National Mortgage News - March 2021

Best Mortgage Companies to work for 2021

National Mortgage News presents the third annual Best Mortgage Companies to Work For — a survey and awards program dedicated to identifying and recognizing the industry's best employers and providing organizations with valuable employee feedback.

With pandemic conditions in place for a second spring, lenders and brokers discuss the indicators that will reveal whether the market is shifting away from the traditional selling season to one that runs hot throughout the year.

While sales shot up from the same time last year, inventory reached its lowest level since Remax started its National Housing Report in 2007.

Origination volume hit a record high in 2020 as more borrowers tapped the equity in their homes and investors and second-home purchasers flocked to the market at levels unseen since before the Great Recession.

Issuance of securitizations backed by these loans is becoming more dependable, and Fannie will need more mortgages that finance newly-built energy-efficient homes to keep it going.

Meanwhile at Essent, more loans exited the inventory in January than in December.

But distress could be compounded in a limited number of state and local areas that have been left out of the broader boom in the market, an Urban Institute report found.

While loan performance is improving in aggregate, some borrowers remained unaware of the relief available or were unable to access it, according to the Research Institute for Housing America.

After the agency pulled back on fair-lending enforcement in the Trump administration, interim Director Dave Uejio has made clear his intent to use the “disparate impact” standard to launch more anti-discrimination probes.

The agency is recruiting more attorneys and shuffling personnel under new Democratic leadership as it prepares to toughen oversight of the financial services industry.

The mortgage industry’s technology emphasizes speed, but a surge in volume has elongated the closing process for many, which is problematic ahead of a potential seasonal uptick in more time-sensitive purchase loans.

The transaction consisting of $24 million in securitized Ginnie pools followed a 265% jump in broader industry eNote registrations last year.

“Two clicks or less” needs to become the mantra for the mortgage industry as it confronts the digital challenges that have kept it mired in the world of costly and cumbersome phone-based customer support, J.D. Power’s Jim Houston writes.