June 2018 Issue

HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ JUNE 2018

RETURN OF SUBPRIME? Non-QM loans provoke fear, but avoid the pitfalls of risk layering.

P.40

DISRUPTION How appraisers can succeed by making HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ JUNE 2018

2018

46 young leaders energizing the industry P.32 Grace Qi, product manager, intelligence, Blend

Behind the scenes Rising Stars photoshoot

One of our favorite parts of producing HousingWire Magazine is getting to know our editorial award winners, especially when we bring them in for a photo shoot. This issue’s cover features Grace Qi, product manager at Blend, who exemplifies the confident young leaders we recognize in our Rising Stars program. Shooting at the Brik Venue in Fort Worth, photographer Darren Braun captured Grace’s personality over the course of several hours. Read more about Grace and our other Rising Stars on page 32.

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HOUSINGWIRE JUNE 2018 EDITORIAL

CONTENT SOLUTIONS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jacob Gaffney

CONTENT WRITER Alyssa Stringer

MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Wheeler

CREATIVE

EDITOR Ben Lane

CREATIVE ASSOCIATE Chantae Arrington

ONLINE EDITOR Caroline Basile

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER Darren Braun

REPORTERS Jeremiah Jensen Alcynna Lloyd Kelsey Ramírez

MARKETING

CONTRIBUTORS Casey Cunningham, Alexandria Decatur, Debbie Hoffman and Richard Koss

MARKETING MANAGER Caren Karris

MARKETING DIRECTOR C. Scott Smith

SALES NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Jennifer Watson Laws jlaws@HousingWire.com SENIOR REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Christi Lingard clingard@HousingWire.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mark Adams madams@HousingWire.com Tyson Bennett tbennett@HousingWire.com Bill Brown bbrown@HousingWire.com Lorena Leggett lleggett@HousingWire.com

THEY KEEP RISING INNOVATION requires new ideas, fresh perspectives and a willingness to embrace change.

It’s the element driving our industry and it’s why we love celebrating the Rising Stars.

Each June we recognize industry over-achievers aged 40 and under who are shaking the mortgage tree and raising our expectations about what can be accomplished in this industry. This year’s class of Rising Stars continues this impressive tradition, wowing us with their business acumen, technical skill and leadership.

For our cover, we chose Grace Qi, the leader of the intelligence team at Blend (see opposite). At 25 she is already making her mark in the fintech arena, using her knowledge of data to help create a smarter mortgage process. Read about Grace and our other incredible winners starting on page 32.

June is also our Real Estate issue, and our feature on blockchain explores how title companies are using distributed ledger technology to automate their part of the mortgage process.

Authors Alexandria Decatur and Debbie Hoffman outline what the DLT promises — and what it actually delivers.

Speaking of automation, HousingWire’s Editor-in-Chief, Jacob Gaffney, weighs in on the rising risk of robots. For some positions in the mortgage industry it’s a matter of when, not if, humans are replaced by artificial intelligence, but all is not lost.

In fact, in a future dominated by automation, the human touch may become even more valuable.

From Rising Stars to robots — this issue truly has it all. Enjoy!

REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Joe Priolo jpriolo@HousingWire.com AD OPERATIONS MANAGER Jessica Fly SALES AND CLIENT SUCCESS COORDINATOR Haley Knighton

CORPORATE PRESIDENT AND CEO Clayton Collins

Sarah Wheeler Managing Editor @swheelerHW

CONTROLLER Michelle Monroe Subscriptions are available for $149.00 for one year. A subscription includes the print magazine and online access to the digital magazine. Canada and foreign are only eligible to purchase the “Digital Only” subscription plan at $149 for one year.

For subscription orders, call 1-800-869-6882 or email HW@kmpsgroup.com.

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The information contained within should not be construed as a recommendation for any course of action regarding legal, financial or accounting matters. All written materials are disseminated with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal advice or other professional services. HW Media does not guarantee the accuracy of information provided, and is not liable for any damages, losses or other detriment that may result from the use of these materials.

Tweets From The Street LISTEN: David Schroeder, SVP of @QLMS, talks with @HousingWire’s JacobGaffney-discussing industry trends, growth at @Quicken Loans and the many ways we support our broker, credit union and local bank partners.

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by Quicken Loans News @QLnews

© 2018 by HW Media, LLC • All rights reserved

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 7

JUNE 2018 52 EXPLOITING BLOCKCHAIN Title companies are ditching paper practices for DLT.

By Alexanderia Decatur and Debbie Hoffman

2018 RISING STARS This year HW highlights Grace Qi, 25 year-old product manager at Blend, along with 45 other professionals who represent the best young leaders in the mortgage industry.

58 Photo by Darren Braun

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THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS Does the rise of automation mean we all lose our jobs?

By Jacob Gaffney HOUSINGWIRE â?ą JUNE 2018 9

CONTENTS 14 THE LINEUP 14 PEOPLE MOVERS United Wholesale Mortgage hires Alex Elezaj as its chief strategy officer.

16 EVENT CALENDAR The NEXT conference takes place in Dallas while MISMO holds a spring summit in Denver.

14 ON THE SHELF

16 VIEWPOINTS 28 CULTURE

28

The CEO of XINNIX stresses the importance of culture during challenging times.

30 FHA CREDIT SCORE Richard Koss says that implementation of multiple versions of a credit model may lead to added cost and complexity.

Is this sports gambling thing going to be put into place soon enough for me to bet on the Capitals blowing a two-game lead?

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18 DISPATCH Genworth MI discusses close customer engagement during the website makeover process.

20 DISPATCH Optimal Blue empowers the digital mortgage with API platform.

22 DISPATCH UWM addresses the conundrum lenders face in choosing between price and speed.

24 DISPATCH Auction.com explains why the best foreclosure sales feature a transprent process.

Tweets From The Street

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Let Your Mind Run and Great at Work both speak about the art of success and performance.

by Barry Petchesky @barry

26 HOT OR NOT The rise of interest rates isn’t stopping anytime soon, but buyer demand stays hot.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 11

CONTENTS

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68

BACK DEPARTMENTS 64 INSIDE BASEBALL HW looks at the biggest mergers and acquisitions that took place in March and April.

68 KUDOS Angel Oak meets several milestones and launched Angel Oak Commercial Lending.

70 CFPB WATCH The CFPB fixes the TRID ‘black hole” and restructures some key departments.

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74 KNOWLEDGE CENTER

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National General lays out how to ensure lender-placed insurance is the last option for customers.

76 COMPANIES/ PEOPLE INDEX 77 AD INDEX 78 PARTING SHOT HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 13

Alex Elezaj United Wholesale Mortgage

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MCCLAIN

NORTON YOUNG

KULA KOJOURI

F

REDDIE Mac added two new officers from within to its multifamily line of business. Pamela Dent has been promoted to vice president, multifamily asset management, and Ian Ouwerkerk has been elevated to vice president, multifamily underwriting. Dent has worked at Freddie Mac for more than seven years and Ouwerkerk for more than 10 year.

Planet Financial Group added Michael Kula as its chief operating officer. Most recently, Kula served as a division president at ServiceLink, where he led the company’s title and origination businesses.

Wells Fargo has found its replacement for Mike Loughlin, the bank’s long-time chief risk officer who announced his retirement earlier this year. Taking over for Loughlin will be Amanda “Mandy” Nor ton, who joins the bank from JPMorgan Chase.

For the last five years, Norton has served as JPMorgan Chase’s chief risk officer of consumer and community banking.

Norton spent the first six years of her career at Chase Manhattan Bank and aslo worked at Ally Financial as a market and

YEE

CULLEN PATHMAN

United Wholesale Mortgage named Alex Elezaj as its chief strategy officer. Elezaj most recently served as the CEO of Troy, Michigan-based residential appraisal management company Class Appraisal, which was recently purchased by Narrow Gauge Capital.

credit risk executive. Norton also spent 14 years at Bank of America in various roles.

Mat ic named Sha hrzad “Shaz” Kojouri as vice president of legal and compliance. Prior to joining Matic, Kojouri was assistant general counsel for nonprofit student loan provider AccessLex Institute and previously oversaw regulatory compliance testing and CFPB readiness for New Penn Financial.

The founding CEO of Realtors Property Resource, Dale Ross, retired May 1,and Jeff Young, who has been named chief operating officer and general manager, will assume responsibility for all RPR activities. Young will report directly to NAR CEO Bob Goldberg.

Chad Smith, previous president of direct lending at loanDepot, was hired away

by Caliber Home Loans, where he will serve as executive vice president, head of recapture and direct to consumer.

Altisource announced it has named Patrick McClain as the company's senior vice president of Hubzu Auction Services. McClain comes to Altisource from Auction.com, where he previously

served as senior vice president of asset management.

Plaza Home Mortgage announced that James Pathman and Philip Yee have joined the company as its chief information officer and SVP, chief marketing officer, respectively.

Pathman previously served as the CEO at Data Resolution as well as holding executive IT positions at Lehman Brothers and a number of other national lenders.

Yee previously held executive-level marketing positions at Ellie Mae, CoreLogic, Wells Fargo, Radian, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.

Ditech Holding Corp. named Thomas Marano, current chairman of the board, to lead the company as CEO and president.

Marano is the sixth CEO for the company since October 2015. Jeffrey Baker, who was serving as Ditech’s interim CEO and president, will continue to serve in his role as president of the company’s Reverse Mortgage Solutions business.

Ditech also announced it has named Ritesh Chaturbedi, an executive with more than 15 years of technology and digital sales experience, to serve as the company's new chief operating officer.

CrossCheck Compliance announced Karen Cullen has joined as a director in the firm’s compliance and fair & responsible lending practices. Prior to CrossCheck, Cullen served as the director of compliance risk strategy for Discover Financial.

LERETA added Bill Theisinger as chief technology officer. Theisinger brings nearly 20 years of technology experience to his new role with LERETA, where he will focus on creating internal and external business platforms. Prior to LERETA, Theisinger spent five years working for YP.com.

EVENT CALENDAR

MISMO SPRING SUMMIT 2018 JUNE 4-8, 2018 Host: Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) Location: Denver, CO Cost: $499 to $899 On the agenda: Recent changes in the mortgage industry resulted in a dramatic increase in demand for data and information exchanges.

Regulatory demands have and will continue to impact the way business is transacted and the MISMO Summit offers an opportunity to learn more about MISMO and to engage in face-to-face standard setting activities. This year, MISMO Summit will feature blockchain panel presentations and discussions, agency updates from the GSEs, digital mortgage trends, risk mitigation and new attendee orientation.

DENVER A summer in Denver isn't complete without a trip to the famous Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, just 15 miles from downtown Denver. The Red Rocks Amphitheatre is an outdoor music venue surrounded by beautiful 300-ft red sandstone rock formations. This year, a showing of the movie Ten Things I Hate About You and musical artist Ween will be performing during the conference dates.

Grab tickets at denver.org.

NEXT CONFERENCE JUNE 21-22, 2018 Host: NEXT Location: Hotel ZaZa, Dallas Cost: $595-$1795 On the agenda: The NEXT conference is the two-day mortgage tech event for women in the industry. The bi-annual event is comprised of informative talks, technology demos and networking. The NEXT confrence creates a gathering point for executives to meet, learn and netowrk. HousingWire is a media partner with this months conference.

DALLAS The NEXT event takes place less than a mile away from Klyde Warren Park, Dallas’ urban green space built over Woodall Rodgers Freeway.

Klyde Warren is lined with food trucks, a performance pavilion for community events, trails and a children’s park. The park also has direct access to Dallas’ M-Line Trolley, where guests can discover and sightsee around the city for free. Klyde Warren is open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. with multiple activities each day.

Visit klydewarrenpark.org for details.

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ON THE SHELF Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory DEENA KASTOR AND MICHELLE HAMILTON CROWN ARCHETYPE

Let Your Mind Run is a look inside the mind of an elite athlete, Deena Kastor. As a star runner, Kastor nearly ended her career after college when her competitive mindset fostered frustration that led to the brink of burnout. She took a chance and moved to Alamosa, Colorado, where legendary coach Joe Vigil created the first professional distance-running team. She learned to shape her mind to be encouraging, kind and resilient, making her a star athlete.

Years of mental training led her to win America’s first Olympic medal in marathon in 20 years.

Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, And Achieve More MORTEN T. HANSEN SIMON & SCHUSTER

Morten T. Hansen writes an intuitive, practical guide to individual performance in the work place based on a unique case-study. From high school principals to a sushi chef, Hansen gives readers anecdotal insight into work performance and how it can be translated into daily life.

Great at Work contains mini-quizzes, questionnaires and clear tips to help nail down a strategy to become a more productive worker.

GENWORTH MORTGAGE INSURANCE | SPONSORED CONTENT

Why your customers should build your website How Genworth Mortgage Insurance engaged customers in their website makeover

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t’s that time of year when everyone starts thinking about a makeover. Wait! Put down the phone! No need to call your hairdresser. In this case, we’re talking about a website makeover.

Of course, you know it’s crucial to align your site’s functionality to your business needs. So, you identify internal stakeholders and frame out the site to align to business requirements. But what about your customers? Why and how should they be involved in the process? And what should you do with their input? Let’s start with the “why."

WHY INVOLVE CUSTOMERS? When Genworth surveyed users before a recent makeover, user expectations of our website were crystal clear: Make it fast, efficient, easy and provide a knowledge base that’s customizable to user preferences.

Once you understand those basic user expectations, use them to inform a site design approach that delivers on those expectations.

Our advice? Invest in technology to deliver speed and efficiency.

Consider an assisted selling approach to deliver on product recommendations and reinforce your brand. Make your site self-serve ready by presenting users with status notifications and customized content. And personalize the whole experience through segment-level messaging and tight integration with customer profiles.

HOW DO YOU INVOLVE CUSTOMERS? First, invest in UX research to understand how users interact with your website. Web analytics on your existing site are a great place to start, but the best way to get users involved is to go right to the source.

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We recommend that you meet with users one on one. Gather both qualitative and quantitative data. And gather that data iteratively, from the beginning to the end of the makeover process.

How do you involve customers in your website makeover? Involve them early. Involve them often and throughout the project. And involve them after your website launches. It’s that important.

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THAT CUSTOMER INPUT Once you’ve collected data and conducted research, it’s time to analyze it and develop solutions.

First, consider the user data you’ve collected. Formulate user personas for the key user groups who visit your site. How does each persona compare in terms of their expectations of your website? Are there differences in their online experiences, their technological expertise or social media savvy? A deep dive into each persona may reveal striking differences between user groups.

Once you’ve identified key personas, you can begin to align web content and functionality to each persona. The expectations, goals and experience of each user group will dictate a journey map through your website that is relevant to each user’s role.

What do you do with all that customer input? Analyze it, interpret it and leverage it to design your website!

OUR CUSTOMERS BUILT OUR WEBSITE At Genworth Mortgage Insurance, we recently launched our own website makeover. By following all the steps above, our site was designed to make the traditionally complex process of quoting and ordering mortgage insurance easy and efficient.

User research helped us to identify what users loved and wanted to keep from our old website and revealed what new features and improvements they expected of our new one. And it helped us to validate our website design and functionality iteratively.

Some notable new website features include: • A visual pipeline tracking system mimics what top online delivery services offer in tracking a package.

• Reduced data entry and the ability to upload multiple documents simultaneously.

• The ability to seamlessly activate or cancel a mortgage insurance commitment online.

• An enhanced Rate Express interface for finding and comparing Genworth MI rates and loan parameters.

• A streamlined reporting interface to more easily access data.

In addition, the user experience was also improved across the website through mobile-friendly/responsive design, enhanced site search capabilities, improved access to training offerings, preview capabilities for images and documentation, and stepby-step contextual help.

OPTIMAL BLUE | SPONSORED CONTENT

Optimal Blue enables the digital mortgage Leading API platform powers the industry's largest ecosystem

I

n a world fueled by technological advancements, it is no surprise that the “digital movement” has taken over the mortgage industry. Today, nearly all consumers begin the mortgage loan process online and have come to expect on-demand, transparent, consistent information at the immediate point of need.

These evolving consumer expectations paired with the industry’s highly competitive environment are causing a rush by originators to adopt digital capabilities. In the process, originators must grapple with how to integrate digital mortgage technologies, deliver information to the consumer in a real-time compliant manner and ensure consumers have a consistent experience across channels and throughout the origination process.

To address these needs, Optimal Blue supports a wide array of third-party applications used in the digital mortgage process that enable originators to connect the product and pricing data within the Optimal Blue System with over 25 vendors. Now, for the first time, originators can rely on a single platform to power their digital pricing presentation, including CRM, mobile, pointof-sale and marketing.

Because these applications are all connected using Optimal Blue’s common API framework, product eligibility and pricing is handled consistently by each application and APR calculations, payment disclosures and mortgage insurance quotes are always correct. To ensure third-party applications comply with data and connectivity standards, Optimal Blue maintains a rigorous vendor certification process.

“By creating a platform supporting third-party applications, Optimal Blue has crushed the barrier to the digital mortgage,” said Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue. “By connecting virtually every vendor in the digital mortgage space to the Optimal Blue platform, we have paved the way for originators to join the digital mortgage movement.”

Optimal Blue supports a wide variety of transactions for vendor partners through its API platform, including product eligibility, complete price results and locking. Since the API platform was announced nine months ago, more than 70 clients have subscribed.

To further support the use of Optimal Blue as a single source for product eligibility and pricing data, the company has also invested in integrating with LOS and lead generation sites, and now has a Quick Quote solution allowing originators to easily embed live price quotes on their website or mobile app. With Quick Quote, an originator can provide live, personalized and compliant pricing to a lender’s website or to loan officers through a mobile-enabled link.

“The ability to quote accurate pricing with a mobile device empowers the loan officer to develop and maintain relationships outside of the office,” said Sue Baker, vice president of product

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“

By connecting virtually every vendor in the digital mortgage space to the Optimal Blue platform, we have paved the way for originators to join the digital mortgage movement." ­— Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue

at Optimal Blue. “Not only do they remain competitive, but they build a solid foundation to transition the consumer through the application process – electronically and compliantly.”

Originators can control what products and pricing are returned in Quick Quote through configuration settings. The digital mortgage wave caught the imagination of our industry and spawned innovative technology providers. At the same time, changing consumer preferences are pressing originators to be transparent and consistent throughout the mortgage origination process.

