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Black Knight Weekly Updates...
US Sees Largest Weekly Forbearance Decline in Six Months
Analyzing Commercial Real Estate Trends Since the Pandemic
Black Knight Introduces Monthly Originations Market Monitor Report

Top Headlines...
Credit Plus Announces Key LOS Integration to Support Commercial & Private Money Lending Spaces
Blend Announces Release of New LO Toolkit to Enhance Productivity & Interactivity
First American Docutech: eNotes - A Digital Lending Accelerator

Personnel Announcements...
Triserv Welcomes Mark Tatarcuk to Support Sales, Strategy & Business Development

Blog...
MQMR Weekly FAQ: Subservicer Oversight Best Practices
Maxwell Blog: Mortgage Lenders Loosen Credit Standards: Will a Rush of First Time Homebuyers Follow?
Total Expert New eGuide: 3 Strategies to Boost LO Results Today
Arch MI Capital Commentary: P-S-P-A: CAPS, CAPS, CAPS
Triserv Appraisal Management: Combating Margin Compression

Media...
Lykken on Lending - 4/19 @ 1 pm ET: feat. Joe DeDominicis on What is NEXT in the Evolution of Technology in the Mortgage Industry
(Webinar) 4/27 @ 2 pm ET: The Unforgiving Industry - What Can You Do to Catch the Double Wave? feat. Rob Chrisman, MBA's Mike Frantontoni & Sales Boomerang CEO, Alex Kutsishin

Events...
2021 MeridianLink Virtual User Forum: May 11-13
Blend Forward: May 18 - 20
HousingWire engage.marketing: June 17th ​

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Top Headlines...
Black Knight: How Hot Can We Get? Analyzing Market Condition Ratings From 2006 to Present
First Lender Announces Launch of SimpleNexus with First American Docutech Integration to Enable In-App Payment for Appraisal
Plaza Home Mortgage Re-releases VA Renovation Program to Support Veterans, Effective April 7th
iEmergent White Paper: Empowering Lenders to Increase Homeownership with Opportunity Data
Sales Boomerang Expands Partnership with CRM Partner to Set Mortgage Lenders Up for Success in 2021 Purchase Market

Thought Leadership...
Planet Home Lending VP, National Renovation Lending, Jim Bopp: Home Improvement Spending Up 3.5% in 2020 Despite Disrupted Financing
MGIC Interview with Lisa Rice, President & CEO - National Fair Housing Alliance: How Fair Housing Intersects with All Aspects of Society

Personnel Announcements...
Plaza Home Mortgage Announces New Leadership Roles for Mike Fontaine & Michelle Richardson
SimpleNexus Welcomes Andrea Lightfoot as VP of Professional Services

Blog...
MGIC LO Hub: 5 Strategies That Help LO's Work More Efficiently to Manage High-Volume
Arch MI: 5 Keys to Originating More Construction-to-Permanent Loans
PHOENIX February 2021 Market Snapshot
Sales Boomerang - Assurance Financial Strikes Gold Case Study in its Own Borrower Database
Dart Appraisal: UPAP Practices & Value Approaches
MQMR White Paper: Better Together - A Comprehensive Servicing Risk Management Strategy
Built New White Paper: Why One of the Nations Largest Lenders Chose Built to Enhance Loan Volume & Service

Media...
(VIDEO) Black Knight's Empower: Best-in-Class LOS with Cutting Edge, Innovative Capabilities
(VIDEO) ArchMI PolicyCast: Charleston's Mayor Answers the Call
Built Blog: TMConnect - What's New in Construction?

Events...
2021 MeridianLink Virtual User Forum: May 11-13

TMConnect...
Recent Podcasts | TMC YouTube Channel | Upcoming Event Schedule

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​
Top Headlines...
TMC's Emerging Tech Fund Announces First Investment of the Newly Formed Fund
Notarize Announces 600% YOY Growth & Series D Capital Raise of $130MM
Maxwell: Refi Applications Down 43% YOY - Is the Boom Over?

