Allonhill RSS Feed

Hyper Growth at the Hill

Sue Allon — Sun, 19 Dec 2020 05:25:28 +0000

Up until last Thursday, when we’ve wanted to get together as a company for a meeting or for training, we’ve had to use makeshift space in our offices. Our offices were opportunistically leased from a company that had too much space in the bad market of 2009. We took it furnished and finished, and it was much nicer than we probably would have been willing to spend money on. But it was the back office space of the prior tenant, so it didn’t come with some of the basics you expect in an office, like a reception area or conference rooms.

For the past year, as we’ve

Allonhill Academy

Sue Allon — Sun, 19 Dec 2020 05:28:10 +0000

About six weeks ago, I ran into Colorado State Senator Chris Romer at a charity function. He asked me how things were going, and I did what I do best: I left off the sugar-coating and told him how I really felt.

Allonhill is busy putting together teams of analysts to review loans in mortgage securitizations. Although there hasn’t been a lot of volume in the market, the big banks, hedge funds and aggregators of mortgages are preparing for new loan originations to come to market in the form of securitizations in the next few months. We’re working with a number of them

Allonhill no hired gun for repurchase work

Sue Allon — Fri, 03 Dec 2020 20:19:13 +0000

Ever since Ruth Simon’s piece on the “cottage industry” of due diligence providers going after repurchase work ran in The Wall Street Journal, I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls and e-mails from people hopeful that Allonhill wants a piece of the repurchase frenzy.

I disappoint them.

Halloween

Sue Allon — Tue, 16 Nov 2020 04:57:25 +0000

I came into the office today thinking I need to write something about the Halloween party we had on October 29. I ended up spending an hour looking at photos from that party and simply not being able to contain my happiness.

This year, Allonhill invoked a tradition that came from the Murrayhill Company. We had a very big, grand, over-the-top costume contest.

The Big Chill

Sue Allon — Mon, 08 Nov 2020 17:25:23 +0000

Allonhill is fairly chaotic most days. We need to meet together quite a lot, and we have clients in to do site visits, others in to do compliance tests, and others visiting us or vice versa to talk about partnering together. We’re hiring at an incredible rate. I think we have 13 jobs posted right now, but we need dozens of analysts by year-end with qualifications that cover the full spectrum of mortgage expertise. We have a couple of other jobs that aren’t posted, in areas such as compliance and human resources.

RMBS Fallout: Were Investors Duped?

Sue Allon — Fri, 15 Oct 2020 14:53:12 +0000

One positive outcome from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission so far is the increased attention to the mortgage due diligence process for residential mortgage-backed securities.

Investor Money Goes Down the Rabbit Hole with Foreclosure Freezes

Sue Allon — Thu, 07 Oct 2020 15:03:37 +0000

In last two weeks, three of the nation’s largest mortgage loan servicers called an emergency halt to foreclosures because employees in their servicing shops were submitting foreclosures to the courts without reading the foreclosure documents, and without properly notarized signatures attesting that the documents have been read.

After the Ashram

Sue Allon — Thu, 30 Sep 2020 18:48:59 +0000

Diana and I have successfully made our re-entry from the Ashram.

We are both thinner, fitter, full of energy and practically vegan.

Ashram Boot Camp

Sue Allon — Mon, 13 Sep 2020 23:15:13 +0000

Below is a recent photo of Diana Mead, our president, taken in her office halfway through a fairly normal day at the Hill....

Lessons From The Headmaster

Sue Allon — Wed, 01 Sep 2020 20:50:09 +0000

You don’t only find management teachings in the predictable places. The Head of my daughter’s school is a great leader, and she’s already taught me something about management this year. She doesn’t come across as a manager, she comes across as a teacher. But I’m not fooled. Ronni McCaffrey has a thing or two that she could teach about managing a company.