To help originators with the array of technology choices and consumer needs, Optimal Blue now supports the largest ecosystem of digital mortgage providers with an API platform connecting third-party applications to their network. Clients use third-party applications and native solutions like Quick Quote to begin their entry in the digital mortgage arena, and understand operational and compliance benefits from Optimal Blue as a loan pricing single source.

UNITED WHOLESALE MORTGAGE | SPONSORED CONTENT

Lenders: When weighing speed vs. price, don't overlook the importance of service United Wholesale Mortgage picks up every single phone call

T

here’s an unfortunate reality that mortgage brokers live by in the lending business: every day, they have to make a choice between closing as fast as possible and getting the lowest rate possible. There is no such thing as having the best of both worlds. Or is there?

It’s only natural that in such a competitive industry, where closing deals accurately and as quickly as possible literally determines paychecks, that brokers prefer to partner with wholesale lenders that put them in the best possible position to succeed.

Turn times and pricing are easy things to research and compare among lenders because they are generally posted online. But what isn’t explicitly spelled out on a wholesale lender’s website is arguably the most important factor of all: client service.

The extent to which a wholesale lender goes to provide its broker partners with the most hands-on, VIP-like client service experience isn’t something that can be written out in neat, easy-to-understand numbers. It’s something a broker has to discover in real-time by working with a specific company over time. The more a broker works with different lenders, they better understand that little things that make up the biggest differences between them.

Oftentimes, when thinking of what goes into the loan process, it’s easy to forget that actual people are at the heart of making everything possible. If an issue arises with a loan that needs to be quickly resolved, it is a person on the other end of the phone that sees it through to completion. Even the flashiest technology platform is useless without the people to build it, enhance it, fix issues and cater it to clients’ needs.

At UWM, we’ve built client service into our DNA. We’ve committed to wowing our clients, setting the gold standard throughout the industry for what excellent service looks like. We do things

22 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

that other lenders don’t do, and every little thing matters to us.

How often do you call your account executive and leave a voicemail, only to wait several hours – or sometimes, not until the following day – to have your call returned? That’s not a thing here.

We hold ourselves to stringent, client-focused Service Level Agreements that dictate a maximum three-hour response time to phone and email inquiries. This past year, we implemented a “No Call Left Behind” initiative, which held our team members accountable for not allowing phone calls to reach a voicemail or dead-end. We pick up every single phone call, which streamlines and accelerates processes for our clients.

Company leaders are completely in the weeds of the business, jumping in to take calls on the front lines, and calling out to clients every month simply to thank them. Every single survey or bit of email feedback that a client sends is read and shared throughout senior leadership in order to make changes and create action plans.

We’ve made it a point to be strategically overstaffed by design.

We have more people working in our technology and operations teams than any other wholesale lender in America because it ensures that our processes are the fastest and most efficient. Our average time from loan submission to loan closing was 15 days in 2017 – and we’re working hard to get that number down to 12 days by 2020. It’s all of the hard-working, service-oriented people we have working here that will make that a reality.

Closing timelines and rate differences are convenient for making lender-to-lender comparisons, but they don’t tell the full story at surface level. Instead of making a decision based solely on the ‘speed vs. price’ debate, brokers should prioritize the factor that gives them the best of both worlds: client service.

AUCTION.COM | SPONSORED CONTENT

Transparency drives better results in foreclosure sales Buyers and sellers gain confidence through Auction.com

I

n the high stakes world of home finance, it’s hard to think of foreclosure as anything but a loss. When a mortgage debt cannot be satisfied the servicer loses and so does the investor.

As the largest real estate marketplace, Auction.com has worked to reduce the overall loss severity through the application of innovative technologies and a data-driven approach that optimizes the real estate disposition experience for buyers and sellers.

In the process, we’ve been able to provide transparency through these approaches that mutually benefit the buyers and sellers and create a healthy and scalable marketplace.

In our experience, the best foreclosure sale executions occur in a transparent environment. Auction.com’s marketplace, which boasts more registered users and assets than any other marketplace, encourages more participants to become involved, which in turn, increases the likelihood that the foreclosure process will end as successfully as it can and result in turning a house back into a home.

MAKING FORECLOSURE SALES MORE ACCESSIBLE Historically, the foreclosure sales process has shrouded itself in a veil of confusion and uncertainty. A lack of transparency in the process remained pervasive, which hindered sellers from gaining the maximum exposure possible for their properties and buyers from the right assets in a timely manner. As properties came to auction, often unexpectedly, interested buyers were left with little, or no, time to conduct the due diligence needed to bid and win. Meanwhile, sellers often found that their assets were selling below market price given the lack of robust competition needed to achieve a fair market value.

As frustration in the process grew, real estate marketplaces like Auction.com recognized the challenges facing buyers and sellers, and began to equip both parties with solutions that better fit their needs. For buyers, Auction.com enabled greater access to information specific to a property’s condition, its occupancy status, the neighborhood it’s located in as well as access to important resources, such as title reports, tax lien documents, property insights reports, etc.

For sellers, Auction.com provides more insight into buyer interest on a particular property. Given a seller’s ultimate goal is to sell an asset quickly, efficiently and profitably, Auction.com works to give sellers a better understanding of the types of properties buyers are looking to bid on and the price they are willing to pay, so that the seller can determine the market value and demand for each property.

ACHIEVING A BETTER EXECUTION Better execution is a factor of deep insights, the right technology, 24 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

local presence and buyer education. When all of these elements come together, both buyers and sellers benefit. To that end, Auction.com invests heavily in technology that operates within changing market conditions, as well as its team of knowledgeable and experienced professionals who use these tools to perform the kind of analysis that exposes the realities of local markets and educates both buyers and sellers.

Auction.com leverages its marketing engine to help buyers find properties that match their interests and portfolios through digital ad networks, strategic local marketing and more. Also, Auction.com’s Customer Care team works to field over 50,000 in-bound calls, make over 8,000 outbound calls and coordinate upwards of 10,000 chats, helping buyers understand all facets of a property and preparing them for auction.

With access to robust market and property data, Auction.com enables sellers to share more insight into their property in an online transparent environment which allows buyers to make more informed decisions. At the same time we provide sellers access to our vast data that will allow them to make informed decisions on the value of each property.

Furthermore, Auction.com engages with attorneys, sheriffs and real estate leaders to share insight into the state of the local real estate market. These local partners not only share data with the Auction.com team, but also hold educational seminars and trainings to help buyers prepare for auction.

As it once existed, the traditional process discouraged excited, new buyers with a host of nuanced challenges that made the auction experience an uninviting one. With Auction.com, buyers and sellers are finding faster and more efficient experiences through its industry-leading efforts toward creating a transparent marketplace. Now, buyers and sellers who were once disengaged are enjoying newfound confidence in the process and returning to auction with the tools needed to make more informed decisions.

Hot SIZZLE? Not FIZZLE? 1 1 WHY THE

WHY THE

HOMEBUYER DEMAND

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Homebuyer demand isn’t being affected by the contiuous rise in interest rates. As the 10-year Treasury continues to increase, so will the 30-year mortgage rate.

Combine that with the Fed also raising rates and there is little chance in a decrease of interest rates anytime soon. However, after taking all the numbers in, First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming blogs that, as long as rates stay below the historical average of 8% (which they will) home affordability should remain strong enough to withstand the growing, higher costs to borrow.

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2

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3

MULTIFAMILY CHILL

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2

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3

FREDDIE TAKES ON FHA Freddie Mac rolled out a new conventional 3% down payment option for qualified first-time homebuyers with no geographic or income restrictions. The new program, called HomeOne, puts Freddie Mac in direct competition for mortgage business with the Federal Housing Administration, which also requires only 3% down on some mortgages. This new offering is not replacing its Home Possible 3% down mortgages.

Rather, the program is meant to complement the Home Possible program, which will still be available to low-and moderate-income borrowers.

HISPANIC HOMEBUYERS The Hispanic community continues to drive homeownership rates in the U.S. The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals reports that Latinos are the youngest, fastest-growing demographic in the U.S., and are the primary driver of the new mainstream economy. With the employment rates soaring, a U.S. Census Bureau report also states that Latinos led the nation in workforce participation and household formation growth, which indicates that Hispanics will likely continue to be the primary driver of new homeownership for the next decade and beyond.

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Demand is undeniably present for affordable housing, but the threat of overbuilding and the rising cost of construction, labor and commodities make that demand fiscally inaccessible and puts a chill on multifamily pipelines. That means that this spring, the multifamily market is a seller’s market. After years of elevated rates of deliveries, 2018 is predicted to be a year of slowing deliveries. This puts additional strain on an already languishing affordable housing market as investors shy away from new product despite the overall lack of housing in the U.S.

CALIFORNIA AFFORDABILITY About 60% of all U.S. metros saw an acceleration in the rate of price increases through February this year.

San Jose, California, saw the largest increase in home prices, rising 24% year over year. In fact, its $226,000 annual increase in median home prices is even greater than the actual median prices in more than half of the nation’s 100 largest markets. In addition, three California cities landed on Zumper's top 10 most expensive rental markets list, with San Francisco placing No. 1 at $3,400/month.

ORIGINATION VOLUME In its Commercial/Multifamily Real Estate Finance Forecast, MBA indicated that mortgage banker originations will slip from 2017’s $530 billion to $519 billion by the end of 2018. According to the association, 2019 will continue on the downward path, inching another $6 billion lower to $513 billion, an additional 1% decrease year-over-year. Also included in the report is a projected jump in construction starts from 357,000 units in 2017 to 400,000 units in 2018. This is contrary to what some other researchers have said. MBA's forecast reports that 2019 starts will dip by 10,000 units, ending up at 390,000 units in 2019.

VIEWPOINTS

By Casey Cunningham

Building a culture of excellence How to drive performance in an era of declining profitability

In a market fraught with tightening margins and diminishing profits, it is easy for leaders to turn their focus to how they can make cuts to save money right away and in the short term. However, many experts would agree that it is almost impossible to “cut” your way to success. Though it may sound counterintuitive to some, one of the most important ways to combat declining profitability in challenging times is through a renewed focus on an organization’s culture, as culture drives engagement and engagement drives performance.

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Casey Cunningham is the CEO and Founder of XINNIX, the top mortgage academy in the nation. Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, XINNIX provides nationally recognized sales and leadership performance programs.

It has been proven time and time again that companies that make an investment in workplace culture attract the industry’s best talent and achieve greater success.

For leaders who want to see their business grow to the next level, the solution is to focus on building a great culture — a culture of excellence.

SHARE YOUR VISION The first step toward building a culture of excellence is to cast a clear vision and cascade it down to the rest of your associates. Leaders need to ask themselves if they have a clear direction for where they want to take their company and what they want to accomplish. Does this vision fire them up when they think about it? Does it get them out of bed in the morning with a clear mission to win?

This vision to win is a vital part of leading a successful team. Great sports teams have more than talented players. They have incredible coaches who lead them to victory. The best performers are typically on the best teams because the best teams win. Top producers want to be led by someone who has an incredible vision and plan to see it come true.

Leaders, take the time to ask yourself, “What is my vision for what I want this organization to achieve?” Once you know, share this vision with your team. Get excited about where you can go together!

PUT YOUR PEOPLE FIRST A leader is ultimately responsible for shaping the culture of their branch or company. The decisions they make determine not only the future of their business, but also the lives of their associates. These decisions will greatly affect the way their team perceives their leader. Loan officers will read an unspoken message about whether or not the leader has the team’s best interests at heart.

When leaders have to make a decision about their business, is profit the first thing that comes to mind? Of course, profit is a factor in all decisions. We must make money to survive. However, instead of looking at every choice only through

“

Great sports teams have more than talented players. They have incredible coaches who lead them to victory.”

the filter of profitability, we should ask ourselves instead what is right for our employees and our customers. If these factors determine the decision-making process, a leader will win every time.

Building loyalty ensures future profit.

A well-cared-for associate will be a better performer and will continue to grow for years to come under leadership they trust. A well-cared-for customer will keep doing business with a lender and will send other people their way. In the long run, the relationships mortgage professionals form will be the deciding factor in the success of their business.

THE ONE-ON-ONE MEETING Building a culture of excellence means ensuring associates feel valued, know their priorities, and are fully engaged. The best way to make sure every member of the team is on the same page, aware of what is expected of them, and empowered to meet these expectations is a regular oneon-one meeting.

At XINNIX, every associate has a weekly Power Meeting with their leader. In this Power Meeting, our team members check in with their managers to receive direction on projects and activities, make sure they are properly prioritizing the right things, and get feedback on their performance.

There are no surprises at the end-of-year review because they’ve been having reviews with their leaders every week.

This weekly process is one of the key factors in defining the culture of care, concern, engagement, and productivity that has won XINNIX 11 culture awards. It’s also vital in driving the vision of XINNIX — transforming the mortgage industry through a commitment to excellence.

These weekly meetings ensure that you

and your employees are on the same page and lets them know you are dedicated to their development.

THE TEAM MEETING Investing in team members through individual one-on-ones is vital, but it’s even more effective when coupled with regular team meetings. Many managers gather their salesforce together for a meeting once a month or less. These managers are missing out on an important opportunity to foster communication and camaraderie among their team.

The XINNIX Team starts every Monday morning with our weekly briefing, a 30-minute standup meeting where the entire company gathers and shares the previous week’s results and the next week’s priorities. Even remote employees are broadcast into the meeting through video.

This is a time when our leaders and I get to congratulate our associates on their success in front of their peers and departments get to share their projects and goals with other departments.

Most importantly, every team member hears what the overall mission of XINNIX is and what we are currently doing to achieve. These meetings set the tone for our entire company. Weekly meetings are key if you want to gain alignment and renewed focus in your branch.

When you take these steps to establish a culture of excellence in your organization, you are setting up your associates to experience both personal and professional growth that results in the overall success of your business. A company’s most valuable asset is the effectiveness of its salesforce. When your salesforce feels valued, heard, and empowered, they are ready to take your business to the next level.

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VIEWPOINTS

By Richard Koss

Forgotten lessons on credit score delivery Multiple versions of a credit model may lead to added cost and complexity

Nearly a full decade has passed since the housing bubble burst, which resulted in the global financial crisis, the most damaging economic downturn since the Great Depression. The extraordinary actions taken to stabilize financial markets were largely successful, yet memories of the pain have begun to fade.

Recently, FHFA posted a Request for Input (RFI) asking for opinions concerning options for changing the delivery of credit scores to the GSEs, underwriters and investors. At present, credit scores are delivered via the three credit bureaus 30 HOUSINGWIRE â?ą JUNE 2018

(Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), using a model developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation about a dozen years ago known as Classic FICO. More recently, FICO has updated its model, FICO 9, and the three credit bureaus have col-

laborated to build their own model, VantageScore 3.0.

FHFA is considering various options to change the current system. These include 1) a single delivery of one of these two scores, 2) a requirement that both scores

Richard Koss is Adjunct Professor at the Carey School of Business at Johns Hopkins University. Previously he was the Director of Economics with the Economic and Strategic Research Group at Fannie Mae.

be used, 3) lender choice as to which score to use or 4) a waterfall through which a primary and secondary score is established.

Any such choice in the end is the outcome of a detailed cost-benefit analysis. While FHFA acknowledges this, they fall short of providing the necessary framework for reaching an informed conclusion. In my recent comment letter to FHFA Director Watt, I provide a detailed critique of these options. The major points are below:

• While FHFA states that new scores provide “only marginal benefits,” they go on to say that there are “compelling reasons” to change. It is not clear how that conclusion is reached.

• They ask market participants for cost estimates, and state that the GSEs will require 12-18 months to implement changes, but do not provide cost estimates for the enterprises.

• They acknowledge that there are risks

associated with the proposed changes but do not provide a structure for ameliorating these concerns, or a cost estimate of implementing it.

• They ignore the potential risks associated with the credit loosening implicit in the new VantageScore model that stem from more relaxed trade line histories and increases to systemic risks associated with its adoption by lightly-regulated nonbanks.

Over the past couple of years, we have seen successive risk layering implemented by the enterprises related to higher loanto-value (LTV) and debt-to-income (DTI) ratios, along with generous use of various sources of income. For underwriters, servicers, investors and policymakers to successfully navigate through this perilous market environment, accurate up-to-date data on loan performance at a micro level is an essential resource.

At present, delinquency data provided

by Recursion Co reveals a trend increase in the share of loans with DTIs over 40 and 45.

Overall, the level of stress in the market remains low, but delinquencies for FHA loans show a troubling rise, even when adjustments are made for recent natural disasters.

In the end, advocates of “lender choice” have failed to make a case for a change that would serve to boost leverage in the mortgage system at the peak of a market cycle.

If there is one lesson to take away from the last crisis, it is this: Policies that begin by allowing more borrowers to obtain credit who cannot confidently sustain their positions in a downturn will inevitably end with the costs of a bust shouldered by the very groups that the policy is designed to serve.

Implementation of multiple versions of a credit model is likely to lead to added cost and complexity. If FHFA finds a need for change, the proper choice is a change to provision of FICO 9 as the single score, as this provides the opportunity for forecast benefits with minimal risks associated with credit loosening.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 31

2018

THE

46

YOUNG LEADERS

ENERGIZING THE

32 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

INDUSTRY

The 2018 Rising Stars represent the best young leaders in the mortgage industry – in lending, servicing, investing and real estate.

Many of our 46 winners are leading companies as C-level executives, making strategic decisions for their organizations or developing new and inventive ways to get things done. Others are contributing through product

development, data management or finding new ways to engage with consumers. Across the board, their efforts and accomplishments are influencing the present and future course of our industry.

38

43

48

Paul Akinmade Kamran Bakhtiari Zvi Band

Sean Fritts Kristie Fulte Rick Hall

Jason Price Perry Rahbar Vikas Rao

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44

49

Sonja Beaubien Brian Brown Richard Calle

James Harp Scott Horn Charlie Johnson

David Roy Calier Russell Aaron Schiff

40

45

50

Anthony Casa Ted Coleman Nicholas Corpuz

Sophie Kim Pat Kinsel Travis Kniffen

Viral Shah Jenney Shen Zach South

41

46

51

Joel Davis Sarah DeCiantis Gregory Drakos

Broch Lassig Thomas Lile Mike Mirshahzadeh

Rocky Stubbs Joe Thompson Elaine Till

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47

52

Joshua Erskine Rachel Faulkner Dan Fichtler

Steven Natale Chrissa Pagitsas Nia Patel

Allan Voltz Joe Wilson Vince Wilson HOUSINGWIRE â?ą JUNE 2018 33

Photo by Darren Braun 34 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

A Rising Star at Blend GRACE QI LEADS THE INTELLIGENCE TEAM AT THE SAN FRANCISCO-BASED FINTECH COMPANY HousingWire first recognized Blend’s innovation in our 2015 Tech100 awards, where we named them the winner in the growth category. Founded in 2012, Blend launched its mortgage platform in 2014 and saw loans processed by the platform balloon from 14,000 to 2 million in just six months. Our write-up at that time lauded the company’s “highly scalable and extensible” platform and predicted that Blend’s growth trend would “likely continue” in 2015.

