7.7.26 Technology Empowerment; American Pacific’s Jason Ponsonby on Origination; TBA Volumes

Today’s episode includes a discussion on the ways technology is empowering borrowers, and what that is freeing up originators to focus on. Plus, Robbie interviews American Pacific’s Jason Ponsonby on how top-performing mortgage originators distinguish themselves through discipline, adaptability, strong relationship-building, and operational efficiency, while long-term success depends on fostering the right culture, and leveraging technology to enhance human connection. And we close with the trends in TBA mortgage-backed securities as we enter the depths of summer.

This week’s podcasts are sponsored by FICO. As the industry's most predictive credit score, FICO Score 10T combines proven performance with deeper insight into borrower behavior to help support a stronger and more resilient housing finance system.

The Chrisman Commentary is your go-to daily mortgage news podcast, where industry insights meet expert analysis. Hosted by Robbie Chrisman, this podcast delivers the latest updates on mortgage rates, capital markets, and the forces shaping the housing finance landscape. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just looking to stay informed, you'll get clear, concise breakdowns of market trends and economic shifts that impact the mortgage world.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the Chrisman Commentary, Daily Mortgage News Podcast. I'm your host, Robbie Chrisman. Topics on today's episode include how consumers are increasingly empowered by technology, what we're seeing with TBA hedge volumes with summer in full effect, and my interview with American Pacifics Jason Ponsombie on how top-performing mortgage originators distinguish themselves through discipline, adaptability, strong relationship building, and operational efficiency. Here, take a listen, do a little preview. So when you look at the production landscape, what excites you and conversely, what gives you pause?

Speaker 0:41

What I'm most excited about on the production side is how everything's changing. And it's changing in a way where there's a lot of things that were, I would say, you know, very monotonous tasks or things that were just administrative in nature, or just, you know, like I mentioned, being tied to a device at a desk. And as we're getting further and further away from that, I mean, it really excites me that as originators, we're able to go out there and we're able to spend more time on building relationships and finding new ways to generate business. And whether that's through influencing and using social media, whether that's, you know, through education and developing, you know, a network of trust other ways or a combination of all those, that's exciting to me because I do think that in the age of technology and all the things that are moving really fast on one side, it's still coming, uh, you know, I think you used the word full circle earlier. And I think that's a great example where we keep coming back to that aspect of trust and value and human connection. And that's exciting to me because we're able to do more uh because we have these technology advantages and there's these things that can be done, you know, more efficiently, and whether it's automated or just simple more simple and less time consuming, it's opening up the door for more creativity and and more opportunity for our originators. What it gives me pause is is almost the almost the same kind of thing, but in the other perspective. It's things are moving fast and things are getting out in front of things. And and, you know, so certainly there's always that situation of, you know, I use an example of all these note takers and different things out there and making sure that, you know, we have the governance and we have the policies and and just trying to always stay in front of the next thing because there is so much of that out there and it is moving fast, but the excitement is greater. But the pause certainly is just in all these different tools and that they get thrown at, you know, originators and other professionals in the industry, and and you know, staying in front of it and making sure that it's being used the right way, but also you know, being used to the advantage of each person versus sometimes we get a lot thrown at us, and in the end, it it costs us more time.

