.
Cherry Creek Mortgage Fast Facts
Retail mortgage lender founded in 1987
Headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado
Offer home purchase, refinance, and reverse mortgages
Originated over $70 billion in home loans since inception
Closed nearly $9 billion in home loans during 2021
Licensed in 41 states nationwide and D.C.
Acquired by Guild Mortgage on March 13th, 2023
Cherry Creek Mortgage Company has a pretty deep pedigree for a mortgage company, having been founded all the way back in 1987.
During those 33 years in business, the company managed to fund $60 billion in home loans for some 260,000 families across the nation.
The company offers home purchase loans, refinance loans, and reverse mortgages via the retail channel.
As noted, they’re licensed in 41 states (and D.C.), including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Their mission is to deliver a digital mortgage experience with a human touch, with a commitment to honesty and integrity in all that they do.
And their ultimate goal is to provide a mortgage to one out of every 100 home buyers in America.
Other than the Cherry Creek brand, they run several DBAs, including Premier Mortgage Group, America’s Mortgage, Reverse Mortgage USA, Rocky Mountain Mortgage, Swanson Home Loans, and Blue Spot Home Loans.
Update: In March 2023, Guild Mortgage acquired Cherry Creek Mortgage, including 68 branches in 45 states in order to expand its retail network.
Cherry Creek Mortgage Loan Process
You can apply online, by phone, or in person at one of their branches
Use their online loan officer directory to find an originator near you
They offer a digital mortgage experience powered by FasTrac
Streamlined underwriting process aimed at getting you approved fast
To get started, you can visit their website and click on the “Get Started” button. From there, you need to register to begin filling out a loan application online.
Alternatively, you can simply call them up on the phone to get connected with a loan officer, or use the “Find a Loan Expert” tab to find someone specific and/or nearby.
Cherry Creek also has physical branches in many of the states where they do business, so it may be possible to visit one and speak to a loan officer in person if that’s your thing.
They rely on their own proprietary technology known as FasTrac, which “streamlines the documentation required for submitting a loan to underwriting.”
It’s unclear if this is similar to some other technologies that allow you to link bank accounts, import W-2s, and so on, but it sounds like it.
The company says it offers a digital mortgage experience, so I assume you can upload documents, get real-time status updates, and conduct most of the process remotely.
Cherry Creek Mortgage Loan Options
Home purchase loans and refinance loans
Conventional loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Government-backed mortgages (FHA/USDA/VA)
Jumbo home loans
Renovation loans (Fannie Mae HomeStyle and FHA 203k)
Construction loans
HUD-Section 184 Loans for Native Americans
Physician mortgages
Reverse mortgages
Cherry Creek offers home purchase financing, mortgage refinancing, home renovation loans, and reverse mortgages for seniors.
A good chunk of their production consists of conventional loans backed by Fannie and Freddie, with FHA loans their second most common offering.
They also offer jumbo loans for those with large loan amounts, VA loans for veterans and active duty, and USDA loans for those in rural areas.
If refinancing an existing mortgage, you can get a rate and term refinance or a cash out refinance.
Those purchasing a home with limited down payment funds can take advantage of their knowledge of down payment assistance programs, grants, and interest-free second mortgages.
And those building a new home can take advantage of long rate lock periods with float-down options.
They also have a Union Advantage Program that offers benefits to union members and their immediate family, including a $500 gift card after closing on a new purchase loan or refinance.
And they offer HUD-Section 184 Loans for Native Americans interested in purchasing a home, along with physician mortgages specially tailored for doctors.
You can get a fixed-rate mortgage or an adjustable-rate mortgage, with all the common varieties available such as a 30-year fixed or 15-year fixed, or a 5/1 ARM, 7/1 ARM, and so on.
Cherry Creek Mortgage Rates
Like a lot of other mortgage lenders, they don’t openly advertise their mortgage rates on their website for one reason or another.
As such, it’s difficult to determine how competitive they are mortgage pricing wise. The same goes for lender fees.
It’s unclear what they charge in the way of fees, such as a loan origination fee, so you’ll need to inquire about it and/or review your Loan Estimate if you get pricing from them.
Definitely take the time to shop around if getting a quote from Cherry Creek Mortgage to see low they stack up against other lenders.
Cherry Creek Mortgage Reviews
On Zillow, there are nearly 900 Cherry Creek Mortgage reviews at the moment and the company has a 4.97-star rating out of 5.
Many of the recent reviews indicated the interest rate was lower than expected, and others mentioned that fees/closing costs were also lower than expected.
If you want to see a specific Cherry Creek Mortgage loan officer’s reviews, look for their name on Zillow to fine-tune your results.
It’s difficult to find other companywide reviews, so you might be better served searching for reviews of local branches located near you.
The company is also Better Business Bureau accredited at both its headquarters and all its company-owned locations.
It enjoys an A+ rating from the BBB and had just a handful of customer complaints and reviews at last glance.
Cherry Creek Mortgage Pros and Cons
The Good Stuff
Offer all types of loans including reverse mortgages
Excellent reviews from past customers
Free mortgage calculators and eGuides on site
Offer a digital mortgage experience
Can apply directly on the website or visit a branch