Great time to revisit your pipeline

Great news!!!!Rates are the lowest levels they have been all year. This is a great opportunity for companies to revisit applications that have been made this year and found that rates were too high at the time of application. The recent drop in rates opens up a lot opportunity for your interested clients that came through in the first quarter. It is a great time to be running reports out of your LOS to revisit these applications and see which ones could now qualify. There are deals there and you could really be the hero to a client in need of a refinance.

Cyling Secondary Profits?

When the LO compensation changed in the beginning of April, companies took various ways to cycle out the old compensation deals while starting up the new deals. We are seeing that many companies are not really doing a lot of forecasting to see when the old deals will cycle out and what effect it will have on the P/L. On the flip side, the new deals carry a different cycle which should be starting to hit the books in the next few weeks. Make sure you have a handle on the P/L effect of the old comp phasing out and the new comp plan phasing in. Know your rules and understand how each affects your profitability over the next 30-60 days.

NMLS report- Due May 15th

The NMLS call report is due on May 15th. Have you completed your reporting yet? If you are not familiar with this reporting here is a quick summary:

The Mortgage Call report is filed by the company on behalf of its originators. The report is not filed by individual mortgage originators.

The Mortgage Call Report is a requirement of SAFE Act. All licensed Mortgage Broker and Consumer Loan companies who make, service or broker loans secured by residential real estate must file the report.

In addition, exempt companies who employ licensed mortgage loan originators must also file the report.

The Mortgage Call report must be filed 45 days after the end of each quarter through the NMLS. The May 15th filing covers business in the first quarter ( January 1,2011 through March 31, 2011)

Hope this helps.

Rate reaction

Rates have come down over the past week and are at their lowest levels all year. Applications rose last week and your lock desk and pipeline should have seen a pop over the past few days. You should have a plan (even if just in your head) about what reaction you should be seeing in response to rate increases or decreases. Do you revisit prior, aged prospects and applications that could be in play now that rates are down up to .5%? Do you look at your margins and see if they are in line with the market movements, or are they stagnant? Do you look at your hedge coverage and make any modifications to your pull through assumptions? Basically, rate movements (both up and down) can and will have an effect on your pipeline, volume, and profitability. What are you doing to react to them?

How is your lock activity?

Rates have come down over the last week and are now at the lowest levels they have been all year. Your lock activity should have seen a bounce and your pipeline should have felt a boost.
Refinance applications have started to climb based on the rate drop as well. Are you using any methods to trigger your actions when there are rate movements like this? Everyone has borderline loans from Q1 that never moved forward. There should be a plan in place (if even in your head) of what to expect when rates move up or down. You should be reviewing your aged pipeline to see what deals may now be able to come back to life. You should be looking at your margins and making sure that are reflective of the market - and NOT stagnant. You should look at your hedged pipeline and look at your historical pull through to see if it needs to be adjusted. Many little actions add up to profit when you react. Do not wait as you do not know how long rates will stay at this level.