Home Loan Wholesale

The U.S. government has been working frantically to pass mortgage reform that would require loan modification licensing.  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees compliance with the SAFE Act, has proposed that employees handling loan modifications for struggling homeowners also meet the licensing requirements, a policy opposed by banks.  John Courson, CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association said that mandating licenses for mortgage loan-modification specialists could slow hiring and hinder efforts to cut home foreclosures.” Courson continued, “We say this is not originating a new home loan, because the loan terms are being reduced on their home mortgage to increase the affordability and reduce the likelihood of a foreclosure.”

The housing department hasn’t set a deadline for a decision, said Lemar Wooley, a spokesman.  According to Anthony Hsieh, CEO of Loan Depot, a home loan lender based in Irvine, California, the process costs $3,000 to $6,000 to train and pay the fees for each new employee to comply with the mortgage licensing system. “The mortgage reform law is supposed to make sure we kick the bad ones out,” said Hsieh. “It could be the opposite, keeping the good loan officers out.”  Read the original article online > Loan Modification Licensing and Mortgage Reform

The number of home loan applications in the U.S. for home purchases fell to a 13 1/2-year low last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday, in a further sign of the slump in home buying since a federal tax credit concluded at the end of April.  There have been fears for months that the incentive was stealing future sales and would result in a new leg down for the housing market once the support ended. New-home sales sunk to a record in May while pending total sales tumbled 30% from April.

Home loan applications for new homes were down 43% from the Independence Day week last year, said the MBA. The bad news comes even as home mortgage rates sink to new record lows.  Those rate declines have been giving some lift to applications for home refinancing, which hit a 14-month high two weeks ago. But even the MBA refinance mortgage report fell 2.9% last week from a week earlier as its gauge for purchases dropped 3.1%. The share of applications for refinancing was flat at 78.7%.  Read the original Mortgage News

Who would have thought that home mortgage rates would continue to break record with declining rates across the board?  Of course this is great news for homeowners and perspective home buyers looking to leverage the lowest mortgage rates of the century.

Fannie Mae’s current-coupon thirty-year fixed-rate home loans narrowed 0.03 percentage point to about 0.65 percentage point more than 10-year Treasuries as of 9:33 a.m. in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gap, which has fallen from 0.82 percentage point on June 30th, touched a low of 0.59 percentage point on March 29th, two days before the Federal Reserve ended its buying of $1.25 trillion of home-loan debt.

Home loan rates may be rising off record lows and bond prepayments reports released July 7th show limited mortgage refinancing, suggesting there will be less supply to meet demand as borrowers move from loans in bonds on the Fed’s balance sheet.  JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst, Matthew Jozoff wrote in a July 9th report “refinance-driven supply is the fly in the ointment.”  

Yields on the Fannie Mae bonds have advanced to 3.73% from a record low of 3.63% reached July 6th, down from 4.67% on April 5th, Bloomberg data show. The gain has been slower than benchmark Treasuries, whose yields have begun rising as stocks rally, damping demand for the safest assets.

Freddie Mac reported that the average interest rate on a conforming thirty-year fixed-rate home loan fell to a record low 4.57% in the week ended July 8^th.  That was a decline from this year’s high of 5.21% in April.

Government home financing has become a popular choice for home purchase and home refinancing.  The Federal Housing Administration offers consumers affordable home financing and they only require a 3.5% down-payment.  Homeowners that are seeking FHA refinancing may qualify for a rate and term or streamline refinance that also only needs 3.5% home equity.  Today, FHA mortgage rates are available at 4.5% on the 15-year fixed rate option and 4.75% on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage.

VA home loans are guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.  The VA mortgage is a unique option for first time home buyers, because it has a no-down-payment required for eligible veteran home buying.  VA mortgage rates are available at 4.375 on the 15-year fixed rate option and 4.625% on the 30-year fixed rate loan.  VA refinancing is also available at 100% with both rate and term and streamline refinance options.  Read the original article online at the Nationwide Mortgage Blog > Government Mortgage Solutions with FHA and VA Home Loans.