Indeed. The company has grown significantly every year since and over the last 12 months Blend’s customer base has continued that trajectory, growing by about 500% to touch nearly $60 billion in mortgage applications.

An early employee at Blend, Grace Qi’s contributions to the company have been a significant factor in its growth.

Qi joined the startup as a product manager, heading up important data and connectivity projects that explored new approaches for how data could further serve borrowers and lenders.

That experience led her to establish Blend’s intelligence team, and in collaboration with others in product, engineering, and business development, helped Blend become the first end-to-end platform to be approved to provide asset verification reports for the Desktop Underwriter validation service, a component of Day 1 Certainty

by Fannie Mae. “Grace’s role in the company has proven to be vital, helping to build better, smarter processes to create a more sustainable lending environment,” said Blend CEO Nima Ghamsari. “Her efforts to create end-to-end intelligence are driving a better experience for customers and efficiency for lenders, and have been recognized by her fellow Blend employees and our broad customer base.”

Qi graduated from Harvard and worked in analyst roles at NewOak Capital and J.P. Morgan before serving as associate product manager at Box, a cloud content management company.

Now 25, she heads the intelligence team she created, launching Blend’s intelligence platform in early 2017. That platform has already streamlined the mortgage process from a manual and paper-based model into a streamlined and Web-based approach that’s eight to 10 days shorter.

Qi’s typical day is full with both internal and external meetings, but when she gets a moment to herself, Qi likes to wind down with a run. She then uses the quiet evenings at the office to have what she calls “me time,” where she reads the day’s news, finishes projects she’s been working on and completes any other tasks that need to be done for the day.

What is the secret to her success? As it turns out, it’s not what she does at the office, but when she gets home that counts.

“I try my best to get a full eight hours of sleep every night,” she said. “It helps me be more focused and productive during the day and it allows me to think more critically about the problems I’m facing. Also, without sleep, I’m probably not a pleasant person to be around.”

She’s not all work and no play, however: she loves dancing, adventures and trying just about anything new. In fact, Qi’s curiosity and habit of questioning why things are done the way they are is the philosophy that guides her personal and work experiences.

“It’s never too late to try something new,” she said.

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Kamran Bakhtiari Vice President, Marketing loanDepot LENDING | AGE 35

Paul Akinmade CMO CMG Financial

LENDING | AGE 35

Paul Akinmade, chief marketing officer at CMG Financial, leads the marketing department for all lending channels, including retail, wholesale and correspondent. Akinmade also managed the creation and launch of HomeFundMe, the mortgage industry’s first GSE-approved crowdf unding platform for dow n payments.

Akinmade has held numerous leadership roles with focuses ranging from strategic business development to digital transformation of an HR department.

He credits his marketing knowledge to his success as an entrepreneur during the recession, when he immersed himself in the technical world and learned marketing automation, coding and web design.

Akinmade has served as membership chairman for the Maryland Association of Mortgage Professionals and he has also served as an external consultant for Dr. Ben Carson for president during the last election, working directly with Carson’s campaign director, Ken Dawson.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? The habit of continuous learning has helped me succeed; I love to learn and need to understand how everything works. I have been fortunate throughout my career to be able to engage with many talented people who were willing to take time to discuss ideas, work through challenges and share insights with me.

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Kamran Bakhtiari, vice president of marketing at loanDepot, is responsible for customer acquisition. His team has helped the company rapidly rise to become the nation’s fifth-largest retail mortgage lender.

Bakhtiari’s team has improved loanDepot’s digital marketing ROI by more than 300% during his tenure. Bakhtiari ensures that his team manages loanDepot’s large budget for online customer relationships to go beyond leads. His leadership has resulted in more than 200% revenue growth via digital marketing efforts in the last year.

Bakhtiari is also a professor of decision sciences within Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business Management, helping students learn to use data analytics to improve marketing campaigns and entire companies. He’s a fixture on the fintech, adtech, and university speaking circuit, giving talks about modernization of analytics, social media marketing and predictive analytics.

Bakhtiari has more than 15 years of executive and consulting experience at startups and F500 companies, including Irvine Company, Western Digital and Greatcall. He also serves on the Adobe Digital Marketing Customer Advisory Board.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD TELL A YOUNGER VERSION OF YOURSELF? The right attitude is mission-critical to success. Skillsets can be learned, but the right attitude creates the mindset necessary to reach your goals and stay hungry for your next achievement.

Zvi Band Cofounder and CEO Contactually

REAL ESTATE | AGE 34

Zvi Band is cofounder and CEO of Contactually, an intelligent CRM platform for real estate brokerages and agents.

Band led Contactually from an idea in 2011 to a company approaching $10 million in revenue, 70 employees and $12 million in capital raised by 2017. As CEO, Band maintains alignment on strategic direction of the company.

Contactually serves top agents in the country and works with dozens of the leading brokerage houses, including the largest RE/MAX brokerages in the country, the largest Sotheby’s affiliate and leading brokerages like CLIMB, Pacific Union, Zephyr, Elliman and more.

Band, a software developer and entreprenueur, has won awards such as the Washington Tech Titan for six years running, the Swanepoel SP200 Trendsetter for two years running and DC Trending40 Top Startup. Band also is the cofounder and creator of ProudlyMadeInDC, a flagship site promoting and celebrating Washington, D.C. as a startup hub where it serves and supports marketers, connectors and ambassadors in the greater D.C. tech community.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD TELL A YOUNGER VERSION OF YOURSELF? Focus is one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal.

Sonja Beaubien Vice President , Securities Marketing Fannie Mae INVESTMENTS | AGE 34

Sonja Beaubien is vice president of securities marketing at Fannie Mae, where she leads the fixed income marketing team for Fannie Mae’s fixed income securities products, including nearly $277 billion in debt securities and Fannie Mae’s flagship Connecticut Avenue Securities risk-sharing program.

Beaubien’s innovative approach elevates the single-family and multifamily fixed-income brands through investor focused marketing to both domestic and international investors.

Beaubien and her team coordinate panels and identify speakers for major fixed-income conferences to address topics meaningful for the investor community.

In addition to her role in securities marketing, Beaubien supports Fannie Mae’s employees in furthering their professional development by acting as a mentor and leading developmental trainings. Previous work experience includes positions at both domestic and global consulting firms.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received is that it’s just not achievable to know everything.

Surround yourself with people that complement and supplement your skill sets, whether it be your mentors, your manager, your team or your customers. Your partners can learn something from you, you can learn something from them, and the end result is usually a better outcome.

Brian Brown

Executive Vice President and General Counsel Ellie Mae LENDING | AGE 36

Named executive vice president in 2017, Brian Brown has built a commercial legal team for Ellie Mae which supported their ability to scale the business from $128 million to over $400 million.

Brown began his career at Ellie Mae in 2014 and was named general counsel in 2016. He has been instrumental to the company in all acquisitions since joining Ellie Mae in 2014, including AllRegs, MortgageReturns and Velocify, as well as being personally involved in negotiating many of Ellie Mae’s most strategic commercial deals.

Previously, Brown served as corporate associate for Goodwin Proctor LLP, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP, representing private equity firms and Silicon Valley companies in mergers, acquisitions, venture capital and security transactions.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? Great advice I received as an attorney is “assume people have the best intentions.” I’ve found that when I, and our legal team, assume that the third parties we work with, either in a contract negotiation or a dispute, have the best intentions, we’re better able to quickly and effectively resolve our differences and move the business forward.

Richard Calle

Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer loanDepot LENDING | AGE 31

Richard Calle, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for loanDepot, is the primary executive in charge of executing the company’s vision to combine simplicity and local advice to give consumers a one-stop shop for home buying, financing and improvement.

Calle fulfills this vision by evaluating, negotiating and closing acquisitions, partnerships and joint ventures. He does this not only in consumer lending, but throughout a rapidly consolidating ecosystem of consumer finance, real estate, home improvement and technology companies.

Calle joined loanDepot in 2013 and has led actions such as loanDepot’s partnership with OfferPad, loanDepot’s partnership with OJO labs, and creating and launching loanDepot’s new company, mello Home.

Calle also closed and integrated four acquisitions; Mortgage Master, iMortgage, American Coast Title and Closing USA. Prior to joining loanDepot, Calle was responsible for finding and vetting deals at private equity firm Parthenon Capital Partners and worked in the M&A groups at Barclays and Lehman Brothers.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? That your attitude and work ethic are two things you can control in any situation. Get those right and surround yourself with people smarter than you.

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Ted Coleman Head of Technology PromonTech LENDING | AGE 39

Anthony Casa

Founder Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) LENDING | AGE 33

Creator of the BRAWL (Brokers Rallying Against Whole-tail Lending) movement and AIME (Association of Independent Mortgage Experts), Anthony Casa has created platforms to empower brokers and bring change, in terms of policy and business practices, within the industry.

Within 30 days of its inception, the BRAWL had a following (in terms of email distribution list) of 897 people.

Casa also serves as president of Garden State Home Loans where he defends independent mortgage brokers and speaks out against undesirable business practices of “whole-tail” lenders that take advantage of businesses by stealing clients.

Casa formed AIME as an alternative to NAMB, establishing it as a community-growing platform where members have exclusive benefits, share ideas among mortgage professionals nationwide and receive progressive legislative and social education and advocacy.

AIME is working to rebrand independent mortgage brokers as “mortgage advisors” in the public eye, targeting homebuyers, Realtors, builders, financial advisors and real estate attorneys.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? There are no shortcuts to success. There is only hard work, relentless effort and doing great work over and over again. This advice has stuck with me throughout my career and is in the DNA of any organization I have been a leader of.

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Ted Coleman is head of technology for PromonTech, responsible for identifying places where design and tech innovation can make the biggest impact for PromonTech clients.

Coleman has built collaborative, cross-discipline teams focused on delivering functionality with great user experience for their client lenders.

Coleman has more than 15 years of experience developing scaling and enterprise solutions. Prior to joining PromonTech, he led teams at Parkifi and SendGrid, building scalable systems in Angular, Java and Ruby on Rails. Before that, he built enterprise software solutions for the mortgage banking industry and developed several mobile apps that are available today on Google Play and the App Store.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? Probably the best advice I’ve received is what our CTO Michael Kolbrener calls his “Five Rules”.

He told his kids: be on time, know where your stuff is, listen, try your hardest and look out for your brother. They’re all great, but the two rules I keep coming back to are listening and looking out for your brother. I try to step back and listen instead of just adding another idea to the discussion right away. It gives me a wider perspective to make a decision from. As for looking out for your brother, I think of it as looking out for our team. You can’t succeed on your own, so the team comes first.

Nicholas Corpuz

Vice President of Servicing Oversight Subsequent QC SERVICING | 35

Nicholas Corpuz is vice president of servicing onsite at Subsequent QC (SQC), an MQMR sister company. Since joining SQC four years ago, Corpuz has played an instrumental role in developing the company’s vision to not only protect clients through the design of a servicing quality control platform de novo but also add value to their businesses by offering servicer and sub-servicer reviews. Corpuz also performs safety and soundness reviews of mortgage lenders on behalf of warehouse banks.

Prior to joining SQC, Corpuz helped develop and implememnt Properct Mortgage LLC’s Servicing Audit following FNMA, FHLMC, HUD and CFPB requirement guidelines. During his time in Loan Administration, Corpuz developed an auditing regime for loans impacted by Hurricanes Rita, Wilma and Katrina. Corpuz has developed an industry reputation as an expert in servicing compliance applications of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, regulatory oversight and federal lending industry legislation.

WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? My mother, Carla Corpuz, was an underwriter for Fannie Mae. Early in my mortgage career, her advice to me was, “Stick with it.”

Joel Davis Executive Director Freedom Mortgage Corp.

SERVICING | AGE 39

With more than 15 years of call center and financial services experience, Joel Davis, executive director at Freedom Mortgage Corp., continues to find ways to improve the customer experience. Davis manages a team of more than 350 employees dedicated to customer care as well as other operational functions.

Davis is responsible for the planning, operational performance and leadership of various functions of a $200 billion servicing portfolio.

Davis received a special recognition from Freedom for reducing the cost of servicing loans by 32% for redesigning complicated processes that dramatically reduced repeat telephone calls and off-loading volume to self-service channels. He also deployed performance dashboards that encompass “need for action” flags which increased productivity by 19% within six months of implementation.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? One of the things that I feel has helped me succeed is realizing that most of my growth has occurred both professionally and personally when I was uncomfortable. Stepping outside of my comfort zone and stretching to newer heights every day increases my overall potential, knowledge and skillset to grow even further. A phrase that I often use is everyone should learn how to “Be Comfortable, Being Uncomfortable”

Sarah DeCiantis CMO United Wholesale Mortgage LENDING | AGE 35

Sarah DeCiantis, chief marketing officer at United Wholesale Mortgage, leads marketing and strategy for UWM, including marketing, public relations, advertising, social media, creative and CRM, which has established the company as the No.1 wholesale lender in America for three years in a row, as well as the fastest growing lender in America in 2017. DeCiantis built a marketing team of 30 and transformed it from sales support to the driver of sales growth.

DeCiantis also spearheaded UWM’s campaign to launch a new UWM website, an industry-changing resource that serves as an all-access mortgage pass to every tool and resource that mortgage professionals need on a daily basis.

With client service in mind, she also introduced the Marketing Toolbox service that provides brokers access to a variety of collateral to help facilitate their business growth and awareness campaigns, such as customizable videos, press release templates, social media images, emails and radio scripts.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” - Jim Rohn

Gregory Drakos

Executive Vice President, Special Situations Group Carrington Mortgage Holdings LENDING | AGE 37

Gregory Drakos, executive vice president of the special situations group at Carrington, is currently in charge of the team building Carrington’s next-gen digital mortgage and real estate technology platform, carringtonconnects.com.

The team’s mission is to make homeownership simple through technology that integrates lending, real estate and homeownership into a single platform.

Drakos is responsible for all aspects of the business. including strategy, technology, operations and marketing.

The Connects platform has achieved over $300 million in funded loan volume since its launch in mid-2016. Prior to leading Connects, Drakos worked on several major initiatives for Carrington, including a $530 million European bond financing and the creation of Carrington Development Company. Drakos serves as an advisor for several early-stage fintech and real estate companies and is actively involved in supporting veterans through the Carrington Charitable Foundation.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? The status quo. But it’s not just me, our entire team challenges this on a daily basis. I’m lucky to be surrounded by truly exceptional people who are excited about building a future experience that they want to use, and who are passionate about delivering an exceptional customer experience. It’s challenging, but with the team we have, it’s incredibly rewarding.

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Rachael Faulkner

Vice President of Servicing Cash Management Operations U.S. Bank SERVICING | AGE 38

Joshua Erskine CEO OneTrust Home Loans LENDING | AGE 36

Joshua and Shane Erksine launched CalCon Mutual Mortgage in 2008 out of a 450-square foot office in Mission Beach, California. In February of 2013, the culmination of their efforts was recognized as they attracted the attention of many institutional investors and capital partners.

In 2013, CalCon Mututal Mortgage was rebranded to become OneTrust Home Loans and inaugurated the motto, ‘Service is Everything!’

Since then, OneTrust Home Loans has seen a 1,160% increase in revenue and is now licensed in 35 states with 52 branch locations. Prior to OneTrust Home Loans, Joshua was recognized among the Top 50 Mortgage Originators for Loan Volume in 2007. As CEO, Joshua has helped the company receive a number of awards, such as Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Companies, San Diego Business Journal Best Places to Work, Best & Brightest Companies to Work For and more.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? Like any startup, you can have a great concept and great people on your team, however, all the pieces may not fall into place as expected. You have to be strategic as well as tenacious enough to work through any issue and move your company out of the startup phase and into the growth phase. You will deal with many challenges that feel like the end of the world, and as a leader you must stay strong and not fold during this time.

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Rachael Faulkner, vice president of servicing cash management operations for U.S. Bank, transformed the course of her department from being process- and task-driven to customer-driven. Her team now sees a valued customer in front of them, not a task when they process their daily work. Faulkner has held many roundtable sessions with her team encouraging them to speak up about outdated policies or practices causing inefficiency.

She has been able to end obsolete or manual processes, implement automation, streamline operations, improve performance and reduce errors and overtime by 85%.

Faulkner and her team have worked closely with consumer direct originations area to enhance a tool that allows them to obtain an immediate payoff quote.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? The best advice I received is something I learned from playing golf in high school and college.

Golf is a sport that you have no control over how your competitor is performing. You can’t block their shot, you can’t tackle them, you can’t fake a kick one way and kick the other way to score, you are simply reliant on your game and playing against the course. My high school coach used to say “play your own game”, which I think of when deciding on a banking product or career strategy. You of course want to know what your peers are doing in the industry, but in the end you need to focus on sticking to your company’s strategy and personal skills to be successful.

Dan Fichtler Director of Housing Finance Policy Mortgage Bankers Association LENDING | AGE 32

Dan Fichtler was a treasury staffer on detail to former Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson during the housing reform debate. Fichtler was one of the lead drafters of the Johnson-Crapo legislation, which laid the groundwork for a responsible end to the conservatorship of the GSEs. Today, Fichtler serves as MBA’s director of housing finance policy where he staffs the Secondary and Capital Markets Committee as well as the MBA Mortgage REIT Council.

He speaks frequently on housing finance reform, affordable housing initiatives, mortgage-related fixed income and derivative products and mortgage regulations.

Fitchler works with MBA members and other stakeholders to develop and advocate on policy positions affecting the secondary mortgage market. He also manages a team focused on government housing programs, including those run by GNMA, HUD/FHA, VA, RHS and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? No matter what you do, you’ve got to have fun while you’re doing it. As simple as it sounds, it can be easy to forget when you’re caught up in meetings, reports and deadlines. I’ve been fortunate to work with supervisors and colleagues who have had a similar attitude and it has made all the difference.

Sean Fritts Division Manager McLean Mortgage Corp.

