Jumbo ARM, Compliance, AVM, Borrower Mining Tools; Fairway's Steve Jacobson Interview; California MBA's Advocacy

Time flies. The last day of the third quarter. We just wrapped up Fat Bear Week 2026 in Alaska. (Congrats to Backpack.) Ringo Starr is 86 years old, and doing well: clean living, being active, and a sense of humor. I mention this because when he was born, a letter was 3 cents to mail. Do companies still have mailrooms and mail bags? Let’s dip into my “electronic mail bag” and see what some readers are thinking about. “Rob, the Administration has a choice in housing: keep prices high and protect existing owners, or let prices fall and restore affordability for the next generation. You can’t do both.” I agree. “Rob, regarding the new credit models… It seems like the one direct thing nobody wants to ask out loud is, ‘If you pull a set of FICO scores, and decide they are too low you pull a set of VantageScores and they barely qualify, so you go with that. Is that fraud? How is that different than seeing child support on a pay stub, so the LO just obtains a VOE and hope they don't write it?” Good question. “Rob, the Trump Administration is accusing other countries of ‘stealing our AI.’ Can’t we ask our own AI how to make itself immune to that and stop it?” Good question… I don’t know. (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are presented by Gateless, intelligent automation that gives you the competitive edge. Gateless solutions reduce costs, deliver a superior borrower experience, and mitigate risk by automating tasks and decisions historically made by people. Today’s has an interview with Fairway Independent Mortgage’s Steve Jacobsen on the evolving nature of mortgage lending, product expansion, leadership and more.)