Managing Director @ STRATMOR Group | Writer, Podcaster, Industry Evangelist
California, USA
Joined June 2024
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What Congress did this past around the Taking Care of America’s Veterans Act was reprehensible.
And the voice vote made sure there’s no record of who supported hurting one group of veterans to support another.
"I'm asking everyone in our industry to tell their senators that veterans should never be pitted against each other," said Brendan McKay of the Broker Action Coalition.
By @NMNBrad
nationalmortgagenews.com/new…
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Great question 🙋🏼
After the House passed The Take Care of America's Veterans Act via voice vote yesterday, @VFWHQ asked “why members of Congress were not required to go on the record on legislation that could affect millions of veterans and their families." insidemortgagefinance.com/ar…
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Is Congress in the business of breaking promises to our service men and women? Of lying to teenagers who enlist?
The House passed TCAVA on Veterans Day. Part of how it’s paid for: nearly tripling the fee on the VA streamline refinance (IRRRL). Veterans who already own a home and want a lower rate pay for the benefits.
We owe our Veterans more. This bill is a disgrace.
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Banks swept @JDPower ’s mortgage origination satisfaction rankings.
But it costs them over 30% more to originate a loan than IMBs AND trail them on AI use.
The IMBs are learning to build a better CX and a lifetime relationship for less.
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@Opendoor says our industry adds 350 basis points of margin to every loan.
Per @MBAMortgage and @STRATMORGroup data, the Q2 2026 number is closer to 25 bps. With fewer refis projected in 2027, it gets tighter.
Opendoor has been originating loans for about 9 months. They've funded roughly $24MM, about what an above-average loan officer does.
Between originations and brokerage, they lost over $218MM last quarter. $70MM in losses coming Q4.
Next time someone quotes Opendoor's math on our margins, ask to see their income statement.
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The question of whether or not @POTUS would take last week’s results as a wake-up call has been answered.
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I was 22 in 1999. I had a good job, an affordable apartment, and a nice enough car. I bought my first home in 2001.
Would that same 22 year old be two years from a home today? I don't think so, and the housing numbers tell only part of the story.
The average family pays almost 5X in health insurance premiums than they did in 1999.
Then there're literally everything else (stats from the @BLS_gov):
Rent up 151%
Day care/preschool: up 169%
Car insurance: up 244%
Groceries: up 95%
It's simply harder to be 22 in 2026 than it was in 1999.
When we talk about the affordability crisis, we talk in terms of rates and home prices. Our borrowers have been paying more for everything for years.
We can't solve for all of this, and that's not our role.
But this is our calling in this industry: recognize that it's simply harder now; and that makes our jobs more important than ever before. @KFF
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Duck season typically begins mid-September to mid-October.
Lame Duck season, however, officially began today.
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Bloodbath. No other word for it.
Get ready for a wave of hearings like you’ve never seen.
Trump launched an unpopular and pointless war. Gas prices are too high. People can’t afford groceries. Trump abandoned the American First message. This is why Republicans are getting crushed. It’s very simple.
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A plane falling out of the sky is one of our worst fears.
So
We want so badly for there to be a sinister motive behind the tragic Lear jet crash.
But
Sometimes terrible things happen. And it’s a reminder to us how precious and delicate life is.
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Halloween 🎃 may be over, but it's still really scary out there for builders...
@erin96468946 and I got into it on this week's No Surrender Podcast.
Builder confidence hit its lowest level since June 2012 as rate shock and costs squeeze margins. Some 43% of builders cut prices in October, the highest share in the 2020-2026 period.
@NAHBhome cited rising rates, higher energy and materials costs, and immigration enforcement activity (reported by over one-third of builders) as drags.
Is @michaeljburry right about the AI bubble, or is it just another “prediction” meant to manipulate markets?
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A former White House official says Bill @pulte stands around the West Wing, poster in hand, waiting to "intercept the president."
That's according to a profile of Pulte by @NBCNews.
Pulte often travels with the president, and spends weekends at his golf clubs. "He'll say, "The president wants me to be on this trip'. He's always on trips, that's his thing."
A "Kennedy Center Demolished" poster on Air Force One, and another turns the White House press briefing room into a swimming pool. Idea machine.
Pulte has this kind of access and chooses to use it for his own gain, not to further a cohesive housing agenda.
The entire game plan is proximity to power, in the hopes some of it extends to him.
First-time buyers struggling, families getting priced out of their own neighborhoods, the people who really need the help.
Could the enormous access to the president move the needle for them?
We'll never know. Because Bill Pulte simply doesn't care.
Are those of you still in the Pulte camp still waiting on this man to do the right thing?
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Interviewing @RocketOTD’s Varun Krishna, the most dynamic CEO in the housing industry. A great day in Detroit, incredible city.
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