“Remember to bring up politics at Thanksgiving to save some money on Christmas presents.” “What do tornadoes and Tennessee divorces have in common? Someone’s going to lose a mobile home.” (My father’s family is from there, so I can use that one.) Mobile homes are one segment of the manufactured home biz, and at the other end of the scale there are some grand houses out there that are made in factories… It makes so much sense. Many in the United States believe that manufactured housing, and planned developments, are the way to go, and with good reason. But elsewhere, not so much. Neom, Saudi Arabia’s hugely expensive, architecturally bizarre urban development project, is floundering and close to collapse. “A new report from the Financial Times cites high-level sources within the project to paint a picture of dysfunction and failure at the heart of the quixotic effort.” Acceptance is a matter of supply and demand… Why does the United States have so many big houses? The answer is actually more complicated than you think but if you’re an originator, or work with builders, you should definitely know the reasons. If you’re a proponent of more housing, then you’ll have to unwind some of them. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s are sponsored by The Big Point of Sale, which delivers a fast, flexible, and low-cost mortgage POS that gets lenders up and running in hours (not months) while empowering loan officers and consumers to collaborate seamlessly from any device. Interview with Experian’s Royce Chang on the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act and the end of trigger leads, exploring what the shift means for lenders and how predictive modeling, pre-screen tools, and new borrower-engagement strategies can help them compete and thrive in a privacy-first market.)