LENDING | AGE 39

Sean Fritts serves as division manager for McLean Mortgage Corp., with over 15 years of mortgage industry experience under his belt. During the past six years at McLean Mortgage Fritts has had the opportunity to start and grow the builder division. Fritts has been McLean’s top producer for the past three years, moving over $125,000 million in personal production during 2017. Fritts has developed systems that enable McLean to deliver service within the construction sector. Fritts is also a member of McLean Mortgage’s Executive Committee. As a top producer and Chairman’s Club member, he has been named as a top 1% originator in the nation by Mortgage Executive Magazine for the past six years.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? I learned very early on in my career to develop a few key habits that support a thriving business. These weren’t habits that were meant to just make my life or work day easier, but also to create an excellent experience for my clients. If I am operating efficiently, then my clients will reap the benefit of an effortless experience. Examples of these habits have been streamlined communications through several methods. First, I habitually read, address and organize my email Inbox, daily if not hourly. I have a filing system within my email that allows me to process requests and delegate tasks or responses out to the appropriate contact. This one habit has alleviated hours of unnecessary communication or redundancy in my schedule.

Kristie Fulte

Vice President of Fulfillment Operations LenderLive LENDING | AGE 39

Kristie Fulte is lead vice president of fulfillment operations at LenderLive where she is responsible for leading the fulfillment team and managing multiple clients in the end-to-end mortgage process. She is accountable for the customer experience provided by frontline employees, implementation and process enhancements across the business.

Fulte joined LenderLive leadership team in December 2016, where she established herself as an instrumental part of the fulfillment operations team. Fulte was key in the development of LenderLive’s first line of defense team, creating workflows and procedures that support the global platform. Prior to joining LenderLive, Flute was vice president/loan administration manager of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? My father, John McCanuel, is my mentor in business and in life. I have been incredibly fortunate to learn a lot from him. The best piece of advice he ever gave me was to surround myself with a diverse group of people, because people who think differently than you will continue to challenge you but you must respect and listen to everything your team brings to the table.

When you truly listen, the answer to almost every problem is right in front of you! You, as a leader, just have to pick the best one.

Rick Hall Account Manager LoanLogics

LENDING | AGE 34

R ick Ha l l, accou nt ma nager at LoanLogics, helps clients get the most out of their technology investment with LoanLogics and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their audit teams.

He also supports clients who outsource QC to LoanLogics, working with them to optimize the process and help them understand the technology.

Hall began his career with an underwriting and consulting company, when developing policies and rules were time-consuming because you had to wade down into details to figure out what was needed. Hall determined there was plenty of room for productivity improvement at the time and his company intersected with Brian Fitzpatrick, now CEO of LoanLogics. Hall’s input helped drive the development of technologies that ultimately became the core of LoanLogics’ loan quality management suite.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? I was once told to look at every interaction with others as a transaction or investment of sorts. I’ve taken that to heart and try to apply it every day. In a results driven world, full of ‘on demand’ everything, it can be easy to be so hyper-focused on our end goals that we look past the individuals, the people who we come into contact with, both professionally and personally. In any transaction, you almost always “get what you pay for” and very rarely, do you get more than what you’ve invested.

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Scott Horn COO Informative Research LENDING | AGE 40

James Harp

Director of Real Estate Auction Services Altisource SERVICING | AGE 36

James Harp has been promoted five times since he began his career with Altisource in 2008 at 26 years old. Starting as REO asset manager, Harp now serves as the director of real estate auction services, where he is responsible for the development of Altisource’s auction products.

Harp helped spearhead the development and launch of Altisource Claims Without Conveyance of Title (CWCOT) business unit to deliver quality, compliant auction services for bank and servicer clients. For servicers, these offerings further serve as a key real estate disposition strategy by providing significant exposure to foreclosure properties and auction events.

Harp also works with his team to implement technology changes required for Hubzu, an online real estate marketing platform. This includes all CWCOT product enhancements and integrations on the Hubzu platform.

Earlier in his career, Harp led a number of Altisource innovation programs in response to the housing crisis. He developed and launched Altisource’s institutional short sale program for bank and servicer clients.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? A mentor once told me to make sure that I surround myself with those who believe in me. They’ll push you to ensure that you don’t become complacent and will always bring out the best in you.

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Scott Horn, chief operating officer at Informative Research, implements and leads all business operations and has played a central role in developing future-proofing technology that streamlines the loan process and helps IR’s clients close more loans through digitalization and automation. Horn previously served as vice president of information technology at Informative Research where he developed IR’s principal software, maintained compliance requirements for the IS and QA departments, spearheaded system upgrades and redesigns and ensured maximum uptime and stability in computer networks. In this role, Horn was able to convert all manual processes into an automated system, which boosted processing power by 400%.

Horn and his team developed a single-stack platform that now houses and handles all the data, products and users – instead of using a convoluted system that has to function under multiple platforms with a variety of touchpoints. Horn’s contributions to the company helped increase their revenue by more than five times.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? In this industry, you need to have an open mind and be flexible in order to succeed. As soon as you start becoming rigid in your beliefs and what you’re capable of, it’s game over. Especially working in fintech, it’s important for my team and I to be adaptable so we can forecast the trends in the market and tailor new solutions for our clients and the market.

Charlie Johnson

Vice President, National Field Sales Manager Solidifi LENDING | AGE 40

Charlie Johnson, vice president, national field sales manager at Solidifi, leads a team responsible for leveraging Solidifi’s strategy and core network management competencies to establish vendor partnerships for valuations, titles and closings. Solidifi is a publicly traded company with over 800 employees in offices located in Buffalo, NY, Rhode Island and Denver, CO. With over 11 years of experience in the mortgage and housing industry, Johnson played an essential role in driving revenue to support Solidifi’s growth since its fourth year to present day.

Johnson is also part of the senior leadership team at Solidifi, which is one of the country’s largest independent providers of mortgage services and one of the fastest growing companies as designated by Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500. Prior to Solidifi, Johnson gained financial experience at SettlementOne Valuation and Meridias Capital.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? I constantly challenge myself and the organization by asking a habitual question prior to pondering any course of action.“How does this support the organization’s strategic objectives?”

This simple question is my compass for success, perpetually guiding me to focus exclusively on the essential levers which will move the needle.

Sophie Kim

Director, Learning and Development Wedgewood, Inc. / CIVIC Financial Services REAL ESTATE | AGE 38

Sophie Kim built and leads Wedgewood’s learning and development efforts across the entire organization as director of learning and development. Kim created leadership development for front line managers up to C-suite leaders. She’s evolved the employee handbook to be engaging and up to date while addressing new company requirements.

Kim created, trained, administered and tracked Wedgewood’s Annual Performance Review process in 2016 and integrated it in to HRIS for the 2017 season. Kim also created a training program to support CIVIC Financial Services’ growth plant called Top Gun Program.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? Looking inward. Whether something was wildly successful, or a down-in-flames failure; I have a “real talk” session with myself first for everything big and small. With my customer always being people and their careers, that’s a huge responsibility I take very seriously. I’ve been often told that I have a much higher than average EQ, so that — coupled with looking inward — has allowed me to candidly scrutinize my thoughts and actions to draw takeaways in order to rapidly improve on each future step my team and I make to create positive experiences and effective learning for all. Looking inward keeps me exceedingly accountable which in turn drives me to push the boundaries and effort levels when providing support to everyone.

Pat Kinsel Founder and CEO Notarize, Inc.

REAL ESTATE | AGE 34

Pat Kinsel is founder and chief executive officer of Notarize, the first company in the country to digitize the entire real estate closing process. Notarize allows anyone to legally notarize a document from their iPhone or computer 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

Notarize is valid nationally and connects customers with licensed Virgina electronic notaries by live video call. Notarize is the only platform with approval from and successful delivery to both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and receive the support of national title underwriters, etc. Partners include United Wholesale Mortgage, Stewart Title, Westcor Title, ValueAmerica, Florida Agency Network, and more.

Kinsel is also co-chair to PRIA Interstate Recognition Committee, co-chair at MBA’s MISMO Online Mortgage Standards Committee and chairman at ESRA eNotary Policy Committee. He has led Series A financings in Lob and Drizly and serves on the board for both companies. Kinsel also cofounded Polaris Partnership, which was acquired

by Twitter in 2013.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “Be someone people want to work with.” I love that advice because it’s all-encompassing. Be a star performer, a great leader, and someone people enjoy and respect.

Travis Kniffen

Senior Manager of Pre Sales Solution Consulting Roostify LENDING | AGE 29

Travis Kniffen, senior manager of pre sales soluiton consulting for Roostify, began his career in the mortgage industry at American Capital Corp., an independent mortgage bank in El Segundo, California.

Kniffen spent several years as a loan officer at ACC while helping a college friend run a company that provided consumer-direct lenders a real estate referral network, gaining hands-on mortgage experience.

During his time at ACC, Kniffen was introduced to Rajesh Bhat, CEO and Cofounder of Roostify.

Kniffen was one of the first users of the early Roostify platform while he was still a loan officer at ACC, and began contributing part-time to the young startup’s development.

After Roostify closed its Series A funding in 2015, Travis transitioned to a fulltime role at the company. At various times, sometimes simultaneously, Kniffen led or supported functions including product development, client success, marketing and sales enablement.

Kniffen also represents Roostify through conferences and shepherding vital initiatives to completion.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? Remain curious, and never stop questioning.

The same teacher shared an Albert Einstein quote that has always stuck with me - “I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive” HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 43

Thomas J. Lile Vice President of National Accounts National MI LENDING | AGE 35

Broch Lassig Mortgage Professional Citywide Home Loans LENDING | AGE 30

Broch Lassig, mortgage professional at Citywide Home Loans, began as a loan officer at 20 years old in 2009, in the midst of the real estate industry meltdown. After several years of cementing his footprint in the marketplace, Lassig won the Top Producer award in 2012 and continued to be recognized as a top producer every year following.

Lassig’s efforts have resulted in production growth of over 400%, placing him in the top 1% among his peers. In 2014, Lassig created a mortgage team, leading a group of dedicated team members and expanding to recruit, train and support other producers within his mortgage branches.

Lassig’s team is expected to increase production by over 100% in 2018. Lassig is involved in corporate initiatives and implementations at Citywide Home Loans, remaining on the cutting edge of new technologies, team systems and loan processes.

Lassig was nominated as a community leader to take part in the American Cancer Society’s Real Men Wear Pink initiative and was recognized as Utah’s Top Fundraiser in 2017.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? The primary habit that has allowed me to succeed is sticking to the basics and being consistent with my efforts. I steer clear of elusive “shiny objects,” keep my head down, and keep on the straight and narrow.

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Thomas J. Lile, vice president of national accounts at National MI, began as an account manager where he managed large lender accounts in Colorado. In two years he was promoted to national account manager, responsible for managing relationships with 11 nationwide mortgage lenders. Lile grew his accounts’ NIW volume by nearly 135% in 2017, contributing to the company’s growth.

Lile’s sales team was recognized by National MI as “team of the year,” based on its overall volume in dollars of sold mortgage insurance policies. He is a current board member of the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association and chairs the group’s membership committee. Prior to Lile’s career at National MI, he had spent eight years at Old Republic International.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? My ability to try to adapt to almost any environment or situation has been a key factor in my success, especially in an ever-changing industry like the mortgage finance industry.

Adaptability has helped me work successfully with a variety of people in a variety of situations.

I feel fortunate to work for a company that encourages flexibility in the face of change, which ultimately adds great value to the customer experience for National MI’s business partners.

The ability to adapt has also helped me develop long-lasting relationships with colleagues and customers.

Mike Mirshahzadeh

CRO The Money Source

LENDING | AGE 40

Mike Mirshahzadeh, chief revenue officer at The Money Source, began his career in the mortgage industry when he was 16 years old. Mirshahzadeh’s first job in high school was as a telemarketer at a mortgage company.

After about 10 years of experience in the space, Mirshahzadeh cofounded Twin Capital Mortgage in 2003, ranked the third-fastest-growing financial services company in the United States in 2006.

Mirshahzadeh took the skills he learned in running a mortgage company and became senior vice president of wholesale lending at Pacific Union Financial. By 2013, Mirshahzadeh cofounded wholesale company Endeavor America Loan Services with his twin brother. Mirshahzadeh and his brother rebranded the company to The Money Source (TMS), its parent company, in 2018. As chief revenue officer, Mirshahzadeh oversees recruitment, development and acquisitions throughout the country.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? In the years following the market crash in 2007, I learned you have to wake up every morning and tell yourself that you’re going to get back on top. You have to not only be willing to sacrifice your comfort and hold yourself accountable every day, but also be willing to learn from those more successful than you. Most importantly, you can’t be afraid of rejection.

Steven Natale Vice President of Multifamily Finance Walker & Dunlop LENDING | AGE 30

Steven Natale, vice president of multifamily finance for Walker & Dunlop, has closed 51 deals over the past three years at the company. Natale’s primary specialties are multifamily affordable and multifamily market rate.

Natale began at Walker & Dunlop as an asset manager in 2012 and quickly moved his way up to vice president of multifamily finance throughout his tenure. Walker & Dunlop provides financing solutions and investment sales to owners of multifamily and commercial properties.

Natale closed a four-loan, $137.8 million Freddie Mac refinance portfolio with all the properties located in Orange County in 2015. He also closed a 22-loan, $305 million Fannie Mae refinance portfolio with half Green Rewards and half affordable properties in 2017.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? One thing that I’ve had to overcome to succeed in this industry is my age. Having to walk into a room with CEOs and CFOs in their 40s and 50s as someone in their late 20s is at times a difficult sell. However, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on significant projects and transactions that provided me with invaluable experience. I also pride myself on the knowledge I have of the loan products I work with. This experience and knowledge allows me to articulately present to these decision makers and gives them confidence to work with me despite my age.

Chrissa Pagitsas Director of Green Financing Fannie Mae INVESTMENTS | AGE 39

Chrissa Pagitsas currently serves as secretary treasurer on the U.S. Green Building Council and is a former advisory council member for the Urban Land Institute, Center for Sustainability. Under Pagitsas’ guidance, Fannie Mae has demonstrated innovation in multifamily green financing by offering the first major issuance of Green Mortgage Backed Security and the first issuance of a Green Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC).

The company was named the largest global green bond issuer in the U.S. by Climate Bond Initiative in 2017. To initiate transformative change, Pagitsas created a team of green financing subject matter experts within Fannie Mae’s multifamily business.

Pagitsas also partnered with the multifamily capital markets team, Fannie Mae’s independent trading desk, to create the structure of the resulting green MBS and explore the socially responsible investment needs of the Fannie Mae multifamily MBS investor community.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD TELL A YOUNGER VERSION OF YOURSELF? Have a big vision but also recognize that it will take a while to achieve it. Change in people, systems and markets doesn’t happen overnight. So stay focused on the big vision and over time remove the barriers to the change.

Nia Patel Underwriting Manager PeerStreet

INVESTMENTS | AGE 26

Nia Patel began her career at PeerStreet in 2016 as a real estate analyst. Patel developed processes and procedures for the newborn PeerStreet loan processing software and individually underwrote over $70 million in loans. In recognition of her hard work, Patel was promoted to senior real estate analyst where she was responsible for the real estate team’s underwriting models, team training and quality review of the team’s work.

Today, she serves as the underwriting manager, where she oversees a team of over 15 analysts and loan processors with a pipeline in the hundreds of millions.

She led a team tasked with spearheading the allocation process to sell loans to over a half-dozen institutional investors as well as performing all due diligence on representations and warranties for loans sold to institutions. Patel has contributed to the development and improvement of the PeerStreet Lender Platform. As a manager, Patel created training programs and resources used by all real estate analysts and loan processors at PeerStreet.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU HAVE EVER RECEIVED? While I was going through the interview process for PeerStreet one quote from Sheryl Sandberg at the Harvard Business School graduation was top of mind for me: “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on.” I took that advice when I accepted a role at PeerStreet and haven’t looked back.

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Perry Rahbar Founder and CEO dv01

INVESTMENTS | AGE 35

Jason Price Product Manager ReverseVision

LENDING | AGE 40

Jason Price, product manager for ReverseVision, brought a Six Sigma Green Belt certification and more than 14 years of IT/software experience with him to ReverseVision in 2014. Price has contributed his strong script writing skills to enhance RV Exchange (RVX), ReverseVision’s flagship loan origination software, as well as other products in ReverseVision’s software suite that produce a smoother customer workflow and improved functionality within the software administration. As a result of Price’s efforts, RVX drew more than 800 new lender and broker customers in 2017 alone.

Price also innovated a calculator tool for Reverse Vision Sales Accelerator that led to a 300% increase in subscriptions eight months following its release. The tol allows lenders to visually model the financial impact of home-equity conversion mortgages on the retirement portfolios of well-funded borrowers. Prior to his experience at ReverseVision, Price acquired his IT/software experience at leading firms such as Adobe Systems and NextWave Broadband.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? Saying “thank you.” I make it a habit to regularly express my gratitude to the people who help me get the job done. It’s not only a courteous thing to do, it also builds rapport with team members, who like being appreciated, and motivates them to go the extra mile.

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Perry Rahbar is founder and CEO of dv01, the data management, reporting and analytics platform that operates as a comprehensive hub between originators and capital markets in the online lending space. Rahbar founded dv01 to solve the challenges he encountered during his 10-year career in trading bonds at Bear Stearns. dv01 provides end-to-end solutions for over 250 financial institutions, giving investors the interface to manage and evaluate their investments.

In 2016, dv01 was named a winner in Forbes Fintech 50 Awards. Dv01 provides securitization reporting services on over 45 online lending deals, incorporating loan level data from each deal onto its platform. The company has also aggregated data for 4.2 million online loans, covering $57 billion of origination and with a current outstanding balance of $24 billion.

WHAT IS ONE HABIT THAT HAS HELPED YOU SUCCEED? Not being content with the status quo is a habit that’s served me very well throughout my career, both in trading and now as an entrepreneur. Wall Street, particularly the mortgage market, is littered with hand-me-down processes that are “just the way things are done.”

They’re usually pretty archaic and inefficient. I’ve always been interested in making things better, whether it’s something simple like how we do P&L on a trading desk, to building a new data, reporting and analytics infrastructure for the capital markets with dv01!

Vikas Rao

Vice President, Product Management Ellie Mae LENDING | AGE 34

Vikas Rao is vice president of product management at Ellie Mae, where he is responsible for creating the product strategy for Ellie Mae’s next generation of technology that powers its Encompass NG Lending Platform. Rao has designed and released the company’s Developer Connect solution, which provides access to Ellie Mae’s suite of APIs and is building LO Connect.

