June 2022 Issue

June 2022

HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ JUNE 2022

2022

50 up-and-coming leaders starting their legacy journey

Automating the dream of homeownership.

An unmatched competitive advantage, from consumer engagement to loan registry.

And everything in between.

icemortgagetechnology.com

HOUSINGWIRE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SARAH WHEELER MANAGING EDITOR JAMES KLEIMANN DEPUTY EDITOR KATE DOUGLAS SENIOR REAL ESTATE REPORTER MATTHEW BLAKE SENIOR MORTGAGE REPORTERS BILL CONROY, GEORGIA KROMREI REAL ESTATE & TITLE REPORTER BROOKLEE HAN MORTGAGE REPORTERS FLÁVIA FURLAN NUNES, MARIA VOLKOVA REPORTER CONNIE KIM LEAD ANALYST LOGAN MOHTASHAMI CONTRIBUTORS DEREK BRUMMER, RANA FLEMING

REALTRENDS VICE PRESIDENT OF REAL ESTATE MARK ADAMS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR TRACEY VELT DIRECTOR OF RANKINGS PROGRAMS LIZ SMITH EXECUTIVE MANAGER, CEO PROGRAMS JILL OLMSTED SENIOR DATA ANALYST KEERI TRAMM FINLEDGER EDITOR JOE BURNS REVERSE MORTGAGE DAILY EDITOR CHRIS CLOW

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HW MEDIA CORPORATE CEO CLAYTON COLLINS COO DIEGO SANCHEZ DIRECTOR OF FINANCE ANDREW KEY DIRECTOR OF PEOPLE AND CULTURE AMY BEARD CHIEF OF STAFF ALEX BRIDGEMAN VICE PRESIDENT OF GROWTH CAREN KARRIS GROWTH MARKETING MANAGER GREG ROBERTS SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER EMILY CARPENTER GRAPHIC DESIGNER BRANDON JOHNSON VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT HOLDEN PAGE UX/UI MANAGER BO FRIZE WEB DIRECTOR BRENT DRIGGERS AD OPS COORDINATOR ELIZABETH LEDOUX DIRECTOR OF HW+ & EVENTS BRENA NATH SENIOR WEBINAR & EVENTS MANAGER ALLISON LAFORGIA MARKETING PROGRAM MANAGER LESLEY COLLINS MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR SARAHI DE LA CUESTA PEOPLE OPERATIONS MANAGER JAMIE BRIDGES PRODUCT MANAGER MATTHEW STAFFORD EMAIL MARKETING SPECIALIST ALI MORRISSEY GROWTH COORDINATOR SYDNEY SMITH EVENTS MANAGER KATIE GALBRAITH BUSINESS ANALYST WHITNI ROWE JUNIOR DIGITAL PRODUCER ELISSA BRANCH SALES SVP SALES AND OPERATIONS JENNIFER WATSON LAWS WESTERN CHRISTI HUMPHRIES, LINDSLEY HARRIS, CASS HECKEL CENTRAL & NORTHEAST MICHAEL ORME, SAMANTHA STEIN, ADINA RITTER SOUTHERN TAMARA WREN, AMINA JAHIC STRATEGIC ACCOUNT MANAGER BRIA SOYELE SALES MARKETING MANAGER TOD MOHNEY CONTENT SOLUTIONS MANAGING EDITOR MALEESA SMITH CONTENT EDITOR JESSICA DAVIS ASSOCIATE EDITOR MARNI DAVIMES MULTIMEDIA PROJECT MANAGER DALTON JOHNSON CONTENT SOLUTIONS COORDINATOR EUNICE GARCIA

HOW TO REACH US LETTERS TO THE EDITOR EDITOR@HOUSINGWIRE.COM TIPS AND STORIES EDITORIAL@HOUSINGWIRE.COM CURRENT MEMBERSHIP / SUBSCRIPTION HWPLUSMEMBER@HOUSINGWIRE.COM NEW MEMBERSHIP / SUBSCRIPTION HOUSINGWIRE.COM/MEMBERSHIP MARKETING & ADVERTISING JLAWS@HOUSINGWIRE.COM OR (469) 870-4572 ADVERTISING CLIENT SUCCESS CLIENTSUCCESS@HOUSINGWIRE.COM

JUNE 2022

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The beginning of a legacy I’VE BEEN A FAN of the CliftonStrengths’s as-

like-minded people around you! That’s the type

sessment for more than a decade, applying my

of energy and passion I hope we all can apply

own top strengths and learning the strengths of

to our respective fields. From her role in helping

my teammates to see how we can operate with

build the Realogy Leads Group a few years ago

our talents in the workplace. While my top 5

to how she helped the company find ways to be

have slightly shifted over the years, “strategic”

more strategic after COVID-19 shut down the

has been one of my most consistent strengths,

country, she has made a noticeable and lasting

which is exactly why meeting 2022 Rising Star

mark in how Realogy remains competitive. Start-

Morgan Salama felt so impactful.

ing on page 22, you can learn more about her

Featured on the cover of this issue, Salama

impact in the space, along with this year ’s full

serves as the head of growth and partnerships

list of 50 Rising Stars. Congrats to this class of

at Realogy Title Group. And fun fact, it’s a role

up-and-coming leaders who are already starting

she was promoted to shortly after being nominat-

to leave their legacy in the space.

ed for the award, which isn’t too uncommon or surprising for our Rising Stars. But going back to my point around strategy, a quick conversation with Salama shows how much strategic thinking is one of the strengths at the core of who she is. real issues in the real estate space over the dinner table, especially when you have a group of

Brena Nath Director, HW+ & Events @BrenaNath

Tweets From The Streets The only real life hack: be kind to people.

152

974

6,678

by @SahilBloom

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. © 2022 by HW Media, LLC • All rights reserved

JUNE 2022

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Talking to her feels like you could solve some

Congratulations to Ben Gottheim and Angie Gupta Wilen Congratulations to Ben Gottheim, Senior Director of Mortgage Servicing Policy and Angie Gupta Wilen, Senior Director of Equitable Housing, for being honored as the next generation of leaders with HousingWire’s 2022 Rising Stars Awards.

Ben’s leadership in mortgage policy is the embodiment of Freddie Mac’s mission of being a stabilizing force for the country’s housing needs.

Angie is a leader and change agent who addresses the complexities of racial and ethnic disparities in pursuit of equitable housing.

Their achievements at Freddie Mac help ensure our success and continue leading the housing industry forward.

freddiemac.com

October 3-5, 2022 Fairmont Princess Scottsdale, AZ

All Things Housing HousingWire Annual Heads to Scottsdale Register today! housingwireannual.com

Content

Technology

Community

june 2022 People Movers

Real Estate

12

68

Congrats to Tai Christensen for being named chair of the American Mortgage Diversity Council.

Take 5

13 From listening to Nicki Minaj to reading Britt Bennett, learn more about this 2021 Rising Star.

Event Calendar

14 For nearly 30 years, Gathering of Eagles conference has been bringing together high-caliber leaders.

Inside Agent

15

Local Intel

16 From gorgeous lakes to warm weather, why wouldn’t you want to live in Orlando?

Trade Desk

60 The positive impact of MLO remote work flexibility and new RON legislation, according to the MBA.

Closing

64 Paul Hurst, newly minted chief innovation officer at First American, discusses the firm’s path forward.

Secondary Market

72 Market pros responsible for assessing PLS deals see a resilient, diverse market despite headwinds.

Kudos

76 The first announcement around “The House That She Built” was only the start of a movement.

Parting Shot

78 The RealTrends team is excited to be back in the beautiful state of Colorado at The Broadmoor.

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Raised in Las Vegas, Austin Sherwood shares his real estate ventures in the city that never sleeps.

Samson Properties offers 100% commissions, relying on title for revenue. Can this work?

JUNE 2022

features

f

22

A record year for real estate brokerage firms

Rising Stars Congratulations to the 2022 class of HousingWire Rising Stars who are carving out their own paths forward with the lessons learned along the way.

48

Inside the government’s feeble fight to end redlining

52

The country’s signature law to stop redlining is under review. Will it get the teeth to police banks?

Despite the headlines about low inventory, there were record numbers of homes sold in 2021.

Real estate tech solutions special report

58

The American dream and the affordability crisis

Addressing housing inequality post-forbearance

By Derek Brummer

By Rana Fleming

18

20 JUNE 2022

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homegenius, Inc., a Radian company, is paving the way for lenders, brokers, agents and investors looking to bring their businesses into the 21st century.

LENDINGLIFE The newsletter designed with Loan Originators in mind.

Get the latest lending news delivered to your inbox with HousingWire’s LendingLife Newsletter.

Stay up to date and be the expert in the office and online.

GET ON THE LIST: housingwire.com/newsletters

PEOPLE MOVERS

Tai Christensen

| American Mortgage Diversity Council | Chair

CBC Mortgage Agency, a housing finance agency and provider of down payment assistance, announced that Tai Christensen, the company’s director of government affairs and diversity, equity and inclusion officer, has been named chair of the American Mortgage Diversity Council. Christensen will lead the Dallas-based organization’s efforts to promote DEI throughout the mortgage industry.

Ryan Rathert |

Panorama Mortgage Group | Chief Financial Officer

Panorama Mortgage Group added Ryan Rathert as chief financial officer. In his role, Rathert will lead PMG’s financial activities including accounting, financial planning and analysis, tax and investor relations — while keeping in mind the overall strategy and growth goals to hit the company’s financial metrics. As a financial executive with more than 15 years in the mortgage leadership roles, Rathert’s experience includes working eight years with Stearns Lending in a variety of positions.

James Owens |

Xactus | Chief Technology Officer

Xactus appointed James Owens as chief technology officer, bringing almost 30 years of executive-level experience in the financial services and software development industries to the position. Owens will oversee Xactus’s technology strategy, including all technical aspects of new product development and implementation across its platforms, and direct other corporate technical initiatives including IT and data security. Prior to joining Xactus, he served as chief architect/head of technology strategy at OneMain Financial.

Kevin Ryan |

Xactus | Chief Financial Officer

Xactus also announced that Kevin Ryan has been appointed as the company’s chief financial officer, joining the company with more than 20 years of financial experience. In this role, Ryan will guide the firm's efforts to streamline its finance and accounting operations. He will also be leveraging his extensive experience in data analysis and data management to create a robust, enterprise-wide analytical infrastructure. Prior to joining Xactus, Ryan served as CEO of Keane.

Rick Sharga |

ATTOM | EVP of Market Intelligence

Rick Sharga was named executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM, where he is charged with researching and analyzing data from the ATTOM database. In his role, he is responsible for discovering, interpreting and monitoring market trends, and delivering that data to key audiences in the real estate, mortgage, financial services and insurance industries. Sharga was previously the chief marketing officer of Ten-X, and prior to that, Sharga spent eight years at RealtyTrac.

Charith Rodrigo |

Open Mortgage | National Director of Reverse Sales

Open Mortgage has hired Charith Rodrigo to help lead the company’s mortgage division as national director of reverse sales. He is tasked with overseeing the growth of the reverse mortgage team with an emphasis on expanding the retail division’s footprint by adding and supporting new branches and loan originators. Prior to Open Mortgage, Rodrigo was the director of production support at American Advisors Group, where he led the development and implementation of analytical data.

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Paul Yarborough |

Cherry Creek Mortgage | VP of IT operations

Paul Yarborough has joined Cherry Creek Mortgage as vice president of IT operations, where he will oversee Cherry Creek’s technology infrastructure and strategy. In his new position, Yarborough will develop and maintain Cherry Creek’s IT strategies and budget to support its business goals and objectives while improving data security and risk management. Yarborough brings an abundance of knowledge and experience to his new role, having spent over 20 years managing cross-functional IT operations groups.

JUNE 2022

TAKE 5

Madisyn Rhone Manager, Government & Industry Relations at Enact Mortgage Insurance

Since joining Enact Mortgage Insurance’s government and industry relations team in 2019, Madisyn Rhone has become one of its highly valued members. Upon joining the team, Rhone realized a gap in minority spaces from a legislative perspective and pioneered new relationships with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. In the past year, Rhone’s success was recognized by HousingWire when she was named a HW Rising Star in 2021.

Below, Rhone answers five questions that give an inside look at her life.

1. Relaxation means... completely disconnecting and creating a space to be fully present.

2. The book I can’t stop recommending is...

“The Mothers” by Britt Bennett, a story of the complexity of life.

3. My last vacation was... celebrating Día de Muertos in Mexico City!

4. If I had picked a different career path I would be a... founder of a non-profit dedicated to advancing economic equality.

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5. My workout playlist includes...

Nicki Minaj & Lil Baby.

JUNE 2022

EVENT CALENDAR

Innovative Housing Showcase

LISTEN NOW

June 10-12, 2022 Cost to attend: Free to the general public Presented by the NAHB and HUD

Realty Executive’s Justin Bailey on growing by making the ‘big feel small’

BY TRACEY VELT

LOCATION: WASHINGTON, D.C. THE INNOVATIVE HOUSING SHOWCASE is a three-day event featuring new building technologies and housing solutions that are making housing more innovative, resilient and affordable for American families. More than 2,500 people, including policymakers, housing industry representatives, media and the general public, are expected to attend. The Showcase will include exhibitor demonstrations, entrepreneurs and leaders in the housing industry. There will also be more than a dozen exhibitors, including full-sized prototype homes, displaying innovative building technologies that address affordability, resiliency and the future of housing. The Showcase will be at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and is designed to educate the public and decision-makers on the importance of housing opportunity and to demonstrate solutions that can help bridge the gap.

Gathering of Eagles June 26-29, 2022 Cost to attend: $2,250 Presented by RealTrends LOCATION: COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO

FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS, the RealTrends Gathering of Eagles conference has been bringing together high-caliber leaders in the real estate industry. Year after year, this event provides essential business strategy advice for the nation’s top residential real estate firm CEOs, presidents and their C-level leadership teams. Gathering the best of the best in the residential space, this year’s program shows that it will take more than the fundamentals to take your company to the next level. This year’s program hones in on where the opportunities lie in your business and in your talent, especially knowing how hot and highly competitive today’s market is. The event is also hosting a special session with Larry Kendall, the author of "Ninja Selling," to deliver the core components of building a highly successful team.

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Event TIP

This episode of RealTrending features Justin Bailey, CEO of Realty Executives Associates in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Bailey changed his internal messaging and made several key moves to scale his real estate brokerage's growth.

Find out how he strengthened his culture when he grew to 750 agents.

Here is a small preview of the interview with Justin Bailey.

Tracey Velt: When Realty Executives acquired Bailey & Company, how did you create raving fans of your agents? What is the key to retaining these agents?

Justin Bailey: I think more times when I sit with agents and I say, what made you decide to come to our firm? Oftentimes, rarely, is it a money decision. There are a lot of places in our market you can go that are a lot cheaper than we are. Steve Fogarty, past president and CEO of the company, said, “I want you to help big feel small.” What he meant was that the culture created at Bailey & Company was one where everyone felt like a family.

You can do that with 50 agents. My growing pains in this role are, gosh, it’s so much harder to do that with 750 agents. That was one of the tasks he gave me, to make big feel small, because as agents had left here to go other places, one consistent message he heard was that they felt lost, and they felt like they were just a number.

When I tried to put together some kind of plan with my team, we wanted to make sure no one at this firm feels like they’re just a number, and we have to make sure that people don’t feel lost. Some of that looks like assigning agents to staff. We have 55 full-time staff who are responsible for different people. Just in that, they’re going to make touch points so that they know they feel like they’re a part of this community.

Scan the code to listen now!

“I feel everyone in our industry should attend HW Annual 2022 because 1) It's great to be back WITH people in person, 2) the presenters, speakers and authorities in our industries that you will hear from are not only impactful but incredibly collaborative, giving you access and opportunity to connect with them that you would otherwise never be able to have.

Most importantly, it supports our industries of housing, technology, real estate and lending. HousingWire is an amazing resource to all of us and anything they are doing for our space is something that should be supported by all.”

—Arjun Dhingra, Sales and Business Development at All Western Mortgage

JUNE 2022

INSIDE AGENT

Austin Sherwood The Ivan Sher Group with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Nevada Properties austin@lsluxury.com 9270 Highridge Drive Las Vegas, Nevada 89134 $9.7 million 7 bed, 10 bath 20,558 sq. ft.

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AUSTIN SHERWOOD was 20 years old when he got into real estate and said that he quickly was able to enter Las Vegas’s often changing luxury market.

“I was born and raised in Las Vegas,” he said. “I had pretty good success at starting to represent casino executives.”

Now age 28, Sherwood has been with the Ivan Sher Group since 2015, a team of 15 agents that Sherwood said completed $750 million in 2021 sales volume. “I am working with a lot of celebrities in town, mostly professional sports players, and helping them relocate,” the agent said, a reference to the new professional football and hockey teams that have come to Las Vegas in the past five years.

The Highridge Drive home is part of a new Las Vegas, at a remove from Caesars Palace, the MGM Grand, and other gaudy attractions of the Strip. Built six years ago, the abode features a tree-lined street, surrounding mountains and other greenery not exactly synonymous with the city. There is also more space than perhaps the typical local luxury home, including a basketball court.

“We are representing a new value proposition now to people coming from New York and California and elsewhere,” Sherwood said.

JUNE 2022

LOCAL INTEL

By Brooklee Han

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Manhattan, New York

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Augusta, Georgia

Set in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, Santa Fe is home to a vibrant creative arts scene, rich history and a hot housing market. “It’s the tightest inventory situation I have ever seen and it is just getting tighter,” said Darlene Streit, a local Sotheby’s International Realty agent with over 30 years of experience working in the Santa Fe market. Streit said that people usually start listing in April and had sincerely hoped that this would be the case this year. “It is just really ridiculous. People come here and we practically can’t even show them houses,” she said. Streit has been working with several out-of-town buyers, many looking to retire in Santa Fe. The lack of inventory has been challenging to work around as many prospective buyers don’t want to make the trip out to only look at one property, so they wait, hoping that more will come, but according to Streit, by the time more inventory hits the market, the home they had been hoping to tour is already under contract. While Streit is doing quite a few virtual home tours with clients via Facetime and Zoom, she encourages people looking to move to the area to come visit in person. “Santa Fe is so unique — the Pueblo style of architecture. It is one of the oldest cities in the U.S. and it has a feeling of a mix of European, American and Native American. It is not quite like anywhere else in the U.S.,” Streit said.

Like just about everywhere else in the country, housing inventory is tight in Augusta, but unlike in other parts of the country, the number of new builds is steadily progressing, according to eXp Realty agent Stacy Pulliam. However, it still isn’t fast enough. “You may not even get to see what the home will look like unless you get to look at a property that is already pending,” Pulliam said.

“You almost have to put your offer in before the dirt is even claimed and I say that kind of in jest, but it’s actually true. Before plans are even approved, people are already eyeballing where they want their home — it’s crazy.” Although Pulliam has seen a fair share of local buyers, she has noticed quite a few out-of-town buyers who have come to work in the tech sector or can now work from anywhere and are taking advantage of Augusta’s warm weather and picturesque landscapes. While the median list price for homes in Augusta was up 17.7% year over year in February, according to realtor.com, at $199,000 it remains well below the national average. But according to Pulliam, low prices are not the only thing attracting buyers.

“We have so many great things packed into this city, but at the same time we have a homey feel and that is what I love about my city. We are really coming into our own,” Pulliam said.

JUNE 2022

Woodstock, Vermont

According to Ruth Kennedy Sudduth, a principal and vice chair of New England luxury real estate firm, LandVest Real Estate – Timberland, Woodstock has the “combo platter ” of what buyers look for when searching for their ideal New England escape.

“I think it is everybody’s idea of what Vermont is,” Sudduth said. “It is really beautiful, has a history of being a destination market and has community amenities like Green Mountain Horseman’s Association and the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Plus it is super close to excellent medical care at Dartmouth and only a few hours from Boston.” All of these factors have made Woodstock quite the destination for homebuyers looking to venture out to more rural and picturesque locales over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even before the pandemic, we were seeing more and more millennials enter the second home market as they built their wealth, but COVID just exacerbated everything,” she said. The town of 855 residents has also welcomed a decent number of so-called “climate refugees” who are looking to escape places that are being severely impacted by global warming.

All of this has resulted in a high demand, low inventory situation, not unlike other parts of the country.

