The founder and CEO of Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group says the company is celebrating its 30th year in business because of its talented team.

“We have an amazing team that has allowed us to exist for 30 years as the same brand, which is pretty difficult to do in any business. But especially in this crazy mortgage business that we're in," Brian Holland said.

Holland said one of their keys to success is being accessible to the people that they serve. That means trading off a national footprint to have in-person services located primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. 

"Our goal is that we don't want to be in a market unless we feel like we can be a top five purchase lender. We really focus on the purchase market," Holland said. 

Holland recently sat down with The Mortgage Note's Scott Kimbler to talk about the company's journey as well as today's affordability issues. 

Holland said he grew up in a rural area in a double-wide trailer with a railroad track across the street and a cornfield in the backyard. He had no idea what he wanted to be when he grew up, but he liked the board game Monopoly and money.

While in college at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, Holland waited tables. He was working at Red Lobster after graduating with a finance degree when his manager recruited him to get out of the restaurant business and go into the mortgage business. 

"I said, 'Well, why do you think I'd be great at the mortgage business? I know nothing about it.' He said, 'Well, you've got a degree in finance, and you sell the most strawberry daiquiris of any of my servers. So, I think you can sell numbers,'” Holland said.

After about three and a half years at that brokerage, Holland went on to start Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group.

"I was really young, and I just wanted to do it on my own. I felt like I could do it better. I could have the kind of culture and team that we wanted to have. So, we got started with a few great people and kept adding people over and over again," Holland said.

Retaining those people has been key. 

Holland said they don't want to have the same level of turnover a lot of companies in the industry have.

“We have just under 700 people on our team, and we've helped a few hundred thousand people over the thirty years that we've been in business. It's incredible how many lives we've been able to touch over the years. And that's really the great part about this business - is that you have the opportunity to help people live out the American dream," Holland said.

Holland says he has seen many shifting trends of the past three decades and would like first-time and even second-time homebuyers to understand the borrowing process is not overly difficult, and it is very much possible to buy a home and to achieve their own version of the American Dream.

“I think that there's a misconception that getting a loan is very difficult now. Just because it's not as easy as it was at one time, there's a misconception," Holland said. "I don't think it's difficult to get a loan, but there's a huge affordability problem. That's something that is concerning, especially for the young people."

Holland said getting approved for a mortgage can help first-time and step-up buyers show they are serious in areas of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast where the market is hot for appropriately priced homes.         

"I would highly encourage a younger person or anyone who's looking for a home to get a fully approved mortgage. It's pretty easy. It's not going to take you very long to get that," Holland said. "And then when you go out to buy, you've got a lot stronger case for that potential seller who may be getting multiple offers."

After more than three decades in this type of business, Holland explained what keeps it personal to him and what keeps him excited about his work.

“I've told our team for years, I said, 'We're going to keep growing as long as we can continue to maintain our culture. If our culture starts to slip, we're going to stop. We're going to stop growing,'" Holland said.

He admitted that mortgage lending is stressful, "But it's a great business."

"Our three core values are one, we genuinely care. Two, we inspire growth. And three, we have fun. And all of those things have allowed us to kind of keep this going for years and years. We genuinely care, and we're taking care of our people. They're taking care of the communities we live in," Holland said.

You can learn more about Brian Holland and Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group at AtlanticBay.com.

#lending #homebuying #mortgagenews

The founder of Clarifire in St. Petersburg, Florida, says midsize mortgage servicers can compete with larger companies if they put the customer experience first.

Jane Mason is the founder and CEO of the privately held, women-owned corporation that uses a Software-as-a-Service model to reduce manual processes and increase efficiencies.

“The middle tier doesn't find us as daunting, because we do have customer service at the forefront of our company, and we know what we're talking about because we have a lot of servicing expertise, so we can not only provide expertise, but we can provide the technology to make it happen,” Mason said.

Mason recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Editor Kimberley Haas to talk about how Clarifire works with servicers to automate their loss mitigation processes. She said their clients want to use artificial intelligence where applicable, but they rely on advanced automation and human interaction.

