The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act cleared the House yesterday. Here is what is left to be done to make this bill a reality and when relief actually shows up in your business.

The Senate still has to (re)pass the revised House version. They passed their own version in March, then the House gutted parts of it, then a White House deal patched it back together. Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, who run the Senate Banking Committee, put out a joint statement yesterday saying "there is still work to be done." Translation. Not done. Could be days. Could be months.

Most likely outcome is the Senate moves on it before the August recess because nobody wants to face voters in November empty-handed on housing.

If it gets to Trump's desk, he signs it. He already negotiated the version he wanted.

What it actually does ...

✔️ Limits how many single family homes Wall Street investors can buy. More inventory for actual buyers.
✔️ Adds national best practices for local zoning. Easier to build.
✔️ Funds federal housing programs that have been running on fumes.

When you feel it...

🕰️ 6 to 12 months. Slow increase in single family listings as institutional buyers pull back. Modest but real.
🕰️12 to 24 months. Zoning reform starts hitting permit volume in early-adopter markets. More new construction.
🕰️24+ months. Supply starts pushing back on price pressure. This is the lever that actually moves affordability.

What it does not do ...

Read the rest of this post here …

America’s mortgage map is changing. I had my Claude Co-Work really dig into the latest Census data to see how its impacting the housing market. The piece can be found here.

Looking to meet new movers and shakers in the industry?

EIGHT dynamic keynotes (Bill Cosgrove, Maurice Clarett, Bob Broeksmit, Steve Richman, Jodi Hall, Julie May, State Senator Bill Blessing, CMBA Society's Melanie Coulton) plus one more coming.

Looking to celebrate the women shaping this state's mortgage industry?

Ohio's Own honors 15 trailblazing female leaders.

Looking to get your finger on the pulse of the industry?

21 interactive lender-led breakout sessions across three tracks.

Looking to reward a couple of future leaders in your org who've been killing it?

This is the trip. Bring them. Watch them light up.

Here's what three days at OMBA Annual actually looks like:

SUNDAY, JUNE 14

4:00 PM kickoff. Opening keynotes that set the tone for the whole event. Then an off-the-hook opening reception that does not feel like every other conference reception you've been to. By 8 PM you've already met more decision-makers than you'd hit in three months of cold outreach.

MONDAY, JUNE 15

Full day, end to end. Breakfast keynote with State Senator Bill Blessing. Maurice Clarett mid-morning. Bob Broeksmit luncheon. The Ohio's Own celebration honoring 15 trailblazing women in Ohio mortgage banking. 15 breakout sessions across three tracks running throughout the day. Cocktail reception in the evening flowing into a plated dinner program. The kind of day where you don't check your phone because you don't have to.

TUESDAY, JUNE 16

Breakfast and more keynotes from Jodi Hall, Julie May, and Melanie Coulton. Final breakout sessions across all three tracks. Conference closes at 11:45 AM, so you're home for dinner and back at your desk Tuesday with pages of notes and a new strategic playbook for the back half of 2026.

OMBA Annual Conference
June 14-16
Renaissance Columbus Westerville-Polaris
Columbus, OH

Details/reg can be found here.

Dear Kevin,

I know this is forward. We just met. But I have to say something before someone else does.

I've been hurt before.

For four and a half years I was in a relationship with a man who used the phrase "data dependent" like it was foreplay. Jerome ghosted me through eleven straight FOMC meetings. Stared into the middle distance every time I asked about housing. Once said the words "long and variable lags" with such weariness I thought he was breaking up with me in real time. He wasn't. He was just... like that.

I had to walk away.

But Kevin, you don't know what it was like at the end. He gaslit an entire nation. He told the country to "trust the process" with the energy of a man who absolutely did not trust the process. I would lie awake at night wondering if it was me. It wasn't me. It was him.

I am ready to be loved again.

I have read your work, Kevin. Every speech, every Hoover Institution op-ed, every paper where you carefully described Jerome as someone who had "lost the plot." Kevin. I have been screaming this into the void for four years. You said it once at a podium and I had to sit down.

I will also say: the haircut is a choice. I respect it. It looks like you styled it in 2009 and never reconsidered. That kind of commitment is exactly what we need at the Federal Reserve right now.

But here is the part I really need you to hear.

Jerome ran the most powerful financial institution on Earth using data aggregated through processes invented in 1962. CPI gets surveyed by people calling stores. Payroll numbers get revised six months later, and we use the WRONG number for half a year. The PCE deflator is a methodology older than my father. We are making rate decisions in May 2026 using employment data from October 2025.

