National Mortgage Professional Magazine - January 2013

PRESORTED STANDARDU.S. POSTAGE PAIDNMP MEDIA CORP.

NMP MEDIA CORP.1220 WANTAGH AVENUEWANTAGH, NEW YORK 11793

A Special Look at “Mortgage Industry Employment”Changing Market Opportunities By Eddy Perez ................42Lessons From the Road: How to Hire Great Salespeople By Chris Sullivan ............................................43A Framework for Evaluating Recruiters By Steve Rennie ..44How to Keep Employees Happy By Kerry Elam ................45Boost Your Employee Performance in the New Year By Tyler Sherman ................................................46What to Do When You’re Hated at Work By Jean Kelley ..482013 Who’s Hiring Report & Featured Listings ............54

FeaturesThinking Outside the Box Can Help Grow Your Referral Base By Jake Soley ........................................4The Elite Performer: The 2013 Mortgage Professional and Real Estate Agent By Andy W. Harris, CRMS ........................................................4Three Reasons You Should Join the Professionals at Direwctly.com By Carolyn Warren ....................................6NCRA Celebrates 20th Anniversary at Tampa Conference By Terry W. Clemans ..........................8Growth Strategies for the New Year: It’s All About Relationships By Sue Woodard ......................10Lykken on Leadership By David Lykken ..............................14For Managers Only: Firing the Wrong People By Dave Hershman................................................................18NAMB Perspective..........................................................20The Heart of the Profession: Don Fader Recognized as NAMB’s Mortgage Professional of the Year By David J. Coster ................................................................232013: Wholesale Rising By Al Crisanty................................24Compliance and Marketing 2013: Safely Growing Your Business ................................................................26Applying SWOT to the Mortgage Industry By Jean LeBlanc ..................................................................26Throwing a Lifesaver to Underwater Borrowers By Jonathan Foxx..................................................................28No Changes to 2013 Conventional Loan Limits By Melanie A. Feliciano Esq. ....................................................30Bonded With NAMB: All Bonds Are Not Created Equal By Mason Grashot, CPA ........................................................32NMP Mortgage Professional of the Month: Charles Wagner of CBC National Bank By David J. Coster..........34USA Cares Mortgage Heroes: Norman Zolkos of Menlo Park Funding By Jennifer Robinson ......................35A New Era for Mortgage Closings? By Richard Peter Stevens and Andrew Liput ................................38360 Mortgage Group: An Interview With Mark Greco ..50How the Global Economy Will Impact U.S. Mortgages By Barbara Zigah ..................................................................52Zero for Heroes By Greg Frost Jr. ......................................63

Visit Our

ADVERTISERS

1

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

America’s Choice Home Loans .......................... www.achlonline.com ............................................25

Brokers Compliance Group................................ www.brokerscompliancegroup.com ........................31

Calyx Software ................................................ www.calyxsoftware.com ......................................12

CBC National Bank .......................................... www.cbconnex.com ............................................14

Credit Plus, Inc. .............................................. www.creditplus.com ..............................................9

Data Facts........................................................ www.datafacts.com ..............................................47

Document Systems, Inc./DocMagic .................... www.docmagic.com ............................................29

FindMortgageJobs.com .................................... www.findmortgagejobs.com ..................................48

First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. .......................... www.fgmcwholesale.com ......................................49

Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company .............. www.joinGHMC.com ............................................15

HomeBridge .................................................... www.homebridgewholesale.com ..........................11

Hometown Lenders ........................................www.whotookmybacon.com ..................................13

Icon Residential Lenders, LLC ............................ www.iconwholesale.com ......................................17

Meadowbrook Financial Mortgage Bankers Corp. .. www.mortgagesalesjob.com ..................................33

Menlo Park Funding ........................................ www.menloparkfunding.com ................................19

NAPMW .......................................................... www.napmw.org ..................................................16

PB Financial Group Corp. .................................. www.pbfinancialgrp.com ......................................12

Power Training LLC .......................................... www.maccelcoach.com/webinars ..........................27

REMN (Real Estate Mortgage Network)................ www.remnwholesale.com ......................................7

Residential Home Funding Corp. ...................... www.RHFBranch.com ..........................................37

Service First Mortgage ...................................... www.servicefirstmtg.com ......................................19

Streetlinks LLC ................................................ www.streetlinks.com ....................Inside Front Cover

TagQuest ........................................................ www.tagquest.com ..............................................39

The Bond Exchange .......................................... www.thebondexchange.com ................................18

Titan List & Mailing Services, Inc. ...................... www.titanlists.com ................................Inside Back

United States Appraisals .................................. www.unitedstatesappraisals.com ............................5

United Wholesale Mortgage .............................. www.uwm.com ........................................Back Cover

National Mortgage Professional Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTSNA

TION

AL M

ORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

MAGAZINE

NMPNMPJanuary 2013 Volume 5, Number 1 Company Web Site Page

From The Publisher’s DeskJanuary 2013Volume 5 • Number 1

1220 Wantagh Avenue • Wantagh, NY 11793-2202Phone: (516) 409-5555 • Fax: (516) 409-4600

Web site: NationalMortgageProfessional.comSTAFF

Eric C. PeckEditor-in-Chief

(516) 409-5555, ext. [email protected]

Joel M. BermanPublisher - CEO


David J. CosterSenior Editor

[email protected]

Joey ArendtArt Director

[email protected]

Jon BlakeAdvertising Coordinator(516) 409-5555, ext. 301

[email protected]

Beverly KoondelNational Account Executive


Scott KoondelBilling Coordinator


ADVERTISINGTo receive any information regarding advertising rates, deadlines andrequirements, please contact National Account Executive Beverly Koondelat (516) 409-5555, ext. 316 or e-mail [email protected].

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS/PRESS RELEASESTo submit any material, including articles and press releases, pleasecontact Editor-in-Chief Eric C. Peck at (516) 409-5555, ext. 312 or [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is the first ofthe month prior to the target issue.

SUBSCRIPTIONSTo receive subscription information, please call (516) 409-5555, ext.301; e-mail [email protected] or visit www.nationalmort-gageprofessional.com. Any subscription changes may be made to theattention of “Circulation” via fax to (516) 409-4600.

Statements, articles and opinions in National Mortgage Professional Magazineare the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply the opinion orendorsement of NMP Media Corp., or the officers or members of NationalAssociation of Mortgage Brokers and its State Affiliates (NAMB), NationalAssociation of Professional Mortgage Women (NAPMW), National CreditReporting Association (NCRA) and/or other state mortgage trade associations.

Participation in NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA, and/or other state mortgagetrade associations events, activities and/or publications is available ona non-discriminatory basis and does not reflect the endorsement of theproduct and/or services by NMP Media Corp., NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA,and other state mortgage trade associations.

National Mortgage Professional Magazine, NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA,and/or other state mortgage trade associations do not make any misrepre-sentations or warranties concerning the regulatory and/or complianceaspects of advertisers, products or services and/or the editorial content con-tained in NMP Media Corp. publications. National Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine and NMP Media Corp. reserve the right to edit, reject and/or post-pone the publication of any articles, information or data.

NATI

ONAL

MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

MAGAZINE

NMPNMP

CFPB starting 2013 off with a bangAs the dust begins to settle on 2012 and we enter a new year, the Consumer FiancialProtection Bureau (CFPB) has started the year off with a bang … throwing a boatloadof new rules and regulations at the mortgage industry. Over the course of one week, theCFPB submitted proposed rules on everything from qualified mortgages (QMs), to abili-ty-to-repay, loan originator (LO) compensation requirements, to appraisals … all underthe terms and conditions of the Dodd-Frank Act in order to simplify the homebuyingprocess for the consumer and streamline the housing finance industry. Have no fear asyour industry trade associations are hard at work scouring over the pages of all these

new regulations and getting the word out about any ill effects they may have to your business. I urge youto stay tuned to NationalMortgageProfessional.com as your daily update and guide to tracking the progressof the CFPB’s measures and how you must alter your business practices in order to remain in compliancewith this ever-changing mortgage landscape.

Views from VegasI had the privilege of attending the inaugural NAMB National Conference in early December at the MGMGrand in Las Vegas. While its has been nearly 20 years since I last originated a loan, I still pride myself inhaving my roots grown deep in the industry. Although I have moved on from my role as a mortgage bro-ker, I like to describe myself as magazine publisher who thinks like a mortgage broker. With nearly 1,400total attendees at NAMB’s inaugural NAMB National Conference, it was quite evident to me that the mort-gage broker is back and is growing in strength. With an upbeat report on the state of the industry to kickoff 2013, I would like to reflect on what I saw at NAMB National that gave me a great level of satisfactionand serves as the foundation for this missive.

According to a 2004 study by Wholesale Access Mortgage Research & Consulting Inc., there are approxi-mately 53,000 mortgage brokerage companies that employ an estimated 418,700 employees and originat-ed 68 percent of all residential loans in the U.S. Over the years, the mortgage broker lost their foothold ontheir share and their current market share dipped to around 20 percent of all U.S. residential mortgages.But, that number is growing daily and is projected to reach in excess of 30 percent in 2013. Attending anevent of this size and magnitude is physical proof to the re-emergence of the mortgage broker in the mort-gage marketplace. The education and tips taken from the sessions at NAMB National are things I plan toimplement into my own day-to-day business plan. I would equate the ambiance and vibe of this show tothe NAMB Annual Conventions of the late 1990s-early 2000s. Sure, some things have changed, but arenewed spirit of market resurgence and industry rebound are the primary characteristics I will take fromthis event.

NAMB keeps the information coming as in less that two months, the association will descend uponWashington, D.C. for the NAMB 2013 Annual Legislative & Regulatory Conference. You have heard the term“must-attend” event thrown around promoting things, but with all of the changes that the CFPB threw atthe mortgage industry to start the new year, what better place to get yourself up to date with all of thesechanges than with your peers in our Nation’s Capitol. Also as part of the event, you will have the uniqueopportunity to lobby on Capitol Hill and meet with your elected officials. Learn the inner-workings of thelegislative arena and march with your peers in face-to-face meetings with your senators and representa-tives and let them know how you feel about the government’s policies and regulations. Take advantage ofthe opportunity to educate your D.C. decision-makers on just what you do for their constituents and howtheir votes in the hallowed halls of Congress can and will impact you as well as their voters.

This month’s focus …This month, we take a closer look at mortgage industry employment. Are you happy with your current sit-uation? Do you feel there is more for you to advance in the mortgage profession? Our six contributors haveassembled a guide to tips for you, whether you are looking to better your current employment situation,to seeking new options. Also included is our annual “Who’s Hiring Report,” featuring some of the industry’sbiggest and brightest firms looking to fill their employment needs.

Also this month, we take honor two individuals for their tremendous dedication and service to theindustry. On page 34, we recognize our January NMP Mortgage Professional of the Month, Charles Wagner,senior vice president of the lending division of CBC National Bank by David J. Coster. On page 23, longtimeactive NAMB member Don Fader from Kinston, N.C. is recognized in another piece by Mr. Coster. Don washonored at the recent NAMB National event for his service and dedication to the industry as NAMBMortgage Professional of the Year and this month, we feature an in-depth look at Don and recount his serv-ice and accomplishments in the industry.

There is still much more that I have yet to touch upon with this issue, but don’t let me hold you up. Digright into the January 2013 issue and start the year off the right way with an issue chock-full of insight andinformation geared to kick-start your business in the new year.

Sincerely,

Joel M. Berman, Publisher-CEONMP Media [email protected]

National Mortgage Professional Magazineis published monthly by NMP Media Corp.

Copyright © 2013 NMP Media Corp.

NATI

ONAL


MAGAZINE

NMPNMP

3


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

The Association of Mortgage Professionals

2701 West 15th Street, Suite 536 � Plano, TX 75075Phone #: (703) 342-5900 � Fax #: (530) 484-2906

Web site: www.namb.org

Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS—PresidentAmtrust Mortgage Funding Inc.200 Medical Drive, Suite D � Carmel, IN 46032(317) 575-4355 � [email protected]

John Councilman, CMC, CRMS—Vice PresidentAMC Mortgage Corporation11920 Fairway Lakes Drive, Suite 2 � Fort Myers, FL 33913(239) 267-2400 � [email protected]

Fred Arnold, CMC—TreasurerAmerican Family Funding24961 The Old Road, Suite #101 � Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381(661) 284-1150 � [email protected]

Kay A. Cleland, CMC, CRMS—SecretaryKC Mortgage LLC200 South Wilcox Street #224 � Castle Rock, CO 80104(720) 810-4917 � [email protected]

Jim Pair, CMC—Immediate Past PresidentMortgage America Corpus Christi Inc.22800 Bulverde Road, Apt. 1402 � San Antonio, TX 78261(361) 774-7314 � E-mail: [email protected]

Rocke Andrews, CMC, CRMS—DirectorLending Arizona LLC1996 North Kolb � Tucson, AZ 85715(520) 886-7283 � [email protected]

Rick Bettencourt—DirectorMortgage Network300 Rosewood Drive � Danvers, MA 01923(978) 777-7500 � [email protected]

Donald E. Fader, CRMS—DirectorSMC Home FinancePO Box 1376 � Kinston, NC 28503-1376(252) 523-5800 � [email protected]

Andy W. Harris, CRMS—DirectorVantage Mortgage Group Inc 15962 SW Boones Ferry Road, Ste. 100 � Lake Oswego, OR 97035 (503) 496-0431, ext. 302 � [email protected]

Olga Kucerak, CRMS—DirectorCrown Lending328 West Mistletoe � San Antonio, TX 78212(210) 828-3384 � [email protected]

Linda McCoy—DirectorMortgage Team 1 Inc.6336 Piccadilly Square Drive � Mobile, AL 36609(251) 650-0805 � [email protected]

Dick Morin—DirectorConsumers First MortgageP.O. Box 918 � Kennebunk, ME 04043207-985-2895 � [email protected]

Valerie Saunders—DirectorRE Financial Services13033 West Lindburgh Avenue � Tampa, FL 33626(866) 992-0785 � [email protected]

John Stevens—DirectorBank of England d/b/a ENG Lending11650 South State Street, Ste. 350 � Draper UT 84020(801) 427-7111 � [email protected]

Daphne LargePresident(901) [email protected]

Maureen DevineVice President(413) [email protected]

Donald J. UngerEx-Officio(303) 670-7993, ext. [email protected]

Mike BrownTreasurer(800) 925-6691, ext. [email protected]

Nancy FedichDirector–Chair Legal Committee(908) 813-8555, ext. [email protected]

William BowerDirector–Chair Tenant Screening Committee(800) [email protected]

Tom ConwellDirector–Liaison Legislative Committee(800) 445-4922, ext. [email protected]

Judy RyanDirector–Chair Strategic Alliance PartnershipCommittee(800) 929-3400, ext. [email protected]

Renee EricksonDirector–Chair New Membership Committee(866) [email protected]

Sharon BieszkDirector(262) [email protected]

Mary CampbellDirector(701) [email protected]

Terry ClemansExecutive Director(630) [email protected]

Jan GerberOffice Manager/MemberServices(630) [email protected]

PresidentCandace M. Smith, CME(512) [email protected]

President-ElectJill Kinsman(206) [email protected]

Senior Vice PresidentChristine Pollard(607) [email protected]

Vice President—Central RegionKelly Hendricks(314) [email protected]

Vice President—Eastern RegionKatrica J. Driscoll, MML, CME, CMI(919) [email protected]

Vice President—Northwestern RegionDebbie Tofte, GML(425) [email protected]

Vice President—Western RegionLyman King III, CMI, CME(916) [email protected]

SecretarySara Vasura(703) [email protected]

TreasurerJeanne Evans, CME(918) [email protected]

ParliamentarianHulene Works(972) [email protected]

NAMB 2012-2013 Board of Directors

National Association of ProfessionalMortgage Women

P.O. Box 451718 � Garland, TX 75042Phone #: (800) 827-3034 � Fax #: (469) 524-5121

Web site: www.napmw.org

2013 Board of Directors & Staff

National Consumer Reporting Association701 East Irving Park Road, Suite 306 � Roselle, IL 60172

Phone #: (630) 539-1525 � Fax #: (630) 539-1526Web site: www.ncrainc.org

National Board of Directors 2012-2013

OF

FI

CE

RS

DI

RE

CT

OR

S

4

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Sponsored Editorial

By Jake Soley

A referral base is mandatory in order to survive the mort-gage business cycle. Without a referral base, your businesscould be in jeopardy when refinances dry up. Most loanoriginators think of networking with real estate agents,financial advisors and their community when building areferral network. While those are great ways to acquire

new referrals, direct mail may be the most effective way to quickly build areferral base on a grand scale. For over six years, I have specialized in tar-geted marketing, with many of my personal clients relying on direct mailcampaigns as a tool to drive new referrals into their business.

Typically, referrals are generated from someone you have done businesswith or have closed a loan for. You build a good rapport with the borrowerand due to the trust and confidence they have placed in you, they will refertheir friends when they express a need for your services. Now think of directmail leads as “pre-qualified referrals.” With a targeted direct mail campaign,you not only build a pipeline of deals, you also open the door for every leadthat responds to become an ambassador for your business. Take, for exam-ple, a direct mail campaign of 5,000 pieces. On average, this will generate 50in-bound leads and close at least 10 loans. So with only 10 of the 50 closed,what happens with the other 40 that didn’t convert? Are they worthless?These consumers expressed an interest in your company, so this is yourchance to make a lasting impression that could double your inbound leads.By simply incorporating a request to refer two friends, those 40 inquiriescould easily double to 80 new prospects. Consumers typically keep compa-ny of the same demographic, so if you’re using pre-screened data on yourmailing campaigns, the likelihood of the new referrals being similar to theoriginal borrower is considerably high. With this simple application, yourmail campaign that generated 50 inbound calls now has the potential to beas high as 150 new prospects! Think of the possibilities with more direct mailpieces in circulation. The numbers are exponential.

A common shortfall when building a referral base is in customer reten-tion. It’s common for originators to forget about the borrower once theirloan has closed. As time goes on and the loan is sold off to other servicers,many borrowers forget about their original loan officer when their need torefinance or purchase reoccurs. This holds true when it comes to referralbusiness as well … if the borrower doesn’t remember you, who are theygoing to recommend their friends to? Instead, they turn to the current com-pany that sends their monthly mortgage statement. To offset this potentialloss of business, mailing your customers at a minimum of a bi-monthly cyclewill keep you fresh in their minds. Simple letters of new company advance-ments, milestones or events will keep you in the forefront of their minds sothat when their needs or the needs of their friends and colleagues arise, theyimmediately think of you. To maximize the effort, request referrals and offerincentives for referring friends in each newsletter. Remember: Closed loansrequire asset management. These borrowers can be as valuable to you afterthey closed their loan as they were the day you first spoke.

Relying on a real estate agent to refer your business shouldn’t be your onlyoption to generate more referral business. Putting a plan in place now withsome simple strategies will build momentum and create a thriving referralbusiness. In the ever-changing mortgage industry, having multiple options tobuild your business is a necessity and will keep you ahead of your competition.

Jake Soley, an asset at Titan List and Mailing Services, has specialized in mort-gage-specific marketing since 2006. Jake’s commitment to educating his cus-tomers on the proper steps to take when launching direct mail programs hascatapulted him as a leader in mortgage direct mail. He may be reached byphone at (800) 544-8060, ext. 209 or e-mail [email protected].

Thinking Outside the BoxCan Help Grow

Your Referral Base

The topic regarding lender/realestate agent gridlock that I hearfrom mortgage colleagues across

the nation has been lingering on foryears and I cannot help but writeabout it this month. It’s not an every-day occurrence, but worth discussing.In prior years and primarily duringthe housing boom, I feel that themortgage industry painted a bad pic-ture regarding who we are and whatit is we do. During that time, therewere unqualified, and at times,unethical people, in the industrywhich most are aware of from thesub-prime meltdown, etc.Unfortunately these individuals com-moditized the mortgage process inthe eyes of others and shielded themfrom realizing the significance andimportance of our role during thehome purchase and sale process.Times have changed and it is impor-tant that we all adapt and worktogether for the sake of our clients ashousing professionals.

Real estate agents provide a greatservice to consumers when buying orselling a home. There has never beena more important time to have aquality real estate professional sup-porting the goals of the consumer,especially after the changes in thehousing and mortgage markets. Withso many changes in the mortgage cli-mate over the last few years, the pri-mary concern we tend to hear is howmany real estate agents are actuallyinformed and have adapted? Themortgage process is the most impor-tant and most misunderstood processof the transaction. Financing is vitalfor both the buyer and seller whendealing with a non-cash purchase orsale. How the real estate communityhas adjusted will determine theexpectations they set with theirclients, resulting in a positive or neg-

The 2013 Mortgage Professionaland Real Estate Agent

ative outcome to consumers.To improve the future of our new

industry, lenders and real estate pro-fessionals must successfully worktogether. They must be able to do sowithout special interests and with theability to adapt to any situation orpersonality for a successful closing.Adaptation allows everyone to avoiddelays and better prepare for “blan-ket” requirements on agency-backedloans which all carry similar under-writing criteria. This is a fast-pacedand high demand industry, but wecan improve the experience ourclients have and find more enjoymentin working together through commu-nication and education. Both sidesneed to be accountable, but the fol-lowing traits are what seem to becommon in superstar mortgage origi-nators and real estate professionals intoday’s housing market.

Superstar habits� They have mentally adapted to

accepting the changes we all face inthe mortgage process.

� They tend to have more volume ormore recent transactions that allowthem to adapt to these changesmore quickly, or they have self-edu-cation in place of recent activity tohelp adapt.

� They conduct themselves profession-ally, putting their client’s interestsbefore their own.

� They set realistic and accurate expec-tations for their clients.

“Coming together is a beginning.Keeping together is progress.Working together is success.”

—Henry Ford

continued on page 41

5


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

6

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Industry Facebook Users Enter to Win on DocMagic Page

DocMagic Inc. hasannounced thathundreds of indus-try Facebook users

have visited the company’s Facebookpage at facebook.com/docmagicinc,voted for DocMagic’s mascot forPresident and been automatically regis-tered to win an expense-paid trip toWashington, D.C. The companyannounced the contest Oct. 1 as part ofits effort to use gamification strategiesto build up its online following, whichthe company says is working.

“The contest has already been ahuge win for DocMagic,” said DominicIannitti, CEO of DocMagic. “Not only arepeople from all over our industry regis-tering for a chance to win this greatvacation to our nation’s Capitol, butthey are also interacting with usthrough our Facebook page, in highernumbers than anticipated.”

People love games, which is whygamification strategies have now beenemployed by companies in nearly everyindustry, including government servic-es. But beyond that, Iannitti says thatthis experience has shown that his cus-tomers and others in the industry loveDocMagic’s use of the rabbit mascot aswell as the company’s staff and servic-es, as evidenced by the conversationstaking place on the DocMagic’sFacebook page. Every year DocMagicsends out thousands of stuffed magicrabbits to their customers. This year anadvertising campaign announcing theVote for DocMagic campaign coincidedwith the delivery of the presidential“Doc” bunnies. The first 200 peoplewho “Vote for DocMagic” receive thepresidential bunnies, which haveproven to be very popular.

The DocMagic Vote for DocMagicSweepstakes is restricted to mortgagelenders, mortgage lending profession-als and others from the mortgagelending industry who are legal resi-dents of the United States and theDistrict of Columbia (excluding resi-dents of New York, Florida, RhodeIsland and Puerto Rico), and who are21 years or older at the time of entry.Players can only enter once. TheGrand Prize is a trip for two toWashington, D.C. for four days andthree nights, including airfare, hotel,tour of the Capitol and more!

StreetLinks Launches NewValuation Division andSoftware Tools

S t r e e t L i n k sL e n d e r

Solutions has announced the launch ofits new Automated Examination andValuation Division and its suite ofQuality Examination (QX) products.StreetLinks QX is a comprehensive, mul-tiple component collateral review utili-ty. ValueComp, the automated valua-tion component, uses technology to sys-temically replicate an appraiser’sapproach to analyzing comparableselection and property valuation.ValueComp results are substantiallyand consistently more accurate thantraditional automated valuation mod-els (AVMs).

“It would have been easier, quickerand cheaper to simply become areseller of AVMs and rules engines, butwe couldn’t bring ourselves to put theStreetLinks brand on what we believedto be substandard products. That real-ization drove us to develop a suite ofproducts that analyze appraisals likenothing else ever created,” saidStreetLinks President Tom Hurst. “Wefocused on one goal: To provide clear,concise and accurate results, while giv-ing the user action items and direc-tives—not simply more questions.”

StreetLinks’ Quality ExaminationRules Engine powers the execution ofQX through appraiser-based methodol-ogy. The engine analyzes appraisalinformation, presenting the user with asummary of automated rule “passes”and clear directives for items thatrequire manual examination. In thefinal analysis, QX mitigates appraisalrisk while reducing appraisal under-writing cost and turn-time.

“We have taken this to a level anddepth never seen before in this arena,”said Hurst. “Our clients that participat-ed in the build and beta of the productagree that QX delivers a significantlyhigher level of accuracy and has drasti-cally reduced their collateral reviewtime.”

StreetLinks’ relationship with realestate intelligence provider, EquifaxProperty Data & Analytics, and theirparent company, global informationsystems leader, Equifax, will power theValueComp component of the QX suite.

“Equifax shares the same drive forinnovation that we have at StreetLinks,”said Donna DelMonte, StreetLinks’ sen-

Three Reasons You Should Join the Professionals at

Directly.com NowBy Carolyn Warren

Directly.com is the new online community where borrowerscan meet mortgage professionals as they receive answers totheir questions. Savvy originators are joining early to buildtheir reputations and earn rewards. I’ll show you how to dothis in a moment; but first, I’ll explain why I think communi-ties like Directly are important and three reasons you should

consider becoming a part of it. Five years into the crash, borrowers are still reeling. Homebuyers are frus-

trated with the mound of paperwork, and they’re baffled by underwriting con-ditions. Homeowners looking to refinance are being blocked by poorappraisals and stiffer credit requirements. People seeking loan mods complainof being stonewalled or misled with double-talk. All of these folks needanswers—and that presents an opportunity.

Institutions and regulations are ever-changing—purportedly in an effort tohelp borrowers—but the reality has been higher costs, slower processing, andcontinued confusion. Surprisingly, while the Internet is revolutionizing indus-try after industry, its impact on any aspect of mortgage outside of originationhas been minimal.

But things are changing. Online real estate communities are springing uparound popular real estate websites like Trulia and Zillow, allowing consumersto speak quickly and openly with a broad set of professionals. Many of theextraordinary dynamics of these sites, and social networks like Facebook andLinkedIn, promise to bring a new level of trust and transparency to the area ofmortgages. Consumers are sick and tired of feeling like they are in the dark.

Directly.com is the first community designed to help borrowers with spe-cific questions about their mortgages via answers that come from a narrow setof experienced mortgage professionals that provides rewards to the profes-sionals. Here are three specific reasons I think you’ll want to join the site:

1.. Reputation. Online reputation has become critical to success. As a Directlyprofessional, you receive a profile page that showcases how you’ve helped con-sumers. Your reputation helps you and the institution you’re affiliated with.

2.. Rewards. On Directly, you earn cash rewards from customers who offerremuneration for help. You can cash these rewards out via PayPal, or doubleyour impact by donating them to the non-profit of your choice.

3.. Reach. On Directly, in addition to reaching tens of thousands of borrowers,you can build and cultivate a following (like Twitter) of people you’ve helpedin the past, and use this network to drive referrals and a bigger audience.

One silver lining to the crash is that many of the unskilled and less scrupu-lous originators have been flushed out. There’s a chapter in my book called,“Mortgage Stars Who Rock” that refers to the honorable loan officers who workhard to be available to consumers anytime and anywhere they’re needed.Today, consumers are benefiting from online communities that are poweredby the true professionals who are focusing their careers on helping people.

If this sounds like you, then you will not want to be left behind. I invite youto join me in helping good folks while you earn rewards and build a strong rep-utation. It only takes a few minutes to submit your application for acceptanceat www.directly.com/mortgage.

Carolyn Warren is the best-selling author of Mortgage Ripoffs and MoneySavers: An Industry Insider Explains How to Save Thousands on YourMortgage or Refinance. She is the owner of www.mortgage-helper.com. Shemay be reached at directly.com/in/carolyn-warren.

SPONSORED EDITORIAL

7


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

from dramatic shifts among many ofthe major lenders, combined withKinecta’s own strategy for continuinggrowth.

“The mortgage market is showingmarked improvement and with that wehave been able to offer significant ben-efits to our members,” said JosephWhitaker, executive vice president andchief operating officer of Kinecta.“Kinecta offers competitive low ratesand a broad product menu and we willcontinue to do so as we move forward,continually growing as a national mort-gage lender.”

Kinecta Federal Credit Union is adirect lender providing a range of fixedand adjustable home loans for pur-chase or refinance. It offers attractive

loan products through agency, portfo-lio, and FHA lending, in addition to cor-respondent lending and special loanprograms offered in conjunction withleading mortgage insurance providers.

DataQuick andRentRange Partner onREO ForeclosurePrevention Solution

DataQuick, a provider of advanced realestate information solutions poweredby data, analytics and decisioning, andRentRange, a provider of rental market


ior vice president of product develop-ment. “The relationship with Equifax willallow us to collaboratively launch a multi-tude of solutions over the coming years.”

Total MortgageRecognized by Inc.Magazine for Excellencein Job Development

Total Mortgage Services LLC hasannounced that it has been recognizedamong the first group of growing privately-owned businesses and entrepreneurs toreceive the Inc. Hire Power Award, a brandnew Inc. awards series that spotlights com-panies that are generating the most newjobs. Over the past three years, TotalMortgage created 75 new jobs and now hasover 120 employees, ranking third amongConnecticut firms on the list.

“It is an honor to be recognized in thisunique category of businesses that are put-ting Americans back to work,” said JohnWalsh, president of Total Mortgage. “Inthese challenging economic times, we areproud to have been able to grow our team.I’m very proud of our employees and Ithink our dedication to quality and servicewill allow us to continue to thrive in thecoming years.”

Total Mortgage was also recentlynamed on Inc. Magazines’ list ofAmerica’s Fastest Growing companies in2012, for the third year in a row.

The Hire Power Awards rank for-profit and nonprofit companies by netemployee growth over the past threeyears. Together, the companies on thelist created more than 73,000 jobs inthe past three years which generatedapproximately $5 billion in tax revenue.

Hammerhouse LaunchesMortgage OperationsTalent Recruiting Division

Hammerhouse LLC has announced that ithas launched a new division, Tactical OpsRecruiting Quality or “TORQ,” which willfocus on the placement of experiencedmortgage banking operational and othernon-sales professionals throughout the U.S.TORQ, which will be powered byHammerhouse’s best in class support andservice to client partners, is being rolled outnationwide and has been engaged by mul-tiple clients to assist in hiring operations tal-ent to enhance their operational infrastruc-ture and improve customer satisfaction.

“The effectiveness of mortgage opera-tions, which is driven by top talent, is a sig-nificant advantage in today’s mortgageindustry and will define the next genera-tion of Mortgage Bankers,” said DrewWaterhouse, managing director and chiefexecutive officer of Hammerhouse. “TORQis being launched as a direct result of ourmortgage banking clients need to expandtheir sales force to remain competitive,without impacting the customers’ experi-ence. These clients understand that hav-ing the right operational talent in placewill build trust not only with customers

and loan officers, but other key stake-holders including investors.”

TORQ will be based out ofHammerhouse’s corporate offices inMission Viejo, Calif. and is already oper-ational throughout the company’s net-work of offices including Hickory, N.C.;Chicago, Ill.; and Bellevue, Wash.

Kinecta Reports $3Billion-Plus in MortgageVolume

K i n e c t aF e d e r a lCredit Union

has reported a record mortgage volumeof just over $3 billion, exceeding its2011 volume with the fourth quarterstill remaining. Kinecta has benefited

8

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

By Terry W. Clemans

In combination withcelebrating its 20thanniversary of repre-

senting consumerreporting agenciesproviding data to the

housing industry, the National CreditReporting Association has changed itsname to the “National ConsumerReporting Association.” This change wasannounced at its annual national educa-tion conference in Tampa, Fla. inNovember where the members selectedthe new logo.

The conference was highlighted bymore than 160 people learning from avast group of speakers from private sec-tor, government and two of the nationalcredit repositories. The ConsumerFinancial Protection Bureau (CFPB),Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and U.S.Justice Department were all represented,covering issues on credit reporting, ten-ant screening and employment screen-ing. In addition to the educational ses-sions, there were good times at the fea-ture event, a Cuban street festival withlive Latin music, food, drinks, games andcigars hand-rolled on site.

Compliance was a major feature of theeducational sessions, as the CFPB andExperian covered issues related each oftheir respective audits. Another hot topic,desperate impact, was a group discussionlead by NCRA Counsel Larry Henry.Desperate impact has taken a much high-er profile in recent months, even thoughthe concept dates back nearly 40 years inCivil Rights law. The ability to obtaincriminal data and credit data in thefuture will be weighed with considerationof desperate impact to make sure there is

factual performance related to the use ofthe data.

From the entertainment perspective,several NCRA members provided highlightreel coverage of the power of hypnosis asthey went under the spell of Erick Kand.Erick specializes in corporate hypnosisand provided an entertaining lunch expe-rience for both those on the stage and inthe audience.

NCRA believes that changing the word“credit” to “consumer” in their associationname, the new name more accuratelyreflects our members’ products. A con-sumer report is the legal term for whatour members provide, as defined in thefederal law that regulates the creditindustry. Regardless of the specific indus-try format, mortgage, tenant or back-ground screening, NCRA members pro-vide crucial information for housing-relat-ed decisions.

The majority of NCRA’s original mem-bership provides credit reports to themortgage lending industry. Other con-sumer information products and servicesrelating to or required by mortgagelenders such as flood zone determina-tions, IRS tax transcripts, and fraud pre-vention tools, have become common-place in the NCRA member service portfo-lio. Many NCRA members also provideinformation to the multifamily housingindustry; they produce credit reports,eviction records, and criminal back-ground histories for landlords and prop-erty managers making rental decisions.Some members are heavily entrenched infull-service background screening as well.The term “consumer report,” as defined inthe Fair Credit Reporting Act, is theumbrella that covers all of the members’products and services.

“It’s an exciting time at the National

Consumer Reporting Association as wecelebrate our 20th year and reflect onhow the industries we serve and our busi-ness have evolved during this time,” saidNCRA President Daphne Large. “Our namechange reflects this evolution. We aremost fortunate to have a highly-tenuredand experienced Board of Directors alongwith the outstanding leadership and rep-resentation of our executive director,Terry Clemans.”

This is the second growth-relatedname change in NCRA’s 20-year history.The organization was founded in 1992 asthe National Association of IndependentCredit Reporting Agencies (NAICRA). In

response to requests by companies affili-ated with one of the three national cred-it bureaus, NAICRA became NCRA in 1996.Removing the word “Independent” fromthe name allowed membership inclusionfor those affiliated companies previouslyprohibited from their ranks. The currentname change is in response to better rep-resentation of the membership’s growingbusiness model.

Terry W. Clemans is executive director ofthe National Consumer ReportingAssociation (NCRA). He may be reachedat (630) 539-1525 or e-mail [email protected].

NCRA Celebrates 20th Anniversary at Tampa Conference

NCRA becomes National Consumer Reporting Association

2013 NCRAPresidentDaphne Largereceives thegavel ofassociationleadershipfrom ExecutiveDirector TerryClemans

NCRA Counsel Larry Henrydiscusses desperate impact

with the audience

Erick Kand, who specializes in corporatehypnosis, provided an entertaining lunchexperience

The crowd listens attentively to thepanel discussion

9


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

IT’S 10 DAYS PRIOR TO CLOSING…

Undisclosed debt protection at its finest. Call today.

800.258.3488 www.creditplus.com/undisclosed-debt-monitoring [email protected]

VISIT US AT THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF MBAS MARCH 13-14

© 2013 Credit Plus, Inc.* According to Equifax’s recent review of 4,800 loans from the undisclosed debt monitoring database, 22% of new trades were reported 10 days or less prior to closing.

DID YOURS?

AN

D22%* OFBORROWERS

WENT FURTHER INTODEBT.

Turn to Credit Plus for Undisclosed Debt Monitoring™ powered by Equifax®.Make sure you’re in compliance with LQI and protected from buybacks. Regulations are going to get tougher. The GSEs are working on additionalsuggestions to make sure your loan is sell-ready in 2013. Can you afford not to use Undisclosed Debt Monitoring?

pull and the loan closing

inquiries and secondary re-issuesinsurance program backed by A-rated carriers and offered

IT’S 10 YS PR0 DA RIOR TO CLLOSING…

2AND222% BOOF*%%*

ORROWWERSSWENT

2AFURTT

22URTH2%

HERBO%

DEBTINTO

ORROWWERSS

DID YID YOURURS??

C ™™ ®

suggestions toMake sure yourn to CreTTu

pull and the

inquiries and

o make sure your loan is seu’re in compliance with LQdit Plus for Undisclos

loan closing

d secondary re-issues

ell-ready in 2013. Can you aQI and protected from buyb

™sed Debt Monitoring

afford not to use Undisclosbacks. Regulations are goin

powered by Equifax™

insurance progr

sed Debt Monitoring?. The GSEng to get tougher

.®x

ram backed by A-rated ca

g

rriers and offered

* According to Eq

VIS

inquiries and

s recent review of 4,800 loans

T THE

uifax’’s

d secondary re issues

SIT US A

s from the undisclosed debt monito

E REGIONAL C

oring database, 22% of new trades

CONFERENCE

rio

OF MBAS MA

s were reported 10 days or less p or to closing.