“They don't want just a virtual AI assistant; they want to be able to have a virtual AI assistant, but click a button that says, ‘I want to speak to a human,’ and have that human right there. Now, that human has everything in one view, a unified view of that particular customer. That means, did they ever file bankruptcy? Did they ever file foreclosure? Have they been in loss mitigation before? Were they in a disaster area? All of that stuff is in one view, which is extremely powerful,” Mason said.

Mason said servicing is one of the most complex parts of the mortgage life cycle. Clarifire has helped servicers navigate market disruptions and regulatory complexities for nearly two decades.

“It has all the ups and downs of regulatory change; it has all of the ups and downs of volume, and volume is very impactful to servicing operations,” Mason said. “So, if you can have technology that is smart, that's going to automate all of that complexity, from the customer touch point all the way to day-to-day, that’s where you’re going to lower your costs.”

Clarifire’s clients are looking for one platform they can manage, and they want to have one trusted partner to work with, according to Mason.

“We’re going to stick with them, and we’re going to make it happen,” she said.

Looking forward, Mason said they are further automating and modernizing. She is watching closely as foreclosures continue to rise, particularly in Florida and Texas, emphasizing the need for default servicers to orchestrate operations this year and into 2027.

#automation #servicing #mortgagenews

The chief operations officer at National Credit-Reporting System Inc. says it is important for the mortgage industry to understand the latest technology being used by fraudsters. Then, industry leaders need to develop protocols and plans to eliminate their use.

“You know, we really need to protect ourselves in mortgage originations to verify the consumer identity,” Lisa Binkley said.

This is especially true when it comes to checking incomes in a modern economy.

“I think one of the things that stymies the industry, regardless of the type of income, is the thought that all of this just creates friction instead of the thought that this is underpinning your decision for safety and soundness in our financial markets,” she said.

Binkley recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Scott Kimbler to talk about how NCS combats fraud and what keeps her in the industry after nearly 40 years. 

Binkley told Kimbler she started originating mortgages in the late 1980s.

“I started originating mortgages in 1987, and I came out of the securities and insurance licensed world, and I was a part-time worker. I was a stay-at-home mom prior to that. And went from part-time loan officer to fraud investigator to risk manager to COO. It’s just been a fantastic journey, and it’s all been in the mortgage industry. It has been a super industry for me,” Binkley said.

Binkley said the team at NCS works hard to combat fraud, which is widespread with today’s fast-growing technology innovations. As companies get smarter, so do criminals attempting to beat the system.

“Fraud prevention has escalated to a whole new realm on both sides,” Binkley said. “The other day I was reading an article where a realtor did an online interview with basically what was a fraudster who then scanned her image and voice. And was going to use that as part of a loan package to purchase a property.”

When it comes to the mortgage industry, Binkley said in the past it was relatively easy to verify incomes.

Over the past decade, the economy has shifted, and more people are doing gig work or have side hustles.

“Instead of your 40 or 50-year-olds at IBM or something, you have, ‘I’m an Uber driver part time, I’m a Lyft driver second time, and I work in a family restaurant the rest of the time and here’s my pile of tax returns or tax receipts.’ And so really being able to qualify that consumer based on the money that they earn and the taxes that they pay is really important,” Binkley said.

At the same time, this is another area that could be targeted by fraudsters.

“It would not be outside the parameters of a fraud organization to go out and create several bank accounts that have 12-months’ worth of assets and deposits and ongoing deposits, and recycle those through many schemes,” Binkley said. 

“They would reuse these documents. They would, throughout the entire cycle, if you will, of the scheme, they would go into an area and target, say condos, townhomes, and go out and buy them.”

Binkley went on to say that systems are becoming far more integrated to include credit, income, employment, and identity verifications, though some in the industry still lag behind available technology.

When it comes to what drives her to stay in the industry, Binkley said she is energized by all of the automation that can be created with artificial intelligence.