Kevin, we have AI now.

We have real-time credit card spend data. We have satellite imagery of parking lots. We have foot-traffic data, payroll API data, real-time rent rolls, real-time MLS data, real-time bank deposit data. Every Fortune 500 company makes decisions on data that's 14 minutes old. The Fed makes decisions on data that's 14 weeks old.

You could fix this, Kevin.

You could be the Fed Chair who walks in and says "we are no longer letting policy turn on three-month-old surveys conducted by phone." You could be the first central banker in modern history to acknowledge that the data infrastructure underneath the FOMC was built when a calculator the size of a microwave cost $4,000.

If you do that one thing, I will be yours.

Read the rest of this post here …

5.99%.

For one shining moment, the mortgage industry believed.

Then the bombs fell. Then the lawsuits started. Then the President posted himself as Jesus. Twice.

🎬 Netflix has greenlit a 10-episode dark satire called EVERYTHING IS FINE? - the show every mortgage executive will recognize and absolutely no one will admit watching.

After four years of a President so visibly checked out that staffers were caught propping him up at G7 photos like Weekend at Bernie's, the mortgage industry had hope. Real hope. Rates were coming down. Common sense was returning. We were going to make it.

We were not going to make it.

THE CAST:

🎭 Shane Gillis as President Trump. Has not read the script. Director was told this is "actually fine for the part." Improvises every scene. Three of his improvs have already happened in real life.

🎭 John Goodman as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Six-foot-four. Settles all policy disagreements with implied violence. Recurring catchphrase: "WHERE'S PULTE?"

🎭 Joe Pesci as Bill Pulte. FHFA Director. Wakes up at 3 AM to tweet. Carries a posterboard everywhere. Five-foot-four. Speaks only in capitals.

🎭 Kevin Hart as Mat Ishbia. UWM CEO. Defendant in 11 active lawsuits across the series and general industry antagonist.

🎭 Aziz Ansari as Varun Krishna. Rocket CEO. Only person in the cast who looks like he has a functioning HR department. Acquires another company in every cold open. By Episode 7 has acquired Aziz Ansari.

🎭 Bill Murray as Jerome Powell. Federal Reserve Chair. One line per episode: "No." Wins the Emmy. Acceptance speech is also "No."

🎭 A CGI animated body of water as the Strait of Hormuz. Antagonist. No dialogue. Devastating screen presence. Has its own merch line.

THE EPISODES:

EP 1 - "Welcome to the Show": Rocket buys Redfin.
EP 2 - "He Bought What Now": Rocket buys Mr. Cooper for $9.4B. Final close: $14.2B. Ansari shrugs.
EP 3 - "The Posterboard": Pesci pitches a 50-year fixed at Mar-a-Lago. Trump approves on screen. Critics confirm this actually happened. Audiences weep.
EP 4 - "Holy Father": Trump posts himself as the Pope.
EP 5 - "Eat at the Executive Branch": Goodman threatens to beat Pesci's ass at a private dinner club. Pesci tweets through it. Ratings double.
EP 6 - "Five Point Nine Nine": Rates touch a refi number. The industry weeps in joy.
EP 7 - "Strait of Hormuz" (mid-season finale): We bomb Iran. Rates spike. The Strait of Hormuz wins Best Supporting Actor.
EP 8 - "Holy Son": Trump posts himself as Jesus at Pulte's urging. Says it was actually a doctor. Even Gillis laughs when delivering line.

Read the rest of this post here …

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May 25 - Memorial Day (markets closed)

May 31 - Indy 500 (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

JUNE 2026

Jun 3 - Jobs Report (May)

Jun 5 - Belmont Stakes (Saratoga Race Course) -- Triple Crown on the line

Jun 11 - FIFA World Cup kicks off (USA, Canada, Mexico -- 48 teams)

Jun 14-16 - Ohio MBA Annual Conference (Columbus OH)

Jun 21 - Father's Day

Jun 16-17 - FOMC Meeting (rate decision, press conference)

Jun 18-21 - US Open Golf (Shinnecock Hills)

Jun 19 - Juneteenth (federal holiday, markets closed)

Jun 21 - Father's Day

Jun 22 - NBA Draft

Jun 29 - Wimbledon begins

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. - Nolan Bushnell

Until the next one,
Swerb
[email protected]