“What did people from the Midwest call a small can of pop? A Minnesota.” (Say it out loud to your 3 rd grader.) While we’re on a “pop,” lenders in the nation’s midsection are cheering the numbers as large cities in the Northeast and Midwest popped in 2023, reversing earlier population declines, according to Vintage 2023 Population Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The South still rocks, however. Cities with populations of 50,000 or more grew by an average of 0.2 percent in the Northeast and 0.1 percent in the Midwest after declining an average of 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, in 2022. Those in the West went up by an average of 0.2 percent from 2022 to 2023. Cities in the South grew the fastest, by an average of 1.0 percent, and 13 of the 15 fastest-growing cities were in the South, with eight in Texas alone. (Today’s podcast is found here and this week’s is sponsored by Candor. Candor’s authentic Expert System AI has powered more than 2 million flawless, hands off underwrites. Every credit risk decision Candor makes is backed by a warranty, eliminating repurchase worries. Hear an interview with American Pacific’s Bill Lowman on motivating people, change management during M&A, and retaining origination staff.) Software, Products, and Services for Lenders and Brokers With Truv, Revolution Mortgage saves 70 percent on verifications (+5 BPS savings per loan). What does Femi Ayi, EVP Operations, Revolution Mortgage, have to say about Truv? “Since we started our partnership, we’ve taken our costs for verifications from 8 basis points per loan down to 3 basis points per loan.” Truv has helped hundreds of lenders, from the biggest banks, IMBs, and Credit Unions, to the smallest, greatly improve their income, employment, asset, and insurance verifications strategy. You could be one of them: Get started!