“I’m really excited about that. That’s a big mantra for me this year. And just because I’m coming from the operations world, well, there’s still a lot of manual activity in the operations world. So that’s an excitement today,” Binkley said.

“The risk with that will be keeping it smart and keeping it controlled and documented within the organization. I think that new technology provides new ways for processes and procedures to get overlooked and not documented… And I think that we have to make sure that they stay documented.”

You can learn more about Nation Credit-Reporting System at NCSTRV.com.

The founder and CEO of Fisent Technologies says modern artificial intelligence is laying the groundwork for a technology revolution just as big as the internet.

“You can’t really picture what that will be, but it’s pretty exciting. I think of what it could be,” Adrian Murray said. “I’ve always been incredibly passionate about new technology, always wanting to try out the latest version of whatever it was – a new phone, a new operating system. AI just keeps you going every day because every six weeks, we get something new, or sometimes it’s every other week. Every day, our team is on our internal chat going, ‘Oh my gosh, did you see this release? There’s this new capability, there’s this new parameter. What if we tried that here? What would that do?'”

Fisent Technologies is a software company that is working on the development of Applied GenAI solutions. Located in Toronto, Canada, the company was recently named to the KMWorld 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management 2026 list.

Murray founded Fisent in 2021. Before that, he spent over 10 years focused on financial services technology and operations, both as an executive and subject matter expert on core and digital banking technology as well as compliance, regtech, and payment systems.

Murray recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Scott Kimbler to talk about how Fisent Technologies and AI have evolved over the past five years.    

“Fisent is what we call a company focused around the discipline of applied GenAI process automation. That discipline is relatively new. It’s really the concept of taking generative AI technology and applying it to process automation. So, in the context of most of our customers in financial services, what that means is being able to apply AI to understand and process unstructured content, typically documents, spreadsheets, emails, and images that are coming in as part of a business process, maybe adjudicating a dispute or complaint, onboarding a customer, or reviewing a claim,” Murray said.

“We can step into those workflows using our technology and make sense of the content and context of the process and then structure all of that unstructured data to make it usable for the existing workflow, the onboarding process, or the claims process to drive automation where previously typically a human operator was required to step in.”

Murray said speed is one of the most important value drivers they bring to these processes. What takes humans minutes or even hours can be completed with the same degree of standardization and consistency with AI in seconds.

Murray spoke a bit about his background in finance and how developing the Fisent business model was not his initial intent. With his background in banking technology and operations, Murray originally thought his business model would revolve around something he was a subject matter expert in, but instead, he turned his focus to creating what today is known as Fisent’s BizAI solution, which enables the automation of repetitive business tasks through the application of proprietary and publicly available large language models.

“It became pretty obvious to us pretty quickly. The real product is actually this thing we call BizAI. This AI content processing service. And that’s what we’re in the market with today and have deployed in the mortgage industry pretty widely throughout the U.S.,” Murray said.

Murray said they work with companies across the spectrum, including Fortune 500 companies.

To learn more about Adrian Murray and Fisent, visit Fisent.com.

The president of Spectrum Solutions says timely property preservation protects servicers, improves the safety of neighborhoods, and helps maintain land values.

“The minute that you get a property, you want eyes on it. Meaning you want the guy in the field at the property to assess the condition. You want to know, ‘Is the property secure? Does it need to be secured?'” Talia Ramirez said.

In addition to assessing the property’s condition, servicers need to know whether it has been vandalized, if there are squatters, and if it is overgrown, she said.

Ramirez recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Scott Kimbler to talk about how Spectrum Solutions fits into the servicing landscape. 

Ramirez explained that when a property goes into default, the servicer needs a field service preservation provider to step in. Spectrum Solutions is a national provider that specializes in property renovations and preservation.

“What do we do? We secure the property. We go out to maintain the lawns. If there’s any emergent issues, let’s say the property is flooding, we immediately cure that. Let’s say it has a roof leak. We’ll tarp the roof. We’ll repair the roof. Anything that needs to be done to help maintain the property so that it does not fall further into disrepair.  And ensure that the lawn is not a blight in the neighborhood,” Ramirez said.