From gorgeous lakes, warm weather and seemingly endless sources of entertainment, why wouldn’t you want to live in Orlando? As the pandemic has opened the possibilities of remote work for people across the country, many have asked themselves that exact question. However, naturally, this has put a strain on Orlando’s housing inventory. “We probably have less than a month of inventory on the market,” local Mainframe Real Estate agent Anne-Marie Wurzel said. “It is probably more like half a month because when properties go on the market there is already a line of buyers ready to put in an offer. Four years ago you really didn’t deal with multiple offers on every offer you are making for your buyer.” The most offers Wurzel and her clients have had to contend with recently was 102. According to Wurzel the property ended up going for $100,000 over asking. While many of the buyers Wurzel has worked with are locals, she has also dealt with a number of out-of-town buyers. “I am seeing license plates that I have never seen before on the road here and I have lived in Florida my whole life,” she said. In addition to an influx of out-of-town buyers, Wurzel has also noticed an uptick in the number of cash buyers. “When I ask listing agents, why my buyer, who I felt had a strong, attractive offer, didn’t get a property, the answer is almost always cash,” Wurzel said. As we head into the summer market, Wurzel said she hopes that more inventory hits the market. “There’s a backlog of buyers who’ve been looking for an extended amount of time, so I am hopeful that summer will bring more inventory and choices for buyers,” she said.

JUNE 2022

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Less than two years ago the world was wondering if the hustle and bustle and overall vibrancy of Manhattan was the latest casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The height of this debate was a pointed yet amusing opinion column in the New York Times titled "So You Think New York Is 'Dead'," by the one and only Jerry Seinfeld. In the spring of 2022, it is hard to imagine we ever thought the New York City we once knew might be gone forever. After an initial exodus at the start of the pandemic, people have been moving to the city in droves. In February 2022, 969 properties were sold in Manhattan, a 47.7% increase according to Redfin. “After the COVID shutdown there was a lot of pent-up demand and interest rates are still low and ultra-high net worth buyers are getting properties at prices that they feel are fair,” Stan Ponte, an associate broker and senior global real estate advisor for Sotheby’s International Realty East Side Manhattan Brokerage said. “An ‘arm’s length transaction’ as we call it in real estate. Neither buyers nor sellers feel like they are getting a bad deal. That’s the general energy in New York City right now.”

For Ponte, the city’s diversity is its greatest asset and why people cannot stay away.

“I love Manhattan,” Ponte said. “I am the biggest cheerleader for New York City. I am the biggest cheerleader for Broadway.

I love the excitement of New York City.”

Orlando, Florida

COMMENTARY

T

he American dream and the affordability crisis

By Derek Brummer

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What is the “American Dream?” The phrase is attributed to writer James Truslow Adams in the 1930s, who described it in part as an aspiration that “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” For many Americans, owning a home is a core component of the American Dream as a means to build wealth and financial security.

The high price of buying a home is making that dream more elusive than it has been in generations.

Because homeownership is traditionally considered one of the surest routes upward in a socially mobile society and the primary means by which Americans accumulate wealth, the inability to buy a home puts much more than just the real estate market in jeopardy. It threatens the ideal of a richer and fuller life that so many Americans aspire to obtain.

As we celebrate National Homeownership Month this June, let us acknowledge the current challenges preventing many would-be first-time homebuyers from achieving their dream of homeownership, and how we as an industry can work to break down those barriers.

A CRISIS OF AFFORDABILITY Many housing economists — including the chief economists for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Moody’s Analytics — have called out the current affordability situation as a “crisis.”

Americans feel the same way. A slew of recent market research surveys highlight increasing consumer pessimism toward homebuying conditions. A survey

by Pew Research published in October of last year found that about half of all Americans (49 percent) think the lack of affordable homes is a major problem where they live. That’s up 10 percentage points from early 2018. Affordability concerns were also reflected in USMI’s 2021 National Homeownership Market Survey, which reported that 69% of Americans say lack of affordable housing is the biggest homebuying challenge.

Buyer morale is at an all-time low for good reason. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) sounded the alarm last year saying, “first-time buyers, in particular, are having trouble securing that first home for a multitude of reasons, including not enough affordable properties, competition with cash buyers, and properties leaving the market at such a rapid pace.” Homebuyer concerns are clearly displayed in Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index, which in April 2022 was down 8.5 points yearover-year with only 24% of consumers saying now is a good time to buy. Making matters worse, people who already own homes are reluctant to sell for fear that once they step out of the market, they’ll be unable to get back in or have to do so at a much higher cost.

According to the Radian Home Price Index, provided by Radian subsidiary Red Bell Real Estate, home price appreciation set a record in 2021, rising 14.2% year-over-year. And prices continued to climb in the first quarter of 2022 at an annualized pace of 13.9%.

While housing forecasters may differ on the expected rate of appreciation going forward, most agree that prices will continue to increase. With the median price of a home in the United States now above $300,000, that means first-time homebuyers need to have more than $60,000 cash in their pockets to make a 20% downpayment. “Affordability from a home price/down payment perspective is the worst it’s ever been, meaning extreme barriers to entry,” according to a Bank of America Global Research note published in March.

For the past two years, mortgage rates were at historic lows, giving buyers more purchasing power. But in the first few months of 2022, mortgage rates have risen at the fastest rate since 1987.

On March 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve announced its first rate increase of 25 basis points. One month later, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported the 30-year fixed rate rose to 5.2% — the highest level since 2010. Compared to the average 3.2% mortgage rate a year ago, today’s rate increases the monthly payment for a median priced home by more than 25% or nearly $300. As home prices and rates continue to increase, many would-be homebuyers are at risk of being priced out of the market.

A DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT Buying a home is getting more expensive for everyone, but the

JUNE 2022

IMPROVING ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP The affordability crisis is particularly significant to Radian, where our mission is to ensure affordable, sustainable and equitable homeownership. Mortgage

As president, mortgage, for Radian Group, Derek Brummer is responsible for overseeing the company’s Mortgage Insurance and Mortgage Risk Services businesses, including developing strategies for continued growth as the mortgage industry evolves.

JUNE 2022

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affordability crisis disproportionately affects firstinsurance (MI) is an affordable solution that has helped millions time and low-income homebuyers, especially people of Americans become homeowners by reducing the 20% of color. Homeownership is the surest way to build downpayment barrier and enhancing their ability to borrow in an generational wealth, and in a country with deep affordable way. MI represents a small expense to the homebuyer disparities in wealth often along racial and ethnic that in turn gives them greater financial flexibility. lines, homeownership provides a path to a more just, However, low-down-payment solutions alone are not a remedy prosperous and resilient society. Owning property is to the problem. The affordability crisis is a complex, multifaceted also one of the best ways to offset inflation pressure, problem that requires a multifaceted approach from all players which is expected to continue for the foreseeable in the industry, including mortgage service providers, lenders, future. Fixed mortgage payments are stable and servicers, investors and real estate professionals. There are predictable, unlike rent payments which can fluctuate several key opportunities where we can work together to and tend to increase along with rising prices and advance affordability and promote higher levels of sustainable home values. Not to mention, mortgage payments homeownership, including: slowly build equity each month and create long-term • Improving the quality and accessibility of educational generational wealth. information for homebuyers According to fourth quarter 2021 census data, • Increasing diversity in the mortgage profession to better homeownership rates for Black and Hispanic Amerreflect the communities we serve icans — 43% and 48% respectively — remain sig• Engaging local community leaders to advocate for policies nificantly lower than the white homeownership rate that increase supply of affordable homes of 74 percent. Black households, a majority of which • Examining traditional underwriting criteria and finding are living on lower-than-average incomes, are more alternatives that can responsibly expand the credit box likely to rent their homes and are therefore more • Exploring alternatives to foreclosure and promoting vulnerable to disruptions, instability, eviction and solutions that help homeowners with hardships preserve even homelessness, according to the National Low and maximize the value of the equity in their homes Income Housing Coalition.

These are some of the initial objecThe affordability crisis is not tives Radian is focused on through our just preventing people from Affordable Homeownership Initiative. achieving their dreams of Working together as an industry, we homeownership, it is precan find solutions to help close the venting people of color from homeownership gap, particularly for “Buying a home is achieving financial stabilunderserved minority communities, getting more expensive ity and the opportunity to and make a meaningful impact that for everyone, but the build generational wealth. improves access to affordable and affordability crisis Thereby further exacerbatsustainable homeownership. disproportionately affects ing historical institutional The housing affordability crisis first-time and low-income biases and discrimination impacts us all in one way or another. homebuyers, especially that negatively impact govFor young families, it means deferring people of color.” ernmental policies, industry plans for the future. For older practices, education and inhomeowners it could mean being come opportunities. locked into a home they can no In addition to a racial longer maintain. And for far too many homeownership gap, miAmericans who have been excluded nority homebuyers tend from the real estate market, it means to have more misconceptions about the homebuya continuation of historic injustice. This month, as we observe ing process. According to the USMI 2021 National National Homeownership Month, let’s focus on working together Homeownership Market Survey cited above, more to make the American Dream of owning a home a reality for more than 40% of Hispanic and African Americans mistakpeople. enly believe that you need a down payment of 20% or more to qualify for a home purchase. This creates a perception of a higher financial barrier to homeownership, which may seem insurmountable to many.

COMMENTARY

ddressing housing inequality postforbearance

By Rana Fleming

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Owning a home is a foundational element of the classic “American Dream.” While what exactly this dream entails has evolved over time, homeownership still holds strong as a key factor. In the United States today, there are a multitude of programs that help homebuyers get into homes. However, it is equally important that these buyers are able to stay in their homes.

According to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), homeownership is the primary way that low- and moderate-income families build wealth and achieve financial stability. LISC goes on to say that “increasing opportunities for homeownership is a key component in combatting historical housing policies that have precluded minorities and others from purchasing a home and widened the racial wealth gap.”

The Urban Institute echoes this, stating that homeownership is the primary contributor to wealth building for Black households and continues to hold promise for building multigenerational wealth and housing stability for households of color.

To continue building this important source of generational wealth for Black households, other minority households, or any household, homeowners need to know their options for assistance, should they ever need it.

“Increasing opportunities for homeownership is a key component in combatting historical housing policies that have precluded minorities and others from purchasing a home and widened the racial wealth gap.”

THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC The pandemic had significant economic impacts on many across the United States and, unfortunately, minorities were disproportionately affected throughout its course.

Black-owned businesses were hit hardest by the pandemic.

The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy found that during the initial shutdown, more than 40% of Black business owners reported they were not working in April compared with only 17% of white business owners. Further, 27.6% of Black-owned businesses were in the top three hardest-hit sectors compared to 19.7% of white-owned businesses.

The disproportionate effects of the pandemic did not solely fall on business owners. Between February and May 2020, Black and Latinx workers had greater losses in employment than white workers, according to research from the Economic Policy Institute, and Latinx workers accounted for 23% of the initial job losses due to the pandemic while making up 16% of the population, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bureau data also showed that nine months after the labor market “bottomed out,” Black and Latinx workers still represented the higher share of job losses with unemployment rates of 9.2% and 8.6% respectively, compared to 5.7% for their white counterparts.

These disproportionate job losses have resulted in a disproportionate impact when it comes to housing security. A 2021 Household Purse Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau found that in households where someone had lost employment income since the pandemic began, Black adults were more likely than white adults to report uncertainty about their ability to pay for housing in February 2021.

THE CURRENT STATE OF HOMEOWNERSHIP An astonishing 7.6 million borrowers had been in forbearance at some point during the pandemic as of October 2021, according to Black Knight data. This represents about 15% of all mortgage holders — and minority homeowners have been disproportionately affected here, too.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) March 2021 Housing Insecurity and the COVID-19 Pandemic report, across all income groups, Black and Latinx homeowners were more than twice as likely as white homeowners to report that they were behind on their payments

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COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY TO EDUCATE BORROWERS With a diverse array of borrowers comes a diverse array of communication styles. There is no one-sizefits-all approach to communicating with borrowers.

With that in mind, servicers are using a broad range of tactics and channels to effectively educate borrowers on their post-forbearance options.

Many servicers have expanded beyond the traditional mail and phone channels to connect with borrowers through different channels such as email, text messages, online and even through social media.

With these additional communication methods, there is the potential for better borrower outreach and support.

While the channel of communication is important, servicers also need to keep language in mind.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey, approximately 22% of the U.S. population over the age of five speak a language other than English at home; of those, 37.6% are of limited English proficiency (LEP).

The CFPB reports that LEP consumers frequently encounter significant barriers to participating in the consumer financial marketplace, primarily due to language access issues. Limited English proficiency also can hinder consumer financial literacy which can impact the ability to conduct financial transactions, including completing mortgage loss mitigation plans. This is echoed by a 2011 report from the California Reinvestment Coalition which found that LEP borrowers had more difficulty navigating the mortgage loss mitigation process.

But not all is lost. Servicers can take measures to mitigate these challenges without a full staff of translators on standby. Keeping messages concise and clear will help servicers more effectively educate their borrowers, regardless of their proficiency in English. Having resources available in other

languages commonly spoken in the United States, like Spanish, also can help servicers ensure that everyone is able to receive and understand the messages they are working diligently to send.

This more inclusive approach to borrower outreach will not only open a line of communication about their options, but keep a conversation going that can ultimately keep someone in their home.

HOMEOWNER OPTIONS It’s critical that servicers are effectively reaching out to inform borrowers about the range of options they have as they exit forbearance. Some borrowers can afford their current payment and receive a deferral option, while other borrowers know that they will not be able to afford previous payments and need an alternative route like a loan modification. According to the U.S. RMBS Servicer Metric Report, loan modifications quadrupled in Q3 2021 as forbearances continued to decrease. This jump from 10% to 40% year over year signifies just how important options like this are for today’s borrowers.

Timely outreach is critical as it can ensure timely help for borrowers who otherwise may end up in foreclosure. According to Experian, homeowners can expect to see their credit score reduced by 100 points or more as a result of foreclosure, and a low credit score can negatively impact the homeowner’s ability to rent a home or apartment, apply for new credit or even get a job.

As important as it is for borrowers to be educated about the options available, it is also important for borrowers to be educated about foreclosure and its effects. Borrowers may not realize the long-lasting consequences of a foreclosure, and a full understanding can help borrowers understand the importance of engaging in the loss mitigation process.

LOOKING FORWARD As borrowers continue to exit forbearance, there is a critical need for borrower education for all homeowners, but especially for minorities who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and may be facing housing insecurity as a result.

Homeownership builds generational wealth, but foreclosure can be a detriment to a homeowner’s financial future. By using a variety of communication channels, working past language barriers and having a menu of workout options, servicers will be well placed to help more borrowers navigate through the postforbearance period and get back on track with their mortgage payments and building a better financial future for them and their families.

Rana Fleming is director of Homeowner Assistance and Servicer Reporting at Enact (formerly Genworth Mortgage Insurance).

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as of December 2020.

Thankfully, it seems the worst is over and now, in 2022, more and more homeowners are exiting forbearance. According to Black Knight data, the national delinquency rate continued to improve in January 2022, as the number of seriously past due mortgages fell by 87,000 (-9%) as borrowers returned to making payments.

Unfortunately, as this shift out of forbearance continues, many homeowners are finding they do not have the financial ability to afford making their regular payments again.

The silver lining here is that there are options available that can help borrowers keep their homes.

However, borrowers cannot engage in any plan if they don’t know about their options. This is where the servicer plays a critical role.

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Rising Stars Photographer credit: Chris Plavidal

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Honoring the next generation of leaders.

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Ben Aguilar

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Morgan Salama

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Katie Barish Paramjeet Singh Bhamra Tiffany Bjarnson

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Ethan Brooks Dominique Buckner Dennis Cestra, Jr.

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Chris Channell Nate Clear Sara Davis

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Victoria DeLuce Jason Doshi Nadia Evangelou

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Julie Eyden Jessica Forbes Samantha Funderburg

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Tyler Prows Mike Ryan Derek Schairer

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Ron Gapp Benjamin Gottheim Meghan Hannon

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Matt Sluggett Adam Spigelman Will St. Clair

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Paul Hurst Ben Johnson Brad Jones

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Ashley Terrell Jenn Van Burkleo Mack Walker

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Joseph Judge Kathryn Keeton Brendan Kihn

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Erin Wester John Whipple Angie Wilen

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Max Lamb Tim McBride Alex McEvans

39

Jonathan Wilson Nathan Wolff Ashley Wood

Adam O'Daniel Laura Orr Chad Osterhout

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Meg Parker Young Shasta Patton Rebecca Perkovich

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Photographer credit: Chris Plavidal

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Morgan Salama: The intersection of strategy and real estate Her intentionality, ability to listen and data-focused mindset are changing the landscape

BY BRENA NATH

Morgan Salama | Head of growth and partnerships | Realogy Title Group | Age: 28

first two people I would have to thank who I would be almost nowhere without is first my friend and mentor, Eric Chesin, Realogy chief of strategy, who was my very first boss at Realogy and without fail has made me better and believes in me. He is such an amazing and intelligent person who has shaped my career.

I always joked that these two people make up my personal board of directors. The other is Kristin Aerts Bourgoin, who serves as vice president of strategy and integration at Realogy and who I worked with for like six or seven years now. She’s a close friend and a force of nature. Whenever I’m in a spot with my career, where I either don’t know what to do or I don’t know how to solve a problem, she’s one of the first people I call just to get that advice and perspective.

Of course, I have to thank my parents and my close friends, they’re really my family as well, because they have built this space for me to have such a joyous career. Learning from my parents from a very early age that work is something that you can get a lot of joy

HousingWire: First off, congrats on being named a 2022 Rising Star. If you were standing on a stage giving an acceptance speech, who would you want to thank for helping you get where you are today?

Morgan Salama: First, if there’s anything that I have learned in my career, it’s that nobody gets anywhere alone. Not even sort of, and that’s probably a cliché thing to say, but I truly believe it. I’d say the JUNE 2022

“ I am motivated every day by the ability to have some small impact on other people's experiences and housing and what it means to own something and to have a place where you belong.

”

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Strategy is the foundational element in building the future of the housing sector. And, if strategy is the foundation, we’d say that Morgan Salama is one of the key people building that foundation.

First joining Realogy in 2017 under the company’s chief strategy officer, Salama, who now serves as the head of growth and partnerships at Realogy Title Group, has continuously tapped into her strengths in strategy and critical thinking to build partnerships and drive growth in the company.

But what really stands out about Salama is how she, from a young age, has learned to always find the power in connecting with people — whether that’s learning what growing in your career looks like from her parents or even diving into a group think tank to brainstorm potential partnerships in the housing space.

Salama met with the HousingWire team in Dallas to shoot the cover of this month’s magazine after being selected as a 2022 Rising Star, and during our time together, it was easy to see how she is capturing the attention of the housing industry as a force to be reckoned with. For her interview, she shared that the best piece of advice that she’s ever received is to “listen up close,” and it’s that same advice that we share with you as you read through this interview.

from, that numbers can bring joy, that it’s this great part of life, and not just this thing that you have to do, shaped who I am, and shaped my ability to understand workplaces. When everybody else was sort of just sitting in high school classes, I was always involved in their life.

HW: You’ve accomplished a lot in your career, and yet, I still think this is the beginning of even more for you. What would you say is your “why,” meaning what keeps you motivated and passionate in your field?

MS: I have a deep belief that kind of like hiking, living is a responsibility to leave things better than you found it. I think at work, and specifically working in an industry with such a responsibility to other people’s lives and livelihoods, I am motivated every day by the ability to have some small impact on other people’s experiences and housing and what it means to own something and to have a place where you belong. It motivates me. I am passionate about it, and it’s a huge part of the reason why I can wake up every day and be really excited to do this work.

The second part of my why I think people actually talk about a little bit less and that is the workplace side of it. I am very, very motivated by being a part of, in any way, making workplaces better. I think when people talk about impact in your career, you get so focused on customers that you forget that, especially at a large employer like Realogy.

Thousands of people have 40 hours a week affected by what this workplace is like, and I’m very motivated by building positive, inclusive, funny and kind workplaces. And, I deeply believe that both makes the customer impact bigger and is a big part of the footprint

“ Strategy, to me, is putting real intent and listening and data behind how an organi-

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zation prioritizes and focuses.

”

we all have on the world around us if you’re in any industry.

HW: What’s one of your proudest accomplishments so far in your career?

MS: I’d say the creation and building of the Realogy Leads Group a few years ago. I was really lucky to get to be a part of conversations with our CEO and business leaders about where we needed to focus strategically, and I got a chance to advocate and build a business case and be a part of the forming leadership team for Realogy Leads Group. The group is Realogy’s business unit that really focuses on the consumer and just on the consumer. But unlike a lot of folks out there that are just starting to focus on the consumer now, this Realogy Leads Group business unit was built on the back of 30 years of serving consumers directly and providing excellent experiences. I think by far, the fact that I was able to be a part of that conversation, be a part of that focus on the consumer, and then help and be part of the early leadership team building it out is something I’m really proud of. I remember the Word documents that I was writing out in the beginning, just talking about why and building these numbers-based cases. There was always a lot of passion behind it for me and all the other awesome leaders of that business unit. I think as more and more players coalesce around the consumer as a key focal point in our industry, it’s just something that I’m really proud of.

