The Mortgage Note Podcast

Lower is expanding at the national level, and leaders there say it’s a good time for loan originators to look around and make sure they are aligned with the companies they work with.

“We are an originator-centric company, and everything that we do, every breath that I take, is to make sure that everything I’m doing is going to benefit our current origination staff and future originators that we work with. Everybody goes to the doctor, or should go to the doctor, once a year for their checkup. I would just encourage every originator out there, whether you’re a bank originator, whether you’re a broker, to think about doing a checkup and taking a look at the tools, the resources, the support, and the dedication that Lower offers,” Craig Montgomery said.

Montgomery is the chief strategy officer and head of retail lending at Lower. He said that the company, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, has had a positive trajectory in the last two years, and they plan to build on that.

“I’m not going to stand up here and proclaim that I’m in the top five, but honestly, I really don’t care. We are very comfortable in our own skin, and we are doing great things,” Montgomery said.

Lower is an independent mortgage bank that was co-founded in 2014 by CEO Dan Snyder with the goal of not just digitizing mortgages, but rethinking the system around them. Since then, the company has grown into a national brand with about 130 branch locations throughout the country.

Editor Kimberley Haas recently sat down with Montgomery to learn more about Lower, its current push for originators, and how technology will shape their business. 

Lower currently has about 500 loan originators. Montgomery said that as they grow, they are looking for originators who are passionate about their work and consider it their full-time job. That way, they can bring that LO’s business to the next level.

“I focus less on a specific number of people that I want to add, and I really concentrate on the type of person that I want to add. I want to add that originator that is dedicated and committed to achieving professional and financial growth,” Montgomery said.

“There’s nothing more rewarding for me than to take someone that is currently doing about $10 or $15 million, $20 million or $25 million, and then watch them grow over the next 12 to 24 months.”

Montgomery said 17 people that he recruited over the course of the past two years have risen to become top 50 originators for the company.

When it comes to technology and lending, Montgomery said Lower is developing proprietary loan origination and point-of-sale software that is expected to roll out in 2027.

“One of the things that LowerOS is going to allow us to do is to have an unlimited number of people working in the file at any given time. So, just think of it this way: If 10 people are in the file, all doing their specific task, how much faster will that loan move through the workflows, or the stages, when one person doesn’t have to wait for another?” Montgomery said.

Montgomery said the goal is to reduce the loan approval process for consumers. Currently, it takes 17.9 days, and they want to make that 14.

Montgomery said the impact of AI is significant in the mortgage industry and in every other type of business that is building for the future.

“I’m not an AI expert, and I certainly don’t want to play one, but I will tell you that there is a race going on in every area of business, whether it’s mortgages or banking or whatever it is, to bring AI in to improve efficiencies and to speed up the process. I’ll give you an example: a condo package usually takes about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half to review. Today we’re reviewing those in 35 minutes,” Montgomery said.

“That’s just one example. I don’t think AI, in my personal opinion, is going to replace individuals, and when I say replace individuals, we’re not using AI to eliminate positions. We are using AI to create better efficiencies.”

Where is Lower expanding?

In January, Lower acquired Acopia Home Loans, a residential mortgage lender with a presence across the Southeast. The acquisition strengthened Lower’s regional footprint, adding more than $425 million in annual production, 14 branch locations, and ​​36 loan originators. 

In Texas, a new Austin office with a 10,000-square-foot workspace was opened in July. The workspace is for nearly 70 employees from Lower’s mortgage and real estate divisions and followed the company’s acquisition of the Movoto real estate platform last year.

#lending #technology #mortgagenews

The director of marketing at Assurance Financial says in a world where people are inundated with AI bots, having a relationship with a trusted loan originator matters.

“I think all of us, at some point or another, feel a little bit overwhelmed with the amount of automation and the amount of AI that is taking over our world,” Jessica Thames said.

“The home purchase process, whether it's your first time buying or it's your 15th investment property or 10th refinance, whatever phase that you are in, having an originator to pick up the phone, and again, not being sent to an AI queue, is important.”

Thames said Assurance Financial has invested in technology to help loan originators and borrowers, but they feel it is important for LOs and the people they are working with to have a direct connection without AI bots interceding.

“There is a time and place for all of that, but we don't think that is in the home purchase process or the refinance process,” Thames said.