ARCH 13-14

© 2013 Credit Pluss, Inc.

0.25 80 .cre58.3488 www

Undisclosed debt pr

editplus.com/undisclo

ection at its finest.otr

osed-debt-monitorin

.yy.odaCall t

ng [email protected]

10

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

heard on the street continued from page 7

intelligence, have partnered to offerREO-to-Rental and rental valuationintelligence to lenders, servicers andinvestors. REO-to-Rental has become aviable option to keep foreclosure prop-erties occupied, offering renters ahome; lenders and servicers a return oninvestment; and investors an under-standing of property and portfoliovalue. The key to successful REO-to-Rental or REO purchases, like any realestate decision, is to know the fair mar-ket value of a property.

“When evaluating the suitability of aREO to purchase as a rental, the incomepotential of the property, vacancy rateand local market characteristics are allkey metrics to be considered,” saidWalter Charnoff, founder and CEO ofRentRange. “Our unique dataset pro-vides authoritative, granular and timelyrental market intelligence necessary forREO-to-Rental assessment.”

DataQuick customers will be able toaccess RentRange data as part of aDataQuick National Property Databasefile license. The company also expectsto include RentRange content as part ofits RiskFinder suite of portfolio manage-ment solutions.

“History shows us that recovery fromevery economic downturn our countryhas faced has been led by the housingmarket,” said John Walsh, president ofDataQuick. “A more traditional recoverystemming from a robust purchase mar-ket has not come about as quickly asmost would have liked, so alternativesare critical. Maximizing the rental andoccupation of REOs serves to benefitrenters, lenders, servicers and investorsand is a viable, attractive alternative.”

Mortgage Professionals to Watch

� Residential Finance Corporation hasannounced the addition of JonathanFowler as division vice president ofbusiness development for retailbranching. RFC has also announcedthe promotion of Joe Buxton to theposition of vice president of saleswhere he will oversee and managethe company’s branch managers inColumbus, Ohio and develop salesstrategies to further ResidentialFinance’s market growth.

� Mortgage Contracting Services LLC hasannounced the addition of BobbyLeopold as vice president of businessdevelopment where he will focus ongenerating new business and play anactive role in advancing MCS’s overallgrowth and development.

� ClosingCorp has announced thatMark Nogaki has joined the compa-ny as senior vice president of sales.

� Supreme Lending has named BrianMitchell as its new senior vice presi-dent, national sales manager wherehe will be responsible for developingnew loan production and addingnew branches around the country.

� Lenders Compliance Group (LCG) hasappointed Alan J. Cicchetti, formerDeputy Commissioner of theConnecticut Banking Department, asits director of agency relations, aswell as the executive director ofBrokers Compliance Group, LCG’smortgage compliance firm that pro-vides compliance support to mort-gage brokers.

� Flagstar Bancorp Inc., together withits subsidiary, Flagstar Bank FSB,have announced two appointmentsto the company’s executive leader-ship team, as Alessandro DiNello,currently executive vice president ofpersonal financial services, has beennamed president and chief adminis-trative officer of Flagstar Bank andMatthew Kerin, currently EVP, man-aging director of mortgage banking,has been named president of mort-gage banking.

� Marco Zamudio has been named oper-ations manager for MeadowbrookFinancial Mortgage Bankers.

� Joel Rose has joined GMH MortgageServices LLC as VP of the company’seastern division’s retail salesdepartment.


Growth Strategies for the New Year:It’s All About Relationships

By Sue Woodard

If you are like most successful MLOs, growing andimproving your business is your primary professionalgoal for this New Year. While there are many ways to dothis, one technique that top-producing MLOs who runrewarding and thriving mortgage practices alwaysinclude in their plans is a focus on building and main-

taining strong referral relationships. And to do this efficiently, they havesystems in place that allow them to continually create new referral rela-tionships, as well as profitably maintain existing ones.

So the answer is clear … if you want to work with more referral part-ners and keep them coming back to you, then you need to emulate thetop producers and implement the systems necessary to attract and nur-ture referral partners and reap the rewards of an expanded network ofreferral-based business.

You may already know this, but the challenge is this: What are youactually doing about it?

To get started, ask yourself these important questions:

� What system do I have in place currently that keeps me at the fore-front of my referral partner’s minds?

� How will I ensure that I capture more referred leads over the comingyear?

� What methods am I using to develop relationships and begin to gainbusiness from new referral partners?

If you don’t have solid answers to the above questions, consider oneof the industry’s proven successful and most effective tools to accom-plish these goals: Platinum Marketing from Mortgage Success Source. Itgives you the one-two punch you need to achieve greater success—effec-tive content specifically targeting referral partners, as well as an easy-to-use marketing system that guarantees you’ll set yourself apart from thecompetition, simply and easily.

Developing high-impact, credible marketing content and keeping itup-to-date can be a daunting task for your already over-worked team.But it doesn’t have to be. Platinum Marketing has an extensive library ofe-mail, print and social media and video campaigns, updated with thefreshest content designed by professionals and fueled by the industry’sfinest writers.

But great content is not enough. You need to confidently and consis-tently brand you and your company at every touch point including onyour e-mails, newsletters, postcards and flyers. One way to do this is topersonalize each marketing piece with your name, contact information,photo and logo, and Platinum Marketing allows you to do this with ease.This not only allows you to “buy brain cells” and stay in front of yourreferral partners minds, it establishes professional trust and confidencein you as the individual they recommend to their clients to do businesswith for their mortgage.

If you’re like most mortgage professionals, you don’t have a spareminute in your day. How do you find the time to get your message out?Your time is valuable and you have to use it wisely to ensure you reachyour goals. The automated marketing engine from Platinum Marketing isjust the solution. You can quickly and easily schedule and deploy target-ed outbound marketing campaigns that reach your referral partners atthe right time via e-mail, print and social media syndication.

With Platinum Marketing you have the tools you need to build and maintainprofitable referral partner relationships and make 2013 your best year yet. Tolearn more about any of the business-building resources from Mortgage SuccessSource, visit MortgageSuccessSource.com or call (800) 963-1900.

Sue Woodard is president of content and publishing for Mortgage SuccessSource in Holmdel, N.J., a provider of integrated marketing and sales sup-port solutions. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

SPONSORED EDITORIAL

FOW

LER

BU

XT

ON

LEO

PO

LDN

OG

AK

IM

ITC

HE

LL

HomeBridge is a national wholesale lender offering both conventional and governmentproducts. We are committed to providing the highest value to our clients throughcompetitive pricing, unique product offerings, superior customer service, and state-of-the-art technology.

� Free DU� Online FHA Case Number Requests� Paperless� Online 4506 Ordering� Experienced Knowledgeable Account

Executives

� Direct Access to Underwriters � DU Refi Plus to 125% LTV� FHA Streamline Non-Credit Qualifying-

All Servicers Allowed� Escrow Hold Back Allowed

This information is provided for the use of mortgage professionals only and is not intended for distribution to consumers or other third parties. Product information is subject tochange without notice. HomeBridge is a division of Real Estate Mortgage Network, Inc. NMLS #6521. HomeBridge is licensed or operating with a license exemption under thename Real Estate Mortgage Network, Inc. d/b/a HomeBridge except in the following states; AK, IL, MD, MN, NY, RI, VA “Real Estate Mortgage Network, Inc.”; VT: “Real EstateMortgage Network, Inc. d/b/a HomeBridge Funding” © Real Estate Mortgage Network, Inc. d/b/a HomeBridge. All rights reserved.

To learn more about the HomeBridge advantage, please contact us at 855-729-2885

www.homebridgewholesale.com

11


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

12

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Become a NationalMortgageProfessional.com Blogger! It's free and easy. Just head on over to NMPMag.com, register and

follow the link in the upper right hand side of the page to become a blogger on our site today!

Got an opinion? Want to share yourthoughts on the industry?

Undercove

r Boss: Le

ssons Lea

rned

Major EastTexas Mortgage F

raud Scheme: Out of Florida

203(k) Rehab Loan Program: Foreclosures Present Challenges, OpportunityNMLS and State Testing for Mortgage Professionals

Then try PB FINANCIAL GROUPWe have proven closing records

GUIDELINES:1. Stated and NO Doc programs available on Investment/N/o/o Properties

2. Purchase loans up to 70% of Purchase Price with no prepayment

penalty and no guaranteed interest

3. Residential rates start at 8.99%, interest only

4. Residential Owner Occupied up to 55% LTV

5. Stated & NO doc up to 70% LTV with 500+ score

6. True Equity Based Loans


JANUARY 2013

CFPB Issues Long-AwaitedIndustry QM and Ability-to-Repay Rules

The ConsumerFinancial Protec-tion Bureau (CFPB)has adopted anew rule that

will protect consumers from irresponsi-ble mortgage lending by requiringlenders to ensure prospective buyershave the ability-to-repay their mort-gage. The rule also protects borrowersfrom risky lending practices such as “nodoc” and “interest only” features thatcontributed to many homeowners end-ing up in delinquency and foreclosureafter the 2008 housing collapse.

“When consumers sit down at theclosing table, they shouldn’t be set upto fail with mortgages they cannotafford,” said CFPB Director RichardCordray. “Our Ability-to-Repay ruleprotects borrowers from the kinds ofrisky lending practices that resulted inso many families losing their homes.This common-sense rule ensuresresponsible borrowers get responsibleloans.”

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall StreetReform and Consumer Protection Actcreated broad-based changes to howcreditors make loans and included newability-to-repay requirements, whichthe CFPB is charged with implementing.Under the Ability-to-Repay rule, all newmortgages must comply with basicrequirements that protect consumersfrom taking on loans they don’t havethe financial means to pay back. Amongthe features of the new rule: Financialinformation has to be supplied and ver-ified; a borrower has to have sufficientassets or income to pay back the loan;and teaser rates can no longer mask thetrue cost of a mortgage.

“MBA [Mortgage Bankers Associa-tion] agrees that the goal of this regula-tion, ensuring that borrowers receiveloans that they can repay, is in every-one’s best interest,” said Debra W.Still, CMB, chairman of the MortgageBankers Association. “We cannot, andshould not, go back to the high risklending environment of the early2000s. Our concern has always beenthat we balance this goal with otherhousing policy objectives, particularlythe objective to ensure the availabilityof mortgage credit to qualified bor-rowers. And right now, credit is tighterthan at any point we can remember.”

Lenders will be presumed to have

complied with the Ability-to-Repay ruleif they issue “Qualified Mortgages.”These loans must meet certain require-ments which prohibit or limit the riskyfeatures that harmed consumers in therecent mortgage crisis. If a lender com-plies with the clear criteria of a QM,consumers will have greater assurancethat they can pay back the loan. Amongthe features of a QM include: No excessupfront points and fees; no toxic loan;and a cap on how much income can gotoward debt.

For a temporary, transitional period,loans that do not have a 43 percent DTIratio but meet government affordabili-ty or other standards—such as thatthey are eligible for purchase by theFannie Mae or Freddie Mac—will beconsidered QMs.

The CFPB is also releasing proposedamendments to its Ability-to-Repayrule. These amendments would,among other things, exempt certainnon-profit creditors that work withlow- and moderate-income con-sumers. The proposed amendmentswould also make exceptions for cer-tain homeownership stabilization pro-grams, such as those that offer loansmade in connection with the MakingHome Affordable program, which helpconsumers avoid foreclosure. The pro-posed amendments would also pro-vide QM status for certain loans madeand held in portfolio by small credi-tors, such as community banks andcredit unions. The proposed amend-ments invite comment on how to cal-culate loan origination compensationunder the points and fees provision ofQualified Mortgages.

The proposed amendments, ifadopted, would be finalized this springand go into effect at the same time asthe Ability-to-Repay rule in January2014. The CFPB is dedicated to work-ing with industry and consumers for asmooth transition to the new rule. Tohelp creditors with compliance, theCFPB will, among other things, be pub-lishing plain-language translations ofthe regulation for lenders in bookletand video form, issuing implementa-tion guides, and, in coordination withother agencies, releasing materialsthat help lenders understand supervi-sory expectations. As the effective dateapproaches, the CFPB will give con-sumers information about their newrights under these rules.

13


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

14

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

By David Lykken

Many pundits in business havelong deliberated on the differ-ences between leadership and

management. Leadership, many pre-sume, is about inspiring people. It’sabout practicing what you preach andsetting an example that others will fol-low on their own volition.Management, on the other hand, isabout directing people to accomplish a

desired outcome. This involves settingand enforcing guidelines in order toensure that things get done. Both man-agers and leaders are needed in busi-ness and every great business executivewill play both roles. A leader is what wewant to be; a manager is often what wemust be.

In the mortgage industry, however,being a leader and being a manager

aren’t so different. With ever-increasingregulations, great leaders in the mort-gage industry will by necessity becomegreat managers. A manager in anyindustry needs to be in control of busi-ness operations. However, with as muchregulation that falls upon executives,even the leaders in the mortgage indus-try need to have greater control. In themortgage industry, if you aren’t a greatmanager, you cannot be a great leader.

In 2013, the difference between agreat leader and a mediocre one will behow well those leaders manage theprocesses in their businesses. A greatleader in the mortgage business can nolonger merely provide inspiration andguidance for his people; he must alsoprovide control and oversight for hisprocesses. For, as time goes on, employ-ees in the mortgage industry will bemore inspired by how well you are ableto manage your processes than they willbe by anything else. In the mortgagebusiness, great management is inspir-ing. In the mortgage business, greatmanagement is great leadership.

So, let’s talk a little about howstrengthening your process manage-ment will lead you to success in 2013.When you have a full understanding ofeverything that’s going on in yourindustry, you will earn the respect ofyour employees and the success of yourbusiness. It is now more important thanever to manage processes. It is nolonger enough to originate a loan; youhave to have the discipline and over-sight to see your client through everystep of the process.

The Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau (CFPB) has just released sevennew rules that bear greatly on the man-ner in which mortgage professionals goabout doing businesses. One of themost daunting of these rules is the qual-ified mortgage, known as the qualifiedmortgage (QM). Managing change as theQM is implemented is going to be labor-

intensive and time consuming. Othercritical rules that will require extensivefocus and determination include newservicing standards, a rule affectingcompensation of loan officers, a provi-sion about high-cost mortgages, a fewrules and guidelines on appraisals, andan escrow rule related to impoundingaccounts and tax insurance. Is thatenough for you?

More than ever, leaders need to takea hands-on approach to business.Leaders will need to know the new reg-ulations in and out, as well as take adeliberate role in implementing themin their businesses. Nothing is going tochange until you take the initiative tochange it. Your employees will be look-ing to you to guide them in this time ofincreasing regulation. You will have tobe out in front, navigating the murkywaters of compliance. It isn’t somethingyou can delegate. You have to own theprocess. You have to know what’s goingon and how to get your team througheach step of the transition.

In 2013, you will have to manageyour processes in ways that you neverthought possible. Are you currently tak-ing a hands-on approach in your busi-ness? What systems are you using tomake your employees more productiveand more profitable?

Process management, as you areprobably aware, has two essential com-ponents: planning and monitoring.Your success as a leader in 2013 willdepend almost entirely on how wellyou fulfill these two functions. First, youneed to become an expert on building aplan. Crafting a strategy to implementthe changes in regulations and positionyourself for future changes is stage one.How has your planning been in thepast? How much time do you spend onthe drawing board? Let’s talk abouthow to build a better plan.

The first important part of creating asolid plan is starting with the specifics

Leadership vs. Management: The Key to Success in 2013

15


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

and working your way outward to thegeneral ideas. The temptation may beto start with your grand vision and ironout the details as you go along. Theproblem is that you will usually end upmissing something important. Thedevil, as they say, is in the details.Instead, start with the details. Start withthe nitty-gritty. Start with the new rulesor policies you have to implement andbuild your way up to a bigger vision.

The second part of creating a solidplan is to be clear about who is respon-sible for carrying out each part of theplan. Tie each element to specificdepartments or employees. One of thebiggest complaints employees haveabout their managers is a lack of clarityin their expectations. Don’t be thatmanager. Craft into your strategy pre-cisely who is accountable for every ele-ment of your plan. If no one is respon-sible for it, it doesn’t get done.

One final thing to consider in build-ing your plan is that things never go asplanned. Always have a back-up plan.Right from the beginning, weave intoyour strategy alternative options youcan take if the situations change. Beflexible and adaptable. As a profes-sional in the mortgage industry, youneed those skills more than anyoneelse.

After you’ve created a solid planand have begun to implement it, youmust begin to monitor the progress ofyour plan. If you aren’t paying atten-tion to how well your team is carryingout your plan, how will you ever knowif it works? After you begin imple-menting the changes in your business,set up key metrics to monitor fromeach employee and each department.Generate progress reports to showemployees how well they’re meetingtheir expectations. Keep everyone ontheir toes. Keep everyone moving for-ward. Own the process. If you don’ttake control in 2013, you’re going tolose it completely.

Now, more than ever in the mort-gage business, the philosophy is adaptor die. The Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau isn’t going away anytime soon and it is likely to play agreater role in your business operationsas time goes by. After you’ve developedthe perfect plan and extensively moni-tored its success, everything might justchange all over again. You have to beable to roll with the punches and pickright back up developing a new plan toimplement new changes in your busi-ness.

You aren’t becoming a part-timeprocess manager. From here on out,you have to throw yourself wholeheart-edly into owning your processes. Youhave to be in constant process-manage-ment mode. You have to be in constantplanning, constant monitoring, andconstant adapting. If you are to suc-ceed, you’ve got to change your per-spective. You can’t lead your businessfrom an ivory tower. You’ve got to getinto the trenches and get your handsdirty. You have to touch everything thathappens in your business. That’s what

process management is all about.If you’re looking to provide greater

motivation and inspiration to yourteam members in 2013, you can do itby playing an active role in guidingyour organization through these diffi-cult transitions in regulatory policy. Beon the front lines. Be involved in whatis going on. Your employees are notlooking for a cheerleader from thesidelines. They’re looking for someonewho will get in and play the game withthem. They’re looking for aQuarterback—someone who will callthe plays and be there from the snapuntil the whistle blows. Yes, they’relooking for a leader. But, in this regu-latory climate, they’re looking for aspecial kind of leader. They’re looking

for a leader and manager rolled intoone. Are you the leader that they arelooking for? If not, are you willing tobecome one?

In 2013, many mortgage bankerswill face the threat of failure. Formany, the changes will be unbearable.The level of compliance faced in theindustry is unprecedented. One reallycan’t blame those who wish to throw inthe towel. However, if you’re a sur-vivor, if you’re a strong leader that isbent on overcoming no matter theodds, there’s only one way to stay alivein 2013. Own your processes. If you canexcel at managing your processes, noamount of regulation will be too diffi-cult to implement. Your team will seeyou as someone who is in control and

you will be truly unstoppable. Makethe decision to become a process man-ager today.

David Lykken is president of mortgagestrategies and managing partner withMortgage Banking Solutions. He hasmore than 35 years of industry experi-ence and has garnered a national repu-tation, and has become a frequent gueston FOX Business News with Neil Cavuto,Stuart Varney, Liz Claman and DaveAsman with additional guest appear-ances on the CBS Evening News,Bloomberg TV and radio. He may bereached by phone at (512) 977-9900, ext.10, or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].

16

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

NMLS

National Education

National Training

National Networking

NAPMW is a community of nearly 2,000 professionals across the Country who engage in the mortgage / banking industry. Men and women from all backgrounds have joined NAPMW because they want to excel at what they do. Employers who want excel-lence from their employees engage with NAPMW for up-to-date education. Both professionals and employers have found there is a place for them in NAPMW.

To Join NAPMW visit:

www.napmw.org

or call: 1-800-827-3034

Have Questions? Please

feel free to e-mail us at:

[email protected]

Organized for the purpose of providing education to profession-als in all phases of the mortgage industry, NAPMW offers educa-tion via many venues – seminars and workshops held around the country, on-line, and at its National Education Conference held each May.

NAPMW membership gives you exclusive access to timely educa-tion regarding the regulations affecting your career such as a FREE TO MEMBERS monthly webinar on industry updates AND our 8 hour NMLS continuing education class offering (NMLS Provider # 1400309)

If you believe in helping to elevate the educational standards of this industry, or assisting in developing the most competent industry work force, then you believe in NAPMW.

NAPMW is not a women’s organization. But since women make up the majority of professionals in the mortgage/banking profes-sion, our purpose is to help them advance in business, personal, and leadership development.

Coast to Coast Associations

Discounted Services

Industry Updates

Education

Networking

Leadership

Why NAPMW?Three Simple Reasons

W MNAPhW MW?W

tionaduccaEEd

h M, a, on-lineytrounc

eny vtion via manals in all phases of

or the ed fganizOr

ee Simple ReasohrT

My NAPhW

tducational Et its Naand akorues – seminars and w, Nyy,gage industrtf the mor

viding edopose of prpur

ons

MW?

e heldenceronfion Cound thekshops held ar

-ers educaMW offNAP-essionoffeo prtion tuca

eadershipL

vider # 140030orPour 8 hour NMLS c

O MEMBERSTFREE ding theegartion r

MW membersNAP

.yaeach M

09)tion clatinuing educaonc

ebinar on indthly wS monoting yections affegulae r

e aclusivxou ees yivship g

ing (NMLS erss offffees AND ty updadustr

eer such as a our car-o timely educaess tcac

p

and leadership deposesion, our pur

y ofitup the majorMW is not a wNAP

cork fory windustr, or asythis industre in hou believf yI

.telopmeneve anco help them adv is t

essionals in the moroff prtion. Buganizas or’omenw

e in NAou believ, then yeceloping thessisting in dev

e the edutao elevelping t

, , personalin business-esofing prgage/banktr

omen make e wt sinc

.MWAPt enompete most c

ds of tional standaruca

oth por them ine fa plac

oth ption. Btion. Beducaeducaom their eom their ee fre frlenc

ecxo et tanthey wom omen frand w

y who engtrounCommMW is a cNAP

ingorkkiwwoNet

WMWessionals and emp

n NAPeyessionals and emploofofprpr

ees engees engage with Nyyemploemploy. Emplot they dot whael a

e joivounds harall backggage / batage in the mor

oly 2,000 pry of nearmunit

e isound there fvers haetda-o-tor upMW fNAP

-elcxt eaners who wyMW becausened NAP

en. Mying industrankoss theessionals acrof

or them ine fa plac

tional NNa

TtionalNa

tional ENa

MWo Join NAPTTo

.ow.napmwww

all: 1 800 8or c

un

.MWn NAP

ingkorwetN

ainingr

tionaducE

W visit:

gor

827 3034

ndustrI

oun

oast t

iscD

oasC

esstdaUpy U

v

r

esvicerred Stnn

oas tionsciassooast Ao C

all: 1-800-8or c

uestione QvHa

-mo eee teel frf

.w1@aolnapm

827-3034

ns? Please

t:mail us a

om.c

nmp news flash continued from page 12

Flagstar Sells $1 Billion-Plus Commercial LoanPortfolio to CIT

F l a g s t a rB a n c o r pInc., the

holding company for Flagstar Bank FSB,has announced that, effective Dec. 31,2012, it has entered into a definitiveTransaction Purchase and SaleAgreement under which a wholly-owned subsidiary of CIT Bank, the U.S.commercial bank subsidiary of CITGroup Inc., will acquire a substantialportion of Flagstar’s Northeast-basedcommercial loan portfolio.

“This transaction is another step inrenewing Flagstar’s focus on our com-munity banking operation in Michiganand our national mortgage business,”said Michael Tierney, Flagstar presidentand CEO. “Flagstar is the largest bankheadquartered in Michigan, and we arefocused on being a best-in-class nation-al mortgage lender and leading super-community bank. We remain deeplycommitted to improving the quality ofour earnings within a disciplined lend-ing framework, and today’s transactionhelps us decrease our risk profile whileimproving our balance sheet flexibility.”

Under the terms of the Agreement,CIT will acquire $1.264 billion in com-mercial loan commitments, $785 mil-lion of which is currently outstanding.The loans sold consist primarily of com-mercial real estate loans, asset-basedloans and equipment leases.

“We are pleased to be able to acquirea pool of commercial loans that com-plements our existing corporate financeportfolio and will further expand ourmiddle market customer base,” saidNelson J. Chai, president of CIT. “We willcontinue to look for opportunities todeploy our capital in transactions thatgenerate good returns.”

NAMB Calls for SBA SmallBusiness Panel toExamine Impact of CFPB’sQualified Mortgage Rule

NAMB—The Association of MortgageProfessionals applauds the efforts of theConsumer Financial Protection Bureau(CFPB) to finalize the Ability-to-Repayrules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act,also known as Qualified Mortgages(QMs). NAMB has, and continues to be,a proponent of ensuring that con-sumers have an ability to repay mort-gage loans. NAMB applauds the CFPB’sefforts to reach out to the industry forfeedback regarding these rules as theBureau has been tasked with the verydifficult job to create a rule to protectconsumers from poorly-designed loans,such as pay-option ARMs and no-docloans. Yet, the CFPB also cannot limitconsumer choice by creating an uneven

playing field between the “Too Big toFail” institutions and the thousands ofsmall businesses originating loanstoday. The primary concern of NAMBwith the QM rule surrounds the Dodd-Frank Act’s mandate of a three percentcap on points and fees.

“We believe permanently removingcertain loan programs with risky fea-tures such as no-doc loans to W-2 bor-rowers will help the housing market inthe long run,” said NAMB GovernmentAffairs Committee Chair John H.P.Hudson. “However, arbitrary caps onpoints and fees which do not impact aconsumer’s ability to repay, withoutany clear definitions, will ultimatelyharm consumers by reducing competi-tion, raising borrower costs and pro-moting the policies of ‘Too Big to Fail’institutions. The congressional intent ofthe Ability-to-Repay Rule was not to putthe CFPB in a position of picking indus-try winners and losers.”

NAMB feels that the CFPB’s QM rulecan potentially promote a bias againstnon-creditor mortgage companies. Thethree percent cap on points and feesnot only has the potential to discrimi-nate against small business entities, butit has the potential to limit access tocredit for lower loan amount con-sumers which typically are consideredlow- to moderate-income consumers.

“Homeownership is the key towealth generation in this country formany Americans,” said NAMB PresidentDon Frommeyer. “Overly restrictive def-initions of the QM could lead to manyAmericans being forced into a perma-nent class of renters. NAMB member-ship works to protect equal access tocredit for all consumers, not just thosewhom can afford to buy more expen-sive houses.”

The CFPB will be seeking furthercomment on the QM definitions. NAMBofficially calls for the CFPB to convene asmall business review panel to studyand learn the impact that the QM rulewill have on thousands of small busi-ness owners, employees and the con-sumers in areas typically underservedby Too Big to Fail institutions.

“Utilizing the Small BusinessRegulatory Enforcement Fairness Act(SBREFA) process will help DirectorCordray and his staff better understandthe impact certain provisions of the QMwill have on small businesses and theconsumers they serve,” said Hudson.

NAMB officials will continue toreview the final QM Rule and will issuefurther comment.

“Consumers deserve protection frombad mortgage products,” saidFrommeyer. “However, the unintendedconsequences of ‘one size fits all’ regu-lation will ultimately harm the verypeople it is meant to protect. In today’senvironment of historically low interest


17


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

Icon Residential is one of the nation’sleading Conforming, FHA and VA wholesale lenders.

Our strength, success and longevity are derived fromdelivering customer service that exceeds our valued business partners’

expectations. With deep industry knowledge, financial stability and innovativetechnology, we provide the solutions for our business partners to fund loanswhile avoiding risk.

For additional information regarding Conforming, FHA and VA lending, call us at

888-247-4207 or visit us online at

www.iconwholesale.comSee product guidelines for restrictions. Terms and programs are subject to change without notice.

� Unlimited LTV/CLTV – 700 FICO

� 150% LTV/Unlimited CLTV – 620 FICO

� Assets Per DU Findings

� Only Current Fannie Mae OwnedLoans are Eligible

� Reduction in Term to 20 Years orLess will have Reduced Adjustors

� MI Loans Allowed

� O/O Properties Only

� Appraisal Waivers Accepted

� Net Tangible Benefit Required

� No Cash Back to Borrowers

� Existing Loan must have Closed Priorto June 1, 2009

� 15 Year Fixed Now Available

18

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

By Dave Hershman

In my book, TheComplete MortgageManagement Kit, I

define five rules ofmanagement:

1. Hire the right people2. Fire the wrong people3. Tell the right people what their jobs

entail4. Give the right people the tools nec-

essary to do their job. 5. Monitor, but get out of the way.

Clearly, the most important rule is tohire the right people. If you hire thewrong people, you will never be a goodmanager. End of conversation.

However, sticking with the wrongpeople can be just as devastating toyour business model. The cost youwill incur entails more than theresults of poor performance.Managers think they are all powerful,

but they are not. Sticking with poorperformers represents your greatestimpediment to implementing yourrecruitment plan. A manager tendsto spend up to 80 percent of theirtime supervising the wrong peopleand the opportunity costs they incuras a result are very, very significant.These costs include lost time andadditional stress. Just to accomplishsomething that is impossible: tryingto make the wrong people into theright people.

Why is it so hard? Because of thegreat myths of employee develop-ment:

� Myth #1: They are not succeedingbecause I am not a good manager.At the worst, you have not trulydefined the job so that you do nothave a good handle regarding whythey are failing and by how much.At best you have hired the wrongperson for the job (see Rule NumberOne).

Managing for the Future:Firing the Wrong People

� Myth #2: If I ignore the problem itwill go away or become better overtime. Even the worst performers havebouts of efficiency that will enableyou to justify this statement.Performance problems do not flyaway. Yes, you might retire first.More likely they will quit firstbecause they are as miserable asyou. How many times were yourelieved over a resignation? This isa bad sign! Remember leaders areproactive. Anytime you go to theoffice in hope that the employeewill make this decision for you, youhave already wasted much toomuch time. Want another badsign? I know managers who havecalled loan officers and askedthem—do you still work here any-more? If you have to ask—they areeither not working or workingsomewhere else.

� Myth #3: They are just in the wrongposition.Do you have a job they can do ade-quately? Then make the move! Don’ttransfer them to another divisionand make them someone else’smanagerial problem.

� Myth #4: But dealing with problemsis my job as a manager!No, eliminating or preventingproblems is your job. Who said thatmanagers need to hit themselveson the head with a hammer tobecome successful?

� Myth #5: If I can just get them to dothis or that right, they will “cut themustard.”Yes, if you coach and coach andcoach, they might become ade-quate. They will never becomepeak performers. Your success willbe dependent upon how manypeak performers you have.

We have them! Do you?Because we bond thousands of mort-

gage companies across the countrywe use our buying power andleveraged competition among

multiple surety companies to offerunderwriting parameters andlower rates that other bond

agencies only wish they had.

Don’t wait for your bond’s expiration.

Trade in your overpriced bond fora new bond – And start savingmoney today!

Anyway, how does one cut themustard?

� Myth #6: If I have too many peakperformers, won’t one of thosewhippersnappers go after my job?Yes, they will. After you are promot-ed or you expand your company.The more peak performers youhave, the better your unit will per-form and the more likely you will bepromoted. If not, one of them willpass you by!

It is absolutely true that offices withtop performers will attract top perform-ers. People who excel understand theneed to be surrounded by others fromwhom they can learn. They also like achallenging environment. So just keep-ing less-than-mediocre performersaround will hamper your recruitingefforts not only by using up your mostprecious resource—time—but by creat-ing the wrong environment.

Should I just go back to the office andfire someone?We are not usually in a position to dothis, because you have not dealt withthe problem adequately. If you havebeen ignoring the problem for twoyears, you cannot just come in andmake a move. Your company probablywouldn’t enjoy the legal liability of aValentine’s Day Massacre. What youwould like to do is to make up yourmind to take the steps necessary tobring the problem to a closure. Makethe commitment and then act! Movingto Rules #3 and #4 will help you dojust that, because these rules dealwith the correct creation of expecta-tions and making sure that you andthe employee are fulfilling theseexpectations.

Dave Hershman is a top author in themortgage industry with seven books pub-lished, including The CompleteMortgage Management Kit. Dave is alsodirector of branch support for McLeanMortgage. He may be reached by e-mailat [email protected] or visitOriginationPro.com.

“A manager tends to spend up

to 80 percent of their time supervising the

wrong people and theopportunity costs they

incur as a result are very, very

significant.”

19


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013


rates and an economy finally showingsigns of recovery, the CFPB should con-tinue to work with the mortgage indus-try to ensure that consumers still haveavailability to affordable credit. NAMBlooks forward to working with the CFPBto ensure the rule is fair for all.”

Conforming Loan Limits to Remain the Same in 2013

The Federal HousingFinance Agency (FHFA)has announced thatthe maximum con-forming loan limitsfor mortgages ac-quired by Fannie

Mae and Freddie Mac in 2013 willremain at existing levels. In most of thecountry, the loan limit will be $417,000for one-unit properties. The loan limitsare established under the terms of theHousing and Economic Recovery Act of2008 (HERA), and are calculated eachyear.

The law sets loan limits as a functionof median home values in local areas.While some counties saw increases inhome prices in 2012, no loan limitincreases were evident after other HERAterms such as the statutory ceiling andfloor were taken into account.

The maximum conforming loan lim-its for one-unit properties, which gener-ally have applied to loans originatedsince Oct. 1, 2011, are $417,000 in mostlocations, but are as high as $625,500 incertain high-cost areas in the contigu-ous United States.

For loans originated prior to October2011, the maximum loan limit was ashigh as $729,750 in the contiguous U.S.That higher “ceiling” limit was permit-ted under legislation that is not appli-cable to loans originated in 2013.

In determining 2013 loan limitsunder the terms of HERA, FHFA did notchange the baseline maximum con-forming loan limit for the United States.The baseline limit, $417,000 for one-unit properties in the contiguous U.S.,was left unchanged based on historicalindex values for FHFA’s monthly andquarterly House Price Index (HPI).

HERA requires that the baseline loanlimit be adjusted each year to reflectchanges in the national average homeprice. After a period of declining homeprices, however, HERA requires thatprior price declines be fully offsetbefore a loan limit increase can occur.During the recent housing bust, theaverage U.S. home price declined sub-stantially. While estimates vary, theFHFA monthly and quarterly HPIdeclined by more than 19 percentthrough mid 2011.

Although FHFA’s monthly and quar-terly HPI both evidenced price increasesover the latest year, the magnitude ofthose increases was relatively small—only in the range of 4.0-4.4 percent.

Because the latest year’s price increasedid not fully offset the cumulativedecline in prior years, the national loanlimit is left unchanged pursuant to theterms of HERA.

In making this determination, theFHFA HPI has been used. The sameresult would apply, however, if any ofseveral other commonly-cited houseprice metrics were used. FHFA has eval-uated a number of methodologies fortracking changes in the national aver-age house price.

Consistent with FHFA’s prior practice,in determining the 2013 HERA limits,FHFA used median home values esti-mated by the Federal HousingAdministration (FHA) of the Departmentof Housing and Urban Development(HUD). FHA has calculated those medi-an values for the purpose of determin-ing its own lending limits. Once the FHAloan limits are announced, FHA willallow a 30-day appeals period forappellants to submit data suggesting apotentially higher median home valuefor a given area. If FHA changes itsmedian price estimates as a result ofany appeals, and if those changeswould impact the FHFA conformingloan limits, FHFA may adjust the con-forming loan limits and announce theresulting changes.

Mortgage Banker ProfitsIncrease to Nearly $2,500Per Loan in Q3

Independent mort-gage banks and mort-gage subsidiaries ofchartered banks madean average profit of

$2,465 on each loan they originated inthe third quarter of 2012, up from$2,152 per loan in the second quarter,as reported by the Mortgage BankersAssociation (MBA). Seventy percent ofthe 311 companies that reported pro-duction data for the third quarterreport were independent mortgagecompanies.

“Both purchase volume and refi-nancing volume increased in the thirdquarter, resulting in higher net produc-tion profits among independent mort-gage bankers,” said MBA Associate VicePresident of Industry Analysis MarinaWalsh. “Secondary marketing gainsimproved by 14 basis points over thesecond quarter. However, per loanexpenses remained flat despite highervolumes.”

Among the other key findings ofMBA’s Quarterly Mortgage BankersPerformance Report are:� In basis points, the average produc-

tion profit (net production income)was 120 basis points in the thirdquarter, compared to 107 basispoints in the second quarter.

� Average production volume was


ServiceFirstTM has you covered.

ServiceFirstMtg.com 877-278-SFMCNMLS: 166487

We are pleased to announce that our Plano, TX branch has expanded.Please feel free to visit or call our team.

Kurt GonzalezBranch Manager

5072 W. Plano Parkway, Ste. 200Plano, TX 75093(972) 985-0000

20

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Ihope that all ofyou had a greatholiday season and

are looking forwardto making 2013 bet-ter than 2012. I feellike we have reallyaccomplished a lotthis year, and as I

write this President’s Corner, I amreally excited about this coming year,both for NAMB and for all of us asoriginators.

As I look forward, I am remindedthat in some circles of the mortgagearena, there is cautious optimism outthere everywhere. We still have somany unanswered questions concern-ing the Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau (CFPB), concerning the newCongress and Senate, and even whatare rates going to do, what changesmay be coming on FHA loan, and whatabout Fannie and Freddie? And theother items such as The Fiscal Cliff, thestock market, the bond market …whew! I sometimes wonder how wekeep up with everything.