Speaker 1 2:57

In a market where every loan counts, FICO score 10T lets lenders say yes to more borrowers without added risk. As the industry's most predictive credit score, FICO score 10T combines proven performance with deeper insight into borrower behavior to help support a stronger and more resilient housing finance system. FICO has set the standard for decades, and I'm grateful for their support of today's podcast and the conversations that help bring mortgage professionals together. The industry is a buzz about the cross-country two harbor deal, but hearken back. Think about the Redfin Rocket deal, playing for the top of the funnel and obtaining information about consumers. Rockets contests are meant to obtain that information, but can Rocket and other companies convert information into loans? Consumers are increasingly empowered by technology, forcing lenders and real estate agents to spell out their advantages in this era of consolidation. MLOs and agents do offer value, namely quarterbacking the transaction. Consumers have grown accustomed to researching financial products on their own, learning at their own pace, and deciding if and when they want to speak with a person. That shift has been especially important in products like reverse mortgages, where borrowers still value expert guidance but increasingly want to arrive at those conversations informed rather than starting from scratch. The most effective digital experiences, rather than replace the loan officer, remove confusion, organize information around the questions borrowers are actually trying to answer, and make it easier for people to move forward with confidence. Behind the scenes, technology delivers the greatest value when it eliminates routine work, shortens unnecessary delays, and gives experienced professionals more time to focus on judgment, problem solving, and customer relationships. As home equity products become more important to an aging population, the winners will be the ones that make the process easier to understand, easier to navigate, and more aligned with the expectations consumers already bring from the rest of their financial lives. The bond market began the week on furmish footing as lower oil prices, easing geopolitical concerns, and a weaker than expected June employment report reduced expectations for an imminent Federal Reserve rate hike. Although markets continue to price in some probability of additional monetary tightening, the disappointing payroll data, both the headline miss and back month downward revisions, contained wage growth and retreat in energy prices have raised the bar for any near-term policy action, reinforcing expectations for the Fed to remain patient while evaluating upcoming inflation and labor market data. Core inflation could still surprise to the upside when CPI prints next week, but the reversal in oil prices suggests much of this year's earlier energy driven inflation shock is likely to prove temporary rather than the start of a sustained inflation cycle. Just don't say the word transitory three times in a mirror. With summer in full effect, there has been lighter activity across the mortgage market, with TBA hedge volumes declining sharply and specified pool trading remaining subdued in reaction to that weaker than expected jobs report. Issuance trends remain constructive, but are gradually moderating with early expectations for slightly lower month-over-month Ginny May production as the spring home buying season fades. Non-bank lenders continue to favor MJM temporary buy down pools, which are MBS pools issued and guaranteed by Ginny Mae that bundle together FHA or VA backed home loans, including temporary interest rate buy down provisions, which helps capitalize on favorable execution. Trading activity is expected to normalize going forward as the new issuance calendar ramps up, with focus on evolving issuance patterns, specified pool opportunities, and disciplined pricing in what remains a volatile rate environment. Agency MBS supply continues to recover from its 2023 lows, driven primarily by refinancing activity rather than purchase originations, suggesting mortgage production should remain healthy even if rates stay near current levels. While the MBS sector posted a modest loss to begin July, performance reflected a range-bound market characterized by subdued volatility, slightly longer durations, and investor preference for higher coupon shorter duration securities, with agency MBS remaining attractive relative to investment grade corporates despite appearing rich versus treasuries. As geopolitical risks have eased alongside lower oil prices, investors remain focused on relative value opportunities across coupons and vintages while awaiting a clearer er catalyst to determine the next direction for rates. For today's interview, I wanted to welcome to the show American Pacific's Jason Ponsombie to talk about how top-performing mortgage originators distinguish themselves through discipline, adaptability, strong relationship building, and operational efficiency, while long-term success depends on fostering the right culture and leveraging technology to enhance the human connection. He's senior vice president of APM Production and has a strong passion for teamwork, leadership development, and market and production growth. He oversees coaching, recruiting, business development, business planning, and training programs, and prides himself on building strong teams and branches. What sets apart the top origination talent from wannabe talent? Or what are the best originators doing these days? What sets them apart?

Speaker 8:12

The number one thing right now that sets apart the originators is just the work ethic and what they're willing to put into the business. And defining that a little further is, you know, ability to adapt to changing ways. A lot of things have changed from certainly from a technology perspective, but also from some of the dynamics of the top of the funnel. And in the top of the sales funnel, there's a lot more opportunity for an originator to be able to take, you know, lead generation and kind of a reverse dynamic and be able to bring some of those opportunities to referral partners versus referral partners, bringing all of the business to them. And a big part of that is the top originators are finding ways to win the top of the funnel and win some lead generation and strengthen partnerships in a in a two-way street versus one way in the past.

Speaker 1 9:02

And because they're top originators, they can have demands of their companies. And I mean that in a good way. What are the top originators asking from their companies?

Speaker 9:12

The big thing is the support and the ability for them to have more time to focus on origination as we move fast. I mean, operational performance, the more an originator gets pulled into, you know, operational type activities. And I always define it, Robbie, as income-producing and non-income producing time. And what I see the number one thing being, you know, as a production leader and serving originators at American Pacific is the number one thing is the ability to be out originating and spending that income producing time or maximizing income producing time. And there's a lot of things that go into that. Certainly, you know, like as I mentioned, operational excellence is one of them. And also just, you know, technologically being able to be mobile and not be limited to a laptop or having to, you know, carry things around everywhere they go. And certainly over the years, technology's helped with all of that. And, you know, we continue to see the requests and the desire from the production team being, how do I maximize income producing time and how do I stay on that front edge? And that's where we focus. And certainly myself is very focused every day, being able to maximize that.

Speaker 1 10:21

Beyond the checklist of what a company can give their originator, maybe it's, oh, we're we have an AI native, AI cloud infrastructure, fully digitized lending experience, whatever it might be. What qualitatively can you provide or what is invaluable in terms of the ways that you can support originators, build loyalty, engender trust and confidence and all those good things beyond just, yeah, we have a great tech stack?

