“My people skills are fine. It’s my tolerance for idiots that needs work.” Fortunately, in our business we have very, very few of those, and certainly none that I’ve seen recently. At the Nebraska Mortgage Association Annual Fall Conference, some of the discussion is about four years ago. “Remember the days we had rate locks up the wazoo?” (Yes, related to the ying yang, not to be confused with yin yang.) But the focus is definitely on what’s ahead. Judging from what I am hearing and seeing, at this event and others, the general industry mood is good. Not great, but good. Optimistic. Companies have “cut their way to prosperity.” Those companies who have kept servicing rights (and the income) are hopefully not relying any longer on that servicing income to survive but could manage from production profit. In other trends, the Agencies are widely known as not “liking” cash out refi products, so the non-Agency (read: DSCR/non-QM) investors have been only too happy to step into that role. And with the yield curve “un-inverting,” shorter term home loans, like 3-1, 5-1, or 7-1, are expected to increase in popularity. (Today’s podcast is found here and this week’s is Sponsored by Silk Title Co. Silk is for lenders who have centralized operations, are tech driven, process oriented, focused on the borrower experience, standardized in their approach, and most importantly… collaborative. Listen to an interview with attorney Jaime Kosofsky on the disconnect between hype and reality when it comes to electronic closings and remote online notarization.)