Let me tell you … the answer isthat the great people associated withNAMB—The Association of MortgageProfessionals are on their toes. Theylook at all of this each and every dayand they help us as a Board of

Directors by making the decisions thatallow us to keep you informed. I am soproud of these people, because theymake my job easier. In the past, NAMBpresidents were paid a stipend toserve as president because they tookso much time away from their jobs. AsI have been president since Nov. 10,2011, I have put countless hours intothis job, and as the day moves on, Icontinually try to juggle the day in andday out assignments from NAMB, torunning my company. I have closedmore loans personally this year than Ihave in the last three years. I still talkwith every customer and I make surethat I am treated exactly like my origi-nators … no special favors. And thebest part of it is talking to my cus-tomers. I like the interaction and timespent to see them excited about whatI have helped them do. And the reasonfor that is that the people at my officethat do their job.

People ... such a funny word thattells us that we are a group of humanbeings who band together to exist inan existence that is considered collec-tively or in a general group, to exist forthe good of all … and that reallydescribes employees and NAMB mem-bers. To exist for the good of all! I sin-cerely feel that I cannot say enoughabout the people that work each and

every day for the success of NAMB.From my Board of Directors all theway across to the members that join tobe part of their organization that rep-resents what they do for a living. Ithank all of you that are members andall of you that will become membersand even those of you that aren’tmembers, because all of you are peo-ple of this association and you arewhat makes this such an incrediblejourney. Again … thank you!

I hope that all of you will come toWashington, D.C. for the 2013 AnnualLegislative & Regulatory Conference onMarch 10-12. We will be spendingMonday being informed of what hastranspired and what will be coming upon Capitol Hill in the next year.Speakers from the CFPB and other agen-cies will be on hand, updating you ontheir changes and other things that willbe going on in the halls of Congress.There is going to be a large discussionon the qualified mortgage (QM), socome prepared to learn what could bein store for the industry. Please don’twait to register because if you remem-ber last year, we ran out of room at thehost hotel. Please remember, you mustbe a member of NAMB in order toattend this Legislative Conference. Ifyou would like to attend and are not acurrent member, log on to

JoinNAMB.com and join prior to regis-tering for the event.

Another item that is gaining somemomentum is what we are doing inthe membership program. We haveinitiated a program that will involveall of the account executives in themarketplace to go help get members.Now is the time to gather a great num-ber of members to make sure thatWashington understands that we areall together and are very important.Remember, NAMB represents and hasalways represented the mortgage pro-fessional since our inception in 1973.

I am really looking forward to agreat 2013 and moving forward withgrowing this association to what it wasfive years ago. Remember, if you arenot a member, the question you needto ask yourself is WHY? We also arelooking for people to get involved incommittees to help us achieve thesegoals. We cannot do it without you,and you are important to us. Pleasebecome a member, and do it today.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS, PresidentNAMB—The Association of MortgageProfessionals

The President’s Corner: January 2013

By Kay A. Cleland,CMC, CRMS

The inauguralNAMB Nationalconference was

held at the MGMGrand in Las Vegas onDec. 8-10. What an

amazing event that featured amazingnational speakers and a jam-packedconvention hall! This conference hadto be, without question, one of the bestthat I have attended in a long time. Liveseminars were held on Sunday andMonday, where attendees were able toexperience dynamic speakers such asGreg Frost, Erik Janeczko, Ginger Bell,Rene Rodriguez and many more.

As a licensed mortgage originator,this was perfect timing for the New

Year, as 2012 was wrapping up and2013 was set to begin. The conferencewas filled with seminars that are help-ing me create a successful business planfor what is already shaping up to be agreat 2013. I was able to choose themeetings that I wanted to attend thatworked with my goals and schedule.

The exhibitor booths on the exhibithall floor of the MGM Grand rangedfrom wholesale lenders, software com-panies and technology providers, cred-it solutions, sales and marketing firms,referral sources, commercial mortgageproviders, insurance providers, bond-ing firms and media outlets. All ofthese vendors were on hand at NAMBNational to support the originatorsand give them more ideas to createmore business. I would like to saythank you to the exhibitors on behalf

of NAMB, the mortgage originators andbusiness owners.

This conference brought togethermortgage professionals from aroundthe United States to network. This groupis definitely at the top of the mortgageprofession. I felt extremely fortunate tobe in the presence of so many out-standing individuals who gave of theirtime and shared information to helpme enhance my mortgage business.

As a licensed mortgage originatorand owner of my own company, it isimperative that I know what is goingon legislatively and how it affects me,my customers and my company.NAMB helps me to know exactly whatis coming legislatively and what I needto do as a mortgage professional inorder to always be prepared. The leg-islative update, presented by NAMB

Government Affairs Committee ChairJohn H.P. Hudson, was informative andspecific. Watch for NAMB’s Call toActions and act.

I am thankful for all of the volun-teers at NAMB, as well as the associa-tion’s sponsors, vendors and partnersthat made this Conference one of thebest! It is important that we all play apart in our mortgage industry. If youare not a member of your state andnational association, please join todayand help us to make a difference andsupport our industry.

Kay A. Cleland, CMC, CRMS of KCMortgage LLC in Castle Rock, Colo. is sec-retary of NAMB—The Association ofMortgage Professionals. She may bereached by phone at (720) 810-4917 or e-mail [email protected].

NAMB Rolls Success WithFirst Annual NAMB National Conference in Vegas

21


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

Scenes From NAMB National 2012December 8-10 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

The gang fromAdvantus on theexhibit hall floor of theMGM Grand in LasVegas

James Wilkinson andTate Kesner of Calyx

were on hand todemonstrate theirsoftware solutions

Mike Grim and Don Clement Jr.from Credit Plus Inc.

The Icon Residential crew was on hand to assist attendees with theirlending needs

Nick Lambrinatos, RyanAlex, Kevin Neville and

Dan Vermillion ofLendingTree

The Maximum Acceleration crewwas on hand to discuss theirofferings

Ann Stockberger, Carl Markman, Joe Amoroso and AnthonyDurso of Real Estate Mortgage Network (REMN)

Justin Glassand Kristina

Bennett fromUnited

WholesaleMortgage

(UWM)

NAMB President Don Frommeyerwelcomes attendees to the first-everNAMB National Conference

NAMB President Don Frommeyercongratulates Nathan Pierce and

Rick Bettencourt on receiving theirCertified Residential MortgageSpecialist (CRMS) designation

Members of NAMB’s Board ofDirectors receive a check in the

amount of $10,000 from theOriginatorfest Golf Tournament

22

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Scenes From NAMB National 2012December 8-10 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

NAMB Vice President JohnCouncilman announces thenominees for the NAMBProfessional of the Year Award

NAMB Government Affairs Chair John H.P.Stevens presents John Glen Stevens a check

NAMB Professional of the Yearnominee John Glen Stevensaddresses the crowd

John Councilman (left) and Don Frommeyer (right) congratulate all thenominees for the NAMB Mortgage Professional of the Year Award

George Burkley from Indiana, NAMB Past President Harry Dinham, NAMBPresident Don Frommeyer, NAMB Immediate Past President Jim Pair, NAMBSecretary Kay Cleland, Mike Anderson from Louisiana, NAMB Lobbyist RoyDeLoach and Franklin American Account Executive Ann Block enjoying theNAMB National Conference in Las Vegas

Scott St. John delivers his NAMBProfessional of the Year nominationspeech

Andy W. Harris delivers hisnomination speech for NAMBProfessional of the Year

NAMB Government AffairsCommittee Chair John H.P.Hudson was awarded the NAMBVolunteer of the Year Award

Another packed hall listens in on one of the many educational sessions offered atNAMB National

Mark Your Calendar2013 NAMB Annual Legislative

& Regulatory ConferenceSunday-Tuesday, March 10-12 • Washington, D.C.

The 2013 NAMB Legislative and Regulatory Conference will be held Saturday-Tuesday, March 10-12 in Washington, D.C. This is a “must attend” event for all mortgage professionals. Last year,more than 10,000 Realtors attended NAR’s Lobby Day. This year, NAMB would love to get 1,000mortgage professionals to D.C. to help NAMB lobby on Capital Hill. Join NAMB as the associationrallies to fight for consumers, small business and mortgage professionals everywhere.

For more information, visit NAMB.org.

23


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

On the night of Dec. 9, 2012,Don Fader was not at the NAMBNational meeting at the MGM

Grand in Las Vegas with other successfulmembers of what he affectionately calls“the varsity” of the independent mortgageprofessional channel. He was at home inKinston, N.C., a town of just over 20,000 inthe mostly rural eastern region of the staterecovering from open heart surgery.Nevertheless on that special night “the var-sity,” and in fact, all independent mort-gage professionals, celebrated as Don wasnamed NAMB Mortgage Professional ofthe Year for 2012. John Councilman, vicepresident of NAMB—The Association ofMortgage Professionals and the leader ofthe Award Selection Committee put it thisway: “Don’s influence inside and outside ofNAMB is just overwhelming. Very few peo-ple in the organization have not beentouched in some way by Don. When hisname was called as the MortgageProfessional of the Year, there were fewdry eyes in the room. Don simply deservedto be Mortgage Professional of the Year.”

When asked of his thoughts on honor-ing Don Fader, NAMB President DonFrommeyer noted, “Don Fader has beeninvolved with NAMB for numerous years.He has always gotten involved havingheld several committee chair positions,board positions and state positions. Hehas also worked very hard on state prob-lems in North Carolina. He is veryunselfish in honoring his commitment toNAMB. I could not think of anyone elsethat has put forth his time and effort thisyear for both NAMB and North Carolina,other than Don Fader. As this title is thehighest reward that we give to anyone, hehas definitely earned this honor of NAMBMortgage Professional of the Year.”

I recently had the opportunity to speakwith Don Fader about his career, the inde-pendent mortgage professional industry,and how it feels to be honored by his peers

as NAMB Mortgage Professional of the Year.

Tell us about your early days working fora savings and loan.Don Fader: I began in the mortgageindustry in 1985 with a savings and loan.They had an opening for a loan officer. Itwas a unique and a sub-stantive way to be a partof the community—building the communityand serving the communi-ty. It just seemed to be anatural fit for my disposi-tion.

Unfortunately, after afew years, the S&L crisiscame about and the S&Lthat I was working for wasseized by the Office ofThrift Supervision (OTS). Istayed with them duringpart of the transition process, but soon leftand joined First South Bank as vice presi-dent of their mortgage production. I stayedfor three-and-a-half years, convinced that Ilearned everything that I needed to knowabout mortgage lending. Boy was I wrong!It was in 1996, when I left First South toopen SMC Home Finance that my educa-tion truly began.

You are a passionate advocate for theindependent mortgage professional chan-nel. Why?Don Fader: Just yesterday, a lobbyist askedme how viable the independent mortgage

professional model is today. Here is how Ianswered him: “The small professional hasone product to offer … a mortgage loan. Icannot finance your car. I cannot do a per-sonal loan for you. I cannot finance yourboat. Mortgages, that’s all I do, so I have todo a better job or I am out of business.”

The unique thing aboutthe mortgage industry isthat the David’s of theindustry you can competeon an equal footing withthe Goliaths of the industrybecause we can provide ahigher level of service. Wecan provide a greateramount of product optionsand can do it despite theapparent economies ofscale disadvantage. In real-ity, the mortgage industryworks with a reverse econ-

omy of scale situation. Non-depositoriesassume operating risk that large origina-tors are unwilling to take on. We providethe services and facilities that make home-ownership possible and we do not haveexecutive or middle management. Wedon’t maintain an IT department orhuman resources department, so thesecost savings allow us to operate a moreeffective and efficient loan platform.

How would you describe the relationshipbetween independent mortgage firmsand wholesale or correspondent bankers? Don Fader: Our relationships with whole-

salers or correspondent bankers,now more than ever, are relationships

that are vetted, and are based on a largedegree of trust. It’s no longer enough thatyou are licensed. You know you have to beable to prove yourself to your wholesaler orcorrespondent, and they have to have con-fidence that the product that you are origi-nating is going to be a sellable product. It’sgoing to be well-originated. It’s going to befree from fraud. The correspondent orwholesaler is going to write a check for$250,000, for example, based on a file thatyou have put together. They must have theconfidence that that file has been puttogether in such a way that protects theirinterest, as well as the borrowers.

From your perspective, how important isthe service you get from the banker?Don Fader: Service is absolutely critical tous because the borrower never sees thewholesaler … they never see the funder.Anything that goes wrong in that process isour responsibility because we are the pro-fessional in the transaction and we haveselected that company. We have to standbehind our wholesaler and they have tostand behind us. Those relationships are alot closer than they were 10 years ago. Onboth sides of the third-party originationchannel—independent professionals andwholesalers—the firms that remain arethose that are committed to the model.That makes for a great partnership.

Are you concerned that new regulationswill hurt the independent professional’sability to compete with the large deposi-tory lenders? Don Fader: The one size fits all regulatorystrategy threatens to eliminate the smallprofessional channel. Now that shouldnot be construed to mean that we areasking for a pass. You know we don’t have

The Heart of theProfession:

Don Fader Recognized as NAMB’sMortgage Professional of the Year

B Y D A V I D J . C O S T E R


24

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

By Al Crisanty

A new year lies ahead as we close the book on 2012. We in theindustry have weathered unimaginable change over the pastfour years. As a result, we have emerged smaller, but stronger.The year 2013 promises more change, and as before, thestrong and wise shall thrive. Our firm believes that three trends

will play out in the mortgage industry in 2013. These trends are:

1. HARP 3.0 will come to fruition, allowing millions more homeowners to ben-efit from refinancing and allowing the refinance-domination of the industryto continue for another year.2. Preferred vendor relationships will become the norm in the industry aslenders seek to maintain quality standards throughout the lending process.3. The wholesale channel will continue to reclaim market share lost in theaftermath of the mortgage meltdown and housing crash as quality originationwill combine with maximized consumer choice and professional flexibility.

Let’s take a look at this third trend in the next few paragraphs—the con-tinued resurgence of the wholesale channel—and examine why this is simplya part of crafting the New Mortgage Industry (NMI).

The NMI is simply the combined structural, operational and regulatorychanges that are being put in place in the aftermath of the mortgage systemcollapse and housing bubble. One of the emerging themes of the NMI is thepotential risk for lenders for all activities from first customer contact throughtheir final mortgage payment. While this may be a dose of hyperbole, in real-ity, the unknowns regarding the final composition of the NMI make it imper-ative for lenders to have visibility and confidence in all aspects of the mort-gage process or risk substantial regulatory and financial consequences.

This potential risk requires that lenders follow three hard and fast rules:

1. Know, approve and review all partner procedures2. Maintain vigilant QC procedures3. Maintain a zero-tolerance policy for violators of established guidelines orprocedures

While on one hand, we are all working to build the dreams of our cus-tomers, on the other hand, we are manufacturing a financial product for themarkets. The NMI requires that mortgage products be 100 percent defect free.Wholesale lending—lending through mortgage brokers—can deliver on thatrequirement. Why? Wholesale lenders, including 360 Mortgage Group, haveevery incentive to be extremely careful in broker approval, generous in brokerresource development, training and oversight, and unrelenting in standardsadherence. Since this is our sole business, we have no other choice but to giveinvestors what they are demanding. Brokers likewise depend on effective andefficient wholesalers to provide the products and service their customersdemand. This produces a self-supporting cycle of quality throughout thewholesale lending channel.

The working relationship between regional wholesale mortgage bankersand brokers is aided by proximity as well as intensity. There are numerouscommunication channels, but the key to the success of the relationship is thewholesale account executive. Not only is the wholesale account executive inclose physical proximity to the brokers with whom they work with, but theyplay the important roles as teacher, intermediary and advocate. The whole-sale account executive is the key differentiator that makes the wholesale chan-nel the most reliable source of quality loans in the NMI.

The year 2013 will continue to see significant and industry-alteringchanges. Yet the role of the broker, the account executive and the wholesalemortgage banker will continue to ascend as it is further proven that this teamproduces the highest quality loans.

Al Crisanty is vice president of national wholesale production for 360 MortgageGroup and is responsible for overseeing regional sales managers as the companyseeks to expand operations to all 50 states. Formerly the national wholesaledirector for Caliber Funding, Al was responsible for the development and expan-sion of Caliber’s wholesale production channel. Additionally, Al served as execu-tive vice president of national production for American Home Mortgage, suc-cessfully transitioning the 500-member production team from Capital CommerceMortgage Company. Al may be reached by phone at (916) 761-1624 or [email protected].

SPONSORED EDITORIAL

2013: Wholesale Risingan inherent right to exist. Our valuederives solely from our ability to provideborrowers with the services and productsthat they expect and deserve. Our sizemakes us nimble and our knowledgemakes us invaluable. The channeldeserves consideration in the regulatoryscheme. What we hope is that the regula-tors are well-intentioned, and as we moveforward, that they can understand thevalue of the small channel.

For example, I live in a town of 20,000may be 21,000 people. We have eight ornine banks, savings and loans and creditunions in this town. There is no residentmortgage loan officer in any of thoseinstitutions. Let’s just say a borrowerwalks into the lobby of a large money cen-ter bank here in my hometown. If he hasa credit score of 800, plenty of W-2income and a 20 percent downpayment,they will make arrangements for a mort-gage loan officer to meet them there attheir convenience. Now if you walk inwith a 680 credit score, three percentdownpayment, income from a number ofjobs, and maybe he has had a couple ofjobs over the last two years, they are goingto draw a map on the back of the depositslip to the bank in the next town overwhere there is a mortgage loan officer.

Compare that to our approach. We aregoing to sit that customer down and we aregoing to walk them through the entireprocess. The banks are losing their com-mitment to consumers, especially in ruraland small town areas. When 70 percent ofthe independent market disappeared, youlost a tremendous amount of capacity,especially for first-time homebuyers. Yoursmall customer … your FHA customers …they are being underserved and in generalaccess to credit is diminished.

How important is it for a mortgage profes-sional to be involved in their community?Don Fader: Being involved in the com-munity is a critical issue. I have got anadvantage. I am 57-years-old. I havelived in this town my entire life. I amdoing loans today for the grandchildrenof some of my early S&L customers …the third generation that I am serving.You know I cannot walk into a grocerystore or into a mall without running intoa customer. I constantly get bombardedwith questions about where rates areright now, and is this a good time to refi-nance, or is this is a good time to buy.

We are members of the communityorganizations and we actively partici-pate. Our firm was awarded the smallbusiness of the year by the Chamber ofCommerce 2010-2011. People who haveknown me and the business that we runare gave us that award. We are mightyproud of that. I got a little chocked upwhen I accepted the award because thisis home.

You just simply cannot take from acommunity. Some business models losesight of the fact that, not only, are theyoriginating loans, but they are also cre-

ating opportunities like financing thepurchase of a home, a cash out refi-nance to help pay for college tuition orto enable the start a new business. Weare literally changing lives for our friendsand neighbors.

What else would you like your fellowindependent professionals to know?My wife retired from teaching schoolafter 30 years. I was able to speak at herretirement party and I looked at her andsaid: “You may not have realized this, butI have always been envious of you andthe work that you do. Every single daythat you taught, and in some small, andsometimes even profound ways youtouched the future.” I cannot think ofanything more important than that.

I am not particularly eloquent. I amnot very smart, but I am passionateabout the mortgage industry and thework that we do. I hope that at somepoint through our various state associa-tions and NAMB’s leadership on thenational front, we will be able to touchthe future by finding the balance that Ithink is required on the regulatory frontto protect borrowers, but still promotethe dream of homeownership.

In the meantime I am very, veryproud to be associated with the profes-sionals that I have met all across thiscountry. There’s nothing else that I canachieve in this industry more importantthan this award. I am truly humbledand honored.

David J. Coster is senior editor of NationalMortgage Professional Magazine. He maybe reached by phone at (919) 559-2171 ore-mail [email protected].

Don Fader’sAccomplishments:� Served as president of the North

Carolina Association of MortgageProfessionals (NCAMP)

� Named North Carolina Broker ofthe Year

� Served on NAMB’s Board ofDirectors

� Served as Interim Vice Presidentof NAMB

� Chaired the NAMB MembershipCommittee and the BylawsCommittee

� President of NAMB+, the NAMBsister entity that finds new busi-ness partners for NAMB

� Named to the Mortgage AdvisoryCouncil in North Carolina by theState Banking Commissioner

� His firm, SMC Home Finance, wasnamed Small Business of theYear in Kinston, N.C.

� SMC Home Finance was NorthCarolina’s first accredited lender

� Holds the Certified ResidentialMortgage Specialist (CRMS) desig-nation from NAMB

the heart of the profession continued from page 23

25


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

“I spent several months researching differentcompanies and had all but given up when afriend, Jonny Fowler, asked me to take a lookat ACHL This company doesn’t just feel likehome, it IS home. Every time I need help Iget it, and more! And with an incrediblebranch opportunity it all sums up into 3words: Product, Service, and HOME!”

Norman DuBois22 years in business

Saco, Maine

“ACHL’s has truly been a wonderful company to join. Response and turn timesare great. The communication and access

to anyone companywide all the way tothe top is almost immediate. You are truly

part of a family at ACHL.”-

Mark Silverberg23 years in business

East Brunswick, New Jersey

“Perfect closing today! Attorney loved America’s Choice

Home Loans. Everyone was as happy as could be!!!”

Monique LaValette25 years in businessBayville, New Jersey

“I really like this organization. My only regret is that I didn’t find

you sooner!”

Jim Patterson9 years in business

Houston, Texas

“An employee of a previous lender recom-mended ACHL to me. After talking to

everyone at ACHL I knew it was the rightfit. They did everything possible to answermy questions and make sure that I could

open and run our branch our way.”-

Dante Miller13 years in business

Corpus Christi, Texas

“The best thing about ACHL is Underwriting and closing department

turn times. I have never had eithertake more than 24 hours.”

Brian Slodki14 years in business

Bartlett, Illinois

“I joined America’s Choice Home loans be-cause I felt like I was joining a family.

They just jumped through hoops to get meon board and opened.

They give me the tools needed to help merun and grow my business.”

Renee Ralls33 years in business

Salem, Oregon

www.achlonline.com

Give Cory Fowler, Sales Manager atAmerica’s Choice Home Loans a call at

713-821-9753 or e-mail [email protected] learn how you can have a better, more rewarding career.

“You know the old saying ‘Your company isonly as good as your employees’ Jonny andhis team have proven that statement to be

true! I’ve had the pleasure to work withJonny and his team for over 10 years.

Once I had the opportunity to move andwork with him and his team again

I took it! It’s the right move!

David Velasquez15 years in business

Virginia Beach, Virginia

26

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Sponsored Editorial

Compliance and Marketing2013: Safely Growing Your

BusinessIf you have ever done a significant amount of marketing, you’ve probably raninto or heard of others running into problems with compliance (hoops to jumpthrough to keep your marketing compliant). The mortgage industry and yourmarketing are heavily regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) andnow the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). These agencies are putin place to make sure that consumers are not being taken advantage of bylenders or their marketing and with all the guideline changes in the mortgageindustry they are cracking down.

Credit bureaus are paying hefty fines for allowing “pre-screened credit data”to fall into the wrong hands, regulations are tightening up, and as a mortgageprofessional, it’s up to you to keep abreast of all these changes, especially whenit comes to your marketing. We all want to earn a good living and grow our busi-ness. Don’t do it at the expense of your future or that of your company’s.

How can you stay current with all of these regulations?

1.. Youu cann readd thee guideliness onn thee agencyy Webb sites..

2.. Makee suree youu workk withh aa reputablee marketingg firm.. There are lots of “mar-keting people” out there who do not understand the guidelines. If they don’tknow the rules, how can you expect them to be followed?

3.. Iff youu havee aa compliancee department,, usee them. They have intimateknowledge of industry regulations and will make sure you don’t get intoany hot water.

4.. Thiss iss thee mostt importantt off alll …… Talkk withh yourr marketingg companyy aboutit. If you use an outside marketing firm, you must absolutely take the time totalk with them and find out how much they know about the guidelines for thespecific type of marketing that you do or are planning on doing this year. Sure,it’s not their responsibility to make sure you follow the rules. But if you get intotrouble they will lose you as a client so any good company will always put yourbest interest first.

We are fresh into 2013 and it is shaping up to be bigger and better than2012! With this will come more oversight by the CFPB and the FTC. Considerthe type of marketing that you’ve planned for the year. Does it involve tele-phone numbers? Are those numbers scrubbed against the federal Do-Not-Call(DNC) List? Will you be using “pre-screened credit data?” Do you know theguidelines for using such data?

Key factors to considerUnderstand the regulations that affect your marketing and do your best to fol-low them. They will sometimes lower your response rates so it’s important toconsider this before you start marketing for the year. If you have already start-ed your campaigns, have that conversation with your compliance officerand/or you marketing firm and make any necessary changes ASAP. Talk withyour marketing firm to get useful insight into how you can keep your market-ing profitable while following set guidelines and find out what’s working forothers in your area.

Lastly, just because these agencies are cracking down, it doesn’t mean thatyou cannot market! There are plenty of campaigns working great for all typesof loans that are completely compliant … whether you are writing FHA, VA,conforming or reverse loans. There are even great campaigns for commercialmortgages! The mortgage industry is moving in the right direction again, andit’s important that you remain ahead of your competition. Plan your growth,find credible companies to work with, and make 2013 a year to remember!

Medford, Ore.-based TagQuest is a full-service marketing firm created specifical-ly for the ever-changing business world. TagQuest assists companies with theirdirect marketing, advertising and branding needs, and knows what it takes togenerate quality customers and, most importantly, how to retain those customersfor years to come. TagQuest brings forth a unique opportunity to utilize our expe-rience and expertise in varying consumer sales and marketing environments. Formore information, call (866) 376-5540 or visit Tagquest.com.

Applying SWOTto the Mortgage

IndustryBy Jean LeBlanc

The reference to SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity,Threat) as an analysis tool is well-established in businesslexicon and Economics 101 in the beginning lessons pro-vided to any entrepreneur. But due to the unique natureof the mortgage industry, many branch managers havefailed to use it to clarify their current position and pur-

sue a growth-oriented strategy.

Strengths and weaknesses You should start by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses becausethese elements can be controlled and improved internally. First of all, yourstrengths go beyond your monthly revenue projections, the number ofleads converted into clients and other bottom-line considerations. Howmay loan originators have you added to your staff this year? What is theaverage retention rate for your loan officers? Have you created an atmos-phere conducive to loyalty and productivity?

Since most mortgage companies offer the same loan products, youneed to use SWOT to determine your differentiation from competitors. Ifit’s just something mundane like low rates, you need to do some creativethinking. Ask yourself why your previous clients selected you.

Many mortgage organizations prosper by providing a unique product mixor serving a niche group. Some specialize in first-time homebuyers or jumboclients, for example. Others work with lower income or lower FICO clients.

By listing your strengths and weaknesses, you will position your com-pany in the overall marketplace, defining how you are different, uniqueand better than your competition. You may even create a written posi-tioning statement so you will know exactly how to pitch your prospects.

Opportunities and threatsThis second part of a SWOT analysis may prove critical to your ultimate sur-vival. It involves a situational analysis of factors outside your office andhow they impact your organization. For the mortgage industry, a keyopportunity or threat comes from the Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau (CFPB). What are their latest regulations and how nimble is yourcompany in adapting to them?

Competing mortgage organizations represent the most obvious threat.You should conduct the same analysis of your own company in thestrength/weakness SWOT component for the opportunity/threat they maypose. Don’t be afraid to learn from your competitors, especially those withwell-established reputations. Surviving for the long term in today’s mort-gage industry means you must be doing something right.

Referral sources represent a key component in the SWOT analysis. Realestate agents who serve as a source of clients for your competitors may sig-nificantly interfere with your marketing process. The use of advertisingand public relations to generate publicity can help either you or your com-petitor. Many mortgage organizations are taking to the radio, and someeven have their own shows! Try to capture the full dynamics of your localmarketplace in the “OT” component of your SWOT evaluation.

ConclusionTake some time to create a SWOT diagram and work on it for at least aweek to fully evaluate your marketplace situation. Evaluate product mix(jumbo, reverse, etc.), competitors, licensing requirements, referralsources and other elements unique to the mortgage industry such as turn-time and the impact of the CFPB. Finally, create a positioning statement asa guide for future action.

Jean LeBlanc is director of marketing for Guaranteed Home MortgageCompany. For more marketing tips, download the eBook, 13 Ways to JuiceUp Your Marketing in 2013, by going to joinghmc.com and clicking on theeBook offer midway down the page. She may be reached by phone at (914)696-3400.

27


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

You’re Invited!

FREEProfessional Coaching

for Mortgage

Originators

www.maccelcoach.com/webinarsSee Our Complete Schedule & Register Online Now:

Email [email protected] | Tel. (888) 819-7047

Brought to you by:

WE PUT YOUR CAREER IN HIGH GEAR!

Increase Your Loan Volumewith the

Maximum Acceleration Coaches &Top Mortgage Industry Leaders!

Follow us @ Facebook.com/maccelcoach

RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY!

Tuesday, January 29, 201312 pm - 1 pm ET

Mastering Communication:Connecting Through to Human Behavior

EARL McLAINMaximum Acceleration Coach

Tuesday, February 5, 201312 pm - 1 pm ET

The Power of Ethical Influence

GREG FROSTCEO, Frost Mortgage Lending Group /National Mortgage Industry Trainer


What to Do When You’re at YourLimit: Four Secrets to Building YourCapacity & Volume Faster

STEPHANIE YORKMaximum Acceleration Coach / Certified Coach, Coach Training Alliance


Social Media 2.0: Maximum Results, Minimum Time

MARK MADSENMortgage & Real Estate Digital Marketing Specialist


Systems for Success:The Five Keys to Peak Performance

ERIK JANECZKOCEO / Head Coach, Maximum Acceleration

Tuesday, March 5, 201312 pm - 1 pm ET

From Relationships to Referrals:The Top Three Keys to Referral Development

MICHAEL J. MAHERREALTOR® / National Best-Selling Author

heard on the street continued from page 10

� Stearns Lending Inc. has announcedthe appointment of James Hecht tothe role of executive vice president-strategic development.

� Capsilon has named David Hanafeeas the newest member of its execu-tive team as vice president of world-wide sales, where he is responsiblefor spearheading the company’sdirect and indirect sales efforts.

� WFG Lender Services has namedJason Schmidt as its senior vice pres-ident of closing operations.

� GSF Mortgage has announced theaddition of Kurt Kempen as a loanofficer.

� rel-e-vant Solutions has announcedthat Principal Consultant ElizabethGreen has been elected to theMortgage Bankers Association’sMISMO Residential GovernanceCommittee, the committee responsi-ble for administering the day-to-daystandards development activities ofMISMO—the Mortgage IndustryStandards Maintenance Organization.

� Blueberry Systems LLC hasannounced the appointments ofKristi Watson as its vice president ofProject Management Office (PMO)and Rick Schmitz as its vice presidentof technology.

� Prudential Mortgage CapitalCompany has announced that DavidDurning, has been named successorto David Twardock, who intends toretire from his role as president.

� ServiceLink has announced thatKevin Coop has joined the companyas executive vice president of enter-prise strategy.

� Richard L. Borges II, MAI, SRA hasbeen elected president of theAppraisal Institute.

� Prospect Mortgage LLC hasannounced the appointment ofMichael Williams, former presidentand CEO of Fannie Mae, as chairmanof Prospect’s Board of Directors.

� Solera National Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solera NationalBancorp Inc., has announced thelaunch of Solera National Bank’sResidential Mortgage Division andhas hired Kathleen Stout as execu-tive vice president of the new entity,and president of the ResidentialMortgage Division.

� LenderLive Network Inc. hasannounced that Erik Anderson hasbeen promoted to vice president ofsales for the company’s documentservices division.

� Global DMS has announced thatPatricia Rauch has joined the com-

pany in the position of chief operat-ing officer, where she will be respon-sible for overseeing the daily opera-tions and management of the entirecompany, including system develop-ment, client services, finance, salesand marketing.

� Wells Fargo Securities, the capitalmarkets and investment bankingbusiness of Wells Fargo & Company,has announced that Greg Reiter hasjoined the firm as managing directorand head of Residential MortgageResearch.

Your turnNational Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine invites its readers to submitany information, events, passages, pro-motions, personal or professionaloccurrences that seem appropriateand/or other pertinent data to theattention of:

Heard on the Street/MortgageProfessionals to Watch column

Phone #: (516) 409-5555E-mail:

[email protected]

Note: Submissions sent via e-mail arepreferred. The deadline for submissions isthe 1st of the month prior to the targetissue.

calendarNATIONAL MORTGAGE

PROFESSIONAL

OF EVENTS

To view or submitan entry,see page

68

HE

CH

T

28

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

By Jonathan Foxx

The Federal HousingFinance Agency (FHFA)released its September2012 Refinance Report(Report) on Nov. 28,2012.1 The Report pro-

vides some statistical information, mostof which comes as no surprise to mort-gage industry participants, while thereare some tidbits of data that seem todemonstrate the impact of the HomeAffordable Refinance Program, known asHARP, on the GSEs (viz., Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac). The end date for HARPwas extended until Dec. 31, 2013 forloans originally sold to the GSEs on orbefore May 31, 2009.

HARP was established in 2009 toassist homeowners who are unable toaccess refinance due to a decline intheir home value. The program wasoriginally designed to provide theseborrowers with an opportunity to refi-nance by permitting the transfer ofexisting mortgage insurance to theirnewly refinanced loan, or by allowingthose without mortgage insurance ontheir previous loan to refinance with-out obtaining new coverage.

The premises for HARP are simplystated, as follows:

1) Since the GSEs are already responsi-ble for certain high LTV loans; and 2) Default risk is lowered by allowing arefinance of these high LTV loans;therefore, 3) HARP loans refinancing high LTVloans at lower rates reduce default risk.

One of my concerns with HARP, or asit is referred to now HARP 2.0, is it hasfailed homeowners because it just isnot reaching enough qualified borrow-ers and many lenders take too long toissue approvals. Another concern is thedifferentially higher interest rate thatsome lenders charge underwater bor-rowers versus the current market rate.

A remedy to borrower eligibilitywould be to have the governmentexpand its guidelines to include non-agency lenders and by removing certainfeatures of the 2009 origination qualifier.Also, low credit scores remain an obsta-cle by preventing underwater homeown-ers from taking full advantage of the cur-

rent HARP guidelineswith respect to their eli-gibility for refinancetransactions.

HARP has obviouslytriggered a wave of refi-nance activity, just asexpected. In speaking withsome of our clients that arevery much involved in HARPrefinances, it seems that about 50percent-75 percent of their refi-nance business may be coming fromhomeowners who have LTVs above 125percent. Because the 125 percent ceilingon LTV was removed, some lenders areactually refinancing LTVs of 155 percent.

In the following discussion, I willoffer a brief review of HARP’s mostrecent survey, followed by a discussionabout the effect of HARP 2.0 on under-water borrowers.

Overview� More than 90,000 homeowners refi-

nanced their mortgage in September2012 through HARP with more than709,000 loans refinanced since thebeginning of CY2012.

� Since the program’s inception in2009, the GSEs have financed morethan 1.7 million loans throughHARP.

� In September 2012, half of the loansrefinanced through HARP had LTV ofgreater than 105% and one-fourthhad LTVs greater than 125 percent.

� In September 2012, 19 percent ofHARP refinances for underwater bor-rowers were for shorter-term 15-yearand 20-year mortgages.

� HARP refinances in September 2012represented 45 percent of total refi-nances in states hard hit by the housingdownturn - Nevada, Arizona, Floridaand Georgia - compared with 21 per-cent of total refinances nationwide.

� In September 2012, HARP refinancesfor borrowers with LTV ratios greaterthan 105 percent accounted formore than 70 percent of HARP vol-ume in Nevada, Arizona and Floridaand more than 60 percent of theHARP refinances in California.

Characteristics of HARP–Recent historyHARP refinance, quarterly volumeHARP volume continued to represent a

material portion of total refinance vol-ume in 2012 as HARP enhancementstook effect in the first half of CY2012.HARP volume represented 24% of totalrefinance volume in the third quarter of2012.

Monthly HARP volume by LTVThe number of completed HARP refi-nances reported for deeply underwaterborrowers continued to represent a sig-nificant portion of total HARP volume.In September 2012, 26 percent of theloans refinanced through HARP were ata LTV greater than 125 percent.

Percentage of HARP refinances by LTVBorrowers in September 2012, withLTVs greater than 105 percent, contin-ued to account for half the volume ofHARP loans.

Mortgage terms, LTVs greater than 105percentIn September 2012, 19 percent of HARPrefinances for underwater borrowerswere for shorter-term 15-year and 20-year mortgages.

Total HARP as percentage of total refi-nancesHARP continued to account for a sub-stantial portion of total refinance vol-ume in certain states. In September2012, HARP refinances represented 45

percent or more of total refinances inNevada, Arizona, Florida and Georgia,compared to 21 percent of total refi-nances nationwide.

HARP LTV >105 percent percentage oftotal HARPUnderwater borrowers accounted for alarge portion of HARP refinances in anumber of states. In Nevada, Arizona andFlorida, underwater borrowers repre-sented over 70 percent of HARP volume,and in California they represented morethan 60 percent of HARP refinances.

Timeline for interest rate changesI would like to set forth a timeline out-lining certain highlights in interest ratechanges since 2008. This information isworth noting, when considering therates and fees charged to underwaterborrowers by lenders and servicers. Ithelps to further contextualize the ratechanges and the availability of a marketrate for HARP refinance transactions.

2008� 6.48 percent: Highest rate reached in

2008 for a 30-year mortgage.� 6.04 percent: GSEs placed into con-

servatorship on 09/06/08.� 5.29 percent: Fed announces MBS

purchase program on 11/25/08.

Throwing aLifesaver toUnderwaterBorrowers


29


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

30

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Sponsored Editorial

By Melanie A. Feliciano Esq.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced thatthe 2013 base and “high-cost” or “jumbo” conforming loan lim-its for first-lien and second-lien loans will remain unchangedfrom the maximum conforming loan limits for 2012.

