Texas Mortgage Roundup Recap: A Wholesale Options Discussion
With a full day of networking for mortgage professionals in the San Antonio area, the Texas Mortgage Roundup also featured a discussions about wholesale options for brokers and originators.
National Mortgage Chair Don Frommeyer mediated a panel featuring Allen Middleman, senior vice president of wholesale at Freedom Mortgage, Allen Beydoun, executive vice president of United Wholesale Mortgage; Al Crisanty, regional sales manager, Sierra Pacific Mortgage; Jaye Craft, western regional manager, Citadel Servicing Corp.; and Frank Nolin, account executive, Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions.
Together, the panelists discussed their companies practices and a few expressed some of their major concerns within the mortgage industry. Middleman in particular, expressed a few concerns including independent brokers running their own businesses but failing to follow-up on customers after a loan is closed. He stressed the importance of keeping track of the customer.
Company practices were the obvious highlight, particularly when discussing who the client belongs to after a loan is closed. Is it the wholesaler or the broker who closed the loan?
It was agreed that legally, the loan belongs to the company, however, it is the responsibility of the broker to maintain contact with their client.
"We have a very big retail mortgage division. We will not solicit your client if it came through wholesale," said Middleman.
"They have a one year protection. If you’re good to us we are good to you. There are 20 percent of loans that we may solicit if brokers aren’t doing continuous business with us."
Beydoun had a different take on the solicitation of loans.
"We understand that loans may have to be sent elsewhere. The point is to keep the business in the wholesale," said Beydoun.
"We buy loans not customers. Your customers are your customers."
Middleman responded by stating that there are a lot of legal issues involved and cited the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) as something that brokers should pay attention to.
"Law firms will interpret Respa in many different ways," said Beydoun in response.
"Respa can’t penalize you for giving the loan back to the broker. "
Angel Oak's Frank Caseman was firm on his stance that if a customer reaches out to the company, they immediately point them right back to the person who created the loan.
Middleman was also worried about what he called the "franchisation of a broker." He stated that some brokers are losing independence and urges brokers to use CRMs or even to send out a monthly coupon.
He does believe that brokers are learning more about the complexities in the business and was very enthusiastic about the future.
Meanwhile, Al Crisanty believes that the broker community is performing with a higher level of professionalism. He used maturity and riding through the tough times in the market as possible sources for this but also noticed that there are plenty of younger brokers making their way into the business. Crisanty is also a firm believer in the use of CRMs and sees plenty of importance in them
Jaye Craft added that she is personally seeing better quality loans in the business and agreed that there are more educated brokers as well as positive relationships being built in the community.
Frank Caseman believes that broker confidence is on the rise and they aren't afraid of opening up their own businesses.
UWM's Alan Beydoun had a more direct take on what he was starting to see in the community.
"Big lenders/big retailers scared brokers and what they did was harm the broker channel and pigeon-hold them into their tech," said Beydoun during the discussion.
"We’re starting to see brokers leave and open their own shops. LO’s moving back into brokering. We sponsored over $600,000 with Namb kickstart to have brokers kickstart their own shops."
Beydoun is firm believer in working with your own branch as a broker because you are able to offer better products.
Perhaps some of the most interesting conversation during the panel was brought up when talking about broker feedback. Some of the panelists believed that an advisory committee is the way to go when handling concerns of a broker.
Though, Caseman is concerned about advisory committees turning into a group meeting where personal issues are being discussed ahead of broker issues.
Craft revealed that Citadel does not act with an advisory board and stated that the company tries to handle broker concerns on a more individual basis.
The conversation that took place on the stage of the Pavo Real room was important for the broker community and also important for the relationship of wholesale companies and mortgage brokers.
"What’s really great about this is opening up dialogue and hearing different point of views are fantastic," said Crisanty.
