eNote, Non-Agency, Spec Pay-Up, Processing, Hedging Tools; UAD 3.6 Paused; Agency Pricing Changes

Welcome to the 4th quarter. Remember when, in 2024, the informal slogan for many in our biz was, “Stay alive ‘til ’25!”? (’27 isn’t expected to be heaven.) This is the month of Halloween. Suddenly residential lending is filled with tricks or treats, along with conferences of varying value. People are on the move: the jobs section of this Commentary has been filled with transitions and promotions. On a larger scale, the pace of company changes is picking up. Just when people are wondering if the shift into non-Agency products is becoming “long in the tooth,” New York Life Investment Management is taking majority control of Invictus Capital Partners, the company behind Verus. The asset manager has $838 billion under management, and Verus is already having its biggest securitization year yet with about $8.9 billion across 14 deals in 2026. Meanwhile, in Agency news, keeping track of 38-year-old FHFA Director Bill Pulte’s tweets, impacting thousands of lenders and millions of borrowers, has become a full-time job. “Fannie and Freddie are hereby moving to one pricing grid with VantageScore joining the existing FICO Classic pricing grid.” But wait! The FHFA and Fannie and Freddie announced (here and here) that approved lenders may apply for a temporary exception to the November 2nd, Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 appraisal delivery deadline, “a move that follows concerns MBA and its members raised with the GSEs about readiness across the broader appraisal ecosystem.” (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are presented by Gateless, intelligent automation that gives you the competitive edge. Gateless solutions reduce costs, deliver a superior borrower experience, and mitigate risk by automating tasks and decisions historically made by people. Today’s has an interview with Gateless’ Mike Brown on how AI is overcoming legacy technology and operational friction to improve risk management, accelerate time-to-close, demonstrate ROI, and ultimately enable a scalable “no-touch” underwriting experience.)