Rocket Fuel Newsletter – 02/12/22
Matt Stafford and the Rams get a chance at the second ever home-field Super Bowl (after the Bucs did it last year), and Tom Brady gets a chance to take Matt Damon's mantle as Chief Crypto-Ambassador. Watch out, Elon.
This week's edition has credit card debt, avocados and a formula to lock in 10% returns.
Fuel Up! 🚀
Biz Buzz
Real Estate Agent Commissions Drop By %, Grow By💰
As rates rise and the market gets competitive, margins are tightening. Real estate agents are seeing their commission percentage drop to the lowest in 5 years.
When you take the rising home values into account, agents are actually making more dollars per deal than in any of those same 5 years.
UWM Sues Mortgage Brokers For Brokering Mortgages 🤔
UWM is suing America’s MoneyLine for $2.8 million for helping their clients shop for mortgages.
At $5,000 per loan, this “lost-business tax” is more than UWM would have made on the loans if they had earned the business in the first place.
America’s MoneyLine calls this tactic “anticompetitive” and “anti-American”
National Real Estate Post - UWM All-IN or Else
Caffeinated Trends
Even with rates on the rise, a cash-out refinance is as attractive as ever!
Last week, we noted that there’s ~$10 trillion in untapped, tappable equity in the U.S. Housing Market.
We also pointed out that credit card debt is back above $1 trillion as stimulus checks have dried up.
American consumers have added $288 billion of debt to their plastic in the last 9 months at more than 14% interest.
Even as mortgages return to the 4%’s, you can lock in a guaranteed 10% return for your clients by consolidating their debt with their mortgage.
To sweeten the deal:
Here’s an extra 20 bps for your clients – an extra $800! 💰💰💰
Who should you share this with first?
Millennials have $1.76 trillion in NON-mortgage debt.
The green line shows the average student loan burden has more than tripled since ‘06 – even more so for millennials.
Millennials' equity has grown significantly, but not even close to the boomers’ – #OkBoomer
Median Credit Card Balance
- Boomers ~ $4,000
- Gen X ~ $4,000
- Millennials ~ $1,500
According to credit report data, boomers and gen Xers carry a median credit balance more than double millennials’.
That means the average credit card balance is more than $10k, and that by consolidating that debt into a 4% mortgage loan, these folks could lock in an extra ~$1,000 in “returns” every year.
On top of the extra ~$800 for locks in February!
Partner Spotlight: Triangle Lending
Scott Smith, VP of Marketing at Triangle Lending in Raleigh, NC, has seen plenty of ups and downs during his tenure in the mortgage industry.
From the mortgage crisis in 2008 to the refi boom that’s currently winding down, Scott and his team have learned that one thing will stay the same: There will always be home buyers.
Lightning Round
- Coffee/tea preference: Coffee, cream only. And 3 cups in the morning.
- First job out of college: Assistant Manager at Champs Sports, then went straight into the mortgage industry.
- Super Bowl pick: “I’m a Giants fan, so I don’t really have a horse in this race. I just want to see a good game.”
- Go-to Wordle starting word: CHAMP
“We’ve always been a purchase-focused company. Purchase loans take you through the ups and downs of the market. Rate and term refis will not always be there, but the constant purchase business is what will be your bread and butter.”
Even as refinances dominated and the home buying market shrunk at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Triangle Lending kept their purchase/refi split above 10%/90% - only about 60% of wholesale brokers were able to do that until the spring of 2021.
Once 2021’s purchase season rolled around, Triangle took off. After nearly matching the market’s purchase/refi mix of 24% in March 2021, Triangle out-indexed the market in purchase business each month for the rest of 2021.
Scott says that he’s been able to maintain such a strong purchase business by simply being there for both new and existing clients.
“You’ve got to get out there and stay in front of these folks. Their existing lenders will drop the ball, and if you’ve got the relationship, you’ve got to be there when the door opens.”
“Of course I’d also recommend partnering with Rocket Pro TPO to make sure that each transaction goes smoothly!”
Favorite things about Rocket:
Loan Estimate Speed
- Loan Estimate speed – “It’s like 10 minutes or less to input an application and get an LE out to a client.”
- Pricing Calculator
- Account Executive Evan Johnson
Thoughts on Tom Brady’s retirement: “It’s a shame he left before the Giants could beat him one more time in the Super Bowl.”
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Want to share your story? Reach out to your Account Executive and you could be in a future Partner Spotlight!
Super Bowl Season
Our partners had a chance to spend some time with the Rams organization this season to learn from their culture and bring meaningful lessons back to their business.
Mike Fawaz and Tim Gentry from Loan Velocity broke down some of the nitty gritty.
In The Weeds Reads
- MBA | CoreLogic
- Two-Thirds Of Metros Reached Double Digit Price Appreciation In Q4 2021
- 2021 Sees Record $2.6 Trillion Tappable Equity Gain
- CFPB Is The Latest Agency To Criticize The Appraisal Foundation
- FHFA Requests Input On Strategic Plan For Fiscal Years 2022-2026
The Market
Market Movers
- Fed Speak
- Consumer Price Index
- UMich Consumer Sentiment
Pro Puzzles
Click here to solve this week’s puzzle!