HW: Knowing there’s exciting room for growth and innovation in housing, why do you think strategy is a critical skill to have in this space?

MS: I’ll start by defining what strategy means to me, because I’ve learned that everybody has a different version of that in their head. Strategy, to me, is putting real intent and listening and data behind how an organization prioritizes and focuses. It’s being thoughtful and intentional about that focus.

I would say the reason why I love strategy and the reason why I believe it’s absolutely critical, especially in this space and now, is because strategy becomes the focus when there’s a lot of potential things you could focus on. There are a lot of options in this industry of how to spend your time, and there’s hundreds of millions of dollars of funding coming in to solve different problems or improving different experiences.

And with all that transformation and change, I really believe that you have to spend the time that is a real investment in listening and planning before you jump in and decide what’s going to be the highest impact.

Especially when you’re at a company like Realogy, where we are the largest player in residential real estate in the United States. This comes with not only high

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stakes, but also a responsibility to ourselves, to our agents, to our consumers for focusing on what’s really important. It’s strategy that helps you get to that right focus for all of those involved.

“ If you ask me, I will

HW: How have you witnessed the power of strategy in action?

continue to build on

MS: Honestly, I’m a very biased here — but I think the creation of my new role at Realogy Title Group is a great example! For the first time, Realogy has a role 100% dedicated to building simple and high-impact joint ventures with our franchisees. It’s a classic strategy story: Realogy has a clear competitive advantage in our title and mortgage expertise, we have this incredible group of more than 1,900 affiliated brokers, and clear industry focus on the intersection of primary services and the consumer experience. So we’re going big on it.

those principles of what’s important to me and continue to focus on whatever I can do to make a small, positive dent in this real estate

HW: How have you seen this industry come together through partnerships to create change?

HW: What can we expect next from you?

MS: If there’s one thing that I’ve learned over the last couple of years, it’s that I am motivated by who I work with, and I am motivated by solving interesting problems with impact on all sorts of different constituents.

I’m really excited about my new role at Realogy Title Group because it checks those boxes, and I really believe that ancillary services, and title and mortgage specifically, are a huge part of the experience. It’s a huge part of what consumers are craving in the real estate experience — it’s a really smooth, seamless and positive experiences. Many people are a little scared

”

off from title and mortgage because they’re complicated, but I think that’s exactly why it’s exciting to me. It’s complicated, and it’s high impact. And the team here has built a world-class business that I am learning and becoming more and more a part of. If you ask me, I will continue to build on those principles of what’s important to me and continue to focus on whatever I can do to make a small, positive dent in this real estate universe we’re all in.

HW: Is there anything else you would like to add?

MS: I’d add that there are so many people out there that are just starting careers, and it’s so easy to focus on what you’re doing and not who you’re doing it with. If there’s one piece of learning that I would love to share, it’s that it’s all about the people you work with, not just because you will have more fun every day and every week, and not just because they will teach you tactical things, but because they will make you better. And, they will affect the way you look at the world, whether it means your work world or your home world or a combination of both of them. This matters so much, and I am so grateful for the ability to have worked with the people that I work with, and just look forward to all the people I get to meet in the next 5, 10, 20 or however many years in my career. It’s a real joy, and I hope everybody gets that chance and builds in space to find those chances to work with great people.

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MS: The best part about partnerships is you can acknowledge what you do well and where you really want to invest time and energy. Ultimately, your partners have got to be focused with you on something that you have all decided is really high impact.

One of those that I’m most excited about is our partnership with Home Partners of America and the creation of our RealSure joint venture. I’ve watched as the company has really rallied around this amazing value proposition. I was a part of it from the Realogy Leads Group perspective, as we decided that not only did we want another partner in it, but we wanted to create a third-party joint venture whose sole focus was going to be on this pretty incredible consumer experience that unlocks accessibility and homeownership for people who can’t carry a balance in between buying and selling a home and unlocking a truly different experience, instead of just playing around the edges of the base consumer experience of buying and selling home.

universe we’re all in.

It’s been a tradition over the years to ask each year’s Rising Stars honorees to share, in their

Ben Aguilar

own words, a lesson they’ve learned or a piece

EVP, Financial Planning and Analysis Guaranteed Rate Companies Age: 35

of advice they’d share with their younger selves.

The wisdom of each honoree is apparent, and

As executive vice president of financial planning and analysis, Ben Aguilar helps the Guaranteed Rate Companies’ leadership team analyze and effectively utilize the companies’ financial resources to increase profitability and improve cash flow, ensuring year-over-year success.

Aguilar supports executive leadership in overseeing corporate budgeting, building and maintaining forecasting models, performing ROI analysis, evaluating capital structure and ultimately mapping out Guaranteed Rate Companies’ overall financial future. In the last three years, Aguilar has further accelerated the companies’ growth over 3x and helped bring its operating capabilities to new heights.

In early 2021, Aguilar supported the organization’s expansion as it executed two major acquisitions of Stearns Holdings, LLC and Owning Corporation.

That same year, Aguilar also supported the formation of Gateless, a technology company that provides the entire industry with much-needed high-tech solutions to elevate and transform the loan origination and underwriting process. Aguilar’s expertise in financial forecasting has played an integral role in expanding the Guaranteed Rate Companies’ overall fintech product suite, technology and service solutions, driving both revenue growth and margin expansion across the organization.

it’s clear that this year’s class is made up of driven professionals who have learned more in their careers so far than many experience by the time of retirement. In this self-reflection, we get a look inside the things that drive each honoree to excel. From learning the power of risk-taking to honing their ability to listen to colleagues, these insights provide a glimpse into the values that have helped each honoree succeed in housing. Congratulations to the 2022 class of Rising Stars who are carving out their own paths forward with the lessons learned

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along the way.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Word hard. Be humble.

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Katie Barish EVP, Purchase Mortgage Rocket Mortgage | Age: 39

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

I realized that I had been passing on opportunities through the years where I didn’t feel “ready” or like I was the right person. I’ve made an active decision to jump into new opportunities that will push me out of my comfort zone.

Paramjeet Singh Bhamra VP, Solutions Architecture Sourcepoint | Age: 39 As vice president, solutions architecture at Sourcepoint, Paramjeet Singh Bhamra works across organizational and geographic boundaries, influencing people and driving excellence. Bhamra’s business foresight and ability to spearhead successful technology-based transformations has helped Sourcepoint close high impact deals and power 92 percent year-over-year revenue growth.

A people-oriented leader, Bhamra plays a hands-on role in fostering client relationships and nurturing teams and individuals, helping them thrive and grow.

As the head of Sourcepoint’s solutions architecture team, Bhamra is tasked with building solutions that solve the most pressing challenges facing mortgage companies. Bhamra has been instrumental in driving Sourcepoint’s growth momentum, playing a pivotal role in business expansion, thought leadership and automation projects across clients. Through his commitment to execution excellence, Bhamra has spearheaded the design of client solutions and helped expand Sourcepoint’s digitally enabled product/solution suite across the mortgage lifecycle.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Early on in my career, I learned the only way to succeed is by becoming resilient and change-ready. Honing my ability to bounce back and move forward has helped me not just professionally but also personally.

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Tiffany Bjarnson Product Manager ICE Mortgage Technology Age: 37 Tiffany Bjarnson is a Product Manager at ICE Mortgage Technology, focused on the execution of the company’s eClosing and collaboration strategies which work to connect lenders and settlement agents to securely share, validate and collaborate on loan documents, disclosures, fees and more. Bjarnson has been key in driving delivery of a comprehensive solution, especially with the settlement agent in mind. She is passionate about using technology and customer feedback to create solutions to address and solve industry pain points and provide the best customer and stakeholder experiences.

After joining the Encompass and Simplifile product teams, Bjarnson has been leading efforts to pivot the mortgage industry’s manual processes to a more automated one, especially raising awareness around the savings benefits lenders and settlement agents can achieve through Encompass eClose.

Bjarnson has exemplified the qualities and values that ICE Mortgage Technology expects in its employees. Putting customers first and innovating with the customer in mind are at the forefront of the company’s culture, demonstrated daily in her leadership and the work that she does.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

A mentor emphasized the importance of stretching yourself past where you are comfortable. The goals I set and actions I take every day stretch myself past my comfort zone.

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Katie Barish has served a variety of roles in her 15 years at Rocket Mortgage, ranging from loan officer, training, marketing and now as executive vice president, purchase mortgage she oversees the Purchase Banking Team. Barish’s role has grown in importance as the company’s purchase volume grows to new records every year. Barish understands the best ways to connect with clients and introduce them to the best loan officer for their situation.

Barish oversees the entire purchase channel at a pivotal time for the company and the industry. Under Barish’s leadership, Rocket Mortgage had the highest purchase volume in the company’s history in 2021 and is on its way to reaching its goal of becoming the top retail purchase lender — excluding correspondent – by 2023. In January of 2022, the volume of Rocket Mortgage’s verified approvals rose 50 percent from that time in 2021.

As a leader, Barish stays true to the company culture at Rocket, focusing on “Every client. Every time. No exceptions. No excuses.” She immerses herself into the loan process to ensure every client has the best experience possible.

Dominique Buckner IT Security Analyst Enact Mortgage Insurance | Age: 26

Ethan Brooks Branch Manager Fairway Independent Mortgage Age: 28

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Ethan Brooks was recently promoted from loan officer to branch manager for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation and his continued success will continue to drive him up the ranks.

Brooks left work studying to become a pastor at his ministry in order to pursue a career that puts people into homes and builds communities. At a young age, Brooks is also revolutionizing the office culture for his team, even considering implementing a 36-hour workweek in order to encourage work/life balance and increase retention rates ­­­­— an exciting innovation in the mortgage lending space.

While Brooks could still be considered a rookie in the mortgage industry, he is already making waves. He personally had more than $64 million in origination volume in 2021 and more than $41 million in 2020 due to his hard work, dedication and systems he put in place for himself.

Brooks is constantly renewing his motivation, creating a new vision for the next few years to invigorate himself and his team to continue striving for their next goal.

Having his mind on his next destination has continued to keep him on track and making the right decisions and connections for the next step in his journey.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Put together a solid five-to-10 year vision for your future self. Often I could lose motivation trying to figure out what to do next. The mission would’ve helped me feel like I’m on a mission again; otherwise, you’ll lose your sense of purpose.

As IT security analyst, Dominique Buckner has had an outsized impact at Enact both in business results and driving employee culture. Buckner has led several initiatives to secure Enact systems against vulnerabilities. She also co-founded and co-leads the Whoever in Technology (WIT) employee resource group (ERG) which educates and empowers its members, especially minorities, to be successful in a technology-based environment.

Buckner’s work as a security analyst is a critical support for helping Enact protect itself against cyber vulnerabilities. In her year in the role, Buckner has made several significant contributions both to securing Enact’s environment and preventing the risk of possible damage from potential attacks. Her biggest contribution to securing the environment has been fixing, upgrading and implementing a host-intrusion detection system. By solving the issues, Buckner ensured Enact’s security arsenal had a powerful tool. She also coordinated penetration and vulnerability testing using a variety of security software. On the mitigation side, Buckner has led several projects to mitigate potential damage from any potential cyberattack. Most critically, she created a script to scan the entire company file storage system, a task so large that it took 3 weeks for the script to complete the scan.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Don’t be afraid to take risks, to be uncomfortable or to seek exposure.

Dennis Cestra, Jr. President, Pennsylvania Region Howard Hanna Real Estate Services Age: 34 Dennis Cestra is the newly appointed president of Howard Hanna’s Pennsylvania region and before this role, he served as president of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services’ southeast region. In his previous role, Cestra worked to integrate the technology, systems and people from both entities to enhance the company’s ability to serve homebuyers and sellers in the Virginia region.

In June 2021, Cestra spearheaded the leadership and integration of the client relations e-commerce model in the Southeast region. As a retail-based industry, he recognized that the company’s customer relations services need to be impeccable to not only generate leads but bring those leads full circle to a sale point.

The integration of this innovative lead generation and routing system across the region allows agents to strategically “decline” leads that come in while they are busy with other clients. With this new system, the virtual assistants have successfully engaged 88% of declined leads, which ultimately bring those leads back into the system for further relationship-building to see them through to home sale or purchase.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

If given the opportunity, I would give my younger self two pieces of advice — be persistent and surround yourself with a high-quality team.

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Chris Channell

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Become a professional and learn every aspect of the business so you are a value-add to everyone around you in your field.

Nate Clear National Sales Manager FirstFunding | Age: 33 As national sales manager at FirstFunding, Nate Clear works well outside the confines of his role. Clear is a unique combination of student, mentor, technician, executive manager and sales professional, who is aware of his ability to attract, guide and inspire new talent in the industry. With every initiative Clear leads, his goal is twofold: improve the customer experience and empower employees with the time and resources they need to excel.

Now in his tenth year with FirstFunding, Clear is a student of his industry, learning all aspects of the warehouse lending space. Clear has positioned himself to attract, guide and inspire new talent entering the industry. Even as a young professional himself, Clear is committed to addressing the growing need for younger generations to explore a career within the mortgage industry. Within FirstFunding, Clear personally designed the curriculum for a sales and account management internship program. He mirrored the curriculum after his own career approach, focusing not only on sales but all facets of the business. Clear believes a sales professional with a deep understanding of operations can better contribute to a culture of building efficiency through teamwork.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Goal setting and re-setting have been one of, if not the best habit that has aided me in my success both professionally and personally.

JUNE 2022

Sara Davis SVP Freedom Mortgage Age: 37 Sara Davis, senior vice president at Freedom Mortgage, has vast knowledge of corporate management including vendor/supply chain, people management and implementing processes to run business functions more efficiently. She is committed to developing and educating her team to drive excellence throughout Freedom Mortgage.

Davis joined Freedom Mortgage in 2012 and rose through the ranks to her current role, responsible for vendor management and HR business partners. Davis joined the vendor management team when Freedom Mortgage’s in-house servicing division was being launched and worked with leaders to further build the division. Davis developed the fundamentals of a third-party oversight program to vet, select and ultimately oversee new partnerships.

In 2015, Davis was promoted to take the foundation of the program she built in servicing and apply the program to all of Freedom Mortgage for a centralized and consistent enterprise-wide approach to vendor management. She has continued to develop the vendor management program and her team of 14 vendor management professionals manage over 3,000 contingent workers from various vendors.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

I’ve never been content with the status of my work or existing processes — even if I built them myself. What has helped me succeed is continuously reassessing my work, my team and what we have implemented, so we can further improve.

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Regional VP Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp.

Age: 36 Mortgage industry leader Chris Channell has achieved more in the past several years than many hope to accomplish in their entire careers. Since joining Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp. as a regional vice president in 2018, he has taken a group of four employees and built a team of more than 100 spanning half the country and ranking among the top-performing residential mortgage groups in the nation. With his talents for leadership, sales and finance, Channell has made an outsized impact to the organization, his home D.C. metro region and the mortgage industry as a whole.

When Channell joined Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp., the company had virtually no presence in the Washington, D.C. area. Channell proved himself to be a natural recruiter and team-builder as he attracted new talent and opened a second branch.

He continued originating mortgages at a high level, with Mortgage Executive Magazine recognizing him on their Top 200 Mortgage Originators in America 2020 list. He recruited more than 75 loan officers and support staff to join his group along with their branch locations in Ohio, Texas and Louisiana.

Jason Doshi CEO and Co-founder paymints.io | Age: 37

Victoria DeLuce EVP, Capital Markets Princeton Mortgage Age: 38

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Victoria DeLuce, EVP Capital Markets at Princeton Mortgage is the definition of a self-starter, and has worked her way up in the industry with her hard work and determination. From the moment she entered the organization, DeLuce brought a sense of leadership and predictability from the Capital Markets perspective and jumped at the opportunity to lead Princeton’s wholesale channel. DeLuce is also currently the president of the Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association, where she uses her extensive abilities to give back to the community at large.

Throughout her entire career, DeLuce has exhibited a drive for constant improvement, a trait that is coveted within Princeton. As a leader, DeLuce is candid in her interactions with everyone and is unafraid to push her point of view when she believes it will benefit the company.

DeLuce is passionate about budgeting to better serve profitable gains and uses her industry connections and experience to make Princeton’s onboarding and recruiting efforts even better than they were.

Looking ahead, Princeton’s leadership team continues to see room for DeLuce to have a significant impact on every facet of the organization. She has been a partner to the sales team, providing valuable market knowledge and insight for the entire team.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Be your authentic self. No one on this earth is exactly like you, and that is a gift.

Jason Doshi, CEO and co-founder of paymints.io, got his start in the financial services industry, later becoming an independent mortgage originator. He was stunned that Realtors, lenders and title agents were still using paper checks, U.S. mail, couriers and even drivers to disburse payments for things such as earnest money or cash-to-close. Since that realization, Doshi has helped drive paymints.io into the industry’s collective consciousness, growing his electronic disbursements platform into one of the leading brands in the space in a few short years.

As a leader, Doshi has set the tone for growth throughout the company from the very beginning. Doshi works to bring the concept of electronic disbursement as a means of fighting wire fraud and improving the overall mortgage transaction to the forefront of almost any mortgage-related discussion. Doshi’s energy for his product and mission of eliminating paper checks from the process have led to the assembly of an enthusiastic team and a positive response throughout the market.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Being consistent and an unwavering focus on our mission is extremely important when trying to change the old way of doing things and driving scalable adoption.

For me, consistency is about believing in what we’re building and what we’re solving for regardless of the obstacles that come our way.

Nadia Evangelou Senior Economist, Director of Forecasting National Association of Realtors Age: 40 As senior economist, director of forecasting at National Association of Realtors, Nadia Evangelou produces creative and innovative research that sheds light on the impact of various socio-economic and demographic factors on the housing market. She has a knack for conceptualizing novel solutions and improving upon conventional ways of showcasing data that can help members to better understand the market.

Evangelou works hard to make NAR a success and appears regularly on major news outlets. She also has provided feedback to the U.S. Census Bureau about the use of the American Community Survey data. Evangelou recently published a study about the impact of “Double Trouble” on the housing market. Specifically, the report took a deep dive on how record high home prices and record low inventory affect homebuyers at the local level. Her work has been used by policymakers in their efforts to provide solutions to help more people to become homeowners and is also sought by academics such as Harvard Joint Center for Housing, who rely on Evangelou’s analysis to assemble the State of the Nation’s Housing report.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Quality is not an act, it is a habit. Simply put, if we want to improve our performance, then our emphasis on quality has to be consistent.

JUNE 2022

Julie Eyden VP, Program Delivery Radian | Age: 34

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Take a deep breath and get perspective. You won’t solve everything immediately — you won’t win over every person.

Jessica Forbes SVP, Business Technology Nationwide Mortgage Bankers | Age: 39 Jessica Forbes, SVP, business technology at Nationwide Mortgage Bankers, is a prime example of what is possible when great talent is given the freedom to do what they know best and the right environment to flourish. Forbes leads the business technology team, which oversees all loan origination software at NMB. In her role, she leads with mastery of the operations process and approaches business problems with empathy, having functioned in nearly every mortgage origination role herself at some point in her 16-year mortgage career. As she has grown her career, she has become a strong mentor and leader, helping develop the next generation of talent to continue pushing the industry forward. Forbes leads the company’s business technology team, which is responsible for implementing and optimizing technology solutions that drive the loan origination process at NMB. She approaches her work with a sense of optimism, an infectious sense of humor and a passion for helping others step outside their comfort zone.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Whenever I start to feel like I’m getting overwhelmed, I create a Word document and list everything that is happening that I need to work on or get done. It seems so simple and silly, but it really helps me organize everything swirling around in my brain and it always seems less daunting once it is out of my head and on a list .

JUNE 2022

Samantha Funderburg VP, Learning & Employee Experience First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation Age: 32 First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation’s vice president of learning and employee experience Samantha Funderburg leverages people experience to accelerate employee and company growth. She has an ability to understand employee needs and expectations while merging those with company goals. Funderburg has been instrumental in increasing employee engagement and satisfaction, modernizing and streamlining employee/ leadership training and development and implementing strategies that prioritize the employee voice.

Amid historic volume and 300% growth, Funderburg and her team remained focused on creating an overarching positive employee experience despite a shift to remote work and implemented programs that drove continued growth and enhanced employee satisfaction to an impressive 86 percent.

Funderburg personifies FGMC’s company values and demonstrates excellence with an effortless drive to create valuable and positive change. Funderburg’s ability to think outside the box has influenced FGMC to implement modern and effective employee engagement and training solutions conducive to a virtual work environment.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Believe in yourself. Take risks, and don’t be afraid to fail.