Assurance Financial was founded in 2001 and is an independent, full-service residential mortgage banker that is licensed in 36 states. It is celebrating its 25th year in business.

Thames recently sat down with Editor Kimberley Haas to talk about the advantages Assurance Financial offers to loan originators and borrowers.

Thames said every resource Assurance Financial has is shared with loan originators to help them succeed.

“At our core, we want to help people. We want to help our originators, we want to help our agents, we want to help our clients, and our originators can't be the best version of themselves and the most successful they can be if they don't have those resources and if they don't have the training for those resources,” Thames said.

She highlighted their customer intelligence tool that notifies originators when there could be an opportunity with a past client, as well as SEO and retargeting campaigns that keep LOs in Google searches and social media feeds.

Assurance Financial is also pushing LOs on ChatGPT.

“When they show up in that ChatGPT search result, that is all based on the SEO strategy that we have in place and the retargeting strategy that we have in place on their behalf to help them generate leads. At the end of the day, that's where that lead came from,” Thames said.

“The loan originator doesn't feel that. We don't need them to feel that. We just need them to have the tools.”

Thames said when it comes to technology for borrowers, Assurance Financial has implemented a new point of sale that allows them to upload their documents seamlessly.

“They have a portal, so everything that they need is in one place, and it makes it incredibly easy for them. And when we can make the process easy for our borrowers, we know that we build trust, and we know that we make it an easier, simpler process, which is what everyone's looking for today,” Thames said.

In August, Assurance Financial announced the launch of Assurance Cares, a nonprofit organization created to build on the company’s commitment to philanthropy and expand its impact in communities across the country.

They already have a long-standing philanthropic relationship with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Assurance has contributed nearly $800,000 in support of St. Jude and its mission.

#lending #homebuying #mortgagenews

There is nothing that breaks Lloyd Igbokwe's heart more than seeing a family lose their home to foreclosure. Especially foreclosures that can be prevented.

Igbokwe said that he has seen neighbors have their home taken away after living there for more than 30 years. They bought the home at $100,000, and over time it grew in valuation to $500,000. The retirees couldn't keep up with the property taxes.

"The home was fully paid off, but because the property tax is now on half a million dollars, and they bought it for $100,000, they kicked them out. And this is where their kids grew up. So, it was sad watching this happen to these families. And those are the things that really upset me and why I created this program,” Igbokwe said.

Igbokwe is a Houston-based mortgage risk strategist and creator of The Mortgage Survival Playbook 2026. He has experience in finance and technology. For five years, he worked as an executive consultant in AI strategy and value realization with JPMorganChase. 

Although Igbokwe has compassion for all people going through foreclosure, his playbook is geared toward lending institutions and focuses on what can be done to detect a future foreclosure problem before late payments are made. Igbokwe recently sat down with Scott Kimbler to tell The Mortgage Note more.

Igbokwe said his professional and personal experience guided him as he poured over public data and worked to figure out how lending institutions can find files where changes have been made that indicate a person is having financial difficulties. An example of a small but subtle change could be the method of payment, switching from check to cash or vice versa.

"Our goal is for you to find family members and people who are three months before the chance of going into default so you can start a process of ‘How do I restructure the mortgage payment so they don't have to go through default?’" Igbokwe said.

"It's a huge deal because most families. Their whole life savings is in their home. And when you take that away from them, you create an enemy for life. And I feel that banks don't understand, that mortgage companies don't understand that. So, I created a self-guided playbook on how they can prevent that from happening.”

Igbokwe went on to further explain how the program guide works. As part of the 90-day prevention plan, there are individual score models, risk reliance factors, and an assignment band.

Igbokwe said that lending institutions should work with families to keep them in their homes, even if it takes up to a year for them to get into better financial health, because if they do, they will keep a customer and advocate for life. If not, the houses that are put up for auction could sit vacant in today's economy.

He said that from January to May of 2026, more than 201,500 homes went into foreclosure. ATTOM reported 39,906 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in July 2026, including default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions. That’s up 1% from June and 10% YOY.

"It's a huge deal with all these homes going into foreclosure and at these auctions where people buy homes, people are not showing up to buy homes because they know they don't have somebody to move into the home to keep up the payments. So, it's just sitting there and just collecting dust, and they can't get rid of these homes," Igbokwe said of what he is seeing.

