Is Something Afoot With Lenders?

[Alison Swain]

Let me just say that the AMC I'm talking about is HUGE. If they're down to struggling for 1/7th of their usual business........YIKES!!!

 

[Steve Metz]

The AMC that I work with has been having the same problem. Thier biz is off 85% and they had to lay off a bunch of good folks that have worked for them. It may be a good idea to go fishing for the next 6 months until this mess gets straightened out. I thought this summer things would have improved but I was wrong. Glad I diversified in Jan.

 

[Eli Weiss]

I can confirm the same, my BOA work is down to zero the past two weeks.....
The AMC I deal with has 65 open orders in the whole nation, the usually have 300-500 open orders.....the rep I deal with has been reading magazine's on her desk for the past two weeks....
I sense something is on the horizon, and the banks are one step ahead of us....

Anyway I think we can all start the holiday weekend early, and pray for the better....

 

[TEL2002]

If you think about it, this is an excellent time for AMCs to solidify their portion of the market by decreasing the turn around time and decreasing the fees they pay.

 

[Restrain]

Wife got the CW is now BOA note. As they now own Landsafe, I would bet a lot of BOA stuff will now go through Landsafe, keeping the money in-house. However, BOA has still got to absorb CW, and the lending process has to be modified, which may be part of the problem (pig though the python thing) for those of you working for Landsafe.

 

[Bama Bayou]

I would bet that Landsafe becomes a bit more conservative with the new owners.

 

[c w d]

My mother, a MB, is busy processing applications. From what I gather she lands about 30% of that work. The other 70% is bad credit, too much debt, homes that aren't worth enough to refi, rate shopping, etc, etc, etc. However, she says things have picked up on her end during the past month. I'll call her tonight and see how things are looking on her end.

Work for us had picked up during the month of June. I had more appraisals last month than I've had in a long time. Things trailed off last week. This week isn't shaping up any better.

The banks haven't run out of business. I've got a feeling more and more is going to the AVM side. Think about it from this point of view: Lending criteria has tightened limiting the number of qualified borrowers. Borrowers with good credit and decent debt to income ratios most likely live in nice cookie cutter neighborhoods. Thats prime AVM territory.

 

[ghrousseau]

I can confirm the same, my BOA work is down to zero the past two weeks.....
The AMC I deal with has 65 open orders in the whole nation, the usually have 300-500 open orders.....the rep I deal with has been reading magazine's on her desk for the past two weeks....
I sense something is on the horizon, and the banks are one step ahead of us....

Anyway I think we can all start the holiday weekend early, and pray for the better....

I work for one of the larger privately held mortgage broker/correspondent lenders in the Mid Atlantic states area. We originate in DC, DE, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, and a few other states. Refi's are way off and 80% of our business is VA or FHA at this point. CW, Chase, and Wells do not at this time require the use of their AMC's exclusively for corespondent lenders. There is also more competition from regional lenders like BB&T on pricing and service for originators, especially when you are delivering good solid FHA product to them. The AMC's have put all their eggs in one basket targeting large national lenders, or allowing themselves to become wholly owned subsidiaries. Just like appraisers............there is a glut of AMC's in the marketplace. Because there are still choices for brokers, correspondents, and community banks to use independent fee appraisers, it cuts into the AMC business. Turn times are no longer an issue and customer service from an AMC is pretty crappy at this point. I also think there is a perception that there is some future liability with a few of the existing AMC's as they have a very large target in terms of dollar signs painted on them for lawsuits. Landsafe, Inc. is facing class action lawsuits for RESPA violations on credit reports among other things. Do Google search on Landsafe, Inc and lawsuits...........lots of hits. Other large AMC's are in a similar boat as they are tied to the poor performance of their major client who is the parent company bank or national lender. At this point, major companies can no longer afford to have units which are loosing money. Vertical integration is great in an expanding business cycle, but it suffers from the same ripple effect when the bottom falls out. You can only slice a pie into so many pieces.....................the pie is much smaller than it was in 2004-2005.

 

[Riick]

......The banks haven't run out of business. I've got a feeling more and more is going to the AVM side. Think about it from this point of view: Lending criteria has tightened limiting the number of qualified borrowers. Borrowers with good credit and decent debt to income ratios most likely live in nice cookie cutter neighborhoods. Thats prime AVM territory.

And we know that all homes in a cookie cutter neighbrhood are identical in maintenence, updates, and amenities. So Joe, who hasn't done squat since he bought the home in 1980 is happy with the AVM of $270, while Jan who just renovated, will scream at the same figure.

??? Maybe the lenders should do spot appraisals on the homes where owners DON'T yell and scream about the AVM value.?

 

[jnordquist]

Here in Pittsburgh same thing, conventional is way down, REO and the specialty stuff I do is the only thing keeping me alive