Note that loan limits apply to the original loan amount of the mortgageloan, not to its balance at the time of purchase by Fannie Mae, and the loanorigination date is the date of the note. For more detailed information aboutconventional conforming loan limits for 2013, please refer to Fannie Mae’sLender Letter LL-2012-11 (https://www.fanniemae.com/content/announce-ment/ll1211.pdf) and Fannie Mae’s Web site here(https://www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/loan-limits).

Effect on certain high-cost testsAny time there is a change in the conforming loan limits, the following statehigh-cost tests can be impacted: California, the District of Columbia, Georgia,Indiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas andSouth Carolina. Specifically, the rules governing the applicability of thesestates’ high-cost tests are determined in part by reference to the then-currentconforming loan limits. Note that for both North Carolina and Tennessee, theFannie Mae conforming loan limits will have no impact on their respectivehigh costs tests.

As with the year 2012, the applicable loan limits in 2013 for one-unit prop-erties in the states and counties listed below will remain as follows:

California: $417,000 (all counties except as follows)$463,450: Alpine $474,950: El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo $477,250: Nevada $483,000: Monterey$520,950: Sonoma $529,000: Mono $546,250: San Diego$561,200: San Luis Obispo $592,250: Napa $598,000: Ventura $625,500: Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Marin, Orange, SanBenito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, SantaCruz

Dist.. off Columbia1: $625,500

Georgia: $417,000 (all counties except Greene County—conforming jumbo loanlimit is $515,200)

Indiana: $417,000 (all counties)Maine: $417,000 (all counties)

Neww Mexico: $417,000 (all counties)

Neww York: $417,000 (all counties except as follows)$625,500: Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Putnam, Queens,Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester

Southh Carolina: $417,000 (all counties)

Texas2: $417,000 (all counties)

Melanie A. Feliciano Esq. is DocMagic Inc.’s chief legal officer. She may bereached by phone at (800) 649-1362 or e-mail [email protected].

Footnotes1—The District of Columbia Home Loan Protection Act of 2002 (the DCHLPA) applies to a loan if, among other things, the prin-cipal amount of the loan does not exceed the Fannie Mae conforming limit for a comparably sized dwelling.2—The Texas high-cost home law applies to a loan if, among other things, the principal amount of the loan does not exceed one-half of the Fannie Mae conforming loan limit for a single family, two, three- or four-unit dwelling.

No Changes to 2013Conventional Loan Limits

2009� 5.00 percent: Obama Administration

announces Making Home Affordableannouncement (02/20/09).

� 5.42 percent: Treasury rates sharplyrose and reached a 2009 high on abetter than expected June unem-ployment report.

� 4.93 percent: Treasury rates fellsharply after Dubai sought to delaysovereign debt payments.

2010� 4.97 percent: Treasury Rates rose on

optimism of a recovering U.S. econo-my and a temporary lull in news of adeveloping debt crisis in Europe.

� 4.17 percent: 30-year mortgage ratesreached percentage in earlyNovember, marking the lowest levelobserved since Freddie Mac begantracking rates in 1971.

2011� 4.51 percent: Treasury rates fell

amid ongoing concerns of a growingdebt crisis in Europe.

2012� 3.95 percent: Refinance volume

surged in March and dipped in April,as GSE seller/servicers completedrefinancings ahead of a 10 basispoint guarantee fee increase thattook effect April 1, 2012, mandatedby the Temporary Payroll Tax CutContinuation Act of 2011.

� 3.47 percent: 30-year mortgage ratesreached new historic lows inSeptember 2012. Refinance volumerose in September as 30-year mort-gage rates reached new record lows.

The borrower: Trapped or liberated?There has been some controversyinvolving HARP 2.0. One concerninvolves the servicers’ right to set thefees on refinances, such fees being ahighly profitable revenue source for ser-vicers. The total revenue has been esti-mated to be in excess of $12 billion forCY2012. The borrowers who refinancethrough HARP may save as much as $5billion in the same timeframe.

Since HARP enables borrowers torefinance with existing lenders, there isan opportunity for consumer financialabuse when a lender charges such “cap-tive customers” an above-market inter-est rate. And, surveys are showing thatborrowers who use their existinglenders constitute nearly 75 percent ofHARP refinance transactions.

The result, from the consumer’s per-spective, is that existing lenders and theservicers are in a position to charge con-siderably higher fees. This takes on aneven more potentially pernicious aspectwhen certain lenders, through theirservicing platforms, only permit under-water borrowers to refinance above aspecific loan-to-value ratio. There have

been some studies of the increased pre-mium. I have heard a range of 0.25 per-cent to 0.75 percent premium that isbeing charged to underwater borrowers.

The Obama Administration had want-ed the FHFA to use HARP as a means tostem the avalanche of underwater bor-rowers. These are Fannie and Freddieloans. Yet the FHFA has yet to adequate-ly police the higher rates charged onHARP transactions; indeed, it wouldseem that the FHFA does not evenacknowledge this condition exists.

The underwater borrower is still get-ting a reduced rate through HARP. But itmay not be the market rate, and that isthe crux of the issue. That differencebetween the market rate and the rategiven to the underwater borrower is allnew revenue to lenders. Claiming anincreased risk requires an increased rateis not a defensible view, where HARPactually provides lenders with a waiver ofliability—which, surely, may be seen as agovernment subsidy – with respect torepresentation and warranty claims.

Jonathan Foxx, former chief complianceofficer for two of the country’s top pub-licly-traded residential mortgage loanoriginators, is the president and manag-ing director of Lenders ComplianceGroup, a mortgage risk managementfirm devoted to providing regulatorycompliance advice and counsel to themortgage industry. He may be contactedat (516) 442-3456 or by e-mail [email protected].

Footnote1-Refinance Report September 2012, FederalHousing Finance Agency, 11/28/12. This docu-ment may be downloaded from my firm’s Libraryat www.LendersComplianceGroup.com orfrom the Federal Housing FinanceAgency’s Web site.

throwing a lifesaver continued from page 28

31


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013


$450 million per company in thethird quarter, up from $371 millionper company in the second quarter.The average volume by count percompany rose to 2,010 loans in thethird quarter, from 1,700 in the sec-ond quarter.

� The refinancing share of total origi-nations, by dollar volume, was 57percent in the third quarter, up from52 percent in the second quarter.For the mortgage industry as whole,MBA estimates the refinancing shareat 73 percent in the third quarter of2012, up from 67 percent in the sec-ond quarter.

� Measured in basis points, secondarymarketing income increased to 271basis points in the third quarter,compared to 257 basis points in thesecond quarter.

� Total loan production expenses—commissions, compensation, occu-pancy and equipment, and otherproduction expenses and corporateallocations—increased slightly to$5,163 per loan in the third quarter,from $5,128 in the second quarter.

� Personnel expenses averaged $3,320per loan in the third quarter, from$3,246 per loan in the second quarter.

� The ‘net cost to originate’ was $3,353in the third quarter, from $3,224 perloan in the second quarter. The ‘netcost to originate’ includes all pro-duction operating expenses andcommissions minus all fee income,but excludes secondary marketinggains, capitalized servicing, servicingreleased premiums and warehouseinterest spread.

� Productivity improved to 3.9 loansoriginated per production employeeper month in the third quarter, from3.6 in the second quarter.

� Ninety-seven percent of the firms inthe study posted pre-tax net finan-cial profits in the third quarter of2012, compared to 95 percent in thesecond quarter.

HUD and Census BureauExpand Access to IncludeHousing Info

Nearly 20 percent ofrecent movers identi-fied “convenience tojob” as the mostimportant factor in

their choice of neighborhood in 2011,according to the 2011 AmericanHousing Survey (AHS), the definitivesource of information on the quality ofhousing in the United States. For thefirst time ever, the U.S. Census Bureauand the U.S. Department of Housingand Urban Development have madesurvey results available on the CensusBureau’s American FactFinder dataaccess tool.

A wide range of specific topics is cov-ered in the survey, including plumbingand source of water and sewage dispos-

al; housing problems; householder’ssatisfaction with home and neighbor-hood; value, purchase price and typeof mortgage; recent home improve-ment activity and costs; safety fea-tures and potential health hazards;features in home providing accessibil-ity to people with disabilities; andsocio-economic characteristics of thehouseholder. Statistics are national-level only and are provided for apart-ments, single-family homes, manu-factured housing, new constructionand vacant housing units.

Topics new to the housing surveyinclude safety features, potentialhealth hazards and features provid-ing accessibility to people with dis-abilities. Among the accessibility fea-tures in occupied homes were floorswith no steps between rooms (64 per-cent of homes have this feature),entry level bathrooms (48 percent),entry level bedrooms (36 percent) andhandles or levers on sinks (28 per-cent). The least common accessibilityfeatures were elevators (found in 0.2percent of homes), ramps (one per-cent), handrails or grab bars (exclud-ing steps) in non-bathroom areas (twopercent), raised toilets (seven per-cent) and built-in shower seats (eightpercent).

Bank of America andHUD Reach Agreementon LGBT DiscriminationClaim

The U.S. Departmentof Housing & UrbanDevelopment (HUD)has announced an

agreement with Bank of America(BOA) to settle a claim that the mort-gage lender refused to provide financ-ing to a lesbian couple. The agree-ment is the first enforcement actiontaken against a lender involving HUD’srecent rule ensuring that theDepartment’s core housing programsbe open to all eligible persons, regard-


32

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

By Mason Grashot, CPA

There are many factors that determine how risky abond is perceived to be. Some factors are directly relat-ed to the licensee’s individual ability to meet its profes-sional obligations, while some are related to the overalleconomic climate for an industry. But other factors,some of which are discussed below, can produce a verystate-specific impact on the perceived risk for bonds.

� Thee languagee off thee state’ss bondd form: The coverages provided to statesthrough bond forms can vary tremendously—in much the same waythat no two insurance companies’ policies are the exact same. A state’smortgage license bond can be quite different from that same state’smotor vehicle dealer license bond. One state’s mortgage license bondcan be quite different from another state’s mortgage license bond. As acontract, the bond form’s language stipulates what it actually does.Those contract terms are spelled out in detail in the bond form. Bondlanguage often references legislation that carries the coverage terms aswell as regulations (directives or bulletins promulgated by a regulator toclarify or enforce the legislation). Some surety coverage is very specificin protecting the state only from fines and fees levied by the regulatorthat are not otherwise able to be recovered directly from the licensee(and bond principal). Other coverage can be much broader to includeunpaid state taxes or damages suffered by the licensee’s customers.

� Thee bond’ss claimss period:: Bonds cover actions that occur during thebond term. Accordingly, the surety carrier is not absolved of its respon-sibility for the bond immediately upon the bond’s termination. The reg-ulator (obligee) can still file a claim under the bond during the allow-able window of time following the occurrence of an event or termina-tion of the bond. That allowable claims period can be stated specifical-ly in the bond form, in the legislation or regulations to which the bondform refers, or not stated at all. In that situation, that individual state’sstatute of limitations precedents would apply. Accordingly, that claimsperiod can be as short as one year or as long as seven.

� Thee aggressionn off thee statee regulator: In spite of what language is in thebond form, referring legislation, or applicable regulations, it is still up tothe regulator to file claims under the bond. Some states have regulatorswho are fairly passive or accommodating in their oversight of thelicensees. They may give multiple warnings or use the bond as a true lastline of defense. Some states’ regulators are simply too busy with otherissues as government resources get stretched thin and priorities aredetermined. But other states may utilize their regulatory authority as arevenue source by aggressively fining and feeing its licensees for viola-tions. They may also be quick to pull the trigger on filing a claim underthe bond rather than exhausting all of their efforts otherwise.

Mason Grashot, CPA is president of The Bond Exchange, a national insur-ance agency focused on surety bonds with a unique specialty practice cen-tered on the mortgage profession. As the endorsed strategic partner ofNAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals, The Bond Exchangeservices thousands of surety bonds through programs designed specificallyfor the mortgage industry. For more information, call (501) 224-8895 orvisit www.thebondexchange.com.

All Bonds Are Not Created Equal

Sponsored Editorial

Bonded With NAMB nmp news flash continued from page 31

less of sexual orientation, genderidentity, or marital status.

HUD’s rule, Equal Access to Housing inHUD Programs Regardless of SexualOrientation or Gender Identity prohibitslenders from basing eligibility determina-tions for mortgage loans insured by theFederal Housing Administration (FHA) onactual or perceived sexual orientation,gender identity or marital status. HUD’sEqual Access rule applies to all housingprograms administered by theDepartment. “This agreement demon-strates that HUD will vigorously enforce itsEqual Access rule and pursue lenders thatdiscriminate on the basis of sexual orien-tation, gender identity or marital status,”said Helen Kanovsky, HUD’s GeneralCounsel. “By the same token, BOA shouldbe commended for stepping up and tak-ing immediate corrective action after HUDnotified BOA of the violation.”

HUD claimed that BOA denied a loan toa Florida couple seeking to obtain an FHA-insured mortgage because of their sexualorientation and marital status. Becauseone partner was not employed, the appli-cant enlisted her partner’s mother as a co-applicant on the loan. The couple workedwith BOA for several weeks to provide allof the necessary loan application docu-ments and the couple was assured by BOAthat they were likely to receive a mort-gage. One business day prior to closing,BOA denied the mortgage because it didnot consider the loan applicant and theco-applicant directly related because theapplicant and her partner were not mar-ried. As a result of BOA’s actions, the cou-ple was not able to close on the loan.

“The HUD Equal Access Rule means justwhat it says: one’s sexual orientation, gen-der identity or marital status is not a legit-imate basis on which to deny a mortgage,”said John Trasviña, HUD’s AssistantSecretary for Fair Housing and EqualOpportunity. “Members of the housingindustry should take note of this settle-ment agreement. HUD will enforce its reg-ulations to make sure its programs aretruly open to all qualified families.”

Under the terms of the agreement, BOAagrees will pay HUD $7,500 and to notifyits residential mortgage loan originators,processors and underwriters of itsSettlement Agreement with HUD. In addi-tion, Bank of America will remind itsemployees that they are prohibited fromdiscriminating against FHA-loan appli-cants on the basis of sexual orientation,gender identity or marital status. BOA willalso update its fair lending training pro-gram to include information on HUD’srule.

GSEs Complete 134,000Foreclosure PreventionActions in Q3

Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac complet-ed more than 134,000foreclosure preven-tion actions in the

third quarter of 2012, bringing the totalforeclosure prevention actions to morethan 2.5 million since the start of con-servatorship in 2008 with nearly 1.3million of those actions being perma-nent loan modifications. These actions,which have helped more than 2.1 mil-lion borrowers stay in their homes, aredetailed in the Federal Housing FinanceAgency’s third quarter 2012 ForeclosurePrevention Report, also known as theFederal Property Manager’s Report.

The quarterly 2012 ForeclosurePrevention Report has information onstate delinquencies and an updated,interactive Borrower Assistance Map forFannie Mae and Freddie Mac mort-gages, with information on delinquen-cies, foreclosure prevention activitiesand real estate-owned (REO) properties.Also noted in the report:� Year-to-date, Fannie Mae and

Freddie Mac have completed nearly411,000 foreclosure preventionactions.

� Nearly 38,000 short sales and deeds-in-lieu were completed in the thirdquarter, up four percent comparedwith the second quarter.

� Forty-five percent of troubled bor-rowers who received loan modifica-tions in the third quarter had theirmonthly payments reduced by morethan 30 percent.

� More than one-third of loan modifi-cations completed in the third quar-ter included principal forbearance.

� The number of the GSEs’ delinquentborrowers has declined nine percentsince the beginning of 2012.

Foreclosure Rate in 100Largest U.S. Metro AreasNears All-TimeBenchmark

The Foreclosure-R e s p o n s e . o r gteam—the LocalInitiatives SupportCorporation (LISC),

Urban Institute and the Center forHousing Policy—has released thenewest data on and analysis of serious-ly delinquent mortgages for all 366 U.S.metro areas from September 2012,finding that the foreclosure rate for the100 largest U.S. metro areas stands atsix percent, barely budging from thelast two quarters’ all-time high of 6.1percent. The foreclosure rate has beensteadily growing since we began track-ing it in March 2009. However, the rateof mortgages delinquent by 90 or moredays—mortgages on a clear pathtoward foreclosure—fell to 3.5 percent,down from a high of 5.5 percent inDecember 2009.

Fewer distressed mortgages meanswe can expect fewer foreclosure startsin future. Still, until the number of fore-closure exits catches up to the number


33


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

Licensed in NY, CT, PA, NJ, MD, FL, SC, NC, DE, VA, Pending in NH, RI

1 888 MEADOW8www.mortgagesalesjob.com

Meadowbrook Loan Originators MAKE 33% MORE MONEYwith Meadowbrook than any other company they worked for

Meadowbrook is an FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and VA direct endorsed lender

6 3 2 3 6 9 8

Stability – Honesty – Integrity

Our company values are CLEARCommunication • Leadership • Excellence • Attitude • Respect

To EstablishedBranch Managers*

3Low compare ratio3Join our “ Loans

From Home” program 3Lead management system3View your P and L

3A tier Investors3Get paid 2 weeks

after loan funds3Endless supply of leads3Common sense

underwritingMeadowbook is Hiring

Branch Managers and Loan Originators

34

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

In this month’s issue of NationalMortgage Professional Magazine,we had a chance to speak with

Charles Wagner, senior vice presidentof the lending division of CBCNational Bank, a rising wholesaleand retail lender based in suburbanAtlanta, Ga. Trained as an under-writer, Charles brings a unique per-spective to his leadership position.Recently, we spoke about his careerand his thoughts on the industrytoday.

Tell me how you came to have acareer in the mortgage industry?I graduated from the University ofGeorgia in 1992, and my first job outof college was with Merrill Lynch. Itwas in mutual fund accounting inJacksonville, Fla. Actually, it waspretty boring to me–reconcilingtrades and shares of mutual funds.After about a year, I was really kindof disenchanted.

Merrill Lynch Credit Corporationwas right next door to that operation.I saw a posting for an underwriter,who they were willing to train.Frankly, probably the best thing thatever happened to me was getting intothat field. The first thing they do withunderwriters is put them throughprobably a four- or five-week trainingcourse. That first four or five weeks ofunderwriter training has stuck withme my whole career. It was the pru-dence by which we evaluated ourbusiness and the thought processbehind it–when to make a businessdecision, when not to make a busi-ness decision.

How did your career develop?It was when I got to HomeBanc that Ireally figured out that I wanted to bein this industry for the long-term.HomeBanc took care of its customersand employees rather well. I felt thecamaraderie of the large group ofpeople in that organization. I wasprobably at HomeBanc for four-plusyears.

There was a gentleman out therethat I had become very good friendswith; and his wife was my first train-

er at Merrill Lynch–a guy namedSteve Rollins. We had talked for four,five, six, seven years about going outon our own, doing some partnership.When it was right for me, it wasn’tright for him. When it was right forhim, it wasn’t right for me. Well in2003, we both picked up the phoneand called each other about the sametime and said, “Are you ready to godo something?” So we parted with ourcompany and did a joint venturepartnership with a company out ofNew Jersey called American MortgageExpress Corporation, and from 2003-2007, we basically had our own busi-ness in Atlanta, a wholesale businessfocused on the southeast.

How did you come to CBC NationalBank?After the mortgage meltdown is whenI realized I wanted to be a leader inthis industry as well. We got in touchwith the CEO here at CBC National

Bank. Back then, it was known asFirst National Bank of Nassau County.This bank used to be in the mortgagebanking business, but they got out ofthe business in 2004. The bank real-ized it needed non-interest income.The CEO sat down with us in 2007 inthe credit meltdown and said, “I wantto get back in the mortgage bankingbusiness.” I said, “You know, we’re inthe middle of a credit crisis.” He said,“I know, but over my whole career, Iwas taught that when something’s onfire and everybody’s running awayfrom the fire, if you walk into the firecarefully, you’ll have an opportunityto do good business and make goodmoney. I like you, and I like Steve.”

So in late 2007, we started a smallwholesale business with a businessplan of maxing out at $25 million amonth. Well, the success rate of thatbusiness and the service that we gave,really grew quickly to be a $40 to $50million a month wholesale business,

and then to be $100 million-plus amonth, as more and more of ourcompetitors got out of the business.

What are the key strengths that CBCNational Bank has that allowed it tothrive during and after the credit crisis?One is diversification. Too much of agood thing isn’t a good thing. I alsolearned that you have to surroundyourself with good people that havethe same character that you have.Don’t budge on character issues. Ifit’s in the gray area, it’s black andwhite for me. So going to the gray isnot an option in our business.

We’re probably a little bit moreconservative than average mortgagebankers. I want to have a little bitlower highs. So we want to focus onpurchase business. We want to focuson things that are going to be here inthe long-term. Therefore, we’ll havehigher lows as this cycle moves in andout.

How has technology played a role inexpanding your business? Let’s look at it a couple differentways. The first is … how has itallowed us to grow our business out-side of the state of Georgia? The factis that we have the ability to marketand use technology, make peoplefeel like they’re part of the business,even when they’re not in the state ofGeorgia. It’s really allowed us to dobusiness all across the nation.

Next, you go to an operationalimpact. In 2010, we implemented anew system–the Avista TechnologySystem, which we co-branded CBCConnex. It’s a Web-based system thatallows us operationally to do busi-ness from anywhere and allows ourbranches to be connected withouthaving to a have a database or serverin their office (www.cbconnex.com).

What keeps you up at night when youthink about the mortgage industry?I am really worried about the con-sumer long-term. I hate to get intophilosophical conversations. But it’sreally the financial morality ofAmerica, which is our consumers are

Charles Wagner, Senior Vice President of the Lending DivisionCBC National Bank

B Y D A V I D J . C O S T E R

“… you have to surround yourselfwith good peoplethat have the samecharacter that you have.”—Charles Wagner

35


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

willing to give up easier and easierand not live up to the obligations towhich they commit. It really makesme worry about long-term viability ofbanking and mortgage banking inour country.

The second is obviously the regula-tory burden. It’s definitely adding tothe cost of doing business. It isadding to the cost the consumerpays. I worry about where’s that line… where’s the balance? Has the pen-dulum finally swung too much? Ithink the audits and exams are great.My key staff learns from every one ofthem. But the fact is that each one ofthose represents one to two weeks oftaking your eye off the ball.

Tell us about your relationship withthe bank? This bank was a construction anddevelopment lender pre-2007. For allintents and purposes, this bank prob-ably should have failed at one pointbased on the non-performing assetsit built up. But over the last fiveyears, our earnings and taking asmall amount of TARP has saved thisbank. So that accomplishment ofactually not just being just a mort-gage banker, but buying into thebank as a partner and realizing it’swho we are, has really made a differ-ence. We like to say there’s going tobe a book written about CBC as oneof the few banks that really shouldhave failed, but made it. I think we’restill writing the story.

Who have some of your mentorsbeen?There are two people who have beenmy mentors over time. One is mydad. As I grew up, he instilled a hardwork ethic and character. He was abanker, he instilled financial disci-plines. And today, it’s the CEO of ourbank, Mike Sanchez. He’s that bankerwho empowers you to make goodbusiness decisions and supports youafter you make them. He has reallydone a lot of investment in teachingme about the bank–how to makesure our mortgage bank fits insidethe bank and how to grow our busi-ness. Frankly, I’ve learned more inthe past five years than I have theprevious 10 years of my career. At theend of the day, I got a PhD in bank-

ing while I’ve been running the mort-gage bank for CBC.

What are your thoughts on where themortgage market is headed?We are absolutely going to move to apurchase market. Over the last yearor two, we’ve seen small stridestoward that. More importantly, thequestion we have to answer is,“Where is the new talent coming inour industry?” We’ve gotten such ablack eye over the last few years. Willthere be new talent in our industry tohandle this business?

Over the next five to 10 years, Ithink it’s going to be a purchase-minded business that’s going to needto be done more in local or regionalbusinesses I think you’ve got to beable to manage your business betterboth from a risk management andfrom an execution standpoint. I thinkthe big banks are going to turn offthe consumer. The smaller moreregional banks or mortgage banksare going to actually step in and fillthat void. I think the customer isgoing to be willing to pay a slightlyhigher rate to get a much better levelof service than they do today withthe big banks. I continue to hear hor-ror stories about how customers aretreated. We think that that’s a bigdeal. If you move to a purchasetransaction that has a deadline, I justdon’t know how the big players aregoing to be able to adjust to that andmake that happen.

What else would you like our readersto know? We want to take care of the customer;we want to manage risk. We want tobe very profitable. We don’t reallythink that doing business for the sakeof doing business is optimal. So hereat CBC, we’ve built a business planthat’s sustainable for the long run.We’re five-plus years into this busi-ness. I think back to when we cappedit out at $25 million, and now we’resomewhere between $150 and $180million.

David J. Coster is senior editor ofNational Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine. He may be reached byphone at (919) 559-2171 or [email protected].

By Jennifer Robinson

Menlo Park, N.J. is a good source of inspiration.It’s the home of inventor Thomas Edison’s Laboratory and

is where he invented the light bulb. With hard work, innova-tion and dedication, Edison made lives easier.

Menlo Park Funding uses the same philosophy, to make homeowner’slives “easier” financially and that includes homeowners who happen to bea part of the U.S. Armed Forces.

It’s also the belief followed by this month’s mortgage hero NormanZolkos of Menlo Park Funding. He recently completed the USA Cares’“Certified Military Housing Specialist Course” and is using his new trainingto make the lives of our veterans a little easier.

Norman has literally given hundreds of hours of his time to helping mil-itary borrowers get lower-rate VA mortgages and eliminate PMI, this savinga borrower hundreds of dollars.

This year, Norman assisted more than 40 veterans, helping each of themto save an average of $240 a month. That savings ismeaningful to veterans and their families.

“Originating a VA mortgage may mean morepaperwork, more training and spending more timethan loan originators are accustomed to,” saidNorman. “However, knowing we are giving a serviceto our nation’s military is a personal reward. Iencourage all originators to become a “MilitaryHousing Specialist” through USA Cares so they cangive back something to the military that defend ourfreedom on a daily basis.”

One veteran who inspired Norman was a recently-wounded warrior of the war in Iraq. Norman helped to close his mortgagein nine days by galvanizing the Department of Veterans Affairs and histeam at Menlo Park Funding.

“He had sustained multiple injuries while serving in Afghanistan, andhad endured several surgeries,” said Norman. “I was amazed and inspiredby his great spirits, even though he suffered a horrific injury and will havepain for the rest of his life.”

If you want to connect with Norman about how you can make the livesof our worthy veterans a little easier, please e-mail him [email protected].

USA Cares salutes Norman Zolkos for giving our military, “A Hand Up!”

Be a Mortgage Hero! This recognition is free to Certified Military HousingSpecialists. Take the FREE Certified Military Housing Specialist course offeredonline by USA Cares and tell us how you are “Helping those who defend ourhomes, preserve their own.” Jennifer Yopp Robinson is the vice president ofprograms and services at USA Cares, where she has worked since 2007. Shemay be reached by phone at (800) 773-0387, ext. 115 or e-mail [email protected].

USA CaresMortgage Heroes

Normann Zolkosoff Menloo Parkk Funding

Norman Zolkos

“We don’t really think that doing business for the sake of doing business is optimal. So here at CBC, we’ve built

a business plan that’s sustainable for the long run.”

36

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Secure SettlementsAnnounces Free Consumerand Realtor Access to ItsClosing Agent Database

Secure Settlements Inc. has announced thatit has will launch a Consumer and Realtordatabase access program beginning inJanuary 2013. The program, called “KnowBefore You Close” will allow consumers freeaccess to search the SSI nationwide closingagent database (NCAD) to make better deci-sions about who attends the closing ontheir behalf. It will also allow real estateagents to check out an agent’s risk ratingbefore a referral is made, thereby helpingto protect them from the reputational fall-out accompanying fraud or other harm to ahomeowner at the closing table.

Secure Settlements offers first to marketsolutions for closing table risk, establishesopportunities for closing professionals togain new business, and offers banks andconsumers a searchable database ofshared information to help them makebetter choices about the people who han-dle their mortgage funds and importantloan documents.

For closing agents (attorneys, escrowand title agents, notaries and independentclosers), a 10 minute application and 30minute vetting process gets them listed inthe SSI searchable database used by hun-dreds of banks and mortgage lenders and(beginning January 2013) tens of thousandsof consumers to research the risk status oftheir transaction partners. By adding theirname and information to the more than45,000 strong database agents can estab-lish their commitment to quality control,independent risk management andtransactional transparency. Vetted agentsalso are eligible for discounted E&O/PLIinsurance and reduced cost continuingeducation programs through SSI strategicrelationships. For banks, SSI provides anoutsourced solution to the requirementto manage third party service providerrisk. SSI has the technology, the expertise,the staff and the documentation to assistyou in implementing an independent,low cost, common sense approach tooperational risk management. Its propri-etary process has been in developmentfor 10 years in collaboration with keyindustry managers and former state andfederal regulators.

“I have been a consistent advocate forgreater protections for consumers from

closing table fraud for more than 10years,” said SSI President and CEOAndrew Liput.” With the recent adoptionof greater regulatory requirements andfederal laws pressuring participants inthe mortgage process to manage closingtable risk with greater diligence andindependence, it is not enough to simplymake data available to insiders.Homebuyers and realtors need access aswell. This will help them make betterchoices in the process and in doing sohelp to deter and reduce mortgage fraud,which the government expects to top $13billion in 2012.”

Veros Adds RealtorsValuation Model to itsSuite of AVM Products

Veros RealEstate Solutionshas announced

that it has added the Realtors ValuationModel (RVM) to its platform of solutionsfor the mortgage and investor market.RVM is the product of Realtors PropertyResource LLC (RPR), a wholly-owned sub-sidiary of the National Association ofRealtors (NAR), and Lender ProcessingServices Inc. (LPS).

“The AVM marketplace continues tointroduce high-performance models,”said David Rasmussen, Veros’ senior vicepresident of operations. “These modelsare particularly important as the mostrecent update to the InteragencyAppraisal & Evaluation Guidelines high-lighted the need for thorough testing ofall valuation methods of all varieties.Utilizing multiple AVMs according to per-formance is an efficient and effectiveapproach to valuation. RVM is anotherhigh-performing model to add to ourimpressive list of available AVMs.”

Veros will market RVM to its extensiveclient base as a standalone product aswell as through its valuation manage-ment platforms: VeroSELECT andSapphire.

“The Realtors Valuation Model wascreated to assist the housing market—from Realtors to investors—withimproved analytics that enhance howproperties are priced and evaluated,”said Tricia McClung, RPR VP of busi-ness development. “RVM leverages abroad array of property information,including Realtor market data, for acomprehensive, current, and reliablevaluation result. We are thrilled to beworking with Veros to deliver RVM tothe industry.”

Open Mortgage Celebrates10 Years With SpecialPrograms for First-TimeHomebuyers

Open MortgageLLC celebrates its10-year anniver-sary in January byoffering a First-

Time Homebuyers Nationwide Special. Allfirst-time homebuyers that submit theirmortgage application with Open Mortgagebetween Jan. 2, 2013-March 31, 2013 willreceive a free appraisal. In addition to theFirst-Time Homebuyer’s Special, OpenMortgage is offering a First-TimeHomebuyer’s Video Contest. First-timehomebuyers who obtained their loan withOpen Mortgage can submit a video tape oftheir experience obtaining their loan as wellas presenting the keys to their new home.These videos from across the country will besubmitted to the Open Mortgage CorporateContest Panel who will choose the winningvideo. The winner of the contest will receive$1,000 for new home furnishings. Winnersare to be announced on April 30, 2012.

During 2012, the company added 44new branches throughout the country andincreased its corporate staff by 15 percent,while establishing successful partnershipswith industry leaders that further benefitour customers.

“Ten years in operation during the mostdifficult time in the mortgage and housingindustry is an incredible achievement ofwhich we are proud,” said Scott Gordon,CEO of Open Mortgage LLC, adding “As wecelebrate and move our business forward,we are excited about what is to come overthe next 10 years.”

Radian’s MI Now AvailableThrough Mortgagebot’s LOSto Provide MI onHarmonyLoan Feature

R a d i a nG u a r a n t y

Inc., the mortgage insurance (MI) subsidiaryof Radian Group Inc., has announced acompleted integration with Mortgagebot toinclude Radian MI in its loan originationsystem (LOS)—Mortgagebot EnterpriseLOS.Mortgagebot provides mortgage lendingtechnology to nearly 1,300 banks and cred-it unions nationwide. This partnership willstreamline the loan origination and order-ing process for both Radian andMortgagebot’s LOS customers, allowingthem to order MI directly via one simpleprocess through the Mortgagebot platform.

“This is exciting news because it’s onemore way Radian is working to accomplishone of our top priorities—making it easierthan ever to do business with us,” said BrienMcMahon, Radian’s chief franchise officer.“Partnering with a well regarded leader likeMortgagebot will simplify how MI isordered for many of our customers, andwe’re proud to deliver that.”

“Our integration with Radian is a win-win for both Mortgagebot and Radian cus-tomers alike,” said Matt Cotter,Mortgagebot’s senior vice president of salesand marketing. “Mortgagebot is all aboutdelivering lending technology that is flexi-ble, scalable and innovative, and Radian isknown as an innovator in the MI space.”

Radian also announced that it will pro-vide MI on loans within the HamonyLoanplatform. HarmonyLoan is a mortgage fea-ture designed by Mortgage HarmonyCorporation, a financial services technologycompany and provider of innovative resi-dential mortgage products. HarmonyLoancan be applied to fixed-rate or adjustablerate mortgages (ARM), conventional orjumbo loans, and on new and existingmortgages. It allows a borrower to adjustthe interest rate on their loan without theneed for a traditional rate-term refinance.When there is at least a 25-basis pointreduction in their mortgage market rate,the homebuyer can reset their mortgagerate with just one click on a personalized,secure, Web-based site without the expenseand hassle of a traditional refinance.

“We are pleased to offer prospectivehomebuyers the opportunity to purchasetheir home with a mortgage feature thatgives them greater flexibility,” said BrienMcMahon, Radian’s chief franchise officer.“HarmonyLoan allows a homeowner tolower their interest rate and monthly mort-gage payment without the closing costs andadministrative burden of a traditional refi-nance. It ultimately improves their financialposition, which is a win-win for everyone.”

Specialized BusinessSoftware UpgradesDocunym for Servicers

S p e c i a l i z e dB u s i n e s sSoftware has

upgraded its Web-based Docunym enterprisedocument management solution with addi-tional workflow management capabilities formortgage servicing companies. The newenhancements enable users to log into a dig-ital dashboard and simultaneously view mul-tiple documents such as insurance andappraisals in electronic job folders. The tech-nology automatically links related docu-ments together and eliminates the tradition-al requirement of users having to manuallysearch for documents. A new custom report-ing feature allows users to create detailedreports on pending projects and save reportcriteria for future use. This 2.0 release ofDocunym also includes many otherenhancements to scalability and usability.

“Our Docunym solution provides mort-gage lenders with a tool to go paperlessand more effectively manage the way doc-uments and information are used by theiremployees,” said Steve Wiser, presidentand founder of Specialized BusinessSoftware. “This increases the speed andefficiency in which tasks are completed.”

Your turnNational Mortgage Professional Magazineinvites you to submit any information pro-moting new “niche” loan programs, newproducts or any other announcementrelated to the introduction of a new pro-gram, to the attention of:

New to Market columnPhone #: (516) 409-5555

E-mail: [email protected]

Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are pre-ferred. The deadline for submissions is the1st of the month prior to the target issue.

37


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013


of starts, the foreclosure rate will con-tinue its upward trend.

Here are some of the key findingsfrom the data:� The foreclosure inventory is growing:

The data indicate that foreclosure startshave outpaced completions sinceMarch 2009, when Foreclosure-Response.org began tracking foreclo-sures. Unemployment and delinquencyare a circular problem. Unemploymentimpacts housing markets when bor-rowers struggle to make mortgage pay-ments. Distressed housing marketsmake it more difficult for homeownersto sell their homes to access job oppor-tunities in other areas.

� Coastal metros are suffering morethan the heartland: Metro areas incoastal states like California andFlorida tend to have higher rates ofunemployment and serious delin-quency than areas in the Central U.S.like Texas and the central plainsstates.Foreclosure-Response.org’s quarterly

report of seriously delinquent mort-gage rates—defined as the percentageof home loans currently in the foreclo-sure process plus the percentage ofloans more than 90 days delinquent—provides a strong indicator of the num-ber of foreclosures likely to enter themarket in the coming months. Data areavailable at the metro area level andcompared to earlier data for changeover time. The analysis reports onmetro areas hardest hit by the foreclo-sure crisis and trends found in the newdata.

Housing Market Remainson the Rebound for 2013

Upticks in recentmonths among anumber of housingindicators point toa slow and steady

growth in the nation’s housing marketin 2013, but several challenges remain,according to the latest economic andhousing forecast by David Crowe, chiefeconomist for the National Associationof Home Builders (NAHB).

“Consistent, positive reports onhousing starts, permits, prices, new-home sales and builder confidence inrecent months provide further confir-mation that a gradual but steady hous-ing recovery is underway across muchof the nation,” said Crowe. “However,stubbornly tight lending standards forhome buyers and builders, inaccurateappraisals and proposals by policymak-ers to tamper with the mortgage inter-est deduction could dampen futurehousing demand.”

Stating there is no consistent nation-al trend, Crowe noted the housingrecovery is local but spreading.

“We are transitioning from a verylow demand level, where most people

hold themselves out of the marketplace,to a case where supply will start being theproblem,” said Crowe. “As we begin tobuild more homes to address that supply,the new home stock will be a much moreimportant element of the recovery.”

Setting the 2000-2002 period as abaseline benchmark for normal housingactivity, Crowe said that owner-occu-pied remodeling has returned to previ-ously normal levels.