My Changing View on Mortgage Fraud

Sue Allon — Fri, 27 Aug 2020 22:04:56 +0000

Since the start of the mortgage crisis, I’ve maintained my position that everyone who participated in the market was in some way guilty of bringing it down. Originators made fraudulent loans; investors bought pools they knew were too risky; diligence firms didn’t disclose what they knew; rating agencies didn’t understand the collateral; issuers were willing to securitize anything; and borrowers lied and cheated to get a loan for houses they couldn’t afford.

I’m not known for sugar-coating.

We Love This Place

Sue Allon — Wed, 25 Aug 2020 15:06:43 +0000

Allonhill is five times bigger today than it was a year ago. Nearly all of that growth has taken place since January 1. Believe me; we know what it means to experience growing pains. Most of those experiences are what you would expect: lots of people working late into the night, people wearing multiple hats, everyone coming together to proof our results before we send them off to a client, proposals printed overnight at Kinko’s, running late to every meeting, and the palpable sigh of relief that runs through the entire place when we bring in another client, and deliver ano

Acts of Greater Courage

Sue Allon — Sat, 10 Jul 2020 01:52:22 +0000

Shawn Gravelin, a manager in Allonhill’s credit risk management group, has guest written this blog post. He and other guest writers will appear in the Allonhill blog from time to time. His post appears below.

Acts of Greater Courage
By Shawn Gravelin

Repurchases, Accountability and the Return of a Healthy Securitization Market

Sue Allon — Wed, 26 May 2020 19:07:01 +0000

Repurchases have been getting lots of attention lately, as investors pursue them on seasoned MBS and issuers defend against them. The numbers can be large, even on an individual loan. The rules have always been poorly defined and there are many complications: how much should be paid out, who gets it, how the different bond classes are affected, and so on.

Allonhillers Take On Writing Challenge

Sue Allon — Fri, 07 May 2020 22:29:37 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, Allonhill invited writing professors Margaret Whitt and Sally Kurtzman to teach a writing seminar for our employees. We hire analysts, whose strength is in numbers and not necessarily in the written word. It’s obvious that I care about writing (you don’t have a blog if you don’t appreciate writing). Much of our work includes communicating to our clients, and I want those communications to reflect well on this company.

At The Hill, There Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Sue Allon — Mon, 12 Apr 2020 14:35:37 +0000

There’s a lot of talk about tall mountains in our offices lately. Even more than you’d expect for a company based in Colorado, where scrambling up a 14,000-foot peak is considered normal weekend recreation. Recently we decided to change the way we discuss client work within our walls. We adopted client code names, based on the “14ers” – mountains higher than 14,000 feet – that dot the Colorado landscape.

A Deal Too Good To Be True

Sue Allon — Mon, 15 Mar 2020 22:19:10 +0000

People often write to me seeking advice. These generally aren’t “Dear Abby” types of requests. Rather, they have questions about the mortgage industry – the status of the housing market and home prices, job openings, advice about their home loans, you name it.

Loan Repurchase Requests a Reality for Foreseeable Future

Sue Allon — Fri, 05 Mar 2020 18:58:45 +0000

TheStreet's Laura Kulikowski this week examined the rising tide of mortgage repurchases (also called put-backs) in one of the best reports on the issue I’ve seen to date.

A New Way Forward on Securitizations

Sue Allon — Thu, 28 Jan 2020 20:42:39 +0000

For months we have worked with ratings agencies, investors, broker/dealers, servicers and other industry participants to design a new approach to third-party reviews of securitizations that meets today’s market demands.

The Myth of the Disposable Worker

Sue Allon — Tue, 19 Jan 2020 19:58:06 +0000

Bloomberg Businessweek reporters Peter Coy, Michelle Conlin and Moira Herbst this month took an in-depth look into the recent phenomenon in American business of hiring temporary, or contract, workers. The piece, which ran with the headline “The Disposable Worker,” touched on many themes that are familiar to us at Allonhill.

American Securitization Forum’s New RMBS Rep and Warrant Guidelines

Sue Allon — Mon, 11 Jan 2020 16:34:15 +0000

The American Securitization Forum’s Project Restart team released new guidelines for RMBS reps and warranties on December 15. These guidelines are perfectly in line with what the industry needs to adopt.