"It's better to keep the family in the home, since they've invested so much money to the home and to the property and to the bank, than to kick them out. And we give a process of how you identify them and how you restructure the payments so they're able to stay in their home rather than to foreclose on the home.”

Igbokwe said the ultimate goal for lending institutions - and other entities that can foreclose on a property - should be not getting the money right away, especially with people who have paid on time for many years.

“Because you know that as long as there are your customers, they'll bring in more people to you because they're going to remember you were there for them through the hard times," Igbokwe said. "They can then be a word of mouth to go and tell other people why they should come and put their home with you for a mortgage rather than somebody else. So, all that happens when you're with the mortgage, when you're with the homeowner, through the hard times. Through the good times, everybody's with you. But through the hard times, when you're with the homeowner, that's when it matters the most."

Leaders at lending institutions can learn more about Igbokwe and The Mortgage Survival Playbook at mortgagesurvivalplaybook.com.

#foreclosureprevention #servicing #mortgagenews

The CEO of Homium says that to compete in today’s K-shaped economy, first-time buyers need either a rich uncle or a financial partner to help them come up with a down payment for a home.

Marcus Martin has almost 30 years of experience in social impact and financial innovation work. He said that even though many buyers can afford the monthly payment on a home, pulling together cash for a down payment is difficult in the current housing market.

“Effectively, buyers don’t have that $50 to $75 grand we’re seeing now in the markets to get to at least 10% and close to 20% down, and that is becoming just a complete wall that does not allow most working-class families to access home loans. And it’s a structural change in the country, and we’re hopefully trying to address some of those concerns through conversation, but also obviously through action with product in the market that addresses the affordability gap,” Martin said.

Homium has a shared appreciation model that reserves a fixed percentage of a home’s appreciation instead of charging interest. For first-time buyers, programs active in both the city of Detroit and the state of Utah are helping people. In Detroit, the model is active through the Tobias Harris Homeownership Initiative.

Editor Kimberley Haas recently sat down with Martin to learn more about Homium’s model and why it is a working solution for the buyers it serves. 

According to a recent LendingTree report, four in 10 homeowners received financial help with the down payment on their current home, including nearly 80% of Gen Z homeowners. More than a third of those who got help say they wouldn’t have been able to buy their home without it.

Most of that help comes from family members through a gift or an inheritance, but down payment assistance programs have become popular, and states like Massachusetts are offering interest-free down payment programs.

There are also models like Homium’s, which offers homebuyers a second lien mortgage that takes a share of future appreciation.

“We’ve heard people say it kind of becomes the rich uncle scheme, right? But many of us don’t have that rich uncle, so the Homium program sort of operates in that co-investor position in a very fair, transparent, safe way,” Martin said. “It is purely the principal plus any appreciation on a pro rata basis, one to one.”

Martin said Homium’s program is one tool that can be used to make home purchases easier for people. Another area where he sees room for improvement is with credit readiness.

“It’s more complex than just general credit repair for a lot of families, and it probably requires more financially advisory-intensive solutions in the market,” Martin said.

Homium also supports legislative changes to attract more capital from private investors.

They support the bipartisan Shared Home Appreciation for Residential Equity Act. Introduced in March, it incentivizes investment in shared appreciation mortgages for new homebuyers, according to U.S. Rep. Blake Moore, R-UT.

“We’re really hopeful that this tax bill could spur a tax exemption for capital gains for investors who could come in and participate in these really structured pools to help working-class and low- to moderate-income families access homeownership,” Martin said.

Martin said action is needed now on all fronts, because many people on the bottom half of the K-shaped economy are unable to achieve homeownership without down payment help.

“When we think about our hardest-working families that have very good jobs and consistently generate the income needed, they’re entry constrained. And if we can’t continue to focus on how to adjust or bring down the wall of entry, we’ll get to a place where really no American is able to afford a home, and the K-shaped economy is set in stone,” Martin said.

First-time homebuyers’ monthly mortgage payments average about $2,565, and the ability to afford homeownership has declined since the beginning of the year, according to CNBC.

Is the K-shaped economy really a problem?

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has declared the K-shaped economy over as some data suggests wage and spending gaps between most higher-income and lower-income households are beginning to close.

