in about two years there will be forums at the large mortgage banking conferences throughout the u.s. called “keys for survival in the mortgage banking industry.” mortgage banking is one of THE most cyclical businesses out there. and this has been a decade-long up cycle. i suspect that mortgage banking employment will ultimately drop to half its peak 2004 levels and profitability will be hard to achieve even for the efficient operators. bull markets hide all sorts of sins…

also, i wonder how many of this 3,800 are either recent home buyers or serial home equity extractors with “innovative mortgages”?