Supposedly commercial air travel is back to normal, good for anyone coming in for the Mortgage Bankers Association of St. Louis event tomorrow and Thursday’s Mortgage Bankers Association of Kansas City annual luncheon. Speaking of Missouri, the Pony Express ran between St. Joseph and Sacramento for 18 months in 1860–1861, put out of business by the telegraph. (I had an ancestor, Frank “Deafy” Derrick, who rode for the Pony Express.) The telegraph was a great example of “better, faster, cheaper” winning out. Non-Agency investors, such as non-QM, DSCR, HELOC, and 2nd investors have certainly gained market share at the expense of the Agencies, namely Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, perhaps for the same reason. The FHFA, Fannie, and Freddie have been distracted with Director Pulte sending out information on mortgage portability, 50-year mortgage amortization, tech companies doing business deals (with the GSEs with possibly an ownership stake in their companies), assumability, while Fannie Mae allegedly shared pricing information with Freddie Mac. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s are sponsored by Figure. Figure is shaking up the lending world with their five-day HELOC, offering borrower approvals in as little as five minutes and funding in five days. And, embedding their technology is easy. Hear an interview with ICE’s John Hedlund on how mortgage leaders can scale sustainably, unlock new innovation in risk and operations, balance efficiency with human-centered borrower experience, and prepare for the next major shift in the housing and lending cycle.)