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As VP, program delivery at Radian, Julie Eyden leads the IT teams that support the homegenius suite of solutions, a digital ecosystem leveraging AI, machine learning, predictive modeling, blockchain, and other emerging technologies. In the last year, Eyden has helped bring a list of highly innovative technology products to market, including homegenius’s direct-to-consumer title platform, automated title decision engine, property intelligence platform and cutting-edge dynamic website. Under Eyden’s leadership, the homegenius information technology teams are driving the digital transformation of real estate transactions from search to close.

Eyden is known at Radian for expertly managing extremely complex development projects with a focus on creating delightful user experiences. With her record of success, Eyden has been, and continues to be, instrumental in bringing the homegenius vision to life, which relies heavily on the talents of the technology teams to plan, design, build, test and deliver the digital experiences Radian’s customers interact with each day. Eyden and her team deliver on Radian’s core values with intelligent digital solutions that solve industry challenges and future challenges.

Benjamin Gottheim

Ron Gapp COO and General Counsel Axia Home Loans Age: 34

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As COO and general counsel at Axia Home Loans, Ron Gapp is knowledgeable and skilled across multiple areas including operations, legal and compliance. Originally hired as Axia’s GC and CCO, Gapp has taken on the role of COO, now overseeing banking operations, IT and software development. Gapp’s deep mortgage industry expertise along with his drive to grow has resulted in Axia being a more formidable organization today.

Upon separation of Axia’s former COO in early 2021, Gapp jumped in to take over.

Since then, he has attracted exceptional operational talent and deepened bench strength across multiple departments. He has restructured multiple areas of banking operations via personnel and technology, resulting in increasing Axia’s service levels to originators, as well as fulfillment consistency and speed. Gapp managed this in the midst of a record year of originations and launching the wholesale channel, UR Wholesale.

Gapp pursues his role with transparency, going beyond his scope of responsibility to help others succeed. He focuses on what his departments are doing, but more importantly how they aspire to achieve success. Gapp strives to promote a low-ego, high-trust environment for his employees, customers and third-party stakeholders.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Be passionate about everything you do but be patient, consistent and focused on your end goals.

Senior Director, Mortgage Servicing Policy Freddie Mac | Age: 40 As senior director, mortgage servicing policy at Freddie Mac, Benjamin Gottheim’s leadership, expertise and experience are the embodiment of Freddie Mac’s mission of being a stabilizing force for the country’s housing needs in both good and challenging times. Gottheim and his team are responsible for creating the policies that address all aspects of mortgage servicing for Freddie Mac. These policies directly impact a homeowner’s ability to stay in their home during the toughest of times.

Gottheim was at the forefront of policy creation at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been at every stage since. Two years later, the results speak for themselves: More than 858,000 homeowners with Freddie Mac-backed loans have received forbearance since the beginning of 2020, and approximately 791,000 of these loans have exited forbearance, including 330,000 through reinstatement or payoff and 374,000 through payment deferral.

Gottheim is a sought-out Freddie Mac employee who collaborates with mortgage servicers in bringing the right solutions to bear to help mortgage servicers help homeowners.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Don’t try to be someone else, that person already exists just be yourself.

Meghan Hannon Senior Director, Product Finance of America Home Improvement Age: 39 Meghan Hannon, senior director, product at Finance of America Home Improvement is a proven leader with a history of innovation in enterprise software.

She is passionate about working with product and development teams to solve complex problems in a way that empowers the customer. Hannon’s organization and strategic leadership has propelled the home improvement financing platform to new heights and superior user experiences.

With a deep understanding of how the digital platform works and how it serves the consumer, Hannon’s perspective and leadership have been vital in the formulation and execution of strategic initiatives. From new product features, process improvements, external partnerships and regulatory changes, she has translated ideas into actions.

Throughout her tenure at FOAHI, Hannon has led full-scale product initiatives to resolve systemic issues and create new experiences that improve the customer experience. Hannon embodies FOAHI’s values through her commitment to her team and to others to innovate, grow and build great products together. Hannon’s personification of these corporate values and teamwork are paramount to the culture FOAHI is committed to providing its customers and employees.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Every strength is also a weakness.

JUNE 2022

Paul Hurst

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

When I first started my career at BCG Digital Ventures, one of the senior partners pointed out how the important decisions you make in your career are more about who you are working with and learning from, and less about the industry you’re working in. The advice has been incredibly valuable to me as my career progressed.

Ben Johnson Founder and CEO Spruce | Age: 34 Ben Johnson, CEO and founder of Spruce, is an innovative leader in the lifestyle services space with the goal of positively impacting small businesses and hundreds of thousands of residents across the nation. As the largest provider of lifestyle services to the multifamily industry, Spruce is an industry leader - but it wouldn’t have gotten there without Johnson’s vision to create a company that offers apartment residents freedom from their obligations so that they can pursue their inspiration. Spruce empowers local businesses to build economies of scale in their operations and tech-enables them so they can compete in the modern economy and provides seamless on-demand services for residents — all thanks to Ben’s forward thinking, passion and dedication.

Johnson’s most significant contribution has been propeling Spruce’s growth, while maintaining a commitment to the mission, vision and core values of the organization. Spruce’s mission is to build relationships and technology that empower local businesses to serve its residents. In the past year, Johnson has led Spruce through a period of rapid growth — the business has grown over 400% and serves more than 500,000 apartment homes in 17 markets.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even offend you. See if you can find the truth in what they believe.

JUNE 2022

Brad Jones Chief Marketing Officer Newrez Age: 34 Through cultivating company culture, modernizing how lenders communicate with clients and developing borrower educational initiatives, Newrez’s chief marketing officer, Brad Jones, is working to revolutionize how the mortgage industry is marketed and perceived. His marketing efforts are empowering borrowers with the tools, support and transparency that they need to ensure they are equipped to make the most educated decision for themselves when it comes to choosing a lender and taking out a mortgage.

Under Jones’s leadership, the company now captures data and uses it to market to people when they need it. Jones has not stopped at transitioning a formerly service-first company into a client-first company but has built out the marketing team — from nine employees to nearly 78 today — along the way.

This year, Jones has been instrumental in the launch of Newrez’s partnership with Patch, a local news and information platform. Jones’s two main goals for this initiative were to substantially increase Newrez’s brand awareness and educate borrowers. To achieve the latter, Jones helped develop an all-in-one mortgage hub on Patch that has reached 102K unique users.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Never show up to a meeting, conversation or strategic call without preparing. You might look like a rookie, but with proper preparation, you can counteract that so that you don’t seem like one.

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Chief Innovation Officer First American Financial Corporation Age: 35 Most title insurers don’t have a venture investing strategy, but most title insurers don’t have Paul Hurst, chief innovation officer at First American and managing director of First American’s venture investing arm. Hurst has guided investments in 20 high-growth proptech companies for First American, producing $355 million in gains as of the end of 2021. Yet, these financial returns of the venture investments are only part of the value they have brought to First American as many of the proptech companies within First American’s venture portfolio have become strategic partners.

The impressive outcomes over the past year are largely a result of the insightful contributions of Hurst. He demonstrated his leadership and teamwork as he helped develop and launch Endpoint, a digital title and settlement company that streamlines home closings for real estate agents, buyers and sellers, and empowers proptech companies and investors looking to scale their closing operations.

Kathryn Keeton Director of Client Strategy Sagent | Age: 35

Joseph Judge SVP Freedom Mortgage Age: 33

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Joseph Judge, senior vice president at Freedom Mortgage, is a strategic leader, committed to developing his team to deliver the highest levels of customer satisfaction and drive excellence throughout Freedom Mortgage. Judge joined Freedom Mortgage in 2017 and ascended to his current role, leading the company’s centralized operations, new customer acquisition and purchase teams. As a member of the Call Center leadership team, Judge is also responsible for advising the EVP of Freedom’s call center channel on revenue optimization, budget management, workforce management and the loan manufacturing process. Judge is a savvy problem solver, routinely tasked with special projects to help others improve metrics or meet business goals. Under Judge’s leadership the acquisition team increased production by 100% in 2021 and established new standards for customer satisfaction, production and cash flow. Judge was key to the success of other initiatives which included growing the call center portfolio cash out and purchase verticals. Judge worked closely with the cash out leadership team to increase monthly production output from $500 million to nearly $1 billion in just four months.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Setting big goals has helped me succeed.

It is important to have goals that will push and inspire you. My goals have fueled me to learn new skills and set even more aspirational goals.

Director of client strategy Kathryn Keeton exemplifies Sagent’s vision to be one of the housing industry’s most modern, homeowner-first servicing fintech.

Keeton leads client-facing teams to deliver on every detail for Sagent’s mortgage servicing clients to ensure smooth homeownership experiences for millions of Americans. As COVID-19 prompted an “unprepared is unacceptable” stance from regulators, servicers have risen to the challenge of meeting every possible homeowner need on every kind of loan. Keeton is on the front lines of the industry delivering on this every day.

Keeton runs point on fostering Sagent’s client relationships with America’s largest mortgage lenders and servicers, combining unwavering empathy and a homeowner-first philosophy with an understanding of servicer needs. She is adept at distilling client experiences and top-down organizational initiatives into actionable strategies that help servicers care for, engage and retain homeowners.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

I’ve been successful because I made a habit of waking up every day and viewing the world through a housing consumer’s eyes. They don’t know or care about the wildly complex details we deal with in the mortgage industry, they just know they want to buy, finance, renovate and sell homes easily. It’s our job to simplify it for them, and true innovation means making these deeply complex things more accessible.

Brendan Kihn Senior Director of Government and Industry Relations U.S. Mortgage Insurers | Age: 34 Senior director of government and industry relations Brendan Kihn has worked with U.S. Mortgage Insurers for six years, and currently represents the organization in front of lawmakers, regulators and housing industry stakeholders in Washington, D.C., where he aids in the development of legislative and regulatory strategies to advocate on behalf of the private mortgage insurance industry on issues focused on increasing sustainable and affordable homeownership, housing finance reform and tax policy.

As USMI has grown, Kihn has successfully taken on a larger portfolio of issues and workstreams. This includes extensive engagement with USMI’s member companies to support various committees, including USMI’s regulatory work group, executive committee and legal counsel group. He has been integral in promoting USMI’s legislative and regulatory priorities through comment letters, congressional hearing testimonies, and industry working groups. Kihn has enabled USMI to be nimble and effective on advocacy initiatives with policymakers, housing industry stakeholders and consumer advocate organizations.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Ever since I was young, my mother advised to “never burn a bridge,” a mindset that served her well for more than 40 years at General Motors and which informs my approach to interactions in and out of the office.

JUNE 2022

Max Lamb Director Of Business Development Qualia | Age: 30

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Don’t blindly take advice. Be mindful of the influences driving the advice you receive because that person probably had a different life path.

Tim McBride Partner Wexler Realty Group | Age: 39 Tim McBride, partner at Wexler Realty Group, has a relentless commitment and passion to service beyond himself. Not only is McBride in the top one percent of real estate agents in Arizona, in 2018, he founded Homes For Good, a grassroots fundraising movement that uses real estate to connect people with causes they can support. McBride and Homes For Good have helped 21 local nonprofits raise over $90,000 and reach over 25,000 people in the past three years. McBride pushes Wexler to elevate its quality and push beyond the status quo. He is committed to his craft and innovation in his industry and inspires those around him to be the same. In an industry often stigmatized for bland and has-been tactics, McBride is willing to try new campaigns and initiatives, partner with uncommon brands and continually challenges the status quo.

In the last 12 months, McBride has pioneered industry collaborations that elevate impact through the development of leadership committees, partnerships with nonprofits and technical integrations with online giving portals, bringing ease to charitable contributions for individuals and businesses alike.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

In an ever-changing environment, I have found that it’s essential to try and keep trying. The habit of pivoting fast is what I attribute to my quick growth and success in both the real estate industry and philanthropic space.

JUNE 2022

Alex McEvans Director, Product Management Maxwell Age: 33 Following his veteran experience in product management at high-growth fintech companies, Director of Product Management Alex McEvans has played a crucial role in expanding Maxwell’s offerings to help the lenders serving America’s communities. A quick learner in the world of mortgage processing and underwriting, McEvans joined Maxwell in 2020 and in record time brought a product to life that will serve as a cornerstone among Maxwell’s solutions for lenders.

Maxwell Processor Edge, the result of McEvans’s energy and dedication, brings much-needed love to processing teams around the country, reducing time-toclose so that small and midsize lenders can better serve their borrowers and their communities.

McEvans spearheaded the creation and launch of Maxwell Processor Edge, a first-of-its-kind product platform that directly integrates with a lender’s loan origination system, using machine learning to accelerate the document review process and detect data discrepancies before underwriting. McEvans worked closely with Maxwell’s own team of veteran processors along with existing customers to ensure that Processor Edge not only provides value to the local lenders Maxwell serves, but acts as an indispensable tool that processors are happy to use.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

If I could tell my younger self one thing, it would be to embrace my natural sense of curiosity and exploration rather than feel the need to have all the answers.

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As director of business development, Max Lamb leads partnerships and integrations at Qualia, where his team is building the company’s partner technology ecosystem to streamline the real estate and mortgage transaction process. Lamb’s work at Qualia has been pivotal in helping the company establish a more connected real estate and mortgage ecosystem. His leadership has led to key collaborations with title insurance underwriters and other partners to work with Qualia Assure, as well as hundreds of other integration partners throughout mortgage lending, title and escrow.

Lamb has been instrumental in Qualia’s path to becoming the system of record for title and escrow operations across the country, ensuring a more connected real estate ecosystem. Lamb has simplified the complex, highly regionalized nature of orchestrating real estate and mortgage transactions across multiple parties. He has built relationships with Qualia’s biggest partners to help translate their wants and needs to Qualia product teams to help them all work better together. That has led to new features that automate and streamline title agent, title underwriter and lender workflows, making it easier for these parties to collaborate.

Laura Orr Head of Leasing & Resident Services Roofstock | Age: 33

Adam O’Daniel SVP, Marketing Open Mortgage Age: 39

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After building and leading a content team at Movement Mortgage, Adam O’Daniel has emerged as senior vice president, Marketing at Open Mortgage, now tasked with supercharging brand and marketing initiatives. Known as an engaging and caring leader, he’s a driving force behind numerous strategic initiatives to expand Open’s footprint.

After joining Open Mortgage in 2021, O’Daniel launched recruitment, branding and social media campaigns designed to activate the company’s workforce to champion the cause of homeownership and attract new branches. The initiatives resulted in increased engagement of more than 300% across social media channels. Combined marketing and brand efforts in the first three months resulted in a 10% increase in the company’s branch footprint to 71 retail branches.

O’Daniel’s mandate as a member of the company’s executive leadership team is to lead the marketing team’s role in the organization’s 24-month goal to double its footprint and production as it becomes a midsize national lender. During his previous tenure as Movement’s marketing director, Movement grew from $8 billion to $35 billion in annual originations with more than $3 million in branded merchandise sales and a national earned media and content presence.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

As a young journalist, my editor told me that my well-being and success were more important to him than the company’s success.

Laura Orr is head of leasing and resident services for Roofstock’s Streetlane Homes division, acting as the liaison and intermediary between single-family rental investors and their tenants. Since starting her position in August 2020, Orr has emerged as a strategic leader who has reimagined property management during the pandemic. She grew her team from 18 people managing 2,500 homes to 98 people with 15,000 homes under management — one of the largest property management portfolios.

Orr has overseen many Roofstock initiatives to streamline processes and help the company make strides toward its goals. She led the technology team to integrate information from multiple systems such as Yardi and Rently into Salesforce in order to develop operational workflow tools enabling her team to focus on the tasks that matter.

Despite growing her team by more than 400 percent, Orr has managed to keep employees engaged, motivated and exceeding their goals through a period of hypergrowth at the company. She is an active contributor to Roofstock’s company culture, leading efforts to find exciting ways to engage staff and build community.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

You can do anything you set your mind to. Don’t worry about making mistakes as they form the basis of your experience and will set you apart in the future!

Chad Osterhout VP, Correspondent Lending United Wholesale Mortgage | Age: 38 As the VP, correspondent lending, Chad Osterhout impacts and supports the continued growth of United Wholesale Mortgage by overseeing the dayto-day operations of the company’s correspondent business channel. His top priority is focusing on increasing the correspondent network while providing accounts with elite client service and support to maximize their sales volume. His team works closely with sales to provide guidance to correspondent partners and their network of warehouse banks. Osterhout is a trailblazer for correspondent lending at UWM. His commitment to building a niche part of the company’s business from the ground up led him to become an expert on how correspondents operate. Within his role, he works closely with UWM’s sales, marketing, post-closing and warehouse teams to continue to deliver new tools and resources that are designed to help correspondents grow their business and make UWM a better partner. Under his leadership, Osterhout has grown the channel to billions in monthly production.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

One habit that has helped me succeed is structure. I plan my days ahead of time and keep track of everything through my calendar. It helps hold me accountable for doing what I need to do to be successful and achieve my goals because it helps me focus, keeps me organized and increases my productivity.

JUNE 2022

Meg Parker Young Senior Director, ESG Strategy Fannie Mae | Age: 36

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

One habit that has helped me succeed: Learning how to listen.

Shasta Patton VP, Claims Mr.Cooper | Age: 33 As vice president, claims at Mr. Cooper, Shasta Patton leads with service and tackles every challenge presented with a “let’s do it” attitude. She is a strong, innovative problem solver, and she draws the very best out of her team and those around her. Patton’s leadership empowers her team to see the full picture of the issue at hand, understand the impact to the customer and work to find or create solutions.

Patton embraces Mr. Cooper’s core values of being a challenger of convention, champion for its customers and a cheerleader for its team members. She is well-respected for her dedication, teamwork and ability to take on any challenge with her hands-on leadership skills. In 2021, Patton was promoted to lead the claims team for Mr. Cooper’s servicing organization, where she leads the charge to ensure the company is filing claims efficiently and effectively within compliance of various guidelines. She quickly implemented a team to focus on identifying missed opportunities, any possible future threats or weaknesses and the strengths of the current system. During her short tenure, she’s already implemented several loss avoidance process enhancements that will ultimately lead to cost savings.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

Discipline and self-control are the key drivers to success. Wake up each day with the intention of fulfilling your purpose regardless of circumstance.

JUNE 2022

Rebecca Perkovich Manager, Digital Mortgage Group Falcon Capital Advisors Age: 38 Falcon Capital Advisors manager, digital mortgage group Rebecca Perkovich has more than 13 years of experience leading efforts to develop and reengineer processes and applications to implement organizational initiatives. For the last four years she has worked with lenders, servicers and warehouse banks to help them adopt eMortgages and digitally transform their operations. In her current role, Perkovich is responsible for leading efforts on several engagements, contributing to the depth of eMortgage expertise on the team, co-facilitating a new MISMO eVault work group and maintaining valuable partnerships with eMortgage technology vendors.

Over the past 12 months, Perkovich and her team have been leading critical digital mortgage engagements including advising Ginnie Mae as it implements its digital collateral program, facilitating the development of RON, eClosing and eVault requirements for MISMO and esigning a strategy and roadmap for a top 20 mortgage company’s eMortgage program.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

I believe that always being curious and committing to lifelong learning has really helped me remain adaptable, flexible and understand varying perspectives. The more I have exposed myself to new subjects, the additional perspectives I have been able to bring to my work, allowing me to take a multidimensional approach to problem-solving.

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As senior director, ESG strategy, Meg Parker Young leads the development of Fannie Mae’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) Strategy at a moment when the impacts of climate change, racial inequity and the importance of an ethical and transparent housing finance system are fundamentally changing the ways investors and consumers alike perceive the housing finance industry. Her work in ESG strategy and reporting helps shape Fannie Mae’s approach to managing ESG risks and expanding its impact across a $4 trillion guaranty book of business, while positioning Fannie Mae as a leading ESG organization.

In 2021, Parker Young catalyzed a forward-leaning approach to Fannie Mae’s ESG impacts and transparency through external ESG reporting by successfully delivering on several major new voluntary disclosures. This included the publication of Fannie Mae’s first Corporate Green Bond Impact Report to reflect impacts of both single-family and multifamily green bonds, of which Fannie Mae was the world’s largest issuer through December 2021. Young managed the development and publication of Fannie Mae’s first report aligned to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board standard, a global ESG framework.

Mike Ryan EVP, Partnerships OJO Labs | Age: 37

Tyler Prows Group Product Manager SimpleNexus Age: 37

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As group product manager at SimpleNexus, Tyler Prows’s passion for building tech that makes lenders tick has been a driving force behind some of SimpleNexus’s most innovative and beloved digital mortgage solutions. On an accelerated timeline, Prows brought to market SimpleNexus’s core closing platform, Nexus Closing, along with its disclosures, eNote and eVault capabilities. Lender adoption of these toolsets has contributed to making SimpleNexus a multiyear Inc. 5000 honoree.

