Here are the buzzing items I'm seeing with my regulated clients. The political winds change on the national scale, but not so much on the Minnesota scene.
1. Employee classification: Salary / Exempt vs. Employee vs. Independent Contractor. The state's push is to get more people into the Employee status. It creates more taxes for the state. The state theorizes it gives greater protections to the worker. There's a hint of truth to that, but there are significant benefits to being an Independent Contractor.
2. Appraisers. The market was so hot the last couple of years that appraisers were deluged with orders. That resulted in a lot of work, a lot of pressure, and a lot of liability. That confluence of variables leads to mistakes. With lenders starting to feel pressure on their loan portfolios, the appraisals are coming under heavy scrutiny.
3. Mortgage originators. Borrowers who are now unable to get loans, but who have built up personal debts, are pointing the finger at the mortgage originators. The originator is the middle-man, so to speak, who finds a loan product for the borrower. The originator rarely lends its own money. Along those lines, it also does not dictate the underwriting criteria for borrower qualifications. Originators need to be very careful right now in their timeliness of processing applications and not representing approvals will happen.
Keep these in mind for now. We'll see what happens down the road and what becomes the new hot topic!
