August 2021 Issue

August 2021

HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ AUGUST 2021

Hilary Saunders, Side Rebecca McDonald, Rocket Mortgage Pam Perry, Freddie Mac

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HOUSINGWIRE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SARAH WHEELER MANAGING EDITOR JAMES KLEIMANN HW+ MANAGING EDITOR BRENA NATH MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR SARAHI DE LA CUESTA SENIOR REAL ESTATE REPORTER MATTHEW BLAKE SENIOR MORTGAGE REPORTER GEORGIA KROMREI ASSIGNMENTS REPORTER TIM GLAZE LEAD ANALYST LOGAN MOHTASHAMI CONTRIBUTORS JOANNE CLEAVER ANNMARIE EDWARDS, ROBYN FRIEDMAN, RICK SHARGA

REALTRENDS DIRECTOR OF REAL ESTATE MARK ADAMS MANAGING EDITOR TRACEY VELT DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE SERVICES BO FRIZE MANAGER OF CLIENT SERVICES LIZ SMITH ASSIGNMENTS REPORTER MARLEY MALENFANT FINLEDGER DIRECTOR HOLDEN PAGE ASSISTANT EDITOR ALEX ROHA REVERSE MORTGAGE EDITOR CHRIS CLOW

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HW MEDIA CORPORATE CEO CLAYTON COLLINS COO DIEGO SANCHEZ DIRECTOR OF FINANCE ANDREW KEY MARKETING DIRECTOR CAREN KARRIS DIRECTOR OF EVENTS TRACY GARCIA CREATIVE EMILY CARPENTER MARKETING PROGRAM MANAGER LESLEY COLLINS CLIENT SUCCESS DIRECTOR HALEY HESS WEB DIRECTOR BRENT DRIGGERS PRODUCT MANAGER MATTHEW STAFFORD AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER ALYSSA STRINGER AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR SYDNEY SMITH MARKETING COORDINATORS KATIE GALBRAITH CLIENT SUCCESS COORDINATORS SETH FREEDMAN, ELIZABETH LEDOUX BUSINESS ANALYST WHITNI ROWE SALES SVP SALES AND OPERATIONS JENNIFER WATSON LAWS CALIFORNIA CHRISTI HUMPHRIES SOUTHEAST TAMARA WREN GREAT LAKES & NORTHEAST MICHAEL ORME SALES STRATEGY ASSOCIATES AMINA JAHIC, LINDSLEY HARRIS, AMANDA LUZSICZA PODCASTS AND MULTIMEDIA DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER ALCYNNA LLOYD CONTENT SOLUTIONS MANAGING EDITOR MALEESA SMITH CONTENT EDITOR JESSICA DAVIS ASSISTANT CONTENT EDITOR JORDAN WHITE WEBINAR MANAGER ALLISON LAFORGIA INTERNS ELISSA BRANCH MAKENNA CLAY ROMAN MARQUEZ BAILEY SULLIVAN

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

AUGUST 2021

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Leaving a legacy IN THE WISE WORDS OF BEYONCÉ, “Who runs the

at Freddie Mac, and Hilary Saunders, co-founder and

world? Girls.” This is the exact type of energy and fer-

chief broker officer at Side. When I met these three

vor that fills the award profiles of HousingWire’s 2021

women in Dallas to shoot for this cover, they easily

Women of Influence honorees who are featured in this

captivated a room not only because of their welcom-

magazine. Starting on page 28, you’ll see how these

ing presence but because of the feeling you got be-

100 women have taken a year that has disproportion-

ing around them and seeing that these are the type

ately impacted women and defied the odds to set new

of leaders that you hope to become one day. They’re

records in and out of the housing finance space. You’ll

inspirational.

also see a lot of firsts in these pages. The first to re-

My Q&A with the women on the cover starts on page

imagine a new, more innovative technology, the first to

58, but I’d encourage you to start from page 1 since

sit on a board and even the first woman CEO of a com-

throughout this whole issue are stories of women mak-

pany. They all deserve a huge round of applause for

ing an impact.

their accomplishments over the last year and beyond.

My favorite part of this issue is that the excitement that surrounds the 2021 Women of Influence profiles carries well beyond the first feature. Gracing the cover ald, chief product officer at Rocket Mortgage, Pam Perry, Single-Family vice president of Equitable Housing

Brena Nath HW+ Managing Editor @BrenaNath

Tweets From The Streets The end of the foreclosure moratorium is not likely to cause a foreclosure tsunami because if distressed homeowners are required to resolve delinquency, given their equity buffers, involuntary sales are much more likely than foreclosures.

2

2

9

by @odetakushi

AUGUST 2021

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. © 2021 by HW Media, LLC • All rights reserved

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of this month’s magazine, you’ll see Rebecca McDon-

®

The Money Source Inc. NMLS #6289, 3138 E. Elwood Street Phoenix, AZ, 85034. This is intended for the exclusive use of mortgage professionals only and is not intended for distribution to or use by consumers.

August 2021

People Movers

Politics & Money

12 Freddie Mac appointed ex-Wells Fargo mortgage executive Michael DeVito as its new CEO.

Take 5

14 Courtney Poulos, broker/ owner at ACME Real Estate, talks about building wealth through real estate.

Launches

16 ICE Mortgage Technology acquired eVault Technology from DocMagic for Encompass eClose.

Event Calendar

18 The industry is moving back to in-person conferences. Here is the latest information on registration.

Inside Agent

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20 Home prices in Long Beach, California have skyrocketed. Lisa Dunn gives her inside perspective.

96 Local Intel

22 Louisville, Kentucky is becoming a hotbed for young people who have invested in cryptocurrency.

Trade Desk

84 MBA shares why the Community Reinvestment Act should not apply to Independent Mortgage Banks.

Real Estate

88 Lumber and appliance woes still vexing homebuilders. What is the best chance for normalcy?

Real Estate Brokerage

92 How is the housing market impacting real estate agents and how are they surviving this hot market?

A look behind the exodus at Fannie Mae and the factors contributing to the talent drain.

Q&A

102 Rocket Community Fund founder talks about Rocket’s commitment to affordable housing.

Q&A

103 Snapdoc’s Camelia Martin is helping lenders maximize digitization efforts and driving eClosings forward.

Kudos

104 A women-only home building group announced its newly built home, dubbed “the House that She Built.”

Parting Shot

106 A behind-the-scenes look at HousingWire’s annual engage.marketing summit from earlier this year.

AUGUST 2021

features

f Q&A

28 2021 Women of Influence Woven into Women of Influence profiles are stories of grit, strength and leadership. Congrats to these 100 honorees.

58

68 What to expect next from today’s hot housing market?

The housing market emerges as a powerful stabilizer for the public and economy.

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eClosing Special Reports

HousingWire sat down with the three 2021 Women of Influence honorees featured on this month’s magazine cover to learn more about what they’re passionate about and how they’re making a difference.

Why another foreclosure tsunami is still unlikely

Here’s why one top-producing, female branch manager chose mortgages

By Rick Sharga

By Annmarie Edwards

pg 24

pg 26 AUGUST 2021

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The seven companies featured in this section are reimagining how to effectively coordinate digital closings for all parties involved in the transaction.

PEOPLE MOVERS

Michael DeVito

| Freddie Mac | CEO

Following the departure of David Brickman, Freddie Mac tapped ex-Wells Fargo mortgage executive Michael DeVito to assume the role of CEO. DeVito previously spent more than two decades at Wells Fargo before retiring as the head of home lending last year. During his 23-year stint at the bank, he also served as head of home lending production, home lending servicing, default servicing, loan workout and the head of education financial services.

Kevin Watters |

FormFree | Board of Directors

FormFree named Kevin Watters to its board of directors, tapping into his knowledge and experience in rapidly scaling financial services businesses through operational and technology transformation. Watters’ experience in the industry includes serving as chief marketing officer of Wingspan, a Bank One subsidiary, and president of Bank One’s corporate internet group until its acquisition by JPMorgan Chase. Since his retirement, he has continued to progress in his field as an adjunct professor at Tulane University.

Michael Kirk |

Equity Solutions USA | CEO

Equity Solutions USA announced Michael Kirk stepped up as the new CEO, replacing Hugo Garofolo after he was promoted to chairman of the board. With over 24 years of experience, Kirk has been part of the valuation industry since his start as a licensed field appraiser. Prior to this, he was the senior vice president of Strategic Valuation Initiatives for the Accurate Group, where he contributed to three important lenders, including Chief Residential Appraiser for Huntington National Bank.

Jon Van Gorp |

Mayer Brown | Chair

Mayer Brown has elected longtime partner Jon Van Gorp as chair, succeeding Paul Theiss after he served three years on the board. Van Gorp has spent most of his career with Mayer Brown as a partner in the New York and Chicago offices. He has also held several leadership positions at Mayer Brown, including a seat on the firm’s management committee since 2017. He will be taking over the responsibilities of several key financial metrics and strategic priorities that Theiss has started.

Sue Woodard |

Axis Lending Academy | Board of Directors

AXIS Lending Academy, a non-profit educational program, added Sue Woodard to its board of directors to help the academy achieve its mission of creating greater diversity in the real estate finance industry.

Woodard currently serves as the chief customer officer at Total Expert, a CRM and customer engagement platform. Woodard started her mortgage career more than 30 years ago and is frequently called on as an industry speaker and subject matter expert.

Jeff Walton |

6 Solutions | CEO

6 Solutions, a housing and banking data startup, appointed Jeff Walton as its new CEO. Walton most recently served for six years as president of Total Expert, a marketing software firm for mortgage lenders and bankers. And for two decades before that, he served as president and CEO of five bank and nonbank lenders, including Bear Stearns’ mortgage arm. In his new role, Walton will lead sales, grow the dataset, create channel partnerships and advise banks/lenders on compliance and growth strategy.

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Terra Casey Soloski |

Knock | VP of People

Knock announced the in-house promotion of Terra Casey Soloski, appointing her as the new vice president of people. Before, Soloski was head of talent and culture, where she was in charge of recruiting talent and building the company's distinct culture. In her new role, Soloski is responsible for talent acquisition as the company adapts to staff increase. Soloski has been recognized for her talents as she continues to grow the company's mission statement through her work.

AUGUST 2021

TAKE 5

Courtney Poulos Owner/Broker at ACME Real Estate

From inspiring women to take charge of their futures through real estate investment to passing on her knowledge through mentorship, Courtney Poulos is firmly ingrained in the real estate community. Poulos, owner/broker at ACME Real Estate, started her career as a Realtor in 2005.

Since then, she has continued to grow in her field, as she runs a growing brokerage and tends to the needs of the 32-agent ACME team. Poulos' work led her to become a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors, along with publishing a book that features real-life stories of women who have built wealth through buying and selling real estate.

Her passion for mentorship has guided her team to move forward amid the fast-changing market and the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

1. My signature phrase...

"Los Angeles is the NFL of real estate.

You better train, get out on the field and play like a pro or you will get destroyed."

2. My biggest business success...

this year was opening ACME Florida in Orlando!

3. I would tell my younger self... to buy real estate!

4. My bucket list...

includes visiting the Azores and spending some real time absorbing the natural beauty and organic way of life.

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5. After I am finished with my career...

I hope people remember that I always gave my trainees 100%.

AUGUST 2021

LAUNCHES

Encompass eClose Upstart ICE Mortgage Technology deployed an “eVault” solution as part of its mortgage closing platform to ensure the secure storage of digital mortgages and notes. Digital mortgage platform DocMagic is providing the eVault technology, which will be integrated into Encompass eClose, ICE’s closing platform. Encompass eClose enables lenders to electronically facilitate every aspect of the eClosing workflow without ever having to leave Encompass. Both ICE and DocMagic are committed to delivering technology to increase eClosing adoption in the mortgage industry, said Joe Tyrrell, ICE Mortgage president.

Artificial intelligence lending platform Upstart has fully launched its Upstart Referral Network to connect borrowers with banks and credit unions. The automated system aims to help banks build more inclusive loan portfolios while consumers can obtain more affordable credit. It also has new features including an analytical dashboard that lets banks track loan originations. Meanwhile, borrowers can automatically open a new checking account with banks and credit unions during the application process. Upstart, which is based in California and Ohio, was founded by former Google executive David Girouard and recently made headlines for its soaring shares.

Migo RealPage announced a partnership with Airbnb to launch Migo, an apartment home sharing solution.

Through Migo, residents recoup a portion of their monthly rent depending upon how frequently they home share exclusively on Airbnb.

Owners can differentiate their apartment offerings and share the financial benefits of home sharing with their residents. Migo is compatible with RealPage, Entrata, Yardi and MRI and will be available industry-wide in the third quarter of 2021.

Pouch Insurtech startup Pouch has launched free GPS tracking for every vehicle it insures. Pouch, which launched last year as an alternative to traditional auto insurance for small businesses, sets its rates according to a policyholder’s driving activity, a practice known as usage-based insurance. The startup also delivers instant insurance quotes, with a potential policyholder required to enter only basic information that Pouch then supplements with additional data. Pouch is currently available only in Illinois but will roll out to other states in the coming months.

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Inside Real Estate Inside Real Estate announced the release of CORE Present, a next-generation comparative market analysis and presentation builder integrated into the company’s flagship platform, kvCORE. CORE Present helps agents guide clients through an interactive pricing discussion using a single tool, and agents can create a CMA in under a minute or build a customized, fully-branded presentation tailored to their client’s persona and aesthetic. The presentations can be printed, delivered live or sent via a link that provides behavioral tracking to show agents exactly what their clients are looking at.

AUGUST 2021

EVENT CALENDAR

LISTEN NOW

iOi Summit Pitch Battle

LOGAN MOHTASHAMI ON HOUSING MARKET ECONOMICS

August 17 – 18, 2021 Cost to attend: NAR Member: $299 | Non-member: $449 Presented by NAR DALLAS THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS is hosting its third annual Innovation, Opportunity & Investment (iOi) Summit, which includes its “Pitch Battle” competition. The pitch battle is a feature element of the iOi Summit and is designed to help catapult new property technology companies into the real estate space and give attendees a front-row seat to the innovative ideas of the future.

NAR’s venture capital arm, Second Century Ventures, hosts the Pitch Battle Competition, with the winner getting awarded $15,000, a secure booth at the 2021 Realtors Conference & Expo and an exclusive opportunity to confer with the Second Century Ventures executive team. The pitch battle winner will also be featured in an upcoming edition of Realtor Magazine and have their innovation showcased by RISMedia.

2021 Western Secondary Market Conference August 24 – 26, 2021 Cost to attend: California MBA Member: $695 | Non-member: $850 Presented by CMBA DANA POINT, CALIFORNIA THE CALIFORNIA MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION announced its 2021 Western Secondary Market Conference is moving back to in-person, bringing together secondary market leaders, decision-makers and vendors at the scenic Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California. Sessions include hearing from Marcia Davies, chief operating officer at the MBA, and Manuel Alvarez, commissioner at the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. The three-day conference aims to provide attendees with timely and critical information, as well as valuable networking opportunities for their business.

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Event TIP

Despite the monetary impact the COVID-19 pandemic presented to the American economy in 2020, the U.S. housing market strengthened due to efforts enacted by the Federal Reserve. As a result of these efforts, mortgage rates, which continue to hover near historic lows, have influenced a fierce wave of homebuyer demand.

But as demand grows and inventory dwindles, home prices have begun to climb. Earlier this year, HousingWire Editor-in-Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down for a podcast interview with HousingWire Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami, to discuss this question — In a hot housing market, should Americans pursue homeownership?

In this episode, Mohtashami says the disadvantage to the seemingly ideal scenario of significant demand is that home prices could escalate to an unhealthy level. However, he claims that doesn’t mean Americans should and will stop buying homes.

According to Mohtashami, the obsession over home prices, and how good of an investment it might be is kind of missing the point.

“These are unhealthy realities of housing for 20202021. And there is not much that can be done to relieve these pressures,” Mohtashami said. “The housing bubble and bust was a real economic crisis and housing crisis. What is going on now is frustrating for would-be buyers, but it is not an economic crisis.”

“Homebuyers today are employed with well-paying jobs and adequate liquid assets to support a mortgage payment — even to the point of paying much higher than the asking price,” he said. “This period in U.S. history of housing is unique, but these problems are those of the haves, not the have-nots — that is a whole other story.”

With homes across the country surpassing their annual median values and home sales climbing in nearly every market, this podcast episode will be a great listen for anyone who has asked – can I afford to buy a new home?

SCAN THE CODE TO LISTEN NOW.

“With live conferences starting again soon (I can’t wait!), my best advice is to operate with extreme respect for yourself and others. As we reconvene in person — ­ know your own comfort levels with contact, respect that others' may be different than yours, and the 'why' is their business. Practice grace!”

- Sue Woodard, Chief Customer Officer at Total Expert

AUGUST 2021

INSIDE AGENT

Lisa Dunn

Laurel Real Estate Resources Lisa@LisaDunn.net 6821 E. 9th St. Long Beach, California 90815 $1.1 million 4 bed 4 bath 1,675 sqft

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“PROTOTYPICAL LONG BEACH,” enthused Lisa Dunn, of her listing here. Long Beach’s median home price has skyrocketed from less than $500,000 in 2016 to over $700,000 this year, according to Redfin.

