D-Day was 82 years ago today. All of those young men that day grew up during The Depression. Different time, different place… The base pay was $50 per month for unmarried servicemen. Yes, you read that right. Every generation didn’t have to have a name. These days they do, and we are greeted with the headline, “More Than Half of Millennials and One-Third of Gen X Still Feel Financially Dependent on their Parents.” I mention this because those two groups are of great interest to lenders in terms of application and funding numbers. According to Curinos proprietary application index, May 2026 funded mortgage volume decreased 3 percent Y-o-Y and decreased 12 percent M-o-M. The average 30-year conforming retail funded rate in May 2026 was 6.24, 8bps higher than April 2026 and 46bps lower than the same month last year. Curinos sources a statistically significant data set directly from lenders to produce these benchmark figures and drills into this data further here.
Saturday Spotlight: Flyhomes
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Operating on a Wholesale-only Model
Flyhomes is the industry leader in solving one of the biggest challenges in real estate: how to buy your next home without having to sell your current one first. As the leading Buy Before You Sell platform in the U.S., Flyhomes DREAM Solutions helps top loan officers unlock more opportunities for their borrowers through:
· D- DTI Buster
· R- Retire & Downsize
· E- Equity For Down Payment
· A- All-Cash Advantage
· M- Move With $0 Out of Pocket
We operate on a wholesale-only model, empowering loan officers and real estate agents with a variety of Buy Before You Sell solutions available in all 50 states. More than 5,000 buyers have already used Flyhomes to move seamlessly. With $2.2B in funded loans and a growing partner network of 320+ lenders and 30,000+ MLOs, we’re expanding quickly and are proud to offer our solutions nationwide.
Our products give borrowers real advantages: buy with $0 down, reduce their DTI by up to 50%, and make cash-equivalent offers that close in as little as 10 days. And because we’re wholesale-only, there’s no competition with loan officers or agents. We exist to help them win more deals and build stronger client relationships.
Another key difference? Low costs. We’re proud to offer the most affordable Buy Before You Sell solutions in the market. Our programs start with a tiered flat fee, and our loan product pricing is tied to the loan amount, not the departing home’s sale price. This structure keeps costs fair and transparent, giving borrowers access to the tools they need without creating an extra financial burden. It’s a true win-win for both families and the professionals who serve them.
Join our live session on June 11 (Thu) or June 25 (Thu). We’ll walk through how Flyhomes DREAM Solutions empower you and your borrowers to unlock home equity to buy their next home before selling the current one, reduce DTI and help them qualify for up to 50 percent more, and remove home sale contingencies and make stronger offers.
Save your seat today (June 11/ June 25) or book a call to learn how Flyhomes solutions can benefit your borrowers and help you close more deals today.
(For more information on having your firm’s extracurricular activities, employee growth, and your charitable side featured, contact Chrisman LLC’s Anjelica Nixt.)
The anatomy of another deal
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Yesterday news broke that American Pacific Mortgage and Synergy One Lending are “joining forces to build the future of retail lending.” “The union enhances APM’s national footprint and increases production to approximately $14 billion in annual volume, solidifying the company among the nation’s top retail mortgage lenders in the country…
“The move strengthens APM’s executive leadership team, with Synergy One Lending CEO Steve Majerus joining APM as president.* Majerus brings decades of leadership experience and a progressive approach to technology, AI, platform innovation, and production strategy. Aaron Nemec will remain the president of Synergy One Lending, a division of American Pacific Mortgage, and continue to lead the organization’s operations and growth initiatives.
Together, the alignment delivers advantages for loan officers and referral partners through expanded product offerings, stronger infrastructure, and increased investment in technology and AI, and allows Synergy One Lending to preserve its unique brand identity while benefiting from the scale and support of APM’s proven DBA and divisional model… This merger underscores a shared belief that the future of retail lending belongs to organizations willing to evolve, invest, and build operational scale in an increasingly competitive market.
“Licensed in 49 states, APM employs more than 2,900 people and operates nearly 300 branches nationwide, many of which operate under DBA structures. APM is 49 percent employee-owned through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), a differentiator that creates long-term financial security for employees and fosters a culture of accountability, collaboration, and shared success. Licensed in 49 states, S1L employs 540 people and operates 65 branches nationwide.”
Third-party provider products continue to strengthen our biz
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I’d argue that it is impossible for lenders to operate without outside services, whether those vendors are offering lead generation, processing, underwriting, consulting, whatever. Let’s take a random look at who has been doing what lately.