As the nation is seeing an increase in the number of foreclosure starts — January saw 42,000 foreclosure starts, the highest monthly total since early 2020 — there is the potential that Spectrum Solutions could see an increase in demand. Ramirez said the most important thing they focus on is educating their clients.

With the majority of her career spent in mortgage servicing, Ramirez said her background in the industry helps.

“My servicing background definitely helps a ton because I know what it’s like to be on that side. I knew what I wanted from my field service providers. I knew the turn times I needed from them, the communication I needed from them, and the transparency that is so critical when it comes to doing this business,” Ramirez said.

“It has also helped me to understand just how important honesty, integrity, and transparency are in being a vendor. My clients truly appreciate that. I may not always have good news for them, but the fact that I am honest about it and that I remediate the issue, they truly appreciate it. And that’s what they value most.”

Kimbler and Ramirez wrapped up by talking about what keeps her passionate about her job.

“Honestly, it’s the feeling that I get from it. It just makes me feel accomplished, makes me feel good. I love delivering for my clients. I love delivering for our neighborhoods. And it’s that finished product. It’s that property you get that is just falling apart. You know, the yard is just seven feet tall, and you look at this property and go, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know that we’re ever going to get this done.’ And then you just sit down, and you figure it out,” Ramierz said.

“Then, when you see the beautiful finished product, and you know what you’ve done for your client, and you know what you’ve done for the neighborhood and for the community, it’s that for me.”

The corporate office for Spectrum Solutions is located in Sheridan, WY. They work with mortgage servicers, mortgage investors, and real estate investors.

#servicers #propertypreservation #mortgagenews 

The president of NEO Home Loans says they specialize in financial education that goes beyond providing a mortgage.

Staying with a borrower after the loan closes gives them an opportunity to build a long-term relationship with borrowers, according to Ryan Grant. 

"That's where we really lean in. 60% of the value we provide is really post-closing to the consumer," Grant said.

He explained that the average person is realizing they need post-close counseling more than the cheapest interest rate or the lowest cost mortgage. When the weight of homeownership is on a person's shoulders, having an ally to help them manage that asset is essential, Grant said.

Grant, a $1.9 billion originator before founding NEO Home Loans powered by Better, recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Scott Kimbler to talk about their national business model, what they offer consumers, and why he believes in building a better borrower experience.

Grant said NEO is licensed in all fifty states. They have a local presence in 27 states where there are physical locations.  

"What we offer to the consumer is just drastically different. And what I believe to be much more valuable than the average mortgage company. The average mortgage company is going to close the loan on time with good customer service, speed, communication, all those things," Grant said. 

"But the after part is where we really focused. If you look at a lot of our client testimonials, the reason why so many families are choosing NEO Home Loans is because they didn't even know that they could get help after closing."

Grant said they help consumers manage this liability and asset, plan for future real estate goals, and help parents and children retire with real estate. 

"When we tell our clients what we do and what our commitment is to the long-term generation of wealth, it's awesome to see their response. And we believe that clients will expect that from their mortgage lenders moving forward," Grant said.

Grant said that when the loan closes, a client success team trained in personal wealth and generational wealth building shows borrowers how to use their app. They also get a personal home concierge that helps them with home maintenance, repairs, and upkeep. 

"We make sure that they are connected with all the right partners that are needed. So, if they want to maximize their tax liabilities, we introduce them to tax planning firms," Grant said. "We want to make sure they have the appropriate life insurance. We want to make sure that if they have an estate plan or will or trust in the event that anything happens. And ultimately, we want to make sure that they, with their new mortgage payment and with their new monthly cash flow, know how to manage that to grow their wealth long term."

After that, NEO Home Loans provides consumers with annual financial reviews and a goal-setting strategy.