Homes in the South Los Angeles County city increasingly have luxury amenities. That very much includes the abode here listed by Dunn and Bridget Salampessy that bills a “custom pebble coated pool, spa, waterfalls” and “outdoor fireplace.” Dunn has closely observed South California changes in home prices and availability, working as an agent in Orange County for 28 years. Currently an owner of her own brokerage in Rancho Santa Margarita, Dunn also tries to be a fount of information for other agents. She organizes two Facebook groups including Nerdy Real Estate Resources, which helps agents with a cornucopia of day-to-day questions.

Every Monday morning Dunn and another agent, Lori Namazi, host a “Coffee and Compliance” podcast, where they address topics from state’s winding down COVID-19 guidelines to National Association of Realtors rules.

AUGUST 2021

LOCAL INTEL

By: Matthew Blake

Louisville, Kentucky

“It’s wild,” said Elizabeth Monarch, who runs eXp’s Kentucky operation. “It blows my mind.”

Monarch is talking about not just a Louisville housing market where prices increased more year-over-year than at any time in her 19 years as a real estate agent (the average Louisville sale is roughly $280,000 a home, Monarch said).

She’s also referring to a new group of homebuyers. “I’m dealing with a lot of young people who have invested in cryptocurrency,” Monarch said.

These clients have either made money in cryptocurrency and are spending it on a home, the agent explained, or see the rapidly escalating real estate market as another hot investment.

“In the south, if you talk crypto, people will look at you like you have 10 heads,” Monarch said.

Whatever the currency, Monarch believes “consumer confidence is very strong,” and “people feel very good about spending their money.”

Meridian, Idaho

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In the two-hour radius around Boise there are about 12,000 real estate agents, and 800 homes on the market. Few stable industries exist in Idaho, explained Stacie Herrig — an agent herself at Epic Realty, “So a lot of people got their real estate license.” In today’s low-inventory market, many Idaho agents are taking extraordinary measures. “They are cutting commissions a lot. Sometimes down to 1% and then giving them a 2% credit on their next purchase,” Herrig said. The practice has become widespread enough, Herrig said, that agents are developing a reputation for being willing to work for next to nothing — instead of the typical 3% commission for a sales side agent, and 3% for buy side. Scrounging for listings, agents are turning to homes just being constructed. Local builders like CBH Homes give agents the typical 3% commissions for procuring an interested buyer, Herrig said. But new homes present their own problems as national builders “are not cooperating” with commission payments, Herrig said, adding that these larger outfits are, “not even offering money anymore.”

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Shelbyville, Tennessee Shelbyville has 20,000 people, lies more than an hour south of Nashville and has become an improbable hotspot for homebuyers since the spring, said Cindy Barnes of Heritage Realty. Low mortgage interest rates are seen as a major factor for the surge nationally in home-buying demand. But in Barnes’ experience, it’s cash buyers who are winning out.

“Every time it’s the people that can pay cash that get the home since there are like 30 offers a house,” Barnes said. “A lot of them are coming from out of state, maybe California, and they can pay with cash.

They can close as soon as the seller wants them to close.” The median home price in Shelbyville seems to have doubled in the last few months, Barnes said.

Homes that once sold for $100,000 now go for $200,000. Part of the demand is homebuyers flocking from neighboring Murfreesboro, where they have been priced out. Barnes said she’s forging relationships with homebuilders to gain listings. But with material shortages like lumber, completing a project is “going a little slower than anticipated.”

“We are like the condo capital of the country,” Edward Hru, an agent at eXp realty in the city home to Disney World. Hru said that there are a number of new condo projects, but not enough to deal with central Florida’s housing shortage. The agent partly blames federal mortgage forbearance, which, “has been a big kick in the butt.” Once forbearance winds down, the agent wonders if “there will be new inventory coming in.” But for now, Hru said that he is scouring the outskirts of Orlando in the search for available properties.

“We have a lot of relocations,” said Scott Seidler, an agent at Keller Williams. “A lot of New York tags are here.” Abutting the Gulf of Mexico, Panama City advertises itself as having the “world’s most beautiful beaches,” so it is accustomed to travelers from outside the Sunshine State. But in the past year, Seidler said, more out of towners are eschewing hotel stays or short-term rentals and are simply buying up properties. Seidler is anticipating developments from local home builder St. Joe’s to come onto the market soon. But, for now, Seidler said, “inventory is extremely tight,” meaning agents “could feel some pain.”

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Orlando, Florida

Panama City, Florida

COMMENTARY

W

hy another foreclosure tsunami is still unlikely Looking back, looking ahead

By Rick Sharga

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It was August 2020, six months into a global pandemic, when I laid out what I thought at the time was a compelling case against a wave of foreclosures similar to the one that the nation experienced during the Great Recession.

A year later, and with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I’m more convinced than ever that when government borrower protections finally do expire, we’ll see a relatively soft landing when it comes to foreclosures. Let’s review some of the factors we looked at a year ago and see how they played out.

MASSIVE UNEMPLOYMENT DIDN’T LEAD TO MASSIVE DEFAULTS Over 22 million jobs were lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment rates rose virtually overnight from 3.5% — the lowest level in 50 years — to almost 15%. Normally, job losses like this would have led immediately to loan delinquency, defaults, and foreclosures, but that didn’t happen this time. Why not?

The most obvious answer is that the government enacted a moratorium on foreclosure activity for the 65% of mortgages backed by a government entity — Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA, VA and USDA. While the moratorium didn’t technically apply to loans held in private portfolios, most noteholders of those mortgages followed suit and held off on foreclosure activity.

But that’s only part of the story.

There are two other factors that weighed against a huge surge in defaults. First, the somewhat targeted nature of the recession itself — a huge percentage of job losses during the COVID recession were concentrated in a handful of service industries like travel, tourism, hospitality, retail, restaurants and entertainment, where workers were much more likely to be renters than homeowners. In

fact, for much of the pandemic, rental delinquency rates have been running higher than mortgage delinquency rates, and the housing market recovered quite nicely after an initial dip in sales during the second quarter of 2020.

The second factor has been the recovery of the economy, driven in part by the boom in both existing and new home sales, which collectively have increased housing’s contribution to the economy to a 14-year high, approaching 18% of GDP. This economic recovery has resulted in regaining almost 65% of the jobs that were lost during the recession. Many economists are forecasting that employment numbers will surpass prepandemic numbers sometime in 2022. Contrast that with the recovery from the Great Recession, where it took over a decade to recover the jobs lost.

FORBEARANCE DOESN’T NECESSARILY MEAN FORECLOSURE AFTER ALL A popular theory in the early days of the pandemic insisted that many millions of borrowers would seek the mortgage forbearance offered by the government’s CARES Act and that for many of them, forbearance was no more than a precursor to foreclosure.

Fortunately, the math hasn’t supported that theory so far.

The number of borrowers in the program peaked at the end of March, with 8.55% of all borrowers — almost 4.3 million — in forbearance. The number has gone down consistently since then, with more borrowers exiting the program than entering it. While more than 7 million borrowers in all have entered the program at some point since it was initiated, at the end of June 2021, there were just about 2 million people still in the program, about 3.9% of mortgage borrowers. Almost half of those remaining (900,000) are scheduled to cycle out of the program by the end of this year.

A look inside the numbers tells an even more optimistic story. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, 85% of the borrowers who have exited the program over the past year have done so successfully. These borrowers have either never missed a payment and continued to make payments as they’ve exited; arranged for a partial deferral; entered into a repayment

AUGUST 2021

program; or paid off their loan in full. Only 15% of those who have exited the program have done so without one of those positive outcomes in place (and some of them have subsequently entered into a payment plan, or re-entered the forbearance program).

More good news for those borrowers who will exit forbearance in 2021: the CFPB issued new servicing rules providing even more of a safety net until January 2022. For the balance of 2021, servicers will only be able to initiate foreclosures on loans held on vacant and/ or abandoned properties; loans where the borrower has been offered but not qualified for loan modifications; loans where the borrower has been unresponsive to servicer outreach; and loans which were 120 days delinquent prior to March 1, 2020.

Generous repayment options will also help prevent foreclosures. The CFPB rules disallow loan modifications that raise monthly payments and also forbid adding fees or fines to the amount owed by the borrower. Terms can be extended up to 480 months. And borrowers with government-backed loans will be presented with the option of paying all deferred amounts

MORTGAGES WERE PERFORMING EXCEPTIONALLY WELL BEFORE COVID-19 Another reason I was optimistic about the market a year ago is how well mortgages had been performing over the past decade.

Loan quality was extraordinary — delinquency rates were running lower than historic averages despite a spate of natural disasters that inflated those numbers, and foreclosure activity was running at 0.6%, well below the normal level of 1%.

While the number of seriously delinquent loans rose during the pandemic — driven largely by the millions of borrowers in the forbearance program — they have declined steadily since peaking during the second quarter of 2020, according to the MBA, and early stage delinquencies (30 and 60 days past due) are at their lowest levels since the organization started collecting this data in 1979. Barring another economic shock — one without

“Another reason I was optimistic about the market a year ago is how well mortgages had been performing over the past decade.”

at the end of the loan — whether it reaches full term, is refinanced or the home is sold.

SUPPLY/DEMAND IMBALANCE & RISING EQUITY EQUAL SAFER LANDING Not all homeowners will be able to avoid foreclosure, despite all the efforts of the government to protect borrowers. But for those who need to sell, market dynamics work very much in their favor.

Demand for housing, driven by demographics (millennials reaching prime home-buying age), historically low mortgage interest rates and the pandemic itself, continue to outpace available supply. According to the National Association of Realtors, homebuilders have undersupplied the market by between 5.5 and 6.8 million units over the past 20 years. This supply and demand imbalance has driven prices higher, contributing to a record $2.3 trillion in homeowner equity.

massive government financial stimulus — these are simply not the kind of loans that are likely to go into foreclosure anytime soon.

THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME Looking back a year later, it seems that the conclusions drawn then are still the most likely outcome we’ll see ahead: There will definitely be an increase in default activity. But given the factors discussed above, it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll see nearly as much default activity this time as we did in 2008.

Bio: Rick Sharga is the executive vice president of Marketing at RealtyTrac.

AUGUST 2021

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According to RealtyTrac parent company ATTOM Data Solutions, more than 70% of homeowners have more than 20% equity. So for the majority of homeowners, there should be an opportunity to sell their home if they need to, rather than risk losing everything to a foreclosure — a far cry from where the market was during the Great Recession when over 30% of homeowners were underwater on their mortgages.

COMMENTARY

H

ere’s why one topproducing, female branch manager chose mortgages How do we bring in the next generation of mortgage professionals?

By Annmarie Edwards

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Mortgages changed my life. Like most mortgage industry professionals, I fell into the business.

Most of us don’t grow up telling everyone that we want to change the world by selling, processing, underwriting and closing mortgages. Unless, perhaps, you are my five-year-old daughter and six-year-old son. They both make it known that they will “do mortgages with mom” while they build skyscrapers and run the country. Maybe they were born with mortgages in their blood.

Throughout my earlier years in school, elementary and middle, math always came easy to me. During high school, I continued to excel and enjoy math. I opted for every AP math class I could and during my era, we had an accounting elective that I sought after. I remember that class vividly to this day.

I loved it and that was not a word I threw around casually when it came to academics.

That was my junior year of high school. When college applications came around and you had to select a major (for context, I was 17 and could not decide what I was going to wear that day), I checked off the accounting box.

I went on to graduate from Northeastern University with a Bachelor’s of Science in

“If you told me back then that I would live in my hometown, sell mortgages and be so passionate about my career that it does not even feel like work, I would never have believed you.”

Business Administration and a concentration in Accounting.

Graduating in late 2009, which was not an ideal time to join the workforce, I Initially intended to sit for the certified public accountant exam, but after thorough research and understanding of what my life would look like working for a “Big Four”, I was not convinced. I didn’t want to put more hours into school, studying and an office.

It didn’t help that all the careers we were told about and prepped for were corporate finance and accounting roles, where you sit in a cubical and work your way up the corporate ladder.

Long story short, I opted to work for several defense contractors, including Raytheon and General Dynamics. I joined their finance departments and gained some remarkable experience, skills, and connections.

After that, I was in the corporate world for about seven years, eventually landing my last corporate finance job at a nuclear power plant. Ironically, it was an “old boys club”.

I just had my son Bruce, and my boss at the time was giving me my review. I vividly remember him saying that I was doing great working my scheduled nine hours but wished that I could put more hours in.

To add it to it, he also said, “You knew you were pregnant when you took the job.” Not too long after that stellar review, I had the opportunity to go right into sales at a small mortgage company in my hometown.

Looking back, I just found out I was pregnant with our daughter and recall asking if I should wait until I had the baby to start or if I could start before. Hindsight being 20/20, I know now that’s not something you need to ask permission for. Fortunately, it did not matter to my new employer that I was going to have another baby, so I started as soon as possible.

A PASSION FOR MORTGAGE If you told me back then that I would live in my hometown, sell mortgages and be so passionate about my career that it does not even feel like work, I would never have believed you.

Mortgages have been transformative for me personally and

AUGUST 2021

professionally. I know that everything happens for a reason and timing is everything. However, I want to make sure that mortgages change more lives than just mine. I want to share the impact that you can have in this industry with students, showing them what it looks like as a career path early on.

Students need to be empowered and encouraged to use their strengths. Mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers and banking institutions all need to come together on this. We need to host our own career days at middle schools, high schools, tech schools, and colleges across the country. We also need to develop comprehensive co-op and internship programs with leading colleges. People in the industry can even tap into their alumni networks to learn more about how we can get these implemented.

My first boss in the mortgage industry taught me to focus on my strengths and delegate my weaknesses. While all of this might seem obvious, not everyone has a support system that encourages you to have a voice, asks you what you want to do and lets you find your way.

RAISING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MORTGAGE PROFESSIONALS The financial industry, especially the business of mortgages, has largely looked the same since its inception — we all know what that means. I am blessed to be one of few women leading my own team, tailoring programs for the fiscally marginalized and the many underserved communities that are often overlooked.

Too often, companies focus all their energy on the bottom line. We believe in profit with a purpose, creating social value alongside economic value and keeping the customer experience in mind each step of the borrower’s journey.

I entered the mortgage world with no prior exposure, but I was determined to absorb information wherever I could find it. I would have loved to have an established network of female and male leaders to learn the intricacies of the mortgage industry from.

It proved difficult learning from those without shared perspectives and experiences — such as being a full-time working mother. Still, I sought out the best of the best in the industry and formed my own tribe of mentors. One of my top priorities now is implementing an active mentorship program for those interested in entering the business.

Anne Finucane, vice chairman at Bank of America and one of the most powerful women in banking, recently stated, “You can be anything you want to be — believe in yourself;

be an innovative thinker; ask questions and listen.”

I look forward to continuing to share my knowledge and resources with anyone who is interested in building a career in the mortgage industry.

A shift in leadership and representation within our industry leads to increased diversity of thought, experience, and innovation — with female leaders providing a different perspective. This also leads to a more robust lending experience for everyone.

When dealing with a commodity, the client experience should be paramount. Day in and day out, my team and I have a tangible impact on our client’s lives. Rather than be transactional, it should be an opportunity to lend a helping hand. I am hoping as more female power players are recognized and discuss their positive experiences, more women will be inspired to pursue a career in lending.

“I want to make sure Mortgages gave me that this industry is the freedom to take not kept a secret.” my infant daughter to broker opens.

Mortgages allow me to take my kids to the doctors.

Mortgages gave me my voice. Mortgages gave me my confidence.

Mortgages gave me freedom. Mortgages allow me to help people buy homes and have a safe place to live.

Mortgages allow me to help people achieve financial wellness. Mortgages have given my family and me a life we could have only dreamed of. And lastly, mortgages have given me lifelong friendships.

These are just a few examples of why I live and breathe mortgages. I want to make sure that this industry is not kept a secret. I want to help bring in the next generation of mortgage professionals and make sure that mortgages change the lives of others too.

Bio: Annmarie Edwards is a branch manager at CrossCountry Mortgage

Recognizing our

2021 Women of Influence nominees

F I N A N C E O F A M E R I C A C O M PA N I E S

Patricia L. Cook

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 2021 HW WINNER

FINANCE OF AMERICA REVERSE

Ashley Honore Smith VP OF MARKETING, 2021 HW WINNER

F I N A N C E O F A M E R I C A M O R TG AG E

Nectar Kalajian S V P, T P O C H A N N E L L E A D E R 2012 HW WINNER

“The working environment has

changed dramatically over the last 40 years, and I feel a sense of responsibility to continue bringing about change that not only supports women but drives broader diversity across the board.”