According to Mortgage News Source, Wells Fargo is laying off nearly 4,000 employees from its’ Consumer Finance Division that was responsible for non-prime mortgage lending.  The company announced that they were ceasing to originate subprime mortgages in an effort to mitigate loan portfolio risks.  Mortgage News indicated that Wells Fargo “had been struggling with delinquencies and loan defaults from their own bad credit home mortgages.”  Acquiring the loan portfolios from the Wachovia merger may have pushed their subprime risks too far. 

Wells Fargo announced they were closing 638 Wells Fargo Financial offices, which increased its number of retail branches to 6,600 after the Wachovia merger. The bank also has 2,200 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage offices and will eliminate about 2,800 employees from its Wells Fargo Financial unit and will most likely slash another 1,000 jobs in the next year. Read the original news article, > Almost 4,000 Wells Fargo Mortgage Layoffs

Are you considering home refinancing?  Freddie Mac announced this week saw the lowest home loan rates since 1971.  The number of loan applicant applying for a mortgage loan dropped by 5.9% during the week ended June 18.  Mortgage refinancing activity fell 7.3% compared with the previous week, while purchase volume slipped 1.2%.

Comparing home refinance rates: A year ago, the average home loan rate was 5.22% and 10 years ago, people were refinancing at 8.15%. Today, the average 30-year mortgage rate is 4.675% and the average 10-year mortgage is now at 3.875%.  Lenders continue to extend low interest rates because to the instability in the market and the European debt crisis.  Read the original article > Compare Mortgage Refinance Rates

Today, most mortgage brokers that have less to spend so it is imperative that they buy leads cautiously.  Internet mortgage leads can be a very cost effective form of marketing if you know how to purchase leads from lead generation companies.  Be careful of how and where you purchase leads. Ask the account executive at the lead company what their minimums are and be cautious when buying leads in bulk.  If a lead company is generating 50 leads a day and 15 leads a day that meet your filters, you have to wonder how a lead company could send you 250 leads in a 3-day span.  Clearly these are either old or brokered leads. In a recent article, Bryan Dornan the founder of mortgage lead generation company, the Lead Planet reminded mortgage companies to “Consider more than just the cost per lead.”  Dornan suggests that “the cost per funding is the bottom line.”  See the original mortgage lead buying post at the Mortgage Lead Vault > Cost to Funding Ratio Matters with Mortgage Leads

Mortgage refinance rates have dropped almost two percentage points below their housing boom peak and they remain available at record lows.  Freddie Mac reported that mortgage rate average fell to the lowest point in 2010 4.72% plus 0.7 point for a fixed rate home loan on a thirty-year term.  Clearly this is a great time for a home refinance loan, if you can get approved.  Credit, Lack of Equity and Inability to Document Income are the 3 most common reasons that homeowners have not been able to refinance into these record low rates.  A few years ago if you had good credit, you could pretty much qualify for any mortgage, but things have changed dramatically.  Today even people who have 700+ credit scores are finding it difficult to qualify for a conventional or FHA mortgage and it is frustrating millions of borrowers who need to refinance.  To receive the best mortgage refinance rates, you need good credit scores and the ability to document your income.  Stated and no income verification loans are no longer viable options for home refinance opportunities.   You also need enough home equity to meet the refinance guidelines.  Many California borrowers had sufficient equity a few years ago, but the housing crisis has taken its toll on property values statewide.

The Mortgage Bankers Association released a report recently that outlined borrower problems in its latest report on home refinancing activity, which declined 14% last week after consecutive weeks of increased refinance loan volumes.  The low interest rates and homebuyer tax credit have clearly made a positive impact on the mortgage refinance market in 2010.  However, “despite the record low mortgage rates, many homeowners remain underwater on their home loans.  This means that their mortgage is greater than their property value.  According to MBA’s vice president, Michael Fratantoni, many distressed borrowers have been late on their mortgage payment which significantly damaged their credit and taking them out of contention for mortgage refinancing this year.

Since the pool of qualified borrowers looking to refinance is shrinking many lenders are offering aggressive mortgage specials.  Many reputable mortgage lenders are offering a no point refinance and some are going further with the no cost mortgage that enables borrowers to refinance without coming out of pocket for any lending expenses.  The no cost home loans also help borrowers avoid raising their mortgage balance in an effort to finance the lender fees and closing costs.  According to mortgage marketing executive, Bryan Dornan, “Again qualifying for no cost refinancing is difficult because you need good credit, sufficient income that can be documented and enough equity in your home to qualify for the loan refinance program.”  Dornan continued, “It’s not a motivation factor.  The borrowers who need home refinancing most simply do not qualify under today’s tighter lending guidelines.”

