This weekend is when many of us head to Manhattan for the MBA’s National Secondary event. For those flying in, check your ticket: NJ Transit’s on strike. Flying into Newark? Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explains Why He Canceled Wife’s Newark Flight. “…not for safety but because I needed her flight to fly. She had to get there.” That’s comforting. Here’s a map of every passenger plane in the skies at this instant. (Page down once or twice.) I am not convinced that we need to slash air traffic controllers. But back to mortgages… I can certainly think of four people who are going to the conference, and on today’s episode of Last Word at 10am PT, Brian Vieaux, Courtney Thompson, Christy Soukhamneut, and Kevin Peranio dig into what’s driving a jump in mortgage applications and why acquisitions are starting to cool off. They’ll also break down how the latest budget moves in D.C. could shake things up across the housing industry. (Today’s podcast can be found here and Sponsored by TRUE and its Mortgage Operations Service (MOS) AI background worker, which transforms borrower documents into instant, trustworthy data for real-time decisioning. TRUE helps lenders accelerate decisions, cut costs, and deliver superior borrower experience, all without a $100M tech budget. Hear an interview with Kind Lending’s Delfino Aguilar on a steadfast commitment to broker-centric service, a culture that empowers people as the true competitive edge, and forward-looking partnerships that simplify broker success.)