PATRICIA L. COOK CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FINANCE OF AMERICA COMPANIES

E X C L U S I V E F E AT U R E

Women in Finance

Making strides, with room to grow THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY – AND MORTGAGE IN PARTICULAR – has

historically been heavily male-dominated. Fortunately, the gender parity gap has started to close, creating new opportunities for women to enter the industry and reach the highest levels within their organizations.

However, there is still a long way to go to ensure broad gender diversity within financial services. To illustrate this point, McKinsey reported in 2018 that women make up more than 50 percent of the entry-level workforce in financial services, but a study from management consulting firm Oliver Wyman last year noted that they only comprise 20 percent of executive committees and 23 percent of boards. This is, simply put, not enough.

At Finance of America Companies, we are proud of the progress we’ve made in gender diversity. Five of our 13-member senior leadership team are women, and there are more than 3,300 women working within the

organization at all levels. What we’ve found is that when an organization brings in and trusts diverse perspectives, its brainstorming and problem-solving efforts are enriched by the different people that are sitting at the table. Don’t just take our word for it – McKinsey also noted in its 2018 report that “companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 21 percent more likely to outperform on profitability and 27 percent more likely to demonstrate superior value creation.”

We are committed to continuing to support gender equality within the financial services industry through our hiring, mentorship and education initiatives. As a young company formed seven years ago, we recognize the importance that strong diversity of all kinds can play in the success of an enterprise and the individuals working within.

Accordingly, we are working diligently to continue building out and reinforcing our diversity, equity and inclusion programs – and we expect to evolve these efforts as

we scale. Now, more than ever, the spotlight is shining bright on all companies to do better, especially as investors are increasingly recognizing the importance of these efforts and demanding that the companies they invest in pursue meaningful ESG programs.

We congratulate all the women who have made this distinguished list, and the many others who are working to advance the industry – and raise up their colleagues – every day. We look forward to working with our colleagues across the industry to improve intersectional representation, leveraging diverse perspectives to bring about more creative solutions and opportunities for customers and employees.

STO RY S P O N S O R E D BY

Q & A

Advice for Those on the Rise Finance of America’s leaders on how to create opportunities, develop your expertise, and thrive in your career.

KRISTEN SIEFFERT | PRESIDENT, FINANCE OF AMERICA REVERSE, 2017 HW WOMAN OF INFLUENCE

“Invest in yourself as your number-one asset and cultivate as much selfawareness as possible. Your mindset, coupled with your ability to empower and inspire others, will dictate your future success. Once you find yourself in a management role, find ways to create purpose and joy for your teams.”

CAROLYN FRANK | EVP AND CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER, FINANCE OF AMERICA COMPANIES

“Have courage and believe in yourself.

That will help you take risks. Say yes to opportunities and then figure out how to get there. It’s so important because when you take an opportunity and succeed, then you’ll get another one. You have to believe in yourself.”

FINANCE OF AMERICA

BY THE NUMBERS

5

MEMBERS OF THE SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM ARE WOMEN

CHRISTINE HERMAN | CHIEF INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER, FINANCE OF AMERICA COMPANIES

“Your skills, your integrity, and your passion stand above everything else. Every person has a different journey, but people can feel it if you are relentless and passionate.

Pursue your passion and stay committed to who you are.”

LAUREN RICHMOND | GENERAL COUNSEL, FINANCE OF AMERICA COMPANIES

“Finding the balance can be challenging. Set incremental goals, and take it day by day, but know where you want to go. Identify your priorities and set your boundaries accordingly. Ultimately you have to be happy with your whole self – and for me that means pursuing both personal and professional goals in tandem, rather than sacrificing one for the benefit of the other.”

3,300+ WOMEN WORK AT FINANCE OF AMERICA

= 10 EMPLOYEES

BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF INFLUENTIAL WOMEN Further your career and make your impact with a company that values and invests in its people.

Write your next chapter at FinanceofAmerica.com/Careers

This is intended for financial services professionals only and is not a consumer advertisement.

30 31 31

Rebecca McDonald.......................

Pam Perry.......................

Hilary Saunders..............

Photographer: Steven Visneau | Creative Director: Emily Carpenter

Mary Anne Ahmer Lesley Alli Cassandra Alvis Lorig Armenian..........................

Patty Arvielo Debora Aydelotte Sue Baker Shirley Bankers..........................

Tracy Berger Rebecca Blabolil Nicole Booth Laura Brandao...........................

Stephanie Brower Marisa Calderon Maylin Casanueva Linda Case...................................

Daniella Casseres Taylor Castranova Sherry Chris Tanja Cleve...................................

Patti Cook Elly Cummings Julia Curan Jan Davis......................................

Sharon DeCastro Jesse Decker Angela Dunham Sarah Edelman...........................

Vanessa Famulener Stephenie Flood Wendy Fowler Erika Franks................................

Fee Gentry Adrienne Goolsby Carrie Gusmus Rainy Hake Austin.....................

Twyla Hankins Lusharn Heastie Briana Ings Sandra Jarish..............................

Katie Johnson Lindsey Johnson Sophie Kim Sheila Klostermann...................

Bernadette Kogler Natalie Koonce Patty La Giglia Chris Lagerblade.......................

32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Kamini Lane Jessica Lautz Tyler Lee Tess Leighton..............................

Cheri Lines Katharine Loveland Sonya Luechauer Marianne Mainardi.....................

Cheryl Marchant Laura Martell Jane Mason Sue Melnick.................................

Heather Moldovan Mary O’Donnell Stacey Onnen Qingqing Ouyang........................

Gretchen Pearson Christina Pham Sarah Pierce Joni Pilgrim...................................

Courtney Poulos Wendy Purvey Chrissi Rhea Tamra Rieger...............................

Emily Riley Laura Rittenberg Jessica Rosillo Susan Roy....................................

Sherry Samuels Christy Schwartz Priya Seenath Lynn Sheck..................................

Michele Sims Gitanjali Singh Ashley Smith Tara Smith....................................

Katie Sweeney Abbie Tidmore Tammy Turner Josephine Umana......................

Lynley VanSingel Cristy Ward Kisha Weir Kim Wolcott.................................

Kristie Wolford Jennifer Wollmann Sue Woodard...............................

44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

Suha Zehl Chrissy Zotzmann Brown.........

By: Brena Nath Woven into the Women of Influence profiles on the following pages are stories of grit, strength and leadership. The past year has consistently been categorized as a year with never-before-seen challenges while the housing finance space was defined by record-shattering demand and growth. But also tucked into the stats of last year was the disproportionate impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on women. According to the 2020 Women in the Workplace study from McKinsey & Company, there has been slow but steady progress over the past six years in representation of women in corporate America. The study found that at the start of 2020, women made up 29%, 28% and 21% of vice president, senior vice president and c-suite level positions, respectively.

However, the last year has drastically impacted the trajectory of this growth. The study reported that “due to challenges created by the COVID-19 crisis, as many as 2 million women are considering taking a leave of absence or leaving the workforce altogether.”

The study continued to state, “If these women feel forced to leave the workforce, we’ll end up with far fewer women in leadership — and far fewer women on track to be future leaders.

All the progress we’ve seen over the past five years would be erased.”

These stats aren’t meant to detract from the impact of these Women of Influence but to shine a light on the seemingly insurmountable barriers that they had to overcome to get to where they are today, along with the tangible impact they’re making by paving the way for future women leaders.

You see it in Patti Cook’s profile, who is the CEO at Finance of America Companies and is one of the few women executives who has taken a company public, or in Fee Gentry’s profile, who is a member of the board of directors at EXPI World Holdings and is the first Black woman elected to the board of a publicly traded real estate company. It’s also apparent in Sonya Luechauer’s story, who grew her career from an entry-level loan processor to becoming DHI Mortgage’s first woman CEO. More than just breaking records in the housing finance space, the HousingWire 2021 Women of Influence are shattering glass ceilings and leaving a legacy for years to come. Congratulations to this year’s list of honorees.

Rebecca McDonald Chief Product Officer

Rocket Mortgage

Rebecca McDonald has been at Rocket Mortgage for nearly 24 years and has held many roles in the company including technology, business consulting and leading the Pulse (HR). Now as the chief product officer, she is responsible for leading the hundreds of product managers, designers and digital product marketers that help create and enhance the technology solutions the company is known for innovating.

In 2020, McDonald’s team not only helped stand up Rocket Pro Insight, a new app that gives real estate agents never-before-seen awareness into their clients’ loans, but also developed new capabilities for first-time homebuyers and other purchase clients throughout the company’s solutions.

McDonald’s team plays a central focus in allowing the company’s operations to run and scale with ease and are at the forefront of helping determine what clients need and how the company can best serve them.

Through her team’s hard work and dedication creating digital tools that serve clients, more than 99% of all loans use Rocket Mortgage’s digital tools at one point in the process, meaning that nearly every one of the company’s clients are leveraging the experience that McDonald and her team helped shape. Her combination of culture, empathy and business knowledge creates strong teams that are building the technology and digital solutions that help Rocket Mortgage clients and partners to thrive.

Pam Perry

Hilary Saunders

Freddie Mac

Side

In her pioneering new role Pam Perry focuses on increasing Freddie Mac’s thought leadership and impact to eradicate disparities in homeownership and expand wealth for Black American families, while creating solutions for communities of color more broadly. While Perry may be new to her role as the first Single-Family vice president of equitable housing, she’s a nine-year veteran of Freddie Mac. Leaning heavily on her background as a fair lending lawyer and housing advocate, Perry has built a team of professionals to travel on this journey of innovation to set the company’s racial equity strategy for the next several years.

She is finding opportunities to maximize the numerous untapped opportunities for Black homeownership, while also serving as an integrative and collaborative connector within the organization and industry to investigate potential appraisal gaps and then drive solutions to mitigate them. In the last year, Perry has helped launch Freddie Mac’s campaign, “#WhyRefi”, which provides market insight and executive perspectives for housing professionals and refinance worksheets, tools and education for homeowners.

Perry is also currently working to raise awareness about the national severe housing shortage and how that along with disparate access to credit and the consistent devaluation of homes in Black neighborhoods, combine to constrict the ability of Black Americans to accumulate wealth through homeownership.

Hilary Saunders is one of today’s top powerhouse female executives leading the real estate industry’s evolution. As co-founder and chief broker officer of Side, she is one of the only female co-founders in the real estate industry. While navigating a challenging pandemic year, Saunders oversaw all business management, legal, compliance and more for every Side territory coast to coast. With Saunders’ guidance and leadership, Side saw a 167% year-over-year increase in partner agents since 2020. Despite navigating the pandemic and becoming a new mother to twins in March 2020, Saunders’ dedication and drive have helped many entrepreneurial-minded agents start their own brands during a pandemic. Her resilience has continued to revolutionize the traditional brokerage model thus enabling top agents, teams, and independent brokerages to fulfill their aspiration and potential to deliver better service to their clients.

In an effort to retain the 48% of Side’s partners that are female, Saunders alongside Side’s head of marketing Kris Vann launched Side Sisters, a community of insiders meant to support Side’s female workforce and encourage them to develop a diverse set of skills outside of those necessary for real estate, e.g. entrepreneurship and leadership courses, public speaking, software and developing, coding, etc. Saunders’ efforts have helped retain and grow the female workforce, as well as the company at record speed.

Co-Founder and Chief Broker Officer

31 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

Single-Family Vice President of Equitable Housing

AUGUST 2021

Mary Anne Ahmer

Lesley Alli

LoanLogics

Homepoint

Over the past decade, Mary Anne Ahmer has emerged as a technology thought leader who has transformed the way the housing industry thinks about emerging technologies and their potential to improve every aspect of the mortgage process. As an experienced B2B marketer, she has not only been responsible for LoanLogics’s recognition as the leader in the field of document and data processing technology — through white papers, webinars and virtual demos — but she has helped educate the entire industry about the true value behind complex topics such as machine learning and digital labor. This past year, Ahmer led her team in a cross-functional collaboration to develop LoanLogics’ “Try Before You Buy’’ program for its new on-demand document processing product, letting lenders “test drive” the company’s technology with their own loan files for free while educating them through the experience.

Ahmer develops and executes the company’s strategic marketing plan, including branding and advertising, search engine optimization, public relations, demand generation, product marketing and sales enablement. Ahmer realized early in her career that if marketers do not fundamentally understand the products they are selling, they cannot create the right messaging. For this reason, Ahmer believes it is her responsibility to educate the industry on how advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning can be beneficial.

With over 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry, Lesley Alli serves as senior managing director of strategic partnerships at Homepoint. Alli is responsible for developing secondary market business partnerships, including with the GSEs, private investors, mortgage insurers and trade associations to advance Homepoint’s strategic objectives and identify additional partnership opportunities.

Alli built and runs the company’s mortgage product development team and program guide content management and publishing group.

She leads various critical business transformation projects and has been a key contributor to growing Homepoint into the third-largest wholesale mortgage lender in the country, helping quadruple the company’s loan volume in under three years.

Over the last year, Alli led Homepoint’s successful IPO project, taking the company public in record time with its debut on the Nasdaq Global Stock Exchange in late January. She has also championed the revamp project of Homepoint’s Whole Loan Delivery Program, facilitating efficient, scaled access to liquidity. She is also a key contributor to the industry’s Minority Homeownership Joint Task Force, developing innovative ways to build minority wealth through homeownership. Alli makes time to mentor others too, serving as one of Homepoint’s senior leadership sponsors of their inaugural mentorship program that helps foster, shape and connect future industry leaders.

Cassandra Alvis

Lorig Armenian

Sourcepoint

Freddie Mac

A seasoned mortgage industry leader, Cassandra Alvis works across internal and client teams, influencing people, innovating solutions and delivering excellence. Having worked in diverse roles for over two decades, Alvis draws on her strong industry knowledge and operational experience to pioneer innovative solutions for challenges faced by clients as well as her team. She led the design and deployment of an intelligent Smartsheet-based workflow management system by automating and streamlining routine tasks. The workflow management system not only provides structure to work-from-home transitions but also creates visibility into the deployment of equipment to employee homes, ensuring that over 98% of Sourcepoint employees have access to all the equipment they need prior to starting work. Most importantly, the automated workflow management system enhances efficiency and productivity, enabling team members to handle 200% more projects. Alvis also developed the company’s Start Right methodology, which includes reusable templates, driving standardization and accelerating turnaround. Over the past year, as Sourcepoint witnessed dramatic growth despite the unparalleled challenges, Alvis spearheaded the launch of 129 new global projects, overcoming challenges in transitioning teams to remote work and collaborating closely with client and operations teams to ensure project success.

As a strategic corporate marketing and communications executive, Lorig Armenian’s responsibilities include Freddie Mac’s employee communications, creative, web development and marketing research teams. Committed to excellence, Armenian annually benchmarks her teams on a rotating basis against other companies to stay on top of their craft and several of her teams have been recognized in the industry for award-winning work.

Armenian is the driving force behind keeping employees informed, motivated and engaged, while maintaining an authentic corporate brand. When COVID-19 tested her skills as a leader, she rose to the fore. As thousands of Freddie Mac employees transitioned to remote work, Armenian’s team led an effort to clearly communicate updates to employees. This work was critical to ensure stability within the workforce so that the company could successfully continue its mission. The results speak for themselves. Despite a massive upheaval in their day-to-day lives, a recent Freddie Mac internal survey found that 90% of employees remain confident in senior leadership and feel that they are getting the information they need from the company. Thanks to Armenian and her team, they developed a corporate crisis response founded on transparency, engagement and substance, engendering confidence in the company during a volatile time.

SVP, Marketing

Senior Managing Director, Strategic Partnerships

32 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

VP, Transitions

VP, Strategic Communications and Marketing

AUGUST 2021

Patty Arvielo

Debora Aydelotte

New American Funding

Promontory MortgagePath

Co-founding New American Funding in 2003, Patty Arvielo has grown it into the largest minority-owned mortgage company in the country.

As president, she now manages the company’s operations and sales, while overseeing 186 locations and approximately 5,000 employees nationwide. At the end of 2019, the New American Funding’s servicing portfolio included approximately 124,000 loans totaling $31 billion.

As of early 2021, the company has approximately 187,000 loans totaling $48.4 billion in its servicing portfolio — an increase of nearly 51% in loan count and an increase of more than 56% in total loan value.

While the company’s business increased by orders of magnitude, Arvielo decreed that the company would continue hiring as many people as necessary to ensure that New American Funding continued providing industry-leading customer service. Over the course of the year, New American Funding hired 2,776 new employees.

An expert in lending to underserved communities, Arvielo believes in empowering minorities through homeownership and professional mentorship and is committed to supporting and uplifting the next generation of Hispanic entrepreneurs. She also recently expanded her business beyond New American Funding, acquiring a 50% stake in #WeAllGrow Latina, a community of thriving Latina creators, makers, and entrepreneurs, to help supercharge the group’s mission of supporting and uplifting Latinas.

As chief operating officer at Promontory MortgagePath, Debora Aydelotte not only embraces the business obligations that come with leadership, but the responsibility to her employees as well. Her proudest moments involve sharing knowledge and inspiring others.