Rao is leading the product strategy behind Partner Connect, which will enhance market leading Ellie Mae Network, allowing lenders and partners to securely share information. In 2017, Rao participated in the Stanford University program, Stanford Ignite. This is a program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business that teaches innovators to formulate, develop and commercialize their ideas.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? When I started at Ellie Mae, I learned how complicated the mortgage origination space can be and how each of our customers has unique business practices and technology needs. As I worked on creating our Next Generation vision, I had to overcome not allowing today’s needs to limit the possibilities and the direction of where this industry is headed going forward.

With that, I had to focus on how we provide both a great consumer experience, while offering solutions to automating everything automatable.

David Roy

Vice President of Operations for Origination Solutions Altisource Portfolio Solutions LENDING | AGE 38

David Roy joined Altisource in May 2014 as director of product strategy, where he developed business plans in support of high potential technology offerings in the mortgage and real estate industries. Roy is now vice president of operations where he oversees design and implementation of technology solutions, operational improvement initiatives, go-to market, sales operations and financial planning and analysis.

Roy led the rebranding of Altisource Origination Services (AOS) to Trelix, providing mortgage lenders and investors with a suite of mortgage fulfillment offerings. Roy has been dedicated to the development and launch of the business’ technology platform Trelix Connect.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? Being new to this complex and rapidly changing industry. With this being my first role in the mortgage industry, the learning curve seemed overwhelming at first. Thankfully with hard work and great support from my team, I was able to quickly get up to speed and hit the ground running. As a result, over these past three years I have been able to help build origination solutions into an outstanding team of industry experts, strategists and operators. With such a strong team in place, I am now able to focus most of my energy on launching new initiatives while continuing to build our organization.

Calier Russell

SVP, REO Operations and Client Management ServiceLink Auction REAL ESTATE | AGE 34

Calier “CJ” Russell recently joined ServiceLink as senior vice president of REO operations and client management of ServiceLink’s auction business. Russell is responsible for internal operations as well as oversight of ServiceLink Auction’s growing market share by supporting clients in their loss mitigation and disposition strategies. Russell has introduced and implemented technology, systems and process enhancements that increased the company’s monthly revenue by over 600% in less than six months using Salesforce.com.

He also developed multiple loss mitigation and quality control business models to meet the needs of several clients across the United States while also developing strategic relationships to broaden business opportunities. Russell managed the architecture, development and integration of Salesforce.com solutions across multiple companies to synchronize BAC Short Sale Process with Auction.com. Russell is both a Salesforce certified administrator and a Salesforce certified developer.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? There is nothing more powerful than employee engagement. The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things, but rather the one who inspires his/her people to achieve the greatest things.

Aaron Schiff CEO Matic

LENDING | AGE 34

Aaron Schiff is co-founder and CEO of Matic, a digital homeowner’s insurance (HOI) marketplace that helps lenders and servicers integrate HOI into the mortgage process. Schiff launched Matic in August 2014, introducing the first company to incorporate HOI into the e-mortgage fold.

By moving the HOI point of sale inside the mortgage transaction, Matic helps lenders close loans faster, reduce origination costs and improve the borrower experience.

Matic leverages integrations to pull borrower and property data straight from the mortgage loan origination system, point-of-sale platform or real estate portal, so homeowners don’t have to manually enter data or guess the answers to unknown questions. Matic then normalizes the data, figures out how much coverage the homeowner needs and makes more than a dozen top carriers bid on the policy.

Schiff has steered Matic to a strong start and industry heavyweights have noticed.

In December of 2017, Schiff spearheaded a $7 million Series A funding round led

by Mr.Cooper (formerly Nationstar).

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? Resistance to change. No one likes change, even when it leads to better outcomes.

Sometimes resistance to change is overt, and sometimes it is unconscious, which makes it even harder to unseat. It’s a challenge we take on daily.

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Jenney Shen

Vice President, Customer Delivery Team Lead Fannie Mae INVESTMENTS | AGE 38

Viral Shah

Cofounder and SVP Mortgage Operations Best Rate Referrals LENDING | AGE 36

Viral Shah is cofounder and head of capital markets at Better Mortgage, where he oversees financial product innovation, the mortgage marketplace and corporate finance. Shah’s experience includes consumer finance, capital markets, corporate development and strategy.

Shah led the acquisition and integration of the mortgage lender that Better Mortgage purchased in 2015, while concurrently running the $30 million Series A capital raise.

Shah built out the capital markets infrastructure for the company, obtaining multiple warehouse lines and establishing a loan marketplace representing $700 billion of annual demand and 70% of the mortgage market, including some of the largest GSEs, banks, hedge funds, REITS and asset managers.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? One of the best pieces of advice I received early in my career was that a surprisingly small number of inputs make some of the biggest differences in output in life, whether professionally or personally. Focus on identifying those few inputs for the given situation (and make sure to question and understand your assumptions and constraints), maximize those inputs without getting distracted by other less impactful things, and build incremental progress on them every day. Once you’ve tapped out the impact on those larger drivers, start optimizing. Easier said than done! I’m working on it.

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Jenney Shen is vice president, customer delivery team and currently leads the “ONE” customer delivery team – supporting Fannie Mae’s most critical customers across the Ohio Valley and Northeast regions. She currently leads some of Fannie Mae’s largest accounts and holds a strong track record for delivering high quality service to her customers.

Net Promoter Scores for Shen’s accounts jumped from 37 to 51 in 2017, one of the largest jumps for any customer delivery team. She also strives to create an excellent work enviornment for her team. She currently has one of the highest internal employee satisfaction scores of all customer delivery team leads. Shen is also the architect behind two primary tools that the customer facing teams use to monitor lenders’ credit risk and profile. She created a framework for the single-family business to understand how the customers contribute to Fannie Mae’s business and trade-offs it makes in business decisions.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? Invest in your team. If you get the team right, everything will work. When you move up the management ladder, you rely on your team to execute everyday tasks. Make sure you have the right people for the job. After you get the right people, make sure they are happy. A happy, competent team can accomplish anything.

Zach South

Cofounder and SVP Mortgage Operations Best Rate Referrals LENDING | AGE 36

Zach South is the cofounder and senior vice president of mortgage operations at Best Rate Referrals. Since its inception, Best Rate Referrals has connected millions of high-intent consumers with a diverse etwork of lenders for variety of financing products including Home Purchas, HARP, VA, FHA, CashOut, 203k, USDA, Conventional, Reverse Mortgage, ARM, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, First-Time Homebuyer, Jumbo, Debt Consolidation and more. South played a vital role in building online mortgage marketplace MortgageAdvisor.com, which generates demand from thousands of consumers monthly looking for purchase, refinance and home equity loans.

South joined Best Rate Referrals in 2005 and helped build the first versions of the company’s digital properties, which boosted the company’s consumer engagement to a national level.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU HAD TO OVERCOME TO SUCCEED IN THIS INDUSTRY? This industry is always changing and if you don’t diversify, you’ll never win. We’ve always been focused on the needs of our clients and the loan programs consumers want. Whether it be rate changes or new legislation, I’m proud of how far Best Rate Referrals has come in our ability to pivot quickly in order to meet the expectations in the market.

Rocky Stubbs

SVP, Head of Direct & Digital Lending Flagstar LENDING | AGE 33

Rocky Stubbs recently joined Flagstar as head of direct lending and has been charged with positioning Flagstar as a market leader in digital and direct mortgage lending.

Stubbs led his team to achieve over 40% purchase while delivering industry leading customer and Realtor satisfaction scores. Prior to Flagstar, Stubbs led consumer direct and digital mortgage channel for Capital One Home Loans, where his leadership led the business to achieve record volumes and profitability.

Prior to Capital One, Stubbs led business development for mortgage banking at JP Morgan Chase. His responsibilities included Realtor engagement strategy, builder/ developer relationships, joint ventures, CRA/LMI lending and private wealth mortgage banking. During the financial crisis, Stubbs led the bank’s foreclosure prevention group, which successfully helped over 100,000 customers avoid foreclosure and remain in their homes.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? Someone shared this Colin Powell quote with me early in my career, “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” My dad actually had a different way of saying it… He would say “It’s impossible. But doable!” It’s about looking into challenging situations or even a crisis knowing that there’s always a path to success waiting to be found. It’s amazing how many solutions you can find to a problem when you already believe that there must be one.

Joe Thompson

Senior Vice President, South Texas Regional Manager PrimeLending LENDING | AGE 39

Joe Thompson, senior vice president and regional manager for PrimeLending’s South Texas region, including Houston, San Antonio and Austin, began his career at PrimeLending in 2015 where he more than doubled production for the Houston and Southeast Texas market. Thompson brought on proven top producers who embraced PrimeLending’s values.

Thompson brought on the Katy, Texas branch in 2016, which has since flourished, quickly becoming the top performing branch in the area. When Hurricane Harvey hit South Texas, Thompson led the PrimeLending boots-on-the-ground recovery efforts where he rallied PrimeLending’s South Texas employees, checking to make sure everyone was safe.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? My uncle always reiterated to “not forget where I came from,” which traces back to our blue-collar heritage in Northeast Texas. As one of the first in my family to attend college, it is important that I constantly remember our humble beginnings and to pass on those same life lessons to those around me. Working in an air-conditioned office every day is considered a blessing when you grew up spending your summers earning $4.25/hr in hot attics installing ductwork or crawling under snake-infested houses.

Elaine Till Account Manager National MI

LENDING | AGE 28

As one of the first employees hired by National MI in 2013 when the private mortgage insurer was still a fledgling company, Elaine Till has grown alongside the company. Initially hired to work as a senior specialist in National MI’s solution center, Till has since moved on to three other positions. Till also assisted in testing and developing the National MI AXIS loan origination system.

She moved to Seattle, Washington, to nurture customer accounts and grew business in Washington state and Oregon by 50% during her time there. Due to her success, Till was recently promoted to account manager for the Oregon and Hawaii regions.

Throughout Till’s five years at National MI, she has repeatedly been a recipient of the company’s “Home Run” awards, given to employees who go above and beyond in their service to clients. She has also been nominated for the company’s prestigious Pinnacle Award, which recognizes employees who have had a great impact on the company’s success.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD TELL A YOUNGER VERSION OF YOURSELF? I would tell a younger version of myself to be open to unexpected opportunities. Ten years ago, I never would have guessed I’d be working in the mortgage industry. but a series of opportunities arose and I jumped at the chance to try something new. This career choice has been more fulfilling than I ever would have expected!

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Joe Wilson Chief Marketing Officer SimpleNexus LENDING | AGE 34

Allan Voltz Senior Vice President of Pricing Arch Mortgage Insurance SERVICING | AGE 38

Allan Volt, senior vice president at Arch MI, leads three key pricing functions: price point management, research and development, and implementation and analytics. In his role, Voltz is responsible for Arch MI’s RateStar risk-based pricing solution and has worked to evolve RateStar during Arch MI’s acquisition and integration with United Guaranty (UGC) over the past year.

In 2017, Voltz and his team implemented a combined pricing strategy and introduced several updated versions of the platform that incorporated key features of both Arch MI’s RateStar and UGC’s riskbased pricing engine.

Having worked within the housing industry for more than a decade, Voltz has successfully navigated dynamic economic cycles and enormous regulatory change, using these experiences to bring innovation to the mortgage insurance industry and the broader consumer housing industry.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD TELL A YOUNGER VERSION OF YOURSELF? “You will miss out on opportunities until you learn you cannot do everything yourself.

Notice that evolution happens because people have collected their history, have shared ideas and have built on others’ ideas.

So, never pass up the opportunity to listen, engage as much as possible in diversity of thought and recognize that you are not evolving, unless you build on what you are learning.”

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Joe Wilson, chief marketing officer at SimpleNexus, joined the company in early 2017 to head the sales and marketing team. Prior to SimpleNexus, Wilson began as a loan originator at a mortgage company where he eventually decided to leverage his hands-on experience to start selling mortgage systems, instead of home loans. He was recruited by a West Coast-based LOS provider, where he first was in sales, then product manager, responsible for road shows and sales training.

He returned as an executive vice president of technology for a large mortgage lender where he was introduced to SimpleNexus as one of his customers.

Under Wilson’s leadership, the SimpleNexus sales and marketing team grew from one to nine employees. The team’s combined effort has tripled the company’s size of clients, leading the SimpleNexus digital mortgage platform to be used by 15 out of the top 25 retail lenders in the country. Wilson’s efforts led him to be a regular speaker at industry events including MBA, TMC and LOS user conferences and has been awarded a Circle of Excellence award at Ellie Mae. WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD TELL A YOUNGER VERSION OF YOURSELF? I could tell myself a lot, but I probably wouldn’t have listened! But really, prioritizing and goal-setting is more important than I thought, so I would encourage myself to be more dedicated to that.

Vince Wilson

In-House Counsel and Compliance Coordinator IDS LENDING | AGE 33

Vince Wilson, IDS’ in-house counsel and compliance coordinator, is responsible for implementing changes to idsDoc audits based on new regulations. He took the lead in interpreting and implementing the Jan. 1, 2018, revisions to Article 16 Section 50 of the Texas Constitution, including analyzing and counseling audits to ensure compliance with timing and drafting of new disclosures for 50(f) refinance loans.

Wilson also writes content for the IDS Compliance Resources site. Wilson took a proactive approach to meeting GSE mandates; and, in February 2017, IDS announced it was the first mortgage document vendor to have its XML file certified by Fannie and Freddie.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? The best piece of advice I have ever received was when I was a teenager working construction with my father. He told me that your priorities in life will determine where you spend your time and, consequently, how you live your life. If you are able to understand what is important to you and act accordingly, you will be both successful and happy no matter what happens in life. I’m always working on getting better at this, but I find myself the happiest and most fulfilled when I am properly focused on my priorities.

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How title companies can

EXPLOIT BLOCKCHAIN Digital ledger technology promises more efficiency and security, but hurdles remain

BY ALEXANDRIA DECATUR AND DEBBIE HOFFMAN

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NOT LONG AGO it was routine for title companies and attorneys to travel to various land recording offices across the country, work with local clerks, and obtain Xerox copies of the history of properties.

Today, in most cases, land records can be obtained from across the United States simply using a computer to access the digital records of the relevant recorder’s office. In the past 20 or so years, there has been a complete transformation in the way business is conducted from paper to digital records. Another transformation in land records may occur as a result of blockchain technology.

Initially used as the underlying technology for bitcoin when it was introduced in 2009, blockchain is the foundational digital ledger system for cryptocurrency transactions that allows the movement of bitcoin to occur securely, efficiently, and, in certain cases, anonymously.

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology (DLT), is no longer simply limited to a means of protocol for digital payments; it is now being used in some capacity in nearly all industries.

The multiple characteristics of blockchain make it an incredibly attractive mechanism across industries. It provides an unchangeable, time-stamped ledger that allows for real-time and simultaneous input. It is the perfect setup for industries where transactions are routinely moved from entity to entity or business to business and where records need to be verified and audited.

Naturally, therefore, in the world of title and real estate, blockchain provides an incredibly innovative platform, which would allow for land records to be added to a system of recordation that would permit access to such records in a more efficient, secure and transparent manner.

THE BASICS OF BLOCKCHAIN Many people hear the term “blockchain” and do not understand the details of the technology. This process can be broken down into four steps as follows.

First, a user utilizing the DLT ledger makes an input transaction intended to add to the ledger. This value can be either a new transaction or a change to amend a prior transaction.

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Next, the request is broadcast to every computer, or “node” as they are called, in the distributed group of computers on the blockchain network. This may consist of hundreds of different nodes and is not linked to just one server. Each node is not necessarily one person; it is not uncommon for companies to own an entire data room with computers (or “minors”) automatically working on a blockchain system.

Then, each node on the network must validate the transaction by using a series of algorithms, which will verify the encryptions on the transaction by checking its validity. The validation occurs electronically on the nodes, and not through one individual working on a computer scribbling down various mathematical equations.

Finally, once the distributed network approves the proposed transaction, a new block is added to the blockchain. This new block becomes an unalterable, permanent record. The only way to modify it is by adding another transaction; the history of the prior transaction, however, will never disappear from the ledger.

The entire process occurs without any physical transmission of documents or transfer of any paper currencies. While the earliest of blockchain transactions could take several seconds to complete, the newer DLTs are becoming faster.

PROPERTY TRANSFERS There are several characteristics of blockchain that make this technology an ideal ledger and record-keeping system for property transfer, title and ultimately land recording. DLT technology permanently records the times and dates of every change made to the ledger.

In addition, the encryption method used for blockchain technology allows for very secure record-keeping, which is less susceptible to cyber breaches than other virtual tools. It would take a hack of more than 51% of the

distributed network, occurring at the exact same time, for such a breach to occur. Finally, blockchain permits for central real-time access so that multiple people can access the same document online simultaneously.

The concept of distributed ledger technology generally means that there does not have to be an intermediary involved in the transaction and that such matter could be done in a “peer-to-peer” manner. For example, to effectuate payment, one could make payment directly without the need for an institution – like a bank, credit card company or a fintech solution such as PayPal. As homes are sold, title is verified, and transactions are recorded, a process in which all of the information could be stored on a blockchain. If implemented, DLT would provide a streamlined process as these records are more efficiently retrieved and utilized, rather than transferred, among all of the various parties to the real estate purchase transaction. Ideally, the DLTs could include the Realtors, purchasers, lenders, title agencies, appraisers, home inspectors and all others involved through and including the land records offices.

The challenge is that blockchain is not intended to be implemented in a vacuum: It works best when there is an ecosystem of users that take advantage of a technology.

In this ecosystem, there would be no need to transfer files. Those who need to review the ledger are able to access it – in some cases with “permissioned access” — and in others with complete transparency to all.

Therefore, the best use cases for blockchain implementation are for companies who are willing to invest in either being the first to move the market, or who are willing to become partners or vendors when the market movers are ready. This is similar to the way digital mortgage has grown to become a staple in the mortgage industry.

LAND RECORDS Understanding the characteristics of DLT, one can envision a property being recorded on the chain and having this technology act as a centralized land records database for property owners and title companies. The concept works in theory, however, in the United States, with over 3,000 land record offices that are often in small municipalities, the implementation is not practical.

In addition, with U.S. property history going back hundreds of years, blockchain doesn’t easily allow for this land history to be built into the chain.

But the technology has advantages that can be utilized in our current land recordation process going forward. The best implementation of blockchain at this

point in time is to utilize the technology starting from today’s records and developing it into a robust system.