“Multifamily production is also wellon its way, back to 69 percent of nor-mal,” said Crowe. “It’s the single-family

market that has the farthest to go,standing at only 40 percent of what isconsidered a typical market.”

Meanwhile, the number of improv-ing housing markets across the nationcontinues to show considerableadvancement. When the NAHB/FirstAmerican Improving Markets Index (IMI)was launched in September of 2011,only 12 metropolitan areas out of 360were on the list. As of December 2012,the list stands at more than 200 metroareas. The index is based on a six-month upswing in housing permits,employment and house prices.

“One reason we have seen such a sig-nificant jump in the IMI is becausehouse prices are beginning to recover,”said Crowe. “House prices bottomed out

early in 2011 and since early 2012 we’veseen a six percent increase on a nation-al basis.”

Another factor spurring the recoveryis that household formations are on therise. In the early part of the decade, thenation was generating 1.4 million newhouseholds each year. This collapsed to500,000 annually during the housingdownturn and currently new house-holds are being formed at close to a900,000 clip per annum.

As new households form at a grow-ing rate, so too does builder confi-dence. The NAHB/Wells Fargo HousingMarket Index, which measures builderconfidence in the single-family housing


38

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Hardly a weekgoes by thatwe are nothearing aboutsome type offraud, scam,or escrow theftin the realestate and titleinsurance/set-tlement servic-

es industries. How do we protect our-selves from being a victim of one ofthese events? There is the old adagethat you cannot protect people fromthemselves and their bad decisions.That is true when anyone of us listensto a “too good to be true” story, or apromised rate of return you would be afool to pass up.

However, not one of us should be avictim of escrow/closing table theft by atitle insurance agency. And if we werethe victim of such a theft, why isn’tthere any insurance protection? Afterall, most of us use a title insuranceagency for the real estate closing on asale or a refinance transaction. Aren’tthese agencies regulated by the govern-ment? The answer to both questions isyes! There is insurance and escrow reg-ulation—in some states it is ineffec-tive—in some states, nonexistent whenit comes to protecting you from escrowtheft.

The insurance departments in moststates license the title insurance agentand a lesser number of states haveescrow licensure. Licensure is the mini-mum threshold for entry into a busi-ness where relatively unknown individ-uals handle hundreds of millions ofdollars of “other people’s money.”

There are basic licensure backgroundchecks and fingerprinting, but very fewapplicants are rejected unless the appli-cant admits to a prior felony convictionfor dishonesty. Consequently, thou-sands of people in the settlement serv-ices industry must be bad actors or per-sons influenced by bad actors or wewould not be experiencing escrowthefts.

The settlement industry has but oneoption—it must purge the industry ofthese bad actors and implement sys-tems to prevent new bad actors frombecoming part of the industry. If theindustry fails to act aggressively, thenstate and federal regulators will step in.The industry’s vetting process for agentshas not proven to be adequate. Theunderwriters are losing millions everyyear in escrow thefts and the numbersare increasing every year.

Independent and objective validation is necessaryOne immediate option is an independ-ent and objective vetting process for theindividuals responsible for escrow dis-bursements. The independent vettingentity is objective because the processlooks at the background and credit his-tory of the individual and the vettingentity’s analysis is not influenced in anymanner by the past or potential busi-ness contributions an individual couldbring to an agency. Further, objectivevetting is not static—as of a certaindate, everything with “Individual A” isgood. The new vetting process is con-stant—new information is continuouslyintegrated into a database and thedatabase is accessible to the financial

institutions 24/7/365. This is all criticalinformation regarding an individual’scurrent conduct because current con-duct will disclose activity that mayreflect an inclination for theft or reflectan unusual demand for money. Oncethis information is available to theagency owners, financial institutionsand underwriters they will then be ableto closely monitor the individual’s activ-ity and potentially prevent theft.

As a former insurance regulator, Ihave witnessed firsthand the devastat-ing consequences of escrow theft.Adding to the misery of their fundsbeing stolen, most victims must litigatefor the return of their funds because, inmost states, the title underwriters arenot responsible for the escrow opera-tions of their agents. Mortgage fraudand escrow thefts involve many of thesame elements. Financial institutionshave spent billions of dollars on thefront end of the loan process to preventfraud. Now, the settlement industrymust invest in its business model to pre-vent escrow theft or closing table thefton the back end of a transaction. Ratherthan complain about being over regu-lated—regulation that has not evencome close to solving closing tabletheft; look at the real problem! The con-sumer is at risk and everyone else,including the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau (CFPB), is looking outfor them. Now, right now, the settle-ment services industry must clearlydemonstrate that the agencies and thepeople in the industry are not just suffi-ciently competent and capable to han-dle the transaction, but most impor-tantly, this is an industry that can betrusted with other people’s money.

Independent vetting is a validation.

Vetting and risk rating provide tangiblebenefits for agentsIf you are one of the good guys, inde-pendent vetting is one of the bestinvestments you can make in yourselfand your agency. First, you are validat-ed as a trustworthy individual. Second,your bad actor counterparts will not bevalidated and hopefully will be drivenfrom the business. Both result in addi-tional business opportunities for you.Make the investment in independentobjective vetting and you will drive thebad actors out of your industry. Let’stake a detailed look at the problem.

For years now, the mortgage andreal estate closing process has beenlargely viewed by some banks and set-tlement professionals as nothing morethan a glorified signing party. Concernsabout fraud, infidelity and negligenceon the part of those handling mortgageproceeds and bank documents and theother professionals who play a part inthe settling of a transaction have beenlargely ignored. This has been truedespite the fact that the concept ofwiring funds to a closing agent who islargely unknown and allowing strangersto handle mortgage documents and dis-bursements without uniform standardsseems counter to prudent businesspractices.

Today, title underwriters, who havebeen primarily self-insured on theirdirect operations, have seen claims rise,profits dwindle, and lawsuits by lendersand consumers stack up at courthouses

A New Era for Mortgage Closings?Replacing the Closing Protection Letter with Independent Vetting Standards

and Uniform Comprehensive Insurance CoverageB Y R I C H A R D P E T E R S T E V E N S A N D A N D R E W L I P U T


39


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

40

around the country. In addition, theunderwriters have also experiencedincreased claims, reduced profits, andlawsuits from the independent agencyoperations. Consequently, any notionthat title underwriters will continue toallow agents to bind them for acts ofnegligence and infidelity by closingagents requires radical readjustmentsand new thinking.

Likewise mortgage lenders and con-sumers cannot continue to rely uponthe closing protection letter (CPL) as aform of insurance against losses frommortgage fraud and escrow theftbecause it is not an insurance product.The CPL offers very limited coverage forlosses. Quite frankly it is time for thetitle underwriters and their issuingagents to get out of the escrow insur-ance business and for lenders to utilizethird-party sources for underwritingand insuring risks at the closing table.

It’s all in the numbersAnyone connected to the mortgage andreal estate industries is familiar withthe numbers, but they are worth areminder. The FBI has called mortgagefraud the number one white collarcrime in America after terrorism. TheFBI has allocated more agents nation-wide to investigating escrow fraud thanany other white collar crime. In 2011,the FBI reported $11 billion in mort-gage fraud losses from SARS filings, andfor 2012 the number is estimated torise to $13 billion. The FBI estimatesthat 15 percent of those losses aredirectly attributable to escrow and clos-ing fraud. These figures appear to besupported by the Financial CrimesEnforcement Network (FINCen) July2012 study of SARS reports between2003-2011 which indicated that therehas been unacceptable growth in fraudlosses in the escrow and closing area,with a 20 percent increase in the mostrecent period.

According to statistics published by

the National Association of Realtors(NAR) and Mortgage BankersAssociation (MBA), there are 8.5 mil-lion mortgage closing transactionsannually, with the average loan sizeapproximately $175,000.00. Each ofthese loan transactions requires a clos-ing attended by a settlement agent, sothat means that in 2012 lenders willhave delivered more nearly $1.5 tril-lion (and the collateral security docu-ments to establish their legal right torepayment) into the hands of a virtu-ally unregulated industry.

Yes, there really is fraudat the closing tableWhile fraud can take place in any partof the loan process, lenders are most atrisk at the closing. Settlement agents,who are responsible to disburse thelender’s money, to supervise the execu-tion and delivery of the deed, note andmortgage instruments, are traditionallysubject to little or no scrutiny. Escrowlicensing, while important as a barrierto entry into the profession, it is not riskmanagement. There is not one licensethat covers all of the various actors whohandle funds and documents during aclosing which, depending upon thestate or region, includes lawyers, escrowagents, title agents, lenders, closers andreal estate agents.

The current vetting by title under-writers and some banks is primarilystatic. It is not ongoing, it is not uni-form, it is generally focused on enti-ties, and does not involve the sharingof data nor is that data maintained ina user accessible database. You needonly review of the FBI fraud statisticsand the Mortgage Fraud Blog to real-ize that whatever is being done now isnot adequate.

Agents are still stealing funds, aidingfraud at the closing and looking theother way on questionable transactions.Current agents have relationships withthe parties, while good in a business

sense, these relationships invite com-promise. On one recently reported inci-dent, an agent documented a non-exis-tent buyer’s cash to close, permittedsame day property flips, and failed tonotify the lender when funds wereaccepted from and disbursed to thirdparties not identified as formally con-nected to the transaction.

The theft of funds and other fraudsare serious problems, but are not theonly way that unsupervised agents cancause havoc. Settlement agents can alsoact negligently, by failing to obtain theproperly signed note, or to record themortgage, thereby creating significantliability for lenders. Since settlementagents, including lawyers, are not uni-formly required to carry liability insur-ance or fidelity bonds, lenders and con-sumers can have little faith they willrecover their losses resulting from neg-ligence or bad acts by settlement agentsat closings.

In the past lenders have assumed therisk associated with the unregulatedand unsupervised nature of the closingprocess because losses from fraud at theclosing had historically been a smallpercentage of overall mortgage frauddamages. That is why most lendersfocused whatever spending they couldallocate to fraud deterrence on frontend fraud detection software, such asSocial Security Number verification,automated appraisal reviews and simi-lar products. According to the NationalMortgage Bankers Association, lendersspent approximately $1 billion on frauddeterrent software to use in the origina-tion and underwriting process in 2011.The amount of money spent to addressfraud and negligence at closing was notin the calculus.

The inadequacies of the CPLOther than faith in law enforcement,what can a lender do to reduce the riskof loss due to fraud or negligence at aclosing? Each day when lenders wiremillions of dollars into the trustaccounts of attorneys and non-attorneysettlements agents they have historical-

ly relied on the closing protection letter(in some states known as the insuredclosing letter) issued by title underwrit-ers, through their agents, to seek recov-ery for their losses. These letters pro-vide no relief when a settlement agentengages in intentional acts other thanoutright theft of funds, or when anagent’s negligence fails to rise to a non-curable cloud on title. The letter pro-vides coverage for the lender againstintervening liens. Fraudulently record-ing, cash to close on the HUD-1 with astraw buyer, and fraud for profitschemes are not covered incidents? Aslong as the insured can still foreclose,there is no coverage and no claim forlost interest or principal payments onthe loan, cost to foreclosure, cost torepurchases (i.e. premium recapture),etc.

In the state of California, case laweven supports the proposition that aclosing agent has no legal or contractu-al obligation to report fraud at the clos-ing even when the agent may personal-ly witness suspicious or even fraudulentactivity taking place. In 1999, inVoumas v. Fidelity National TitleCompany, the California Court ofAppeals held that settlement agentshave “no duty to police the affairs of alender,” and have no obligation to“report fraud.” Similar results werereached in the California decisionsfound in Axley v. Transational TitleInsurance Company and Lee v. TitleInsurance & Trust Company.

In reality, a CPL looks and smells likean insurance product, and today, ischarged to the borrower like it is insur-ance, but, in fact, is not insurance. Noris the CPL assurance against mortgagefraud or theft at the closing table.Furthermore, there is no national stan-dard for issuing closing protection let-ters. In most cases the lenders have hadno real comfort in the existence ofthese letters as a method of evaluatingthe experience, trustworthiness, andreliability of the agents who will handletheir funds and documents at a closing.

a new era continued from page 38


“… thousands of people in the settlement services industry must be badactors or persons influenced by bad actors or we would not be experi-encing escrow thefts.”—Richard Peter Stevens

“Quite frankly it is time for the title underwriters and their issuing agents toget out of the escrow insurance business and for lenders to utilize third-party sources for underwriting and insuring risks at the closing table.”—Andrew Liput

41


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

the elite performer continued from page 4

� They set and only accept/suggestrealistic closing dates on purchaseagreements to match current aver-ages and regulations facing the resi-dential mortgage climate.

� They are only influenced by accu-rate data and strive for informationand continued education.

� They understand that the financingprocess is the most important partof any non-cash transaction for boththe buyers and sellers for a success-ful closing.

� They know and communicate thebenefits of homeownership, butalso realize that a home is a liabilityand not an asset on a balance sheet.

� They understand the basics of thegovernment-sponsored enterprises(GSEs): Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, inaddition to Ginnie Mae, and thatlender’s are controlled by theseguidelines.

� They are not “sold” into thinkingone thing over another and do theirresearch and use their experiencesto uncover the facts.

� They never sacrifice quality for rev-enue or alter focus with commissionas priority.

� Communication is timely and rele-vant to the process and not unrealis-tic when asking for updates or expect-ing something “should” be completedwithout following procedures.

� As much as everyone works to avoid,extensions on closings are commonnationally due to the current stateof the market. Get the facts to avoidassumptions and communicateaccurate information with clients toavoid confusion or frustration.

� They (and the company they work

with) respect and do not violateSection 8 of RESPA.

� They tend to be confident, not arro-gant. Egos do not affect others.

� In favor to their clients, they avoidsteering and allow their clients tomake informed decisions by under-standing and comparing differentoptions when referring others prod-ucts or services.

� They hold themselves accountablefor their actions when necessary andhold others accountable when nec-essary, without finger-pointing.

� They are strong and passionate, buteasy to work with productively andunderstanding of the details.

� They are not happy with their per-formance unless their client ishappy.

� They never forget that their employ-er is the consumer.

The year 2013 is fresh and we needto change our habits immediately if notalready. Don’t settle for average andwork toward perfection. Be passionateand work together with your localagents, but know that your clients arethe most important party in the trans-action. No one should be a push-overon either side or allow hopes of refer-rals to blind them away from theirduties.

Andy W. Harris, CRMS is president andowner of Lake Oswego, Ore.-based VantageMortgage Group Inc. and 2010-2011 presi-dent of the Oregon Association of MortgageProfessionals. He may be reached by phoneat (877) 496-0431 or e-mail [email protected] or visitAndyHarrisMortgage.com.


market, has posted gains for eight con-secutive months and now stands at alevel of 47. This is very close to the crit-ical midpoint of 50, where equal num-bers of builders view the market asgood or bad. The HMI has not beenabove 50 since April of 2006.

Single-family home starts are pro-jected to climb to 534,000 units thisyear, up 23 percent from 2011. NAHBis forecasting that single-family new-home production will post a healthy21 percent gain in 2013 to 647,000units. Starts will continue theirupward climb in 2014, posting a fur-ther 29 percent rise to 837,000 units.

Multifamily production is expectedto rise 31 percent in 2012, reaching the233,000 level, and posting a solid 16percent gain in 2013 to 270,000 units.Multifamily starts are anticipated torise an additional nine percent in 2014to 294,000 units. Meanwhile, new sin-gle-family home sales are expected torise from 307,000 last year to 367,000this year, a 20 percent rise. Sales areanticipated to climb to 447,000 nextyear, up 22 percent from 2012 andjump to 607,000 in 2014, a 36 percentincrease over 2013 levels.

NCUA Sues JP Morgan andBear Stearns for $3.6Billion Sale of MBS

The National CreditUnion Administra-tion (NCUA) hasfiled suit in FederalDistrict Court in

Kansas against JP Morgan Securitiesand Bear Stearns & Company, allegingviolations of federal and state securi-ties laws in the sale of $3.6 billion inmortgage-backed securities to fourcorporate credit unions. NCUA’s suit—the largest the agency has filed todate—alleges that Bear Stearns mademisrepresentations in connection withthe underwriting and subsequent saleof mortgage-backed securities to U.S.Central, Western Corporate, SouthwestCorporate and Members UnitedCorporate federal credit unions. Allfour corporate credit unions becameinsolvent and were subsequentlyplaced into NCUA conservatorship andliquidated as a result of losses fromthese faulty securities. These failurescaused significant losses to the creditunion system. J.P. Morgan Securitiespurchased Bear, Stearns & Co. in 2008,after the demise of Bear, Stearns & Co.

“Bear, Stearns was one of severalWall Street firms that sold faulty secu-rities to corporate credit unions, lead-ing to their collapse and enormouslosses across the industry,” said NCUABoard Chairman Debbie Matz. “Firmslike Bear, Stearns acted unfairly byignoring the rules for underwriting.They packaged these securities andthen told buyers the paper was sound.When the securities plunged in value,

we learned the truth. NCUA is nowworking to hold these underwritersaccountable and secure recoveries onbehalf of federally insured creditunions.”

The complaint alleges Bear Stearnsmade numerous misrepresentationsand omissions of material facts in theoffering documents of the securitiessold to the failed corporate creditunions. The complaint states underwrit-ing guidelines in the offering docu-ments were “abandoned” and the mis-representations caused the creditunions to believe the risk of loss wasminimal. In fact, these securities were“significantly riskier than represented”and “routinely overvalued.” The faultysecurities, the complaint states, “weredestined from inception to performpoorly.”

NCUA has eight similar actionspending against Barclays Capital,Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P.Morgan Securities, RBS Securities, UBSSecurities, and Wachovia. NCUA wasthe first federal regulatory agency fordepository institutions to recover loss-es from investments in faulty securitieson behalf of failed financial institu-tions. To date, the agency has settledclaims worth more than $170 millionwith Citigroup, Deutsche BankSecurities and HSBC.

“NCUA and credit unions have suc-cessfully worked together to restorestability to the credit union system,”Matz said. “Now we are holdingresponsible parties like Bear, Stearnsaccountable for their actions. It’s theright thing to do.”

Former DocX PresidentFaces Jail Time in Robo-Signing Probe

Missouri AttorneyGeneral Chris Kosterhas announced thatthe state of Missouriand Lorraine Brown,

former president of DocX LLC, havereached a plea agreement. Under theagreement, Brown will plead guilty toone felony count of forgery, one felonycount of perjury, and one misde-meanor count of making a false decla-ration. Brown will be sentenced to aterm of imprisonment of not less thantwo years and not to exceed threeyears in the Missouri Department ofCorrections.

During the period of March toOctober 2009, DocX, at the direction ofBrown, instituted a surrogate signingpolicy whereby employees signed, nottheir name, but the names of otheremployees on thousands of mortgagedocuments that were notarized andfiled across the country. Prior to 2009,similar signing practices were alsoemployed at DocX. Brown concealedthese practices from her clients, thenational mortgage servicers, and the

parent company of DocX. The prac-tices of DocX were brought to nationalattention by a “60 Minutes” report andresulted in several major lenders tem-porarily suspending foreclosures in2010.

“DocX’s robo-signing practices werethe worst in the county. Surrogate-sign-ing crosses the threshold into criminalactivity,” AG Koster said. “This agree-ment brings to justice the person mostresponsible for these activities andupholds the principle that when yousign your name to a legal document, itmatters.”

Brown’s plea of guilty to forgery andmaking a false declaration will beentered in Boone County where a crim-inal prosecution is ongoing by theMissouri Attorney General and theBoone County Prosecutor. Brown’s pleaof perjury will be entered in JacksonCounty where a criminal prosecution isalso ongoing by the Missouri AttorneyGeneral and the Jackson County

Prosecutor. The Attorney General’sOffice worked in coordination with theBoone County Prosecutor, the JacksonCounty Prosecutor, the Boone CountyRecorder of Deeds, and the JacksonCounty Recorder of Deeds.

Your turnNational Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine invites you to submit anyinformation on regulatory changes, leg-islative updates, human interest storiesor any other newsworthy items pertain-ing to the mortgage industry to theattention of:

NMP News Flash columnPhone #: (516) 409-5555

E-mail:[email protected]

Note: Submissions sent via e-mail arepreferred. The deadline for submissionsis the 1st of the month prior to the tar-get issue.

42

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Changing Market Opportunities: What Originators Should Know That Can Impact Career Changes

By Eddy Perez

As the mortgage industry undergoescontinued signs of recovery, manylenders are hiring again—but are muchmore selective in their qualificationrequirements for new employees.Where lenders were content to fill theirranks with relatively young, fresh-facedtalent just a few years ago, today’s mar-ket demand is for proven, experiencedprofessionals that not only do the job,but do it well.

Where the industry is todayToday, due to a combination of factors,the mortgage industry is experiencing abit of a “brain drain” related to loan orig-inators. When the Consumer FinancialProject Bureau (CFPB) implemented newstandards affecting loan originators’ com-pensation, many experienced profession-als simply left the industry. Because manylenders are not willing to invest revenueto recruit and train new entrants, there isa significant concern that there will be alack of talent developing within theindustry in the future.

Perhaps the largest contributing factoris that the majority of today’s originatorsare now paid a base salary plus basispoints whereas in the past, they receiveda certain percentage of the revenue theygenerated from closings. As a result, orig-inators are focused on quantity and qual-ity because their compensation is basedon flat production, rather than closing ahandful of high revenue loans to generatethe same level of compensation.

The marketplace is going to faceanother change when the CFPB makes afinal decision in January regarding newdisclosures required under Dodd-Frankand the Consumer Protection Act. Thegood news is that lenders are starting tosee some experienced loan originatorsthat left the industry beginning to comeback into the fold, but they still must bere-trained on new compliance rules andregulatory requirements.

In an effort to attract the best talent,some lenders have gone so far as to hire

legal experts to help design a compensa-tion structure that remains both compli-ant and competitive. Lenders are alsoexpanding their internal complianceteams with professionals who are well-versed in compliance, fair lending andquality control to insure they have theirbases covered on the day-to-day imple-mentation of the ordinance require-ments. As much as five percent of alenders’ employee base is now complete-ly dedicated to compliance. While thisincreases costs across the board, it helpsalleviate the risk errors that could nega-tively impact business in the future.

Chartered banks versusmortgage lendersAdditionally, there has also been amajor shift in the workforce as num-bers of loan originators have chosen towork for chartered banks over tradi-tional mortgage lenders because thebanks do not have the same licensingrequirements, such as background andcredit checks.

While an originator may see workingfor a bank as a quicker path to entryinto the industry, the potential down-side is that if that originator everdecides to take the licensing testrequired to work for a mortgagebanker, the National Mortgage andLicensing Systems (NMLS) instantly noti-fies their current employer—anuncomfortable situation for the origi-nator who could be fired immediately,regardless of whether or not they pass.This negatively impacts the industry asa whole because it may keep disgrun-tled employees working for a bank(which does not benefit the originatoror the bank) and it prohibits originatorsfrom testing their potential value in afree market environment.

How mortgage originators can evaluatetheir current situationOne of the constant refrains of mort-gage originators today is, “If company X

can do this, why can’tmine?” The simple truth isthat there is always a levelof risk that one company iswilling to take that othersare not. Additionally,mortgage originators mustcarefully consider thatevery company has its ownset of strengths and weak-nesses and he or she mustevaluate where they wouldbest fit as an employee.

Some companies aremore willing to take morerisks in business becausethey are not hindered bythe large legacy issues ofcompanies that continueto do business in the sameway as they did precedingthe mortgage industrycrash.

A major factor that the industry usesto evaluate risk is the Federal HousingAuthority’s (FHA) Neighborhood Watchsystem, which evaluates a lender’s loanperformance over a 24-month rollingcycle using a formula of defaults to origi-nations. This formula is referred to as acompare ratio because it factors a compa-ny’s defaults vs. lenders in its area. If alender’s compare ratio is at 100 percent,then its defaults compare with its peergroup. A company may also have a stellarcompare ratio with FHA, therefore the riskis lower if the loan does go into default. Ofcourse, if a company is not dependent onthe large lenders to sell its loans, there isa larger pool of product and guidelinesavailable. Companies that are able tosecuritize their loan portfolio have a dis-tinct advantage in the market place.

Not every company is going to takeadvantage of every loan type or take all ofthe risk to get each and every loan done.Just because a fellow loan originatorclosed a deal on a tougher loan doesn’tnecessarily mean his company is ‘better’than your current employer. There is agreat deal of evaluation factors that everymortgage originator should carefully con-sider before deciding to jump the fence:

� Service: How responsive is your corpo-rate office to your needs? Can you getyour underwriting staff to return yourphone calls? Is your closing depart-ment quick to the draw in workingwith your title companies needs andconsistently available?

� Rates: If your company is not competi-

tive in the industry’s hypercompetitive marketplace,then you are missing out.However, your companymay have the best rates intown, but if you do nothave enough support inyour corporate office toget the loans processed,underwritten and closed,then the best rate meansnothing.� Compensation: In theera of Dodd-Frank, is yourcompany being fair inrelation to your competi-tors? The same argumenton the best rate applieshere. You can have thebest compensation planbut without support staff,it is meaningless.� Longevity: Make sure

the company you join is financiallysound. Do they have a good FHA com-pare ratio? It is important to havegood relationships with their fundingsource, whether it is a bank or a ware-house bank. Trouble will be on thehorizon if the bank has a poor capitalratio or a private mortgage bankerdoes not have sufficient liquidity.

Looking aheadWhile there is still a great amount of uncer-tainty concerning the CFPB’s disclosurerequirements, the leaders in the market-place have been preparing for the pro-posed changes since the law took effectback in 2011. Proper preparation for newregulations will create and environmentthat encourages employees to embracethe changes and perform at a higher level,rather than creating disgruntled employ-ees who may try to challenge every aspectof the new law. It is best for lenders to facethe changes head on and not push themaside to deal with down the road.

The broader industry implications ofthe new regulations are that all lenders(large and small) will be on a more evenplaying field—rewarding those companiesthat have invested time, resources andtraining to their originators.

Eddy Perez is president of Atlanta-basedEquity Loans LLC. Eddy has more than 10years of experience in the mortgage industryas a top producing loan officer, sales/branchmanager and executive. He may be reachedby phone at (678) 205-4050 or e-mail [email protected].

“Because manylenders are not willing

to invest revenue torecruit and train new

entrants, there is asignificant concernthat there will be a

lack of talent develop-ing within the indus-

try in the future.”

Lessons From the Road: How to Hire Great Salespeople

By Chris Sullivan

Even though I manage a very success-ful sales force, I’m not what mostpeople would consider a convention-al sales manager. I don’t have anMBA, I only own a few Tony Robbinsbooks, and selling Mercury Network isactually the only official “sales job”I’ve ever had. Truth be told, I relylargely on what I learned from tour-ing as a musician for over 10 years.It’s really those skills that have madethe biggest difference in my careerselling software to mortgage profes-sionals, and managing teams of verysuccessful salespeople.

The conventional sales and man-agement techniques are pretty welldocumented, so I thought I wouldshare some of the lessons I learnedon the road for a different look atbuilding a successful sales team.

How do they look onLinkedIn?In this age of social media, the impor-tance of checking up on an appli-cant’s Internet presence is implicit. Ihave to admit, the first thing I dowhen looking at the resume is to seeif they have a LinkedIn profile and Icheck for any discrepancies. You canalso usually tell a lot about the per-son by recent posts they’ve made,how they come across when commu-nicating socially, and who their con-tacts are. It’s always my first step, andit’s an easy one so don’t forget it. Aquick LinkedIn check can be verytelling.

Look beyond the resume … what are theyreally made of?Regardless of what their resume oronline profile may say, what’s mostimportant to me is that the personalready has an innate ability to sell.You can always teach someone aproduct and give them the tools tosell it properly, but it’s tough to actu-ally teach someone how to sell. Ibelieve anyone can have this ability,regardless of whether they have a

history or education in sales. I start-ed at the junior sales level andquickly realized that my years ofconnecting with people on the roadto build my audience (as well as paymy bills) were exactly the tools Ineeded to succeed. I also alreadyknew how to handle a wide varietyof personalities, and how to be trulyappreciative of people’s time,whether they bought whatever I wasselling or not. I advanced quicklybecause I sold a lot, and I sold a lotbecause people wanted to talk withme because I make an effort to con-nect personally.

I learned more about sales beinga musician than I ever did in a book,classroom or even from a managerand because of that, I believe it’spivotal to factor in real life experi-ence rather than strictly relying oneducation level or previous experi-ence in the same field when review-ing applicants.

For example, the reason I hiredthe person who is now one of my topsalespeople had nothing to do withhis education or even his sales expe-rience. As an acquaintance, heshared with me how he’d been laidoff from his banking managementposition and instead of collectingunemployment and waiting aroundfor something similar to open up, hetook a job hauling and unloadingsoda out of a truck all day. His deci-sion to take any job he could getwhile still looking for the one he real-ly wanted is what made me contacthim for my open sales position. Hiswork ethic and the fact that he waswilling to tell me that story indicatedto me that he was not only a hard,motivated worker, but was also ableto connect with people on a basicand relatable level, an importantsales quality.

Keep an open mind when learningabout an applicant’s background.The innate ability to sell (as well asconnect with people) are both quali-ties that can be gleaned from uncon-

ventional work experi-ences. Not everyone hasthese qualities and youmay have to dig deep tofind them, but therewards are worth it.This also allows you tohire a wider range ofpeople with differentstrengths that willimprove your overallsales impact.

Look every-where, andlook oftenAlways be on the look-out for your next sales-person, whether youneed them now or not. There havebeen many instances where I neededa new salesperson and would recallconversations with people that res-onated, making them the first ones Icalled just to see if they were inter-ested before starting to interview oth-ers. Waiting until you desperatelyneed to hire someone creates a senseof urgency and doesn’t give you thechance to devote the time andthought necessary to bring on a trulyvaluable employee. Always keep peo-ple in mind so you’re not forced tohire or interview based solely onwhatever resumes you happen toreceive during your hour of need.

Hiring well now willmake your life much easier laterWell-run companies these days aresomewhere between lean and under-staffed so there is a tendency to tryand get the new hire up and runningas soon as possible, but it’s stillimperative you give them the propertime and training to make a positiveimpact from the beginning. One ofthe benefits of hiring the type of per-son I’ve outlined is how much easierinitial training can be. Already armedwith an ability to connect and sell,they just need to be caught up on thebasics of your particular company.Keep in mind that when the newemployee joins your team, they willmost likely have little to no back-ground about the company, the prod-ucts, tools, or processes it takes to besuccessful.

I’ve found that it’s most beneficialto give any new hire at least two

weeks of intensivetraining to ensure themost productivity whenthey start. During thattime, helping themunderstand every facetof the company anddaily operations isessential. I usually havenew salespeople sit withsomeone in eachdepartment for a shortperiod of time to fullyunderstand what eachdepartment does andthe role they play in thesuccess of the company.This also serves as anintroduction to other

departments and employees to helpintegrate the new employee from theoutset and make them less afraid toask questions.

Trained employees are happierand more confident and it’s mucheasier to get productivity out ofthem if they’ve had the proper timeto acclimate before starting theiractual day to day duties. If they aregiven a couple weeks to meet, searchand discover all the availableresources, they will be able to findinformation quickly and feel moreconfident. Trust me, down the roadyou will reap the rewards for takingthe extra time from the beginning.

These are a few of the tips thathave helped me cultivate a strong,capable sales force that’s averagingover 100 percent growth year-over-year. I hope they’ll do the same foryou, and please share your feedbackand experiences by e-mailing me [email protected].

Chris Sullivan oversees the nationalsales team for Mercury Network, andsupervises Mercury’s largest, keystrategic accounts. He has been with ala mode inc. for 11 years, buildinginvaluable expertise in vendor man-agement operations and appraisalcompliance concerns with the largestlenders and appraisal managementcompanies in the nation. Chris hasbeen instrumental in the growth ofMercury Network, powering more than20,000 compliant appraisal deliveriesa day. He may be reached by phone at(800) 434-7260, ext. 708 or [email protected].

“In this age of social media, the

importance of checking up on an

applicant’s Internetpresence is implicit.”

43


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

A Framework for Evaluating RecruitersBy Steve Rennie

Being recruited by a company is com-monplace in the mortgage industry. Ifyou are reputable and successful withan established or growing business.Whether you were referred by a formercolleague, previous manager, a referralpartner may have said ‘nice things’about you, being ‘recruited’ means yourname found its way onto a contact listfor an internal or external headhunter.The good news … you’re popular! Thebad news is you’re popular!

The recruiting industry includesmany respected, knowledgeable andcompetent leaders of the highestintegrity. But, it also includes those withlittle training, expertise and self-servingmotives. The purpose of this article is togive you some perspective and a frame-work to evaluate the question “Do theyknow me well enough to recruit me, oris this just another person saying what Iwant to hear.”

You may be perfectly happy and con-tent in your current position. Why thenis it still good to have other options orbackup plans? None of us have a crystalball that will tell us what the future isgoing to look like. If we did, we wouldbe hedging our bets in Vegas or on thestock market and hanging with the likesof Warren Buffett, George Soros and BillGross.

Large-, small- and mid-sized mort-gage organizations are constantly atbattle with the forces of nature, as wellas with pipeline maintenance, regulato-ry changes, economic market pressures,boards of directors and a multitude of“game modifiers” that are 100 percentout of your control. What is in your con-trol is to have some options outside ofwhere you are today. As a proven win-ner, there are more people that will beknocking on your door in the futurewith promises of happiness and riches.How can you know to whom to listen?

For many years, we at Hammerhousehave openly shared our framework forModel-Matching with the candidates werepresent and the client companieswith which we work. It allows for thor-ough due diligence in the Six CoreComponents of business, (Leadership,Culture, Business, Operations,Technology and Geography) and brings

an objective orientation to the evalua-tion process. Model-Matching alsoempowers candidates to apply thesame standards to all of those who arerecruiting them, including formeracquaintances, cohorts and previousleaders and managers.

Here is a three-step framework forevaluating the firms that are recruitingyou.

1. Are they experiencedin the mortgage industry? The mortgage industry is unique. Itcombines a one-of-a-kind sales culture,local market knowledge and a sphere ofinfluence with an industry that is dra-matically impacted by changes in mar-ket conditions and regulatory environ-ment. You only want to work with aheadhunter who has enough years ofexperience working in the mortgageindustry to represent you with a crystalclear understanding of the landscapeand the best of breed organizations init. If they tell you they work with “top-salespeople across all industries,”politely inform them that you are look-ing for a specialist—not unlike your-self—who doesn’t need to “work acrossindustries.” More importantly, everymortgage company in the country is try-ing to grow. Those headhunters withexperience in the mortgage industrywill only represent best of breed organ-izations with a clear understanding oftheir Six Core Components. Only thencan they create value for you in theprocess.

2. Do they have a trackrecord of placing top producers with toporganizations and historyin the markets served? Most recruiters and headhunters workwith too many of the wrong kinds oforganizations. They often move candi-dates from place to place, disguisingsuccess with activity. The best in theindustry are happy to provide refer-ences from candidates placed andclient companies served. They are alsowilling to share statistics on the successof those placements. Our firm proudlyshares our track record of having an

annual rolling successrate of 87 percent of thosewe have placed, not tomention the bottom-lineimpact made by the pro-duction achieved by thenewly placed employees.

We have also spent adecade or more in manyof the geographic marketswe support today.Someone who representsyou should know the mar-kets in which they arerecruiting and the historyof those for whom theyare recruiting. The more‘dots’ that get connectedin the process, the lessrisk there will be for youand higher the potentialof an opportunity to max-imize a Model-Match, as well as, to trulycreate the right kind of marriagebetween your business and the organi-zation recruiting you.

3. Do they have a definedprocess for mutual duediligence? Recruiting is a process, not an event. Inour Model-Matching process, we believethe parties will have to get to “know”each other, before they can “like” eachother, which ultimately leads to “trust-ing” each other. Developing the Know,Like and Trust, requires a series of care-fully structured meetings of discovery.

Some recruiters still ask for resumes.You and your business cannot be quan-tified on a piece of paper. On the con-trary, you and your business have astory. A headhunter with industry expe-rience will understand how to articulatethat story and present key data pointsabout your business that demonstratethat you are the real deal and a VIP.

If the person/firm recruiting youdoes not have a defined process then itis not likely to yield the informationthat either you or potential employersneed to make an informed, wise andobjective decision. You need not wasteyour time, the recruiter’s time and anycompany’s time being part of a recruit-ing process that amounts to nothingmore than a paper review and beautycontest. In this type of process, therecruiter simply tries to make you lookgreat on paper or in an interview andthen tries to make prospective employ-ers look great on paper or in staged

meetings as well. Careerdecisions about yourbusiness require muchmore than looking goodon paper and lookingattractive on highly struc-tured speed dates.

Being recruited is apositive indication of acareer that is successful.However, never forgetthat you are the one whoshould be served andprotected by the process.Above all demand thatany recruiter you workwith recognizes the sig-nificance of making achange from one compa-ny to another, as well as,the possibility of the neg-ative impact you, your

family, referral partners and customerrelationships could experience when awrong move is made.

Every organization in the UnitedStates is trying to grow their sales forcetoday. They want to have more loans tokeep their production ‘factories’ func-tioning at maximum capacity in orderto leverage economies of scale. In doingso, there are a lot of companies thatjust want to recruit production anddon’t take the time to really Model-Match you or your business to theirplatform. Instead, they say what youwant to hear, when you want to hear itand they sell you on false expectations.

We’ve all heard too many stories,from people we have known and havelong-standing relationships with, aboutimproperly set expectations. The realityis this: If you hold yourself and thoserecruiting you to the highest standardsduring this process of learning abouteach other, you can minimize the riskof a bad move or being sold on a pipedream. Since you have proven to beamong the best—only accept the bestfrom those recruiting you.