This passion for mentorship and commitment to employee success has reaped tremendous benefits for Promontory MortgagePath as it seeks to level the mortgage playing field for community banks and credit unions.

As PMP expands its operations and works toward its mission to fundamentally change the way lenders approach their mortgage businesses, Aydelotte’s guiding hand can be felt through it all. In September, PMP launched Transform under her direction. This new service delivery model bundles licensed loan coordinators, point-ofsale technology and fulfillment services to offer a complete mortgage operations platform from application to close, giving community financial institutions the resources, technology and scalability required to compete and serve their communities in today’s market.

This, in turn, offers these institutions the financial latitude and support to create mortgage solutions inclusive of every type of customer, particularly middle- and lower-income Americans — an endeavor that is especially close to Aydelotte’s heart and ties directly into her decades’ long passion for advancing diversity and inclusion.

Sue Baker

Shirley Bankers

Co-Founder and President

Chief Operating Officer

VP, Product and Client Services, Secondary Marketing Technologies

VP, Corporate Accounts Team

For more than 30 years, Sue Baker has dedicated her career to understanding the intricate details of mortgage lending and developing technology solutions and platforms to increase the overall efficiency and performance of the entire mortgage lending process.

Considered by many to be one of the industry’s most brilliant mortgage technologists, Baker’s extensive mortgage industry experience makes her the go-to professional for creating original, best-of-breed capabilities that drive success for lenders, servicers and secondary market investors.

Using technology platforms and automated workflows developed

by Baker and her teams, Black Knight Optimal Blue’s 213,000 users generate $1.9 trillion in locks and trades annually, while mortgage lenders have generated millions of successful transactions and significantly increased operational efficiencies. In her role at Optimal Blue, Baker is directly responsible for product management, where she is involved in every step of bringing a product to fruition. With the ability to envision how trends will impact clients and the industry in the future, and what solutions clients will need to stay ahead of the curve, Baker was one of the first mortgage technologists to see how the internet could eventually impact the mortgage and secondary market industries.

As one of the vice presidents of the Corporate Accounts Team, Shirley Bankers has consistently ranked in the top tier of sales professionals at Enact Mortgage Insurance, as she currently holds the No. 1 sales position in sales aligned with Enact’s business objectives. It is Bankers’ dedication, work ethic, passion for playing a part in the American Dream and genuine love for people that makes her one of Enact’s greatest assets and a formidable force in a male-dominated industry.

In order to consistently achieve strong results, Bankers is hyper-focused on solving her customers’ problems and making their jobs easier for them. Having an exemplary client experience is critical in today’s competitive environment, and a fundamental rule that Shirley applies each day. While she’s worked on several projects and initiatives to help move the business forward throughout the past three decades, in 2020, Shirley was most proud of how she was able to quickly pivot to a 100% work-from-home model and still maintain engagement with colleagues and relationships with business contacts. Bankers also spent a considerable portion of 2020 collaborating with client and internal teammates on prudent product, risk management and homeowner’s assistance initiatives. While working through these relevant issues, agility remained at the top of Bankers’ “must-do” list.

AUGUST 2021

33 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

Enact Mortgage Insurance

Black Knight

Tracy Berger

Rebecca Blabolil

First American Corporation

Guaranteed Rate Companies

For over 25 years, Berger has been involved in almost every aspect of the real estate transaction, but her passion and expertise is in management and talent development. As a leader at First American Corporation, Berger works to find the genius in every person.

Promoting conscious capitalism in giving back to the community, she elevates the value of others in both business and people development.

In her current role as senior vice president at First American Corporation-Home Warranty Division, Berger shapes and implements the organizational design and training methods to optimize leadership talent at every level. Berger’s influence across the enterprise spans executives, middle management, operators, and front-line employees. She is directly responsible for managing a national sales team of 115 and operations staff of 50, which drives over $250 million in sales revenue annually. Selected for Women in Leadership — an elite group of female leaders at First American, Berger remains active in the development of innovative initiatives for the benefit of multiple divisions. Berger’s ability to understand business and the impact of human behavior to the bottom-line makes her skills adaptive to multiple industries. At her core, she is a leader who believes in the evolution of the leadership DNA in every company. Berger’s appetite for continuous learning with an emphasis on growth has helped organizations become more agile.

As chief compliance officer, Rebecca Blabolil is an inspiring leader who is not only making a significant impact on Guaranteed Rate’s business, but also on those around her and the mortgage industry.

As head of Guaranteed Rate’s 170-member compliance department, Blabolil is responsible for compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations, along with its extensive quality control program. She works proactively to identify, evaluate, mitigate and report on compliance and reputational risks across all of the company’s operations. As one of the company’s highest-ranking leaders, Blabolil has become a vital part of Guaranteed Rate’s continued growth and success. Throughout her 20 year career, Blabolil has provided strategic advice and counsel to large corporations on a wide range of issues including intellectual property, contracts, marketing and consumer affairs. Blabolil is helping to set a new standard for women in the mortgage industry and is serving as an impressive example for those looking to succeed within the field. Since being named chief compliance officer in 2015, Blabolil has exponentially grown the company’s compliance department and capabilities. She built a team of talented legal and compliance professionals who understand the industry’s unique regulations and can support the company’s growing needs.

Through her leadership, she has mentored her department and developed strong company leaders.

Nicole Booth

Laura Brandao

Notarize

American Financial Resources

As executive vice president at Notarize, Nicole Booth leads the organization’s efforts and strategy to build and maintain trust, messaging and support among external audiences, including government affairs, policy and industry relations and community engagement.

She’s built a team that has been foundational in expanding remote online notarization legislation from 22 states to 33 in the past year. In 2020, as the world rushed to digitize, legislators were trying to make sense of the immediate needs of their constituents, including RON, which is critical to keeping business moving forward in the middle of a pandemic. Booth’s public affairs work is a cornerstone of the larger movement to help lawmakers understand the benefits of RON and pass legislation that benefits all.

While her external impact is extremely measurable, it’s internally where she makes an outsized impact. Booth is a culture-carrier within the organization and has helped define the social-impact policies that the organization wants to collectively support, pushing Notarize to take swift and meaningful action on these efforts, which include bridging the digital divide and creating accessible experiences on the platform. She set up formal programs to address each of these endeavors, and in just a few short months, Notarize has made impactful donations of time and money to move these efforts forward.

As the president and only female partner of American Financial Resources, Laura Brandao is integral to AFR’s growth, seamlessly addressing market demand, including manufactured home and renovation programs. As an executive, Brandao is also a well-regarded champion for brokers, builders and other partners. Among her recent accomplishments, Brandao led the launch of a new certification program for lending partners. Once certified in programs like Manufactured Housing or VA Renovation, brokers can be listed as an Official AFR Certified Partner in a searchable database which allows clients, builders, and realtors to easily find a local expert for a specific loan program. She also developed a monthly “In the House” educational series for AFR, during which attendees can participate in a live Q&A on various loan programs with AFR experts and invited guests.

Brandao has a passion for empowering other women in mortgage, lending her support and sweat equity to multiple organizations. Not only has the ‘glass ceiling’ been shattered at AFR, as its president and long-time board member Laura Brandao would attest, but women account for half of all AFR employees up to and including the vice president level. Brandao has become the face of a company which represents gender equality, and she has been interviewed and written articles on the subject.

SVP, Real Estate

Chief Compliance Officer

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EVP, Public Affairs

President

AUGUST 2021

Stephanie Brower

Marisa Calderon

GM of Orchard Title and Head of Closing Operations

Orchard

Executive Director, CDFI and Chief of Community Finance & Mobility

Through Stephanie Brower’s leadership as the GM of Orchard Title and Head of Closing Operations, Orchard has simplified the closing experience in real estate, all while fostering an inclusive environment for her team where they feel supported and have room to grow and advance their careers. After being personally approached to join the team by Orchard’s CEO & co-founder, Court Cunningham, Brower went all in to build a best-in-class closing experience. Brower’s first priority was hiring a team of people who were as passionate about customers as herself.

Traditionally, title has a high turnover rate, and the industry often focuses on process not the customer experience, but Brower built a team determined to make their customer’s closing experience a delight. When Brower joined Orchard, they had just opened their Atlanta and Denver markets, and were preparing to grow to markets across the country. Brower was able to lean on her experience in the field to launch title operations in all of Orchard’s markets, enabling all-digital closing experience for customers. In order to provide her customers with more proactive updates, Brower created a thorough checklist to make sure the customers were informed about the critical steps in their closing process. She then worked with her team relentlessly to make sure that they were prioritizing transparency with the customer at every step.

Marisa Calderon has dedicated her career to being a champion for increasing affordable homeownership and bridging the nation’s racial wealth gap in the Black and Latino communities. In September 2020, Calderon took on her new roles at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. As the first Latina executive to head the NCRC Community Development Fund, Calderon works to provide loan capital that expands access to affordable homeownership and helps Black-, Brown-, and woman-owned businesses thrive. In her dual role as chief of community finance and mobility for NCRC, Calderon focuses on advancing economic mobility for communities impacted by systemic inequality and historic disinvestment. In just her first months, Calderon has been instrumental in powering affordable homeownership through funding and work with partners like GROWTH (Generating Real Opportunities for Work Through Housing), which invests in building affordable single family housing to help address the decline in homeownership among low- and moderate-income families. She’s also made her impact felt through work such as providing small-business grants with Equivico, a woman-owned impact investment management firm launched by NCRC. This year alone, Calderon has spearheaded affordable housing work through multiple networks, including as leader of the Affordable Homeownership Coalition which is working to build 20 million homes by the year 2030.

Maylin Casanueva

Linda Case

Teraverde

TMS

As president of Teraverde, Maylin Casanueva is responsible for the growth, profitability and overall business operations of Teraverde’s software solutions business. During the past 12 months of the COVID crisis, she committed to keeping employees working effectively and productively. Casanueva was responsible for designing the Coheus® solution, a 2020 HousingWire “Tech 100” product winner to serve as the critical tool for Mortgage Executive decision making. In addition to effectively running the business over the past year, she led development efforts to substantially upgrade Coheus to its next generation of simplicity and effectiveness while the entire team worked remotely.

Maylin’s deep domain knowledge of mortgage banking, technical knowledge of software development, and the many relationships she has developed over 25 years in mortgage banking make her uniquely qualified to lead Teraverde’s software solutions business. Additionally, Casanueva is fluent in English and Spanish, and uses her bilingual skills as an effective ambassador of diversity and inclusion within Teraverde, as well as within her community and within the industry.

Outside of her role at Teraverde, Casanueva has written articles on harnessing data and business intelligence in various publications, as well as having her thought leadership highlighted in three best-selling books on residential lending.

As senior vice president of Loan Administration, Linda Case manages TMS’ loan boarding, servicing transfer and escrow teams, by approaching every situation in a calm, organized and diligent manner. Every day, Case exudes the company’s core values of Rock Solid Service, Inspiring Leadership, Strength of Character and People Matter as she actively engages with team members throughout the organization. Case has spent her career as a key player in building teams and improving organizations by making them more efficient and streamlined. Additionally, several customer-facing teams under her leadership and guidance boarded and transferred a record number of loans seamlessly. Case utilized all 20 years of her industry experience like never before in 2020. Over the last year, she led the TMS Loan Boarding team as they successfully boarded over 200,000 loans, right in the middle of the pandemic that brought massive disruption to the entire servicing industry. Despite a myriad of logistical challenges, Linda consistently kept her teams laser-focused to drive the company forward. At the same time, she was also leading the TMS Servicing Transfer team that successfully transferred hundreds of thousands of customers to TMS without issue. In a period of great uncertainty, Linda personally ensured that each customer had a positive service transfer experience.

National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Community Development Fund

SVP, Loan Administration

AUGUST 2021

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President

Daniella Casseres

Taylor Castranova

Principal and Chair, Financial Institutions Regulatory Practice Group

VP, Sales and Customer Success

Sales Boomerang

Offit Kurman

As a partner at Offit Kurman, Daniella Casseres is a leader in the mortgage lending regulatory field advising mortgage companies across the country on how to achieve strategic growth while remaining compliant. She created the law firm’s Financial Institutions Regulatory Practice Group in 2013 after working at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago supervising the corrective action plans of large banking institutions resulting from the foreclosure crisis. She now chairs the practice group with a focus on providing practical counsel to independent mortgage lenders. Casseres represents mortgage lenders in enforcement matters and investigations across the country against numerous federal agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, and the Department of Justice. In 2014, Casseres was instrumental in developing Strategic Compliance Partners, a consulting firm which offered a flat fee compliance program for mortgage companies to outsource or supplement their Compliance department. Then three years later, she brought the program inhouse to Offit Kurman, to expand the program’s products and services it offers to national mortgage lenders. In 2017, the firm promoted Casseres to equity shareholder, making her the youngest shareholder in the firm’s 34-year history. Over the past three years, her book of business has grown nearly 300%.

As vice president of both the Customer Success and Sales departments at Sales Boomerang, Taylor Castranova has exceeded expectations in customer growth as well as helping customers achieve unprecedented growth. With Castranova’s guidance, Sales Boomerang customers added to the success of a record-breaking 2020 with an additional $30 billion in closed loan volume that would have otherwise been overlooked. After just 2 months at the company, Castranova’s role was expanded to encompass leadership of not just Customer Success, but also Sales, which are two of the largest departments in the organization. Her leadership in Customer Success has resulted in a level of specialization and increased professionalization leading to onboarding periods being halved. Additionally, in Sales, the sales cycle has been organized and is becoming traceable, allowing Sales Boomerang to become an informed party in requesting lead generation - from being reactive to being in charge of the commercial process. With 116 clients on her roster and 22 direct reports, Castranova plays a significant role in operations and strategic business goals. In the past 12 months, Castranova has helped Sales Boomerang triple its revenue and increased existing customers growth rates by 400%.

She has also recently launched an internal newsletter, “Boom!,” first a means for her team to share updates with the organization, which now is being developed into a company-wide medium.

Sherry Chris

Tanja Cleve

Realogy Expansion Brands

Equifax

An undisputed leader in the real estate industry, Sherry Chris heads the Realogy Expansion Brands which include Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and ERA Real Estate. Not only is Chris in her fifth decade working in real estate, but she is also one of the longest-tenured CEOs of any franchisor in real estate today. Chris, who started her real estate career in 1987, has been with Realogy since 2006. She served one year as the COO of Coldwell Banker before being tapped to launch Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. Today, the BHGRE brand has nearly 12,500 agents across six countries. In 2019, she added the responsibility of leading ERA Real Estate, which has 36,000 agents in 2,200 offices spanning the U.S. and 31 other countries and territories.

Despite the pandemic, Chris’ leadership fostered incredible growth in 2020, affiliating 16 new BHGRE companies, the most since 2017, with five more new BHGRE affiliates already opened in 2021. During the pandemic, she established weekly thought leadership virtual events to provide critical resources to agents. Additionally, she is a frequent speaker at industry events and serves on the advisory board of New Story, a non-profit dedicated to ending global homelessness. Chris is also the executive sponsor of Realogy’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the LGBTQ+ community including the company’s Real Pride employee resource group.

Tanja Cleve has nearly 20 years of experience working with sales engineering teams in the financial services industry. As senior leader, customer success and enablement at Equifax Mortgage and Housing, Cleve has been instrumental in helping the mortgage industry make great strides in the technology arena, especially when it comes to a paperless, frictionless experience. Cleve has played an integral role in recent business transformations the past 12 months, particularly in the design and development of an internal initiative which involved reorienting and realigning how Equifax supports Mortgage customers, their specific needs and ultimately their success. This large undertaking involved reorganizing and enhancing customer success management and sales support teams to better align the Equifax team to more than 300 customers, partners, and resellers over the better part of the past year. Her focus on being a servant leader helps her learn from challenges, gain wisdom from others and work alongside teams, which all ultimately enables not only Cleve but also her team to better overcome challenges, exceed customer and employee expectations as well as achieve innovation and improve ROI. Additionally, she is an active volunteer in her local community, and, for the past 10 years, has spearheaded Equifax’s team’s effort to adopt a local family during the holidays.

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President and CEO

Senior Leader, Customer Success & Revenue Enablement

AUGUST 2021

Patti Cook

Elly Cummings

Finance of America Companies

New American Funding

A pioneer in financial services since her earliest days in the industry, Patti Cook constantly displays grit and a knack for pivoting successfully to seize new opportunities. As CEO of Finance of America Companies, Cook has helped build and scale the company’s diversified lending platform, which offers consumers a comprehensive suite of financial solutions aimed at meeting their needs at each phase of their financial lives. Upon earning her MBA at New York University, Cook joined Salomon Brothers in 1979 as one of very few female MBAs on Wall Street in that era.

Over the course of her career, Cook has held executive roles at numerous companies, including Prudential, JPMorgan and Freddie Mac. She went on to join Finance of America in 2016, where she oversees the team’s rapid growth and innovation and ultimately guided the company to its public listing via SPAC merger in April 2021. With the successful listing, the company now has access to a permanent source of capital to support its organic and inorganic growth. Cook also oversees the activities of Finance of America’s philanthropic efforts through two 501(c)(3) affiliates — Finance of America Foundation and Finance of America Cares. A dynamic and inspiring leader, Cook has a proven track record of delivering results, managing change and engaging employees. Under her leadership, Finance of America Companies has achieved rapid, remarkable success.

