Any food science major will tell you that the difference between jelly and jam is that jam has chunks of fruit in it; jelly is strained. There is also a difference in costs in our biz. Here in Honolulu at the MBAH conference, costs are part of the discussion, and sure enough, there is a map of the mortgage closing costs by state. There is also a difference in denial rates, state by state, for a variety of reasons, so the National Association of Realtors® recently examined data from 2023 to give homebuyers some information as to where denial rates are the highest and lowest, and which groups they most impact. The best (Easiest? Most qualified borrowers?) states to buy in, according to the study, are Alaska, North Dakota, and Nebraska, which all had drastically lower denial rates. The toughest are a trio of Southern states: Mississippi (rejecting 19% of all 2023 mortgage applications), Louisiana (18%), and West Virginia (15%). (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by TRUE. TRUE cuts time to critical loan events from days to minutes by using background AI workers to instantly validate data and automate underwriting decisions. Today’s has an interview with TRUE’s Steve Butler on the next evolution of “background AI” in mortgage tech: from cutting decision times to minutes, enabling instant pre-approvals, exposing the hidden costs of partial AI solutions, and what’s ahead in reshaping the future of lending.) Products, Software, and Services for Brokers and Lenders