The suggested reps and warranties address fraud on a level never heard of before. The subordinate investor was always known as the “fraud investor,” and a specific fraud rep was a rare thing.

The Irony of Credit Reporting

Sue Allon — Mon, 04 Jan 2020 15:38:01 +0000

In today’s New York Times, there is a lengthy piece by Peter S. Goodman about the failures of the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable program.

NINJA Mods

Sue Allon — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 17:45:28 +0000

If they weren’t the root cause of the subprime mortgage crisis, NINJA loans certainly fueled the flames.

NINJAs are No Income, No Job, no Asset loans. As the names imply, these loans were given to people based on income they claimed to make with no requirement that borrowers back up their assertions with pay stubs or tax returns. A credit score was often enough documentation to get a borrower qualified.

Job Seekers' Frustrations -- We Hear You!

Sue Allon — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 19:23:10 +0000

Denver Post reporter Aldo Svaldi recently examined the frustrations felt on both sides of the hiring equation. Job seekers apply for positions and await answers that sometimes never come; and companies on the other end struggle to keep up with the flood of resumes arriving daily. We’ve felt it at Allonhill, and I know from hearing from many applicants that they have too.

Bear Stearns

Sue Allon — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 00:00:35 +0000

Bloomberg reported today that Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, former hedge fund managers for Bear Stearns, had been found not guilty of misleading investors in the funds they managed. Their investors lost $1.6 billion.

Lying to get a Loan

Sue Allon — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 18:26:33 +0000

For about a year, the U.S. government has given qualified first-time homebuyers an $8,000 tax credit. The program ends at the end of November, and lawmakers are considering whether to extend it.

Overhang

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 23:24:52 +0000

There's a new term being kicked around: "overhang," and it refers to the extremely large pipeline of foreclosed properties that's going to hit the market sometime. You've heard of taking a sip from a firehose. Now, picture standing in front of that hose, and its end has been clamped shut by foreclosure moratoriums, courts log-jammed with more foreclosures than they can process, and modifications and workouts that bought people time, but in many cases won't keep them from saving their homes from foreclosure.

Bailing Out Banks

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 16:22:53 +0000

What’s In A Name?

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 16:21:45 +0000

One of the toughest challenges an entrepreneur faces early on is naming the business. It may sound easy. But let me tell you, it isn’t.

One Year Look Back

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 16:18:51 +0000

This is the one-year anniversary of the failings that changed the mortgage meltdown to a market meltdown that led to economic crisis for the country. Bear Stearns went out a year ago April, followed, unbelievably, by Freddie and Fannie, Lehman Brothers, and, almost, AIG. There have been many reviews this past week about the factors that contributed to the meltdown, and much analysis about what took place.

You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 16:17:04 +0000

It Isn’t Voodoo....It’s Just Math

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 16:13:08 +0000

There has been quite a lot of attention lately on re-securitizations, specifically re-REMICs. The re-REMIC is a form of repackaging mortgages that Wall Street and mortgage bond investors are very familiar with.

Not Necessarily Gold In Them Thar' Hills (Could Be Gold Dust)

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 16:11:47 +0000

My First Dumpster Dive

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 16:06:27 +0000

I received a sinister-sounding e-mail over the weekend from someone I've never met. The writer said he owned some residential properties in a tough part of town, and someone had put Allonhill's "refuse" in the dumpster. It was hard to say whether he was alerting me to something he thought I should know, or accusing me of something.

Tips on Loan Modification

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 15:57:58 +0000

Last week I shared an overview of the most common types of modifications. Today, I'd like to share some tips to keep in mind as you work with your servicer to modify a home loan.

Modifications 101

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 15:57:01 +0000

Drawing a Line on Loan Modifications

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 15:55:51 +0000

I've heard a lot of talk about how modifications are so innocuous that nobody wants them.

A job fair in THIS economy?!

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 15:54:44 +0000

Ostriches Don't Make Good Witnesses

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 15:53:05 +0000

The (female and male) manager’s dilemma

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 15:52:03 +0000

How We’re Changing the Industry

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 15:50:49 +0000