"We believe that we should be so proactively engaged with our clients that we help them decide when to buy, sell, or finance properties, and then we just work with them, month in and month out, year in and year out, towards those goals," Grant said.

Because of their partnership with Better, Grant said they get to work with real estate agents and builders that we may not have had the opportunity to, and they have access to the latest technology.

He wrapped up the conversation by encouraging every homeowner to reach out to their own mortgage team or the team at NEO.

“I would just encourage people to be curious. And just know that if you connect with a NEO mortgage advisor, no one’s going to sell you anything. We’re just going to ask you questions about your situation. We’re going to understand your financial goals. We’re going to take a look at the entire scope of your generational chain. And then we’re going to give you some really good advice,” Grant said.

The president of CBC Mortgage Agency says down payment assistance can be a game-changer for prospective homebuyers.

"In today's world, we are so challenged with affordability issues. We're not making any improvements in terms of home ownership rates, particularly in the African American demographic. I think we need all the resources out there to help achieve homeownership. I really am a big supporter of anything that we can do to support down payment assistance," Miki Adams said.

Adams recently sat down with The Mortgage Note's Scott Kimbler to talk about CBC Mortgage Agency, what they offer homebuyers, and the importance of educating the public about the availability of down payment assistance.

"I often come across an Uber driver or taxi driver or even someone in the dental office who asks me what I do. And I talk about it, and they're just surprised. They're stunned. They've been trying to save up their money for a down payment. They figure they'll be ready in about three years. And they're surprised to learn that there is help out there and that they can get started on their home ownership journey now. They don't have to wait three years," Adams said.

Adams said CBC Mortgage Agency was founded by the Cedar Band Corporation in May of 2013. It is headquartered in Cedar City, Utah, and offers down payment resources for buyers in 49 states.

CBC Mortgage Agency's financial assistance can come in the form of a second mortgage that is forgivable after 36 months of on-time payments of the first mortgage.

What makes CBC Mortgage Agency different from other down payment resources is the fact that some of their programs have no income limits. They also offer post-purchase counseling for 18 months, Adams said.

"Since over 90% of our borrowers are first-time home buyers, we recognize the need that they may want a little bit more coaching through their first year and a half or so of owning a home," Adams said.

Adams said CBC Mortgage Agency works with homebuyers from all walks of life, but there is a special interest in helping minorities reach their home ownership goals.

“We focus on it, and that's a big part of why we're here. Because there's a huge need. There's a gap in homeownership for some of our minority communities. Right now, roughly 60% of our down payment assistance goes to minority communities. And low moderate-income communities were roughly about 40% or so. So that is a mission of ours. That's a real focus of ours,” Adams said.

Adams, who has more than 35 years of experience in mortgage banking, started at CBC Mortgage Agency in November of 2016. She was promoted to president in January of 2021.

Kimbler asked Adams what keeps her passionate about her profession, and she said she gets a lot of satisfaction from her job.

"It’s rewarding. It really is, when you can help people, and help people get into homes," Adams said.

"This is probably the best way to close out those last years that I may have. And that's because I have this wonderful opportunity to work with a Native American tribe and continue to help people into homeownership.”

Competitive boxer Megan Castleton says many of the principles she learned in the ring can be applied to business.

“It’s mental over physical. You know how much you can get done, and you know how much you can withstand. So, you’re balancing a career and a life, and this sport and all the demands of this sport. And I think that translates really well into the corporate environment. It instilled a toughness,” Castleton said.

Castleton began boxing as a young woman. What started as a form of exercise and a way to have fun with friends turned into something she has a passion for. And over the years, she has overcome many challenges competing in a sport that is typically dominated by male athletes.

Castleton has also made strides in the financial world. She started her career in the 1990s and has been the chief credit officer at Constructive Capital since December 2024.

Constructive Capital provides capital to a third-party origination network, mainly made up of mortgage brokers who work with real estate investors who use residential transition loans – also known as fix and flip loans – and DSCR-related products.