Black Knight Industry Updates...
Breaking Down COVID-19's Impact on Serious Delinquencies in Florida 
Thinking Digital: Key to Evolving Mortgage Industry Status Quo
Forbearances Fall Below 2.6M For First Time Since April 2020

Thought Leadership...
MQMRExecutive Director of Compliance, Michael Barone, Esq. & Internal Audit Manager, Scott Weintraub: The New 1003 & Mortgage March Madness
Vice Capital Markets President, Troy Baars: Market Volatility Drives the Need for Speed in GNMA Spec Pool Formation

Personnel Announcements...
Freddie Mac Appoints Board Member Mark Grier as Interim CEO

Blog...
Sales Boomerang's New White Paper: Crack the Code - How Leading Lenders Overcome the Mortgage Industry's Borrower Retention Problem
MQMR Weekly FAQ: IT Server Maintenance 
Download ActiveComply's LO Social Media Compliance Cheat Sheet
Maxwell - 10 Ways LO's Can Build Strong Referral Relationships with Real Estate Agents
Try SimpleNexus' New ROI Calculator
MGIC Cash Flow Analysis for Tax Year 2020 Now Available! 
Midwest-based Credit Union Implements CompenSafe by LBA Ware to Facilitate Mortgage Lending Division Growth

Media...
Check out last week's series on The Chrisman Commentary podcast, featuring Black Knight's Origination Technology Platform

Events...
Notarize Rewired for Real Estate - April 7th
Accelerating Digital Transformation - Blend Forward: May 18th - 20th

​2021's quick start for the lender members of The Mortgage Collaborative continued in February, but signs of a slowdown to the boon of business also started to show its face. Due in large part to a robust month for refinance applications in January, February was another great closing month for the network. Closed loan units were down just 3.1% from the month prior. 61% of all February closings were on refinances, the highest % of refinance share we've ever seen in the four and a half years we've made TMC Benchmark available to our members. The mix of product on February closes loans stayed fairly consistent with past months, with 79% of closed loan units being done on conventional loans, 17% on government products, and 4% on other products.

New applications on the other hand were down 16.5% in February, falling to an average new application total very similar to what we saw in December. We predicted this app fall-off last month in this space after anecdotal conversations with our members. And expect to see another fairly significant drop in new applications in March.

More optimistically, operational efficiency bettered in February. The number of closed loan units closed per full-time processor in February increased to 11.5 from 11.1 the month prior. Closed loan units per full-time underwriter rose from 37.6 from 37.2 in January. Closed loan units per full-time closer increased to 45.4 from 44.5 a month ago. The average loan originator closed 6.9 loans in February, up from 6.7 in January. That average was in the low 8's all summer before peaking at 8.6 in September 2020. LO comp came in at an average of 99.9 on February closings, up from 97.2 bps in January.

The average "app date to clear to close date" time frame finally fell in February after six straight month of increases, falling from an all-time TMC Benchmark high of 47.9 days in January to 43.1 days in February. Let's take a look at how this number has trended throughout the course of the last several months:

July 37.2
August 39.5
September 42.8
October 43.4
November 45.3
December 47.4
January 47.9
February 43.1

After peaking in the summer, and subsiding in the fall, average salaries paid to processors and closers stayed nearly identical this month. On average, processors in our network were paid an average of $54,000 annually in February, while closers came in at $55,600. Underwriter average annual pay spiked up big time this month, coming in at $94,800.

The average cost per closed loan unit our members paid for their loan origination system came in at $117 in February, up $1 from the month prior. We also saw slight increases in the average cost per closed loan for point-of-sale systems to $48 and for CRM's at $88. The average non-third party lender fees charged by our members on January closed loans was $1,164 on conventional loans and $1,041 on higher margin government loans.

53% of this month's participants in TMC Benchmark were depositories and 47% were IMB's. 42% originate under $500M a year in annual volume, 24% originate between $500M-$1B, and 34% originate over $1 billion per year in annual production.