As senior vice president of the Great Lakes Gulf Coast Region, Elly Cummings leads New American Funding with heart, putting kindness and compassion at the forefront. In her role, a new problem, situation or decision has to be made on an almost hourly basis, and Cummings can always be trusted to make those decisions. The most recent example of her professional excellence and leadership was demonstrated last year when she kept her whole team together through a year of unprecedented change.

In 2020, Cummings drove the growth of her team’s production by over 99% year over year. She didn’t do that by taking advantage of the refi market. Instead, she kept her team focused on capturing market share and growing purchase business; which was demonstrated through a 60% year over year purchase growth factor. She always knows what the market is doing; she can help forecast the upcoming months and understands the importance of marketing and how to brand her entire region. Additionally, in 2020, she led a complete regional branding overhaul launching the successful New American Approved campaign. Cummings is incredibly valuable to New American Funding because she encourages, challenges and gives all her team members the space and opportunity to grow. As a leader, she makes it a personal goal to show all 200-plus members that she sees, hears and supports them.

Julia Curran

Jan Davis

SitusAMC

MISMO; Mortgage Bankers Association

For the past eight years at SitusAMC, Julia Curran has managed hundreds of due diligence and private securitization projects while working directly with all the major ratings agencies to become one of the mortgage industry’s most valuable experts on loan risk and agency guidelines. In this past year, as SitusAMC transitioned into a major technology provider following the acquisition of dozens of companies, Curran has been tapped to integrate all the company’s new products for the maximum benefit of its clients. Even with these major responsibilities, Curran still manages time to co-chair MISMO’s Private Label Securitization Development Workgroup. Through the workgroup, Curran has helped identify and solve gaps between existing standards used by the rating agencies and data points necessary to rate loans, using MISMO’s standards. With SitusAMC acquiring over 20 companies in the past four years, Curran was given the essential role as head of SitusAMC’s Residential Product Design division. In this role she was put in charge of blending all the company’s newly acquired technologies to give SitusAMC clients the ability to automate the entire mortgage process, from origination of loans all the way to the secondary market. In her time at SitusAMC, Curran has been able to serve as a go-to expert for some of the biggest names in the residential mortgage industry.

For the past several years Jan Davis has led the transformation of MISMO into a well-known and widely participated in standards organization and has helped put MISMO at the center of the industry’s digital transformation efforts. Davis has played a crucial role in leading efforts to create a better digital mortgage experience for all parties involved in a real estate transaction. She brings her strong attention to detail, industry standards and organization excellence to every project she touches.

Examples of this include her work to enhance key MISMO initiatives so they shines to internal and external audiences. Davis also brings the industry together for events including the MISMO summits where she plays a leadership role in planning themes, recruiting industry experts for informative sessions and serving as moderator. Over the past year, Davis has also led the rollout of a new Innovation Investment Fee, which enables MISMO to help advance the industry’s digital future by delivering results better, faster and stronger. To make the fee a reality, Davis has been the liaison between MISMO, MBA, MERS and lenders to communicate about the fee and manage the successful launch. Over 1,400 lenders are helping create the industry’s digital future by supporting the Innovation Investment Fee, thanks in large part to Davis’ strong efforts to make this a reality.

CEO

SVP, Great Lakes Gulf Coast Region

VP; AVP, Industry Standards

AUGUST 2021

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Senior Director, Product & Client Solutions

Sharon DeCastro

Jesse Decker

First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation

Sagent

Sharon DeCastro is a certified public accountant with nearly 20 years of experience that she uses to lead the accounting team at FGMC, where she serves as senior vice president, controller. As an immigrant who studied accounting in the Philippines and gained experience working for a firm in Singapore, DeCastro has shown a lifetime of determination and commitment to her career. When DeCastro first joined FGMC in 2016, she took ownership over reorganizing the books and setting up processes that would allow them to be more efficient.

These processes are proving to be essential years later as the company experiences more and more growth.

DeCastro manages the accounting and accounts payable departments to ensure FGMC’s finances are accurate, managed responsibly and meet all legal requirements. Her deadline-driven workflow made her teams well equipped for the challenges faced in 2020. While the mortgage industry experienced the slow down and eventual eruption of volume, her team was able to remain calm and ensure they were managing their cash flow properly. DeCastro’s ability to be nimble and confident while delivering results was astronomically important to the firm and its investors throughout 2020 and 2021. However, DeCastro’s most notable quality is her care for the well-being of her team and FGMC. Her humility translates to a great company culture in her department and trust among the team.

Within months of joining Sagent, Jesse Decker scaled her team from 15 employees to over 60 as she helped the nation’s top financial institutions rethink their approach to the onslaught of borrower requests by providing real-time and human support at every turn. In 2020, Decker spearheaded a revamped customer success strategy aimed at better understanding and serving the needs of customers.

Primed by her background modernizing mortgage originations as customer success lead for two of the industry’s top fintech firms, Roostify and Cloudvirga, Decker infused the consumer-first sensibility seen in the origination space into her team’s COVID response. Her role on the front lines positioned her to both redirect and accelerate Sagent’s product roadmaps, rolling out its growing and evolving suite of products to customers at scale. Within a year of joining the executive team, she implemented new customer success team processes and tool changes and rapidly scaled the Sagent customer success team by more than 300% to respond to the needs of customers and their borrowers during the pandemic. Additionally, she coordinated a company-wide partnership with the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers to improve Sagent’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives aimed at supporting and growing non-traditional lending and recruiting strategies. Above all, Decker makes sure Sagent’s customer success strategies protect servicers and borrowers alike.

Angela Dunham

Sarah Edelman

OJO Labs

Fannie Mae

As chief operating officer at OJO Labs, Angela Dunham drives the company forward everyday with a culture of innovation, empathy and impact. Dunham brings more than 25 years of experience to OJO Labs in driving operational success, optimizing performance and building strong teams. Throughout 2020, Dunham has focused on implementing foundational training to support the development of all employees, despite the unusual circumstances. She introduced Real Colors, a personality instrument, which helped employees better understand the dynamics of OJO Labs and how all personalities play a role in creating a great culture. While Dunham oversees all facets of OJO Labs’ operations, her greatest contribution to the company has been her role in shaping the company culture. She has spearheaded the development of a cohesive, mission-driven culture across five separate offices. Additionally, Dunham rallied her entire company around its purpose to level the playing field for all homebuyers and sellers. While she has always been a champion of diversity, equity and inclusion, the nationwide reckoning with racism last summer lit a fire for her to double down on DEI initiatives. Dunham established initiatives to raise awareness of DEI issues and build empathy by bringing in experts on race and home buying who can shine new light on the specific challenges within the real estate industry.

Sarah Edelman has decades of experience in community development, affordable housing policy and program implementation. She has become a trusted voice on affordable homeownership within Fannie Mae and across the housing industry. In her current role as director of affordable initiatives, Edelman’s goal is to decrease the cost of housing for low and moderate-income households and create opportunities to build wealth through homeownership. She is directly responsible for setting Fannie Mae’s strategy to meet the credit needs of underserved borrowers living in high-needs rural regions, manufactured homes or in neighborhoods with rising housing costs or distressed properties. Every day, Edelman helps Fannie Mae deliver on its commitment to sustainability and affordability. She was instrumental in developing the company’s Duty to Serve efforts and developing the plans to serve these markets more effectively. Since Edelman stood up Fannie Mae’s DTS initiative in 2018, the company has significantly increased its purchases of loans in DTS markets. She also participates in areas of work outside of DTS and consistently encourages colleagues to prioritize the needs of underserved borrowers first and to deliver impactful solutions that will improve access to affordable housing. Additionally, Edelman has testified before Congress on housing finance issues.

SVP, Controller

EVP, Customer Success

38 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

Chief Operating Officer

Director of Affordable Initiatives

AUGUST 2021

Vanessa Famulener

Stephenie Flood

HomeLight

RE/MAX Gold

Vanessa Famulener, vice president of Cash Close at HomeLight and 2020 HW Women of Influence, continues to create a name for herself within the real estate industry as an influential leader helping to make real estate simple, certain and satisfying for everyone. Famulener oversees both HomeLight Cash Close and HomeLight Home Loans products. In just one year’s time, she expanded the HomeLight Cash Close products, HomeLight Trade-In and HomeLight Cash Offer, to new markets across the country — with the products experiencing 800% growth as a result. These products are known as the first home financing products on the market designed for agents to enable their clientele to maximize their home sales while removing any painful contingencies.

This year, Famulener has served as an influential leader in the real estate space by expanding the tools and technologies to solve crucial pain points along the real estate journey in even the most competitive markets. One of Famulener’s greatest accomplishments in the past year is being resilient and innovative in the face of incredible uncertaint, resulting in monumental growth for the entire company and innovation in the residential real estate industry at large. Because of Famulener’s leadership and dedication to help the company achieve its goals, HomeLight and its partner agents’ businesses were able to keep growing when others were retreating.

Stephenie Flood has been with RE/MAX Gold since 1997, beginning her Gold Nation career as an administrator, then working her way up to being a key leader in the organization. During that time, Flood has overseen every operational department, culminating in her promotion to director of operations in 2015 and later, vice president of operations.

Her leadership of seven key departments within the organization has allowed the company to continue to grow while maintaining impressive service levels to agents and staff. Flood focuses on leading and cheering on a team of more than 80 administrators, transaction coordinators, accounting staff, and directors to help take them to new levels of productivity and job satisfaction. Working with her executive counterparts, she helped to lead RE/MAX Gold into the unknown of a statewide shutdown amidst a global pandemic. With her Operations team, she led a complete re-work of day-to-day operations for the entire company, including taking all staff entirely remote, while continuing to serve the needs of all agents and meeting the same service level commitments from pre-pandemic times. Also, in 2020, Flood and fellow vice president Anthony James developed the Juggernaut Podcast, which averages 500 listeners per episode. The podcast was designed to help individuals work on their health, well-being and overall personal development.

Wendy Fowler

Erika Franks

Maxwell

ACT Appraisal

Wendy Fowler’s influence on the mortgage industry stretches across decades. A natural leader, Fowler tirelessly shares her wisdom and insight to ensure that others benefit from the lessons she has learned.

A veteran of housing finance in the truest sense, Fowler has witnessed the market’s cyclical ups and downs first-hand and lived to tell the tale. Her experience runs broad and deep, covering the entire lifecycle of a mortgage loan. Fowler spent over two decades as a mortgage executive, senior underwriter, loan officer, and processor. Today, Fowler oversees the mortgage operations, including processing, underwriting, closing and training, for Maxwell’s largest clients. The simplest fact that describes the leadership and impact Fowler has had in her organization is that less than 12 months ago, Maxwell’s fulfillment platform and lender solutions team did not exist. Fowler was a foundational member in taking an idea to one of the top-three largest onshore fulfillment operations in the U.S. She was directly responsible for the leadership, strategy and execution of hiring over 240 employees, building the organization’s culture and empowering team members to provide high-quality fulfillment services to Maxwell’s users. Thanks to her extensive career in multiple facets of the housing finance industry, Fowler has become the key to Maxwell developing the industry’s next generation of leaders.

Serving as president at ACT Appraisal, Erika Franks has been instrumental in applying new processes to the appraisal management scheme. A couple of these key processes she has been a driver of include the ACT “Call First” program and participation in AppraisalVision software all while being a virtual expert in the portals, processes, and delivery methods of the AMC world. Her abilities over the years to adapt to changes in technology, compliance and vendor processes have been instrumental in the company’s success as well as her daily input and management of the different AMC processes. Over the past 12–18 months, business metrics have changed drastically, requiring her staff to take on more challenging and varied duties than ever before. Franks has met these challenges through training, mastering integration technologies and acquiring staff to accommodate many of these changes. In the past 12 challenging months, Franks has taken an active part in hiring, training and cultivating employees to meet the demands of this industry while combating pandemic parameters.

This increased volume put to the test her 20-plus year relationships she has built with appraiser vendors and clients across the nation.

Despite the disruptions the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, Franks has stayed connected to her clients, employees and vendors alike, to assure profitable growth for ACT Appraisal.

VP, Cash Close

VP, Operations

President

AUGUST 2021

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Mortgage Operations Director

Fee Gentry

Adrienne Goolsby

eXp World Holdings

Humanity International

Since joining eXp Realty as an agent in 2017, Fee Gentry has led the company’s efforts in equity, belonging and inclusion. She is co-founder and co-chair of ONE eXp, eXp’s diversity and inclusion initiative, which supports career development, champions fair housing principles and provides networking opportunities that encourage cultural awareness. Since co-founding ONE eXp, Gentry has helped launch 10 affinity groups, including the eXp Asian Network, eXp Latino, eXp PRIDE Network, eXp Power Girls and the Black eXp Network, which has almost 3,000 members. In May 2020, she was appointed to the eXp World Holdings (EXPI) Board of Directors, making her the first Black woman elected to the board of a publicly-traded real estate company. As a board member, she has helped facilitate and improve communication between company leadership and real estate agents. In February 2021, Gentry led eXp’s virtual Black History Month program, which had thousands of attendees. She also launched the Black eXp Network’s Agent Accelerator Academy, a 60-day business transformation course. Currently, Gentry is co-founding a Sports, Entertainment and Influencers group for real estate professionals who would like to serve well-known athletes, actors, musicians and influencers while also making a difference in the world. Additionally, Gentry has recently appeared on Farnoosh Torabi’s “So Money” podcast and Casanova Brooks’ “DreamNation” podcast.

As senior vice president of the U.S. and Canada, Adrienne Goolsby provides strategic leadership and managerial oversight to Habitat for Humanity International’s U.S./Canada staff to support and enhance the U.S. and Canada affiliate network. She leads HFHI’s work in construction, programs such as Veterans Build and Aging in Place, long-term disaster recovery and strategies to increase opportunities for Black homeownership. Goolsby brings a joy and passion to addressing problems that affect people’s lives. Prior to the pandemic, Goolsby would often travel across the U.S. in support of the local Habitat organizations serving their communities. Though the pandemic kept her physically apart from local Habitats, Goolsby began holding calls with the U.S. Habitat network, as well as continuing to appear virtually at regional Habitat conferences to show support for the work being done.

Her leadership during the pandemic has kept the focus on the importance of affordable housing when so many are spending more time at home. She also has led her team of over 130 staff members to transition to an all-virtual work environment while increasing output and deliverables to support the organization’s mission. Each day, Goolsby works to ensure that families — no matter who they are, where they live or how much they earn — have access to a stable, affordable place to call home.

Carrie Gusmus

Rainy Hake Austin

Aslan Home Lending Corporation

The Agency

A senior management professional with nearly 30 years of experience, Carrie Gusmus is committed to the honest goal of positively affecting every life she touches, every day. It’s been her singular focus in guiding aggressive company growth and advancing team leadership. From day one, that defining ambition has been at the very core of the Aslan corporate culture, earning Carrie a measure of high loyalty from employees, partners and clientele. At Aslan, Gusmus serves as the president and CEO of the 100% woman owned business. She’s assembled a team of brilliant, powerful and collaborative female leaders who refuse to back down. In starting her own business in a very male heavy industry, Gusmus hopes to influence an entire industry to think about women differently. From P&L management to program management and brand supervision, Carrie is engaged in every aspect of the Aslan business. Since envisioning and opening Aslan in September 2019, she has personally recruited and prepared every member of her staff.

She’s written the business plan and negotiated space, technology and contracts. She also facilitates quarterly coaching sessions to help every Aslan employee become the very best version of themselves.

By doing business differently, she’s created a thriving company that in just their second year is on track for three-quarters of a billion dollars in funded loans.

As president of The Agency, Rainy Hake Austin leads a global real estate firm responsible for representing buyers and sellers of the world’s most distinguished properties. Austin oversees not only The Agency’s residential real estate brokerage arm, but also the global New Development division and the internal teams including a boutique creative agency providing design, PR, branding, social media, advertising, web design and digital marketing services to over 700 luxury real estate professionals. With over 25 years of experience leading esteemed real estate firms, Austin is passionate about strategically growing companies through her unique expertise and vision.

Since joining as President, Austin has aided in the strategic growth of The Agency, helping them open 4 new offices in 2021 alone, with additional franchises scheduled to open this year. While aiding in strategic growth, she is also committed to maintaining the level of service and collaborative culture that makes The Agency so successful. While the majority of Austin’s full-time professional experience is concentrated in leading operations, she also has extensive experience in providing international business and marketing consulting. Austin is very active in both her local community and industry groups, currently serving as a BOD member for MLS Listings, Executive Committee Member and Steering Committee Member.