To put it into perspective, interest rates dropped last week, yet refinancing volumes fell.  In most cases, mortgage refinance rates follow the yields of longer-term Treasuries whether they rise or fall.  In recent months it’s been down, as the European debt crisis has led to banks dropping interest rates even further.  The vice president of HSH Associates Keith Gumbinger, “We have not seen mortgage rates lower than this in upwards of 50 years.” Gumbinger believes that the rates will begin trending higher once we get some good news regarding the economy.

Last week, the average mortgage rates were published at 4.875% and this was the best mortgage rates we have seen 22 weeks. Just a year-ago the average for the thirty-year mortgage was at 5.29%.   Home refinancing applications continued to explode as homeowners rushed to lending companies in an effort to lock the lowest possible refinance rates.  Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft said “The economy grew at a slower rate than originally reported in the first three months of the year and this suggests inflation will remain stable in the near term.”  “As a result,” Nothaft said, “mortgage interest rates remained at record levels this week.”

In a recent article, Mortgage Refinancing Buzz compares conventional and FHA refinancing in a side by side analysis.  The mortgage advisor notes that both types of refinance loans have their pros and cons so it all comes down to selecting a refinance program that best meets you individual needs.  In 2010 there were many revisions to underwriting criteria for conventional and FHA loan requirements.  MRB recommends finding out what your loan qualifications are with a mortgage lender you trust.  

A conventional refinance loan is a traditional mortgage used to refinance an existing mortgage that stays within the conforming loan limits of $417,000.  FHA streamline refinance allows FHA customers to refinance anytime the market rate drops into a position that would save them money.  During turbulent the FHA refinance loan provides some assurances that if the rates drop, the FHA borrower can reap the benefits. 

Read the original Mortgage Refinancing Buzz article > Comparing Conventional Refinance Loans to FHA Refinancing

The Lead Planet published a press release Friday discussing the state of the mortgage lead market.  The mortgage lead generation company, released their 2 cents on buying leads and partnering with the right lead company.  They recommend that lead buyers focus on building a relationship with a lead company that doesn’t sell their leads too many times.  The Lead Planet also stresses the importance of purchasing leads from a direct lead source. (a company that generates their own online mortgage leads, rather than buying leads sold to them from a lead broker)

Just a few days ago Freddie Mac published a report indicating that home loan applications had reached a 13-year low. Is this a true indication of the demand for home financing or the reality of the lending guidelines and underwriting for mortgage loans has tightened to the point that most borrowers already know they do not qualify?

The Lead Planet reminds us that there are enough challenges in this mortgage market just finding loan applicants who even qualify.  Conventional, VA and FHA mortgage lending guidelines have all implemented stiffer requirements for home buying and mortgage refinancing.  Read the original article at the Lead Planet Blog > Mortgage Lead Buying Secrets or call the lead support team at 619-600-5720.

Mortgage rates fell to 2010 lows  but did come under a small amount of upward pressure late in the day as the stock market rallied into the close.   As the prices of mortgage backed securities fell, many mortgage lenders saw pricing get worse, but the higher lending costs that were passed on to borrowers were not big.  Mortgage refinance rates continued to hold at the best levels of 2010. 

Reports from competitive mortgage professionals indicate mortgage lender rate sheets to be about the same as yesterday.  The 30 year conventional rate mortgage remains in the 4.75% to 5.00% range for well qualified consumers.  There are still FHA lenders offering 4.625% as par.  To secure a par interest rate on a conventional mortgage you must have a FICO credit score of 740 or higher, a loan to value at 80% or less and pay all closing costs including an estimated one point home mortgage. 

If you are not planning on keeping your house for more than 5 years, you should consider a no cost mortgage.  In many cases, in a no cost refinance, you will be forced to accept a higher mortgage rate which pays the lender enough money that they can afford to pay the closing costs for you.  On a no cost mortgage, you are still paying the costs, just paying them in the form of higher interest charges.   We recommend anticipating that a no cost loan to offer a rate of around 5.375% for a 30 year fixed.