Congratulations again on your suc-cess and your popularity … but, becareful out there!

Steve Rennie is a managing partner atHammerhouse LLC, an expandingnational recruiting and strategic growthfirm for the financial services industrywith mortgage sales and leadershipplacement at its core. He may be reachedby e-mail at [email protected] or call (949) 525-9407.

“Being recruited is a positive indication

of a career that is successful. However,never forget that you

are the one whoshould be served and protected by

the process.”

44

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

45


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

How to Keep Employees HappyBy Kerry Elam

Many of us are working at least 40 hoursper week. Some of us find a sense ofaccomplishment and joy from our work.Yet we all desire to find happiness in ourjobs. It is important for both the firm andthe employees to take an active role inhaving a positive working environment. AsHenry Ford said on teamwork …

“Coming together is a beginning.Keeping together is progress.Working together is success.”

This article will focus on ways to keepyour employees happy through engagingthem in the firm and ensuring an open lineof communication.

1. CommunicationAn open line of communication is oneof the most important aspects of ensur-ing your employees are aware of com-pany news. Frequent and meaningfulcommunication will give your employ-ees the information they need to makedecisions, foster ideas and keep every-one on the same page. Some examplesinclude:a. Newsletters with relevant company

information and include informationon employees such as listing birthdaysfor the month, highlight an employeewith their biography or interesting fact,provide information on industry train-ing and conferences.

b. “All Hands Meetings” or conference callsat least monthly and rotate ownershipof the calls with management and staffto encourage participation and freshideas.

c. Blast e-mails with real-time updates onthe company.

d. Encourage sharing of informationacross staff and with the managementteam by giving everyone a budget to getto know someone better.

2. ListeningConduct an employee survey annuallyand provide detailed results and animplementation plan to include some ofyour employee’s ideas. People are morelikely to provide meaningful commentsif they know some of their ideas may beimplemented.

3. Social eventsGetting together as a firm builds rela-tionships, and in turn, will promote bet-ter teamwork. Make sure to determinewhat your employees like to do by send-ing out surveys to allow them to choose.Some ideas for different types of eventsare:a. House party: This is perfect if someone

from the management team is willingto volunteer their house. Having a low-key party at someone’s house allows fora relaxed party and much more social-ization. You can have catered, hire aband, play games, give prizes or have acooking contest.

b. Sporting events: Choose a sport that themajority of your employees enjoy.

c. Team building: Hire an outside firm tocome in and host a team buildingevent. As an alternative, you can play asport together such as bowling, pool orlaser tag.

d. Rent a bus: Go on a field trip togetherdepending upon preferences you couldgo on a wine tour, scavenger hunt, siteseeing to local city or go to a close bytheatre.

e. Contests: Organize online contestsaround the football season or MarchMadness for basketball. Prizes can becompany swag. This will encouragefriendly competition that helps folksto get to know each other better. Itassists with the friendly banter andthose kinds of things really help folksto open up.

4. Robust benefits packageReview your benefits package each yearto ensure it is the best on the market foryour size firm. Ensure that you are payingfor a portion for their benefits and con-sider having a 401k matching program,tuition reimbursement, training budget,referral bonuses, sales incentives andfloating holidays. Also, consider if you donot already do so, having a performancebonus to reward your employees.

5. Tenure awardsAfter a designated number of years of serv-ice, give employees an award, it could bemonetary, a gift or giving additional vaca-tion. Employees want to be valued forbeing loyal to your firm.

6. Recognitionstar player programImplement a way for peers torecognize each other. A starplayer award is a way thatemployees can nominatetheir peers by providing man-agement with the informa-tion on why the personshould be awarded. Therewards can be monetary orprize-based, choose whatworks best for your firm.Kudos are another way every-one in the firm can highlightexcellent performance.Empower a culture in whichkudos are encouraged toblast out to all employees inthe firm or to your immediateteam and if you do a newslet-ter, you can solicit kudos for each edition.

7. CharityParticipate in charity events throughout theyear as a firm. You can make it competitiveby forming small groups to choose a charityof choice and have a competition to see whocan raise most money and provide best sup-port to the organization of choice. Thisallows you to focus on more than one char-ity at a time and acts as a team building exer-cise. Another option is to choose one localcharity to support year round and encourageyour employees to help with the various vol-unteer activities throughout the year.

8. TrainingAs we know, you learn something newevery day. Encourage your employees to goto trainings of interest, industry seminars orconferences and offer in-house trainings. a. Develop a list of trainings for your

employees that they may be interestedin based on the skills you are trying tobuild within your firm. By doing theresearch for your employees, they maysimply scan the list and choose one.

b. Offer your employees an annual train-ing budget and encourage them to uti-lize the entire budget each year.

c. Hold trainings to teach your employeesabout the history and culture of your firmand how they can be successful. Ensurethey are educated on how they are toportray the company and know what isnecessary for them to continue to growwithin the firm.

d. Implement a leadership training pro-gram in which you either hire outsidefirms or do internally to ensure every-

one is working togetherand learning lessons fromeach situation. e. Solicit ideas fromemployees on trainingsthey want you to offer.They may provide you withyour training schedule forthe year.

9. Ask for helpDetermine ways youremployees can help growthe business and increasethe bottom line. Make sureto reward employees forgoing above and beyond.Some ideas include:Writing articles to promotesubject matter expertise ofthe firm, marketing assis-tance or interviewing new

members of team. People want to helptheir companies be successful.

10. Open door policyMake certain your employees know theycan come and talk to anyone at any time—at the peer level, managerial level or execu-tive level. By encouraging employees to talkand communicate, issues will be identifiedand resolved versus a culture that allowsthem to fester. Soliciting feedback so youremployees have a “voice” is a key way tofoster inclusion within the firm. Employees,who are able to contribute ideas of theirown to the firm, are certain to be happierwith results of change or new initiatives.

No matter what level you are in a firm,your actions will be followed. If you arenice to someone they will be nice back, ifyou act with compassion others will treatyou will compassion, if you are engaged,others will follow your lead, if you smileat someone they will smile back at you.You are at work the majority of thetime, so use your time in the best possi-ble way. Utilize teamwork and workingstowards a common goal, rememberingyou are all on the same team.

Kerry W. Elam is managing director ofoperations and human resources withActualize Consulting. She oversees thefinance, marketing and recruiting func-tions of the firm, and is also responsiblefor facilitating knowledge management,training and social activities for theemployees of the firm. She may bereached by phone at (703) 868-1506 or e-mail [email protected].

“Frequent and meaningful

communication willgive your employeesthe information they

need to make decisions, foster ideas

and keep everyone on the same page.”

Boost Your Employee Performance in the New Year

By Tyler Sherman

Good tidings for mortgage lenders looklikely in the New Year. The FederalReserve plans to keep interest rates nearzero through the year and beyond, andthe housing market is improving. Ofcourse, a housing recovery changing gearsfrom tepid to mild might not seem all thatimpressive. But mortgage lenders will findmore purchase loans in the mix, prompt-ing them to hire more loan officers,underwriters and processors in 2013.

To take advantage of these conditionsand have successful year, mortgage com-pany executives need to align theiremployees to their corporate goals andcreate a performance-driven, accountableand compliant business culture. Such aculture enhances productivity by creatinga more competitive workforce, whoseresults can be measured and comparedagainst industry peers.

Only business intelligence technologycan provide this cultural solution formortgage companies. Business intelli-gence software gives senior executivesreal-time access to key data indicators,which can be used to measure the real-time performance of all departments,regions, branch offices and each employ-ee in a company. But so few mortgagecompanies are realizing the completebenefits of this technology and how it canbe used to unleash the full potential oftheir employees.

Putting data into actionBusiness intelligence technology trans-forms company data into actionableinformation, which can then be used tomitigate losses or provide moreresources and employees to the mostprofitable company services and prod-ucts. It also brings disparate processesand employees, such as loan officers, inline with the company’s earnings andexpense objectives.

Business intelligence technologydoes this by collecting, maintaining andorganizing the data from your companyand providing you with the analyticaltools to drill deeper into that data inorder to gain a better understanding ofyour employees and company perform-ance. Business intelligence and man-agement software also gives lendersand servicers superior risk managementtools that surround and supplementtheir existing technology.

With its real-time reporting ofemployee performance, executives canquickly and efficiently identify person-nel issues and correct problems beforethey result in significant losses. Forexample, business intelligence softwarecan provide real-time quantitativemeasures, such as the number of loanapplications per loan officer or loanprocessing turn-times. It also can

ensure that loan officers,loan processors, under-writers and closers arecommunicating togetherin real-time and are onthe same page with cor-porate operations, strate-gies and goals. This infor-mation can then be usedto create and encourage ahigh-quality employeeculture and singleness ofpurpose.

One version ofthe truthMortgage executives con-stantly receive all kinds ofinformation about theircompany from many dif-ferent sources, not all ofthem objective. Businessintelligence providesfinancial services firms with one versionof the truth in company operations.This means key executives no longerhave to judge which reports on compa-ny operations are accurate. They caninstantly access all relevant companyinformation, as well as apply powerfulanalytics to monitor operations andforecast key business metrics, such asearnings, revenues and expenses.

The best business intelligence solu-tions can integrate with any existingcompany software system and immedi-ately provide a real-time view of a mort-gage company’s collective data, includ-ing staff performance. The softwareprovides dashboards so that managerscan view a company’s strengths andweaknesses on one screen. The data isconstantly updated, so managersalways have the latest, most relevantinformation to act on to improve pro-ductivity and company operations.

From these dashboards, key execu-tives can view high-level company andemployee data—or a summary of thisdata over time—then drill down intothe data to identify problems, find theircauses and quickly solve them.Dashboards also let top managers trackthe real-time performance of branchesaround the country and measure theirperformance with metrics that take intoconsideration the performance of theirleading competitors and state regula-tions. So you’re always on top of the lat-est trends in the industry and can deter-mine if your company and employeesare taking full advantage of them.

By benchmarking per-formance, business intel-ligence technology givesyour employees anunderstanding of howthey match up in theindustry and what theyneed to do to beat thecompetition. It builds aproductive, entrepre-neurial and sustainablebusiness culture.

Helping managers keep scoreBusiness intelligence sys-tems also allow seniormanagers to view keyperformance indicatorsof their employees, sothey can see how theystack up against fellow

employees and their peers in the indus-try. These indicators are combined intoscorecards, which constantly monitorthe performance of staff and staff activ-ity throughout the company, includingall divisions, departments and individ-ual employees.

Are small-scale activities consistentwith your company’s large-scale goals? Ascorecard can tell you, enabling you toanalyze your employee and operationalgoals with actual results. Scorecards canalert users at different levels in your com-pany when performance thresholds haveor have not been reached.

Business intelligence software alsoeliminates much of the paper involved ina company’s reporting system. Detailedreports, including the latest financial andemployee information can be viewedquickly on the computer screen withoutany need to print them or open new files.

Executives do not have to manuallypiece together reports, since all relevantinformation is on the screen. With instantreports, mortgage executives have thelatest loans per loan officer and riskmanagement information from aroundthe country at their fingertips.

In a world of shifting mortgage regu-lations, business intelligence scorecardscan help keep operational employees,particularly loan officers and underwrit-ers, compliant. For example, managerscan track in real-time the activities ofevery loan officer to make sure theymeet all applicable industry laws andguidelines and stay in line with compa-ny rules and requirements.

“Business intelligencesystems also allowsenior managers to

view key performanceindicators of their

employees, so they cansee how they stack up against fellow

employees and theirpeers in the industry.”

46

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Building employeeaccountabilityIn order to successfully manage manybusiness units and your employees, youmust be able to clearly see their results.Business intelligence software creates abusiness management platform forlenders and servicers, which deliverstransparency and accountabilitythroughout the organization. It’s likewatching your employees in real-time,all from a central location. You can pin-point any adjustments required tomaintain a business culture thatremains accountable.

We have learned over the years thatthe act of measuring employee or com-pany operations can improve perform-ance by around 10 percent. Measuringbusiness flow and employee activitiesprovide executives with the control to dif-ferentiate the performance of one area ofthe company from another. For example,

are closings being delayed by loan offi-cers, underwriters or processors—andwhich ones?

Using business intelligence technolo-gy, managers can view the performanceof their entire mortgage origination teamand easily make assignments to balancethe workload and improve productivityand loan quality. But employees also canview their performance, too. This createsa self-competitive environment thatencourages everyone to perform at his orher highest level. This not only makesyour company more productive, but alsoimproves your bottom line.

Implementing business intelligencealso allows a mortgage company to equipall levels of its organization with analyti-cal reporting, which can include alerts totop executives regarding deviations inoperating goals in various departments.This system of feedback mechanismshelps improve the performance of man-

agers, which naturally leads to better cor-porate decision-making and hiring. Thisis because business intelligence softwarereplaces subjectivity with objectivity inmanagement decisions.

Managing a mortgage company in ashifting regulatory environment wouldbe extremely difficult without the con-stant real-time information provided bybusiness intelligence. For example,business intelligence software canmeasure quantitatively the real-timecosts involved in operational activitiessuch as real estate-owned (REO) sales,short sales and loss mitigation.Management can immediately deter-mine where cost savings can be foundand employees can be more productivewhen they have unadulterated trans-parency in their operations.

A business culture that fosters employ-ee accountability, competitiveness, com-pliance and productivity is best achieved

with business intelligence technology.Business intelligence provides a betterunderstanding of a company’s perform-ance in all aspects of its operations. Itdelivers real-time insights necessary tomaintain outstanding employee results.And it can bring disparate companyoperations back into line and workingtogether.

If mortgage companies really want tocapitalize on improving market condi-tions, using business intelligence tech-nology to get the most out of theiremployees, departments and branches isthe only intelligent choice.

Tyler Sherman is chief executive officer ofMotivity Solutions, a business intelli-gence and business management tech-nology provider. Motivity Solutions islocated in Denver, Colorado. He may bereached by phone at (800) 411-5541 or e-mail [email protected].

47


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

48

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

What to Do When You’re Hated at WorkBy Jean Kelley

At some point in your career, you’veprobably felt disliked—or even hated—by someone at work. Maybe it was yourboss, a co-worker, or someone in a dif-ferent department you interacted withoccasionally. Perhaps the person wastrying to get you fired, make you lookbad, or just cause you frustration andself-doubt. Does this sound familiar? Isit happening to you now?

Whoever it was and whatever theydid, this person made your work-lifemiserable and that’s a serious problemfor your career, your health, and allyour other relationships. Recent med-ical studies from all over the worldshow that being around someone who

negatively impacts you affects youphysiologically as well as psychological-ly. These studies cite that everythingfrom heart attacks to depression canresult from an environment that’s toxicto you. Notice the key phrase “toxic toyou.” Even though the environmentmight not be toxic to others, it might betoxic to you.

So what can you do when you’re thetarget of someone’s dislike? In reality,no matter who hates you or whatthey’re doing to show it, you havethree, and only three, options.

Option 1: Ignore itYou may be able to ignore the situa-

tion, especially if the per-son who hates you does-n’t work with you direct-ly, interacts with youinfrequently, and isn’ttrying to get you in trou-ble. If the brunt of theproblem consists of afew mean glances in theelevator or a cold shoul-der in the break room,then ignoring it could bethe answer. Sometimesyou just need to developthicker skin.

However, if you havea gnawing feeling inyour gut every time yousee the person, that means you can’tignore it. The feelings are taking theirtoll on you and will affect your healthat some point. Remember, we’resocial beings, so feeling hated isstressful. Any additional stress willnegatively affect you in some way.Therefore, it’s time to look at optionnumber two.

Option 2: Fix itYes, you can fix the situation. To doso, first realize your part in it. Whilemost of us wouldn’t lie to a trustedfriend, we lie to ourselves every day.Something pivotal happened thatcaused this person to hate you.Identify it. Perhaps you were hiredfrom the outside over them … maybeyou got the nicer office they want-ed…perhaps the boss liked your mar-keting idea better … possibly youreacted to their constructive criticismin a negative way … or maybe youmistakenly took their can of sodafrom the break room refrigeratorthinking it was yours. Look back overthe course of your relationship withthe person and pinpoint when thenegativity started and your role in it.

Next, decide to have a much-need-ed “difficult conversation” with theperson. Realize that if you don’t talkto the person, nothing will change.People are complex and we neverknow what they’re thinking unless weask them. Sure, we often think weknow what’s going on in someoneelse’s head, but in reality, we don’t.That’s why having this conversation isso important. Taking this steprequires courage, but it’s always stepin the right direction. There are manyresources and books available that

detail how to approachand have these difficultconversations. Researchit and then do it.

Option 3: LeaveOf course, if you can’tignore the person and ifyou don’t want to fix therelationship, then youalways have the optionto leave. If you choosethis option, be smartabout it. Don’t stompout one day out of frus-tration. Rather, exploreother options within thecompany. If the organi-

zation is large, confide in HR and seeif you can be moved to another officelocation or another department. Ifthe company is small, perhaps youcan transfer to a desk or office spaceon a different floor or away from theperson you’re having challenges with.Sometimes physical distance is all theproblem needs.

Realize that deciding to leave is ahuge step in any job market.Therefore, stay at your current jobwhile you look for another one.Taking action on your own behalfand knowing that another opportu-nity is on the horizon could give youthe motivation you need to pushthrough the challenges you’re cur-rently facing.

Put an end to the hateNo one likes being hated, especiallyat work where we spend the majorityof the day. But once you know andunderstand your options for dealingwith the situation, you can take pos-itive steps to ensure it doesn’t affectyour career or your health. No mat-ter which option you choose, honestcommunication—with yourself andothers—is the key to creating awork-life that is both prosperous andpleasurable.

Jean Kelley, author and entrepreneur,is the managing director of Jean KelleyLeadership Alliance whose faculty andtrainers have helped more than750,000 leaders and high potentials uptheir game at work in the U.S. and inCanada. She may be reached by e-mailat [email protected] or visitwww.jeankelley.com.

“No one likes beinghated, especially at

work where we spendthe majority of the

day.”

49


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

When did we forgetthat mortgage brokersare the face of eachhome loan?

www.FGMCwholesale.com (800) 296-2275

In our crazy world of mortgage securitization and lender

portfolios, it’s sometimes easy to forget that most home-

buyers buy homes from people, not logos. For decades, the

mortgage broker has been the trusted advisor to millions

seeking the American Dream. FGMC hasn’t forgotten that,

and we’re providing our brokers the widest range of loan

products and the most efficient lending processes possible

to ensure your clients are getting into new homes ... and

that you’ll be the one handing them the keys.

50

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Mark Greco is the presi-dent and founder of360 Mortgage GroupLLC, a privately-ownedmortgage bank with a100 percent focus on

the wholesale mortgage lending chan-nel. Based in Austin, Texas, 360Mortgage was founded in August 2007as a retail lender. However, Mark quick-ly realized the opportunity to enter thewholesale channel. In early 2010, 360Mortgage made the strategic decisionto exit the retail channel and commit-ted all its resources to wholesale lend-ing. Since that time, the company hassuccessfully expanded its wholesalelending platform from coast to coast,most recently entering the SoutheastRegion of the U.S.

360 Mortgage is an approved FannieMae seller/servicer and GNMA issuer and isactively building a servicing portfolio,which will provide the Company withgreater stability and financial growthopportunity.

Today, 360 Mortgage is focused ondelivering the “Gold Standard” in responsi-ble lending through the new andimproved mortgage broker community bydelivering on its value propositions of con-sistent, competitive pricing, extensiveproduct knowledge, and best-in-class tech-nology and service. In addition, 360Mortgage strongly believes that mortgagebrokers are now well positioned andpoised to regain market share.

National Mortgage Professional recent-ly sat down with Mark to get a progressbriefing on the state of 360 Mortgage.

Could you start by providing our readerswith some background on 360 Mortgageand its operations?Mark: 360 Mortgage Group was originallyfounded in 2007 as a retail lender. In 2007,when the mortgage industry began col-lapsing, several big lenders pulled out ofthe third-party origination (TPO) segmentof the industry. When we witnessed thesecompanies abandoning the mortgage bro-ker channel, we saw an opportunity for

360 Mortgage. Withmy backgroundand years of experi-ence as a loan orig-inator, I felt I had astrong knowledgebase of the mort-gage broker com-munity and wasconvinced thatthere were stillmany high qualitybrokers out there.Because of this,360 Mortgage’sbusiness modelwas modified toserve the mortgagebroker market.

In April 2008,while the majorityof lenders werefocusing on retail,we transitioned our business to focus 100percent on the wholesale channel. This hasallowed us to partner with some of the topmortgage brokers in the nation and servethem in what they do best – originatingloans with a very high touch approach.

How do you define the “Gold Standard” inresponsible lending?Mark: Lending criteria is based on threemajor elements: a borrower’s ability torepay a loan, a borrower’s willingness torepay a loan, and the collateral thatbacks a loan. The most importantaspect is the repayment of a loan. Goingthrough a downturn, can really test thetheory of who can pay a loan and whowill pay a loan. The borrowers that havebeen able to maintain their paymentsduring times of adversity are the bor-rowers that we are looking to workwith. HARP 2.0 has opened the doors tomany of those borrowers. The “GoldStandard” of mortgage lending is a loanthat performs. Our entire company andprocess is based on delivering this “GoldStandard” to all stakeholders through-out the lending value chain. It takes theright borrowers, the right brokers, and

the right whole-saler workingtogether to deliv-er the “GoldStandard.”

Can you walk usthrough 360Mortgage’s busi-ness model?Mark: A significantpart of our busi-ness model isfocused on identi-fying quality mort-gage brokers. Theindustry as a wholehas gone through apurging over thelast six years. Byand large, themajority of lendingprofessionals that

are still in this industry today are highquality mortgage professionals with sig-nificant experience. Our model is topartner with those professionals, toserve an underserved sector of the lend-ing industry—the mortgage broker—and to make sure we work with thehighest quality professionals in thewholesale channel.

360 Mortgage’s objective is to enablemortgage brokers to operate efficientlywithin a model based on service, speedand sustainability. We can deliver on thesevalue propositions because we have acomplete understanding of the mortgagebusiness and how to execute in secondarymarketing, risk management, communica-tion, and marketing.

Who are some key members of the seniorteam, and what attributes and experiencedo they bring to the company?Mark: 360 Mortgage has put together animpressive senior team of mortgage pro-fessionals and individuals of character. Thisteam is an extremely collaborative teamand has worked tirelessly to build 360Mortgage into a growing company with areputation of service and integrity.

For background, I ran a retail mortgagebanking operation for about 15 years. Thisrole not only gave me significant mortgageexperience, but also made me very empa-thetic towards the challenges that mort-gage brokers and originators face everyday in our industry. The industry is morechallenging than ever, and it takes peoplewho are very knowledgeable and insightfulto perform well. I founded 360 Mortgage in2007, and I have served as presidentthroughout that time.

Andrew WeissMalik, our chief operatingofficer, has been in the industry for 12years. Andrew handles all of our capitalmarkets and the technology development.He has facilitated the efficiencies that webring to the industry and to our customers.Andrew is recognized as an industry leaderin mortgage-technology innovation and heutilizes his past experience in capital mar-kets, mortgage-product development, andefficient operations to enhance the lend-ing value chain at 360 Mortgage. UsingAndrew’s technology, we believe 360Mortgage Group employs the mostadvanced wholesale origination and oper-ations platform in the industry.

Al Crisanty, who joined us about a yearago, is our vice president of nationalwholesale production. Al was formerly theEVP of national production at AmericanBrokers Conduit. When Al joined AmericanBrokers Conduit, they had a very smallwholesale presence, and Al was a majorreason ABC grew it to one of the largestwholesale lenders in the nation.

What lines of business is 360 Mortgagefocused on today?Mark: 360 Mortgage is 100 percent focusedon the wholesale channel. We exited theretail channel in January 2011 when manyother lenders were entering this channel.This strategy was consistent with the con-trarian’s approach that we have imple-mented since first opening our doors. Thewholesale channel allows us to expandwithout overextending ourselves. Coupledwith the fact that the wholesale channel is

360 Mortgage Group:Delivering the “Gold Standard” of Responsible Lending

to the New Mortgage Broker CommunityAn Interview With Mark Greco, President of 360 Mortgage Group


51


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

52

By Barbara Zigah

The housing market isarguably the sector bywhich the health of theU.S. economy is gauged;that it has been in thedoldrums over the past

several years is not in dispute, but it’s clearthat there has been improvement in recentmonths and that the outlook is turningbrighter. However, to understand why thereis such optimism you have to first under-stand what drives U.S. mortgages. The threemost important factors which control mort-gage rate direction and subsequently hous-ing demand are these; banking capital,interest rates, growth and confidence.

The goal of all major banks, and espe-cially the major U.S. banks, such as Bank ofAmerica, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, isto preserve their capital base, at any and allcosts. That means that when a bank losescapital as a result of bad investments, theyhave less spare capital; and less spare capi-tal means less funding for mortgages.

Bad investments have been a major prob-lem in recent years, directly resulting in thecredit squeeze that has traumatized investorsworldwide. Though home-grown loansplayed a significant part in the bankingindustry’s downturn, bad sovereign-debtloans originating out of the Eurozone areequally to blame. It is the U.S. banks’ expo-sure to higher risk debt from the Eurozone,primarily Greece’s sovereign bonds but also(and more worrying) to Spain’s and Italy’s,which have affected exactly how much capi-tal is available to lend. Because these coun-tries have less money to lend for mortgages,it essentially quashes housing demand whichresults then in a drop in housing prices.Though it’s doubtful that housing prices willcollapse in an environment such as this theproblem is that they also won’t rise.

It would make sense that a rise in inter-est rates would have a negative effect onhousing demand, while a drop in interestrates would have the opposite effect. Butthat’s not entirely accurate. When theFederal Reserve Bank raises interest rates,longer term (such as 30-year) Treasury-bondyields fall on expectations that inflation willfall and given that, long term rates begin tofall, as well. And because 30-year mortgagerates are linked to 30-year U.S. Treasuryyields, the Fed’s hike in interest rates is actu-ally a good thing. In fact, that is the essenceof the Fed’s Operation Twist program. Withan improvement in the U.S. economy, hous-ing demand should also improve, and while30-year rates might rise, they will do sosteadily, not sharply.

Growth is the most obvious link of theU.S. housing market to the rest of the world.The growth of the U.S. economy is very close-ly correlated to growth in the Eurozone andAsia, especially China which is the secondlargest economy after the U.S. If globalgrowth is stable, then banks worldwide feelmore confident in their lending, laying thegroundwork for a positive Catch-22 scenario.The U.S. banking system is very closely linkedto the European banking system, with thebond especially tight between the U.S., theU.K. and Germany. As a result, any escalationof the crisis in the Eurozone will eventuallyfilter into the U.S. banking sector, hittingAmerican banks hard and detrimentallyaffecting mortgage lending.

U.S. economic growth will also take a hitand when growth falters, consumer confi-dence deteriorates and then, hand-in-glove,so does demand for housing. Mortgage rateswon’t necessarily fall as quickly, either, alsoputting pressure on the demand side,because banks won’t be willing to lend dur-ing an environment they perceive as risky,and will attempt to preserve their returns byensuring that their risk (of lending during a

period of slow growth) is suitably rewarded(through higher mortgage rates).

Eurozone defaults and theU.S. marketCurrently, the U.S. banking sectors’ biggestworry is what is going on in the Eurozone,with the largest risks they are facing comingfrom Spain and Italy. Spain, especially, couldignite a banking crisis there that will affectthe U.S. There has, of course, been specula-tion that either of them (or Greece, for thatmatter) might default on their existing debtburden and be forced out of the Eurozone.Though the probability that any of theEurozone members will be forced out of theEurozone is remote, but the risk does existnonetheless and U.S. banks must steel them-selves, capital-wise, for just such an event,unlikely as it may be.

According to the Bank for InternationalSettlements, as of March 2012, U.S. banks’exposure to Eurozone debt, specifically fromGreece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland(also known as the PIIGS countries), totaled$770 billion or 7.5 percent of banks’ totaldirect and other potential exposures. Thatfigure isn’t cast in stone as the data doesn’treflect any collateral or hedges the U.S.banks might have put in place to lower theirexposure, nor does it capture a U.S. banks’secondary exposure, i.e. exposure to aGerman bank which is in turn exposed to aGreek bank, etc.

One analysis suggests that the five topU.S. banks, which have a combined expo-sure of $80 billion to the Eurozone’s banks,have put into place $30 billion in CreditDefault Swaps intended to offset a potentialloss, making their net exposure $50 billion.The three major credit ratings agencies,namely Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s andFitch, concur that the largest U.S. banks havebeen aggressively working to reduce theirdirect exposure to the those highly indebted

Eurozone nations. Earlier this year, theFederal Reserve conducted stress testsamong the largest U.S. banks which showedthat the majority of them would meet capi-tal adequacy requirements even despitelarge potential losses.

Though the U.S. banks’ exposure to thecrisis over in Europe isn’t as great as that ofthose banks which are directly within theEurozone, they are not entirely isolated. Norare U.S. banks immune from the possibilityof default of state and municipal bonds thatthey hold; any default or bankruptcy willsqueeze U.S. banks’ lending capacity andcompel them to lend less which is negativefor mortgages. Last but not least, given thedeterioration of the U.S. economy, it was nowonder that U.S. banks were overwhelmedby defaults on mortgage loans. The delin-quency rates for the banking sector as awhole over the past 12 quarters has rangedbetween 10.14 percent and 11.25 percentwhich tends to validate banks’ reluctance tolend, however over the last quarter fewerconsumers defaulted on their mortgageloans than at any time in the past five years.

Consumer confidenceOver the past several months, housing sectordata has been gratifyingly upbeat, withhome prices, housing starts and builder con-fidence all on an uptrend. The FederalReserve’s commitment to low interest ratesand their implementation of OperationTwist to support the housing market areobvious drivers of that trend. For the lastquarter, mortgage originations rose to $471billion from $395 billion in the second quar-ter, an increase of 19.24 percent.

Analysts anticipate that the housingsector will continue to improve. A recentnews release from Fannie Mae’s Economic& Strategic Research Group said that fiscaluncertainty continued to pose challengesto the economic outlook but they wereencouraged by an increase in consumerspending which has fed into the U.S. hous-ing market, in particular in home sales andhousing starts. Housing has been a drag onthe economy over the last few years butthey expect that this year the sector willcontribute to economic growth and GDP,with still more improvement likely nextyear.

The bottom line is that since the 2008-2009 financial crisis the U.S. banking sectorhas become increasingly conservative. As aresult, the banks’ ability to manage theircapital and even to maintain extra capitalspecifically intended for mortgage lendinghas substantially improved. Couple thatwith a systematic reduction in the U.S.banks’ exposure to the risky assets in gen-eral, and specifically the possible escalationof crisis events in Europe and that meansthat mortgage markets are likely to remainon firm ground for the foreseeable future.

Barbara Zigah is a lead analyst atDailyForex.com, a Web site that offers dailymarket analysis, Forex broker reviews andother timely market information. She may bereached by e-mail at [email protected].

How the Global Economy Will Impact U.S. Mortgages

53


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

a new era continued from page 40

Similarly, most lenders have had nostandard policy for reviewing and veri-fying CPLs, not just for their validity (i.e.were they properly issues), but also toverify the credentials of this to whomthe letters were issued.

Fannie Mae’s recommendations wereignored … now the CFPBhas issued a mandateFannie Mae’s December 2005Newsletter on “Preventing, Detecting &Reporting Mortgage Fraud” states inpart that “mortgage lenders must knowtheir business partners and considerusing outside sources to selectivitychoose closing attorneys and settle-ment agents.” These guidelines mirrorthe guidelines issued by the OCC forsupervised banks in 2001. Yet untilApril 2012 there were very few lendersthat followed this sound advice.

Of course, in April 2012, theConsumer Financial Protection Bureauissued Bulletin 2012-3 which appears tomandate that non-bank entities, mort-gage lenders and brokers, take affirma-tive steps to adopt adequate risk man-agement policies to prevent consumerharm from third-party serviceproviders. This Bulletin reaffirms theexisting requirements for supervisedbanks to non-bank entities that havebeen in place for years.

Today lenders, for the most part,have no comprehensive program toassess the risk from the actions of set-tlements agents. Compounding theproblem, not one from the national orstate bar associations, notary associa-tion, or title agents association havestepped forward with uniform stan-dards, guidelines or requirements forcertifying the qualifications of the peo-ple who control the loan documentsand mortgage funds at closings nation-wide.

Recently, the American Land TitleAssociation (ALTA) published a new setof title agent “Best Practices,” which is awelcome approach to publicizing uni-form standards to a diverse industry.However even in the best of faith, withgood intentions, voluntary industryassociations have few resources topolice their members, let alone turnthem over to law enforcement andreport them publicly for bad acts.Unfortunately, instead of embracingchange in this area, some agents andsmall industry groups have decided toattack the messenger, or seek “exemp-tions” from compliance claiming thateither “there is no problem,” or that“we are regulated enough.”Unfortunately, the escrow and closingfraud loss figures don’t support eitherposition.

Without a new method of vetting,monitoring and evaluating the risk ofsettlement agents, and properly insur-ing them for both fraud and negligence

at closing, it is foolhardy for lenders tocontinuing relying on the current clos-ing protection letter as security for theproper coordination and execution ofthe mortgage loan closing process.

A solution: Certificationand uniform standardsThe emerging solution is to supplementthe vetting process currently used bythe lenders and title underwriters withindependent third parties to performobjective scrutiny and verification ofthe settlement agent’s identity and cre-dentials.

The public wants changeIn October 2012, an independent opin-ion poll was conducted by AmericanMoney Services of New York seekingpublic input on issues surroundingmortgage closings. The results werenothing less than fascinating, andshould serve as a wakeup call for thesettlement industry.

An overwhelming majority of respon-dents believe that only attorneys shouldbe permitted to act as settlementagents. That the attorneys should bemore carefully regulated, that providingfor their independent certificationbased on criteria including experience,is essential to establishing public faithin the process. Furthermore, 79 percentindicated that they were unaware set-tlement agents are not all required tohave E&O coverage when handling theirreal estate matters, 92 percent believethat settlement agents should meetminimum uniform standards or experi-ence and skill besides being licensed, 93percent believe that banks need pro-grams to better identify people whomay commit fraud in mortgage closingtransactions, 97 percent believe banksneed policies and procedures to ensurethat whoever handles the closing fundsand documents is trustworthy, 44 per-cent believe banks giving mortgageloans are doing enough to protect con-sumers from losses for fraud, while 56percent say they are NOT doingenough. Interestingly, in contrast topublic positions taken by some agentgroups, 93 percent of the public polledin the survey stated that they wouldfeel more comfortable at a closing withsomeone who had an independent,vetted designation. Finally, 70 percentof those polled believe that withimprovements such as additional pro-tections from fraud at closing, lenderscan rebuild the public’s trust in finan-cial industry without governmentintervention.

After decades of allowing the titleindustry to regulate the risks at closingthe lenders and faced with highly pub-licized plans for a Washington designed,driven and enforced consumer protec-tion regulations, the banks have alreadymoved toward initiating new safe-guards and self-regulated programs.

Why would the title industry not moveforward on its own initiative andembrace these same safeguards?

Richard Peter Stevens is of counsel atJones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough inSalt Lake City, Utah, where he acts asleader of the Insurance RegulatoryPractice Group. He also serves as JudgePro Tempore, Utah’s Third District Court,was Assistant Commissioner for the State

of Utah Insurance Department from1999-2003 He serves on the Board ofAdvisors of Secure Settlements Inc.Andrew Liput has been a mortgageindustry attorney for nearly 26 years,having served as a closing agent fornumerous banks, as well as legal, com-pliance and regulatory counsel tonumerous mortgage lenders. He foundedSecure Settlements Inc. in April 2009 andpresently serves as president and CEO.

an underserved sector of the market, itallows us to grow rapidly without creatinga large liability for ourselves.

You mentioned 360 Mortgage is one ofthe leaders in HARP 2.0 loan. Do youfeel a HARP 3.0 should be introduced?Mark: I am certainly a proponent ofHARP 3.0, primarily because there area lot of people that financed theirhomes on sub-prime mortgage securi-ties beginning in the late 90’s andthrough the collapse of the sub-primemarket. These people’s loans are non-agency, and for that reason, theyhaven’t had the ability to refinancethrough HARP 2.0. Those that wouldqualify for the HARP 3.0, I envision,have made their payments eventhough they have been stuck at esca-lated interest rates of seven, eight,nine, or even 10 percent. From aneconomic perspective, I believe thatthose who do not have the opportuni-ty to refinance right now create a riskfor the recovery of the real estatemarket, as well as the overall econo-my. It’s not consistent with the effortsthat the government has put forth tohelp consumers. If these borrowershave made payments, then it’s a safeopportunity for the government toinvest in these individuals’ economicwell-being.

Do you anticipate that 360 Mortgagewill continue to hire account execu-tives in 2012? Mark: We will continue to grow in anassertive manner where and whenopportunities present themselves. Weare recruiting high-quality accountexecutives throughout the U.S. andthose that are committed to forming aunique partnership with mortgagebrokers to help them understandtoday’s market challenges and oppor-tunities, as well as build a significantbusiness, are the ones we want tohave join 360 Mortgage.

What differentiates 360 Mortgagefrom other wholesale lenders? Mark: We are 100 percent exclusive towholesale and do not support a retailpresence. Also, what truly differenti-ates us from other wholesale lendersis the technology we have developedin-house. The intuitive aspect of our

technology system keeps everyoneinformed at every key point through-out the mortgage lending process. Inaddition, 360 is one of only a handfulof mortgage banks that are exclusiveto the wholesale channel and do notcompete with the mortgage brokers.Finally, 360 is one of the very fewlenders offering the HARP productwithout any guideline overlays withinthe wholesale channel.

