What a new mortgage broker would love to see from AIME

The mortgage business is a tough business – tougher than most – for a number of reasons. It is insanely regulated, cyclical like no other, and has a major impact on the both the economy overall and the economics of most households in America. It is literally the key to the American Dream. It seems obvious that we are headed in to another cycle – rising rates, a shift to purchase, shrinking lender margins, and an increase in value of those who bring home the bacon – skilled loan officers and small business owners. Because of this shift the market is starting to turn back to brokers. That is generally a good thing for buyers as it creates an easier way to shop for the best deal on a complex product.

Being a broker is being a little fish in a hyper competitive and over regulated pond. Having a resource available to help you navigate all that is thrown at you is invaluable. I am new to the broker world but from what I have heard the previous organization representing/helping us had two knocks against it – it didn’t provide much value and seemed to be driving the agenda of a few lenders. The market was ready for a new organization to step in at this time of growth, of technological change, of regulatory uncertainty, of opportunity. AIME was formed and started to promote the positive growth being seen in the broker space and with an agenda around calling out lenders who might have a broker platform simply to build a servicing book to have their retention group go after. I don’t know if there is more to the agenda but the vast majority of the messaging I have seen revolves around that topic.

I tend to think a little differently than a lot of the long time brokers about the retention/competition issue regarding retail lenders that have a wholesale platform. I tend to think that – like most businesses – how you handle the initial transaction is by far the most important factor in determining whether you get the next loan or not… I do think that it is a good business idea and maybe even a best practice that if a customer calls a lender to inquire about refinancing if that customer was originated through a broker then the lender should try to get it back to the broker. What if the customer gets to the lender because they chose to go to a website (LendingTree etc.) to inquire about a new loan and ended up at that lender because the lender buys the lead – is there any reason that would go back to the broker? The consumer made a conscious decision not to contact the broker (or the lender) for their next loan. Maybe they forget the brokers name? Maybe they like to spread their business around? Maybe the broker sucked? No matter the reason – it was a decision on the part of the consumer NOT to go back. Should the lender pay for the lead and then send the lead to the broker? My mindset is if I want a repeat customer I have to deliver service the first time and give them a reason to call me the second time. I think the “Wholetail Lending” argument is way overblown but that is just my two cents.

I think there is a lot more to our business than worrying about where a borrower might go for their next loan down the road. Being a broker allows you to have access to a bunch of products, rate sheets, processes, capacity plans, resources, tools etc. I am looking for the organization to provide a platform for all of that stuff – and not just promote the agenda of one company which is what is happening now. There is only one major lender who only does wholesale and it isn’t a coincidence that that is the main platform of AIME. I think that lender does a great job with some things – and to be fair they do a great job in most things – but they are only average in others. Their growth is a testament to the overall platform that they have built and no one can take that away from them. The resources they make available to brokers have caused other lenders to have to compete and up their games – and that is good for all of us. I don’t think there is any question that the innovation voice of their leader is essential to continued growth of the channel. But they aren’t “the industry” – and they shouldn’t be controlling the direction of it. That should be done by an Association of Independent Mortgage Experts – with the emphasis on Independent.

The non-bank lender part of the mortgage industry needs to find as many ways as possible to provide value to the consumer and not just through a good experience and a decent price. We need to find creative ways to tie together home shopping, mortgages, and closing to make it one seamless transaction for the customer. Servicing has to become a positive to a borrower instead of a negative and the servicer needs to provide constant communication and information to the borrower. What “standards” could be set that lenders wanting to deal with AIME brokers would need to meet to help ensure that when you go to a broker you can expect A, B, and C and that could be pushed collectively to create a bigger voice for the segment. There has to be value adds in terms of additional mortgage products that the big banks don’t offer – non-banks lenders/brokers need a product list big banks don’t have because – and let’s be honest – if the banks decide they want to jump back in and take over agency again they can do it. They can buy the market with price because they will sell the borrower other products after the sale.

Here are a few things that I would love AIME to offer – and as I said earlier I don’t know what they offer because all I ever see is messaging about their hatred of “Quicky Loans” on LinkedIn and that is far from an agenda – that is obviously a vendetta for some reason I am not familiar with. I would love to hear what others think would be valuable things for the organization to offer.

• Broker Startup – resources for a broker to navigate state compliance, loan origination systems, phone systems, CRMs, vendors etc. Having all of the information in one place and maybe with a simple Five Star rating system from brokers who are members would make it a lot easier to get up and going.
• Lender Comparison – list by lender of products offered, what documents do they generate on the brokers behalf, what tasks do they complete for the broker, what needs to be done to get a CD out, etc so that a broker gets a decent understanding of their process and can narrow the list of who to work with to get approved. What are the exact policies in regards to going after the portfolio and competing with brokers – and that has to include how often the lender sells servicing because without that the policy is moot. I have found that some lenders are suited only for a broker that likely operates in one state – they don’t need help with compliance documents, closing and tax estimates etc. – and others are able to support a broker who operates in a bunch of states. We are in over 20 so far and some lenders we just can’t deal with because of that – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a great option for someone who doesn’t need what we need. I would have loved to have known that before battling a learning curve.
• Current ratings – brokers could be send a quick survey monthly to ask them to rate recent experiences with a lender. If for example a lender has taken on too much business and is not handling loans well currently that would be invaluable information for other brokers to know before they send in a loan. This could be one of the great benefits of an Independent association. Capacity planning as a large lender is hard during the best of times and literally not possible during times of volatility – I had a department that originated over $30 Billion annually and capacity planning was a full time job. Being a broker allows us to send loans to who can currently handle them – I would love to benefit from others brokers recent experience that Lender ABC is swamped before I send them a loan and they blow it up.
• Negotiated discounts – this is typically one of the prime benefits of an association. With a market of this size there is no reason there couldn’t be negotiated discounts available to all AIME members for credit reports, NMLS training courses, cloud based phone services, CRMS etc. Individuals join organizations to give them a collective voice and aggregated power.

I think that Anthony Casa deserves major kudos for stepping up and taking on this task on behalf of all brokers – I just want to contribute to the overall conversation around continued growth in the broker space and help to make sure that all voices and perspectives are taken in to account. I have spent the last year working to build a platform for union members and have seen the power of a collective voice and how a lot of people working together can get to a goal much faster than anyone can alone.

Thanks for taking a minute to read and I would love to hear any constructive commentary and feedback.

Mike Cush

Vice President

Union Plus Mortgage Company

305 Fellowship Road, Suite 230

Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054

t 609.357.1917

[email protected]

NMLS ID 34852