For the past 5 years, the biggest issue for mortgage, real estate, and financial professionals has been compliance. Every aspect of the home buying process and also mortgage servicers due diligence with loan documentation, is more tightly regulated than it used to be. And while there may have been good reasons for the increase in oversight, there can be no denying that the way we handle mortgages has been changed for good – but is it for the better?

My team and I have been thinking this over and there are some interesting tidbits we've read recently that I want to share. Let's look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of the regulation fallout:

THE GOOD

• Businesses in the industry must learn to do more with less. Certainly a positive, even if you’re forced into it.
• Originators must put their emphasis back on cultivating relationships with clients and business partners to continue to grow. No more churning and burning through clients.
• Foreclosures hit their lowest point since 2007 at the beginning of this year.

THE BAD

• Loan originations are expected to fall again in 2015 (though not as badly as in 2014)
• The road to compliance has been paved with bumps and bruises for banks and clients alike, as everyone adjusts to the new regulations.
• As we mentioned in our August newsletter, foreclosures started to pick back up in May of this year

• Foreclosures that used to take 110 days to complete now take over 600 days to complete.
• One bank got so behind on foreclosures that the weight of the paperwork caused the floor to give way!

Where does that leave us? Well, right where we started, I guess – in a complex industry facing complex issues. But I like the advice Neil Sherman (of Schneiderman & Sherman) gave at the recent Five Star Conference and Expo:

From a compliance standpoint, we can boil this down into small concepts: "Say what we do, do what we say, and we're able to prove it." That's the mantra we can use at the executive level and we can use it at the processing level.

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