Why do you think mortgage brokersare well positioned to take back mar-ket share?Mark: Consumers like having options,and that will not change. Andbecause mortgage brokers haveaccess to many different lenders, asopposed to just one bank, it becomesa better solution for borrowers. Wehave seen mortgage brokers begin tocome back to the industry over thecourse of the last eight to 12 monthsas they begin to understand thatmarket regulations are not going todestroy the broker or wholesalechannel. We are confident that thistrend is going to continue. HARP 2.0has certainly helped on this front, asmany mortgage banks do not under-stand, and therefore do not offer,HARP 2.0. These banks have stringentoverlays or additional guidelines thatdo not open the doors to consumerswho can and deserve to take advan-tage of HARP 2.0. Many originatorswho left the broker channel andentered the mortgage banking side ofthe business are now unable to serv-ice clients they have had for years.These originators might have put cus-tomers in loans in 2005 or 2006 onhomes which are now upside down.Now the customers want to refi-nance, but because their formermortgage broker now works for amortgage bank, they are unable toreceive a solution because of theoverlays being imposed. Mortgagebrokers are seeing the opportunity toservice clients in the wholesale chan-nel, and we are seeing many profes-sionals return to the broker side ofthe business. And best of all, many ofthem are looking to partner with 360Mortgage for solutions.

360 mortgage group continued from page 50


54

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

1st Advantage Mortgage ..................................................................................http://www.1amllc.com

1st Signature Lending, LLC ..................................................................................http://www.1stsl.com

360 Mortgage Inc ..................................................................................http://www.360-mortgage.com

Aapex Financial Solutions, LLC ......................................................................http://aapexfinancial.net

ABC Family & Comm. Mtg. Co. ........................http://www.arizonamortgagenet.com/company_9.php

Academy Mortgage ................................................................................http://academymortgage.com

Academy Mortgage - Bakersfield CA ......................................................http://academymortgage.com

Acclaim Mortgage, Inc. ............................................................................http://Acclaimmortgage.com

ACT Appraisal, Inc....................................................................................http://www.actappraisal.com

Adecco - Encino, CA ....................................................................................http://www.adeccousa.com

Adecco Financial Services....................................................................................http://adeccousa.com

Advanced Mortgage SVF ......................................................................................http://sky-valley.com

Alliance School of Mortage Lending........................................http://www.alliancebusinessschool.com

Alliance West Mortgage, INC ....................................................http://www.alliancewestmortgage.com

Allied Mortgage Group ..................................................................................http://www.alliedmg.com

Alpha Mortgage ..........................................................................................http://Ifyouneedmone.com

Alpine Mortgage Planning............................................................................http://www.alpinemc.com

AmCap Mortgage, Ltd. ......................................................................http://www.MaryPapageorge.com

AMEC ..............................................................................................................http://www.amecinc.org

American Equity Mortgage ................................................................http://www.americanequity.com

American Fidelity Financial Services, Inc. ................................................http://www.illinoisrates.com

American Financing........................................................................http://www.americanfinancing.net

American Midwest Mortgage Corp. ........................................................................http://ammcorp.net

American Mortgage and Equity Consultants Inc., Mequon, WI ......................http://www.amecinc.org

American Mortgage Company ......................................................http://www.americanmortgage.com

America’s Choice Home Loans ..................................................................http://www.achlonline.com

AmeriFirst Financial Corp ............................................................................http://www.amerifirst.com

AmeriFirst Home Mortgage ..........................................................................http://www.amerifist.com

AmeriNational Community Services, Inc. ..............................................http://www.amerinational.net

AmeriPro Funding ................................................................http://www.cespey.ameriprofunding.com

AmFam NUO ........................................................................................http://www.amfamseminar.org

Amtrust Mortgage Funding, Inc ......................................................................http://www.amtrust.net

Anchor Home Mortgage, Inc...............................................................http://www.theanchorteam.com

Angel Oak Funding, LLC ............................................................................http://angeloakfunding.com

Associated Bank ....................................................................http://www.associatedbank.com/careers

Associates Mortgage Company ......................................http://www.associatesmortgagecompany.com

Atlantic Home Loans, Inc. ..........................................................................http://www.ahlcareers.com

Augusta Financial, Inc. ..............................................................................http://www.petercosfol.com

BayBurg Financial, Inc ..................................................................................http://www.bayburg.com

BBG Home Loans ....................................................................http://bbghomeloans.com/join_us.php

Benchmark Mortgage..........................................................................http://www.iambenchmark.info

BofI Federal Bank ..............................................................................http://www.bankofinternet.com

Brickwood Mortgage Inc- Murrells Inlet, SC ..........................http://www.brickwoodmortgageinc.com

Bridge View Funding (soon to be Ever Funding Group) ................................http://pcmcaffiliates.com

Burke & Herbert Bank......................................................................http://burkeandherbertbank.com

C2 Financial Corporation....................................................................http://www.c2financialcorp.com

Cal Coast Financial Corp ..........................................................................http://www.calcoastmtg.com

California Mortgage Advisors, Inc.....................................................................http://www.CalMtg.com

Capital Financial Mortgage Corporation ....................................................http://www.capitalfmc.com

Capital Lending, Inc. ................................................................http://www.CapitalLendingOnline.com

Capital Mortgage ......................................................................http://www.capitalmortgageiowa.com

Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC ......................http://www.carringtonhomeloans.com/lo/JayCollins

Castle & Cooke Mortgage ........http://castlecookemortgage.com/find_location/branch/newportbeach

Castle & Cooke Mortgage, LLC ..................................................http://www.castlecookemortgage.com

Catalyst Lending, Inc. ......................................................................................http://catalystlending.co

CBC National Bank ....................................................................http://www.cbcnationalbankmtg.com

CCowan and Associates ..................................................................................http://www.ccowan.com

Central Coast Home Loans ....................................................http://www.centralcoasthomeloans.com

City 1st Mortgage ....................................................................................http://www.city1stIdaho.com

Citywide Mortgage Associates, Inc. ................................................http://www.citywidemortgage.com

Clear Capital ........http://tbe.taleo.net/NA8/ats/careers/searchResults.jsp?org=CLEARCAPITAL&cws=5

CNC Mortgage, LLC ........................................................................................http://www.cncmrtg.com

Coastline Mortgage Consultants, LLC ............................................http://www.coastline-mortgage.com

Collateral Group, Inc...........................................................................http://www.collateralgroup.com

Colonial Family of Companies ..........................................http://www.colonialsavings.com/joblist.asp

Colonial Savings ................................................................................http://www.ColonialSavings.com

Commonfund Mortgage Corporation ..............................................http://www.commonfundmtg.com

Community Lending of America, Inc. ................................................................http://www.clakc.com

Consumer First Mortgage, Inc. ..............................http://www.mortgagescanbesimple.com/expansion

Contour Mortgage ..........................................................................http://www.contourmortgage.com

CoreFirst Bank & Trust ..........................................................................http://www.CoreFirstBank.com

Corridor Mortgage Grouip........................................................................http://www.corridormtg.com

Covenant Mortgage........................................................................................http://www.covmort.com

CRESTICO ........................................................................................................http://www.crestico.com

Crown Financial Services ............................................................................http://www.crownloans.net

DAS Acquisition Company, LLC..............................................................http://www.usa-mortgage.com

Dimont & Associates................................................................http://hwww.dimontandassociates.com

DocVelocity ..............................................................................................http://www.docvelocity.com

Downs Financial ..........................................................................................http://www.downsinc.com

E Loans Mortgage ..............................................................................http://www.e-loanmortgage.com

Element Funding ..............................................................................http://www.elementfunding.com

EMB Lenders Inc. ....................................................................................http://www.EMBLenders.com

Emperiq Financial ........................................................................................http://www.emperiq.com

ENG Lending ..............................................................................http://www.mylowcostmortgage.com

Enterprise Lending Group, Inc ......................................................http://www.enterprise-lending.com

Envoy Mortgage ..................................................http://www.mortgageprosus.com/Whyworkforenvoy

Equity Mortgage Lending ......................................................http://www.equitymortgagelending.com

Equity Wave Lending ....................................................................http://www.equitywavelending.com

eValuation ZONE, Inc. ......................................................................http://www.eValuationZONE.com

Evergreen Pacific Mortgage, Stearns Lending, Inc. ....................http://www.evergreenpacificmtg.com

EXIT Mortgage LLC ..........................................................................................http://www.Exitmtg.com

Fairmore Financial..................................................................................http://fairmoreMortgage.com

Fairway Asset Mortgage (Falls Church, VA Branch) ..................http://www.fairwayassetmortgage.com

Fairway Independent Mortgage ..........................................http://www.fairwaywholesalelending.com

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. ..............................http://www.fairwaymtgny.com/Default.aspx

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation ........................................http://www.fairwaynymtg.com

Family 1st Mortgage................................................http://www.family1stmortgage.instantlender.com

FCF Services Inc ......................................................................................http://www.fcfservicesinc.com

Fiduciary Funding, LLC ....................................................................http://www.fiduciaryfunding.com

Finance Austin Associates, LP ................................................http://www.financeaustinassociates.com

First American Home Mortgage, LLC................................................http://www.FirstAmericanHM.com

First California Mortgage ..................................................................................http://www.firstcal.net

First Centennial Mortgage Corporation ............................................................http://www.GoFCM.com

First Citizens Bank ....................................................................................http://www.firstcitizens.com

First Community Mortgage, Inc. ..........................................................http://www.fcmhomeloans.com

First Equity Financial ..............................................................................................http://fefloans.com

First Federal Bank of Boston ....................................................................http://www.firsteastern.com

First Home Equity Loans ..........................................................http://www.firsthomeequityloans.com

55


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

First International Bank & Trust - Fargo, ND ..........................................http://www.firstintlbank.com

First Mortgage Corp-Ontario-Euclid Branch ..........................................http://www.firstmortgage.com

First Mortgage Company..........................................................................http://www.allaboutfmc.com

First Mortgage Group..........................................................................................http://www.fmgllc.net

First Priority Financial ..............................................................................http://www.joinfpfiowa.com

First Priority Financial Solutions................................................................http://www.loansbykat.com

First Priority Financial, Inc ........................................................http://www.joinfpfnorthcarolina.com

First Priority Financial, Inc.................................................................................http://joinfpfohio.com

First State Mortgage Company, LLC ..................................................................http://www.thefsb.com

First Valuation ......................................................................................http://www.FirstValuation.com

FirstBANK Mortgage Partners ............................................................http://www.firstbankonline.com

Flagstar Bank ..................................................................................................http://www.flagstar.com

Foundation Financial Group ..................................................................................http://www.ffg.com

Franklin First Financial ....................................................................http://FranklinFirstFinancial.com

Freedom First Credit Union ....................................................................http://www.freedomfirst.com

Garret Associates, LLC ........................................................................http://www.garretassociates.com

Gateway Funding..............................................................http://www.gateway-funding.com/Mortgage

Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services, L.P. ......................http://www.joingatewaynow.com

Gemstarr Mortgage Services ..................................................................http://gemstarrmortgage.com

Generation Mortgage Company ......................................http://www.generationmortgage.com/recruit

Golden Empire Mortgage Inc ........................................................................http://gemmortgage.com

Good Friend Mortgage Inc. ..........................................................http://www.goodfriendmortgage.biz

gotmortgage.com....................................................................http://www.gotmortgagewholesale.com

Greenlight Financial Services..............................................................http://www.greenlightloans.com

GSF Mortgage..............................................................................................http://www.gsflending.com

Guardian National Bank....................................................................................http://www.gnbkc.com

Gum Tree Mortgage........................................................................http://www.gumtreemortgage.com

Hall Lending Group, LLC ................................................................http://www.HallLendingGroup.com

HALO Capital ..................................................................................................http://www.sayhalo.com

Hamilton Group Funding..............................................................................http://www.hgfdirect.com

Hancock Mortgage Partners, LLC ............................................................http://www.hancockmtg.com

HKA Staffing Services ................................................................................http://www.hkastaffing.com

Home Loan Investment Bank ............................................................http://www.HomeLoanBank.com

Home Source Mortgage....................................................................................http://homesource.com

Home Star Mortgage Capital Corp. ................................................http://www.homestarmortgage.org

HomePlus Mortgage ....................................................................http://www.homeplusmortgage.com

HomeServices Lending ......................................................................................http://www.hsl-ga.com

Hometown Lenders ........................................................................http://www.hometownbranch.com

Hometown Lending/Bay Equity LLC ....................................................http://www.sedonalending.com

HomeTown Lending, a Division of Bay Equity................................................http://www.HTLend.com

Hyperion Bank......................................................................................http://www.hyperionbank.com

ICON Residential Lenders, LLC..............................................................http://www.iconwholesale.com

Ind Home Loans, LLC ..........................................................................http://www.indhomeloans.com

Inlanta Mortgage ............................................................................................http://www.inlanta.com

Innova Mortgage Services ..........................................................................http://www.innovamtg.com

Innovative Lending Solutions ......................................................................http://www.innolend.com

Integrity Mortgage & Financial Services, Inc...................................http://[email protected]

Interbank Mortgage Company ....................................................http://www.interbankwholesale.com

Interthinx, Inc ............................................................................................http://www.interthinx.com

Intertrustbanc ......................................................................................http://www.intertrustbanc.com

Invicta Finance INc ..............................................................................http://www.invictafinance.com

J. Stevens Mortgage ........................................................................http://www.jstevensmortgage.com

Kiel Lending (a Division of Mortgage Broker Services, Inc.) ......................http://www.kiellending.com

LeaderOne Financial Corporation ..........................................................http://leaderonefinancial.com

Legacy Lending Group - Salt Lake City, UT Branch ......................http://www.legacylendinggroup.com

LenderCity Home Loans ..............................................................................http://www.lendercity.com

Lenox Financial Home Loans ............................................................http://www.lenoxhomeloan.com

Liberty Home Mortgages LLC ..........................................................................http://www.myLHM.com

Loan Republic Financial, Inc. ................................................................http://www.loanrepublic.com

Loan Simple Inc of Dallas ............................................................http://www.northdallaslending.com

LoanCentral, LLC ......................................................................................http://www.LoanCentral.com

Loanontime ..............................................................................................http://www.loanontime.com

LoanSifter Inc. ............................................................................................https://www.loansifter.com

Long Grove Mortgage ............................................................................http://longgrovemortgage.com

Lynx Financial Group..............................................................................http://www.lynxfinancial.com

MAAG ............................................................................................................http://www.maagllc.info

Main Street Home Loans ..........................................................http://www.mainstreethomeloans.com

Mainstream Funding Network, Inc. ........................................................................http://www.mfninc

Manhattan Mortgage..................................................................................http://www.mmcloans.com

Market Consulting Mortgage ............................................................................http://www.macmtg.biz

Marketplace Home Mortgage, LLC- Omaha, NE ............................http://www.marketplacehome.com

Merit Finance Inc ..................................................................................http://www.meritfinance.com

Metropolitan Funding Group Inc - Jenkintown PA ..........http://www.metropolitanfundinggroup.com

Michael Scott Properties & Finance......................................................http://www.resourcerealty.com

Mid Nation Mortgage Corp ............................................................................http://www.mnmgo.com

MidCountry Bank (MN) ....................................................................http://www.MidCountryBank.com

Midwest Family Lending Corporation, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota........http://www.midwestfamilylending.com

Mortgage Brokers Network Corp, Inc ..........................................http://mortgagebrokersnetwork.com

Mortgage Cadence, LLC.................................................http://www.mortgagecadence.com/home.aspx

Mortgage Financial Group ......................................................................................http://mfglends.net

Mortgage Investors Corporation ....................................................http://www.mortgageinvestors.com

Mortgage Resources ......................................................................http://www.mortgageresources.com

Mortgage Security ................................................................................http://www.mtgsecurityinc.com

Mortgage Solutions Financial ......................................................................http://www.msfhome.com

Motown Financial, LLC..............................................................................http://motownfinancial.com

Mount Olympus Mortgage Company ..........................................................http://momco.com/careers

Mountain West Bank....................................................................http://www.mountainwestbank.com

MSource Training & Consulting, Inc. ........................................................http://www.msource24.com

MyCityLender..........................................................................................http://www.mycitylender.com

National Mortgage Alliance................................................http://www.nationalmortgagealliance.com

National Mortgage Staffing ................................................http://www.nationalmortgagestaffing.com

National Mortgage Staffing LLC ..........................................http://www.nationalmortgagestaffing.com

Nationwide Equities Corporation ..................................................................http://www.nwecorp.com

Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc.............................................................................http://www.nwtc.com

Neighborhood Loans ..................................................................http://www.NeighborhoodLoans.com

netbranchology.com ..........................................................................http://www.netbranchology.com

Network Funding LP ..........................................................................http://www.networkfunding.net

New American Mortgage ......................................................................http://www.newamerican.com

New England Home Mortgage LLC ............................................................http://www.nehmloans.com

New Horizon Funding ..................................................................http://newhorizonfundingcorp.com

New Penn Financial LLC ................................................................http://www.newpennfinancial.com

New York Community Bank ..........................................................................http://www.mynycb.com

NewDay USA........................................................................................http://www.newdaycareers.com

Noble Home Loans ........................................................................http://www.NobleHomeLoans.com

NOLA Lending Group ..............................................................................http://www.nolalending.com

Norcom Mortgage............................................................................http://www.norcommortgage.com

NOVA Home Loans ............................................................................http://www.novahomeloans.com

Omega Financial Services, Inc.....................................................................http://www.fhaomega.com

56

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

One Mortgage, Inc. ..........................................................................http://www.OneMortgageInc.com

Open Mortgage ......................................................................................http://joinopenmortgage.com

Open Mortgage Home Lending ....................................................................http://openmortgage.com

Open Mortgage Home Lending ......................................................http://www.openmtg.com/jimvani

Open Mortgage LLC................................................................................http://[email protected]

Open Mortgage, LLC ..............................................http://www.openmtg.com/home/dianebrayden.epl

Opus Capital Markets Consultants ................................................................http://www.opuscmc.com

Pacific Residential Mortgage ............................................................http://www.pacresmortgage.com

Pacor Mortgage Corp ..........................................................................http://www.pacormortgage.com

Paramount Equity Mortgage ..............................................http://www.paramountequity.com/careers

Paramount Residential Mortgage Group ......................................................................http://prmg.net

Partners Mortgage Corporation ......................................................http://www.partnersmortgage.com

PennyMac Home Loan Solutions ..............................................http://www.pennymacusa.com/careers

Peoples Home Equity ....................................................................................http://phewholesale.com

Peoples Home Equity (Virginia Beach) ........................................http://www.peopleshomeequity.com

PHH Corporation............................................................................................http://www.phhjobs.com

Pinnacle Lending Group, Inc. ............................................................................http://www.plgnv.com

Pinnacle Mortgage Group, Inc. ....................................................http://www.pinnacle-mortgage.com

Pinnacle Mortgage Group, LLC ..................................................http://www.mortgagebypinnacle.com

Plant City Mortgage Corporation ..................................................http://www.PlantCityMortgages.com

Platinum Home Mortgage Corp - Rolling Meadows, IL Corporate Branch..............http://www.platinumhomemortgage.com

Plaza Home Mortgage, Inc ........................................................http://www.plazahomemortgage.com

PMAC Lending Services Inc.................................................................................http://www.pmac.com

PRC Funding Corp......................................................................................http://www.prcfunding.com

Premier Lending ................................................................................http://www.PremierLending.org

Prestige Home Mortgage LLC ................................................http://www.prestigehomemortgage.com

Primary Residential Mortgage ..............................................http://www.DelawareMortgageLoans.net

Primary Residential Mortgage - Southern California ............................http://www.PrimeResWest.com

Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc........................................http://www.primarymortgagelender.com

Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc.........................................http://www.bestcoloradomortgages.com

Prime Appraisal Services ................................................................http://primeappraisalservices.com

PrimeSource Mortgage ....................................................................http://www.wewalkyouhome.com

Professional Mortgage Associates, Ltd.......................................http://professionalmortgageassoc.com

Professional Mortgage Lending Services ......................................http://www.myfinancingonline.com

Quality First Mortgage ..............................................................................http://www.qfmortgage.com

Quality Mortgage Lending ........................................................http://www.qualitymortgage4you.com

Rate One, Inc. The Mortgage People ..................................................http://www.rate1mortgage.com

RatePro Mortgage ............................................................................http://www.ratepromortgage.com

RealEstateBestJobs.com ................................................................http://www.RealEstateBestJobs.com

Regional Mortgage Corporation ....................................................http://regionalmortgageonline.com

Reliance First Capital, LLC ............................................................http://www.reliancefirstcapital.com

Republic State Mortgage Co. ..................................................http://www.republicstatemortgage.com

Residential Finance Corporation ............................................................http://www.myrfccareers.com

Residential Home Funding Corp. ................................................................http://www.rhfunding.com

ReverseMortgageOne, Inc. ........................................................http://www.reversemortgagesone.com

RFC Residential Finance Corp.........................................................http://www.residentialfinance.com

RPM Mortgage, Inc...................................................................http://www.rpm-mtg.com/careers.html

Rushmore Loan Management Services....................................................http://www.rushmorelm.com

SAFE Credit Union ..............................................................................................http://www.safecu.org

Sagamore Home Mortgage,LLC..............................................................http://www.sagamoremtg.com

Satori Mortgage ..................................................................................http://www.satorimortgage.com

Seaway Community Bank ....................................................................http://www.seaway-online.com

Service First Mortgage ........................................................................http://www.ServiceFirstMtg.com

Shield Field Services ......................................................................http://www.shieldfieldservices.com

Sierra Pacific Mortgage ............................................................................http://www.swmortgage.com

Sierra Pacific Mortgage Warwick Rhode Island ........................................http://www.myloan123.com

Silvercreek Finance Corp. ..............................................................http://www.silvercreekfinance.com

Sistar Mortgage ............................................................................................http://sistarmortgage.com

Skyline Home Loans ......................................................................http://www.skylinehomeloans.com

Smart Mortgage Centers, Inc. ............................................http://www.smartmortgagecentersinc.com

Smith Broady & Associates, Inc...............................................................http://www.smithbroady.com

Southeast Mortgage ....................................................................http://www.southeastmortgage.com

Southern Funding Alliance..................................http://www.southernfundingalliance.com/Innerloop

Southern Trust Mortgage, a subsidiary of Middleburg Bank ................http://www.southerntrust.com

Stearns Lending, Inc. ......................................................................................http://www.stearns.com

Stokes Mortgage Capital ..................................................................http://stokesmortgagecapital.com

Stonegate Mortgage ..............................................................................http://www.stonegatemtg.com

Stonehill Group....................................................................................http://www.stonehillgroup.com

Strock & Tanner Mortgage ..........................................................................http://www.stmcloans.com

suman khanna ....................................................................................................http://primerica.com

Summit Funding, Inc. ..................................................................................http://summitfunding.net

Summit Mortgage Corporation ......................................................http://www.summit-mortgage.com

Sun West Mortgage Company ............................................................................http://www.swmc.com

Syracuse Securities, Inc-Western New York ....................................http://www.syracusesecurities.com

Texas Reverse Mortgage, Inc. ....................................................................http://www.reversefacts.org

The Lending Company ..........................................................http://www.jointhelendingcompany.com

The Lending Company San Diego ..........................................................http://www.thelendingco.com

The Lending Partners ................................................................................http://www.tlpwebsite.com

The Mortgage Firm ..........................................................................http://www.themortgagefirm.com

The Mortgage House, Inc ....................................................................http://www.mortgagehouse.org

The Mortgage Lending Group, Inc. ....................................................................http://www.mlgla.com

Todays Realty Group & Loan Solutions............................................http://www.lendingandhome.com

Total Mortgage Services........................................................................http://www.totalmortgage.com

TotalChoice Financial Services......................................................http://www.totalchoicenetwork.com

Towne Mortgage Company ................................................................http://www.townemortgage.com

Unicor ................................http://www.manta.com/c/mmnnfpc/unicor-global-limited?referid=10145

Union National Mortgage Co. ....................http://www.unionnationalmortgage.com/rancho/tdoherty

Union Savings Bank ..............................................................https://www.unionsavings.com/page.cfm

United Wholesale Mortgage................................................................................http://www.uwm.com

Urban Lending Solutions ....................................................................http://www.urban-ls.com/home

US Mortgage......................................................................................................http://usmortgage.com

USA Mortgage Solution, LLC ..............................................................http://usemortgagesolution.com

V.I.P. Mortgage Inc. ....................................................................................http://www.vipmtginc.com

VanDyk Mortgage Corporation ........................................................http://www.vandykmortgage.com

Vantage Mortgage Group, Inc. ..............................................http://www.VantageMortgageGroup.com

Versatile Mortgage L.L.C. ....................................................................http://versatilemortgagellc.com

Vitek Mortgage Group ................................................................http://www.vitekmortgagegroup.com

Volunteer Mortgage, Inc. ..................................................................http://volunteermortgageinc.com

W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, LLC ............................................................http://www.wjbradley.com

W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, LLC - Fresno Branch ......................http://mywjb.com/wjbfresno-team

Waukesha State Bank..........................................................................http://www.waukeshabank.com

Webster Bank ........................................................................................http://www.websterbank.com

West Town Savings Bank ..........................................................http://www.westtownsavingsbank.com

Weststar Mortgage ........................................................................http://www.weststarmortgage.com

Willow Bend Mortgage Company ..............................................http://www.willowbendmortgage.com

Wintrust Mortgage ..................................................................................http://wintrustmortgage.com

Zenith Mortgage Advisors, Inc. ............................................................http://www.zenithadvisors.com

57


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

Company Name: 360 Mortgage GroupWebsite: www.360mtg.comPhone Number: 512-418-6000 or 866-418-2997Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Established in 2007, 360 Mortgage Group LLC is a privately owned mortgagebank with a 100 percent focus on third party origination that has successfully utilized its high-technology platform to provide better communication and customer service to business part-ners. An approved Fannie Mae seller/servicer and Ginnie Mae Issuer, 360 Mortgage Group isheadquartered in Austin, Texas and provides services in 31 states across the country. 360 Mort-gage Group is emerging as a leader in refinancing under Home Affordable Refinance Program(HARP) 2.0.

Positions Available: Account Executives

Locations: Nationwide

Company Name: Calyx SoftwareWebsite: www.calyxsoftware.comPhone Number: (800) 362-2599Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Calyx® is the industry leader in integrated, end-to-end mortgage solutions de-signed to help close more loans quickly and accurately with one system of record.

Positions Available: Mortgage Banking Consultant

Locations: Dallas, TX

Company Name: American Financial Network, Inc.Website: www.lowerpmt.comPhone Number: (310) 993-9744Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: American Financial Network Inc. is a direct lender with an experienced staff of-fering expertise in every area of mortgage lending. We have delegated authority to underwriteand fund FHA, VA, USDA and conventional loan products in-house. But that’s just the beginningof our service. Throughout the lending process, we provide regular loan updates and progressreports so you always know the status of your loan. We also offer a special Mortgage Managerservice if you are considering refinancing your mortgage.

Positions Available: Loan Officers, Underwriter, Funder, Processor, Doc Drawer

Locations: Corona, Lake Forest, Huntington Beach, La Mirada, Tempe, Las Vegas

Company Name: Campbell Financial Services, Inc.Website: www.campbellfinancial.comPhone Number: (951) 689-2511Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Campbell Financial Services, Inc. is a full-service mortgage company servingCalifornia homeowners, buyers, sellers and Realtors since 1989. We are a professional firmwith experienced staff, and a commitment to providing top-notch service, a strong productknowledge, and a depth of programs & investors. We seek driven team players with professionalattire, an excellent attitude, and the willingness to succeed and grow.

Positions Available: We are currently seeking experienced Loan Officers for ourRiverside/Corona office. Modern facilities, desk, phone & computer. In-house processor, in-house DO/DU approvals, along with the support & experience to get your deals closed on timeand get you paid. Competitive BPS compensation. Must have NMLS license or be currently en-rolled, and must possess strong customer service skills and a positive attitude.

Locations: Riverside, CA

Company Name: AmeriSave Wholesale/CorrespondentWebsite: www.AmeriSaveTPO.comPhone Number: (866) 970-7283Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Founded in 2002, AmeriSave offers competitive salary, good benefits andwork-from-home opportunities. AmeriSave is one of the nation’s leading and fastest-grow-ing retail and third party mortgage lenders, closing over $8 billion in 2012 and servicing cus-tomers in all 50 states with over 700 employees nationwide. AmeriSave is positioned forgrowth in the industry by combining expert technology with experienced leadership andunparalleled innovation.

Positions Available: Correspondent Sales Managers (multiple positions) and Wholesale Ac-count Executives (multiple geographies)

Locations: Nationwide opportunities

Company Name: CBC National BankWebsite: www.cbcnationalbank.comPhone Number: (678) 485-3933Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: At CBC National Bank, we put our customers first. Since we opened our doorsin 1999, our commitment has always been to provide nothing less than an exceptional expe-rience in everything we do. It is because of that unwavering dedication to service and our cus-tomers’ resulting loyalty that we remain a thriving regional bank. The experienced bankingprofessionals of CBC National Bank are active members of the community who have a vestedinterest in the success of its citizens and businesses. We invite you to experience CBC NationalBank for yourself, where our dedicated professionals and array of banking conveniences en-sure you always come first.

Positions Available: DE Underwriters, Loan Officers, Branch opportunities

Locations: Atlanta, GA

FEATURED LISTINGS

58

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Company Name: CMG FinancialWebsite: www.cmgfi.comPhone Number: (925) 498-6647Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: CMG Financial is a multi-billion dollar lender focused on continuing to expandour national footprint. Our lending channels include Wholesale, Retail, Correspondent and Strate-gic Field Engagement. Established in 1993, CMG Financial is a privately held nationwide Mort-gage Bank, headquartered in San Ramon, CA and lends in 43 states. Our competitiveadvantages include FNMA/FHLMC Direct Lender, HARP 2.0 Unlimited LTV Authority, top tier pric-ing and product mix, operational superiority, compliance and regulatory support as well as for-ward-thinking leadership.

Positions Available: CMG Financial is strategically expanding our origination network. We arecurrently recruiting NMLS licensed Loan Officers in various locations as well as remote oppor-tunities nationwide!

Locations: San Diego, CA, Northern California, Phoenix AZ, St. Louis, MO

Company Name: Equity Loans LLCWebsite: www.equityloansllc.comPhone Number: (877) 255-3554Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Equity Loans LLC is a leader in the residential mortgage industry whose oper-ations extend to more than 30 states.Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equity Loans provides a fullarray of lending resources when making Conventional, FHA, VA, Jumbo, Reverse Mortgagesand USDA loans. With a dedicated staff of experienced professionals, Equity Loans providesexceptional pricing for thousands of clients annually, without compromising follow through andcustomer service.

Positions Available: Underwriters, Underwriting Managers, Funding Managers, Loan Officers,Post Closers

Locations: Positions available in all licensed states.

Company Name: Data Facts Inc.Website: www.datafacts.comPhone Number: (800) 264-4110Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Data Facts Inc is a 23 year old company that provides information you trustand rely on to make sound lending, hiring and other business decisions. We work with manybanking & mortgage companies and employers nationwide. Our management team has over100 years of combined industry experience. Data Facts’ CEO is the current NCRA president, andwe were awarded the prestigious NAPBS accreditation in 2012. We are committed to offeringthe best customer service in the industry.

Positions Available: Marketing Design Manager, Employment Screening Account Executive,Banking Solutions Account Executive, Compliance & Training Manager

Locations: Memphis, TN; Nationwide

Company Name: First Guaranty Mortgage CorporationWebsite: www.fgmc.comEmail: [email protected]

Company Bio: Nation GNMA / FNMA Direct Lender in 40+ states offering Retail,Wholesale, and Correspondent.

Positions Available: All Sales and Operational Positions in all channels

Locations: MD, VA, and Virtual

Company Name: DocMagic, Inc.Website: www.docmagic.comPhone Number: (800) 649-1362Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: DocMagic is a leading provider of document preparation, delivery and compli-ance technologies for the National Mortgage Industry.

Positions Available: Compliance Analyst

Locations: Torrance, California

Company Name: Gateway Mortgage Group, LLCWebsite: www.gatewayloan.comPhone Number: (888) 360-3773Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Gateway Mortgage Group is one of the nation’s largest, privately held full serv-ice mortgage companies. Founded in 2000, Gateway has consistently demonstrated industryleadership and has been recognized for its overall revenue growth and creation of new jobs (INCMagazine, INC 500 List – 2006). We believe in customers for life and everything happens inhouse; from origination to underwriting, funding, and servicing. Gateway Mortgage Group is adirect issuer with GNMA, a direct seller-servicer with FNMA and is licensed to originate andservice mortgage loans in 23 states. With robust lines of business and a strategic eye on the fu-ture, Gateway Mortgage Group delivers on its tradition of success and performance. GatewayMortgage Group, LLC is an equal housing lender. NMLS 7233

Positions Available: Area and Branch Managers, Loan Originators and Loan Assistants

Locations: Any state where Gateway holds a license.

FEATURED LISTINGS

59


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

Company Name: Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company, Inc.Website: www.joinGHMC.comPhone Number: 888-329-4462Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Guaranteed is adding mortgage offices nationwide. Join a lender who in-vests in YOU! In our 20-year history, we’ve grown to include hundreds of mortgage profes-sionals lending coast-to-coast. Our solid reputation, strategic planning and exponential growthhave resulted in Guaranteed being named in Inc.’s 500 list of fastest-growing U.S. companies.Why join Guaranteed? - Wide-ranging products that include FHA, FNMA, FHLMC, VA, USDA,203K, Reverses and Jumbos - We pay state licensing & training - Immediate marketing and/orinfrastructure investment - Aggressive compensation plans and volume bonuses - Sales, mar-keting, accounting/payroll, IT, training support.

Positions Available: Retail branches, bank managers, loan originators

Locations: 22 states coast-to-coast; headquarters in White Plains, NY

Company Name: HUNT MortgageWebsite: www.huntmortgage.comPhone Number: (716) 633-3700Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Hunt Mortgage was founded in 1984 as the Devere Capital Corporation. We area wholly owned subsidiary of Hunt Real Estate Corporation, one of Western New York’s largestreal estate firms. Hunt Real Estate Corp. was founded in 1911. It is currently under the leader-ship of Peter F. Hunt, grandson of the founder. In addition to Hunt Mortgage, Hunt Real EstateCorporation affiliates include: Network Title, Fisher Homes, Realty Club, Realty Express, HuntVanner Insurance and Hunt Columbus Era.

Positions Available: Mortgage Consultants, Processors, Underwriters, Closers

Locations: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Arizona, Florida

Company Name: HomeBridgeWebsite: www.homebridgewholesale.comPhone Number: 855-729-2885Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: HomeBridge is a national wholesale lender offering both conventional and gov-ernment products. We are committed to providing the highest value to our clients through com-petitive pricing, unique product offerings, superior customer service, and state-of-the-arttechnology.

Positions Available: Currently expanding and hiring experienced Wholesale Account Executivesnationwide


Company Name: Integrity Home Loan of Central Florida, Inc.Website: www.inthomeloan.comPhone Number: (407) 688-4122Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Integrity Home Loan is a Direct Lender on all residential real estate. We are A+rated with the Better Business Bureau. Currently, we are licensed in eleven states includingAL, CA, CT, FL, GA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, TN, and VA. Integrity Home Loan is Florida’s largest fully in-tegrated privately owned mortgage company, and is the fastest growing direct lender in Florida.We are actively seeking licensed loan originators to assist us in cultivating our realtor purchasebusiness. Experience necessary!

Positions Available: Currently hiring licensed loan officers & originators with experience inhandling realtor purchase business for the mortgage industry.

Locations: Lake Mary, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Maitland, Florida; Southfield, Michigan

Company Name: Hometown LendersWebsite: www.hometownbranch.comPhone Number: 888-606-8066Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: “Hometown Lenders Helps you Grow Your Branch and Skyrocket Your Income!”Our Corporate Recruiting Team puts the producers that you want in your branch and our Mar-keting Gurus work closely with you to help implement our proven marketing maps in yourbranch. Our Support Team set the industry standard for branch support, and is headed up by aDE underwriter. Call us today and find out how we can help you grow your branch and skyrocketyour income this year!

Positions Available: Branch Managers

Locations: AL, TN, FL, GA, TX, NC/SC, MS, LA, KY, CO

Company Name: InterthinxWebsite: jobs-interthinx.icims.com/jobs/intro

Company Bio: Interthinx, a Verisk Analytics subsidiary, with more than 20 years of experience,is a leading national provider of comprehensive risk mitigation solutions focusing on mortgagefraud, collateral risk and valuation, regulatory compliance, forensic loan audit services, lossmitigation, and loss forecasting. Winner of multiple awards for technology, Interthinx helpsclients reduce risk, increase operational efficiencies, satisfy regulator demands, manage dataverification, remain compliant and mitigate loan buybacks. We are experiencing tremendousgrowth and are looking for qualified, experienced and talented underwriters, auditors andprocessors to join our world class team.

Positions Available: Underwriters, Auditors, Team Leads/Supervisors, Processors.

Locations: Tempe, AZ, Agoura Hills, CA, Santa Ana, CA, Winston Salem, NC, St. Louis, MO,Austin, TX, Jersey City, NJ, Colorado Springs, CO

FEATURED LISTINGS

60

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Company Name: LENDirect Mortgage, Inc.Website: www.LENDirect.comPhone Number: (860) 829-5363Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: LENDirect Mortgage is an industry leader in the Connecticut marketplace. Pro-viding Conventional Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, HARP, and Jumbo loans we have grownwith the reputation of being a low rate leader while providing an exceptional customer experi-ence. Our marketplace consists of internet, local print, and a vast local referral network. As aresult of this growth, LENDirect Mortgage has an immediate need for experienced originatorsthat are looking to provide the very best for their book of business. LENDirect Mortgage isdedicated to providing you the tools you need to succeed with aggressive compensation plans,program availability, marketing support, extremely low rates and an in house support staff.Take your business to the next level and call us today!