Mortgage lenders have spent years investing in digital tools, but where are those investments actually making a difference? In the latest STRATMOR Insights Report, Senior Partner Nicole Yung explores how mortgage technology spending is shifting “below the waterline” from borrower-facing features to the operational infrastructure, automation, integrations, and AI capabilities that drive scalability and efficiency. Drawing on findings from STRATMOR’s most recent Technology Insight® Study, Nicole examines how lenders are prioritizing investments, where adoption gaps remain, and why successful digital transformation depends as much on execution as technology itself. For lenders evaluating their technology roadmaps and preparing for future growth, the article offers practical insights into maximizing returns on digital investments and building a stronger operational foundation for the years ahead.
Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) released a White Paper challenging the baby boomer generation to take bold action to help homebuyers in their 20s and 30s, as Gen Z individuals and families are buying their first home later in life and face unprecedented affordability challenges. This White Paper lays out this challenge, arguing that tinkering around the edges will not address these concerning trends. It highlights research findings from several CHLA member lenders, Veterans United Home loans, and more regarding Gen Z homebuying objectives, challenges, and reservations.
Castlelake, a global alternative investment firm specializing in asset-based private credit, and Redwood Trust Inc., a leader in expanding access to housing for homebuyers and renters, announced the formation of a strategic joint venture. Designed to support the continued growth of Redwood’s Sequoia platform and provide Castlelake with programmatic purchasing power for fully documented prime jumbo mortgage loans; this partnership contemplates purchasing up to $8 billion of Sequoia-sourced prime jumbo loans, with flexibility to scale as opportunities emerge, including the acquisition of seasoned loans from bank balance sheets.
Some lenders are eager to use AI to reduce manual work and surface information faster, but most have hit a wall when it comes to compliance, data security and auditability. Dark Matter Technologies’ launch of a new capability on its Developer Platform enables lenders to use AI agents securely within the regulated mortgage environment. This new capability creates a managed gateway between AI agents and the LOS. Every request is authenticated, permissions are enforced, data exposure is limited and a full audit trail is created, all before information is returned to the user. Dark Matter manages the infrastructure and monitoring, while lenders retain control over building and deploying their own AI agents.
MISMO® released a new resource that helps organizations model mortgage processes, decisions, and data using industry‑standard BPM+ methods aligned with MISMO standards. The BPM+ Reference Model Toolkit enables lenders, vendors, and investors to leverage the MISMO Reference Model by providing a neutral, implementation‑ready representation of MISMO data and processes. The toolkit can be reused consistently across systems and platforms, reducing translation effort and improving interoperability.
MISMO’s life of loan model; an interactive, visual model that illustrates the mortgage life cycle from start to finish, has reached Candidate Recommendation status. This milestone recognizes that the standard has been thoroughly reviewed by a broad range of industry participants and is available for implementation across the mortgage industry. MISMO members enjoy access to the full interactive experience, while non‑members can view a downloadable PDF version of the tool.
DocMagic announced that it received two new MISMO certifications. MISMO’s eVault System Certification covers SmartSAFE®, DocMagic’s core eVault for managing eNote workflows and MERS® eRegistry activity, and SmartSAFE XL™, an API-first eVault designed for enterprise environments that require flexible deployments and support for a broader range of digital assets. MISMO’s SMART Doc® Validation Rules Certification confirms that DocMagic’s technology can verify conformance to MISMO SMART Doc V1.02 standards prior to vaulting and across integrated workflows.
Carrington Mortgage Services announced a strategic partnership with Valon Technologies, builder of a world-class AI-native operating system for mortgage servicing. To advance the next generation of Ginnie Mae servicing technology; under the agreement, Carrington will adopt ValonOS as its core servicing platform and, in collaboration with a private equity partner, will acquire Valon Mortgage, expanding Carrington’s servicing portfolio by approximately 800,000 loans.
Snapdocs announced an initiative with BNY (NYSE: BK), a global financial services platforms company, to deliver automated, end-to-end digital mortgage collateral infrastructure. “The joint initiative addresses one of the mortgage industry’s most persistent operational gaps: collateral delivery that still relies on numerous manual handoffs between settlement, lenders, warehouse banks, and custodians, causing multi-day delays that can slow secondary market execution and erode per-loan profitability. The solution will combine BNY’s industry-leading custody capabilities and investment in next-generation infrastructure with Snapdocs’ platform, including its eVault technology, and document classification and data extraction capabilities. The solution will deliver the first connected digital infrastructure for secure, touchless, and auditable collateral delivery across the secondary mortgage market.”