But worries over housing costs have continued to haunt lower- and middle-class earners. And recent results from retailers like Home Depot and Walmart reinforce the K-shaped economy narrative, with lower-income shoppers cutting back while wealthier consumers continue big-ticket spending.

A report from U.S. Bank’s Economic Research Group shows that the K-shaped economy isn’t new. The term to describe the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer may have emerged during the Covid pandemic, but widening financial inequality in the United States has been problematic for decades.

The executive director of the Gilbert Family Foundation and Rocket Community Fund says everyone deserves a safe place to call home.

“You really cannot see success in education, in your work life, in your community life, without first having that stable foundation of a home, and in the city of Detroit, there are so many opportunities to support housing stability,” Laura Grannemann told The Mortgage Note.

At the Gilbert Family Foundation and Rocket Community Fund, they are putting money where their mouth is, and the organizations are at the midpoint of a $500 million, ten-year commitment to the city of Detroit. Five years in, about $300,000 has been deployed through more than 300 nonprofit partnerships to advance stable housing, economic development, and community investment in Detroit and Cleveland.

“Behind every dollar is a family who didn’t lose their home to tax foreclosure. A renter who had legal representation when they needed it most. A young Detroiter who landed their first paid internship. A homeowner whose roof no longer leaks. A family that was able to enjoy a vibrant new park within walking distance of their home,” Grannemann posted on LinkedIn this spring.

Grannemann recently sat down with Editor Kimberley Haas to talk more about the way the two organizations are showing their commitments to the city where Rocket Companies is headquartered.

Grannemann explained that the Rocket Community Fund is the philanthropic arm of Rocket Companies, and its focus is on helping as many Americans as possible get access to stable housing and home ownership. The Gilbert Family Foundation is the private family foundation associated with Dan Gilbert, who is the founder and chairman of Rocket Companies.

“The two organizations are actually run together. I’m the executive director of both because we overlap so significantly around our work focused in the city of Detroit. So while the Rocket Community Fund is focused on homeownership primarily, the Gilbert Family Foundation in Detroit works on other elements of housing stability, arts and culture, public space, and economic mobility,” Grannemann said.

Grannemann laid out the challenges of the people living in Detroit. She said there is an aging housing stock that is difficult to finance. At the same time, property tax foreclosure is an issue for homeowners.

Putting money toward property tax foreclosure relief was the first investment made with the $500 million commitment.

“There actually is a property tax exemption for individuals who are below a certain income level. It’s about 130% of the federal poverty line, and we essentially said, ‘If you can apply for that exemption, which will cover your current year’s property taxes, the Gilbert Family Foundation will wipe out all of your back taxes,’ and that allowed people to have a clean slate,” Grannemann said.

“And now that they know about the tax exemption, they’re able on an annual basis to get access to that tax exemption. When we first started this work, we had about 3,000 people annually applying for that tax exemption. Today, we have closer to 25,000 people annually applying for that tax exemption.”

The result is a 95% decrease in property tax foreclosure in Detroit, Grannemann said. This helps not only homeowners, but renters at risk of eviction due to their landlords’ delinquencies, because Rocket Community Fund pays the back taxes and then offers those tenants the first right to purchase the home through a program called Make It Home. Close to 170 families took advantage of this program in 2025.

Another way Detroit renters are supported is through the Detroit Eviction Defense Fund. Leaders at the Gilbert Family Foundation started the fund in 2022 with a $12 million three-year investment on the premise that only 4% of tenants have access to legal representation during eviction processes, compared to 83% of landlords.

Grannemann said that because of a continued commitment to helping those tenants, over 10,000 families have been able to stay in their rental homes.

Promoting economic mobility for the residents of Detroit is another major initiative Grannemann and her team are involved in because once people have stable housing and employment, a city can flourish.

“We talked to many of the people that we serve, and about 50% of the families that we talked to had some type of side hustle, some type of business that they were operating on the side. But the vast majority of those individuals, they weren’t certified, they didn’t have licenses, they didn’t know how to scale or what resources could help them scale this sort of side hustle or business that they had, and so that’s a significant portion of the work that we do: investing in helping people build their own businesses and helping small businesses that exist be able to access resources to scale, perhaps become the next Rocket Companies,” Grannemann said.