As the technology grows, so too will the ability to determine how to add in historical data. Twenty-five years ago county recorders offices were all paper. Perhaps 25 years from now (or sooner), county recordation offices could be interconnected via blockchain.

USE CASES Although blockchain technology is new, there are two prominent use cases that tested the use of blockchain for land records. The first was in Cook County in Chicago, followed by application in the South Burlington, Vermont, area.

In October 2016, velox.RE, a blockchain record keeping company, announced a pilot program in collaboration with Chicago’s Cook County Recorder of Deeds. The program essentially allowed users to digitally transfer bitcoin tokens, which represented the physical transfer of deed to real estate, thereby allowing for digitalized real estate transactions.

Title information for a property was put onto a fraction of a bitcoin, called a “colored coin,” and included digital title and deed information about the property being transferred. Ownership was effectively transferred by the seller sending the coin to the buyer’s bitcoin wallet. This conveyance was simultaneously recorded on the municipality’s public land records using this bitcoin blockchain.

The Cook County project used the bitcoin blockchain to immediately and directly transfer ownership of the property to the buyer using this as an electronic deed transfer system by allowing the blockchain deed to replace the paper deed. This differed from other international test cases due to the use of bitcoin blockchain, instead of a private blockchain.

While other programs were used to back up existing records on blockchain, this Cook County pilot allowed for new property ownership transfers to be conducted directly from buyer to seller.

Beginning in January 2018, another blockchain title project was launched in South Burlington, Vermont, to use the DLT technology to record real estate conveyances in the jurisdiction. This collaborative program between the South Burlington City Clerk’s Office and Propy, Inc., a California-based real estate marketplace, utilizes a decentralized title registry system to transfer property.

The South Burlington pilot program was launched on Feb. 20, 2018, and allowed Katherine Purcell, an individual with property in Burlington, Vermont, to use HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 55

technology introduced by the program to transfer this property to her limited liability company for a nominal amount.

It demonstrated how the technology can be used for large-scale digital property transfers in the future because Purcell was able to do so rather simply across different entities in different locations. The town and the technology company are optimistic that this provides a manner of property record-keeping that will be both permanent and secure.

INTERNATIONAL LAND RECORDS Outside of the U.S., several jurisdictions are either piloting or implementing blockchain as the technology used for land records, including Dubai and the Republic of Georgia. It should be noted, however, that many jurisdictions making these implementations do not have a comparable history of land recordings to that of the U.S.

ogy company, The BitFury Group, is working with the Republic of Georgia’s National Agency of Public Registry and Hernan De Soto, a Peruvian economist, to create the program. Together, they are developing a blockchain-based property registry that can be used by the government for purposes of titling.

This system can be used to register property securely, but transparently, on the blockchain. The information added to this ledger will then be used to ensure that all property owned in the area is correctly titled so that the ownership of these properties can be legally enforced.

In addition to Dubai and Georgia, similar blockchain land registry programs have been developed for use by municipalities across the world, including Sao Paulo, Brazil, Moscow, Russia, and Kumasi, Ghana. While some of these programs have been more successful than others, they have all worked to bring innovative technology to land recordation.

“Dubai aims to be the first government in the world to completely adopt blockchain technology.”

Dubai officially introduced its “Smart Dubai” Initiative in December 2016. According to the website for the Initiative, its purpose is to “explore and evaluate the latest technology innovations that demonstrate an opportunity to deliver more seamless, safe, efficient, and impactful city experiences,” with the ultimate goal being to run all government transactions using blockchain technology by 2020. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) has stated that Dubai aims to be the first government in the world to completely adopt blockchain technology.

To realize this goal, the DLD has essentially set three different distinct phases. Dubai has already begun implementing the first phase as all land deeds are now being recorded on a central blockchain.

The next step is for the DLD to use blockchain to record all real estate agreements, lease or rental contracts, and property-related tax and water bills. The third phase will involve implementing a system that allows both citizens and investors to make electronic payments to any government entity at any time from any place.

In its formative stages, there is also a program for real estate titling designed and developed for the Republic of Georgia. A San Francisco-based blockchain technol56 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

Brazil, for instance, faces many challenges in implementing widespread blockchain-based technology in land-titling systems because the country’s population is extremely large and has many ongoing land disputes, including disputes between indigenous peoples who claim long-standing inherited rights to land and businessmen trying to now claim this land. However, Ghana’s Land Commission wants to solve the longstanding problem of land ownership transparency and thus, the commission has been very willing and helpful in implementing a blockchain land titling system.

THE CHANGING ROLE OF TITLE AGENTS As blockchain transforms the land records industry, the question arises as to what this means for the change in the role of title insurance, agents and the industry as a whole. While this is not an easy question, clearly there may be a transformative change which would alter, but not eliminate, the role of those in the title industry.

The most innovative companies will get ahead of the curve, commence implementing DLT pilot programs, and determine how they can be front and center in this land recording ecosystem.

The initial implementation of blockchain would most likely be forward looking, thus there will still need to be title analysis done on the history for all historical liens and defects.

Could blockchain eliminate the actual need for title insurance because the entire property history would be transparent on this technology – and thus not require insurance? Yes, theoretically the use of blockchain could eliminate a need for title insurance, but that would be far in the future when the entire ecosystem is on the DLT and our entire infrastructure has changed drastically.

Until then, title agents are still needed to dig deep for land history until the day when all the history and ownership of property is safely and securely placed on a blockchain ledger that could be assessed by the various parties to the transaction.

In the meantime, if those in the title industry embrace this technology to make their businesses more efficient, the roles and jobs may change, but they will not be eliminated. For example, the task of searching land records on a county recorder’s website may mean that the title underwriter must take a look on the blockchain and confirm that there is a complete record.

Title companies can still be front and center if they are able to continue to bring value to the consumer by providing assurance that the property record is clear and complete.

What about escrow officers who could potentially have their roles eliminated by smart contracts? Escrow officers essentially hold requisite documents and currencies needed for the completion of a transaction. In the case of real estate transactions, the title company often acts as the escrow agent as it only releases the required documents and funds, when necessary, according to the instructions provided by the party on whose behalf the title company is acting.

Since these holding services would not be required for future contracts, this role would likely evolve to encompass work associated with new features of a blockchain land titling system that will allow consumers to put their money directly in a blockchain escrow account. The role of escrow agents may slowly evolve into new roles needed in the areas of the real estate transaction process, including virtual real estate transaction coordination.

HOME PURCHASES USING CRYPTOCURRENCY In addition to using blockchain, title companies are now having to address inquiries where home purchasers ask about buying or selling properties in cryptocurrencies.

While it is not essential to use cryptocurrency in conjunction with blockchain-based real estate titling systems, it does further expedite and simplify the process, allowing for a more seamless digital transaction.

It is currently possible to purchase a home using cryptocurrency. The main requirement for a transaction of this nature to occur in a residential real estate transaction is the agreement between the buyer and the seller to exchange the cryptocurrency for the sale transaction of the specific property in question.

Bitcoins have been a possible currency for home sales and have been used in these transactions since about 2014. With a growing demand for this type of real estate transaction, a website called Open Listings has developed a means of browsing that makes it relatively easy to find properties that can be purchased using bitcoins or other forms of cryptocurrency. Open Listings is a free real estate listing website that allows prospective homebuyers to shop listings in their desired area, schedule private tours to visit the homes in which they are interested, submit online offers, and ultimately purchase their homes.

Despite the benefits to using bitcoin in home purchases, including its efficiency and clear and indisputable transfer, some major barriers to using bitcoins in real estate transactions remain.

Mainly, consumers worry about the unstable and ever-changing value of cryptocurrency in relation to different global currencies. However, after the bitcoin transaction has occurred, it is possible to almost immediately thereafter exchange the bitcoins received for cash to avoid the potential longer term risk associated with the fluctuating values of cryptocurrencies. Therefore, the barriers of using bitcoin for these type of large real property transactions can ultimately be overcome.

LOOKING FORWARD As with any new technology, it will take time to understand and implement blockchain’s role in morphing businesses and industries. The introduction of DLT is still new; everyday there are emerging blockchain developments, infrastructures and use cases. One thing is certain – the use of this technology is here to stay. Those that embrace it are going to be ahead of the curve, front and center, and critical to the ecosystems and customers around them.

Alexandria Decatur is president of the Business Law Society at Albany Law School. Debbie Hoffman is the CEO and founder of Symmetry Blockchain Advisors.

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It is possible a robot wrote this. In other words, it is not impossible for a robot to write an entire feature for a magazine.

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The real question, however, is would you even notice a difference? After all, robots can’t add flair, much less nuance, or even inject love and passion into their musings.

Or can “they”?

In the case of writing, a few months ago, Wired published an entire web series on what bot-tech meant for the future of journalism. They titled the special coverage: “The News in Crisis.”

One article opened with the following anecdote, tinged with this pervading feeling that robots will terminate us from all of our jobs one day.

“When Republican Steve King beat back Democratic challenger Kim Weaver in the race for Iowa’s 4th congressional district seat in November, The Washington Post snapped into action, covering both the win and the wider electoral trend. ‘Republicans retained control of the House and lost only a handful of seats from their commanding majority,’ the article read, ‘a stunning reversal of fortune after many GOP leaders feared double-digit losses.’

“The dispatch came with the clarity and verve for which 60 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

Post reporters are known, with one key difference: It was generated by Heliograf, a bot that made its debut on the Post’s website last year and marked the most sophisticated use of artificial intelligence in journalism to date.”

So it’s possible a robot wrote this. Not impossible, and totally plausible even. And if my job is at risk, then so is yours. At least, that is the prevailing pro-human bias in the news business today.

And let’s face it, you can’t help but be pretty impressed as to what robots can do in this day and age. The breadth and depth of their ability is nothing short of awesome.

When it comes to home prices, algorithms can more quickly determine a scale of value at a fraction of the cost for a human to do that work.

In underwriting, bots can leverage software as a service to perform the structurally repetitive tasks that can often lead to human error. Bots can do this quicker and without errors, to boot.

Amazon can unlock the door and let the Realtor in, but do you really even need the Realtor in the first place?

And then there is Artificial Intelligence, also known as the Rise of the Robots.

Artificial Intelligence relies on increased data volumes, advanced algorithms, and improvements in computing power and storage, according to computer analytics firm

SAS; all of which is available today. AI requires no human intervention and can make decisions on its own. This ability to move from strength to strength is defined by the Harvard Business Review as Machine Learning (ML).

Understanding the importance of ML is critical to fully appreciating the impact robots can have on our jobs.

Algorithms and bots help us in our jobs, but they don’t replace us.

This isn’t the case with advancements in AI. HBR authors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee wrote about the overall impact the advent of AI and ML may have on our livelihoods.

“Why is this such a big deal? Two reasons. First, we humans know more than we can tell: We can’t explain exactly how we’re able to do a lot of things — from recognizing a face to making a smart move in the ancient Asian strategy game of Go. Prior to ML, this inability to articulate our own knowledge meant that we couldn’t automate many tasks. Now we can.”

“Second, ML systems are often excellent learners. They can achieve superhuman performance in a wide range of activities, including detecting fraud and diagnosing disease. Excellent digital learners are being deployed across the economy, and their impact will be profound.”

Detecting fraud? Does that sound like a service you’d

like at your mortgage lending business? Of course it does, but can such technologies be implemented easily and without disruption to the businesses services?

The answer is yes and no. HousingWire contributors Dave Savage and Kristin Messerli addressed this conundrum in a recent ReWired blog.

Savage and Messerli continued with a conversation they had at the recent LendIt Fintech USA conference.

There they spoke to PwC’s Consumer Finance Practice, Roberto Hernandez, who shared his thoughts on disruption and the future of the modern loan officer.

Hernandez explained, “People have been saying for years that loan officers will go away, but when we ask about the potential model, consumers say no. People value the advice of their loan officer.”

He predicts that AI will reduce the amount of time the loan officer spends actually originating so he can spend more time advising. Rather than removing the loan officer from the transaction, he says that by digitizing and automating the process, “the loan officer becomes the center of the transaction.”

Loan officers may not be disappearing from the model, but their role has certainly shifted. By consumer demand and the help of technology and AI, they have gone from originator to advisor.

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A new identity where humans are OK with rubbing shoulders with robots as co-workers.

Mortgage advisors need to understand how to leverage technology to communicate and connect with consumers in the way that will empower their purchasing experience, Savage and Messerli wrote.

Steve Smith, the CEO of data aggregator Finicity, believes that the implementation of tech into the mortgage lending space is still in what he calls the “early adoption phase.” He believes tech should be leveraged to make the transaction smoother for the borrower and less error-prone for the real estate agents, appraiser, underwriter and lender.

“To add value is to remove friction,” Smith said. Yet mortgage lending will remain a “people process.”

Finicity sees this current environment as an opportunity and is reading the room well.

Their recent inroads into mortgage lending are tech-forward. In the past few months, Finicity also integrated with BeSmartee’s digital lending platform, MortgageHippo’s digital lending platform and Ellie Mae’s Encompass platform. They also announced a partnership with Advanced Data where Finicity asset reports are included as part of Advanced Data’s suite of fraud prevention and enhanced verification tools for mortgage lending.

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At the center of Finicity’s operations is safe access to data, data, data and the company is much larger than the mortgage lending space.

Take their relationship with Sovrin, a private-sector, international nonprofit aimed at promoting self-sovereign identity for a digital-first world. Finicity was announced as a founding steward (along with 25 other companies like IBM) earlier this month, and was the first data aggregator to do so.

On the surface, “digital-first” may sound like “people second” but the idea with Sovrin is to change minds, to reprogram the humans on how they feel about bots taking over their roles. The new identity is one that incorporates a greater aspect of the robotic aid.

It’s an uphill battle, creating a new identity where humans are OK with rubbing shoulders with robots as co-workers. Most people in the mortgage space get it, but as Smith notes, some still do not.

“They won’t change until they are forced to change,” he said of those who fight the go tech or go bust mentality.

The living memory of many includes going into bank branches and working directly with tellers. Until recently, it was difficult to envision doing something as personal as private banking without someone to help you along the way.

Today, not only are people all but vanished from banking, it now feels more normal to manage one’s funds using only apps. As a HousingWire reader said in a recent email to me: “We have the view that loan officer employment will remain steady in the AI era because borrowers value expert human input. Really? Lenders are paying more

than $19 billion annually for loan officers and surely they’re looking to reduce costs.”

The 2018 Citi Mobile Banking survey of 2,000 adults found that 31% of app users use their financial services app more than any other app. That may be any one of your potential customers. Indeed, reaching customers through their phones is a legitimate thing now, especially considering the use of financial apps is second only to weather apps (33%) and social media apps (55%). While there are trepidations on the mortgage worker side, consumers are already making friends with robots.

“Mobile banking usage is skyrocketing as more consumers experience the benefits of greater convenience, speed and financial insights driven by new app features and upgrades,” said Alice Milligan, chief digital client experience officer, U.S. Consumer Bank, Citi.

“Over the past year we’ve witnessed this increase in engagement first-hand, with mobile usage in North America increasing by almost 25%, and we don’t see this trend slowing down any time soon.”

This is proof that a digital-first mindset needs to be adopted across the mortgage-lending landscape.

According to the study, almost half (46%) of consumers — including nearly two-thirds of Millennials (62%) — have increased their mobile banking usage in the last year.

Eight out of 10 consumers (81%) are now using mobile banking nine days a month, on average, while nearly a third (31%) mobile bank 10 or more times per month.

Here is a wrap of the results lenders need to know about: • 91% of mobile banking users prefer using their app over going to a physical branch • 68% of Millennials who mobile bank see their smartphones replacing their physical wallets • Respondents estimate that they save 45 minutes a month because of mobile banking (equivalent to nine hours a year), logging in while at home on the couch (75%), in bed (47%) or at work at their desk (36%).

• 19% of Millennials are even mobile banking while on a date.

David Schroeder, senior vice president of Quicken Loans Mortgage Services recently broke down potential homeowners into three different types of buckets and describes the methods to get them to close, quickly and efficiently. Some are more into working with robots than others.

“We can’t stop the world of progress, we’ve got to be on the edge of technology and you see that with Rocket Mortgage,” Schroeder said.

“There is an emerging group of people who are comfortable going through the mortgage process and not having to talk to a person, that’s just a reality. That’s the Rocket Mortgage.

“Then there’s the QL brand, the brokers, there’s a television commercial for [borrowers] to call in, and they can provide an amazing experience.

“And the third channel are those folks who at least want the option of dealing with someone who is in their community; We don’t see that going away.”

So as the role of robotics increases in the mortgage lending space, taken as a whole, the human element isn’t automatically replaced. Innovators such as Finicity, combined with big pockets, such as Quicken Loans, show that tech can actually create more business if appropriately embraced and executed.

Companies such as Finicity teach consumers how to better manage money, and Rocket Mortgage automates the DT, etc. In time, these types of services will work together to open the credit box, by offering loans to those who are locked out of lending because of their credit score.

Carrington Mortgage Services recently launched such a mortgage program and I asked executive vice president Rick Sharga flat out: “Speaking in terms of real estate agents and loan officers, do you see automation taking over a big part of their role going forward?”

Sharga responded that this is the trillion-dollar question facing our industry right now.

“I’m of the school that the Realtors will always be involved. I do think as Artificial Intelligence becomes more pervasive and Machine Learning becomes a bigger part of the process, Realtors will need to see their roles change.”

But according to Sharga, recent research he conducted in his previous role at Ten-X identified Millennials as the demographic most interested in working with a human for their mortgage needs.

“It’s because they’ve never been through the process before,” he explained.

“As counselor, as coach, as a hand holder, even when people are pretty well-educated on rates, there is still some uncertainty and they want to talk to someone before they pull the trigger,” he said.

“And if you’re a borrower who doesn’t click all the boxes exactly, you’re still going to get kicked off to a call center where a loan officer can deal with whatever perceived issue there is.”

“The human element is really important,” Sharga said.

“As long as we’re dealing with people who are buying the homes, there is going to be an opportunity for people on the other end of that transaction.”So our jobs are safe, for now, at least until robots begin to make counter offers on our homes. We can’t possibly win that kind of bidding war. After all, it may prove tough to write a cover letter that is more compelling than the one written by Heliograf. Our robots just grow up so fast.

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Inside Baseball

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Inside Baseball

The M&A juggernaut continues A SUMMARY OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR

BY CAROLINE BASILE AND BEN LANE

THE INDUSTRY continues to see significant consolidation as companies buy up or merge with other companies.

