As rumors continue to swirl regarding the purchase of a well-known Southeastern Texas mortgage bank, lenders are watching the current drop in rates. It is generally believed that a slowing economy, aka a recession, leads to lower rates. Some have been predicting a recession for a few years, and it becomes a little tiresome, especially with the Fed continuing to focus on inflation. At some point, there will be agreement that things have slowed (like small business optimism is now) and they’ll be right. Meanwhile, it is hard to have a recession when the labor market, housing prices in much of the nation, consumer spending, and credit availability, remain as strong as they are. At this point rates probably won’t drop much in the near future, and vendors and lenders can’t sit there, wringing their hands, waiting for things to get better on their own. Are lenders suddenly going to make huge margins on lots of volume in the second half? Are LOs who were doing 2-3 loans a month in the first half suddenly going to do 4-6? Are vendor reps suddenly going to double their clients? Are rates going to plummet? Is the number of houses for sale going to skyrocket? (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by SimpleNexus, the homeownership platform that unites the people, systems, and stages of the mortgage process into one seamless, end-to-end solution that spans engagement, origination, closing, incentive compensation, and business intelligence.) Lender and Broker Software, Services, and Products