Cap. Mkts., Underwriting, Pre-qual, Automation Tools; Freddie Results; May Webinars and Events; GDP Tumbles

While the industry digests Freddie Mac’s first quarter earnings (47 percent purchase, 53 percent refi), if you try to correct my grammar, I will think fewer of you. Speaking of language, did you know that the alphabet in Hawai’i only contains 12 letters: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, and w. Every word ends with a vowel. (Sticklers may include an apostrophe – okina – as a separate letter.) I am spending some time in this marvelous area of the world, although a cynic would say, for me, it is merely working from a different place and waking up at 1AM instead of 4AM to send out the commentary. It is 2,500 miles Los Angeles to Honolulu (site of the annual MBAH conference in June), almost half of LA to Tokyo’s 5,500 miles. I mention this because Japan owns $1.3 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. And some of those have dropped as much as ten points in value since late December. YIKES. But wait… if an investor buys an older pool of mortgages at a price of 90, and a loan pays off at 100, that’s a nice gain! Meanwhile, billions upon billions of mortgage servicing rights continue to hit the market as smaller players sell their holdings to raise cash. Things are rarely boring in the capital markets. (Today’s podcast is available here and this week’s is sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized advisory, audit, tax, technology, and other services in the mortgage industry and in banking. Today’s features and interview with Mignonne Davis on the CFPB examination procedure change and how it impacts lenders.)