Member, Board of Directors, EXPI World Holdings

SVP, US & Canada

40 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

President/ CEO

President

AUGUST 2021

Twyla Hankins

Lusharn Heastie

American Financial Network

NewRez

Twyla Hankins, who serves as executive vice president of operations for American Financial Network, is a sage operations executive who possesses a big-picture vision that allows her to oversee and direct operations personnel in best practices that keep all departments running harmoniously, overcoming perceived obstacles and coming together as a cohesive team. With a career that spans four decades, her knowledge of all the nuances of mortgage lending is unrivaled as she dependably leads operations of a national mortgage lender with more than 200 branches nationwide. Using her big-picture vision, immeasurable knowledge and years of experience, Hankins consistently leads her teams through the ever-changing mortgage lending landscape and prepares each department and its individual members for what’s next. Hankins believes in homegrown talent, cross-training, promoting from within and generally lifting personnel up to meet their full potential. She has mentored the AFN Operations Team, producing a winning and dedicated crew of vice presidents, directors, team leads and valuable, knowledgeable line workers who all come together cohesively and steadfastly to serve the growing AFN Production Team and an unprecedented volume of loans. Hankins also works closely with the IT Department, LOS Administration and Compliance to maximize process automation and eliminate tedium wherever possible, resulting in streamlined processes.

In 2020, in recognition of her leadership and positive impact to NewRez, Lusharn Heastie was promoted to Chief Diversity Officer, leading the entire Family of Companies in internal and external diversity and inclusion initiatives to optimize and strengthen company culture. As the first individual to lead these efforts at NewRez, Heastie oversees management trainings, inclusive hiring practices and workplace initiatives. Over the past year, she has progressed the company’s Diversity and Inclusion program and is rolling out new employee resources and support channels to foster more internal conversations around diversity as well as establishment of new partnerships conducive to promoting diversity within the company and mortgage industry in its entirety. Heastie also spearheaded NewRez’s first internal safety council to ensure all employees felt informed, aware and safe. The council implemented training drills in case of an active shooter or fire and set up an internal communication system for inclement weather. Additionally, Heastie has actively participated in company Humanitarian Councils, organizing internal employee groups and formalizing their structures to ensure success in philanthropic and volunteer efforts in the community. Back in 2017, Heastie led an internal disaster recovery program following Hurricane Harvey that assisted employees who had experienced damage and devastation to their homes.

Briana Ings

Sandra Jarish

Snapdocs

Planet Home Lending

Briana Ings is a leader and product visionary who has worked closely with lenders, notaries, signing services, settlement and consumers to deeply understand their needs and develop products that help to transform their businesses. At Snapdocs, Ings leads the company’s efforts to build a platform that helps all the parties involved in mortgage closing work together more efficiently. Ings is a member of the executive leadership team, which is responsible for building cross-functional collaboration and culture inside the company as well as setting overall corporate strategy and direction. Re-thinking Snapdocs’ product to work in the pandemic was a main focus for Ings this year. Her team quickly built a tool in the product that let lenders lead buyers through the closing process by video, with each party safely in their own homes. Ings is also a strong advocate for women in tech, demonstrating her passion for this community by being an active leader inside and outside of work. At Snapdocs, she started a women’s group for employees which aims to engage, empower and develop women and their allies at Snapdocs. Under Ings’ leadership, the group has looked at issues like pay parity inside the company, provided mental health resources to members, provided training and coaching, and brought in external speakers to provide leadership and guidance.

As president at Planet Home Lending, Sandra Jarish built a best-inclass servicing team and has grown the servicing portfolio 83% since 2019. She expanded Planet’s servicing offerings beyond home loans to include commercial, fix and flip, and consumer loans. She also earned contracts from government agencies to service performing and defaulted loan portfolios. Over the past year, her default expertise enabled Planet Home Lending to adeptly balance the needs of borrowers, investors, sub-servicing clients and agencies as Jarish implemented COVID-related process changes and actions throughout the loan life cycle. She created new workflows, deployed leading technology and reconfigured personnel to meet the rapidly evolving needs of the business. Her actions reduced risk, ensured employee safety, limited losses and assisted borrowers ready to emerge from forbearance.

In addition to managing COVID-related risks, Jarish also expanded Planet’s national servicing platform into the Dallas metroplex. The new Dallas servicing center, Planet’s fourth servicing location, serves both private clients and borrowers. At the same time, she employed new technology to improve customer and client experience. In this respect, Jarish added an AI-driven chatbot, payment self-service improvements, additional reporting and scripting capabilities, a new telephony system and a consumer loan servicing system.

EVP, Operations

Chief Diversity Officer

President

AUGUST 2021

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Head of Product and Design

Katie Johnson

Lindsey Johnson

National Association of Realtors

U.S. Mortgage Insurers

Katie Johnson joined the National Association of Realtors as staff attorney in 2007 and has since worked her way up to a high-performing senior executive position. Within seven years, she was named General Counsel and then became NAR’s first chief member experience officer, leading initiatives to enhance member engagement and satisfaction.

From best practices to risk management, when Realtors, Realtors associations or Multiple Listing Services have a question, they often look to Johnson for guidance. Her career at NAR has been marked by many highlights, but in 2020 — and in conjunction with the year’s unprecedented events — Johnson’s achievements had perhaps the greatest impact on NAR’s staff and members. Before the health crisis was deemed a pandemic, she drafted NAR’s COVID-19 Preparedness Response Plan, which detailed how the association would respond to cases of the coronavirus at their offices. This plan was later shared with and adopted by Realtor associations nationwide. Johnson also led efforts with NAR’s 54 state and territorial Realtor associations, helping to ensure that the provision of real estate was deemed an “essential service” by federal, state and some local governments.

Finally, on the legal front, Johnson manages the defense of potentially industry-changing class action lawsuits challenging how the multiple listing system operates and how homes are bought and sold throughout the U.S.

As an experienced executive leader with a background in both business and policy, Lindsey Johnson is focused on U.S. Mortgage Insurers’ (USMI) work with member companies to ensure that borrowers continue to have access to competitive low down payment lending in the conventional market and that the GSEs and taxpayers continue to be protected by private capital. Johnson started as the first President of U.S. Mortgage Insurers, ensuring that the private MI industry has a voice in Washington, D.C. In 2020, Johnson helped to guide the industry’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She worked closely between USMI member companies and with the regulatory agencies coordinating responses so that the MI industry could update their guides and processes to align with the GSEs’ policies to implement nationwide forbearance programs. Additionally, Johnson continues to help drive the conversation about what it means to be “home-ready” for borrowers and has led a multiyear education and communication campaign aimed at enabling borrowers to have the necessary information for purchasing a home. Johnson’s commitment to addressing the affordable housing challenges in the country includes her work through USMI, her work as a director on the Board of Habitat for Humanity Northern Virginia and her work on the Advisory Council for the National Housing Conference, among other leadership positions.

Sophie Kim

Sheila Klostermann

Civic Financial Services

Enact Mortgage Insurance

As Civic’s senior vice president of people and culture, Sophie Kim’s lending expertise, business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit has led her to a pivotal, defining moment in her career: successfully navigating 325 employees through COVID, while simultaneously guiding CIVIC through the high-stakes acquisition by a publicly traded bank.

In a year of pivoting, Kim revolutionized CIVIC’s internal communications by focusing on the employee experience more than ever before.

She started CIVIC’s State of the Union, a livestream broadcast for CIVIC’s President and CEO, alongside Kim, to communicate important updates to the company on a weekly basis.

Kim also orchestrated The Pulse, CIVIC’s daily e-newsletter to all employees with photos, important updates and events; as well as the launch of C2, CIVIC’s Intranet. Kim also played a critical role in CIVIC’s recent acquisition by Pacific Western Bank. She led the integration for payroll and benefits, and built the internal communication plan to ensure everyone knew what was happening at every step of the way. Through it all, Kim launched two new training initiatives: one for developing leaders, and one for all employees. As a leader who develops new leaders, Kim supports her people but keeps in mind that she is in a position that makes her a cultural representative of the whole organization.

Under Sheila Klostermann’s leadership, the Enact Mortgage Insurance Quality Assurance team has reached new productivity highs, increased team member job satisfaction and has recently promoted a quarter of the team into roles of increased responsibility. As director, Klostermann was instrumental in driving the Quality Assurance team’s ideation strategy. She has supported new technology solutions and other enhancements which in total helped drive productivity up.

Additionally, Klostermann has been a key driver in the development of Enact’s Quality Assurance audit scope document and time reporting methodology. The Quality Assurance organization isn’t typically known for productivity gains, but Klostermann has led her team in increasing productivity by about 25% over the last year. These base hits were accomplished by closely examining the team’s processes with a focus on reducing manual effort, sharing best practices and encouraging team ideation. Klostermann led her team to navigate through the ongoing changes of how they audit while minimizing impact to the audit team as well as their internal and external customers. Outside of her role, Sheila has been an active participant at the MBA Risk Management, Quality Assurance & Fraud Prevention Conference, and in the past two years, has shared her experiences leading change and fostering remote engagement as a panel speaker.

General Counsel and Chief Member Experience Officer

President

42 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

SVP, People and Culture

Director, Quality Assurance

AUGUST 2021

Bernadette Kogler

Natalie Koonce

RiskSpan

WFG National Title Insurance Company

While the list of fintech CEOs does not include many women, Bernadette Kogler makes that list as an outspoken champion of promoting and empowering female leaders. Kogler serves as CEO and co-founder of RiskSpan, a data and analytics shop serving mortgage investors, traders and others in the origination, servicing and secondary marketing space. During the past year, Bernadette has presided over record growth in adoption of RiskSpan’s Edge Platform. Her leadership has also been the driving force behind an unprecedented expansion of the platform’s capabilities during the pandemic.

Bernadette is a dynamic, hands-on executive with a unique ability to oversee complex technical initiatives while also managing the dayto-day operations of a growing firm with over 100 employees. One of her big accomplishments at RiskSpan has been increasing the firm’s client base by 110% since 2018. Outside of her career, she regularly donates time to mentoring others in their professional development, particularly women. In 2021, her continuing commitment to empowering women was reflected in her becoming a founding member of “Chief,” a private network designed “to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there.” Bernadette also participates in mentoring students and recently served as a “Pitch coach” in support of Villanova’s 2021 flagship event for the Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship Institute.

Natalie Koonce joined WFG National Title Insurance Company as senior vice president, National Escrow Advisor in April 2020, taking on the role right at the start of the pandemic-led mortgage boom.

Koonce began her career in the real estate and title industries when she was only 18 years old, drawn to it by the connection the industry has with helping people with their most important investment — their home. When she started at WFG in 2020, Koonce was put in charge of WFG’s Multiple State Solutions program, which focuses on making local lenders’ multistate business seamless by managing it from a centralized production location.

A year into her role, she has helped develop key operations aimed at improving the escrow process by not only preventing the rising risk of fraud but also implementing processes to aid the recovery of monetary losses. Over the last year, Koonce has focused on creating better efficiencies within the escrow process, as she worked to development a program to recover escrow losses. Koonce and her team are in the final stages of rolling out a recovery project that will make a substantial difference in the ability to recover lost funds.

Outside of her role, she and her daughter were actively involved in the Girl Scouts for more than a decade, and are both members of the National Charity League, a mother-daughter organization that focuses on philanthropic work.

Chris Lagerblade

Patty La Giglia

LHM Financial Corporation

Sun West Mortgage Company

Chris Lagerblade is a trailblazer in the industry and the matriarch of LHM Financial and CNN Mortgage. Starting in the industry nearly 40 years ago, Lagerblade was the first female loan officer in her company, quickly learning the business from the ground up, combining her appetite for knowledge with an incredible ability to connect with people. For 23 years now, Lagerblade has sat at the helm of a closeknit group of mortgage bankers, leading with a holistic approach at the highest level and influencing everyone who has the pleasure of knowing her. Lagerblade’s forward-thinking mindset has embraced cutting edge technology and innovation that helped place LHM ahead of the curve during the surge of business in 2020. Lagerblade’s business partner retired in 2019, and as the pandemic hit, Lagerblade didn’t just react, but she anticipated where the company needed to go, redesigning the business and investing in technology even more heavily than before to improve not only processes but also people’s lives. While the economy faltered, rates dropped and the mortgage industry boomed, Lagerblade provided a constant support system to keep everyone around her focused on the task at hand. Lagerblade’s depth of knowledge and expertise allowed LHM Financial to manage the onslaught of business in 2020 and execute both flawlessly and successfully.

Patty La Giglia has more than 20 years of industry experience and is a jack-of-all-trades with her adaptable skill set encompassing sales, operations and process flow. This comes in handy when building everything from the ground up, like she did when assisting with building the Retail Division at Sun West. Her career started when she was an administrative assistant working with a top producing loan officer. She worked her way to overseeing everything from facilities, marketing and IT setup. She then started her own processing company. Her interest in technology led La Giglia to build out loan origination systems and integrations, digital/e-signings, video notary and finally oversee the mortgage division at a bank where she managed everything from originations through to servicing. As part of the Sun West Mortgage Executive Leadership team, La Giglia is driving the company towards strategic goals while overseeing workflow optimization, technology, operations, onboarding, transitional loans, training, facilities and sales growth. She has been an integral part in integrating ZenDocs and the company’s LOS system this past year along with teaching the operations teams their workflow. With La Giglia’s leadership, new workflow, process and technology changes have been implemented that improved efficiency enough to expend less energy than in 2020 and create more revenue growth for the company.

CEO and Co-Founder

SVP, National Escrow Advisor

Managing Director, Business Optimization

AUGUST 2021

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President

Kamini Lane

Jessica Lautz

Compass

National Association of Realtors

While the real estate market faced a slowdown last spring due to COVID-19, Compass agents and employees were able to navigate the uncertainty and emerge stronger thanks to Kamini Lane’s leadership. As President of Compass’ West Region, Lane’s work bettered the lives of thousands of real estate entrepreneurs and her efforts last year guided them to deliver a record-breaking year of sales across California. Lane is a seasoned operations, marketing and brand leader with a passion for driving sustainable growth and building world-class teams. Last November, she was promoted to the role of west region president after previously serving as Compass’ regional president of Southern California.

In her new role, Lane leads all agent-facing operations of the company across major western markets such as Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Hawaii. Lane’s leadership style centers around three key tenets: clarity, transparency and authenticity. Not only does she embody each of these qualities but she has also created a culture that celebrates employees for doing the same. Lane is driven by the goal of creating space for people to be their authentic selves in the workplace. Additionally, Lane has dedicated her professional life to improving the workplace for women. She exemplifies this by mentoring women rising in their own careers at Compass and from previous jobs.

As vice president of Demographics and Behavioral Insights for the National Association of Realtors’ Research group, Jessica Lautz conducts and oversees research on demographics and behavioral insights in housing. Lautz takes deep dives on issues such as racial divides in housing, student debt, wealth gaps and drops in birth rates. She works to expand others’ knowledge on race in homeownership with the reports, “Snapshot on Race and Home Buying in America” and “Career Choices in Real Estate: Through the Lens of Gender, Race, and Sexual Orientation.”

Lautz is also a strong advocate for women in housing and homeownership. Her work in this field includes researching and reporting on the share of single women buyers, the changing role of women in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing share of women in the real estate industry. She speaks at numerous events throughout the year; she has given 120 presentations to over 30,000 individuals from 2019 to 2020 alone to help guide Realtors in their real estate practice and strategically plan for what is next. In addition to these appearances, Lautz’s work was frequently cited this past year in media outlets including WSJ, CNBC, The New York Times and Forbes. Additionally, she participates as a contributor and reviews for The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, annual State of the Nation’s Housing report.

Tyler Lee

Tess Leighton

Blend

Movement Mortgage

Tyler Lee, as the head of Blend Title, is responsible for leading the agency’s operations and working closely with product developers on new features and their product roadmap. Lee works closely with employees to build innovative products that are transforming the title industry space and pushing the industry to rethink how it tackles the title process. She took Blend Title from a team of one and built out a functional and efficient title team through personal mentorship, the willingness to challenge the status quo and an eye for creative solutions.

Lee’s team has been able to begin addressing long-standing issues in title with both competence and perspective. Since joining Blend in April 2020, Lee has worked to move Blend’s mission forward to transform the consumer banking journey for both lenders and consumers. As a result of her guidance, Blend has been able to gain further insight into how to transform something that was once expensive and complicated into an efficient and effective process. Within Blend, she commits herself to pushing her teammates to build their confidence in their work and encourages them to take ownership of their own projects. Outside of her career, Lee has trained for triathlons, demonstrating her desire to focus on personal records and push herself to new heights.

All while under the age of 40, Movement Mortgage Market Leader Tess Leighton has helped build and lead her market to over $700m in production last year. In 2019 and 2020, Leighton led a diverse group to become the No. 1 purchase mortgage lender in her state.

She is recognized nationally as one of the top market leaders in the country despite leading the smallest state in the union. Her leadership has been recognized by her own employees numerous times as well, through a multitude of accolades and “raving fans” of her professionalism, her hard work and her unyielding dedication. Over the years, Leighton has become one of the top leaders in her company and a revered voice in her local industry. Her passion and drive have helped her grow one of the largest markets in her region, and her attention to detail has created an incredible customer experience for customers and partners alike. She is passionate about promoting women in business and women’s issues.