A thirty-year California mortgage loan with a fixed interest rate, including lending fees, averaged 4.96%, the lowest level since week ended March 12th. California rates were still higher the 4.76% last year and the all-time low of 4.6%.  The demand for refinancing in California rose but the home loan applications declined statewide as the federal home buyer tax credits expired.  The 100% VA loan remained the best bet for homeowners looking to buy a home with no money down.  However VA eligibility is required for the California VA loan.

On average, homes sold last month in the Southern California area were on the market for 122 days before their sales closed. That’s four days longer than in March.  Also this week, the National Association of Realtors reported.    Freddie Mac reported last week yesterday that California mortgage rates had fallen to their lowest rates of the year.  Thousands of borrowers rushed online to shop California mortgage loans after hearing the interest rates were so low for mortgage refinancing.

Freddie Mac announced today that the current mortgage interest rates are the lowest they have been in 2010. The Wall Street Journal reported that home builder stocks rallied in early trading follow a reported spike in mortgage loan applications last week as homeowners take advantage of some of the lowest home mortgage rates since March. 

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index of home loan applications, which includes both purchase mortgage and refinance loans, rose 3.9% for the week ended May 7th. The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which removes some of the volatility of weekly changes, was up 4.4%. Mortgage refinancing led the way; the MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of home refinance applications rose 14.8%. A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, including lending fees, averaged 4.96%, the lowest level since week ended March 12th. Refinance rates were still higher the 4.76% last year and the all-time low of 4.6%.  The demand for mortgage loans for buying new homes dropped following the expiration of the heavily publicized federal home buyer tax credits.

Fannie Mae announced that it will tighten lending requirements for its interest-only loans and adjustable rate mortgage loans. If a borrower wants an interest only mortgage through Fannie Mae, for example, he or she will have to make down payments of 30% of the sale price. For ARM’s, Fannie will only buy those underwritten to ensure that borrowers could still afford payments even if their interest rates reset to the higher of either one of the home loan’s initial interest rate plus two percentage points or 2) the maximum the interest rate the loan can rise to, known in the industry as the cap rate. As an example, for a home mortgage loan with a beginning rate of 5% and a cap rate of 6% borrowers would have to demonstrate they could still keep up payments even if the mortgage rate rose to 7%. If the cap rate is 8%, borrowers would have to be able to afford an 8% mortgage. For an ARM with a fixed period (ie. 5/1 ARM) any initial period with 5 years or less qualify at greater of note rate +2% or fully indexed rate, and interest only mortgage loans will have a maximum LTV 70% and a minimum FICO of 720 with 24 months minimum reserves. Balloon Loans, unless they receive special approval, are going away entirely with Fannie.

The recent mortgage meltdown caused jumbo mortgage rates to soar and the availability for non-conformning loans shrunk significantly. However signs are indicating that jumbo rates are declining and lenders are more willing to make loans that top the limits for Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the FHA. 

Phil Kelly had 18 more months to go before the fixed rate on his $2.5-million mortgage became adjustable.  But when Kelly, a former computer executive living in Rancho Santa Fe, learned he could knock his interest rate down by a full percentage point by mortgage refinancing, he went for it.  “It’s always tough to pick the exact bottom or top of anything,” Kelly said. “But I think this rate is about as low as you’re going to get.” For most California borrowers, jumbo mortgage refinance options have been few and far between.

Jumbo Mortgage Rates:  For home loans greater than $729,750 in counties with the highest-cost housing — shot up during the financial crisis as lenders and loan investors shunned anything tainted with even a whiff of higher risk. Rates on big mortgages were especially high relative to those on smaller loans.  But in a boon for borrowers in California’s expensive housing markets, the jumbo-home loan market is starting to return to normal.

According to rate tracker Informa Research, two weeks ago, the average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate jumbos dropped to 5.79%, a nearly five-year low, Services of Calabasas. It edged up to 5.88% on Tuesday, still very attractive by historical standards. The average has dropped from the 7% in late 2008.  Today, fewer borrowers qualify for jumbo home mortgage loans, because stated income loans have disappeared.