Clear Capital®, the national real estate analytics, data solutions, and valuation technology company, announced its acquisition of Restb.ai, a Barcelona-based leader in AI-powered computer vision technology for the valuation and real estate industries. Bringing a deeper property intelligence to real estate decision-making globally, this acquisition adds Restb.ai’s image recognition and data enrichment capabilities to Clear Capital’s product suite, including CubiCasa®, the digital floor plan and virtual tour company Clear Capital acquired in 2021. Together, Clear Capital, CubiCasa and Restb.ai will help customers to holistically understand the information that shapes real estate and mortgage decisions. To learn more, see the full article.
FirstClose, a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, announced SmartDocs, a new disclosure intelligence capability available through its XpressEquity point-of-sale platform. SmartDocs functions as the intelligence layer that determines when disclosure obligations begin and initiates the appropriate workflow based on lender-configured rules, helping standardize timing and delivery across programs and jurisdictions.
MISMO®, announced the release of Wrapper Files designed to support implementation of the MISMO Loan Boarding Data Segment (LBDS), a standardized, extensible dataset that defines the core data needed to board newly originated residential mortgage loans into servicing systems. By establishing a common baseline at the point where loans transition from origination to servicing, it helps ensure critical loan data is complete, transparent, and ready for use across the servicing ecosystem.
FICO announced two new features for the FICO® Score Mortgage Simulator, FICO® Smart Plans and FICO® Score Potential. Designed to help mortgage professionals move beyond manual scenario simulations toward more automated, algorithmically driven data planning that can deliver better loan outcomes for consumers.
Enforcement of rules & regulations is alive and well
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Troy Garris of Garris Horn writes, “The narrative that the Trump administration has stepped back from civil rights enforcement does not hold up when you look at what the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Housing and Civil Enforcement Section has actually been doing… though the focus may have shifted.
“Since January 2025, the administration has filed multiple Fair Housing Act lawsuits and already secured a settlement, targeting a range of defendants from landlords to local governments. The cases vary in their legal theories, but some clear patterns emerge.
“Mortgage companies that want to stay ahead of this should be auditing their policies for consistency, ensuring staff are trained on the full range of fair housing obligations, documenting the basis for underwriting and servicing decisions, and treating complaints as early warning systems rather than administrative burdens.” Thank you, Troy.
With the average cost for a nursing home care costing $188.00 per day, there is a better way when we get old and too feeble.
I’ve already checked on reservations at the Holiday Inn. For a combined long-term stay discount and senior discount, it’s $59.23 per night.
Breakfast is included, and some have happy hours in the afternoon.
That leaves $128.77 a day for lunch and dinner in any restaurant we want, and/or room service, laundry, gratuities, and special TV movies. And don’t forget the maid comes in every day!
Plus, they provide a spa, swimming pool, a workout room, a lounge, and washer-dryer, etc. Most have free toothpaste and razors, and all have free shampoo and soap.
$5 worth of tips a day you’ll have the entire staff scrambling to help you.
They treat you like a customer, not a patient. There’s a city bus stop out front, and seniors ride free.
The handicap bus will also pick you up (if you fake a decent limp).
To meet other nice people, call a church bus on Sundays.
For a change of scenery, take the airport shuttle bus and eat at one of the nice restaurants there.
While you’re at the airport, fly somewhere.
Otherwise, the cash keeps building up.
It takes months to get into decent nursing homes. Holiday Inn will take your reservation today.
And you’re not stuck in one place forever — you can move from Inn to Inn, or even from city to city.
Want to see Hawaii? They have Holiday Inn there too.
TV broken? Light bulbs need changing?
Need a mattress replaced? No problem. They fix everything and apologize for the inconvenience.
The Inn has a night security person and daily room service.
The maid checks to see if you are ok. If not, they’ll call an ambulance . . . or the undertaker.
If you fall and break a hip, Medicare will pay for the hip, and Holiday Inn will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life.
And no worries about visits from family. They will always be glad to find you and probably check in for a few days’ mini vacation.
The grandkids can use the pool.
What more could I ask for?
Visit www.ChrismanCommentary.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. You can also explore the Chrisman Marketplace, a centralized hub connecting mortgage professionals with trusted vendors and solutions. If you’re interested, check out my periodic blog on the STRATMOR Group website. STRATMOR’s current blog is “Pricing That Can Help Borrowers.” The Commentary’s podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple and Spotify.
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(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes, visit the Chrisman Job Board. This newsletter is intended for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For the latest mortgage news, visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.ChrismanCommentary.com. Copyright 2026 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman. The views and opinions in this newsletter are mine alone unless otherwise specifically stated herein.)
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