She and her team have also made philanthropy and supporting local communities central in her/their success. Their philanthropic efforts over the years have included building Hope Centers and churches in El Salvador and raising money for multiple local charities, in conjunction with Movement Mortgage, the Movement Foundation and the KM Foundation.

President Compass West Region

VP, Demographics and Behavioral Insights

44 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

Head of Blend Title

Market Leader

AUGUST 2021

Cheri Lines

Katharine Loveland

Nexsys Technologies

Reggora

As vice president of Technology Services, Cheri Lines and her team build and maintain the technology initiatives at Nexsys Technologies — a 2021 HousingWire Tech 100 Winner. Lines and her team of more than 50 technology members are in charge of innovating industry-changing products and finding the best ways to bring them to market. She leads the technology initiatives at Nexsys, focusing on the company’s two primary solutions: Clear Sign and Clear HOI. Clear Sign is Nexsys’ eClosing platform, and with the pandemic taking hold in spring of 2020, remote online notarization (RON) became a main focus for the company and grew substantially. Lines’ team worked tirelessly to assure the technology infrastructure could support that growth during a record year for the housing market. Her team also built the technology that powers Clear HOI, the first-of-its-kind homeowners insurance verification portal that digitizes and automates the communication between mortgage lenders and homeowner’s insurance (HOI) companies. 2020 was a huge year for Nexsys, and Lines’s technology team was a key driver of that growth. In addition to Lines’ direct leadership, she provides mentorship for leaders who are early in their career through the organization’s “Red Door Project.” Illustrating her willingness to “pay it forward,” in 2020, Lines mentored another female technology leader, providing her advice and guidance for her career journey.

Katharine Loveland is leading Reggora’s effort to guarantee success for their customers. Loveland hasn’t always been in the mortgage or tech industries though; instead, her professional career began on the basketball court. Loveland played professionally in Europe, where she quickly overcame cultural and language barriers to become a team leader and award winner. After wrapping up her basketball career, Loveland earned her MBA and then moved on to leadership roles at AllonHill and Accenture, before eventually joining the Reggora team in November of 2020. In her role, Loveland oversees four core functions for Reggora: customer implementations, customer success, AMC partnerships and customer support. Across all of the functions that Loveland manages, she has made an immediate impact within a short timeframe by introducing new processes and expectations meant to serve the needs of customers. She has also introduced new programs to strengthen Reggora’s AMC partnerships, including pricing incentives and promotional offerings. Within just three months, Loveland’s team was able to get 15 new lenders up and running on Reggora’s platform, raising the bar for speed and efficiency. Since joining Reggora, Loveland has encouraged her team to bring their ideas to the table, which has led to new solutions being implemented, including changes in internal technology, upgrades in processes and new ways of leveraging data to inform ongoing strategy.

Sonya Luechauer

Marianne Mainardi

DHI Mortgage Company

NewRez

Sonya Luechauer began her career as an entry-level loan processor before rising to become CEO of DHI Mortgage, overseeing more than 2,100 employees. As CEO of the Financial Services division, Luechauer is responsible for all operations, strategies and corporate culture to consistently achieve the company’s mission. In addition, Luechauer is passionate about providing guidance to help young professionals start their careers and reach their full potential. She takes an active role in DHIM’s Mortgage Mastery program, which was developed to recruit, train and mentor future leaders. As DHIM’s first female CEO, Luechauer is also committed to helping women achieve professional growth and development. She spearheaded the company’s Women in Leadership conference, with the goal of helping talented female leaders strengthen their communication and create opportunities for them to grow in their careers. Luechauer also actively leads the company’s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Initiative, which focuses on every employee becoming more self-aware and respectful. Outside of her role, Luechauer is actively involved with industry trade groups, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, where she serves on its Residential Board of Governors as well as the Independent Mortgage Bankers Executive Council. She also serves on the Executive Advisory Board of ICE Mortgage Technology.

Marianne Mainardi has built her distinguished career, complete with a talented team, by putting people first. As NewRez’s Head of Correspondent Lending, Mainardi is responsible for the company’s largest production channel and manages a bicoastal team of more than 200 people. Mainardi joined NewRez at the end of 2019 when New Residential Investment Corp. purchased assets from Ditech Financial out of bankruptcy. She subsequently helped her entire team from Ditech transition to NewRez and catapulted NewRez’s correspondent business into an undisputed industry leader. Despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused Mainardi’s business to pause production for more than 60 days, Mainardi’s team achieved record performance in 2020. Following the brief pause, Mainardi ensured that her platform continued to operate at the highest level with no change or deterioration in product output. She led her team to success in 2020 by retooling NewRez’s correspondent channel, which enabled her team to work more efficiently. Through her efforts, she consolidated three lending platforms into a single one, doubled capacity and reduced turn times to meet demand and growing customer intake. Under Mainardi’s leadership, her team grew funded volumes by 240% and lock volume by 230% in 2020 relative to 2019, improving NewRez’s Correspondent Lending rank to 6 in 2020 from 13 in 2019.

Vice President of Technology Services

Vice President of Customer Success

SVP, Correspondent Lending

AUGUST 2021

45 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

President & CEO

Cheryl Marchant

Laura Martell

Freedom Mortgage

Mountain West Financial

With more than 30 years of experience in the banking industry, Cheryl Marchant is a pioneer in Mortgage Default Servicing. As the senior vice president of Servicing Management for Freedom Mortgage, Marchant oversees a team of nearly 275 employees focused on addressing systemic issues before they become financial losses to the company.

She’s continuously building innovative platforms, mentoring aspiring leaders and providing the best-in-class customer service. Her focus during the pandemic has been to prepare the company for the future by enhancing existing systems; building disposition tools and strategies; growing and hiring the best talent; and building stronger relationships with their partners and customers. Due to the pandemic, the CARES Act being put in place essentially put a stop to the volume of work Marchant’s team typically handled. She had to quickly support the changes by restructuring and re-aligning her team. Throughout last year, she reviewed and onboarded new systems, improved processes and enhanced scorecards. Additionally, she created a Loss Recovery team to further reduce risks and losses for the company.

The changes Marchant implemented recently will ensure her team runs more efficiently and effectively when the moratorium is lifted.

In addition to overseeing her team, she manages law firms across the country, ensuring the company’s default processes are up to date, follow regulations, and are compliant.

Laura Martell has spent nearly the past two decades delivering affordable and sustainable housing solutions through mortgage technology innovation. Before she became the EVP at Mountain West Financial, Martell made a lasting impact in every arm of the organization: underwriting, funding, production, post-closing, administration and marketing. She now sits on the board of directors and leads strategic product development, marketing and HR operations. Martell’s cross-department experience gives her a deep understanding of the mortgage process to create products that improve outcomes for Mountain West’s customers and bottom line. Last year, Martell spearheaded the rollout of a new digital application system with Blend, an update that helped Mountain West Financial better engage with customers by becoming a more agile technology organization. She manages 14 team members across four teams, but her impact spans the entire company. A few of the internal programs she’s put together include a care program for employees, a quarterly seven-week LO academy that trains people who are new to the industry with over 400 graduates and a free tutoring program for employees’ children during the pandemic. Martell also led Mountain West’s first virtual annual sales conference to recognize the organization’s top producers. As an out-of-the-box approach, she decided to send out personalized singing telegrams instead of holding an in-person awards ceremony.

Jane Mason

Sue Melnick

Clarifire

Bay Equity Home Loans

Over the past 14 years, Jane Mason’s passion for innovation and persistence have grown Clarifire into an industry leader in workflow automation. From creating borrower self-service features with automated approvals for forbearances, deferrals, extensions and now permanent loan modifications, to moving the industry to a more mobile place, Mason has played a key role in advancing the servicing technology landscape. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mason’s creation, Clarifire, has been helping servicers that are working to navigate the influx of forbearance requests and loan modification approvals. Mason also continually surveys customer needs to grow and enhance the product. Mason is also the brainchild behind Clarifire Community, which enables borrowers to access real-time assistance and automated loss mitigation workout options. In August 2020, Mason added First American Mortgage Solutions’ new FirstMod loss mitigation product and services suite. Then, in September, a strategic partnership with CoreLogic Credco resulted in improvements that have benefitted mortgage servicers. When she isn’t in the office, Mason finds time to mentor other women leaders and is a prominent member of both the WBENC, the largest third-party certifier of women-owned businesses in the U.S., and C200, a powerful global community of the most successful women in business.

As chief operating officer and chief compliance officer, Sue Melnick has been essential in the growth of Bay Equity into a leading national residential mortgage lender. At Bay Equity, Melnick built and currently oversees an operations team that works closely with originators and has maintained exceptional turn times even through the busiest of times. She is a champion for technology and innovation aimed at improving the borrower experience and making the loan process more efficient. Additionally, she is a mentor and inspiration across all genders and demographics and takes great pride in the building up of other women in the industry. Melnick thrives on their success and believes strongly in supporting women in the always changing work environment. Her accomplishments within the industry are fueled by her passion for efficiency and technology. From establishing best practices within operations to driving outsourcing when appropriate to achieve added efficiency, she is a pioneer leading the way into the fintech revolution. She takes pride in leading by example and listening to the ideas and opinions of all on her team. Through unity and empowerment, she creates other great leaders who have a passion to reach the same results. Melnick creates and leads teams 100% all in, allowing them and her to continually push the envelope to reach new heights, always surpassing expectations.

SVP, Servicing Management

EVP

46 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

Founder and CEO

Chief Compliance and Chief Operating Officer

AUGUST 2021

Heather Moldovan

Mary O’Donnell

Amrock

Westcor Land Title Insurance Company

At Amrock, Heather Moldovan is responsible for all title, closing and post-funding operations for the company’s purchase transactions, and the client relations teams. Her tenure in the title industry extends over 15 years and includes leadership roles in title, clearance and escrow. Moldovan joined Amrock in February 2020, and within three weeks she was tasked with transitioning her team to work from home.

She contributed to an equipment rollout that made sure every team member was home and equipped with all the necessary technology to work successfully. Once at home she then went a step further to facilitate team building exercises. During a significant surge in title volume in 2020, in order to support the company’s growth, Moldovan led a flex team that was leveraged in the highest priority areas within the business. She was responsible for monitoring order volume and dynamically allocating the necessary staff and resources to ensure that closings were completed successfully. Additionally, Moldovan has been an active participant and mentor in multiple internal programs within the company helping employees further develop their leadership skills. As a frequent industry speaker and published author, Moldovan has presented to mortgage finance professionals on topics such as ALTA Best Practices, the nuances of REO transactions, identifying efficiencies for the settlement process and enhancing the Realtor experience in purchase transactions.

Throughout her career Mary O’Donnell has taken a small unknown underwriter and developed it into an international operation over the last decade and a half. Serving as the 5th female presidenet in the American Land Title Association’s entire history and guiding the industry through the pandemic, O’Donnell has solidified a position at the top of her field. Throughout 2020, day after day, O’Donnell participated in thousands of calls and heard people apologize to her time and again that her term as the ALTA’s president came at the absolute worst time.

However, she always believed the opposite. She saw how the title insurance industry responded to COVID-19, and she was so proud.

While the four largest underwriting families all saw decreasing market shares over the past year, through O’Donnell’s guidance, Westcor was able to increase their market share by almost 3%, ending the year with 54.05% more market share than when it started. In 2020, O’Donnell saw her title colleagues across the United States stepping up to help their neighbors, customers, and local communities. She then set out to create the Good Deeds Foundation, where she currently sits as director. The Good Deeds Foundation provides charitable grants to 501(c)(3) organizations supported by ALTA members through a competitive application process to highlight organizations that further the company’s values through charitable efforts.

Stacey Onnen

Qingqing Ouyang

eXp Realty

OJO Labs

With a background as a brokerage owner, managing broker and national instructor for real estate education, Stacey Onnen is a leader who inspires others to step up and lead. Onnen joined eXp Realty in 2018 as the senior vice president of brokerage operations, and was promoted to president of eXp’s brokerage operations in 2019.

At eXp, she runs brokerage operations for a virtual team of more than 600 staff members and 50,000 agents. During 2020, her operations and transactions team supported and processed more than 200,000 transactions and helped eXp Realty earn a No. 1 Top Mover: Transactions ranking from RealTrends 500. With Onnen overseeing brokerage operations, eXp Realty’s agent count has grown from 7,000 in 2018 to over 50,000 in 2021 — an increase of 614%. She has utilized her human resources experience to facilitate hiring, training, process improvement and systems development while overseeing the annual budget for the brokerage operations and transactions. In 2020, she helped launch a national real estate owned and relocation program as well as eXp Commercial, which today has expanded into 44 states throughout the U.S. Additionally, with a background as a real estate broker, Onnen also owns and operates a school for continuing education in real estate and loves sharing her knowledge and experience with others.

As executive vice president of Engineering at OJO Labs, Qingqing Ouyang is the driving force behind the company’s industry-first technology. Ouyang began her career in technology 20 years ago as a software engineer and quickly rose through the ranks and began leading engineering teams for well-known companies like Oracle and Dell.

Since joining OJO Labs in 2018, she has spearheaded the ongoing development and scaling of the company’s personalized experience for home buying and selling. Ouyang has grown the once small data science and engineering teams to more than 150 skilled professionals across North America, South America and India while simultaneously increasing the scope and complexity of her remit. At OJO Labs, she has led several critical engineering initiatives, including the development of the industry’s largest image recognition software and the refinement of the company’s proprietary AI technology, human-in-theloop training, and state-of-the-art personalization engine to facilitate decision-making. She works personally with each individual on her team to identify areas of improvement and develop plans to practice skills, serving as a sounding board for any and all ideas. Outside of her career, through the Code2College initiative, she serves as a mentor to a diverse group of high school students in hopes of creating a more inclusive and diverse engineering community in the future.

VP, Purchase and Client Relations Operations

CEO/President

EPVP, Engineering

AUGUST 2021

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President, U.S. Brokerage Operations

Gretchen Pearson

Christina Pham

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties

JMAC Lending

Gretchen Pearson is not just a leader; she’s a broker, cancer survivor, wife and mother. Since opening its doors in 2005, Drysdale Properties has grown by leaps and bounds, thanks to Pearson’s leadership as president and CEO. When it seemed the industry came to a halt in 2020, Pearson was at the forefront declaring real estate as an essential business. Pearson successfully led the entire network of Drysdale through the pandemic year and pivoted the company so that their clients received the same excellent service they had come to expect from them. She consistently steers the ship and keeps Drysdale Properties focused on what’s important, customer satisfaction and helping people achieve the American Dream. Pearson also hosts bi-monthly webinars with the agents to keep them motivated and informed of industry insights, and is dedicated to helping the agents and staff at Drysdale Properties feel supported. She makes sure that her company is always evolving to meet the needs of clients in a constantly changing industry. Also under her leadership, at this year’s Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Sales Convention, Drysdale Properties was recognized in the Elite Circle category, which means it’s among the top tier of all Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices affiliates nationwide and abroad. A significant part of that commitment is the Drysdale Community Foundation that she founded, which in 2021 donated $68,000 to local organizations.

As president and founder, Christina Pham drives the strategy and operations for JMAC Lending and its subsidiary retail and consumer direct brands. With leadership and innovation, Pham leads JMAC by transforming business practices: keeping employees well and remote, changing loan programs to suit market needs, focusing on transparency in communications and teamwork, and creating new technologies to empower customers and staff. She leads with forward-thinking emphasis on creating a more empowered, knowledgeable and inclusive workforce to fit the needs of industry change.

Through the pandemic and changes in the industry, Pham led by focusing on people. The pandemic did not pause her focus on purpose, but instead it accelerated it. She democratized the way JMAC works and conducts business. Guided by Pham’s strategic vision, the entire organization worked remotely, product offerings were overhauled to meet the market conditions, new technology was added, including a new company wide-loan loan origination system, outside sales divisions were brought inside, and command centers and communications hubs were added. All of this led to the 24-year-old company’s most productive year ever. As JMAC’s leader, Pham stayed close to the mission and focused on what the company does best: strength, knowledge and service. She continues to be a change agent for new technology, product development and setting an example for service.

Sarah Pierce

Joni Pilgrim

Better

Nationwide Appraisal Network

Sarah Pierce is driven by the goal of improving every aspect of the home-buying journey and embodies the entrepreneurial spirit required to disrupt and improve such an antiquated industry. She manages Better’s 6,000-plus person Sales and Operations team that is responsible for serving all of Better’s hundreds of thousands of customers and delivering unprecedented growth for the organization.

Pierce joined Better as one of the company’s first employees in 2016 as a licensed loan officer. In less than five years, she has hired, trained and built the sales and operations team from the ground up. Notably, over the last 12 months, she has grown the team to over 1,000 members across six offices. When Pierce joined she brought with her an entrepreneurial know-how that led her to question the status quo and force disruption. Recognizing how paper-heavy and time-consuming her days were, Pierce partnered with Better’s engineering and product teams to help further develop data-driven technology to streamline the company’s workflow while enhancing customer experience. The technology and efficiencies Pierce has helped put in place have provided a socially-distant platform for customers during a time when they needed one most over the last 12 months. Thanks to Pierce’s tireless dedication to customer experience, Better has seen a 5x increase in invested loan volume over the last year.

