Three things to keep an eye on this month
April showers brings . . . relative calm in the mortgage industry—well, as calm as it gets. Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, explains some tighter restrictions, but also why there are nothing but green lights on the origination road.
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Tighter DTI limits
FHA are tightening up their approvals when it comes to loans with higher DTIs. Although those loans can still be approved with manual underwrites, it’s not a guaranteed sign off when using their automated system. This comes on the heels of Fannie Mae’s DU 10.3 release, which is also more selective when approving loans with high DTI ratios.
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Rates holding steady
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the Fed announcement revealed that not only were rates holding steady now, but they would continue to do so for the rest of 2019. This is a big turnaround from what some people thought was going to happen in the short term future. It gives new life to the refi market, and presents a big opportunity for originators who still has clients in their database that missed out on the last refi boom.
- The CFPB reassures the industry
Kathy Kraninger is finally at the helm of the CFPB, and set to reassure mortgage professionals that she won’t be taking any “dramatic actions” when it comes to the mortgage market, specifically the GSE patch. It’s was a big deal to keep that in place, because changing that patch would change what would be considered non-QM.
See Ishbia discuss these points here.
