Issuance of jumbo MBS was strong in 2013 until interest rates started to rise in May due to concerns that the Federal Reserve was set to taper its stimulus efforts.
A handful of firms say they are still aggressively recruiting residential loan officers who have a solid background in purchase-money lending that is, sales professionals with deep ties to Realtors and home builders.
Also note that the ATR rule provides additional flexibility to small lenders in that the safe harbor has been expanded to 3.5 percent over the average prime offer rate.
Some 29.3 percent of home purchases completed in November relied solely on cash. That was the third monthly increase in the share of cash transactions.