On the May 30 episode of my Lykken on Lending podcast, I ran through a number of economic indicators that are being released by various organizations and agencies. Not all of these indicators are targeted directly to the mortgage industry, and it can be overwhelming to pay attention to all of them as they come out. So, why do we spend so much time talking about them?
Obviously, metrics like new, existing, and pending home sales are important for us to know about. They have a direct effect on the industry. More home sales can mean that we can take more risks and fewer can mean that we need to be more cautious. But do we really need to follow the latest reports on jobless claims, durable goods, GDP, consumer sentiment, consumer confidence, construction spending, ADP's payroll data, the ISM services index, and so on?
Yes, I think we do. And here's why: Everything's connected. We do not operate in a vacuum. The mortgagee industry is not its own economy—it's part of a larger whole. And, it's clearly not that difficult to see how some of these other "outside" indicators can have a fairly direct effect on the mortgage industry. So, rather than asking, "Do we need to follow these indicators?" Let's be grateful that the information is available to us and that we get to follow these indicators. We never know how useful the information might just prove itself to be.
David Lykken, a 43-year veteran of the mortgage industry, is president of Transformational Mortgage Solutions (TMS), a management consulting firm that provides transformative business strategies to owners and “C-Level” executives via consulting, executive coaching and various communications strategies. He is a frequent guest on FOX Business News and hosts his own weekly podcast called “Lykken On Lending” heard Monday’s at 1:00 p.m. ET at LykkenOnLending.com. David’s phone number is (512) 759-0999 and his e-mail is [email protected].