Castleton recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Scott Kimbler to talk about how she balances boxing and her career. She said during the interview that she has learned to embrace the challenge of being told, “No.”

“Women were not in that sport. You get told, ‘No,’ a lot. That you can’t do this. You can’t do that. You’re never going to be this, you’re never going to be that. And so, you know, for me and my personality, that’s like waving the red flag in front of the bull. It’s like, ‘Okay, well, that’s the challenge, and that’s why I want to take it up,’ And I want to prove that we can,” Castleton said.

Castleton’s background in water polo helps her understand the value of a good team. That translates nicely to the corporate world.

“You become very self-aware as an athlete of what your weaknesses and your strengths are. And you can go out and find those things in your teammates and your team members, and your coaches, the same way that you do in building teams,” Castleton said. “I would say that’s definitely one of the pieces that I use to this day still.”

Sports have also taught her how to handle and adapt to the highs and lows of constantly changing markets.

“If you do not adapt and change to your environment in lending, you go the way of the dinosaur, and there’s just nothing here for you. It’s a constant evolution, the same way that it is in an athlete’s body and mind. It’s a constant evolution of who you are, your skill set, and how you translate those things into the environment around you,” Castleton said.

Castleton moved from the residential consumer space to residential transition loans and DSCR-related products. She was drawn to Constructive Capital because of the leadership team.

“Constructive really understands who brokers are and what brokers need, and what the challenges are that brokers face, and the need for additional revenue streams even in the residential space,” Castleton said.

“We’ve definitely put a lot of money and time into building out our technology. So, I think over the next year or two, what Constructive is right now is going to look entirely different. And that’s so exciting to me because it’s a passion. Constructive has a passion for bigger, faster, stronger. How do we make this a better client experience?”

Castleton also reflected on what keeps her going to work every day. 

“Every day it changes. There’s never been a calm market. I guess you’re always waiting for the shoe to drop. What’s the next thing? What’s the next product? How do I improve this?” Castleton said. “It’s always improving. It’s always changing. And I think that’s what gets me out of bed every day.”

Mortgage lenders are adapting to the needs of consumers, whether they be old school or online.

That's according to John Hummel, head of retail home lending at U.S. Bank, and Shelly Kobb, head of correspondent, warehouse, and HFA lending at U.S. Bank.

Kobb says in many cases, companies are working with clientele who want to work with lenders in person, while also catering to customers who prefer to do as much of the mortgage transaction as they can online.

“You actually have both ends of the spectrum, right? You still have a population that wants to sit down face to face with a loan officer to do the application, all the way to, ‘I just want to do it in the evening from home and not travel to an office,'" Kobb said.

Professionals in the industry are trained to be able to deal with all types of people, and U.S. Bank gives them the tools to do that, Hummel added.

"I think that our position is that we will accommodate you based on what your needs dictate. To Shelly’s point, there are some people that just want to go through our portal and really self-serve. And yet, there are probably still many borrowers out there who really want to sit down in person, or some combination even. Maybe they start by leveraging the technology to get the ball rolling, and then as they get closer to finalizing where they're headed with a transaction, they involve a mortgage loan officer to come in on that end game, so to speak,” Hummel said.

Hummel and Kobb recently sat down with The Mortgage Note's Scott Kimbler to talk about how the industry has changed post-pandemic, their predictions moving forward, and what keeps them passionate about their jobs.

Hummel said there have been a lot of changes in the mortgage lending landscape since 2019.

“We were in a better rate environment pre-pandemic. But I think we were all thinking that things were slowing down a little bit in the industry as a whole. Then the pandemic hit. Rates drop to 3%. And we had a real stretch there between really 2020 through probably 2022, where here at U.S. Bank, we had record-setting volume across really, all the distribution channels," Hummel said.

Now, with rates over 6% for longer than expected, and inventory diminished in many areas of the country, it's a different story.

"The best way to classify it is as kind of a tale of two cities. We had an extremely low-rate environment during that 2020 to 2022 time period, and now we've seen elevated rates ever since, with those continued challenges with the inventory supply,” Hummel said.