One of the biggest deals of the year happened in February, when Ocwen announced that it was acquiring PHH Corp. for $360 million in cash. Under the terms of the deal, Ocwen will acquire all of PHH’s outstanding shares for approximately $360 million in cash or $11 per diluted common share.

The deal is targeted to close during the latter half of the year, but Ocwen has the option to terminate the deal if PHH’s unrestricted cash or net worth “decline below certain threshold amounts.”

Below is a roundup of M&A action from March and April:

• MARCH SILVER LAKE ACQUIRING $500 MILLION STAKE IN CREDIT KARMA Silver Lake, a private equity firm that led a $500 million round of funding online lender SoFi last year, is increasing its interest in the personal finance space by acquiring a “significant minority stake” in Credit Karma, the personal finance company.

Specifically, Silver Lake plans to invest $500 million in Credit Karma in a deal that values the company at $4 billion. But Credit

Karma isn’t actually raising any money in the deal. Rather, Silver Lake’s investment is going to Credit Karma’s shareholders to cash them out.

Credit Karma’s founder and CEO, Kenneth Lin, will remain the company’s largest shareholder. Additionally, Lin, along with co-founders Nichole Mustard and Ryan Graciano will continue to lead the company.

Credit Karma boasts more than 80 million members in North America, including almost half of all Millennials, the company said. Silver Lake also recently partnered with another private equity firm, Battery Ventures, to buy EDR, a provider of real estate data and software-as-a-service, for $205 million.

RADIAN BUYS DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER TITLE INSURER ENTITLE DIRECT Over the last few months, private mortgage insurer Radian Group has restructured its mortgage and real estate services business, which is conducted through its principal subsidiary Clayton Holdings, and Clayton’s subsidiaries: Green River Capital, Red Bell Real Estate and ValuAmerica.

In March, Radian made another change in its services business HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 65

Inside Baseball by acquiring Entitle Direct Group, a title insurance and settlement services company that specializes in selling title insurance directly to consumers.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

FLAGSTAR FINALIZES ACQUISITION OF DESERT COMMUNITY BANK BRANCHES

Management Group, an appraisal management company based in Georgia. Valuation Management Group was founded in 2006 and is led by Vicky Thompson, who was named a HousingWire Magazine Woman of Influencein 2015.

According to the companies, the majority of the VMG team is set to join Dart Appraisal, and the combined company plans to maintain an office location in the Atlanta area.

“The culture at VMG has always been to give exceptional service to our clients and to take good care of our employees and appraisers, and Dart shares that philosophy,” Thompson concluded.

“For our current clients, I believe it will be business as usual!”

After finalizing its acquisition of Santander Bank’s mortgage warehouse portfolio, Flagstar Bank announced March 19 it also inalized the purchase of eight branches of Desert Community Bank in San Bernardino County, Calif.

Flagstar purchased the branches, which have approximately $600 million in deposits, along with certain related assets from East West Bank, to grow its presence in California. Terms of the THE CLEARING HOUSE ASSOCIATION MERGING WITH transaction were not disclosed.

FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE This acquisition is the latest update in a series of moves made Seeking to increase the influence of the nation’s largest banks on

by Flagstar. In addition to recently acquiring Santander’s mort- the legislative process, two of the nation’s largest banking tradgage warehouse portfolio, the bank announced in January that it ing groups are joining forces. The Financial Services Roundtable was expanding its consumer direct lending operation by adding and The Clearing House Association are merging, the two groups a team from Capital One. announced in March.

In 2017, the company acquired Stearns Lending’s delegated Both groups boast the nation’s largest groups among their memcorrespondent lending business. And in May, Flagstar closed on bers. The Clearing House Association is one of Wall Street’s largest its acquisition of “certain assets” of Opes Advisors, a full-service lobbying groups. The organization is part of The Clearing House, mortgage bank and financial advisory firm. a banking association and payments company that’s owned by the world’s largest banks.

Owners of The Clearing House include Bank of America, Capital MASSIVE TITLE INSURANCE MERGER: FIDELITY One, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, Santander, SunTrust, NATIONAL BUYING STEWART FOR $1.2 BILLION UBS, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, and others.

The title insurance world is about to get a whole lot smaller, as Politico reported earlier this year that the board of the FSR voted Fidelity National Financial is set to buy Stewart Information late last year to “pare down its membership only to banks with Services in a massive $1.2 billion deal.

Fidelity is already one of the nation’s largest title insurance and more than $25 billion in assets.”

The move, reportedly led by Bank of America CEO Brian settlement services provider, and now, it’s set to acquire one of Moynihan, cut the FSR’s membership from more than 80 memits biggest competitors. bers to just over 40, with the expulsion of insurers, asset managThe two companies announced the deal March 1.

Under the terms of the deal, Stewart shareholders will receive ers, and some nonbanks.

Upon completion of the merger, TCH Association President Greg $25 in cash and 0.6425 common shares of Fidelity for each Stewart Baer will become the CEO for the new organization. Last month, share of Stewart they own.

Stewart will operate under the Fidelity umbrella, along with the FSR announced that Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of the company’s other title brands, which include Fidelity National Minnesota, planned to step down this month.

Chris Feeney, president of FSR’s technology policy division, Title, Chicago Title, Commonwealth Land Title, Alamo Title, and National Title of New York.Fidelity said that it expects to achieve will assume interim responsibility for the group until Baer beat least $135 million in “operational cost synergies” from the deal. comes CEO. The companies currently expect the deal to close by the first or second quarter of 2019. But, if the deal is not completed for failure • APRIL to obtain the required regulatory approvals, Fidelity is required REDWOOD TRUST INKS DEAL WITH 5 ARCHES to pay Steward a reverse break-up fee of $50 million.

Redwood Trust, a real estate investment trust that specializes in buying and securitizing jumbo mortgages, is buying 20% of 5 Arches, an originator and asset manager of investor-focused DART APPRAISAL ACQUIRES VALUATION MANAGEMENT loans, including loans for single-family rental homes, multifamGROUP ily bridge, and fix-and-flip residential real estate.

Dart Appraisal announced in March that it acquired Valuation 66 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

Inside Baseball

As part of the deal, Redwood Trust will have “exclusive” access to 5 Arch’s pipeline of single-family rental loans, which includes up to four properties.

Redwood Trust is paying $10 million in cash for the minority share in 5 Arches. Additionally, Redwood Trust will have a oneyear option to buy the remaining 80% interest in 5 Arches for $40 million. 5 Arches has originated more $1.3 billion of business-purpose residential mortgages since being founded in 2012.

fixed-rate unsecured personal loans, high-yield online savings accounts and certificates of deposit.

In January, Marcus announced it was expanding to also offer home improvement loans.

Clarity Money CEO Adam Dell, who is the brother of Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, will remain in charge at the company and will join Goldman Sachs as a partner.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

CHINA OCEANWIDE’S $2.7 BILLION ACQUISITION OF GENWORTH FINANCIAL STILL ON HOLD

NEW PENN FINANCIAL ACQUIRING ENVOY MORTGAGE’S CORRESPONDENT LENDING DIVISION

It’s been 20months since China Oceanwide Holdings Group, one of China’s largest companies, announced that it planned to buy Genworth Financial, one of the U.S.’s largest mortgage insurers, for $2.7 billion, but the deal still isn’t done yet.

The two companies announced April 24 that they have withdrawn and refiled their joint notice with the Department of the Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to allow the committee more time to review the transaction.

According to Genworth and China Oceanwide, the companies withdrew their previous notice and filed a new one with CFIUS, which agreed to move directly to a 45-day investigation period after a one-day review period. The companies caution that filing the new notice provides no guarantees that CFIUS will approve the deal.

New Penn Financial’s growth in the wake of its parent company being acquired by New Residential Investment Corp. is set to continue, as the lender announced in April that it is acquiring the correspondent lending division of Envoy Mortgage.

New Penn is owned by Shellpoint Partners, which is also the parent company of Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing, Avenue 365, a title and settlement services provider, and eStreet, an appraisal management company.

As part of the deal, Envoy’s existing correspondent sales and operations staff, along with the division’s management, will be moving to New Penn.

New Penn will continue operating its Wholesale and Emerging Banker Lending group as part of its third-party origination division.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

LENDERLIVE ACQUIRES REQUIRE HOLDINGS Mortgage services provider LenderLive acquired reQuire Holdings from L2 Capital Partners, a Devon, PA-based private equity family office. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. reQuire Holdings’ companies include reQuire Real Estate Solutions, Service 1st, CRES and Covius. reQuire, which is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, offers a range of services, including lien release tracking, title search and reporting services, title curative services, due diligence, quality assurance, asset valuation and business process management technology solutions.

Evercore acted as LenderLive’s financial advisor and Ballard Spahr acted as legal counsel to LenderLive in connection with the acquisition.

GOLDMAN SACHS BUYS STARTUP CLARITY MONEY In April, Goldman Sachs announced it purchased personal finance startup Clarity Money to boost Marcus, its online lending business.

Clarity Money, a free app that helps consumers manage personal finances, will be re-branded as Marcus by Goldman Sachs and the purchase is expected to add more than 1 million customers to the Marcus business.

Goldman Sachs launched Marcus in 2016, offering no-fee,

STONE POINT CAPITAL ACQUIRES MAJORITY INTEREST IN AMERICAN MORTGAGE CONSULTANTS Stone Point Capital, a private equity firm that also owns a piece of Ten-X, is buying a majority stake in American Mortgage Consultants, a provider of outsourced services to participants in the residential and consumer loan mortgage market.

Technically, “funds managed by Stone Point” acquired the majority stake in AMC, which provides due diligence, quality control, securitization review, mortgage servicing rights review, advance assessment, servicing oversight, technology, and consulting services.

Back in early 2017, AMC acquired a business unit from Stewart Lender Services that focuses on credit, compliance, origination and servicing quality control reviews, as well as the due diligence and quality control-related technologies.

At the time, AMC CEO Michael Franco told HousingWire the company planned to continue its growth in the wake of the Stewart deal. Franco said that the Stone Point acquisition allows the company to accelerate that growth plan.

According to AMC, it currently services more than 200 active clients.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 67

Kudos MILESTONES • The first quarter was a record-breaking one for ANGEL OAK COMPANIES, which includes ANGEL OAK MORTGAGE SOLUTIONS, ANGEL OAK HOME LOANS, and ANGEL OAK PRIME BRIDGE. The company, which specializes in mortgage credit, raised $291 million earlier this year to invest in non-QM mortgages. Earlier this month, Angel Oak closed its largest securitization to date, a $328.78 million offering comprised largely of non-QM mortgages.

And it looks like that’s just the start for Angel Oak. The company reported that it had a record of $340 million in non-QM mortgage originations in the first quarter, an increase of 62% over the same time period last year.

Angel Oak also announced that it is launching ANGEL OAK COMMERCIAL LENDING, which will provide financing to commercial real estate owners, developers and investors. According to the company, Angel Oak Commercial will focus on short- and long-term financing for projects in various areas of commercial development, including multifamily, industrial, mixed use, retail, office, selfstorage and other segments.

CLEAR CAPITAL has big plans for the next half decade.

In the first quarter of this year the company hired 61 new employees, including two new senior leaders, and 12 new sales team members, with plans to double the company’s size 68 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

over the next five years. Of the first-quarter hires, 37 will be based out of its Reno, Nevada, headquarters. Last year, the company hired more than 100 people overall.

NEW AMERICAN FUNDING continues to expand its footprint across the U.S., announcing its latest branch opening in California. It is expanding its Southern California territory with the grand opening of its new location in Indio. New American explained it recognized a rising need in the Coachella Valley area for affordable loan programs.

The new location is a full-service producer that will bring the region a range of purchase and refinance options with a focus on down payment assistance programs and niche loans.

And this expansion is just one of many in recent months.

Most recently, the company announced it was expanding its footprint in the Seattle area.

M&A • Nearly two years ago, TWO HARBORS INVESTMENT CORP., a mortgage real estate investment trust, shuttered its mortgage securitization business, wherein the REIT bought jumbo mortgages and securitized them. Since then, the company has focused on investing in residential mortgage-backed securities, mortgage servicing rights, and other financial assets.

And now, the company is preparing to expand its agency RMBS business by acquiring CYS INVESTMENTS, a fellow mortgage REIT that specializes in investing in agency RMBS backed by fixed-rate single-family residential mortgage loans, adjustable-rate mortgages and hybrid ARMs. MUTUAL OF OMAHA BANK,

the banking arm of insurance giant MUTUAL OF OMAHA, is expanding its mortgage platform by acquiring SYNERGY ONE LENDING, a mortgage lender based in California.

SYNERGY ONE is licensed in 45 states and offers a variety of home financing products and services, including mortgages and reverse mortgages, through a network of loan officers, mortgage brokers, and direct sales channels.

One important piece of the deal for Mutual of Omaha: acquiring Synergy One will allow the company to expand into reverse mortgage lending.

Upon completion of the deal, Synergy One will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mutual of Omaha Bank and continue to be based in San Diego.

Kudos

LAUNCHES •Smart transaction technology company VENTANEX has launched PAYMENTIQ, a new solution that powers autoposting and smart workflow of exception items. PaymentIQ uses artificial intelligence and advanced imaging to streamline processing of complex, papercentric payments, including bankruptcy checks, payoffs, wires, money orders and rejected items, the company said, adding that it is now in operation at a top-20 mortgage servicing company.

GUILD MORTGAGE launched an advanced integrated sales and marketing platform to allow their loan officers a single platform to better connect with each customer. GUILD 360 is a single sign-on that allows the company’s loan officers to maintain current homebuyer information throughout the lending process and specific to each customer lifecycle. The platform connects customer, transaction and referral data in one system allowing

Guild’s loan officers to gain analytical insights to make more informed business decisions.

BANK OF AMERICA revealed it is launching a digital mortgage platform, which allows customers to complete the mortgage application

process either via their mobile device or on Bank of America’s website. The application has advanced prefill capabilities, which allows for many aspects of their mortgage application, like contact information and banking and investment data from Bank

of America accounts, to be autopopulated.

The bank claims that this can significantly reduce the time and effort involved in applying for a mortgage and said that borrowers using the digital mortgage platform can receive a conditional approval the same day they apply.

UNITED WHOLESALE MORTGAGE (UWM) has launched a consumer-facing website, FindAMortgageBroker. com, dedicated solely to promoting the advantages of working with a mortgage broker. The website is designed to help borrowers and real estate professionals to locate mortgage brokers in their area. UWM created the website to enhance awareness of mortgage brokers for three groups: consumers looking to get a residential loan; real estate professionals who want to build reliable partnerships and empower their clients; and bank or retail loan originators who are looking for the best place to work.

INTEGRATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS • Retail mortgage lender GUARANTEED RATE announced it selected TOTAL EXPERT as its strategic technology partner to deploy Red Arrow Connect, the lender’s new proprietary marketing operating system. The system is designed to bring together best-in-class marketing tools and existing industry leading technology, custom built by Guaranteed Rate’s in-house technology team, Total Expert explained in a press release.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 208 69

CFPB Watch

CFPB Watch

Mulvaney restructures CFPB PLUS THE BUREAU FIXES TRID’S “BLACK HOLE”

BY BEN LANE AND KELSEY RAMIREZ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Mick Mulvaney announced on May 10 that he plans to reorganize the bureau’s operational structure.

Mulvaney sent out a memo to his staff saying the CFPB will relocate its Office of Students and Young Consumers and fold it into the Office of Financial Education, according to a memo reviewed

by HousingWire.

Mulvaney explained that the changes are “to make the bureau more efficient, effective and accountable.”

But not everyone agrees the changes will improve the CFPB. Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said the restructuring sends a clear message that political appointees are infiltrating the agency with ideology that will put consumers last.

“The closing of the Office of Students and Young Consumers is deeply concerning and will most certainly set back the progress the Consumer Bureau had made to protect our nation’s students and consumers,” Waters said.

“Under the leadership of Richard Cordray, the Consumer Bureau was vigilant in protecting the over 44 million student borrowers who collectively carry over $1.48 trillion in student loan debt in this country.”

“In fact, just last year, the Consumer Bureau brought an enforcement action against Navient, the largest student loan servicer in the U.S., for providing false information to borrowers, process-

ing payments incorrectly, illegally steering borrowers away from lower-cost repayment plans, and failing to respond to borrower complaints,” she said.

But the bureau told HousingWire that the changes were not significant at all, saying there was no functional or even practical change.

“This is a very modest organizational chart change to keep the Bureau in line with the statute but the office is still operating within the same division,” CFPB Chief Communications Officer and Spokesperson John Czwartacki said. “The work of the office continues, personnel are all on the job and working on the same material as they were before. The bottom line is there is no functional or even practical change.”

Mulvaney also created a new Office of Cost Benefit Analysis, which would bring more of the bureau’s operations under direct supervision of his handpicked staff.

“The creation of an Office of Cost Benefit Analysis, to be closely controlled within the Office of the Director, is nothing more than a way to internally block regulations that may benefit consumers under the guise of cost-benefit analysis,” Waters said.

Sources familiar with the matter say President Donald Trump plans to name National Credit Union Administration Chairman J. Mark McWatters as permanent director. Given the current rate of nomination approvals, this could leave Mulvaney in charge of the bureau at least until the end of the year.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 71

CFPB Watch

FIXING THE BLACK HOLE The CFPB announced in April that it fixed what those in the mortgage industry have taken to calling the “black hole” in the Know Before You Owe rule.

The CFPB finalized an amendment to its Know Before You Owe rule, also called the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, that addresses when mortgage lenders with a valid justification can pass on increased closing costs to consumers and disclose them on a Closing Disclosure.

After the rule went into effect on Oct. 3, 2015, there were initial hiccups and headaches centered on how long loans would take to close, potentially causing a lot of problems for consumers who are strapped for time. .

As it stood, the rule contained no provision that allowed creditors to use a Closing Disclosure to reflect the revised disclosures if there are four or more days between the time the revised disclosures are required to be provided and consummation. As a result, the rule created a situation where creditors are unable to provide either a revised Loan Estimate or a corrected Closing Disclosure to reset tolerances.

The CFPB closed comments on the proposal in October 2017 and has announced the final rule. Here’s an excerpt: The Bureau proposed to allow creditors to reset tolerances using a Closing Disclosure without regard to the four-business day limit.