Prows’s work in bringing to market powerful closing toolsets enabled SimpleNexus to evolve from a pointof-sale solution to the homeownership platform it is today. These same closing toolsets have been major contributors to SimpleNexus’s market growth. Prows led his first product launch in 2019 with the introduction of an integrated disclosures solution that enables LOs to manage, and borrowers to review and eSign, documents and disclosures from anywhere.

In less than one year, 1 million disclosure packages were sent through the system, with customers reporting significant reductions in processing time and cost savings.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

The best advice I’ve ever received came from a boss who told me that the best way to ensure your own success is by lifting up those around you. This advice has stuck with me throughout my career and has helped me grow as a leader and nurture the development of my team.

As Executive Vice President of Partnerships at OJO Labs, Mike Ryan is ushering in a new homebuying experience with the first guided marketplace for real estate, connecting homebuyers, homeowners and sellers with solutions tailored to their individual needs. Ryan has been instrumental in forging partnerships with industry leaders to ensure that consumers have access to the right information and providers they need to help them achieve successful homeownership.

Ryan has been a critical part in fueling the company’s growth. He provides OJO with a level of guidance and transparency needed to scale the product across multiple channels and markets nationwide, ensuring OJO Labs meets more consumers wherever they are and provides them with the right solutions they need.

Ryan spearheaded partnerships that unlock critical information consumers need to make more informed decisions about homeownership.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

I define success as ‘achievements recognized in a defined, compressed amount of time’. In order to achieve success and as a naturally competitive personality, I manage myself against specific goals in shorter increments of time. This habit keeps me organized, efficient, and productive ensuring I am staying focused on the most important outcomes for the business.

Derek Schairer General Manager of Homebuilder Partnerships Opendoor | Age: 38 As Opendoor’s General Manager of Homebuilder Partnerships, Derek Schairer has spent the past four and a half years spearheading Opendoor’s Homebuilder Partnerships division. He and his team have worked to solve one of the homebuilding industry’s biggest challenges: converting contingent customers into buyers. Today, this program includes the nation’s top homebuilders, spans Opendoor’s nearly 50 markets, and, since launching in 2017, has unlocked over $2 billion in sales for Opendoor’s builder partners. Most importantly, it solves one of the industry’s biggest challenges by lining up the sale of a buyer’s existing home with the construction and completion of their new-build home.

Schairer aided in the development of a new platform, launching later this year, that will enable builders and homebuyers to conveniently connect and transact in a completely new way. He has expanded the Opendoor homebuilder program to 44 markets and manages partnerships in over 2,000 homebuilder sales offices across the country.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Fall in love with the process. It’s the key to being successful in any endeavor, long or short term. If you can do this, you can focus your energy in the correct places, be able to determine steps to succeed, and sit back and watch your plans come to life.

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Matt Sluggett Director of Product Management Stavvy | Age: 35

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Listen to understand, not reply. Use this understanding to help others solve the problems that frustrate them most. Whether as an individual or a company, focus on how you can understand and help. Over time, you will find this behavior is appreciated and rewarded.

Adam Spigelman SVP, Portfolio Retention Sales Planet Home Lending | Age: 40 Over the past four years, Planet Home Lending SVP, portfolio retention sales Adam Spigelman re-engineered the company’s retention division as it expanded its licensing to cover originations in 47 states, plus D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Informed by cutting-edge analytics, he updated sales and automated marketing campaigns, recruited industry-leading call-center professionals and worked with operations to increase cost efficiencies.

His actions drove quarterly payoff recapture rates as high as 94%.

As Planet Home Lending’s servicing portfolio rose from $33 billion in 2020 to nearly $50 billion at the start of 2022, Spigelman created specialty teams with a deep understanding of unique customer groups. Spigelman’s team provides expert defensive recapture service to Planet’s private and sub-servicing clients as well. Spigelman isn’t just great at retaining home loan customers, he’s also great at retaining employees.

In the past four years, his team experienced only one voluntary resignation and two employees who chose to work part-time down to the last customer in their pipelines by the time of their retirement.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

My dad told me that the secret to getting people to do their best work was to lead by example. I never ask people to do anything I don’t do myself.

JUNE 2022

Will St. Clair VP, Strategy & Partnerships Notarize Age: 37 Under Will St. Clair’s leadership as VP of strategy and partnerships, Notarize has built a thriving and category-leading partner ecosystem that has powered the online notary startup’s rapid growth and expansion. St. Clair has been instrumental in leading one of Notarize’s most important growth channels — partnerships.

St. Clair brought the industry-leading Adobe Sign and Notarize partnership to fruition, and has been key to additional partnerships that are expanding Notarize into additional high-growth categories like real estate, automotive, financial services and more.

St. Clair embodies Notarize’s core values of ‘Yes Before No,’ and ‘Solve Problems That Matter’ — and those are often most reflected in how he leads his growing, thriving team internally at Notarize. It also extends to his partnership philosophy for the real estate industry. He believes deeply in growing the pie for the entire industry versus trying to carve out the largest piece for Notarize.

St. Clair believes that Notarize is best if it can partner with other incredible organizations, help them grow their business and revenue, and delight their customers.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive. Embracing humor and authenticity in my leadership style enabled me to hit my stride professionally and find more joy in my work. We’re all tackling hard problems in our careers, but we can still have fun doing it.

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As director of product management at Stavvy, Matt Sluggett is a team player whose optimism and approachable attitude elevates the entire organization.

He has a solid vision and is able to deliver on it in a way that supports customers, welcomes feedback and leverages data to make the product and the organization better. He has great command of his team, takes the time to understand customers, and is always ready to roll up his sleeves alongside the customer to show the product off or listen to feedback and use it to innovate.

Sluggett embodies all of Stavvy’s core values and has even helped shape and finalize the company’s values as it has grown. He makes sure to connect with his colleagues on a human level and ensures everyone feels valued and welcome.

Sluggett’s innovative and creative thinking motivates his team to think outside of the box — whether brainstorming new product features or solving a customer problem. Sluggett listens to feedback and uses key learnings to implement improvements and drive change, pushing those around him to be better and think bigger.

Jenn Van Burkleo Senior Director, Events & Social Media eXp Realty | Age: 35

Ashley Terrell Chief Revenue Officer Percy.ai Age: 34

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Ashley Terrell is chief revenue officer of Percy.ai, a real estate and mortgage technology platform. Her industry experience skyrocketed the company’s success over the last 12 months by providing data and technology to companies to help them engage and retain clients and deepen partner relationships.

Terrell’s primary focus for the last 12 months has been the expansion of product and services into the real estate and mortgage space, including a full company rebrand to Percy.ai. With most departments falling under Terrell’s leadership, this started from the ground up with establishing internal processes to deliver on product, all the way through to selling into the market. Along the way, she strengthened relationships with other technology vendors to provide real estate and mortgage companies a true tech ecosystem.

The results of these efforts equated to steep revenue growth for the company with new diversified verticals.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

As a highly competitive equestrian show jumper, I’ve learned how to maintain focus and create a winning partnership for my horse, Cash, and I. Similar parallels apply to the workplace — partnering with and understanding others, strategizing to be successful and focusing as a team on a mutual goal that, once accomplished, benefits everyone and leads to the next level together. Successfully working in technology with both real estate brokerages and mortgage companies requires a win-win strategy for all parties involved.

Jenn Van Burkleo, senior marketing director of Events and social media, joined eXp Realty in October 2017 as social media manager and has significantly contributed to the growth of more than 76,000 agents (from 5,000 in 2017). She has scaled eXp World Holdings’s social media presence from five social media channels in 2017 to more than 85 today, across SUCCESS Enterprises, Virbela and eXp Realty. In January 2020, she was promoted to director of events and social media, now overseeing in-person and virtual event attendance and experiences for eXp World Holdings’s 76,000 agents and staff members. Van Burkleo values input from all team members and ensures that everyone has a seat at the table when marketing decisions are made, which is crucial to the success of eXp’s events and social media campaigns.

Van Burkleo is an innovator in the events and social media space. Under her leadership, guidelines and assets have been created to help agents build a better social media presence and lead their own events. She leveraged top agents to adopt these concepts, while gathering feedback from the Agent Advisory Council, top-producing agents, leadership, department heads and business lines.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

I think the best piece of advice I’ve been given is to wholly embrace my authentic self. The good. The bad. The weird. Being authentic is a superpower.

Mack Walker SVP, Director of Capital Markets Deephaven Mortgage | Age: 29 Mack Walker, senior vice president, director of capital markets of Deephaven Mortgage, may be the youngest capital markets leader among the nation’s leading non-QM/non-agency lenders. Since he joined Deephaven Mortgage at the age of 22, he has been influential in the development and growth of the non-government mortgage market. Today, he is charged with the growth and profitability of all Deephaven sourcing channels, product development and delivery of assets into the secondary market. He is a key voice in marketing, business development and every other company-wide initiative.

Walker has contributed to building out the company’s securitization strategy, correspondent partnerships and loan programs — establishing a baseline for Deephaven and benchmarks for the industry as a whole. Walker has positioned Deephaven to capitalize on this increased non-QM demand and has been instrumental in reshaping its capital markets strategy. He has built upon the company’s pre-existing correspondent relationships to increase liquidity and provide a new set of more flexible products to broker and mortgage banking partners.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Committing early on to being a “sponge” and learning as much as I could from senior colleagues. Never be afraid to ask questions; you can’t learn something new if you don’t take chances and bet on yourself.

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Erin Wester

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens. There is always something to learn from others’ feedback — knowing how and when to incorporate that feedback is the tricky part!

John Whipple Product Manager Blend | Age: 34 As a product manager at Blend, John Whipple drives solutions that impact the banking industry at large.

Whipple spearheaded the launch of Blend’s loan officer toolkit, which not only makes the loan process for consumers faster and easier, but decreases friction and removes manual, repetitive workflows for loan officers across the loan cycle. Whipple’s contributions were recognized at Blend in 2019 when he was awarded one of the company’s highest honors during its annual employee awards ceremony.

Since joining Blend in 2017, Whipple has played an integral role in innovating and expanding Blend’s products and services across the banking ecosystem. He joined the company with a vision of building products that could improve the consumer banking experience, and quickly found that his work could positively impact a loan officer’s day-to-day work as well. Today, he continues to innovate and enhance the experience for both loan officers and borrowers by building further support and automation that covers all potential use cases in the loan application process.

What is one thing you would tell a younger version of yourself?

I would tell myself that despite the pressure in software development to move fast, iterate and learn as quickly as possible, there can be equally as much value in taking a step back from your immediate day-to-day work to discern the bigger picture and try to see the forest through the trees.

JUNE 2022

Angie Wilen Senior Director, Single-Family Equitable Housing Freddie Mac Age: 40 As the senior director of single-family for Freddie Mac’s equitable housing team, Angie Wilen combines experience in organizational effectiveness, business transformation, innovation, and diversity, equity and inclusion to drive the team’s culture and change management. She is a leader and change agent who strengthens the equitable housing team’s ability to drive its mission forward to address the complexities of racial and ethnic disparities within the current housing construct.

She also is a positive role model who engages with a wide spectrum of colleagues to ensure inclusivity and partnership to help drive positive change.

Wilen is a recipient of the CEO Award, Freddie Mac’s highest employee honor.

She is admired and respected for challenging current paradigms and uncovering new and different ways to optimize people, processes and technology.

In her tenure at Freddie Mac, Wilen has led the implementation of a new performance management practice that empowers teams to make decisions and move work forward, initiated the update of Freddie Mac’s Seller-Service Guide to include a nondiscrimination clause and led a first-of-its-kind Freddie Mac study on LGBT housing insights, among other notable achievements.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Be a part of the solution, not the problem.

If you see something that’s not working, speak up, share ideas, find agreement and then take action.

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Director of Data and Integration Services Optimal Blue | Age: 34 As director of data and integration services at Optimal Blue, a division of Black Knight, Erin Wester’s vast technological skills, coupled with her deep industry knowledge, have led to the creation of a wide range of application programming interfaces that are leveraged millions of times each month by those in the mortgage industry for more accurate and transparent mortgage pricing to benefit both lenders and borrowers alike. Wester and her teams have also developed other applications that support lender growth, expand functional capabilities and improve the efficiency of their operations. Her leadership skills and passion for taking on challenges are second to none, and her infectious positive attitude and collaborative nature keep her ready to act with urgency to conquer any obstacles that she, her teams or clients face.

Wester has an innate ability to lead by example, motivating teams to be successful and function at far higher levels. She can communicate on both deep technical details and the most intricate industry topics. She is collaborative and always willing to do whatever it takes to help her colleagues or the company succeed.

Nathan Wolff Chief Security Officer Homepoint | Age: 36

Jonathan Wilson Home Mortgage Consultant Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Age: 36

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As home mortgage consultant at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Jon Wilson makes certain the families he serves are provided with the highest level of customer service at all times, with a zero tolerance policy for mistakes or delays and a machine-like process. Wilson has a dedicated team at his side to ensure this process is followed at every turn and has consistently achieved customer loyalty ratings that are at the top of the company.

A home mortgage originator for just under six years, Wilson has quickly risen to an elite level. In 2021, Wilson was honored as the 15th largest purchase transaction mortgage consultant in the entire company and achieved its highest honors, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage’s “Presidents Club,” not only for his production volume but for his customer-centric processes and business acumen. Wilson’s 2021 production was $61,986,076 for 174 units. Of these totals, $43,320,160 and 121 units were new construction purchase transactions.

In addition, Wilson is responsible for more than 13 communities and 1,200 homes with a closing percent ratio greater than 95 percent.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Persistence and drive. Consistently mapping out my sales strategy day after day and week after week closed in on my sales strategy and business plans in due time, bringing my goals to life and making my professional dreams come true.

As Chief Security Officer at Homepoint, Nathan Wolff has been an important voice for cybersecurity within the mortgage industry. And the way he has brought the concept forward and helped implement defensive systems is becoming the standard playbook for security teams throughout the U.S. As the world sees increased cyber threats, having someone wade through the risks, complexity, and approach has become essential. Wolff has balanced the company’s operational needs with the threat landscape mortgage companies operate in. His perspective and ability to bring the right security solutions that fit Homepoint’s model have been indispensable. Under Wolff’s guidance, Homesight’s Bitsight score improved to an advanced rating of 780 in 2021, higher than most financial companies.

Wolff has exemplified Homepoint’s culture by promoting his team, the work of its associates and the importance of partners and customers. This has made cybersecurity approachable and relateable, reducing friction and emphasizing manageable steps that lead to success.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

The habit that has helped me succeed more than anything is understanding how to listen. Being able to understand, compromise, and contribute to the fulfillment in others cannot be understated in its importance in life.

Ashley Wood VP, Mortgage Verification Services Equifax | Age: 33 As vice president of mortgage verification services at Equifax, Ashley Wood brings more than a decade of financial services experience to the organization and has quickly progressed into leadership roles. Wood oversees the strategy and deployment of the industry-leading employment and income verification solutions, including an enhanced focus on lender efficiency and borrower experience. She has been influential with helping the mortgage industry progress, especially when it comes to financial inclusion.

Wood has been instrumental in driving results, diversifying consumer equities and helping more than 21.7 million U.S. consumers close home loans in 2021.

With support of Wood’s leadership, Equifax’s verification services identified a 40% year-over-year growth in 2021, with over $1 billion in revenue. She plays a key role in providing an experience to lenders and consumers that makes loan origination faster, seamless and fosters financial inclusion. Wood listens to customers to ensure Equifax develops solutions that assure efficient loan approvals from lenders, helping lenders make fast, informed decisions. Wood’s tactics have helped lenders mitigate risks and increase loan origination.

What is one habit that has helped you succeed?

Staying close and empathetic to client needs and pain points is one of the keys to my success. By helping clients win, I win too.

JUNE 2022

Recognize your organization's operational all stars Nominations close on June 24, 2022 housingwire.com/insiders

A RECORD YEAR FOR REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE FIRMS Despite the headlines about low inventor y, there were record numbers of homes sold in 2021

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By Tracey Velt

JUNE 2022

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The 2021

real estate market was one for the ages: record low interest rates and housing inventory gave way to record high home prices and sales. Capitalizing on these market factors, brokerage firms in the 2022 RealTrends 500 brokerage rankings broke records in market share, closed transaction sides (there must be inventory somewhere!) and sales volume.

The top four — Realogy Brokerage Group (RBG), HomeServices of America, Compass and eXp Realty — now have 20% market share in the U.S. “These four brokerage companies did just over $20 billion in residential gross commission revenue,” said RealTrends Senior Advisor Steve Murray. “In the 2021 rankings (based on 2020 data), these same firms closed just over $14 billion, so the increase was 43% in one year among just these four firms.”

“A large part was growth through both acquisitions and organic means. I don’t recall seeing this kind of one-year growth ever.” - Steve Murray

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Some of this growth was due to the increase in the value of the homes sold, but, according to Murray, “A large part was growth through both acquisitions and organic means. I don’t recall seeing this kind of one-year growth ever.”

A SHAKE UP AT THE TOP RealTrends released its 2022 RealTrends 500 (RT500) brokerage rankings and for the first time since the late 1990s, Realogy Brokerage Group or HomeServices of America were not in the top spot by sales volume. Relative newcomer Compass snuck by Realogy to claim No. 1.

All firms in the 2022 RT500 did approximately 40.6% of all brokerage-controlled sales in the country, up from 38% in the 2021 rankings, with 35.9% of all Realtors.

Agents with RT500 firms had an average of 7.9 transactions per agent. The average number of agents per RT500 firm was 1,138, up from 1,025 last year.

RealTrends has been the undisputed leader in the ranking of real estate brokerage firms, agents and teams. Third-party verification is mandatory to confirm the validity of transaction sides and sales volume submitted by the firms.

Due to RealTrends and RTC Consulting’s large valuation and M&A practice, “we have access to hundreds of brokerage financial statements every year,” said Murray. “Because of those financial statements, we are at an advantage to determine the accuracy of the numbers submitted to us, which serves as an additional layer of verification in the process we use.”

LEADERBOARD BY TRANSACTION SIDES Since 2018, Berkshire Hathaway behemoth HomeServices of America has taken the No. 1 by transaction sides with more than 388,000 sides. Each real estate transaction has two sides: a buying side and a selling side. Before 2018, NRT, now Realogy Brokerage Group, maintained that top spot.

Now, Realogy Brokerage Group, composed of company-owned offices of Coldwell Banker, Corcoran and Sotheby’s International firms, is No. 2 with more than 376,000 transaction sides.

Neither of these numbers takes into account the many franchises of either brand.

Cloud-based brokerage eXp Realty continued its meteoric rise in the No. 3 spot by transaction sides with more than 355,000 transaction sides. Led by founder and CEO Glenn Sanford, the company hopes to add former Keller Williams CEO Mark Willis to its leadership team pending litigation with Keller Williams.

Willis played a key role in the massive growth of Keller Williams between 2005-2014, when the company grew from 700 agents to 140,000 agents worldwide.

Compass took the No. 4 spot by transaction sides.

SHAKE UP IN SALES VOLUME LEADER Perhaps the biggest news of all is that 10-year-old, self-proclaimed real estate technology brokerage Compass snuck past Realogy Brokerage Group to take the No. 1 spot by sales volume with $251 billion in sales in 2021, ending an almost 20-year run of RBG in that spot. Realogy was a close second with $246 billion.

Compass rose quickly to the top by acquiring agents and teams rather than brokerage firms, which was the primary way to grow quickly for many firms.

“When today’s Realogy Brokerage Group (formerly NRT) bought Coldwell Banker in 1996, they soon rose to No. 1 for many years.

They got there largely through that major acquisition,” said Murray. “Compass got there largely through key acquisitions of top-producing real estate agents and teams, which was a different way to grow.” Compass also had a few key brokerage acquisitions, including Pacific Union International Realty in 2018.

While still focused on recruiting, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin

“When today’s Realogy Brokerage Group (formerly NRT) bought Coldwell Banker in 1996, they soon rose to No. 1 for many years. They got there largely through that major acquisition.

Compass got there largely through key acquisitions of top-producing real estate agents and teams, which was a different way to grow.” - Steve Murray

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LOW-FEE OR LOW-COST BROKERAGE FIRMS GAINING TRACTION Of the top 25 RealTrends 500 brokerage firms by transaction sides, eight firms, or 32% of the top 25 firms, are considered low-fee or low-cost firms. Low-cost or low-fee firms charge a flat fee to the agents, or have higher splits to the agents, than traditional firms.