Kobb said that even though borrowing has become more difficult, it is still an environment buyers can navigate with the right guidance and understanding.

“I think that this is a little bit unique with the housing shortage supply, but I do see more houses on the market for longer. Prices in some areas are dropping," Kobb said.

"I think from a lending perspective, it's really keeping in touch with past contacts, working with them, keeping relevant, keeping your name in front of them."

People are also using home equity lines of credit and home equity loans to improve where they live if moving isn't necessary. Hummel said he expects more of the same in 2026.

"It'll still be a predominantly heavy purchase market. If we do see a little drift down in rates, we could see some refinance activity because of all the originations that have occurred over the last year and a half that maybe are between 6% and 7%," Hummel said.

U.S. Bancorp, with approximately 70,000 employees and $686 billion in assets as of June 30, 2025, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association. 

#lending #mortgagerates #mortgagenews

The president of Flyhomes says they are seeing more demand as home sellers increasingly want to buy a new place to live before selling the one they are in.

Dan Richards said what started as a company with real estate agents, loan officers, and boots on the ground in Washington, California, Texas, and Massachusetts has expanded to 39 states and Washington, DC. 

And although Flyhomes can cover about 94% of all purchase transactions today, the goal is to be nationwide.

“I would actually say that we’re already there, outside of a handful of states on the coasts, and we’re seeing demand, really, across the board,” Richards said. “We found that buy before you sell is becoming very ubiquitous, that demand is definitely prevalent in pretty much any market.”

Flyhomes has funded $2.2 billion in loans and works with over 30,000 in-network loan officers, according to the company’s website.

Richards said Flyhomes was founded ten years ago as a real estate brokerage in Seattle, Washington.

“Over the years, working kind of boots on the ground directly with home buyers, we developed a lot of unique financial products, guarantees, and things like that to help facilitate the real estate transaction. Over time, we developed mortgage capabilities, built up a mortgage company, and for the majority of our existence over the first eight years or so, we were all direct to consumer,” Richards said.

“One of the products that we pioneered was the concept of buy-before-you-sell bridge lending in order to cover the gap between selling and buying. That process evolved quite a bit over time. We used to buy properties on behalf of home buyers and then resell it to them. Then we evolved into actual mortgage lending. Now that’s exclusively all we do today. So we are a bridge lender, and we operate exclusively through a wholesale channel.”

Richards said that more than 40% of all real estate purchases have some kind of home sale contingency. By allowing home sellers to buy earlier on, it alleviates the stress on all parties in the transaction.

If sellers want to move forward and buy before they sell, this is how it works:

“Let’s say they submit an offer on a new home, they go under contract, and they want to move forward, we’ll put their departing residence under a backup contract. That backup contract gives them six months plus to go sell their home on the open market without needing to sell to us,” Richards said.

“Because we have that backup contract in place, though, the purchase lender who’s working with us can disregard all of the trailing debt on the purchase loan and the DTI calculation that they’re making for the underwriting. And we can also extract equity from their departing residence with our product that we call Instant Equity. It’s a super seamless home equity product, extremely easy and quick to originate. We don’t collect income, assets, employment, verification, anything like that. We rely heavily on the loan officer and the purchase transaction that they’re involved in.  We’re 100% complimentary to the purchase loan that they’re already doing.”

Richards said he understands the entire process can seem daunting for home sellers. That’s where loan officers experienced with these transactions are invaluable.

“It’s a very emotional process, for sure. And you know, we have seen over our lifetime and in my own personal background in this industry, so many people stop there. They get pre-approved, they start shopping, and they go to some open houses. They get excited. And then they realize, ‘Well, maybe I can’t sell my home as quickly as I want, or for as much as I hope,’ or ‘This is just a really complex process.’  And they pull out of the process. We’re hoping that we can really unlock this and provide a lot of certainty and provide a lot more freedom and more movement and more transparency in this process for our buyers,” Richards said.