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As stricter regulation and declining business continue to challenge the mortgage industry, a recently released survey finds nearly two in three originators don't find their career as rewarding as it used to be. In its fifth annual survey of loan originators, national recruiting firm Hammerhouse LLC found that out of more than 800 respondents, 56 percent are finding that while they still consider their job rewarding it's now less so than it was in the past. Another 8 percent say their career is no longer sufficiently rewarding.
Given the current mortgage environment, only 40 percent of originators said they came close to their production goals for 2014, while another 7 percent exceeded their goals. More than half said they missed their production goal by 25 percent or more.
Freddie Mac reported another profitable quarter to end 2014, even as losses stemming from derivatives put heavy drag on the mortgage giant's earnings. For the last three months of 2014, Freddie pulled in $227 million in net income, the company said Thursday, a drop of nearly $2 billion from Q3. The sharp drop came from derivative losses as interest rates fell. For all of 2014, Freddie Mac reported $7.7 billion dollars in net income, a drop from close to $50 billion in 2013. 2013's results were boosted by an accounting charge and benefits from securities settlements.