By far the biggest of these is eXp Realty at No. 3 by transaction sides, followed by Redfin (6), HomeSmart (7), United Real Estate (8), Fathom Realty (10), West USA Realty (17), My Home Group (24) and Samson Properties (25).

“Last year was a stress test in expansion. We learned a lot about the expansion process by entering two new states and opening nine new major markets last year.” - Steven Barks

THE NEW BILLIONAIRE’S CLUB PLAYERS The Billionaire’s Club consists of the top U.S. real estate brokerage firms that closed at least one billion dollars’ worth of real estate in 2021, according to data from the 2022 RealTrends 500 brokerage rankings. Not only does this rarified group include more firms than ever before — 435, versus 347 last year — but this year’s rankings also feature many firms on the list for the first time.

Among the 88 new firms with the highest representation on The Billionaire’s Club, 46 are Keller Williams companies, 13 are with RE/MAX, six Coldwell Banker and three HomeSmart.

Steven Barks, president and COO, Worth Clark Realty, a 100% commission model based in Missouri and in The Billionaire’s Club for the first time, said, “Last year was a stress test in expansion.”

Both his firm’s transaction and agent count grew by 39%. “We learned a lot about the expansion process by entering two new states and opening nine new major markets last year,” he reveals.

Looking ahead, Barks predicts that inventory and closed sales will continue to trend down or stay relatively flat this year, making agent productivity a key metric to watch.

Mauricio Umansky, CEO, The Agency, a Beverly Hills-based brokerage that submitted to the RealTrends 500 rankings for the first time, explains how his company expanded its global network while still maintaining its boutique, luxury approach.

“Probably the single biggest factor behind this jump [in Billionaire’s Club members] is the price increase in housing. The median price of a home jumped 22-25% in two years. We’ve never seen that before.” - Steve Murray The Agency expanded to more than 50 offices (including 11 new franchises opening in 2021), with just over 1,000 agents total.

“My dream is to create a global company that still operates as a boutique,” he explains.

EXPLOSIVE GROWTH “Probably the single biggest factor behind this jump [in Billionaire’s Club members] is the price increase in housing,” says Murray. “The median price of a home jumped 22-25% in two years.

We’ve never seen that before.”

Beyond the strong market, Murray describes a wave of consolidation that began two years ago. “Suddenly, the larger firms — and those striving to be larger — got larger faster than ever before,” he says. He attributes this primarily to the major brokerages being more tech-savvy, using Zoom and Microsoft Teams to communicate with their agents to keep relationships personal and strong.

These bigger firms also used their more advanced technology suites to rapidly complete virtual transactions, and — in the case of Keller Williams — recruit and train agents. Basically, “the brokerages with the better tech platforms performed better,” he explains. While the larger firms got stronger, the middle of the market shrank. “More agents are gravitating toward firms that are either big and very strong or have a niche specialty,” summarizes Murray.

“More agents are gravitating toward firms that are either big and very strong or have a niche specialty.” - Steve Murray Interestingly, some of the firms new to the list are in smaller markets. For instance, “from 2019 through the end of 2021, business increased by about 230% for Four Seasons Sotheby’s in Vermont and New Hampshire,” notes Murray. Brokers in the Poconos in Pennsylvania and in Portland, Maine also saw record sales. “People have been coming out of big cities with money to buy a second home or they just packed up and moved,” he says.

Find the 2022 RealTrends 500 brokerage rankings and more analysis of insights from the report at Realtrends.com.

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suggested in his February 2021 earnings call that Compass is not giving agents the compensation packages it has in the past, stating 62% of agents who recently came to Compass are receiving a less favorable split compared to their brokerage. Also, fewer agents are “getting equity,” Reffkin said. Instead, Reffkin will be focused on innovation to improve per-agent productivity.

The third-largest firm by sales volume is HomeServices of America, with $199 billion, followed by eXp Realty at $132 billion.

Inside the government’s feeble fight to end redlining The country’s signature law to stop redlining is under review. Will it get the teeth to police banks?

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By Georgia Kromrei

JUNE 2022

counter to public interest because of a bank’s discriminatory lending practices, it’s not likely anyone would know about it. Like the waitstaff at a country club to a patron whose card was declined, regulators alert banks, often in phone conversations, of the potential for a denial, well before any public exposure.

Banks then quietly withdraw their application, rather than face a public denial.

Ostensibly, the Biden administration has reversed decades-long executive branch indifference to the CRA. Senior administration officials claim that rooting out “modern-day redlining” is a top priority.

In a joint news conference last September, officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Justice and the OCC proclaimed a crackdown on “digital redlining.” And in a March interview with former President Bill Clinton, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, called attention to the continued practice of redlining.

“We still have redlining in this country,” Fudge said. “We are looking at where we have failed with the CRA, and we know we have.”

DOJ and CFPB can bring lawsuits against alleged housing discrimination. And HUD can bring lawsuits claiming bias in mortgage lending. These agencies, though, do not have a seat at the table when banks, during a CRA exam or undergoing a merger review, provide a voluminous

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Redlining is a five-alarm word in the lexicon of American racism, but it really has a quite specific definition: The denying of credit in non-white, particularly Black neighborhoods.

The federal government was for redlining before it was against it, instituting color-coded maps of fast-changing metropolises for the better part of the 20th century. And redlining is very much still around.

How much? The racial homeownership gap is now wider than it was in 1890.

What is not widely known is the role federal banking regulators play in letting this practice continue.

The main law policing redlining is the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA. These bank regulators only enforce the CRA when banks seek a merger or acquisition. The broadly written 1960 Bank Merger Act, which President Joe Biden’s administration wants strengthened, also requires banking regulators to consider a merger’s impact on the community.

But the federal government’s merger review process is, at the end of the day, a formality, if a sometimes time-intensive and messy formality. The three agencies in charge of such reviews — the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — have not denied a single bank merger in 15 years.

And if these agencies were to find that a merger ran

“We still have redlining in this country.” - Marcia Fudge

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account of their lending practices.

They cannot, in other words, do what the Federal Reserve, OCC and FDIC can do: Compel depositories to catch up to nonbank lenders in their minority loan practice. Indeed, depositories’ mortgage lending to minorities is far behind that of nonbanks, a cruel irony since nonbanks do not have community reinvestment obligations. With bank regulators reluctant to wield their power, community groups often take up the mantle, but with mixed results.

Such inaction is of great frustration to fair lending advocates and also longtime experts on the issue, like Calvin Bradford, one of CRA’s original authors.

“It’s white, male and fairly racist all the way through.

There haven’t been women involved in high levels of the [banking] agencies, and no minorities, until fairly recently,” said Bradford, presently the principal of Calvin Bradford & Associates Ltd. “It’s been a racist part of the government that doesn’t care, because its view was: If you’re going to make safe loans, you should make them to white people.”

The CRA, then and now For more than half a century, the federal government has been officially trying to atone for its role in redlining, which by one estimate cost minority communities $156 billion in equity. Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act 45 years ago amid public outrage that discrimination in lending had endured, even after enactment of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. But there was a catch. Nowhere in CRA is there mention of race. This is in contrast to The Fair Housing Act, which directs banks to both not discriminate and further housing opportunities to groups who faced historic prejudice.

Instead, the law required federal agencies to assign banks one of four grades based on the curve of how the bank’s lending to low- and moderate-income borrowers compared to their peers. The law also required banks to lend within their communities. In other words, a bank based in Philadelphia, where the plurality of the population is Black, should invariably lend to Black borrowers.

Fast forward to today, and there are questions about whether CRA gave precise enough guideposts. For example, researchers at the Urban Institute found that low-and moderate-income is a poor proxy for people of color.

The law’s ambiguity on some matters may have been deliberate. “[Dem. Sen. William Proxmire] was good at counting votes, and this just squeaked through,” said Bradford, of the then-chair of the Senate Banking Committee. “He knew it wouldn’t if we put race in.”

“As a politician, he was right,” Bradford said. “But com-

munities were right that not putting it in allowed people to find this escape valve of low-and moderate-income.”

Perhaps as a result of this race-neutral stance, even banks that the DOJ accused of redlining pass their CRA exams.

“For banks that have a satisfactory CRA score, it’s still possible for those same institutions to face public scrutiny for redlining actions,” said Jason Keller, a CRA consultant at Wolters Kluwer who previously spent 20 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Trustmark Bank, for example, settled charges of redlining in the Memphis area for $5 million with the DOJ, the CFPB and the OCC in 2021. But Trustmark has twice received an “outstanding” grade, and five more times a satisfactory grade.

Federal government lawyers assailed Trustmark for redlining in Hispanic and Black neighborhoods. Although half of Memphis’ census tracts are majority-minority, Trustmark did not assign a single mortgage loan officer to any of its branches in those areas, the federal government said.

KleinBank settled with the DOJ in 2018 over allegations of redlining. But the Minnesota-based lender received a satisfactory grade on its CRA exams in each of the four preceding exam years. And, months after the settlement, banking regulators approved Old National Bank’s purchase of Klein.

Old National itself was sued by a fair housing group for redlining in 2021. But that did not stop the Federal Reserve from approving Old National’s acquisition of First Midwest Bancorp in January.

Overall, consumer reviews of Lyft drivers have more critical feedback than CRA exams.

In 2021, two banks received a grade of substantial non-compliance. Eleven banks received the grade of “needs to improve.”

The rest — 358 banks in all — were handed grades of satisfactory or outstanding. In the past 30 years, out of nearly 80,000 CRA examinations reported by the Federal Financial Institutions Exam Council, fewer than 250 banks received a grade of substantially noncompliant. That’s .3%.

“It’s the opposite of the fox guarding the hen house — the

JUNE 2022

Who watches the watchmen?

Months ahead of a 2015 merger between Goldman Sachs and GE Capital Bank, counsel for Goldman Sachs asked top Federal Reserve officials for feedback, documents obtained by a public records request and reviewed

by HousingWire show.

These officials include Michael Hsu, then the deputy associate director of the Federal Reserve’s banking supervision and regulation division and now interim head of the OCC, and Scott Alvarez, then the Federal Reserve’s general counsel.

Before any public announcement of the potential merger was made, Goldman Sachs officials and Federal Reserve staff exchanged more than 100 emails, met in person at least once, and had numerous calls, sometimes on weekends, to discuss the upcoming deal.

When a news story broke ahead of the announcement, Goldman Sachs officials discussed the matter with their regulator.

Goldma n Sachs gave Federa l Reserve officials a PowerPoint presentation on the merger. After consulting with the Federal Reserve, Goldman Sachs decided to delay the merger announcement by several weeks. The emails show that Federal Reserve officials were on an informal, first-name basis with the investment bank’s lawyers, and addressed Rodgin Cohen — an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell — by his nickname, Rodge.

Goldman Sachs and Sullivan & Cromwell did not return requests for comment.

Government watchdogs, policymakers and legal scholars have all sounded the alarm over whether banking regulators act in the interest of the public, or the industry they regulate.

A 2019 report by the Government Accountability Office, the independent auditing arm of Congress, found numerous weaknesses in OCC’s public service. Back in 2017, GAO, in another critical audit, recommended that the Federal Reserve collect employment data to effectively counteract the re-

JUNE 2022

volving door between banks and their regulator. The central bank has not done that.

Another factor is what motivates bank regulators. Yes, regulators are legally obliged to assess CRA adherence. But their job — and arguably reputations — hinges on preventing bank collapses.

“In the end, if a bank goes under, no one is going to praise regulators for having held them to a high CRA standard,” said Mark Willis, who spent 19 years overseeing the community development program at JPMorgan Chase.

The Federal Reserve’s funding structure is another clear-cut connection to the banking industry. The agency does not receive appropriations from Congress. Instead, it relies on fees from its investments, and fees from the services it provides to banks.

All excess income from those fees go to the U.S. Treasury. Thus, to do well, the Federal Reserve depends on banks doing well, too.

The Federal Reserve’s structure, which is intended to limit political interference that would disrupt its mission, may also limit disruptions to the financial institutions it regulates.

David Dworkin, a former U.S. Treasury official and State Department veteran during the twilight of the Cold War, compared the Federal Reserve Board to the Soviet Politburo.

“A small group of independently powerful leaders who have risen through the ranks defers to a powerful chairman until they don’t,” said Dworkin, now president and CEO of The National Housing Conference, a D.C. nonprofit.

The Soviet Premier — the Fed Chair, in this metaphor — had enormous power. But he depended on maintaining strong support among the party bosses.

“Nearly all of that drama occurred behind the scenes, prompting an entire industry of ‘Kremlinologists’ who tried to figure out what happened in the inner sanctum of the Politburo,” said Dworkin. “Anyone who tries to predict the actions of the Fed today will find that quite familiar.”

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rooster is in charge of the hen house,” Bradford said. “[Banking agencies] do not want to deal with discrimination, partly because if you say discrimination, you create liability to make people whole.”

This state of affairs has irked not just advocates of fair lending but other federal agencies that touch redlining. According to a report earlier this month from Inside Mortgage Finance, DOJ has taken to launching more redlining investigations without the prompting of the FDIC, OCC or the Federal Reserve.

Meanwhile, depositories greatly lag nonbank mortgage lenders and credit unions — who are not subject to the CR A — when it comes to minority lending.

A February report by the Urban Institute found that, in 2018 to 2019, banks made 23% of their owner-occupant home purchase mortgage loans to borrowers of color, compared to 31% made by nonbanks. And a Bloomberg investigation found that Wells Fargo, the largest depository mortgage lender in America, approved fewer than half of Black homeowners’ refinancing applications in 2020.

Banks, the Urban Institute’s Linna Zhu, Laurie Goodman and Jun Zhu argue, became more risk-averse following the Great Recession. They also are originating fewer mortgages overall, and when originating federally backed mortgages, lending proportionately less to borrowers of color than nonbanks.

“Many banks exhibit their risk aversion by imposing underwriting overlays,” per the Urban Institute authors, “That narrows the Federal Housing Administration and government-sponsored enterprises’ credit boxes and makes it more difficult for borrowers without pristine credit to secure a loan.”

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Federal Reser ve Board chairs, meanwhile, draw power from their relationships with the presidents of the regional Federal Reserve Banks, Dworkin noted.

Their boards are majority elected by representatives from banks.

Business expense In January, the CEO of Indiana’s second largest bank, which had settled charges of redlining with the DOJ in 2019, assured investors that an upcoming acquisition would sail through regulatory review.

The reason? Instead of balking at the latest consolidation in the world of housing finance, community groups with a particular interest in advancing minority homeownership cheered the move.

Ma rk Ha rdw ick, CE O of F irst Merchants Bank, bragged on an earnings call that he was “setting an example” of how to work with community groups, and it was already paying off. One such group, the National Minority Community Reinvestment Co-Operative, which bills itself as a coalition of organizations “committed to addressing the socio-economic needs of minority communities,” had written to federal regulators in support of its December 2021 application to acquire Level One Bancorp.

“Al Pina, who leads the NMCRC, for the first time in his career endorsed a merger,” said Hardwick on a company earnings call in January.

Six months prior, opposition from Pina and other groups to a different bank merger had resulted in a $40 billion community benefits agreement.

But the group voiced no such opposition to the First Merchants merger, for reasons that are unclear. (The NMCRC did not respond to requests for comment, and First Merchants declined to comment.)

Less than three months after it had applied for regulatory approval, the Chicago Federal Reserve and the FDIC gave their blessing, the bank told investors in February. Terry McEvoy, managing director at Stephens, who provides investors analysis of First Merchants, said that bank investors

are taking more notice of community groups of late.

“Something has changed,” said McEvoy. “Will we get to a point where a specific bank merger is not approved because of this issue? I’m not sure. To date, we’ve only seen delays.”

Community groups often seize on the review process to negotiate concessions from banks. In numerous recent cases, they have accused banks of redlining, sometimes in the form of a lawsuit.

They have had some success. In the past year, community group opposition to mergers cost banks more than $100 billion dollars in community benefits agreements, according to an analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. Top-10 mortgage lender US Bancorp, whose merger with MUFG Union Bank is now before the Federal Reserve, is currently in talks for a $100 billion, five-year community benefits agreement.

But none of the community groups’ efforts have yet killed a merger.

Take the case of WSFS Financial Corporation, a Delaware-based bank that sought to acquire Pennsylvaniabased Bryn Mawr Bank Corporation.

Groups including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that has negotiated some of the largest agreements in recent years, accused WSFS of being behind its peers in minority mortgage lending.

In Philadelphia, public mortgage data showed 26% of all mortgages went to people of color. But only 13% of those WSFS originated went to people of color, NCRC wrote to the Federal Reserve and the OCC. However, WSFS’s, during the same time period and in the same geographic area, received an “outstanding” on its most recent CRA examination — the highest possible assessment.

“The bank demonstrated good geographic and borrower distribution of loans and excellent lending activity,” the OCC wrote in its 2020 CRA exam.

It added that WSFS’ community development lending contributed to the outstanding rating, and it praised the bank for using “innovative and flexible

JUNE 2022

lending products effectively.”

OCC regulators also wrote that they did not identify “discriminatory or other illegal credit practices that require consideration” for the CRA exam.

Rave reviews aside, WSFS did have to answer to NCRC’s assertions. To clear its name, the bank’s lawyers wrote to the Federal Reserve that NCRC’s “insinuation of poor lending performance to minority and LMI communities is unfounded.”

WSFS didn’t deny it trailed its peers in lending to Black borrowers in the Philadelphia area. But it took issue with just how behind it was. In 2018 and 2019, it lagged other lenders in the area by only 3.82% by dollar volume, and 5.85% by number of loans originated to Black borrowers, significantly less than the NCRC’s claimed disparity.

WSFS wrote that it originated 138 mortgage loans — worth about $19 million — to Black borrowers, out of its total 3,609 mortgage loans, or about $765 million by volume in 2018 and 2019.

The difference in its minority borrowing compared to its peers, the bank argued, was because it had fewer minority applicants.

WSFS did not respond to a request to comment.

This back-and-forth has played out numerous times in recent years. Each year, the Federal Reserve, in reports to Congress, provides statistics on its merger review activity. Its latest, in 2021, showed that while only 3% of mergers receive adverse comments, those that do face an additional 168 days of review, on average. But none of those reviews lead to a scotched merger.

“The fact that the bank responds … means almost nothing to us,” said Kevin Stein, deputy director of the California Reinvestment Coalition.

“Conceptually it’s a good thing. But it’s not like we can’t wait to see what they say.”

Reboot the CRA Banking regulators are aware that redlining is festering, they say, and

not-too-distant future,” federal banking agencies will take the iterative but significant step of a joint CRA notice of proposed rulemaking.

“It will reflect the herculean efforts of staff from all three banking agencies, who have been working around the clock for months, building off each of their many years of practical experience with the CRA and thinking about how to make it better,” Hsu said.

Something’s better than nothing Few community groups have the firepower of NCRC, which brought in nearly $40 million in revenue in 2020, in part from renting out two office buildings in downtown Washington, D.C. But NCRC acknowledges it can only make a limited mark on combating lending discrimination. One challenge: The terms of the community benefit agreements obtained from banks are frequently not public.

“The system lacks any means for enforcing the agreements, most of which are obscured from the public, leading to questions of whether banks are holding up their ends of the deals,” the St. Louis Business Journal reported.

“What we’ve always argued is that these community benefits agreements should be bigger than they are, but we are constrained by the regulatory landscape,” said Jesse Van Tol, CEO of NCRC. “Look, what the bank regulators have done has been bullshit, but I wouldn’t want them to take over and say, ‘We know what the community needs are.’”

But for NCRC, a flawed community benefits agreement is better than none at all.

Let’s return to Delaware. WSFS refused to meet with the NCRC to negotiate, the community group said. Despite their opposition, the Federal Reserve unanimously approved the WSFS merger eight months after its application. There were no public conditions for the approval, and no community benefits agreement. One factor in the application sailing through was the bank’s outstanding CRA rating. It was WSFS’s ninth acquisition in 10 years.

Horacio Mendez, a former banker who is now CEO of the Woodstock Institute, an affordable housing advocacy group in Chicago, is waiting to see if the CRA is strengthened to mention race. But Mendez wonders if even efforts within government to strengthen the anti-redlining law’s teeth matter — whether the OCC, FDIC and Federal Reserve civil servants who review bank mergers “take this seriously at all.”

“It’s been my experience during the last CRA reform process that the agencies do not see themselves as social justice warriors,” Mendez said. “They see their role as being the guardians of the safety and soundness of the financial system. By both word and action, it’s been clear that making the financial system work for everyone is a side project.”

JUNE 2022

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are working on it.

