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Month: December 2025

Underwriting in an Age of Uncertainty: Why Human Judgment Still Matters

Posted on by Magda DeMauro

There’s a saying in the mortgage world, borrowed from the Eagles’ Hotel California: that you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. For many of us, that lyric isn’t just clever; it’s autobiographical. I’ve tried to step away from mortgage lending more than once, yet the industry always calls me back. Maybe it’s the complexity, maybe it’s the mission, or maybe it’s something deeper: the fact that underwriting still sits at the intersection of data, risk, opportunity, and…

Do You Want Appraisal Waivers, Faster Turn Times, and Less Risk?

Posted on by Brian Vieaux

Then UAD 3.6 Should Already Be on Your Agenda. Do you want more appraisal waivers? Do you want appraisals completed faster, with better accuracy and quality? Do you want less liability and risk tied to appraisal data flowing through your organization? It’s hard to imagine anyone in mortgage answering “no” to any of those questions. And yet, many lenders are still treating the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 as something to deal with later. A future compliance task. A distant operational…

Dec. 15: Recruiting firm, wholesalers wanted; hedging auditor, broker survey, non-QM, DSCR products; AI legislation; rates stagnant

Posted on by Rob Chrisman

“Apparently you can’t use ‘beef stew’ as a password. It’s not stroganoff.” Not only is technology a proverbial conference favorite, but now nearly every event or webinar discusses AI. (This month’s STRATMOR piece is titled, “Artificial Intelligence in Mortgage Lending.” ) Last week U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at blocking states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations. “We want to have one central source of approval,” Trump told…

Capital Markets Recap: December 12, 2025

Posted on by Robbie Chrisman

Stop me when this sounds familiar: There’s a disconnect between the Federal Reserve’s official projections and the economic signals policymakers themselves emphasized. Stop? Okay. Despite the Fed delivering a third consecutive 25-basis-point cut and launching $40 billion per month in T-bill purchases, investors largely ignored the near-term easing in favor of the 2026 “dot plot,” which predicts only one cut next year. That outlook looks increasingly fragile: Chair Powell openly questioned the…

Dec. 12: LO jobs; “correspondent in a box;” STRATMOR & borrower psychology; homebuyer assistance question; Philly & Baltimore… uh oh

Posted on by Rob Chrisman

“Rob, what happened with the DSCR appraisal issue in Baltimore earlier this year?” Good question. Baltimore is not alone: This week we have investors either pricing themselves out of, or ceasing loans from, the Philly market for certain non-owner loans.) The whole Baltimore thing seems to have quieted down, and up until recently the last news came in October although this week along came, “ Baltimore is striking fear into private lenders across the country.” “Over the past three years,…

Dec. 11: Exec available; correspondent & broker products, LOS, 10T, UAD 3.6 tools; the Fed cuts and mortgage rates shrug

Posted on by Rob Chrisman

“With all this craziness, you’d think the United States was cursed. Like it was built on an Indian burial ground. Oh, wait…” Roughly 2.6 million people die in the United States every year. (This shot up well above 3 million in 2020 and 2021, despite those who say COVID didn’t or doesn’t exist.) Our birth rate has been going down for many years, with its own set of issues. Lenders are on the front line of these trends and usually shift their product lines to accommodate changes in age and…

Leading Through Uncertainty: How Mortgage Executives Can Navigate a Market That Refuses to Settle

Posted on by Ira Selwin

In an industry accustomed to turbulence, the current mortgage environment presents a peculiar contradiction. Lenders and capital markets teams express an uneasy confidence, aware that even a sure thing in today’s environment can shift overnight. The result is a paradoxical moment in which everyone knows what might happen, yet few genuinely trust it. I’m focused on staying optimally hedged and hoping only for calm. Movement up or down matters less than avoiding volatility. This reveals the…

Dec. 10: Sales mgt., broker jobs; DPA, quick HELOC, non-QM, processing, AI tools; Assumable mortgages? Homebuyer age study

Posted on by Rob Chrisman

Somewhere, in a parallel universe, Mariah Carey is walking around some supermarket, sick of listening to me sing Christmas carols. This is, of course, a humorous assumption, but what isn’t so humorous is the discussion begun by the Trump Administration about assumable mortgages, arguably the bane of MBS investors. Locked-in mortgage rates and frozen inventory have pushed an old idea back into the spotlight: the assumable mortgage, a feature long limited to FHA and VA loans but now debated as…