You may not believe in climate change, but your insurance company and mortgage servicer certainly do. It is a fact that warmer air can hold more moisture, and a new peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Catastrophe Risk and Resilience found that insured losses from hurricanes could rise 50 percent if global atmospheric warming hits the 2 degrees Celsius threshold. A lot of those losses come from the areas affected by hurricanes expanding well northward along the Eastern Seaboard, with places that had been considered relatively safe from the monster storms suddenly now well in range of tropical storms. Lenders are well aware that Florida still sees the largest absolute increase (its already high losses are projected to rise another 44 percent if the 2-degree threshold is broken) but areas that had relatively low risks are poised to see a higher percentage increase. New York’s insured hurricane losses are projected to rise 64 percent, and Massachusetts’ poised to rise 70 percent annually. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s podcasts are sponsored by Wholesale Mortgage Direct (WMD), whose mission is to deliver high demand, innovative products unique to the wholesale industry, including MyEQNow, which is one-of-a-kind TraDigital HELOC platform. WMD is your trusted partner for innovative HELOC, NonQM and/or Reverse options. Today’s has an interview with EPM’s Phil Mancuso on his journey in mortgage, winning business in this environment, and lessons in leadership.)