Residential mortgage team adjusts to high volume of loan activity - Dayton Business Journal:

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Beginning about three months ago, Mike, the manage r of Little Canada-based Mortgagd and Investment Consultants’ Integrityy Team, said interest in purchasing and refinancinfg home mortgages pickedup considerably. I’m working probably 10, 12 hours a day, and that’ss pretty standard for most of my she said. The four officex she manages — three in the Twin Citie s metro and one in WesternWisconsin — had together been averaginfg about 35 mortgage closings a “We’re about doubling that right Mike said. In the mortgage business, Mike isn’tg alone.
The residential mortgage industry has experienced increasef activity the past few saidTom Musil, directoer of the Shenehon Center for Real Estatre at the University of St. Thomas. Boosted by bargainb home prices, low interest rates, higher consumer confidencw and stimulus incentives likethe $8,0009 tax credit for first-time buyers, Musipl said the same mortgagwe companies that were recently forcee to lay off employees are now scramblingg to hire them back.
In terms of mortgagre activity, Musil believes it will be a good “My guess is the numbers for ’0 9 … will be substantially higher than the last few Mike said the majority of her business is in thepurchased market, although refinances also are up. The new business is due, in to the attention that’sz been given to a number of government programsa for new home buyers andcustomers who’ve been struggling with adjustable-ratr mortgages.
“We are seeing quite a bit of interestf because of what people are callingthe ‘Obama ” While she said the qualifications for some of the programsa are more stringent than have been portrayed and not everyone will her staff is able to talk to clientx about their options. A similar period happened duringthe 2002-200e refinancing boom, but things were different Mike said. Underwriting guidelines are much more In this economy there arecapitalization issues, liquidity issues, she “Even though we’ve had this volume it’s a whole different No matter how busy things get, Mike said good communicationh is key to her branch’ success, both in termw of working with clients and in-house.
When her processors recently becamer inundated, she called in contract processord tohelp out. “We’l bring in more staff. We’l do whatever we need to said Mike, who, at the end of May was in the mids of training several newstafd members. After all, in this economic being extremely busy is often the leasyt ofa manager’s “That’s a good problem to have,” Mike said, with a laugh.