Jumbo rates are even lower on hybrid adjustable mortgage loans. With these hybrid ARM’s, the interest rate is fixed for three, five, seven or ten years before it becomes an adjustable rate loan. (ie. 3/1, 5/1, 7/12, 10/1 ARM)

Banks are also relaxing slightly some of their requirements for jumbo mortgage loans. That’s an encouraging sign because the market for jumbos, in contrast with the rest of the mortgage business, isn’t being supported by government backed bonds.  Unfortunately million dollar home loans are not supported by the Obama Administration.

The lower jumbo mortgage rates and somewhat easier terms reflect newfound confidence among banks in the housing market. That’s because, jumbos loans exceed the maximum loan amounts that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have agreed to insure.  In addition, the private market for mortgage-backed bonds dried up when the meltdown hit. So mortgage lenders offering jumbo mortgage loans in today’s market are willing to take the risk of servicing them in their portfolios.

The maximum amounts for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae “conforming” mortgages, and for FHA mortgages, are set by Congress. The cutoff for single-family homes was $417,000 from 2006 until February 2008, when lawmakers increased it temporarily to $729,750 in certain high-cost areas, including Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties. Conforming loans top out at $500,000 in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and $697,500 in San Diego County.

The increased upper limits, which have been extended until the end of this year, have created a three-tier system in expensive areas, mortgage professionals say: loans of up to $417,000, which are the easiest to obtain and carry the lowest rates; “conforming jumbos” from $417,000 to $729,750, which are somewhat harder to get and have slightly higher rates; and true jumbos, with the toughest standards and highest rates.

In the boom years of 2005 and 2006, jumbo mortgage rates were typically no more than a quarter of a percentage point higher on jumbo loans than on conforming loans, according to Informa Research. That widened as the mortgage meltdown intensified and home prices dropped in late 2007. The spread ballooned to nearly 1.7 percentage points in early 2009 after the entire credit system froze.

But this year the rate spread has narrowed to less than a percentage point. It could shrink more if conforming-loan rates rise as expected after the Federal Reserve wraps up a $1-trillion-plus program to support the market for conforming loans next month.

In addition to lower rates, down-payment requirements are being relaxed in some cases. For example, to write a jumbo loan in coastal areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage looks for a 20% down payment or that percentage of equity, down from 25% last year, said Brad Blackwell, a national mortgage sales manager at the lender.

The reason: Wells believes high-end home prices are stabilizing in those coastal counties. But the bank still requires higher down payments in the Inland Empire and other battered housing markets such as Florida, Nevada and Arizona, where prices for jumbo-size homes don’t appear to be stabilizing, he said.

Jumbo loans remain much harder to get than before the credit crunch and recession. Borrowers typically must have a credit score of at least 700, compared with boom-era minimums in the 600s, though Laguna Niguel mortgage broker Jeff Lazerson said at least one lender was again making sub-700 jumbos available.

What’s more, unless their down payments are very large, borrowers must provide evidence of high income, have sizable bank accounts as a cushion against the unforeseen and occupy the houses themselves.

But there are clear signs that the jumbo market has loosened. One is an increasing availability of “stated income” loans — those that don’t require proof of income — of as much as $2 million to borrowers with at least a 40% down payment, said mortgage broker Gary Bluman, owner of Real Estate Resources in Brentwood.

Also, instead of a true jumbo loan, some “piggyback” second mortgage loans are available again to help certain borrowers with 25% down payments pay for high-priced homes, Lazerson said.

Of course, adjustable, stated-income and piggyback loans were big contributors to the mortgage meltdown. But such provisions are less risky if a borrower has 25% to 40% equity.  Despite the confidence in the market that such terms imply, lenders and mortgage investors are still dealing with piles of bad jumbos made during the boom.

Delinquencies of 60 days or more on prime jumbo loans that were packaged into securities jumped to 9.6% in January, up from 3.7% a year earlier, Fitch Ratings reported this month.  The jumbo delinquency rate in California climbed to 11.3% from 4.1% a year earlier.

For now, the jumbo market remains limited to the volume of loans that banks are willing and able to keep on their books. But there is hope for a return to private outside funding. Although no jumbo loans have been turned into securities for at least two years, packages of delinquent jumbos have begun to be sold again to “vulture” investors, a sign that the secondary market for the home loans may revive, said Michael Fratantoni, vice president of research at the Mortgage Bankers Assn.  “The ice sheet,” he said, “is starting to crack here and there.”