#givingback #lending #mortgagenews

Industry leaders specialized in helping enterprises unlock the power of AI say it will change the way mortgages are originated and serviced in America.

“I see AI as a technology that is in line with computers, the internet, smartphones, and the Cloud, which has changed the way mankind has lived on this planet,” Sundeep Mathur, vice president of fintech at Tavant, said.

Tavant is headquartered in Silicon Valley and operates globally, with offices and development centers in the US, Europe, India, and Japan. The company delivers intelligent automation and AI-driven business transformation to Fortune 500 enterprises in financial services and other sectors.

Mathur and Sandeep Shivam, associate director of fintech, recently sat down with Editor Kimberley Haas to talk about Tavant’s automation platform and what new technologies can do for lenders. 

Shivam said their automation platform is primarily used by underwriters who want it for credit analysis, income verification, asset verification, and other tasks that can be done while they are away from the office.

“That’s where the system helps, providing all inputs to an underwriter, which will help an underwriter make quicker decisions. Rather than spending six hours in a particular loan file, they can probably spend less than an hour to arrive at a conclusion and make a decision,” Shivam said.

Mathur said in addition to the automation layer of their platform – where the heavy lifting is happening – there is an experience layer that provides one platform for consumers and loan officers to share information, as well as a connectivity layer. He said their platform can be used for origination and servicing.

What does this look like for lenders?

Shivam said from an AI perspective, “These tools and technologies are so powerful and getting better and stronger every day, but we want to help customers apply them in the space where we can do it safely, and still capture ROI.”

He said everyone in the industry is hoping to reduce costs while staying compliant. Tavant helps them identify the areas where the implementation of technology can help them do so.

Mathur said they have seen significant improvement with conversion rates and cycle times. He envisions a future where, if a person decides to buy a home, they can have it within days, not weeks. That’s not possible today.

“Regulations do not allow you, but technology has to prove to regulators that we are good enough to make it happen. Like if you want to buy a car, it can be done in a day, but if you want to buy a house, regulations will not allow you to make it happen in 10 days. So if we prove as a technology that we can make it happen, then regulators will also be flexible,” Mathur said.

“All I’m trying to say is AI has that potential to change the way we have done mortgage in the United States,” he added.

Shivam said business leaders who wrap their heads around the impact AI will have on the mortgage industry will be the ones who get ahead.

“This is going to change how our business process works, and the sooner the compliance team, the legal team, sales team, operations, servicing, everybody starts to get comfortable with the technology and hunts for the opportunities within their own business processes where they can get value, the sooner they start that process, the sooner they’ll be the organization that will capture value,” Shivam said.

Earlier this year, leaders at Tavant announced the company was named to HousingWire’s 2026 Tech100 list for Mortgage and Real Estate. This was the eighth consecutive year Tavant has been named to HousingWire’s list.

#artificialintelligence #technology #mortgagenews

The general manager of mortgage at Ocrolus says lenders who are planning long-term for the cyclical nature of the industry want technology to help their teams absorb both growth and decreases in demand.

“I think the lenders that are able to build the infrastructure that absorbs those changes effectively are able to give a better borrower experience. I think they’re the ones who are going to be able to take full advantage of the downturn in rates that I know is coming and have a great outcome both for them as an organization, but also for their customers,” Nadia Aziz said.

Ocrolus is an AI-driven workflow and analytics platform for lenders. The company transforms financial documents and digital data into regulatory-grade decision intelligence.

“Our goal is to help lenders scale more efficiently, lower costs, reduce risk, and enhance the overall borrower experience. We sit at the center of one of the most complex parts of the lending process, and that is taking borrower documents and converting them into decision-grade data that can then be used throughout the process,” Aziz said.

The platform analyzes about 750,000 credit applications a month. It is trusted by over 400 customers and was named a finalist for Best AI Solution during the 2026 Banking Tech Awards.

Aziz recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Editor Kimberley Haas to talk about how lenders can adapt to demand changes with technology. 

Aziz said traditionally, mortgage lenders hired staff members when there was growth, and then let them go when demand dropped. She said that has to change.

“That isn’t a quick way of solving the issue. It’s not a cheap way of solving the issue. It certainly is disruptive from a morale and a culture perspective, so I think lenders are recognizing more and more that you have to find a way to solve for that through technology, and that’s kind of how I think about the tools and the platform that we are building. It’s really, to me, like a shock absorber,” Aziz said.

