Chrisman Commentary

“I won the lottery for a million dollars yesterday, so I decided to donate a quarter of it to charity. I now have $999,999.75.” One can make jokes about charities, or about people and companies in residential lending, but giving (and charity) is serious, and helps us keep our focus on things that matter: people in need. For example, there’s Fairway Independent’s Fairway Cares and contribution to the American Warrior Initiative (AWI).

AI, business email compromise and increasingly sophisticated identity fraud are changing the risk profile of mortgage closings. Lenders need to rethink what “verification” means before the money moves. For years, the mortgage industry has spent a lot of money on spotting borrower fraud at the start of the loan process. But one of the growing fraud threats today may show up later—when the loan is approved, the closing is set, and hundreds of thousands of dollars are about to move.

As several folks pointed out, given yesterday’s note about the calendar, the actual time of the autumnal equinox is today around 5PM.

By The Mortgage Nerd Group’s founder Denise Donoghue People ask me what separates a top one percent broker from everyone else, and I’ll tell you it’s nothing fancy. It’s the willingness to consistently do the stuff nobody else wants to do, every single day. I go by the mortgage nerd, and it’s not a catchy tagline I dreamed up. I grew up watching my dad lose our house.

Happy Autumn! Do you remember the 21st night of September? There’s lots of entertainment out there. What happens when you combine an eligible Guild loan officer in Oregon and a TV show? Entertainment. My son Robbie is at the well-attended NY MBA, and here in Las Vegas, at ACUMA with its 800 registrants, entertainment is a central theme. Wanna see something that gave me the willies? AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood breaks into Cantonese during an interview.

Tomorrow, I head to Las Vegas, NV for the ACUMA event. There are plenty of jokes about Las Vegas, but having a city this size (2 million plus 42 million visitors a year) in the desert is no laughing matter. Stories about Las Vegas real estate values have been all over the place: increasing, falling, staying steady, depending on who you ask. LV receives about 4 inches of rain a year, and receives nearly all its water from the Colorado River and Lake Mead.

For years, I could tell you whether a mortgage conference had a good lobby. I couldn’t tell you much about what happened on stage. I spent much of my career as a correspondent investor or wholesale lender, and conferences gave me an opportunity to meet with current and prospective clients at scale. A few days in one location could replace weeks of travel. My calendar was full, the conversations mattered, and I went home feeling that I had made good use of the trip.

The September FOMC meeting marked a clear shift back toward a more explicitly inflation-focused policy stance, with the Fed unanimously raising rates 25-basis points to a target fed funds range of 3.75 percent to 4.00 percent and emphasizing resilient spending, productivity, and capital investment alongside inflation that remains elevated and potentially persistent.

A pirate walks into a bar here in Vancouver, WA with a steering wheel in his pants. When the bartender points it out, the pirate replies, “Arrrggg, it’s driving me nuts!” “Talk Like a Pirate Day” is tomorrow, the 19th, but what is a “title pirate”? It is something that a) I hope you never encounter, and b) every loan originator should tell their borrowers about, especially given the FBI’s warning for people who own their homes without any debt.

“My wife says I only have 2 faults. I don’t listen, and something else…” Communication matters. How many LOs wear a pin out in public that says, “Business is great!” so strangers will ask them what business they’re in? Probably not many, but maybe it is worth a try to start a conversation?