According to data released by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the expansion to the homebuyer tax credit, an exceptional government stimulus measure was passed to boost housing activity, new home sales took a 7.6% decline in December. The results come on the heels of National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports of similar December declines in existing home sales.  First time home buyer loans have seen a recent spike in loan application volumes since the tax credit news hit the street.

The homebuyer tax credit extended for first time homebuyers and expanded to include existing homeowners requires buyers have a contract in place by April 30 athnd close by June 30th. The problem, homebuilder insiders and real estate agents tell HousingWire, is that consumers who tried to take advantage of the tax credit too late in the fall before realizing there wasn’t enough time to close a deal by the original November 30th expiration date have yet to reengage themselves in the home loan process.  FHA mortgage lending continues to support a majority of the first time homebuyer loans.  “With new homes, the homebuilders ran out of everything they could close by the end of November,” Burns said. “There were people that wanted to buy in these communities that didn’t because they couldn’t close in time.” 

As HousingWire previously reported, the JBREC December monthly builder survey showed optimism among 264 home building industry executives from public and private companies. The belief that builders will have increased community count, better orders and slightly higher prices has 57% of respondents planning for more revenue in 2010 than in 2009.

Another confidence booster is the tax credit many builders are receiving from the temporary extension of the terms of net operating carry-back laws, which let builder recoup losses from taxes paid in profitable years.  “It’s given them more confidence in their cash balances and they want to start more speculative homes because of the extra cash that they now have,” Burns said.

The average mortgage rate on a 30-year home loan with fixed rates climbed to 5.02% last week from 5%, MBA said.  The mortgage rate reached 4.61% at the end of March, the lowest since the group’s records began in 1990.  At the current thirty-year mortgage rate, monthly borrowing costs for each $100,000 of a home loan would be $538.04 which is about $12 less than a year ago when the rate was 5.22%.

A report later today may show sales of new homes rose 3% in December to a 366,000 annual rate, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg News survey.   Sales of existing U.S. homes plunged last month, reflecting the expected expiration of the government’s first-time buyer tax credit on November 30th.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 4.34% from 4.33 % a week earlier. The rate on a one-year adjustable mortgage increased to 6.84% last week.   The share of applicants seeking to refinance a loan dropped to 67.6% last week, the lowest level in almost three months, from 71.7% the prior week.

Mortgage lenders continue to see muted demand for financing.   “The residential mortgage and home equity line portfolios also continued their downward trend,” SunTrust Banks Inc. Chief Financial Officer Mark Chancy said on a conference call January 22nd. The Atlanta-based lender said it lost $248.1 million in the fourth quarter as loans soured in the Southeast real estate market.  The Washington-based Mortgage Bankers Association’s loan survey, compiled every week, covers about half of all U.S. retail mortgage loan originations.

FHA announced they will continue to allow borrowers to finance the upfront mortgage insurance premiums.  FHA will pursue legislative authority to allow flexibility to bring the annual premium, which borrowers pay on a monthly basis, higher. Also, seller concessions will be reduced to 3% from 6%.  In a recent blog post, the FHA Mortgage Lending Blog stated that the Administration will expand mortgage refinance guidelines sometime in 2010.

Frank Black, who managed a Wells Fargo branch in California said, “After reviewing the changes to the FHA requirements, I believe FHA mortgage lenders will agree that the new rules make sense and are needed to keep the government financing alive. A few years ago, many brokers and lenders took advantage of FHA underwriting by pushing the envelope with risky home loans.”  See the original article > FHA Loan Guidelines Require 10% Down for Low Fico.

The home mortgage industry added 200 full-time employees to their payrolls in November, the first jump in industry employment since July. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage broker/ bankersector rose to 255,700, compared to 255,500 in October. The BLS data shows the increase is entirely due to more mortgage brokers having jobs. Employment at mortgage broker and banking firms was flat in November. Overall, the home loan industry experienced a 10% drop in its workforce over the past 12 months. Major mortgage lenders have relied on outsourcing and temporary workers to deal with fluctuating demand. Meanwhile, the nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 10% in December, but 85,000 workers were laid off, according to the new jobs report. This disappointed analysts who were looking for a sign that the job market had finally turned the corner.