Verification, CRA Tracking, State-Level Tax and MGIC Webinars, Non-Agency Product Developments

I am no numerologist, but Freddie Mac’s announcement yesterday, that 30-year mortgage rates are averaging 6.66, caught my attention. Unlike rumors, like the one going around about a Texas IMB buying California IMB, hard, provable numbers are hard to argue with… Like the hundreds of thousands of people every month turning 62. Setting up a reverse division at your company isn’t as difficult, say, parachuting beavers into Idaho. Why should lenders have a reverse mortgage division? Housing wealth among homeowners aged 62 and older rose in Q1 2026 to a record $14.92 trillion, according to the latest quarterly NRMLA/Riskspan Reverse Mortgage Market Index, driven by an estimated $314.8 billion (1.8 percent) increase in senior home values, partially offset by a $10.5 billion (0.4 percent) increase in senior-held mortgage debt. On today’s Last Word at 10AM PT, the gang will probably talk about demographics and business that works, the head-scratching Chair Warsh press conference and its impact on rates, and the latest MISMO news. (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are sponsored by Experian Verify, providing mortgage lenders with automated income, employment, identity, and asset verification solutions that help accelerate underwriting while reducing fraud risk and manual documentation. Today’s has an interview CATO Institute’s Jai Kedia on if the Fed's policy stance is getting closer to its target, and the future of the central bank under Chair Warsh.)