“We are evaluating how public comments are addressed, including any allegations of redlining, as part of the OCC’s current comprehensive review of the Bank Merger Act,” an OCC spokesperson said.

“The FDIC takes allegations of redlining or other fair lending concerns very seriously during our review and analysis of any merger application,” an FDIC spokesperson wrote.

“As a general matter, a finding of a pattern and practice of illegal discrimination is inconsistent with a determination that the application meets the convenience and needs of the community.”

The Federal Reserve declined to comment.

In July 2021, President Biden issued an executive order asking banking regulatory agencies and the DOJ to make a plan for the “revitalization of merger oversight.” The order drew attention to the toll shuttering 10,000 banks over the past four decades took on minority communities, closures partly due to mergers and acquisitions.

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra and FDIC Acting Chair Martin Gruenberg, then member of the FDIC Board of Directors (of which Chopra is a member), sought public input on bank mergers in December 2021. The two questioned whether a CRA grade of satisfactory is a sufficiently high standard for a merger approval, and even suggested CFPB personnel be formally consulted during a merger review.

FDIC Chairwoman Jelena McWilliams, though, found the seeking of public input on bank mergers too rash a move.

McWilliams was overruled in her opposition to public comment, and subsequently resigned.

At the same time, CRA may finally directly address race.

An advanced notice of public rulemaking, spearheaded by Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard in October 2020, included a pointed question on racial inequality.

“In considering how the CRA’s history and purpose relate to the nation’s current challenges,” the notice read, “What modifications and approaches would strengthen CRA regulatory implementation in addressing ongoing systemic inequity in credit access for minority individuals and communities?”

Brainard said the notice would “build a foundation for the banking agencies to converge on a consistent approach that has broad support.” Brainard’s notice, in turn, gave mortgage lenders clarity and predictability, according to trade associations representing them. But the notice also came amid squabbles among banking agencies over CRA revision. In 2019, the FDIC and the OCC proposed its own revised CRA rule, under the leadership of then-Comptroller Joseph Otting, but without the support of the Federal Reserve.

Brainard sharply criticized the proposed rule. She said it was “more important to get the reforms done right than to do them quickly.”

(Brainard is consistent in her deliberate approach. There has not been an update issued on Brainard’s 18-month-old advanced notice.)

According to Hsu, the acting OCC comptroller, “in the

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TRADE DESK

Trade associations from across the housing industry are on the front lines of issues that lenders, real estate agents and everyone in between face every day. In these letters, they give their members an inside look at what they are working on, and the most important issues facing each industry today.

AIME.......................................61 MBA .......................................61 NAHB ....................................62 NAMMBA...............................62

60 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

NAR.......................................63

JUNE 2022

TRADE DESK

Marc Summers

President of Membership, AIME

AIME members, We’re in the thick of a purchase season unlike any other, with an increased rate environment, low inventory and economic turbulence impacting our bottom line.

We need to remind ourselves that though the industry ebbs and flows, our dedication to borrowers does not.

In times of market uncertainty and rate volatility, it’s imperative to focus on the tactics that help our businesses remain strong and agile.

Now is the time to look inward at our own processes, systems and protocols to pinpoint exactly where we can optimize our pipelines. It’s hard work being an originator, but we have the freedom and flexibility to quickly adapt

to market changes as independent entrepreneurs — particularly for those of us in the broker channel.

Providing stellar service should be a top priority for your business regardless of the rate environment because it solidifies your reputation and keeps your future pipeline populated. With that in mind, I urge you to take stock of your operation. Are you really maximizing your client’s experience? Are you following up with past clients in an efficient manner? Are you expanding the partners in your toolbox to give you a competitive edge?

Answer those questions, and I guarantee you’ll navigate successfully through anything the market throws your way.

Association of Independent Mortgage Experts

flexibilities permanent everywhere.

The same is true for remote online notarization (RON). Before the pandemic, fewer than half the states permitted the use of RON for real estate transactions. Today, 40 states have enacted laws to permit RON. This is a significant win that benefits our industry and the consumers we serve, and momentum is on our side toward having all 50 states pass RON laws.

MLO remote work flexibility and RON are both outstanding of examples of positive change that resulted from the pandemic, which led to improved outcomes for the industry and the consumers we serve.

Mortgage Bankers Association

Robert Broeksmit President & CEO Mortgage Bankers Association

JUNE 2022

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MBA members, The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic over two years ago forced the mortgage industry to adapt and ensure real estate transactions continued safely and seamlessly.

Independent mortgage bankers (IMB) in several states received permission from state regulators for their licensed staff to work from home temporarily.

These guidance documents and “no action” letters allowed the real estate finance industry, a vital engine of the American economy, to continue to function and serve consumers from the safety of their own homes.

Eighteen states now have permanent laws, rules or regulatory guidance to permit MLOs to work away from a licensed branch.

MBA believes the time is right for all state policymakers and the IMBs they supervise to review and reconsider the future of state licensing and apply lessons learned. This includes making MLO remote work

Jerry Konter

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Chairman National Association of Home Builders

National Association of Home Builders

TRADE DESK

NAHB members, A one-of-a-kind home in Utah, designed and built by more than 100 volunteer women and known as The House That SHE Built, continues to educate and inspire the next generation of home builders. Most recently, the home, which also inspired a children’s book, has become the motivation behind a Girl Scouts of America patch program designed to empower young girls to think about careers in construction.

By meeting the real women behind the home, girls will discover the multitude of careers available in the residential construction industry. Women builders, roofers, designers, engineers, architects, painters, plumbers and more, from across the country, joined members of the Utah Home Builders Association’s Professional Women in Building council to build the home. The group is a unit of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) PWB Council.

Many of the women involved in the project are former Girl Scouts themselves. They also served as inspiration for the book, which was published by

NAMMBA members, My favorite thing about starting the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America has got to be all the people I get to meet every day. And the annual CONNECT event? It fills my cup and reminds me that I’m a part of something bigger than myself. I am a part of an industry full of people who see that the opportunity to make the world a better place isn’t separate from creating a successful business model.

Every time CONNECT comes around, I find myself surrounded by raw talent, experienced professionals, innovators and people who are dedicated to expanding their networks and determined to make their mark on the mortgage ecosystem.

I can actually reach out and shake the hands of our membership, and not just meet them through a screen. I also get a chance to meet the professionals at the top of their game who are looking to add more dimension and depth to their talent pool, find innovative ways to reach different audiences and scope out markets brimming with potential clients.

NAHB BuilderBooks.

To earn the patch, Scouts will meet the author of the book and creator of the patch, Mollie Elkman, along with the project’s general contractor and other key women involved in the design and construction of the home.

They will also participate in hands-on activities that work to build self-esteem and develop new skills.

NAHB continues to expand its workforce development efforts to include more young people to help combat the shortage of skilled trades workers.

Women are currently the most underrepresented demographic in these careers, making up less than 3% of the construction workforce. Efforts such as the Girl Scout patch program and the recent workforce readiness agreement with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America are providing the workforce of the future with access to essential skills development programs and career exploration.

The patch program was rolled out this spring by the Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast, but it is available to all Girl Scouts across the country.

I think you’re going to love CONNECT for the same reason. You get to meet people who, like you, want to grow their business, build their networks and drive revenue, but who also believe in the DEI mission of NAMMBA. And this year’s CONNECT 2022 event is definitely a high point in NAMMBA’s history.

Why? Because we are parking NAMMBA’s annual networking event right next to the House of Mouse this year in Orlando, Florida.

Business casual, check. Gala attire, check. Mouse ears, check. Glamorous pool attire, double-check. Reserve your place for 3 days of access to over 50 workshops, talks and panel discussions, and keynote events, plus more than 100 exhibitors, up to 3x daily networking opportunities and the black-tie gala.

National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America JUNE 2022

Tony Thompson

Founder/CEO National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America

TRADE DESK

NAR members, As president of National Association of Realtors, the nation’s largest trade association, I would be remiss if I didn’t constantly beat the drum for homeownership. Housing costs have been soaring for more than a year and inventory has reached record lows. It’s quite clear that obtaining a home has been an immense challenge for countless Americans over these past few years.

With mortgage rates having recently increased, homebuyers and those looking to refinance will indeed notice the rise. But as NAR’s economic and research teams have been predicting, those rates will rise even further in the second half of 2022.

So, for those who find themselves in position to buy, it is critical that they make their move quickly. Buying sooner rather than later could save money over the long haul, and it will put you in your dream home that much faster.

Homeownership, too, brings with it a number of lasting and well documented advantages. The primary benefit, in my personal view, is that it’s one of the most time-trusted and proven ways to build generational, long-term wealth.

These funds can be extracted and used for just about anything — home related or otherwise.

Collectively, last year alone, homes generated more wealth gains for owners than their own jobs did.

Homeowners and families can build that generational wealth simply by making their monthly mortgage payments on time.

Lastly, homeownership is unique in that it grounds people and families to a specific place and makes them a part of a community. It brings with it a sense of pride and accomplishment. Homeowners volunteer in their communities, serve on neighborhood boards, and are even more likely to vote in local elections than non-homeowners. What’s more, studies have shown that the children of homeowners perform better in school and go on to likely earn more money as adults. These benefits are incalculable and a constant reminder of the value of homeownership in America — this month and every other.

National Association of Realtors

Leslie Rouda Smith President of the National Association of Realtors

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JUNE 2022

Proptech bettor First American looks toward mortgage tech and CRE Paul Hurst, newly minted chief innovation officer, discusses the firm’s new proptech investment aims

By Brooklee Han

The title insurance space isn’t generally known for placing outsized bets on technology. But for First American, its shrewd investments in rising proptech companies are a core business strategy.

As of September 30, First American had deployed $292 million into 16 different venture-backed proptech companies, including Offerpad, Orchard, Roofstock, Side and Pacaso. By the end of 2021, the firm said it had invested in 20 proptech companies, and its venture investments had produced $355 million in gains.

The man spearheading these venture investments is Paul Hurst, who was promoted to chief innovation officer at First American earlier this month. As CIO, Hurst will be responsible for identifying opportunities to innovate through strategic venture investments, partnerships and mergers and acquisitions. In addition, he will continue to serve as the managing director of the company’s venture investing arm.

We caught up with Hurst to talk about his new role and why the firm is looking to invest in commercial real estate tech startups and mortgage tech firms. Here is how Hurst, via email, responded to our questions, and to note, this interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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HousingWire: When we spoke last fall, First American had invested in 16 different proptech startups and now, if I am not mistaken, that number is up to 20. Can you tell me a little bit about some of these new investments and why they stood out to you?

Paul Hurst: Over the first few years of our venture investment activities, we predominantly invested in new models for engaging customers and stakeholders in the residential purchase market. This included companies such as Offerpad, Side, Roofstock, Orchard, Pacaso, Sundae and Properly. These investments help us to understand what

these customers and the stakeholders around them are likely to want from us in the future.

It also gives us the opportunity to adjust existing products and services to meet those needs or create entirely new products and services. Since we now have good coverage across those segments, our more recent investments have primarily focused in two areas — mortgage technology and commercial real estate.

Over the past few years mortgage technology venture investing has been dominated by point-of-sale systems.

The newer opportunities are focused on loan origination systems, capital markets pricing and mortgage servicing. Two examples of investments we have made in this space are Vesta and Polly. By investing in and partnering

“These investments help us to understand what these customers and the stakeholders around them are likely to want from us in the future.”

JUNE 2022

“While I understand the concept of putting everything under one roof — brokerage, mortgage, title and settlement — to create the ‘Amazon of Real Estate,’ I do think this overlooks the reality that a real estate transaction is far more complicated.” with companies like these, we can understand what the mortgage infrastructure of the future may look like and how title and settlement services will interact with that infrastructure.

The second area we have been focused on is commercial real estate. In general, I would say the venture investment in commercial real estate technology currently trails residential in terms of the number of companies funded and amount of capital invested.

We are now seeing some of the innovative business models we have invested in on the residential side emerge in the commercial real estate arena. One example of this is Lev — a company that facilitates commercial real estate lending — starting with small- and medium-sized transactions. We’re working closely with the Lev team to explore synergies with our commercial platform, ClarityFirst.

property data leadership. We’ll continue to make sustained, significant investments in First American’s operations to automate processes, extend our leadership in data breadth and quality and create products to continually improve the experience for our customers as well as all parties involved in real estate transactions.

HW: A goal we frequently hear from many in the real estate industry is this idea of streamlining the real estate transaction experience and making it more like an Amazon checkout. Is this something you are thinking about?

PH: While I understand the concept of putting everything under one roof — brokerage, mortgage, title and settlement — to create the “Amazon of Real Estate,” I do think this overlooks the reality that a real estate transaction is far more complicated than ordering groceries, household items or toiletries. It’s one of the largest financial transactions consumers will ever make in their lives, and there are many interdependent parts of the purchase process.

Through our venture portfolio and our own internal investments, I have seen firsthand that each component of the transaction is being innovated on extensively and often the people making the largest investments in these innovations are not the vertical integrators, but rather the leading players in the respective segments.

So, I think the right analogy for the real estate transaction is not really Amazon, but rather more akin to Shopify, Stripe or Square. That is, consumers will get the streamlined check-out experience they have come to expect, but it will be delivered by an ecosystem of embedded brokerage, mortgage, title and settlement companies and the technology they use.

That is what drives our innovation strategy at First American. We want to specialize and be the digital infrastructure layer for title, settlement and related services in a real estate transaction. That is the vision behind both our internal and external investment strategies.

HW: What kinds of proptech investments is First American interested in these days?

“ So, I think the right analogy for the real estate transaction is not really Amazon, but rather more akin to Shopify, Stripe or Square. “

JUNE 2022

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PH: On the venture investing side, the two areas I just mentioned continue to be a focus. We’re also identifying and investing in new mortgage technology companies and capitalizing on the recent interest of entrepreneurs and venture investors in commercial real estate.

More broadly, we are always looking for investment opportunities where we can leverage our position in the real estate ecosystem to innovate and provide value to our customers. An example of this is mortgage servicing, where we can both drive innovation and benefit our customers through strategic investment.

Within First American, we have already invested heavily in and will continue to focus on three key areas — digitizing and automating the settlement process, making “instant” title decisions and expanding our title plant and

“We’re focused on identifying opportunities where we can leverage our strong capital position.”

HW: Let’s talk about your new role. What’s different about it from the previous job as managing director of venture investments?

PH: In my new role, I’m responsible for evaluating — together with our business units — the most promising new spaces for innovation within the real estate and mortgage finance ecosystem. We’re focused on identifying opportunities where we can leverage our strong capital position, nationwide distribution channels, industry-leading data assets, and proprietary technologies, on which we hold more than 30 active patents, to help complement and accelerate our already extensive innovation investments.

I’ll continue to oversee First American’s venture investing arm, but now will also evaluate additional opportunities that could include external partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and internal product and technology development. The goal is to continually improve our customers’ experience and further strengthen our leadership in the digital transformation of the title and settlement industry.

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HW: What proptech innovation do you personally find really exciting?

PH: I’ve always been particularly fascinated by companies seeking to empower existing real estate, mortgage and title professionals, rather than displace them. While I wholeheartedly believe the real estate transaction experience will continue to become simpler, faster and more transparent, I think there will always be an important role for trusted advisors such as real estate professionals, loan officers and escrow officers in that transaction.

The proptech innovation that excites me is largely focused on automating the rote manual tasks in a transaction — tasks that can be better accomplished through technology, so that humans can focus more on serving the customer during this important life event. That is a

real estate transaction experience that I would be proud to be a part of — on-demand and digital when and where you need it, but with the human touch one would expect when making the largest financial transaction of your life.

HW: Can you talk about where in the real estate process First American is looking to innovate?

PH: There are three areas that immediately come to mind, beyond what I have already mentioned. We’re already making instant title decisions on refinance transactions, and we’re now focused on the more complex challenge of instant title decisioning for purchase transactions. You can’t just risk model your way to making instant title decisions on purchase transactions. This is a space where up-to-date, accurate and extensive data is critical and must be used in combination with risk modeling. With our proprietary data extraction technology, we are the undisputed leader in public record data extraction and aggregation through our data and analytics division. We have also recently furthered our leadership position by adding 1,000 new title plants across the country by bringing our total number of title plants to more than 1,600.

Title plants are datasets of records that are critical to underwriting title insurance policies for real estate transactions. Our data leadership will be a competitive advantage for us as we push forward with instant title decisioning on purchase transactions, underscoring the strategic value our data company brings to the title business.

The second is increasing the efficiency with which money moves among parties in a real estate transaction. When people talk about an “instant close,” they often leave this activity out of the discussion, focusing instead only on escrow and title automation. Escrow fund flows are the

“This is a space where up-to-date, accurate and extensive data is critical and must be used in combination with risk modeling.”

JUNE 2022

HW: Can you share developments related to Endpoint?

“Digitizing and automating the escrow process is one of the key areas of innovation for us.”

critical third leg to the “instant closing” stool. We are the only underwriter who owns a federally chartered bank, so we’re uniquely positioned to deliver greater efficiency to our customers in this area.

The third is that, while continuing our advocacy and support for our traditional national, super-regional and local title agents, we are placing a keen focus on emerging participants, such as proptechs and other evolving hybrid models, in an effort to help them set up and scale their own services. We have a lot to offer these businesses, not the least of which is the experience and expertise realized through operation of our direct, centralized refinance and commercial businesses through which we close millions of real estate transactions every year.­”

PH: Digitizing and automating the escrow process is one of the key areas of innovation for us, and Endpoint is a great example of our progress and success in this area.

Developed as a stand-alone company, Endpoint is a digital title and settlement company funded by First American that streamlines home closings for real estate agents, buyers and sellers, and empowers proptech companies and investors looking to scale their closing operations.

Unlike many of its digital title and settlement peers, Endpoint has been focused on the purchase transaction from the very beginning and it excels in this space.

Launched in 2018, Endpoint has rapidly expanded and is currently operating in 20 markets across seven states.

Endpoint’s impressive growth and the increasing number of integrations with proptech companies signal strong demand for a home-buying experience that provides a more digital and integrated closing process without sacrificing the superior service customers expect.

Endpoint has also proven valuable in attracting the next generation of technology talent to First American.

The workplace environment and infrastructure created at Endpoint appeals to this talent, and that talent will be critical for us as we further accelerate our innovation efforts in the years ahead.

“Endpoint has been focused on the purchase transaction from the very

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beginning and it excels in this space.”

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REAL ESTATE

JUNE 2022

REAL ESTATE

Cardinals of a different feather: inside Samson Properties’ unique model SAMSON PROPERTIES OFFERS 100% COMMISSIONS. CAN THIS WORK?

D

Donny Samson is quite aware of this particular moment in residential real estate history.

“I don’t have any headline -wor thy goals like 20% in 20 major markets,” Samson said about future plans. “But I think we’re going to bring our models to more and more states.”

Samson is the CEO of Samson Properties — a rapidly growing Northern Virginia-based brokerage.

He is alluding to Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, who failed to deliver on a stated goal to have 20% market share in 20 major American markets by 2020. Samson has a different business model and branding than Compass, but both brokerages identify as “agent-centric.”

In fact, Samson is so agent-centric that its agents receive a 100% commission split and services like

“I don’t have any headline-worthy goals like 20% in 20 major markets, but I think we’re going to bring our models to more and more states.”

-Donny Samson

JUNE 2022

training, office desks and help with marketing. In return, the Samson agent is asked — not told, but asked — to refer clients to Cardinal Title Group, a title insurer wholly owned by Samson.

“I try to kill them with kindness,” Samson said, giving agents “the resources to build that relationship” with Cardinal Title.

From one perspective, the U.S. real estate agent is in peril. The Department of Justice Antitrust Division is in its ninth month of a broad inquiry into what consumers pay on real estate commissions, which the DOJ officials appear to think is too much. The DOJ has swooped into lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors and top brokerage firms.

But RealTrends’ recently unveiled list of the top brokerages in the country, for which Samson is 19th by sales volume, revealed a different outlook.

The fastest-growing brokerages, from full-service outfits like Compass to companies like Samson, Fathom Realty and United Real Estate, businesses that RealTrends’ senior advisor Steve Murray call “low-cost brokerage models,” give agents more

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BY MATTHEW BLAKE

REAL ESTATE

commission money and more services than five or 10 years ago with less upfront fees.

Samson Properties is perhaps the ultimate example of the agent — feared to be left for dead — seemingly in the driver’s seat.

“Donny Samson has been transparent about what he’s doing,” said Don Gurney, a longtime Century 21 broker in Pasadena, Maryland, who has observed Samson Properties’ regional rise. “It’s going to be interesting to see how he keeps making it without hitting a wall.”

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D

Donny Samson’s father, Danny Samson, founded Samson Properties in Chantilly, Virginia, in 2001.