Speaker 10:50

The big thing that I focused on is really there's still a human connection, and the human connection happens at each interval. And what I mean by each interval is it starts with you know the human connection in internally, right? As an organization from leader to leader and you know, leader to branch and branch to LO and continuing that path. The human connection is important, but then at the same time, the human connection is important with the consumer because we we've seen many different instances where yes, tech stack's important and that aspect helps make things easier and makes the experience you know more positive for everyone. At the same time, there's still an aspect to trust, and there's an aspect to we've even seen where a consumer will go through the AI-driven process where a lot of things are done, where they're just interacting with a screen. However, at some point, what we've seen is we have some of the younger consumers and borrowers that we work with, they'll actually reach out and say, can we meet in person? Because they're not even sure, they're not sure because of in today's world if they're even talking to somebody real because of the avatars and all the crazy things and technology that have happened. So they I think the human connection is still a real big aspect to that.

Speaker 1 12:05

Yeah, it's been neat to see it come full circle that the more tech there is, the more people crave humanity. Yes. Switching gears slightly. What's going on in terms of recruitment of LOs, signing bonuses? It's always kind of something that's in the background, but but it's certainly important. What the latest uh landscape out there.

Speaker 12:25

I think from from the recruiting side, we continue to look at kind of you know two different aspects to recruiting. Um, there's certainly the MA aspect of things, which you know, we're super excited about, you know, a pretty big growth-focused strategic merger that we just had a few weeks ago and being able to have a great coming together of two great organizations with Synergy One Lending and American Pacific. And the MA aspect is certainly there. And and you know, we certainly continue to operate in that space and and find good opportunities like the one we just had. And then on the on the other side, you know, creating the momentum and in the recruiting of branches and loan originators. And what I would say on the aspect of that is, you know, there's certainly that sign-on bonus um aspect to things, but the sign-on bonuses aren't really where the focus is. That's kind of just part of what's out there. We're really focusing on, you know, the aspect of win-win situations and really find talent that that fits the culture and who we are. And we really have stayed true over the years to just focusing on things of we really embrace the entrepreneurial spirit. We embrace the aspect of DBAs, we embrace really the success of how somebody will be more successful, what's their vision. And I think sticking to those things have really worked out well for us and making sure production always has a seat at the table because production touches everything in the organization. And, you know, look, we need all pieces to be whole. However, if we don't have production coming in the door, those other pieces really don't have anything to focus on. So what we're seeing on that front is, you know, sign-on bonuses certainly continue to remain in the industry. But at the same point, it does seem that the sign-on bonuses are just kind of over on one side, and and it's really more about that win-win talent. How am I gonna on, you know, the entrepreneurial spirit of how am I gonna advance to to the vision and and the goals that I have and aligning there has been has been very successful and and seems to be, there's been a lot of movement the last few years. So it seems where that's becoming the bigger priority.

Speaker 1 14:29

How do you qualify success or what constitutes a good day at work for you?

Speaker 14:36

You know, for me, um, you know, that's been a changing, what I would say, defined success and goals for me. And I define it as, you know, early in my career as an originator for a decade plus, you know, the the success for me was being able to fulfill the you know mission of providing home ownership. And that's a constant, that's that's been, you know, for almost 25, 30 years, that's been a constant for me is that, you know, the root of everything we do is is providing home ownership. But it changes, you know, for me, it's changed from I call it the gratification of making a difference. And making a difference as an originator was, you know, the being able to watch somebody at a closing and the smiles and the tears and the hugs of getting their first home or, you know, their vacation home or dream home or, you know, investment property. And then over the years it shifts. And and really in the leadership side of things, you know, and that's what I would define today is is, you know, success for me is making a difference today. And making a difference is my success uh in a day is defined on somebody else becoming more successful. And I really think it's the root of leadership and and really been kind of what I focus on every single morning when I wake up. I'm passionate. I start my day, I'm excited, and I know today that I'm gonna show up, I'm gonna be positive, I'm gonna make a difference. And if I do everything successfully, that means at the end of the day, somebody else, you know, had a better day and was more successful. And whether that's another loan or it was, you know, another relationship or something else that they define in their successful day, that's what defines me.

Speaker 1 16:13

As a quick aside, since you brought it up, are leaders born or made?

Speaker 16:18

Oh, that's a great question. I think the best leaders are both. They're born and they're made. Can a leader be can a leader be made? I think a leader could be made, but I I would say that the best leaders, the best leaders are are born and have the wiring built in. And that can make you a good leader if you're born and you're wired that way. But I think more importantly is the enhancement and constantly gaining knowledge and refining the leadership skills and and growing as a leader really is what defines the best leader at the end of the day.

