The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced that the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) will be extended to September 30, 2017, continuing to provide liquidity to support eligible borrowers.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will introduce new high loan-to-value (LTV) ratio same-investor refinance options, scheduled to be available in October 2017. The new options will be for existing loans with LTV ratios exceeding the maximum otherwise allowed, supporting borrowers who are making their payments but are constrained by a high LTV from refinancing. Under the new options, as with HARP, the refinance must provide one of these borrower benefits:

• Reduced monthly payment
• Lower interest rate
• Shorter amortization term
• More stable mortgage product, such as moving from an adjustable-rate mortgage to fixed-rate mortgage

Refer to the Selling Notice for more information on the extension of DU Refi Plus™ and Refi Plus™. To preview Fannie Mae’s new high LTV refinance option, read the fact sheet; detailed requirements will be provided in a later communication. Please contact me if you have any questions about the HARP extension or the new high LTV refi option coming next year.

IRS tax transcripts are a hot topic these days! NCS, founded in 1978 and a leader in risk mitigation solutions, had the distinction of being the first organization in 1994 to offer IRS tax transcript solutions (4506-T) nationwide. On July 15th, the IRS implemented a “Re-verification” program for all participants using the Income Verification Express Service, (IVES), and 100% of NCS’ direct clients were compliant and accessing TRV® Services throughout the implementation period. NCS offers advanced verification products and services to the financial industry with the customer service mantra of “beyond the expected.”

• NCS will be attending The Mortgage Collaborative conference in Denver coming up 8/21-8/23.
  
• Reach out to Kimberlee Foster or Casey Hughes to secure a meeting or learn more about NCS and its full suite of product offerings.

Congratulations to all our friends at DocuTech on being nominated by BankNews Magazine for the 2016 Innovative Solutions Award! DocuTech introduced new enhancements to their ComformX Solution so they could be better equipped to meet the needs of all financial institutions to provide a more seamless user experience and improve the process of delivering documents for any type of loan.

​Please take a moment and vote for DocuTech for the Category: Best Management/Operations/ Processing Solutions.

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Let’s take a look at where some of the key measurables are currenty at for the US housing market …

Home ownership rate - 62.9%  the lowest rate since the Census began tracking this in 1965.

Mortgage rates - Still near historically low levels. Best credits can obtain 30 year financing in the mid 3’s and 15 year financing in the high 2’s.

Home price appreciation - Nationally, homes are appreciating at a little over 5% year-over-year right now. Over the last 30 years, existing homes have appreciated 3.4% year-over-year.

Existing and new home sales - Existing home sales have risen four months in a row, and new home sales in June were at their highest levels in eight years  However, supply and affordability have most convinced these numbers could start to go the other way.

Inventory of existing homes for sale - Still too low, and down 4% year-over-year. We’re at about a 4.5 month supply of inventory. Six months or higher is considered healthy.

Availability of credit - Loosening  but according to the CFPB, still too tight. Average FICO for homebuyers in Q2 - 756. Average FICO in America - 695.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS QUICK ANALYSIS - Home ownership is at all-time lows because credit is still tight, affordability for first time home buyers is not good, and in general, people 35 and under value home ownership less. The high end of the housing market is doing good, the low end, not so good. While low rates help refi levels, home buyers are generally tone deaf to low or falling interest rates at this point. Incredibly low delinquency rates on mortgages originated the last 7-8 years and quarterly profit checks from Fannie and Freddie have housing on the back burner politically. ​

Any regular readers of this blog knows how amused I am with the “HOW ARE WE GOING TO FIGURE OUT THESE MILLENIALS!!” hysteria in the mortgage business right now. Our business is no different than most other service oriented businesses. If you don’t continue to innovate and aren’t constantly spending time thinking of ways to create a better customer experience for a fair price, you will lose market share over time.

We’ve all seen conference sessions where panelists have discussed “if the human loan originator will be replaced”. The answer is easy. Human loan originators will never be completely replaced, but as each day passes, a larger percentage of new home buyers entering the market will desire a different experience on the financing side of transaction. 94% of millenials are now shopping for homes online  The only reason more aren’t securing financing online is because the technology isn’t there yet. But it is evolving QUICKLY. If you’re not thinking about creating a different experience for the home buyers that want it, you should be. ​

​Our upcoming Summer Conference will have a heavy focus on the new emerging technology & innovation in our industry. As well as strategies on ways to pay for that technology (which is not free) through increased operating efficiency and creative growth and expansion strategies. The agenda is now set  and we will once again have record turnout and many of our industries top leaders in attendance. Our conferences are special events. If this is your first one, you are in for a treat.