Housing Starts

A friend out in California asked me how much, on average, I spend on a bottle of wine. I replied, “About half an hour.” Plenty of wine is being consumed while watching Yellowstone and 1923, and while all the women are ogling Spencer Dutton in 1923, in some non-mortgage news to save the economy the Secretary of Homeland Security will announce next month that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement will start deporting seniors (instead of illegals) to lower Social Security and Medicare costs. A major study concluded that older people are easier to catch, offer less resistance, and, more importantly, will not remember how to get back home. In actual news, lenders who own servicing continue to peel it off because it either doesn’t fit their portfolio, or they need the cash. The owners of lenders continue to examine various business strategies as we start 2023, with some thinking that it doesn’t make sense to remain the size they are. There was a lot of mergers and acquisition activity last year, big and small. I am told by my M&A friends at STRATMOR (Garth & David) that 2023 is lining up for even more. (Both will be in San Diego at the IMB Conference if you want to confidentially meet up.) This week’s podcast is sponsored by Candor. Candor’s patented automated underwriting decision engine, CogniTech™, is a state-of-the-art, 100% machine platform that can handle infinite loan scenarios. Today’s has Part Two of an interview with Tom Booker and Tom Showalter on how every underwrite is an anomaly.