Speaker 1 16:50

Yeah, well put. I've always found the best leaders to be the ones that lead from the front, that are willing to be the hardest working when need be, roll their sleeves up if they need to, but but they also uh bring others, almost pull others up to their level.

Speaker 17:04

I think that's a great, I think that's a great way to say it. I mean, one of one of our core values, I I uh when I joined American Pacific um, well, seven years ago, the one thing I looked at are core values and I was like, yeah, respect, I love that. Transparency, I love that. And then our third core value is scrappy. And I looked at that core value and I'm like, I mean, that one word really, really defines, you know, just about every position in a mortgage organization. And when I think of leadership, and you're right, I mean, it's I agree with you a hundred percent, like, you know, leading from the front, not being afraid to roll the sleeves up. And and I I say it in kind of the same way. What I what I've said to a lot of the team and and others that I've I've been and had the pleasure of serving with is, you know, I would never ask somebody to do something that I either haven't done or that I wouldn't do. And and you know, I think if you think of things in that perspective, uh it really does go a long way.

Speaker 1 17:59

Yeah, very well put. Before I let you go here, thoughts on what you're keeping an eye on throughout the second half of 2026. And sure, you could say credit costs, you could say property appraisal waivers, you could say the tweets before the midterms, you could say the the geopolitical instability. I don't I don't know. I don't know. Up to up to you. What are you keeping an eye on? Uh, what's what's been piquing your interest and and uh yeah, still dole out some advice for listeners here, please.

Speaker 18:29

You bet there's a few things I'm focusing on. Um certainly one is uh our new Fed chair and you know, watching kind of how the Fed board continues through the year. Um, I think that's one one area with just the newness, and we don't we don't really know what to expect. So keeping a close eye there and and seeing what tendencies might start to appear. I think the other thing certainly is uh the midterm elections coming, you know, and I think the tactical things with some of the appraisal changes and some of the other things. I mean, I I feel you know somewhat good in some of those because they've been on the horizon for a while and we've been building up and planning for those. So I'm not gonna be as concerned or that closely watching those things because a lot of that's just in the final stages, getting ready to deploy and be put into practice. But from the production side too, I mean, I think, you know, we continue, and and one of the big things I talk about is, you know, just continuing to grow business through discipline, through consistency, and really keeping the team focused on serving our clients and our communities at the highest level, not forgetting, you know, our purpose and what we do. I mean, people will continue to buy homes. There's lots of reasons that people buy homes. It's not always just rate dependent. And really focusing on leadership and the resilience and professionalism and everything they do, just finish the year strong, right? The second half of the year, those that do all those different things that I talked about and finish the year strong and staying focused on what we control. I mean, a lot of the things that we talk about, whether it's the Fed or whether it's around, you know, different geopolitical events in the Middle East or wherever, whatever's going on. I mean, we just don't control those things. And and we just need to stay focused on the systems, the processes, and and the things we do control. And the results will be positive if if we just put our energy into those things.

Speaker 1 20:18

Wise words. Every time I talk to you, I'm like, yeah, I'd run through a brick wall for this guy. So good stuff. I appreciate you making the time and uh hope to see you out there soon. Thanks, Jason. Thanks for the time, Robbie. Today's economic calendar includes May import and export prices, May trade balance, Red Book same store sales, June consumer inflation expectations, the Atlanta Feds GDP now for Q2, and a three-year note auction from the U.S. Treasury. We begin Tuesday with agency MBS prices slightly worse than yesterday's close, the two-year yielding 4.13, and the 10-year yielding 4.50 after closing yesterday at 4.48%. Let's wrap up with a joke and some housekeeping. Bob, a 70-year-old extremely wealthy widower, shows up at the country club with a breathtakingly beautiful and very sexy 25-year-old blonde-haired woman who knocks everyone's socks off with her youthful sex appeal and charm, and who hangs over Bob's arm and listens intently to his every word. His buddies at the club are all aghast. At the very first chance, they corner him and ask, Bob, how'd you get the trophy girlfriend? Girlfriend? Bob replies. She's my wife. They're knocked over but continue to ask. So how'd you persuade her to marry you? I lied about my age, Bob replies. What? Did you tell her you're only 50? Bob smiles and says, No, I told her I was 90. Thanks again for FICO for sponsoring this week's podcast. As the industry's most predictive credit score, FICO score 10T combines proven performance with deeper insight into borrower behavior to help support a stronger and more resilient housing finance system.