Tuesdays with Mary

Tuesday, January 16, 2024 I’ve been thinking about professional goals and accomplishments. The first draft of that opening sentence came out as I’ve been thinking about professional accomplishments. But besides only being half of the story, it also has the unfortunate quality of placing the cart in front of the horse. To have the professional accomplishments you hope for, you first must define the professional goals that will please you. Otherwise, you will have accomplishments, but not necessarily the ones you’d prefer. Goals can be tricky things. Sometimes we are too busy to sit down and curate our minds, to [...]

Tuesday, January 9, 2024 I’ve been thinking about technology and our industry’s interesting relationship with it. There’s long been a natural tension between providers of software and the producers of products in our space including loans, title commitments, appraisals, and closings.  It’s a culture clash, really. Technologists love to live by the phrase “move fast and break things,” while producers of financial products prefer to “go slow and build things.” Technologists believe in implementing quickly, then incrementally adjusting on the fly. Producers are more in the camp of making sure the boat is entirely seaworthy, in any foreseeable scenario, and [...]

Tuesday, December 26, 2023 I’ve been thinking about SCOTUS again. I mentioned a few weeks ago the Loper Bright Enterprises case, which if you missed it, that blog post can be found here. Oral arguments are scheduled for January, and of course October Research will bring you coverage. We got a surprise recently, when another companion case was added to the oral argument calendar for the same day. Let’s spend a little time getting to know that case. Relentless, Inc vs. Department of Commerce will be heard the same day as Loper Bright. In Relentless (which is kind of a [...]

Tuesday, December 19, 2023 I’ve been thinking about the economy and the housing market.  Recent news that the Fed signaled they’re probably done raising interest rates, combined with a lack of affordable inventory, plus an incredibly low unemployment rate and some banks signaling an interest in selling off some underperforming debts, and oh yes, the bond yield rate dropping 11 points to under 5 percent, equals…who knows? What interesting times we live in. I’m far from the first person to wonder how we will have a recovery that isn’t led by the housing market. We’re quite accustomed to real estate [...]

Tuesday, December 12, 2023 I’ve been thinking about conspicuous fees and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). What is a conspicuous fee? Well, one way to look at it is that a conspicuous fee is the opposite of a hidden junk fee. Are fees for your services conspicuous and delightful or are they hidden and junk? How would you know? Whose definition are we using? Queue a new proposed rule being offered by the FTC. We’re in a comment period running until Jan. 8, 2024, for the FTC’s proposed rulemaking entitled “Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees.” If you’re involved in [...]

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 I’ve been thinking about measuring our businesses for effective 2024 budgeting. As we close out 2023 and set our eyes for what will hopefully be a more traditional market sooner rather than later, it might be time to rebalance some expenses. Knowing how to adjust those dials might make a big difference in how your Q1 balance sheet fares. In order to get the most out of your budgeting process, investing in a few hours of research can yield a huge benefit. While you might be able to quote quite accurate percentages and ratios in “normal” [...]

Tuesday, November 28, 2023 I’ve been thinking about real estate commissions. And wondering how they’re going to change. Given the recent news with commission-related lawsuits, it seems a safe bet to expect change. But it’s hard to anticipate exactly what form that change will take. One of the blessings and curses of being in an industry for 30-plus years is that you’re around long enough to see everything old become new again. Now and again, you also get to encounter something old get turned on its head and wrung out. I guess I’m not sure which category this settlement falls [...]

Tuesday, November 21, 2023 I’ve been thinking about this time of year, autumn. My thoughts drift between thinking of the seasons literally, and conjuring the notion of fall, figuratively. I love autumn, and maybe I always have. As a kid, it meant going back to school. Fall also meant that my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, was right around the corner. In later years, fall also meant slowing down a bit to enjoy the changing of the leaves. In the title business, it came to mean convention season, which is always great to see everyone out and about. When living in Texas, [...]

Tuesday, November 14, 2023 I’ve been thinking about millennials coming into their homebuying season of life, and what a jolt it is for many who waited longer than previous generations to buy a starter home. The market didn’t actually favor waiting, which makes the leap not only feel larger: that leap is larger for this group. For millennials who went to college, the journey into homeownership can feel more daunting, instead of less. Which wasn’t supposed to be the deal was it? But there that deal is, nonetheless. We (I’m talking about generations older than millennials here) set a stage [...]

Tuesday, November 7, 2023 I’ve been thinking about Chesterton’s Fence. If you’re not familiar, the concept starts like this: imagine you’re walking along a road and you come across a fence built across the road. You see no use for it, it leads nowhere, it prevents nothing. It’s just sitting there, being a fence. For me it helps to place the walk in a forest, and out of nowhere I come across a short bit of fence, in the middle of the forest, in the middle of nowhere. Regardless of the scenario you choose, there is no immediately discernible reason [...]