“My dad and a few of his buddies wanted to start a company where they played by their own rules,” Donny Samson recalled. “What my dad had was a passion for recruiting.”

Donny Samson was the company’s 25th agent when he joined the family business in 2003. Today, Samson reports that it has 5,300 agents with 21 offices in Virginia, 11 in Maryland, and one in the District of Columbia.

“Recruiting wise, they have certainly sent me a lot of postcards and emails,” said Mynor Herrera — a Keller Williams broker in Bethesda, Maryland.

“There’s a running line in my office,” said one Washington, D.C. agent, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about a competitor. “Has Danny or Donny Samson invited you to play golf yet?”

At first, Samson Properties’ pitch was fairly standard for a low-cost brokerage model of the 2000s. They let agents keep 80% of each commission, while retaining 20% for the brokerage. That

changed amid the Great Recession. In 2009, Samson Properties, still led by Danny Samson, created Cardinal Title Group, and soon thereafter gave agents a 100% commission.

“We were a smaller company, and we needed a little bit more of a differentiator,” Donny Samson said.

Donny Samson claimed that his brokerage began turning the corner in 2016, around when he took the position of chief operating officer. “We were able to make enough money from the title,” Samson said, “to provide services and support for agents.”

In 2019, Donny Samson took over the company from his father, and he claims that his company is profitable. But he declined to provide net income or other financial figures.

I

It is difficult to ballpark what Samson Properties pays in expenses, but here are some costs the company incurs.

According to Samson, the 5,300 agents are assisted by a media team of three people, a marketing team of 10, an agent service staff of 10 and 30 brokers on staff who also give training. There is also a concierge staff of 20 people and an in-house print center for marketing and other materials. Also, Samson Properties foots the bill for agents to use KVCore, software to create websites, interact with customers and process administrative work.

Samson also employs at least 100 staff at Cardinal Title.

The 32 offices represent a leasing cost but also subleasing revenue. Each locale, Samson explained, has free office desks.

But about 450 agents pay between $250-

JUNE 2022

$500 a month to rent their own private office, Samson noted. That’s revenue that tallies to approximately $2 million a year.

Here’s where things get interesting.

Samson reported $9.6 billion in 2021 sales volume, a 71% leap from 2020.

The company totaled 20,210 in 2021 transaction sides. (If you represent just one side of the deal, buyer or seller, that counts as a side.) According to Donny Samson, the average Samson-brokered home sale in 2021 was for $475,000, over $100,000 more than the national median sales price, but hundreds of thousands of dollars less than the Northern Virginia median sales price.

Now, for any brokerage, these large numbers bear a small relation to revenue, much less net income. Typically, the more telling number is sales volume.

A brokerage gets a percentage of the percentage their affiliated agent gets from the final price of a home sale. But for Samson, what matters more is the number of deals. Each deal is a chance to hawk Cardinal Title.

An agent can choose to recommend Cardinal Title, and that recommendation mostly falls to the buyer’s agent. “Buyers get to choose title in our region, so we have a better chance of title business on those transactions,” Samson said.

Still, the CEO said he does not push agents to represent buyers. “We don’t encourage our agents one way or another,” Samson said. “Listings have a ton of value as well. They lead to additional listings, increased brand awareness, increased market share and buyers that come from having those listings.”

Occasionally, particularly in a highdemand market, the listing agent can leverage their choice of title insurer. The seller’s agent, Samson agent William Restrepo noted, can say, “Hey, Mr. buyer, if you want to make your offer a bit better, you should use Cardinal Title company because it’s the one we want to work with.”

REAL ESTATE

It would appear to generate between $35 million and $45 million annually.

The smallest publicly traded residential real estate company by revenue is RE/ MAX, which reported $330 million in 2021 revenue.

Wait, do Samson agents like this?

The early 1970s was a time when many parts of the economy were being regulated by the federal government for the first time, including a ban on the kickbacks real estate agents grabbed for title company business referrals. The wall between real estate and title remains under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, a wall that prevents Samson from achieving a 100% title capture rate.

“I don’t make them use Cardinal,” Donny Samson said. “I can’t make them.

It’s illegal. I kill them with kindness.”

Samson agents interviewed for this story professed up and down that, indeed, the company’s 100% commission plus services and company camaraderie propel them to use Cardinal, and not pressure from company executives.

“I had no problem recommending Cardinal, as long as they did a good job for my clients,” said Tina Rodgers of Alexandria, Virginia.

“Are we required to use Cardinal Title?” said Susan Jacobs, an attorney in Gainesville, Virginia. “No, but why would we use another company when they have dynamite processors?”

Jacobs enthused about services Samson provided, including hundreds of free postcards printed and mailed for each listing and brokerage-subsidized Facebook ads. “Coming to Samson was like giving myself a raise,” she said.

Samson is not allowed to punish or reward agents based on using Cardinal, but the brokerage can say nice things about those who use the title insurer. “At my first company meeting,” Jacobs said, “I was shocked to hear Danny Samson call each person’s name who had either

JUNE 2022

recruited another agent or who closed at Cardinal Title and say, ‘Thank you.’”

If Samson agents ‘drink the Samson Properties Kool Aid’, as one company salesperson put it, there lies skepticism from those outside the compound.

One issue is “shabby branding,” according to one Northern Virginiabased Compass agent, that can stick out in Samson’s upscale neck of the woods.

Donny Samson did note that agents selfbrand, with lettering and logos that differ from each other. “Consumers don’t care as much about brands as they used to,” Samson said. “They trust the individual agent.”

A larger issue is the perception in the Beltway that Samson agents are not as competent as agents elsewhere. (“Every time I deal with Samson, and there’s no drama, it’s a victory,” one D.C. agent said.)

Donny Samson, of course, disputes this, though he notes that 30% of Samson agents are new to real estate.

Also, over half of Samson agents, the CEO said, have not met the requirement of either eight transactions a year or $3 million in sales volume in order to have their $495 transaction fee waived. That means over half of Samson’s agents are significantly under 10 deals a year, the average number of transactions completed by a NAR member agent.

Nonetheless, Donny Samson is confident his company figured something out about brokerages today.

“I think we have the right model for the future, no question,” Samson said.

“Disruptors and iBuyers are never going to get more than a little market share.

Ultimately, the consumer is going to trust their agent.”

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For the Samson business model to work, a consumer must also agree to use Cardinal Title.

This is no sure thing. Jason Secrest — a Coldwell Banker agent in Washington, D.C. — explained that he warns clients not to use Cardinal because it can be “1020% more” than other title insurers.

Donny Samson said that Cardinal Title’s price is competitive, but he declined to give an average price per transaction.

Agents who work for Samson estimate the price at a little over $2,000 per deal.

Ultimately, Samson claims it has a capture rate of 60%, meaning a buyer represented by a Samson agent uses Cardinal Title 60% of the time.

Also, about 90% of Cardinal Title’s business comes from Samson agent referrals.

N ow, g e n e r all y s p e ak in g , f o r brokerages this is really good. Steve Murray of RealTrends said that he has spoken to various brokerage firms over the years about title capture rate, and places the average rate at 30-40%. “This rate is dependent,” Murray noted, “on state-by-state regulations and whether attorneys have to be involved, or not.”

That complicates the picture for Samson as attorneys are typically part of the title insurance in Maryland, but not in Virginia.

Samson also snares a $345 fee per sales, which may generate an additional $7 million in 2021 revenue (20,210 sides multiplied by $345). And Samson agents who have yet to meet the annual performance goal of either $3 million a year in sales volume or eight transactions, must pay an additional $495 per sale, which adds a few million more dollars.

Also, Samson owns a 5% stake in regional mortgage lender First Heritage Mortgage of Fairfax, Virginia.

The title revenue plus agent transaction fees plus office rental plus earnings in equity from First Heritage is an accounting of Samson’s revenue sources.

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SECONDARY MARKET

JUNE 2022

SECONDARY MARKET

This is the uncertain future of the PLS market DESPITE HEADWINDS, WILL WE SEE A RESILIENT, DIVERSE MARKET?

BY BILL CONROY

"I think the harder question is what will happen going forward."

Sonny Weng, vice president and senior credit officer at ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service. “We also saw that on our end. So, generally that’s correct. I think the harder question is what will happen going forward.”

Michael Franco, CEO of third-party duediligence firm SitusAMC, explained that it usually takes two to three months for loans originated in the primary market to make their way through the residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) pipeline. “Therefore, you would expect the loans being securitized in transactions during Q1 2022 to have been largely originated during late 2021,” he explained.

-Sonny Weng

B

But the precipitous rise in interest rates over a very short time — up 1.5 percentage points over the past

JUNE 2022

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T

The pace of deals in the private-label securities market has started to slow as the second quarter of the year gets under way and interest rates continue their upward climb — with rising inflation and the war in Ukraine, which is impacting supply chains, helping to fuel uncertainty over the future.

That’s what it looks like to some of the experts behind the scenes who are responsible for rating and conducting due diligence on private label securities (PLS) offerings. With that said, the pace and volume of deals in the PLS market so far this year has still outstripped last year’s market performance over the same period.

What the future holds, however, is less certain.

“If you compare the first quarter of this year to last year, yes, the volume is still higher [this year],” said

SECONDARY MARKET

three months — has made it difficult to price PLS deals in a cost-effective way for some issuers, according to Weng. The volatile rate environment affected deal volume in the first quarter of this year, even if it exceeded the mark set in 2021 over the same period.

It is likely to continue to impact PLS deal count and volume in the second quarter, so long as rates continue to rise. That’s being driven, in large part, by the fact that many of the mortgages being pooled for PLS deals now were originated two to three months ago at rates lower than current market rates.

“We begin to notice that because there’s just too much supply in the market, and because of inflation and the expectation that the [Federal Reserve] will increase the rates, that investors were demanding a higher coupon,” Weng said. “And obviously, when your mortgage pool has a lower [interest] rate, and you also have to cover certain fees, a higher coupon translates into a higher funding cost for the issuers.

“So, we saw a couple of deals pushed [postponed] in January and February, and as time went on, more deals got pushed — and of course, the war in Ukraine didn’t help at all. Issuers either cancelled their deals or pushed the timing of the deals further down the road in hopes of better market conditions, and that will obviously have an impact on the issuance volume.”

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P

Padma Rajagopal, also a vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s, said the slowdown in the PLS market was not predictable. She noted that it’s a byproduct of external factors such as rapidly rising inflation and interest rates and a brutal war in Ukraine that is exacerbating inflation because of its

impact on supply chains.

“I think the driver of this — the decisions to cancel or move some issuance to another time — is driven a lot by the volatility with respect to [interest rate] spreads, which is happening in the market due to many reasons, including the war [in Ukraine], and also because of rate movements,” Rajagopal said. “But there were still [PLS] deals that went out after pausing because maybe they [the issuers] found an investor to buy it, and it just took them more time.”

Franco added that the current risingrate environment is likely having the greatest impact on smaller players hoping to access the PLS market.

“We expect the volatility in the market to shake out some of the less-capitalized origination entities that may have been interested in issuing PLS,” he said. “They don’t have the balance sheet to hold onto assets longer term if the securitization window isn’t open when they need it to be.”

Franco said that it will likely result in some smaller issuers become less active in the PLS market.

“Expected [PLS] volumes were usually

"The precipitous rise in interest rates over a very short time... has made it difficult to price PLS deals in a cost-effective way for some issuers."

-Sonny Weng

JUNE 2022

being predicted in the $200 billion range [in 2022] coming from prime, nonQM, reperforming/non-performing [securitizations]; CRT [credit-risk transfer transactions]; single-family rental [deals]; agency investor loans and other areas,” Franco said. “Some of those projections have come down a bit over the course of March. [However,] many players still expect overall securitization volumes in the non-agency space to be $175 billionplus for 2022.”

W

When rates in the housing market will stabilize is an unknown at this point, however. Weng said the market has clearly shifted to a purchase cycle as rate-and-term refinancing has declined in the face of rising rates. That, in turn, has led to an overall decline in mortgage originations, which is the collateral fuel that drives the PLS market.

Non-QM player Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions caught flak from brokers when it recently announced it would break locks and have borrowers re-lock at current rates by instituting a new 30-day rate lock policy. The company explained it was forced to make rapid adjustments to ensure liquidity in a highly volatile market.

“The sharp rise of the 2-year swap rate along with the rapid increase in credit spreads of the securitization market have led to an unusually fast increase in nonQM rates that the industry has not seen before,” an Angel Oak spokesperson said.

“The 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased for the fourth consecutive week to 4.90% [as of the first week of April] and is now more than 1.5 percentage points higher than a year ago,” said Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting for the Mortgage

SECONDARY MARKET

F

Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Sam Khater, points out that rates have actually “increased 1.5 percentage points over the last three months alone,” which has increased the monthly payment for those seeking to buy a home by 20% compared to a year ago and consequently “softened purchase activity.”

Weng said that if inflation remains untamed, then potentially rates can go up even higher. “So, that’s why it’s hard to say where that stability is” at this point, he added.

“Mortgage rates have moved higher after being very low for an extended period of time, so prime rate-term refi activity will naturally slow unless something pushes rates back down again,” said Roelof Slump, managing director of U.S. RMBS at Fitch Ratings.

“However, this seems unlikely given where we are in the rate cycle and against the inflation backdrop.”

Still, rates don’t have to drop for the PLS market to thrive. They just need to stay put for a while.

“Once this volatility settles out, rates could moderate somewhat, and the stabilization may also spur more activity,” Slump added.

For example, he said “there may still be opportunity for some borrowers to credit cure and refinance into conforming or prime mortgage products, at lower coupons versus where they are today.”

And although the non-QM market, which serves non-agency borrowers, such as the self-employed, also faces challenges in a rising rate environment, Slump said “non-QM needs aren’t likely to go away.”

Franco echoed that sentiment, saying expanded-credit products, such as non-QM loans, will likely “increase as a percentage of total mortgages moving forward.”

were a total of 62 prime and non-prime RMBS transactions backed by loan pools valued in total at nearly $32 billion. RMBS deals backed by investment properties

“Once this volatility settles out, rates could moderate somewhat, and the stabilization may also spur more activity.”

- Roelof Slump

Y

Year to date as of the beginning of April, a total of 29 non-QM securitizations were completed or underway valued at $12 billion, compared to 17 deals valued at $4.8 billion over the first full three months of 2021, PLS data compiled by Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) show.

An additional eight non- QM securitization offerings were active over the first three months of this year as well but didn’t show up among the deals tracked by KBRA — although they were rated by other agencies, such as Fitch Ratings. If those eight non-QM private label transactions are added into the mix, the total number of deals over the period rises to 37, valued at $15.2 billion.

“Home prices are moving up and rates are moving up, so people will be spending a higher percentage of their income on housing, which means more loans moving into expended credit nonagency programs,” Franco said.

Rajagopal added that one sector that appears to be less affected by the current volatile rate environment is the single-family rental market, “where we are seeing more new issuers showing interest in the space.”

In fact, year to date through April 12 of this year, deal data tracked by KBRA, there

JUNE 2022

accounted for 18 of those offerings valued at $8.4 billion, or a 26% share.

In addition, over the same period, a total of seven single-family rental (SFR) offerings valued at nearly $5 billion were in the PLS pipeline — for a total of 25 investment-property deals across both sectors backed by loan pools valued in total at $13.4 billion.

In a single-family rental, or SFR, transaction, a single borrower, such as a corporation with an ownership interest in thousands of rental properties, issues securities that are backed by a single loan, which is, in turn, secured by a pool of rental-property mortgages. The typical RMBS private-label transaction, by contrast, involves issuing tranches of securities that are backed directly by a large pool of residential mortgages.

“PLS is now a diverse market, and mortgage-financing needs continue in many areas,” Franco said.

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Bankers Association. “As higher rates reduce the incentive to refinance, [mortgage] application volume dropped to its lowest level since the spring of 2019.

The refinance share of all applications dipped to 38.8%, down from 51% a year ago.”

KUDOS

The far-reaching impact of “The House That SHE Built”

kud

Utah Professional Women in Building continues to bring awareness to their field

By Sarahi De La Cuesta

In 2018, Kristin Smith was tasked with starting the first-ever Utah Professional Women in Building group. In 2021, HousingWire featured a kudos on them, and now, almost a year later, we sat down with Terri Everhart, 2022 NAHB Professional Women in Building chair, to get an update on this successful, growing team of women and their current projects. From their children’s book launch to their Girl Scouts patch program, NAHB has continued to help bring awareness to the building career field for young women.

Below, Everhart answers questions about NAHB and the Girls Scouts Patch program:

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HousingWire: Can you talk to us about the National Association of Home Builders Professional Women in Building Council. Why did this council get started and what is the group’s goal today?

Terri Everhart: NAHB’s Professional Women in Building (PWB) has consistently evolved since 1955. Its predecessor organization, NAHB Women’s Auxiliary, predominantly comprised builders’ wives, but they were not a social club; they were women of action. They began giving $1,000 scholarship awards to attract young people to the industry in their first year.

This scholarship program and two others continue today to provide financial support to qualified students and career professionals interested in advancing their education and training in building industry-related fields. In the 1990s, the members began engaging with local grassroots political and legislative efforts and created a guide for other chapters. PWB has also been a convener to talk about issues and challenges of the day, such as the labor shortage, and share resources that encourage construction training opportunities and leadership paths for women in the industry.

Today, we are still working on these items; more significantly, within the NAHB framework, PWB consistently identifies opportunities to recognize women and develop future industry leaders. PWB members are builders, landscape architects, business owners, land developers, engineers, superintendents, interior designers, mortgage bankers, etc. The beauty of PWB is that our members share their expertise from every facet of this industry.

A member once said she relocated from the East Coast to the West Coast and made her local PWB the basis for her professional network. The connections she made would have taken her years to develop independently. Another longtime member, a custom home builder, wanted to expand into land development but did not have the expertise.

She reached out to her PWB network and has just recently finished her first development of single-family homes.

NAHB PWB members invest in each other and find it critical to do business with other members.

HW: The story around The House That SHE Built has grown beyond the initial reveal a year ago. How has it been watching this inspirational story grow and develop?

TE: Professional Women in Building members have a strong commitment to projects and initiatives. There were a few doubters when this project launched, but watching the progress was an inspiration. PWB believes more women need to engage in this industry at all levels. The House That SHE Built initiative is one more avenue to catapult the engagement of the next generation of residential construction workers. It is also a real eye-opener for parents to see that their child does not necessarily have to go to college to build a successful career. There are lucrative opportunities in construction.

HW: Are there any stories that stand out to you when it comes to the impact that The House That SHE Built has had, especially in introducing the Girl Scouts patch or children’s book?

TE: The sheer enthusiasm for the project, the book, and the Girl Scouts patch program are awe-inspiring and have created so much pride for women working in the industry.

Many women who have been in this industry have felt validated by the book. We hear so many stories about being the only woman on a worksite, and this book proves they are not alone. There is a tribe out there. The book has inspired women to form new PWB communities across the country. PWB members are developing creative ideas to have the book available during Parade of Homes tours so that attendees can take them away to spread the word that careers in construction are for everyone. Local PWB Councils have worked with Girls Scouts for years, but the

JUNE 2022

dos

KUDOS

patch program deepens that connection and will help parents and children see the opportunities ahead.

HW: What messaging do you want women and girls to know when it comes to careers in construction?

TE: The residential construction industry is for everyone.

You can be a general contractor, a tradesperson, a sales and marketing professional, or a business owner. There is a place for everyone. You can custom-build the future you want in this industry. PWB is a network that engages, supports and develops leaders for the future of this industry.

HW: What can we expect next from NAHB in this initiative to inspire and educate girls on careers in construction?

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TE: NAHB’s Professional Women in Building has a long commitment to fostering the next generation of women leaders and workers in the residential construction industry. You will see PWB continue to be a leader in educating and mentoring the next generation, celebrating those who choose this industry at any life stage, and spreading the word of careers in residential construction. Including our NAHB PWB Professional Development programs, shop talks and webinars, our individual councils across the nation include ongoing educational programs. A book tour is planned for the fall.

JUNE 2022

parting shot

For nearly 30 years, the RealTrends Gathering of Eagles conference has been bringing together high-caliber leaders in housing, and this year is no different. RealTrends is back at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado to continue the long-standing tradition of gathering the best of the best in the residential space. Over the years, the conference has been a guiding light for those in the industry, whether it’s showing the top teams and brokerages where the market is headed or even giving them a safe space to discuss the very real challenges in the housing space that require collaboration. For those who can join us this year or were able to in years past, it’s always an honor to have you with us.

JUNE 2022

Photo credit: AJ Canaria, Creative Producer at MoxiWorks

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❱ WELCOME BACK TO THE BROADMOOR

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