March 2026 - Page 6 of 6 - Chrisman Commentary

Mar. 2: Commercial for LOs, HELOC, AI/compliance, eNote products; skiing & AI events/training; rates initially rise on war news

In what seems to be the blink of an eye we’re down two months of 2026, and by most accounts they were decent for lenders and vendors. Here in Ft. Lauderdale at the Lenders One Summit, the talk in the hallways, like that at several recent conferences, is centered around a handful of topics, M&A being one of them, and the desire for companies to control the “funnel.” STRATMOR’s Garth Graham , who resides nearby, last night told me that STRATMOR has a full complement of buyers and sellers and we…

Feb. 28: The Fed can’t control the weather; vendor news; deals in the secondary markets; Saturday Spotlight: Prajna.ai

Posted on March 2June 4 by Rob Chrisman

Chairman Powell and the Fed, tame inflation! But can you? Since the pandemic began, grocery prices have gone up about 30 percent. You can blame a slew of factors, including supply chain disruptions and tariffs. Egg prices spiked last year due to bird flu but fortunately have come down. 90 percent of U.S. bananas come from out of the country, and prices are up 7 percent over the last year due to tariffs. Coffee prices are up nearly 20 percent due to droughts in Brazil and Vietnam. Climate…

Leadership Is Participation

Posted on March 2June 4 by Brian Vieaux

We do not have the right to criticize this industry if we are unwilling to invest in improving it. Not in private conversations. Not in conference hallways. Not in boardrooms. If we benefit from the infrastructure of mortgage banking, from its standards, its frameworks, its collective trust, then we carry a responsibility to help sustain it. I earned my Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) designation in 2005. The CMB is not simply a credential. It is a professional standard recognized across real…