Hello, LOs!
Mortgage applications last week hit their lowest point since December 2019, falling 13.1% from the prior week. Given that rates crested 4%, it's no surprise that refi applications fell 16% from the prior week and 56% from this time last year.
What this means is that we are essentially back to normal. The industry swelled in 2020 and 2021 largely to pump out refis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that mortgage jobs in turn surged about 50% to 130,000. But that's behind us now – workers are receiving pink slips, entire operations divisions are being shuttered, sold or outsourced.
"The real work begins now," one West Coast LO told me. "Anybody can make money when rates are in the 2s and you're doing rate-term refis. You're going to have to reach out to past clients, Realtors, builders to get deals done now. It's not going to come to you."
The LO said he's been doing regular standing meetings with local real estate brokers and talking to contractors to gin up purchase business.
He is also focusing on borrowers who have been pushed out of conventional, conforming loans. He's pursuing interest-only mortgage options with several clients, a departure from his bread-and-butter products like conventional mortgages and VA loans.
LOs, I'm curious – are you taking up a similar strategy? Are you thinking more aggressively about pushing up debt ratios? Or pursuing bank statement loans? Other plans? Share them with me at jkleimann@housingwire.com.
James Kleimann
Managing Editor, HousingWire
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