Positions Available: Branch Managers, Sales Managers, Loan Officers, Loan Officer Assistants

Locations: Connecticut

Company Name: New Day USAWebsite: newdayusa.comEmail: [email protected]

Company Bio: NewDay USA is a nationwide VA, FHA and reverse mortgage lender that helpsactive military personnel, veterans and their families and seniors achieve their financial andhousing goals. NewDay operates a builder-correspondent lending division, is the exclusiveprovider of mortgage lending for VFW members and is among the nation’s top reverse mort-gage lenders. NewDay USA University trains new and established professionals and the com-pany is a philanthropic partner of Purple Heart Homes and the National Coalition for HomelessVeterans.

Positions Available: Loan Officers, Underwriters, Processors

Locations: Fulton, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Newark, Delaware

Company Name: McLean Mortgage CorporationWebsite: www.mcleanmortgage.comPhone Number: (301) 440-4261Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Top 100 independent lender headquartered in the Northern Virginia area. In fouryears, McLean Mortgage has grown to a $1.5 billion organization because of our focus on pro-duction support. Our leaders are former producers and our operations department works as ateam to support high levels of customer satisfaction.

Positions Available: Loan Officers and Branch Managers looking to join a leading lender in theMid-Atlantic region. We look for quality team players who thrive in a culture which is independentwith major levels of support — including technology, marketing and training. Great pricing, com-pensation plans and product lines combined with a team-oriented service culture which gets pur-chases closed on time. We look for those who want to help grow our tradition of quality in anindependent non-bank environment. Contact Troy Toureau. Equal opportunity employer.

Locations: Virginia, DC, Maryland and North Carolina.

Company Name: OnQ FinancialWebsite: www.onqfinancial.comPhone Number: (303) 221-1386Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: On Q is a retail-only independent mortgage banker founded in 2005. Based inScottsdale, AZ, we currently have 30 offices in AZ, CA, WA, CO, TX, NC, and GA, are approvedto lend in a total of 21 states, and are a Fannie Mae approved seller/servicer. We will fundnearly $2 billion in residential mortgages in 2012 and we are seeking experienced mortgageprofessionals to join us.

Positions Available: Mortgage Consultant

Locations: Greater Denver Area

Company Name: Meadowbrook Financial Mortgage BankersWebsite: www.mfmbankers.com or mortgagesalesjob.comPhone Number: 800-959-8892Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Meadowbrook is expanding nationally and looking to hire for all positions.

Positions Available: Branch Managers, Team Leaders, Mortgage Loan Originators, Proces-sors, Underwriters, Closers, Shipping

Locations: Hauppauge, Garden City, NYC NY, Denville NJ, Iselin NJ

Company Name: PB Financial Group CorpWebsite: www.pbfinancialgrp.comPhone Number: (323) 935-5555Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Direct Private Money/Hard Money Lender

Positions Available: Office Assistance/Office Processor

Locations: Mid-Wilshire Los Angeles, CA

FEATURED LISTINGS

61


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

Company Name: Real Estate Mortgage NetworkWebsite: www.remnwholesale.comPhone Number: 866.409.4381Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Real Estate Mortgage Network is a national wholesale lender, servicing brokersand bankers across the country.

Positions Available: Account Executives, Underwriters


Company Name: TagQuestWebsite: www.tagquest.comPhone Number: 888-717-8980Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: TagQuest is a marketing firm created specifically for the ever changing mort-gage industry. We know what it takes to produce quality marketing campaigns and, most im-portantly, how to turn these campaigns into sales leads that convert to customers.

Positions Available: Sales and Production

Locations: Medford, OR - Seattle, WA

Company Name: Residential Home Funding Corp.Website: www.rhfbranch.comPhone Number: 866.319.4442Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Residential Home Funding was established in 2000 by former loan officers whotogether possess more than 50 years of banking experience. In addition, every Residential HomeFunding manager has more than 20 years average experience for each of their respective depart-ments of sales, underwriting, closing, secondary, quality control, and accounting services. Resi-dential Home Funding is a direct lender that currently staffs close to 300 employees nationwide.We are one of the fastest growing companies in the and we are licensed in 16 states with 25 li-censed branch offices on the east coast. Its Corporate Headquarters is located in White Plains, NY,and its Operational headquarters are located in Parsippany, NJ. We are a HUD direct endorsedlender and have an outstanding rating with the Better business Bureau (BBB).

Positions Available: Branch Managers, Loan Officers,Team Leaders, Processors, Closers, Underwriters

Locations: CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, PA, SC, VA

Company Name: TD Bank

Website: www.td.com

Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank® is one of the 10 largest banks inthe U.S., with deep roots in the community dating back more than 150 years. The Bank offersa broad array of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services to nearly8 million customers through its extensive network of nearly 1,315 convenient locations through-out the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. TD Bank operates in 15states and the District of Columbia. In addition to banking products,TD Bank and its subsidiariesoffer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth® andvehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance.

Positions Available: Loan Officers

Locations: DC Market, Florida Market, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Metro PA, (GreaterPhiladelphia, Suburban PA, South Jersey), Metro Suburban NY (Long Island, Suburban NY andCT),Northern NE and Upstate NY and South Carolina Market

Company Name: Silvercreek FinanceWebsite: www.silvercreekfinance.comPhone Number: 800-578-1202Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Silvercreek Finance is a Chicago-based mortgage lender focused on providingefficient financial solutions to loan officers looking to succeed in today’s mortgage industry.

Our value proposition is simple:Provide our Loan Officers the tools and support systems they need to help them focus on their

clients while being more efficient throughout the loan origination process. Transparent pricing,sales and marketing support, great bonus plan and the opportunity to grow within a companythat’s built around you – the loan officer.

Positions Available: Silvercreek is currently looking for qualified licensed mortgage loan orig-inators throughout the State of Illinois in various sales positions including Loan Officers, Sr.Loan Officers, Sales Managers and Regional Managers.

Locations: Open territories throughout the State of Illinois.

Company Name: Titan List & Mailing Service, Inc.Website: www.titanlists.comPhone Number: 800-544-8060Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: What started out as a data list broker in 1999, Titan List and Mailing has evolvedinto a premier provider of direct mail and data for the mortgage industry. With no maximum ca-pacity restrictions, Titan List and Mailing can accommodate clients of all sizes, from the sim-ple 3,000 piece postcard order to complete drops of over 100,000 pieces in as little as 2 daysprocessing, all handled under one roof.

Positions Available: Marketing, SEO & Sales

Locations: Deerfield Beach, FL

FEATURED LISTINGS

62

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Company Name: Total Mortgage Services, LLCWebsite: www.totalmortgage.comPhone Number: (203) 707-5712Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: For the past fifteen years, Total Mortgage has combined the personal service andintegrity of a local lender with the low rates, convenience, speed, and know-how of a nationallender. Our mortgage experts work with clients individually to create financing options thatmake the most sense for them. We are one of the fastest-growing financial services compa-nies in America: Total Mortgage has made Inc. Magazine’s list of the fastest-growing U.S. com-panies for three consecutive years, from 2009 to 2012.

Positions Available: Experienced Underwriters - Traditional, FHA DE, VA, Loan Officers, Loan Orig-inators, Sales Assistants (recent college grads), Account Executives, Set Up Associates - Retail andWholesale, Processors, Processing Assistants, Appraisal Processors, Funders, Closing Associates,Closing Support, Post-Closing / Suspense, Post-Closing / Shipper, Broker Coordinators, Internet Mar-keting Specialists (recent college grads), Mortgage Banker Trainees , Entry Level Web Developers

Locations: Milford, CT

Company Name: WCS LendingWebsite: www.wcslending.comPhone Number: (916) 996-1620Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: We are a fortune 5000 company, opened in 2001. We close both retail andwholesale loans. Our headquarters are in Boca Raton, FL, but we are opening a very large ful-fillment center in Concord, Ca and looking for all positions. We originate/close conforming,jumbo, government and USDA loans.

Positions Available: Wholesale Account Executives, underwriters, funders, doc drawers, setup/submission specialists, funding asst’s, quality control specialist, CSR’s, HR generalist, I.T.desktop support, receptionist, administrative assistant.

Locations: The positions are available in our Concord, Ca location.

Company Name: United Mortgage PartnersWebsite: www.umpresmac.comPhone Number: (407) 574-8827Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: National Lender Looking to add Branches Nationwide� Direct Fannie Mae Seller/Servicer - No Overlays� Direct Endorsed Mortgagee for FHA, VA and USDA� One of the Best Compensation Plans in the Industry� No Company Imposed Caps on Earnings� Full Suite of Products Including HARP 2 with Unlimited LTV� 24 - 48 hour turn times� Branch Coordinator Available for Personalized In-Office Assistance.We’ll Come to Your Location.

Positions Available: Branch Managers, Loan Officers


Company Name: W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, LLCWebsite: www.wjbradley.comPhone Number: (303) 825-5670Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, LLC is a privately held independent mortgagebanking firm headquartered in Centennial, Colorado with centralized fulfillment operations inSalt Lake City, Utah. With more than 67 branch locations, located predominantly in the West-ern region of the United States, the Company is licensed in 20 states and currently operates withmore than 1,300 professionals.

Positions Available: Loan Officers, Sr. Mortgage Loan Processors, Mortgage Loan Processors,Underwriters, Branch Support Representatives, Doc Prep Specialists, Document Review Spe-cialists, File Room Coordinators, Funding Coordinators, Java Software Developers, MortgageFunders, Pre-Closing Auditors, VOE Coordinators

Locations: Colorado, California, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Illinois, Washington

Company Name: United Wholesale MortgageWebsite: www.uwm.comPhone Number: 800-981-8898Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) under-writes and provides closing documentation for residential mortgage loans originated by mort-gage brokers, banks, credit unions and correspondents. UWM provides unparalleled servicewith its deep understanding of the mortgage process using its talented team of account exec-utives, underwriters, closers and funders, who have years of experience with intricate knowl-edge in wholesale. UWM’s positive teamwork and dedication to exceptional customer servicehas resulted in continued success and growth that has spawned expansion.

Positions Available: Inside Account Executive, Senior Underwriters, Junior Underwriters,Closers

Locations: Troy, Michigan; Remote opportunities available.

FEATURED LISTINGS

Company Name: XINNIXWebsite: www.xinnix.comPhone Number: (678) 325-3500Email: [email protected]

Company Bio: XINNIX is a national sales and leadership training company with a sole focus onthe mortgage industry. XINNIX offers web-based instructor led interactive training, self-studycourses, live in-branch trainings, keynote speeches, sales and leadership coaching along withaccountability and measurement tools. XINNIX serves mortgage companies all over the nation;from the very largest to the individual loan officer. XINNIX assists organizations and individualsin growing and enhancing their business through various mortgage training programs.

Positions Available: Course Developer, Sales Trainer, Marketing Manager, Operations Assistant,Inside Sales, Outside Sales

Locations: Alpharetta, GA

63


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

360 mortgage group continued from page 53

What are the top challenges thatmortgage brokers need to be pre-pared for in 2012 and beyond? Mark: Obviously, we have been in anextended refinance boom, and even-tually we are going to see interestrates increase. The Federal Reservehas committed to keeping interestrates low through 2015, althoughthat is always subject to change.When rates do turn around and startto increase to normal levels, mort-gage brokers and originators need tobe prepared to go back to more tra-ditional marketing. They will need toonce again engage in channel mar-keting through builders and realestate agents and make sure there isa large focus on generating purchasebusiness, as opposed to refinancebusiness.

I do want to emphasize that themortgage broker will remain an inte-gral part of financing the Americandream of owning a home. Mortgagebrokers that have good relationshipsoperate at the highest standards ofintegrity, and partner with a whole-sale lender like 360 Mortgage will bevery successful. I have no doubt thatthe hyper-local relationships mort-gage brokers have in their communi-ties will remain and grow stronger,especially as they adopt best prac-tices and reposition themselves asadvocates for borrowers.

What are 360 Mortgage’s primaryareas of geographic penetration?What are the areas that 360 Mortgagewill focus on expanding in next?Mark: We are currently licensed in 31states, and we are continuing to hirequality individuals within thosestates. We have had the longest pres-ence in the Southwest and West upthrough mountain states, such asColorado and Utah. In 2011, webegan to expand into the Southeast.We expect to continue attractinghigher-quality producers and firm upour presence within that regionbefore moving up the Easternseaboard. The states we currently dobusiness in are Alabama, Arizona,California, Colorado, Florida,Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota,Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, NorthCarolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,Utah, Virginia, Washington,Wisconsin, Wyoming and the Districtof Columbia. Our goal is to enter newstates on a selective and strategicbasis and become a nationwidewholesale lender in a responsibleand reasonable manner.

Tell us about your operational infra-structure. Do you have one central-ized wholesale operations center in

Austin, Texas?Mark: Yes, we do have a centralizedoperation system, which is very effi-cient. We are 100 percent paperlessand with our technology, it’s unnec-essary for us to have underwriters,closers, and funders among others ineach regionalized marketplace. Wehave better efficiency in productionby having our operations team cen-tralized. We believe our team is oneof the best in the business.

What is the breadth of 360 Mortgage’sproduct offerings? Is the companyplanning on delivering any new prod-ucts to the marketplace?Mark: Currently, the bulk of our pro-duction is HARP 2.0. However, we alsooffer government products. We havenot seen a tremendous, or evenviable, demand for jumbo products inthe secondary market, so we are notreally participating in that product.We are also offering any and all prod-ucts offered by Fannie Mae, FHA andVA.

What is 360 Mortgage’s current aver-age loan amount and FICO score?Mark: Our current average loanamount is about $208,000 and ourFICO score is in excess of 720. There isan abundance of quality borrowerslooking to refinance or purchase ahome, and we are finding there is alot of good business to be written.Our process is being well received.

For HARP 2.0 loans funded throughSept. 30, 2012, the average LTV was127 percent, with a FICO of 755 andfor the pending pipeline entering thefourth quarter of 2012, the averageLTV has increased to 130 percent,with a FICO of 738.

On a personal note, how did you getinto the mortgage profession andwhat are some of your outside inter-ests?Mark: I entered the mortgage busi-ness in 1992. I had been in the tech-nology sales arena, and a very goodfriend of mine was doing very well inthe mortgage industry as a result ofthe early 1990s refinance boom, so Idecided to get into that same indus-try. I then became one of the topsalespeople for the company I workedfor. In 1995, I opened my own mort-gage brokerage company and builtthat company over the course of thenext fifteen years, becoming a region-al retail mortgage banker. In 2007,with the collapse of the industry, Isaw the opportunity to grow a com-pany and fill a void that was in themarketplace, and went out and raisedcapital. That company is now 360Mortgage Group.

My outside interests are huntingand fishing and I also enjoy sportsand outdoor events.

By Greg Frost Jr.

A few years ago, I returned to my home state of New Mexicoand the Frost Mortgage Headquarters with an idea. This ideawas to set an example for our community through fellow-ship and goodwill towards the people that help protect andserve us. Months later, we started a “Law EnforcementAppreciation” cookout. It began as a little BBQ in our office

parking lot to now feeding more than 100 law enforcement officers and sup-port staff at a time, almost twice a month. The result … an appreciative policeforce and other companies and neighborhood organizations following ourexample, doing right by the men and woman that keep us safe.

A few months ago, my dad (Greg Frost Sr.) my cousin (Chris Frost) and Iwere sitting in a room looking back on our accomplishment with the “LawEnforcement Appreciation” cookouts and thought … how do we do this forthe men and women of our armed forces? How do we show them ourappreciation for their duty, diligence and sacrifice for us?

The first answer was simple. Make sure every one of our loan officersbecame Certified Military Housing Specialists through the USA CaresProgram (www.usacares.org). This is a phenomenal program run by greatpeople who are passionate about making sure our returning military andveterans can achieve one of the great American dreams, homeownership.

The second answer was to reach out and work with our local active mil-itary and veteran community. Find out what they needed and how wecould help. Through a business partner, we were introduced to thefounders of Paws & Stripes (www.pawsandstripes.org). It turns out theyhave an appreciation for BBQs as well, and I began personally cooking forand catering their graduation ceremonies. From there, Frost Mortgagebecame an avid supporter of this very important non-profit organizationwhich provides service dogs for wounded military veterans diagnosed withPost-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

“The entire staff at Frost Mortgage isdedicated to ensuring that our vet-eran population receives the utmostcare when it comes to purchasing ahome. They work tirelessly to makesure that the veteran and their fam-ilies come first. Purchasing a homeis no easy task. Frost Mortgage hasmade it possible for my family andI to be prospective homeowners. Asa disabled veteran who has servedmy country, I take great pride inworking with true Americans. Those

who have served their country with honor have a friend in Frost Mortgage.”—Jim Stanek, co-founder, Paws & Stripes (pictured here on the right with hisservice dog “Sarge” and Greg Frost Jr.)

The final answer was simple … “Zero for Heroes.” Starting in December, FrostMortgage began an initiative to waive any and all lender closing costs for anyveteran or current member of our armed forces. This program now also extendsto the heroes of our city, including police officers, firemen, nurses, doctors,paramedics, and last but not least, our teachers. The “Zero for Heroes” programhas been well-received in our market thus far and we all know numerous heroesin our respective communities that can benefit from a program such as this. Iurge everyone in our industry to go forth and do likewise this year.

Greg Frost Jr. is director of business development and marketing for the FrostGroup of Companies. He may be reached by phone at (505) 615-7195 or e-mail [email protected].

forHeroesZero

Branch Manager

Bonds & Licensing

Finally - the freedom to originate!America's Choice gives you the tools you need so you can Originate,Close and Get Paid!

We work as hard as you to be America’s Choice for consumersneeding a home loan, and we work just as hard to be America’sChoice for top branch managers, loan originators and mortgageprofessionals.

Call Jonathan Fowler, Director of National Production at 713-821-9750to learn how you can have a better, more rewarding career.

America’s Choice Home Loanswww.achlonline.com

713-821-9750

Accounting and Audit

A full service CPA firm specializing in the needs of the mortgageindustry. Providing monthly bookkeeping services,FHA andfinancial statement audits , corporate tax preparation and con-tract CFO services. Contact us today to learn more.

Mark Wilson Certified Public Accountants9455 Ridgehaven Ct, Suite 101 • San Diego, CA 92123

619-649-0712www.markwilsoncpa.com

LOWEST-COST STATE MORTGAGE LICENSE BONDSSupport NAMB in supporting you!

Online surety bond applications, instant underwriting approval, andcredit card payments administered through The Bond Exchange -NAMB's exclusive partner provider for state license surety bonds.

The Bond Exchange is a national surety agency specializing in serv-icing mortgage license bonds for thousands of mortgage profession-als across the country.

Low prices and fantastic service. You really can have them both atthe same time!

The Bond Exchangewww.bondedwithnamb.org

(501) 224-8895

64

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

Branch Manager

"WE HELP YOU GROW YOUR BRANCH AND SKYROCKETYOUR INCOME!"

• We fund your start-up costs• Corporate Recruiting Team that puts producers in your branch• Direct Connection with the branch managers who are crushing it• Proven "Marketing Maps" that will double your business• "Next Level Support" to help keep you growing• Get a BPS payback from our volume incentive, or build a margin

for yourself into your rate!• Full capability to control your loan officers' pricing.• Create, Customize and Optimize your branch's compensation plan.• Full Eagle Lender and In-House Underwriting, Closing and

Fundings• Currently looking for high-quality producers in: TX, CO, NC, SC,

NJ, OH, GA, AL, TN, FL, MS, LA, KY

Hometown Lenders(888) 606-8066

[email protected]

Appraisal Management Company

StreetLinks Lender Solutions provides an innovative andcomprehensive suite of valuation and service solutions used bylenders, servicers and appraisers nationwide to improve everydaybusiness operations.

StreetLinks industry-leading products include LenderPlus™ full-service appraisal management, LenderX™ lender-executedappraisal management software and SCORe™ appraisalreviews and a series of valuation analysis tools for services.Our commitment to quality and service, embodied by ourpartnership approach to clients and appraisers, continues toset us apart as the nation’s premier lending solutions partner.For more information, visit www.streetlinks.com.

StreetLinks Lender Solutions(800) 778-4920

[email protected]

Meadowbrook loan originators make 33% more money withMeadowbrook than with any other company they worked for.Enjoy the benefits of a low compare ratio, a lead management sys-tem with an endless supply of leads, A tier investors, and muchmore.

Meadowbrook is hiring Branch Managers and Loan Originators.We are licensed in NY, CT, PA, NJ, MD, FL, MA, NC, pending inSC, NH, and RI.

Meadowbrook is an FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and VAendorsed lender.

Meadowbrook Financial Mortgage Bankers1-888-MEADOW8 (632-3698)www.mortgagesalesjob.com

United States Appraisals combines nationwide coverage withpersonalized, world-class service. From fast turn-times torigorous quality assurance and delivery guarantees, we bringmuch needed confidence to the valuation process.

• Fast Turn Times – We guarantee it!• Underwriter-Ready reports – the first time!• 100% Compliance with all regulations and guidelines• Customary and Reasonable Fees and a weekly pay cycle• Cutting-Edge Technology provides real time reporting

and full integration for a seamless business process

Call us at (866) 562-0123 for a free consultation. Or visit www.UnitedStatesAppraisals.com to learn more.

United States AppraisalsWorld-Class Service. Nationwide Coverage.

Discover Confidence in Your Appraisal Partner!www.UnitedStatesAppraisals.com | (866) 562-0123

Call 516-409-5555, ext 4, to register your company.

NATI

ONAL


MAGAZINE

NMPNMPIf your ad was here, you

would be seen by 191,181Mortgage Professionals

looking for resources to helpthem in their business.

Branch Opportunities

Are you a mortgage origination professional?Are you exceptional?

Is your company?

Gateway Mortgage Group has immediate opportunities in 16states. Our origination teams enjoy:

• A local branch- and origination-centric model• The perfect balance of corporate support• Competitive compensation plans

And best of all, our entire platform is built with one thing in mind—helping local originators take their success to the next level.

Visit our careers page on LinkedIn. Follow us. Or call us at 888.360.3773.

And we will show you YOUR Gateway to a Great Way of Life™!

Gateway Mortgage Group, LLCis an equal opportunity employer. NMLS 7233

HQ: 6910 E. 14th Street, Tulsa, OK 74112

Credit Reporting

Credit reports • Rapid rescore • Reissue • SupplementsIRS & Social verification • VOE / VOI • Title • Flood

Appraisals / BPO / AVM • Fraud alerts • Red Flag • LQIMOST AGGRESSIVE PRICING!

“A Full Service Lending Information Company”A/E: Jeremy “Judge” Honor

877-MFI- [email protected]

www.MfiCreditSolutions.com

Continuing Education

NMLS approved 20 hour Prelicensing EducationNMLS approved Continuing EducationLive Classroom Instruction, Web Delivery and Private EventsThe SAFE-Smart ExamCram, Powerfully Innovative Test Prep

Abacus Mortgage Training and EducationPO Box 780

Summerfield, NC 27358888-341-7767 • www.GetYourEd.com

The first full-service, mortgage risk management firm in the country, specializing exclusively in mortgage compliance.

Pioneers in outsourcing solutions for mortgage compliance.

Our Compliance Team Will:

Leverage your existing employees.Improve your productivity.Collaborate on projects.Make the most of your current technology.Bring innovation to your company.Be a strong cultural fit.Free you to focus on your core competencies.Give you access to world-class expertise.Lower your total operational costs.

LENDERS COMPLIANCE GROUP167 West Hudson Street - Suite 200

Long Beach | NY | 11561 | (516) 442-3456www.LendersComplianceGroup.com

65


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

Compliance Consultants

Coaching

��

�� !��

��

��

��! "�"# ��$� %�� &'�� "��(�

��

Branch Recruitment

Immediate investment in your business. We pay licensing, initialmarketing, more. Next Day Pay™. Total support. Easy transition.Full suite in-house products. Mortgage banker & top-level broker28 states|20+ years|On Inc.500 list of fastest-growing companies

Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company, Inc.Headquarters: 108 Corporate Park Drive Ste. 301

White Plains, NY 10604(888) 329-GHMC | [email protected]

Continuing Education (Cont’d.)

Sign-on weekly at nmpmag.com/lykkenonlendingThe Lykken on Lending Radio Program

Division of Lenders Compliance Group, BCG is the first and onlymortgage risk management firm in the U.S. devoted to supporting

the unique compliance needs of residential mortgage brokers.

Leveling the Playing Field for Mortgage Brokers

Low Cost Monthly Membership Includes: • Free Weekly Hotline• Access to Subject Matter Experts• Policies and Procedures• Webinars

*Special Pricing*• Quality Control • Exam Readiness • Licensing • Legal Reviews

BROKERS COMPLIANCE GROUP167 West Hudson Street – Suite 200

Long Beach | NY | [email protected]

www.BrokersComplianceGroup.com

Branch Opportunities (Cont’d.)

It’s Time…to join one of the Top Mortgage Bankers as BranchManagers or Loan Officer NOW! Why? You Have Our Guarantee!

Our GuaranteeWe will not leave you stranded and alone on an island. Our

seasoned operational rollout team will ensure you a smooth tran-sition to our branch platform. Our RHF University will train every-one on your staff. We stand by our reputation of providing ongo-ing support and communication to every branch , every day.

You’re our #1 Priority! We are a Full-Service Banker, a DirectEndorsed FHA and Fannie Lender. We are a TRUE 48 hours inUnderwriting and Closing. We will close your loans on time.

We will give the best service to you and your clientsWe will give you full access to all marketing and development

services from loan origination to hiring to specialty products. Weare the Leader in marketing, technology and strategic businesspartnerships. We assist our Branch Managers in hiring, trainingand motivating their staff. We will help you build your team.

CALL NOW 866-319-4442 or EMAIL [email protected] orVISIT www.rhfbranch.com

Jeff Mifsud, a former FHA Direct Endorsed Underwriter trained byHUD and an FHA Originator for over 15 years, is publisher of TheFHA Originator, a monthly marketing newsletter which gives you…

• FHA guideline news to keep you updated• FHA Marketing tips and downloads that are easily customized• Personal development tips to help you develop your character• Full access to all previous FHA marketing downloads!

No contracts so sign up today and give yourself the tools to brandyourself as The FHA Expert in your marketplace.

Cost: Only $19.95 per month per physical office location.

Watch for our 8 Hour NMLS Continuing Education Course

Mortgage SeminarsMortgageSeminars.com

248-403-8181

Credit Plus, Inc., a leader in credit information services, is dedi-cated to providing mortgage professionals with an unsurpassedlevel of service and technology. We provide lenders and brokersthe best tools and support to close more loans faster and cheap-er. Offering the most innovative, reliable and robust credit report-ing platforms on the market, Credit Plus goes BEYOND BUN-DLEDTM by combining key products, such as credit reports, scor-ing tools, Undisclosed Debt Monitoring powered by Equifax, floodreports, title services, AVMs, Warranted AVMs, tax return verifica-tions and more, while providing stellar customer service.

Credit Plus, Inc.31550 Winterplace Parkway, Salisbury, MD 21804

800-258-3488www.creditplus.com

66

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

If your ad was here, you would be seen by191,181 Mortgage Professionals looking for

resources to help them in their business.The Resource Registry is a directory of lenders (wholesaler or retail that are

recruiting), affiliated services and resources that is seen by more than191,181 active Professionals.

Call 516-409-5555 ext. 4 to register your company.

Recruitment

Marketing Services

8520 Macon Rd. Ste 2Cordova, TN 38018

[email protected] | 615-477-7118

Loan Origination Systems

Calyx Software, the #1 provider of mortgage solutions is dedicatedto offering reliable and affordable software that streamlines, inte-grates and optimizes the loan process. Find out how PointCentralcan streamline your business and create compliant processes today.

Calyx Software 800-362-2599

[email protected] www.calyxsoftware.com

Leads

TagQuest ................................................................888-817-8980CUSTOMIZE YOUR CAMPAIGNS! FHA - HARP - VA Leads,Loan Modification, Debt Consolidation, Direct Mail, Data List,Live Transfers, Internet Leads – tagquest.com

MCMF developed My Guide, a Premier Credit & FinancialEducation Magazine that you can customize with your LOGOand Ad Pages to feature your organization as well as provideyour borrowers a go-to-guide for credit and financial resources,empowering them to make the most informed financialdecisions.

This 16 page, full color, quarterly publication, provides financialliteracy tools in a concise, unbiased, easy to understand format.

My Guide is offered in traditional magazine print, as well as ournewest electronic flipbook version, bringing “flipping through amagazine” experience right to your desktop

Contact me today to learn more about this one of a kindopportunity!

Employment Services

Document Preparation

Document Preparation (SaaS)

Mortgage Loan Closing Document Preparation & Compliance ServicesFulfillment Services Including Pre-Funding Review & Post-ClosingInterfaces with Leading Loan Origination Software SystemsForeclosure – Loss Mitigation Services

Robertson | Anschutz800-343-7160

[email protected]/info.html

Mortgage Loan Closing Document Preparation & Compliance SoftwareLoan Documents and Compliance – Web-based/SaaS – Easy to UseIntuitive – Secure and Reliable – Integrates with Leading LOSFree Setup and Support – Extensive Compliance Audits

Docs on Demand800-343-7160

[email protected]

Direct Mail

TagQuest is a full service marketing firm created specifically forthe ever changing mortgage business. We have tested and provencampaigns for FHA -VA - HARP - CONVENTIONAL loan types.TagQuest knows what it takes to generate quality leads whetherthrough direct mail marketing, telemarketing, internet leads, datalists, tracking systems, or any combination thereof. TagQuest willbrand your company, prepare targeted marketing campaigns thatgenerate interest in your company, and most importantly, showyou how to turn sales leads into repeat customers.

TagQuestwww.myharpleads.com

TagQuest.com888-717-8980

Titan List and Mailing Services, Inc. is a direct marketing agencythat offers a complete range of advertising and design services.The firm specializes in data lists (mail/phone), printing, direct mail,graphic and website design as well as internet and SEO market-ing. Starting in 1998, the company has, since then employed high-ly skilled individuals who have considerable experience regardingmarketing trends. The company manages the complete in-housecampaign themselves including Design, Data Lists, Printing,Postage, and Mailing.

Titan List & Mailing Services, Inc.1020 NW 6th St Suite D, Deerfield Beach, FL. 33442

(800) 544-8060www.TitanLists.com

67


�N

ATIO

NA

LMO

RTGA

GE

PRO

FESSION

ALM

AG

AZIN

E�

JANUARY 2013

Wholesale/Residential

CBC National Bank is one of the nation’s fastest growingwholesale lenders offering Conventional, FHA, VA, and USDA.The most important aspect of being a leader in today’s market isthe ability to build and maintain a meaningful relationship witheach customer. We understand that these meaningful relation-ships coupled with competitive pricing and efficient technologyare the pillars of today’s lending environment.

We are hiring Loan officers in the Southeast. GA, FL, AL, TN,NC,SC.

Contact Gabe Santiago our Corporate Recruiter at

[email protected] for further details.

Big Enough to MATTER…Small Enough to CARE

CBC National Bank3010 Royal Boulevard South, Ste. 230

Alpharetta, GA 30022888-486-4304

Wholesale Lenders (Cont’d.)

REMN has FHA, USDA, 203k, VA and Conventional solutions to fitthe needs of your customers. But, at REMN, our most valuableproduct is our people. The REMN Sales and Operations Teamsgive you - and your loans - the time and attention that youdeserve. Even better, at REMN, same-day approvals are guaran-teed.* You can rely on us to get the little, yet vital, things takencare of on time.

Interested in joining our Wholesale Division? Send your resume to

[email protected]

Real Estate Mortgage Network, Inc.www.remnwholesale.com

866-933-6342

UWM has a full set of mortgage products to meet all of yourlending needs with Conventional, FHA, USDA (RuralDevelopment), VA, Jumbo, HARP 2.0 and DU Refi Plus. WithUWM’s ELITE program, you will receive the most aggressiveconventional rates and pricing in the industry for your eliteborrowers! Discover Lending Made Easy with United WholesaleMortgage!

United Wholesale Mortgage800-981-8898

www.uwm.com

Wholesale Lenders

HomeBridge5 Park Plaza, 10th Floor

Irvine, CA 92614www.homebridgewholesale.com

Valuation Services

Veros Real Estate Solutions is a premier technology leader in the mort-gage industry and proven leader in enterprise risk management andcollateral valuation services. Veros combines the power of predictivetechnology and data analytics for advanced automated solutions.

Veros Real Estate Solutions2333 North Broadway, Suite 350 • Santa Ana, CA 92706

(866) 458-3767www.veros.com • @verosres (Twitter)

HomeBridge is a national wholesale lender offering bothconventional and government products. We are committed toproviding the highest value to our clients through competitivepricing, unique product offerings, superior customer service,and state-of-the-art technology.

Wholesale/FHA

Icon Residential Lenders(888) 247-4207

www.iconwholesale.com

Icon Residential, a wholly owned subsidiary of Grand Bank N.A.,is one of the nation’s leading Conforming, FHA and VAwholesale lenders. Our strength, success and longevity isderived from delivering customers service that exceeds ourvalued business partners expectations. With deep industryknowledge, financial stability and innovative technology weprovide the solutions for our business partners to fund loanswhile avoiding risk.

• Direct Access to Underwriters• Competitive Pricing• Innovative Technology• Paperless Solution• Bank Funding

Sign-on weekly at nmpmag.com/lykkenonlending

The Lykken on LendingR A D I O P R O G R A M

The Resource Registry is a directory of lenders

(wholesaler or retail that arerecruiting),

affiliated services and resourcesthat is seen by more than 191,181

active Professionals.

MortgageProfessionalResourceRegistry

Call 516-409-5555, ext. 4to register your company.

FEBRUARY 2013Sunday-Wednesday, February 3-6

2013 CREF/Multifamily HousingConvention & Expo

Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego1 Market Place

San Diego, Calif.For more information,

call (800) 793-6222 or visit MortgageBankers.org.

Tuesday-Thursday, February 12-14

Texas Mortgage Bankers AssociationAnnual Southern Secondary

Marketing Conference“Connections Focused

on Your Future”Marriott Woodlands Waterway

Hotel & Convention Center1601 Lake Robbins Drive

The Woodlands, TexasFor more information,

call (512) 480-8622 or visit TexasMBA.org.

Tuesday-Friday, February 19-22Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)2013 National Mortgage Servicing

Conference & ExpoGaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center1501 Gaylord TrailGrapevine, Texas

For more information, call (800) 793-6222

or visit MortgageBankers.org.

Thursday-Saturday, February 21-23

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)National Short Sale and REO

Summit 2013Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center1501 Gaylord TrailGrapevine, Texas



MARCH 2013Wednesday-Saturday, March 6-9

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)2013 Mid-Winter Housing Finance

ConferenceThe Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch

130 Daybreak Ridge • Avon, Colo.For more information,


Sunday-Tuesday, March 10-122013 NAMB Legislative &

Regulatory ConferenceWashington, D.C.

For more information, call (972) 758-1151 or visit NAMB.org.

Sunday-Thursday, March 10-1430th Anniversary … 2013 Regional

Conference of Mortgage BankersAssociations

Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort1000 BoardwalkAtlantic City, N.J.

For more information, call (732) 596-1619 or visit MBANJ.com.

Wednesday, March 13Florida Association of MortgageProfessionals Broward Chapter

2013 Annual Trade Show“It’s Mardi Gras Time”

Broward County Convention Center1950 Eisenhower Boulevard

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.For more information,

call (954) 205-0022 or visit www.browardfamp.org.

Wednesday, March 132013 Maryland Association ofMortgage Professionals Annual

ConferenceMaritime Institute

692 Maritime BoulevardLinthicum Heights, Md.For more information,

call (410) 752-6262 or visit www.mdmtgpros.org.

To submit your entry for inclusion in the National Mortgage Professional

Calendar of Events, please e-mail the details of your event, along with

contact information, to [email protected].

APRIL 2013Sunday-Wednesday, April 14-17

2013 National Technology inMortgage Banking Conference

& ExpoWestin Diplomat

3555 South Ocean DriveHollywood, Fla.

For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit

MortgageBankers.org.

Sunday-Wednesday, April 14-17Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)

2013 National Fraud IssuesConference

Westin Diplomat3555 South Ocean Drive

Hollywood, Fla.For more information,

call (800) 793-6222 or visitMortgageBankers.org.

MAY 2013Sunday-Wednesday, May 5-8

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)2013 National Secondary Market

Conference & ExpoNew York Marriott Marquis

1535 BroadwayNew York, N.Y.



Sunday-Wednesday, May 19-22Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)

2013 Commercial/MultifamilyServicing & Technology Conference

Arizona Biltmore2400 East Missouri Avenue

Phoenix, Ariz.For more information,


Sunday-Wednesday, May 19-22Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)

2013 Legal Issues/RegulatoryCompliance Conference

Boca Raton Hotel501 East Camino Real

Boca Raton, Fla.For more information,


NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

calendarOF EVENTS

NATI

ONAL


MAGAZINE

NMPNMP

68

JANU

ARY

2013

�N

ATI

ON

AL

MO

RTG

AG

EPR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LM

AG

AZI

NE

�Na

tiona

lMor

tgag

ePro

fess

iona

l.com

National Mortgage Professional Magazine - January 2013

Documents

Transcript of National Mortgage Professional Magazine - January 2013