Under the proposal, as under the current rule, to reset tolerances 72 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

with a Closing Disclosure, creditors would have been required to provide the Closing Disclosure to the consumer within three business days of receiving information sufficient to establish that a reason for revision applies. Further, as under the current rule, creditors would have been allowed to reset tolerances only under the limited circumstances described in § 1026.19(e)(3)(iv).

Therefore, under six specific circumstances outlined by the bureau, lenders will now be allowed to reissue a Closing Disclosure without regard to the four-day rule, as long as they had already issued the disclosure to the borrower within four days of closing.

CFPB CONSIDERS ENDING PUBLIC ACCESS TO BANK COMPLAINTS The Wall Street Journal reported in April that the CFPB is likely to end the public’s access to a web portal used by consumers to file complaints against financial companies.

The WSJ’s Yuka Hayashi reported that Mulvaney addressed his intention of eliminating access to the database during an address at the American Bankers Association’s conference, saying it contains information the government hasn’t fully vetted.

“I don’t see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government,” Mulvaney told an audience at the conference while holding up a copy of the Dodd-Frank Act, according to the report.

CFPB Watch

financial education, its guidance and implementation support, adopted regulations and new rulemaking authorities, its rulemaking process, the usefulness of its consumer complaint database, its supervision process, its enforcement process, its administrative adjudications and its civil investigative demands.

To date the bureau has received 1.5 million consumer complaints.

RENAMING THE BUREAU?

From the report: Mr. Mulvaney said the bureau would continue to maintain a tollfree number and a website to gather consumer complaints and forward them to companies, but the database would be hidden from public view.

The CFPB under the Trump administration has in recent weeks asked for public feedback on a dozen issues as part of an effort to “ensure the bureau is fulfilling its proper and appropriate functions.” The effort covers key areas of the CFPB’s operations, from enforcement to rule-making, and could be a precursor to wholesale changes coming to the agency created under the Obama administration and long criticized by Republicans.

Aaron Klein, fellow policy director at the Brookings Institute, responded to the news about the database, tweeting: “Thanks to @CFPB complaint data base, people are more informed when they make choices, and businesses have greater reputational incentives, which promotes a more efficient and effective free market. Eliminating #CFPB database is an attack on free markets.”

The CFPB recently issued its 12th and final request for information by asking about its handling of consumer complaints and inquiries. The bureau is assessing its handling of consumer complaints and consumer inquiries and, consistent with law, considering whether changes to its processes would be appropriate.

The bureau previously requested information on its consumer

Mulvaney has also taken to calling the agency the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

The name change effort began somewhat informally, with Mulvaney stating that Dodd-Frank established that the name of the agency is actually the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, not the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

So, in keeping with Mulvaney’s “hewing to the statute” ethos, he started calling the CFPB the BCFP, or simply “the bureau.”

The name change became more official when official communications began coming from the bureau, rather than the CFPB. When Mulvaney appeared before Congress in April, his testimony referred to him as the acting director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. The bureau also recently released its first official seal, which refers to the agency as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection as well.

What was even more telling was the bureau’s announcement in April that it was fining Wells Fargo $1 billion for mortgage lending and auto insurance abuses.

A little inside baseball: In the past, whenever the CFPB issued official communications or announcements, the announcements always featured the bright green logo of the bureau at the top of the announcement. But the Wells Fargo announcement was different — this one didn’t come from the CFPB and it didn’t have the bright green CFPB logo. This one had the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection seal on it.

And the communication referred to the agency as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, not the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In his official response to the bureau’s action against Wells Fargo, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, also referred to the agency as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

Hensarling being in lockstep with Mulvaney is no surprise though. The two were frequent bashers of the bureau when they both served on the House Financial Services Committee.

The bureau has also apparently asked the Associated Press, the organization that provides news articles to thousands of news outlets all over the world, to change its official style guide to call the bureau the BCFP, not the CFPB. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 73

Knowledge

Center

74 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

W H I T E PA PE R: Nationa l Gener a l | SP ONSOR E D CON T E N T

Knowledge Center

Lender-Placed Insurance as the last option HOW TO ENSURE LENDER-PLACED INSURANCE IS THE LAST OPTION FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS PROTECTING the collateral in a mortgage servicer’s portfolio through verification of adequate fire, flood and wind insurance is a requirement of investors and federal regulators. It is a complex process to consistently verify that the appropriate insurance is in place on the dwelling, paid timely and meets the requirements of the mortgage servicers as well as the GSEs. That’s why most mortgage servicers outsource the responsibility to an insurance tracking provider (“provider”) who has the infrastructure, technology and expertise to perform the work more effectively and stay compliant. Servicers should ensure that their provider utilizes an insurance tracking approach consisting of comprehensive and proactive loan monitoring, customer education and notification, and a breadth of insurance products to ensure the servicer’s interest, as well as that of the customer, is protected.

COMPREHENSIVE AND PROACTIVE LOAN MONITORING Comprehensive and proactive loan monitoring and insurance tracking should be delivered with the backing of a dynamic tracking platform, customer-centric processes and a focus on compliance and quality. This will yield increased service efficiencies, lower false placements of insurance, enhanced data analytics and a better overall customer experience.

DYNAMIC SYSTEM The provider’s tracking system should seamlessly integrates with any mortgage servicing system. In addition, it should include high levels of automated data exchange with insurance carriers

to update insurance records. Once the data is received from all sources, highly automated business rules should be employed for processing. Using this model, human intervention can be focused on true exceptions and quality assurance.

The tracking platform should be integrated within all aspects of the provider’s operations, so that customer service, training, claims, quality assurance and operations are all working handin-hand to develop and deliver solutions, understand the voice of the customer and proactively address potential gaps and opportunities.

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC PROCESSES The best providers will employ structured programs and processes that create a culture where their team acts as an extension of the servicer’s operations, ensuring all quality and compliance standards are met. Partnered engagement is an important aspect of success in the provider/ servicer relationship. The needs of the customer and the servicer are most effectively met when the provider is a partner, rather than merely a vendor. This means commitment from the provider to go above and beyond what is spelled out in a contract to consistently deliver solutions that protect the servicer’s brand and enhance the relationships with their customers.

To read the entire white paper, visit the Knowledge Center at knowledge.housingwire.com.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 75

INDEX COMPANIES # 5 Arches......................................................................................66-67

A AccessLex Institute.......................................................................14 Adobe Digital Marketing Customer Advisory Board 36 Advanced Data...............................................................................62 Alamo Title...................................................................................... 66 AllRegs..................................................................................................37 Ally Financial.....................................................................................14 Altisource.......................................................................14, 42, 47, 77 Amazon.............................................................................................60 American Bankers Association............................................. 72 American Coast Title...................................................................37 American Mortgage Consultants........................................67 Angel Oak......................................................................................... 68 Angel Oak Commercial Lending.......................................... 68 Angel Oak Home Loans............................................................ 68 Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions............................................ 68 Angel Oak Prime Bridge............................................................ 68 Associated Press............................................................................ 73 Association of Independent Mortgage Experts 38 Auction.com....................................................................... 14, 24, 47 Avenue 365.......................................................................................67

B Ballard Spahr...................................................................................67 Bank of America..............................................................14, 66, 69 Barclays...............................................................................................37 Battery Ventures...........................................................................65 BeSmartee........................................................................................62 Blend...................................................................................1, 6-7, 9, 35 Brokers Rallying Against Whole-tail Lending 38 Brookings Institute....................................................................... 73

Dubai Land Department...........................................................56

E East West Bank............................................................................. 66 EDR........................................................................................................65 Ellie Mae......................................................... 14, 37, 46, 50, 62, 77 Elliman................................................................................................36 Entitle Direct........................................................................... 65-66 Envoy Mortgage.............................................................................67 eStreet.................................................................................................67 Evercore..............................................................................................67

F Federal Housing Administration.................................. 26, 78 Fidelity National Financial...................................................... 66 Fidelity National Title................................................................ 66 Finicity..........................................................................................62-63 Flagstar Bank................................................................................. 66 Freddie Mac........................................................14, 26, 43, 45, 48

G Garden State Home Loans......................................................38 Genworth Financial.....................................................................67 Genworth Mortgage Insurance..............................................18 Goldman Sachs..............................................................................67 Goodwin Proctor............................................................................37 Google Play.......................................................................................38 Greatcall.............................................................................................36 Green River Capital.......................................................................65 Guaranteed Rate.......................................................................... 69 Guild Mortgage.............................................................................. 69

H House Financial Services Committee ������������������������������ 73 Hubzu Auction Services..............................................................14 HUD.......................................................................................38, 40, 78

C Caliber Home Loans.....................................................................14 Capital One...............................................................................49, 66 Carrington Mortgage Services...............................................63 CFPB................................................................................14, 38, 70-73 Chase Manhattan Bank..............................................................14 Cook County Recorder of Deeds...........................................55 Chicago Title................................................................................... 66 Clarity Money...................................................................................67 Class Appraisal................................................................................14 Clayton Holdings...........................................................................65 Clear Capital.................................................................................... 68 CLIMB...................................................................................................36 Closing USA........................................................................................37 CMG Financial..................................................................................36 Contactually.....................................................................................36 CoreLogic............................................................................................14 Covius...................................................................................................67 Credit Karma....................................................................................65 CRES.....................................................................................................67 CrossCheck Compliance.............................................................14 Crown Archetype.............................................................................17 CYS Investments.......................................................................... 68

D Dart Appraisal................................................................................ 66 Data Resolution..............................................................................14 Dell Technologies..........................................................................67 Desert Community Bank......................................................... 66 Discover Financial..........................................................................14 Ditech Holding Corp......................................................................14

76 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018

I IBM.........................................................................................................62 iMortgage...........................................................................................37 Irvine Company..............................................................................36

J

Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization...................................................................................................16 Mortgage Master............................................................................37 MortgageReturns...........................................................................37 Mutual of Omaha Bank............................................................ 68

N NAR........................................................................................................14 Narrow Gauge Capital.................................................................14 National General........................................................................... 75 National Title of New York...................................................... 66 New American Funding..................................................... 68, 77 New Penn Financial...............................................................14, 67 New Residential Investment Corp.......................................67 NEXT......................................................................................................16

O Ocwen..................................................................................................65 OfferPad..............................................................................................37 OJO labs...............................................................................................37 Open Listings................................................................................... 57 Opes Advisors................................................................................. 66 Optimal Blue....................................................................................20

P Pacific Union............................................................................36, 44 Parkifi...................................................................................................38 Parthenon Capital Partners.....................................................37 Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business Management.....................................................................................................36 PHH Corp............................................................................................65 Planet Financial Group...............................................................14 Plaza Home Mortgage................................................................14 PNC Bank.......................................................................................... 66 PromonTech.....................................................................................38 ProudlyMadeInDC.........................................................................36 PwC........................................................................................................61

L L2 Capital Partners......................................................................67 Lehman Brothers....................................................................14, 37 LenderLive...................................................................................41, 67 LendIt Fintech USA........................................................................61 LERETA.................................................................................................14 loanDepot...........................................................................14, 36-37

M Marcus by Goldman Sachs.......................................................67 Matic...............................................................................................14, 47 Mortgage Bankers Association............................................40 MortgageHippo..............................................................................62

U UBS....................................................................................................... 66 United Wholesale Mortgage............. 14, 22, 39, 43, 69, 77 U.S. Bank...................................................................................40, 66 U.S. Census Bureau.......................................................................26

V ValuAmerica.....................................................................................65 Valuation Management Group............................................ 66 Velocify.................................................................................................37 velox.RE..............................................................................................55 Ventanex........................................................................................... 69

W Wall Street Journal....................................................................... 72 Wells Fargo..................................................................14, 41, 66, 73 Western Digital...............................................................................36 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati ����������������������������������37 Wired...................................................................................................60

Y YP.com..................................................................................................14

Z

Radian...........................................................................................14, 65 Realtors Property Resource.....................................................14 Red Bell Real Estate....................................................................65 Redwood Trust.......................................................................66-67 reQuire Holdings............................................................................67 reQuire Real Estate Solutions................................................67 Reverse Mortgage Solutions...................................................14

Zumper................................................................................................26

S Kirkland & Ellis.................................................................................37

Ten-X.............................................................................................63, 67 The BitFury Group.........................................................................56 the Brik Venue....................................................................................6 The Clearing House Association.......................................... 66 The Financial Services Roundtable ���������������������������������� 66 Maryland Association of Mortgage Professionals 36 The Washington Post................................................................60 Total Expert..................................................................................... 69 Two Harbors Investment Corp............................................. 68

R

JPMorgan Chase.....................................................................14, 66

K

T

Safeguard Properties...................................................................77 Santander Bank............................................................................ 66 SendGrid.............................................................................................38 Service 1st..........................................................................................67 ServiceLink..................................................................................14, 47 Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing..............................................67 Shellpoint Partners......................................................................67 Silver Lake..........................................................................................65 Simon & Schuster...........................................................................17 Sotheby’s...........................................................................................36 Sovrin...................................................................................................62 Stearns Lending............................................................................ 66 Stewart Information Services............................................... 66 Stewart Lender Services...........................................................67 Stone Point Capital......................................................................67 Subsequent QC...............................................................................38 SunTrust............................................................................................. 66 Synergy One Lending................................................................. 68

PEOPLE B Baer, Greg.......................................................................................... 66 Baker, Sue..........................................................................................20 Beaubien, Sonja......................................................................33, 37 Braun, Darren.....................................................................6-7, 9, 34 Brown, Brian..............................................................................33, 37 Brynjolfsson, Erik............................................................................61

C Calle, Richard............................................................................33, 37 Casa, Anthony......................................................................... 33, 38 Chaturbedi, Ritesh.........................................................................14 Coleman, Ted........................................................................... 33, 38 Cordray, Richard.............................................................................. 71 Corpuz, Nicholas.................................................................... 33, 38 Cullen, Karen.....................................................................................14 Czwartacki, John............................................................................. 71

D Davis, Joel...................................................................................33, 39 Dawson, Ken....................................................................................36

AD INDEX

2018 RISING STARS

46 young leaders p32

A Decatur, Alexandria......................................................... 7, 53, 57 DeCiantis, Sarah.....................................................................33, 39 Dell, Adam.........................................................................................67 Dent, Pamela................................................................................... 14 Drakos, Gregory......................................................................33, 39

E Elezaj, Alex........................................................................................ 14 Erskine, Joshua....................................................................... 33, 40

O Ouwerkerk, Ian................................................................................ 14

Pagitsas, Chrissa....................................................................33, 45

Faulkner, Rachel.............................................................................33 Feeney, Chris...................................................................................66 Fleming, Mark................................................................................. 26 Fritts, Sean.................................................................................33, 41 Fulte, Kristie...............................................................................33, 41

Arch MI..................................................................................................................................... 21

Patel, Nia....................................................................................33, 45 Pathman, James............................................................................ 14 Pawlenty, Tim................................................................................66

F

Altisource................................................................................................................................ 12

P

Price, Jason...............................................................................33, 46

B

Purcell, Katherine......................................................................... 55

Q

Black Knight Financial Services........................................................................................2

Qi, Grace............................................................................1, 6-7, 9, 35

C G

R

Goldberg, Bob.................................................................................. 14 Graciano, Ryan...............................................................................65

Rahbar, Perry...........................................................................33, 46 Rao, Vikas..................................................................................33, 46

CMBA........................................................................................................................................10

Ross, Dale........................................................................................... 14

H Hall, Rick......................................................................................33, 41 Hamilton, Michelle.........................................................................17 Happ, Scott......................................................................................20 Harp, James..............................................................................33, 42 Hayashi, Yuka..................................................................................72 Hernandez, Roberto.................................................................... 61 Hoffman, Debbie............................................................... 7, 53, 57 Horn, Scott................................................................................33, 42

J Johnson, Charlie.....................................................................33, 42

Roy, David.................................................................................. 33, 47 Russell, Calier........................................................................... 33, 47

S Savage, Dave................................................................................... 61

Kastor, Deena...................................................................................17 Kim, Sophie...............................................................................33, 43 King, Steve........................................................................................60 Kinsel, Pat..................................................................................33, 43 Klein, Aaron.......................................................................................73 Kniffen, Travis..........................................................................33, 43 Kula, Michael.................................................................................... 14

DocMagic............................................................................................................................. 4, 5

Schiff, Aaron............................................................................. 33, 47 Schroeder, David.......................................................................7, 63 Shah, Viral................................................................................ 33, 48

E

Sharga, Rick..................................................................................... 63 Shen, Jenney........................................................................... 33, 48 Smith, Chad...................................................................................... 14 Smith, Steve.................................................................................... 62

K

D

Ellie Mae............................................................................................................................. 8, 19

South, Zach.............................................................................. 33, 48 Stubbs, Rocky..........................................................................33, 49

N

T Theisinger, Bill................................................................................. 14

New American Funding....................................................................................................80

Thompson, Joe.......................................................................33, 49 Thompson, Vicky..........................................................................66 Till, Elaine...................................................................................33, 49

L

Trump, Donald.................................................................................71

Lassig, Broch............................................................................33, 44 Lile, Thomas.....................................................................................33 Lin, Kenneth....................................................................................65 Loughlin, Mike.................................................................................. 14

V

S

Safeguard Properties......................................................................................................... 79

Vigil, Joe...............................................................................................17 Voltz, Allan................................................................................33, 50

M Marano, Thomas........................................................................... 14 Mark McWatters, J..........................................................................71 McAfee, Andrew............................................................................. 61 McClain, Patrick.............................................................................. 14 Milligan, Alice.................................................................................. 63 Mirshahzadeh, Mike.............................................................33, 44 Moynihan, Brian............................................................................66 Mulvaney, Mick.................................................................................71 Mustard, Nichole...........................................................................65

N Natale, Steven.........................................................................33, 45

T

W Waters, Maxine................................................................................71 Weaver, Kim.....................................................................................60

The Mortgage Collaborative.............................................................................................17

Wilson, Joe................................................................................33, 50 Wilson, Vince...........................................................................33, 50

U

Y Yee, Philip........................................................................................... 14 Young, Jeff......................................................................................... 14

United Wholesale Mortgage..............................................................................................3 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018 77

PARTING SHOT

❱ POUND FOOLISH The Federal Housing Administration insured too many mortgages in 2016, potentially costing taxpayers about $41 million, according to a new report by the Urban Institute.

But this didn’t have to happen. If HUD had been granted the funding it asked for to upgrade its 30-year-old IT database, the FHA might have avoided insuring almost 10,000 ineligible loans. The cost to upgrade the system? $30 million.

78 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ JUNE 2018