That means when volume fluctuates, lenders aren’t suddenly scrambling to hire and train staff members, just to let them go when demand drops.

At the same time, artificial intelligence is not meant to replace the human judgment that loan officers have.

“It’s meant to allow them to actually be more productive and spend their time on the things that actually require that human judgment, but again, you’re using technology to surface those things for them, so that they know where they should be spending their time, and not instead having to look at stuff that was pretty straightforward, pretty plain vanilla, and can be handled by leveraging AI and automation,” Aziz said.

On the consumer side, Aziz said the demand for automation and the use of artificial intelligence is there, and lenders can help consumers by making the borrowing process more like everyday life. People want to be able to upload their documents and have access to the kind of technology where the necessary application fields are prepopulated, similar to an online job application.

They also look forward to a future where they are told instantaneously if the documentation they provided to secure a loan is correct.

“I think any survey that you look at from borrowers and what is their biggest pain point in mortgage originations processes, it is, ‘I’m asked for the same document again and again,’ right?” Aziz said. “And so I think that is very important for us to think about.”

Ocrolus was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in the Financial District in New York City.

#lending #technology #mortgagenews

Finding the right technology to support – and not replace – loan officers is the name of the game for industry professionals like Jim Clapp.

Clapp is the chief lending officer at Assurance Financial. He started at the company in October of 2024, but has years of experience in the financial services and mortgage industries.

Assurance Financial was founded in 2001 and is an independent, full-service residential mortgage banker that is licensed in 36 states. It is celebrating its 25th year in business in 2026.

Clapp recently sat down with Editor Kimberley Haas for a podcast. He spoke about what makes Assurance Financial stand out, their integration of technology, and what excites him about the future of lending. 

Clapp said what sets Assurance Financial apart from other lenders is the boutique experience, which is hard to come by today because many financial institutions that offer mortgages have outgrown the ability to offer a personal touch due to their growth over the last 20 years.

“There was the period of very low interest rates that produced a lot of big to upper middle mortgage banks, and that’s great. Those companies have a lot to offer, but they also have some challenges, and so those challenges ultimately present themselves in bureaucracy and red tape and layers and things like that,” Clapp said.

“We have carved out a space for Assurance, which is this billion-dollar, billion-dollar-plus spot, where we think we are more nimble and we can offer the best of both worlds.”

Clapp said that means offering great products and technology while still having that small-town feel where customers know the names of the people they can call if they have questions or need help.

Clapp said this also means that the people who work for Assurance are loyal. Many of them have been with the company for more than 10 years, he said.

A Closer Look At The Technology Assurance Is Using

When it comes to harnessing technology to better serve customers and aid employees, Clapp said turnaround for approval times is getting shorter, especially if the appraisal is data-driven. They would like to eventually shorten their cycle time from 30 days to seven.

“We’ve reached the tipping point with AI, machine learning, and automation, where I think as companies we have to rethink that and embrace that, because ultimately it will drive a better experience for the customer. It will lower your cost. It will ultimately allow you to compete better and provide – I’m going to call it margin preservation,” Clapp said.

Clapp said in today’s world, the only way that lending companies can improve their margins is by working on the expense side, and that’s why there is so much talk about automation and AI.

Assurance is currently using Ava, an automated intelligence assistant designed to support loan originators by ensuring clients are aware of when rates drop.

“Ava is making an outbound call to that customer, and basically introducing them as an assistant, and saying, ‘Hey, I understand you might be looking for a house. Would you be interested in talking to your loan officer, Steve?’ At the same time, if they have a phone call that’s going on, another version of Ava is making contact with the loan officer, and hoping to do a warm transfer, and so it’s relentless, it’s fast, it’s efficient, and I’d say largely welcomed by our loan officers,” Clapp said.

Looking Forward In 2026 And Beyond

Clapp said after a few slow years for the mortgage industry, everyone in the business is looking forward to things picking up again.

When asked what excites him for the future, he said, “In the mortgage business, I think people want to feel like they’re part of a growing company, and it’s fun when it does grow, and people are part of that, and they feel like they’re part of helping move the company to a different plateau. So that’s what excites me, growing and doing it smartly.”

#lending #technology #mortgagenews 

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