Rich Swerbinsky
President & Chief Operating Officer
The Mortgage Collaborative

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Top Headlines...
First American Docutech: 2021 Predictions - Three Important Milestones on the Road to Digitalization
Freddie Mac: New eClosing Implementation Roadmap
Blend Signs Agreement to Acquire Title365
Total Expert Ranked #4 2021 Tech Start Up in Minnesota
SimpleNexus Partners with East Coast Lender to Develop the Easy Street App
Capacity Recognized Among KMWorld 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management in 2021
Credit Plus University - An Updated Listing of Online Mortgage Training Courses

Black Knight Latest Industry Updates...
Forbearances See Largest Weekly Decline Since the Beginning of 2021
Tappable Equity Skyrockets to Record High in 2020

Thought Leadership...
MortgageOrb's Person of the Week: Planet Home Lending VP of Correspondent Sales, Jim Loving - Correspondent Lenders Face Tough Call on Adding Niche Products
LBA Ware Founder & CEO, Lori Brewer: Lender Staffing Data Signals Need to Automate Back Office & Monitor Performance
Maxwell VP of Marketing & Growth, Alan Parris: Using Digital Marketing to Build Relationships with the Next Big Homebuyer Generation

Personnel Announcements...
Associated Bancorp Appoints Andrew J. Harmening to President & CEO
OptiFunder Adds Carmen York as Vice President of Sales

Blog...
Black Knight Complimentary White Paper: Retaining More Borrowers During COVID-19
Arch MI Housing Policy: A Nation of Involuntary Renters
Maxwell: Here Come Millennial Borrowers - First-Time Buyers to Flood the Market
Experience.com - EXPERIENCE 2020 Series: The Power of XMP Survey Campaigns
Triserv Appraisal Management Solutions - How Triserv's Technology Benefits You
MQMR Weekly FAQ: Fannie Mae - Use of Power of Attorney
ActiveComply: Social Media Account Discovery - Knowing is Half the Battle
Total Expert Digital Guide: Elevating the Buying Experience with Real-Time Data

Media...
(VIDEO) HousingWire | Black Knight: How Lenders Will Benefit From Black Knights Acquisition of Optimal Blue

Events...
Notarize Rewired for Real Estate - April 7th
Accelerating Digital Transformation - Blend Forward: May 18th - 20th

HousingWire has named the 2021 Tech100 Mortgage winners and our Preferred Partners were all over their list. These companies are revolutionizing the mortgage process in order to bring the power of modern technology to the mortgage industry. We are proud to have these forward thinking partners as a part of our network!  

Recognized Preferred Partners: 

Arch MI
Black Knight
Blend
Capacity
First American Docutech
LBA Ware
LoanLogics
Maxwell
MeridianLink
Mortgage Coach
OptiFunder
Sales Boomerang
SimpleNexus
Total Expert

No surprise at all that a large number of TMC Lender Members were recognized this week by National Mortgage News in their third annual Best Mortgage Companies to Work For award, a program dedicated to recognizing the industry’s premier employers and providing them with employee feedback highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. 
Congratulations to all of our great lender members who were recognized! 
 
2021 Best Small Mortgage Companies to Work For (15 - 99 employees)
#1 Trinity Oaks Mortgage
#2 Method Mortgage

2021 Best Mid-Sized Mortgage Companies to Work For (100 - 499 employees)
#24 Taylor Morrison Home Funding
#23 VanDyk Mortgage
#20 Inlanta Mortgage
#17 Thrive Mortgage
#13 Certainty Home Loans
#11 GVC Mortgage Inc.
#10 Axia Home Loans
#9 GO Mortgage
#4 First Heritage Mortgage

2021 Best Large Mortgage Companies to Work For (500 or more employees)
#16 Nations Lending Corporation
#15 First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation
#12 AmeriFirst Financial, Inc.
#7 Union Home Mortgage