Joni Pilgrim, founder and CEO of Nationwide Appraisal Network, is revolutionizing the way appraisal management companies operate by investing in and implementing automated processes. With an increased demand for appraisals across the country, the need for efficiency during the appraisal process is surging, and Pilgrim has been doing this long before the current spike in volume seen in the last year. She had a strategic vision and because of it, NAN was able to adapt quickly and successfully to prove their reputation among the industry.

Looking at year-over-year metrics, NAN had 101% order growth from 2019 to 2020, and they are tracking for an additional 85% growth from last year to this year, thanks to Pilgrim’s leadership. Aside from the external growth, Pilgrim grew her staff by 200% from 2019 to 2020 and is tracking to grow staff by another 50% from last year to this year. Additionally, Pilgrim started NAN’s nonprofit, Backpack 4 Kids, as a small idea in 2013 that has completely transformed into a successful initiative over the last 8 years. The focus is on providing backpacks filled with school supplies to schools with large concentrations of low-income students in Pinellas County, Florida. In the last few years alone, her team has raised between $10,000–$15,000 from community support and corporate sponsors.

President/CEO

President and Founder

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Head of Sales & Operations

CEO

AUGUST 2021

Courtney Poulos

Wendy Purvey

ACME Real Estate; ACME Real Estate Florida

Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty

Courtney Poulos is a revolutionary, outspoken advocate for agent rights and equality for all agents under NAR policies and is the visionary behind the expansion of her LA-based brokerage into the Florida market. Poulos has been making her mark on the industry since 2005 by pairing people with the perfect buyer or seller, mentoring her team and sharing her insights with the world. When Poulos founded ACME Real Estate, she set out to create a design-savvy lifestyle firm.

Backed by a 9-year career in marketing and PR, she began offering a comprehensive service, replete with remodeling, staging, and a full suite of marketing solutions.

Poulos personally trains every agent at both ACME locations, ensuring quality of agent performance and customer service delivery and guaranteeing consistency in marketing and presentation. By constantly engaging in leading industry events, speaking on panels, embracing innovative marketing strategies and auditing agent needs, her team rises atop the competition. In addition to running ACME’s teams in Los Angeles and Florida, Poulos focuses on her main mission, which is empowering women to achieve financial independence through real estate. Outside of ACME, Poulos is a member of the Forbes Real Estate Council, and has written the premier book on the subject, “Break Up! With Your Rental: The Professional Woman’s Guide to Building Wealth Through Real Estate.”

As the voice of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty, Wendy Purvey repositioned the company’s mission to support an inclusive culture among its employees and provide its agents with every opportunity to increase their business in a company anchored by the strategic pillars of service, respect and value. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, she immediately took control of communications to ensure her employees and agents retained a connection and were informed of changes in the industry, company and community. Purvey implemented the necessary systems for a successful remote work environment. Over the past 12 months, Purvey restructured the company’s leadership and management team not only to provide the greatest benefit to its employees and agents but also to ensure the company is operating on a sound and intelligent business model which can be sustained for future growth in the dynamic real estate industry. By implementing new technologies, tools and partnerships, she not only provided agents with more value but also brought expenses down across the board. During her time as chief operating officer, she has developed strategic and mutually beneficial business partnerships, created a new marketing department and relocation/referral department, increased company profitability, and implemented new lead generation and networking efforts to help agents increase their sales productivity, among many other accomplishments.

Chrissi Rhea

Tamra Rieger

Mortgage Investors Group

Evergreen Home Loans

When Chrissi Rhea co-founded Mortgage Investors Group 32 years ago, she set out to create the kind of customer-focused, loan officer-empowered company she wished existed within the mortgage lending industry. Her investment in loan officers and the borrowers and communities they serve has been the constant that has allowed MIG to grow. She’s held firm to the values upon which MIG was founded, and those principles of doing right by the customer and providing loan officers with the resources, support and mentoring they need to succeed have guided every decision she’s made since. In the past year alone, she spearheaded efforts to grow MIG’s online business presence and has expanded the company’s presence across the Southeast by bringing their services to four new states. Rhea’s ability to creatively and quickly adapt to economic and market fluctuations, evolving industry regulations and rapidly changing technologies has also stood the test of time. When COVID-19 hit, she swiftly implemented a work-from-home program for over 300 employees across multiple states. Additionally, Rhea serves on the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, as a member of the THDA Audit and Budget Committee and its Lending Committee and as a mentor to four MIG members of the 2021 Board of Directors of the Knoxville Mortgage Bankers Association.

Tamra Rieger is a 25-year veteran of the mortgage industry and currently acts as chief operating officer at Evergreen Home Loans. When it comes to national industry influence, Rieger is a leading voice on the ever-evolving digital transformation of the mortgage industry.

As COO of Evergreen, Rieger is responsible for the efficiency of the business, implementation of strategic goals and directing the company on a path of impressive growth. She directs digital mortgage technology initiatives to improve the overall customer experience, and has spearheaded a successful company-wide transition from in-person to digital home or residential lending services over the past several years. With 17 years of leadership experience, Rieger continues to ensure female voices are heard in a largely male-dominated industry. As an executive at Evergreen, one of her main jobs is to coach company managers and help them develop in their roles.

She has eight direct reports, all of which are vice presidents of their various departments and six of which are women. Rieger finds great satisfaction in mentoring future female leaders and ensuring they are well-equipped to find success. Rieger also stays involved in industry organizations outside of Evergreen. In 2020, she was asked to join the Fannie Mae lender advisory board where she has the opportunity to share her input on matters that affect the industry overall.

Broker/Owner; Co-Founder

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Operating Officer

AUGUST 2021

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CEO/President

Emily Riley

Laura Rittenberg

Radian

Coldwell Banker Realty in Atlanta and the Carolinas

Amid a global pandemic and civil unrest that challenged many leaders to meet the moment, Emily Riley led Radian in creating a more inclusive environment, while investing deeply in Environmental, Social, and Governance initiatives. Under Riley ’s leadership, Radian proactively sparked transformative conversations amongst its leaders and employees, and helped launch and lead the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council to elevate Radian’s company culture. This program she spearheaded included unconscious bias manager training and the launch of new employee resource groups. Riley has more than 20 years of experience at Radian and provides extensive knowledge of the company culture, history and values. Over these years she has worked in various roles including vice president and senior vice president before becoming the executive vice president, chief marketing and communications officer in 2020. In a period where communication has been critical to creating clarity, building resilience and inspiring positivity, Riley and her team employed a multi-channel communication strategy to provide frequent, valuable updates to employees and customers. Also during 2020, Riley and her team launched a new website with increased transparency and interactivity and issued the company’s first Corporate Responsibility Report. By building authentic relationships and supporting other women in the workplace, Riley is a champion for women inclusion and empowerment.

Laura Rittenberg is committed to helping the affiliated agents live exceptional lives and operates Coldwell Banker Realty by always putting the sales agents first and personally investing in the success of the agents and employees she serves. As president, Rittenberg leads the operations of the company’s combined 29 sales offices and nearly 2,600 affiliated agents. Over the course of her extensive 40-year career, she has worked as a real estate salesperson, branch office manager and corporate executive. In addition, she owned and operated two independent real estate companies, a mortgage company, a real estate licensing school and managed sales offices for two national franchises. Rittenberg joined the Coldwell Banker executive team in 2000 when she sold her Denver-based company to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. Since then, she has taken the helm of Coldwell Banker Realty in Atlanta in 2017, and in 2019, her role expanded to include oversight of the company’s operation in North and South Carolina. In response to the challenges that the industry faced in 2020, Rittenberg helped implement the shift to virtual learning, marketing and conducting business utilizing technology to show homes, work with clients, secure listings and manage transactions.

Additionally, Rittenberg is an active philanthropist, proudly serving as the Atlanta and Carolinas chapter president of Coldwell Banker Realty CARES Foundation, the company’s charitable foundation.

Jessica Rosillo

Susan Roy

United Wholesale Mortgage

Sierra Pacific Mortgage

As the vice president of Sales Training, Jessica Rosillo is responsible for leading the team that trains the Account Executives and all the mortgage brokers that attend Success Track, United Wholesale Mortgage’s mortgage training program. As a previous HousingWire Insiders award winner, Rosillo has since transformed into a leader in training and innovation by reimagining how training is utilized within the mortgage industry. Rosillo oversees the creation and development of all training content for the sales team and consistently collaborates with leaders throughout the company to identify training opportunities to further improve UWM’s sales operations. Since the inception of Success Track, Rosillo has worked to expand upon its offerings from its original classes to now adding a slew of new elective options in an effort to provide UWM’s clients with even more opportunities to help grow their business and be effective in mortgage lending. In addition to training UWM team members, Rosillo and her team also train other individuals in the mortgage industry with UWM’s Success Track courses. She and her team have taken UWM’s proven training model and applied it to their broker partners throughout the nation.

In navigating the new way of working from home, Rosillo was able to lead her team to push themselves in thinking of new possibilities with training remotely.

For over 30 years, Susan Roy has risen through the ranks of mortgage banking operations. Her expertise in government loan programs with first-hand underwriting knowledge has been a key component of her success as the executive vice president of National Operations. Roy has successfully guided her operations staff through the turmoil of 2020 which resulted in increased productivity and employee satisfaction. Roy joined Sierra Pacific Mortgage during the most tumultuous time in the mortgage banking industry. Faced with a remotely deployed workforce, record loan volumes and increased competition, Roy effectively rallied her operations staff. During this time, she effectively embraced technology to enhance productivity and provided outstanding leadership in the consolidation of facilities. Effective communication with staff was a paramount accomplishment of Roy’s to ensure that guideline and process changes were understood and properly implemented. At the same time, Roy had to maintain staff engagement, enhance morale and continue the company culture.

She is a continual supporter of the concept of “One Sierra” and is a champion of the Sierra “5 Pillars of Success.” With Roy’s leadership in 2020, Sierra Pacific was able to handle record loan volumes, a distributed remote work-force and increase the overall loan quality as measured by improved QC results and reduced post-closing issues.

EVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

President

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VP, Sales Training

EVP National Operations

AUGUST 2021

Sherry Samuels

Christy Schwartz

CoreLogic

Opendoor

Sherry Samuels has been at the forefront of leading the development of a 21st century data manufacturing and distribution factory that produces data, models, insights and solutions that power the real estate economy. Samuels leads the technology division that delivers this next-gen platform with a state-of-the-art cloud and technology architecture. In short, this platform services thousands of financial clients, manufactures tens of thousands of data sources and operates 24/7 with the ability to deploy new enhancements every day, all from one place. This allows CoreLogic to drive new product development even faster, the ability for clients to more easily consume new insights and fundamentally transform the markets we serve with innovative solutions. In addition to delivering this platform, Samuels leads a multi-disciplined, multi-vendor team with technologists from around the world. Samuels is passionate about ingraining a self-sustaining model in developing new skills in her teams, from paired programming, running technology community meet-ups, daily office stand-ups and retrospective workshops. In a world where there are far fewer women in technology compared to men, Samuels’ actions are louder than her words. Outside of her role, she is an alum on CoreLogic’s Women in Leadership and a champion and partner with Project Scientist, a nonprofit organization that inspires and educates girls between the ages of 4–12 in STEM careers.

From corporate controller to chief accounting officer, Christy Schwartz has been a vital part of Opendoor for the past five years. Schwartz built and developed the accounting team, systems and processes that were crucial in taking the company public last year and continue to be critical in further scaling the business. Both her years of preparation for a potential public company event as well as her leadership during the SPAC merger and listing process last year played a pivotal role in Opendoor’s successful transformation to a public company.

During the transition, Schwartz played a critical role by leading the substantial accounting and financial reporting work that was required as part of that process.

This included leading her team through the acquisition diligence process, uplifting the financial statements to be public company compliant, completing multiple SEC filings and preparing the financial results on an accelerated timeline. As a result of her ongoing leadership since she first joined Opendoor in 2016, Schwartz was named chief accounting officer earlier this year. Schwartz and her team are responsible for paying utility bills on thousands of homes, accounting for the acquisition, resale and management of Opendoor’s inventory, filing its financial statements with the SEC, implementing a SOX compliant control environment and many other initiatives to support the operations of the business.

Priya Seenath

Lynn Sheck

Freedom Mortgage

Finicity

Priya Seenath has more than 25 years of experience in the banking and mortgage industry, specifically in data quality and customer experience. At Freedom Mortgage, Seenath oversees several departments and is a champion of diversity and inclusion, ensuring her team of nearly 150 professionals understand the importance of working collaboratively. Seenath is focused on continuously improving processes and ensuring Freedom Mortgage offers the best in class customer service. She put in place a robust analysis program using both technology and human involvement to review every customer call that comes in, ensuring the cause of the issues were understood and the matter was resolved to reduce repeat concerns. She was also a key member of the team that led the initiative to bring the Servicing department in-house, which helped to increase the number of customers Freedom Mortgage serves to over 1.3 million. Over the last year, she has expanded the Customer Satisfaction Ambassador team, a group of employees with thorough knowledge of the loan processing system. Last year the team serviced over 500,000 customers more than previous years, and customer satisfaction increased by nearly eight percent thanks to Seenath’s determination and leadership. Seenath also serves on Freedom Mortgage’s Diversity Inclusion Council to share her unique perspective with hopes of mentoring future leaders.

Lynn Sheck has been at the center of digital disruption in the mortgage industry, especially over the past year as this digital transition accelerated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sheck joined Finicity when it first began offering solutions to the mortgage industry. At Finicity, she is highly involved in high-level strategy and goto-market planning, and has developed a strategic enterprise sales team that drives dramatic revenue for the firm. Since joining not only has she established a culture of advocating for clients and providing excellent support, but has also been influential in developing Finicity’s mantra of “experiences that empower.” This mantra includes transforming the mortgage experience beyond simply a digital transaction and into something that empowers consumers. Sheck’s efforts are helping to transform the mortgage experience through Finicity’s open banking platform, specifically the new Mortgage Verification Service product. For MVS, Sheck and her team worked with clients across the industry to integrate their feedback into the product development and refine the offering based on their needs and expectations.

Additionally, she leads and mentors the growth sales channel, creating alignment and increasing revenue across all channels. Outside of Finicity, Sheck serves as president of the board of directors for the nonprofit Growing Home.

Executive, Software Engineering & Technology

Chief Accounting Officer

SVP, Enterprise & Strategic Sales

AUGUST 2021

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SVP, Residential Servicing Division

Michele Sims

Gitanjali Singh

Floify

Visionet Systems

Michele Sims co-founded Floify in 2013 to leverage automation to relieve common frustrations with the mortgage origination process.

She led the effort to transform Floify into the go-to point-of-sale solution for top lenders. Thanks to Sims’ leadership and forward-thinking approach, Floify has gained recognition in the fintech space. Over the last 12 months, Sims co-led key initiatives in the dramatic evolution of Floify, including increasing the number of the company’s strategic partnerships and facilitating the release of powerful offerings. One of these initiatives is Floify E-Sign which securely provides mortgage lenders with the solution they need to seamlessly perform any task requiring an electronic signature.

A couple other notable initiatives she has taken on include 1003 Co-Pilot, which helps loan originators provide their borrowers and prospects with live assistance, and Hybrid E-Close, which helps save valuable time in the closing process. She has also implemented new integrations with CRMs, dozens of reporting agencies, VOE/VOA/VOI vendors and other third-party solution providers. Within Floify, Sims is known for her level-headed and human-centric approach, having championed the expansion of the company’s benefits and compensation package as well as developing the progressive internal policies that have resulted in an outstanding score of 93 for Floify’s most recent employee NPS survey.

As head of strategy and sales, Gitanjali Singh was responsible for developing a sales function in India that caters to the U.S. Market.

Despite initial skepticism on how an offshore team could successfully close deals, she built a team of executives passionate about revenue generation with aspirations to grow. She also led a robust governance process to identify any process gaps and bring necessary changes.

This year, the team accomplished a total sale of $14 milion with a growth of 560% versus last year. Singh has been instrumental in helping set up a skilling initiative known as “Unnati for India,” a program in which they take up IT and ITeS skill initiatives for youths looking at being job-ready in the IT sector in India. So far, this program has already trained more than 700 students with a goal of training over 100,000 students by 2025. Also during the pandemic while Visionet was in need of hiring at least 400 people, Singh stepped up with her team of six and took over hiring. They called up all prospective candidates, lined up interviews, and generated walk-ins of over 1500 candidates and within a week were able to complete their hiring requirement. Singh’s team contributes almost 25% of the overall company revenues. She had a massive role in setting up a successful offshore sales team that can now be relied upon selling any digital solution for any client in the world. She has not only set up this team but also made it scalable, predictable and sustainable.

Ashley Smith

Tara Smith

Finance of America Reverse

Stewart Title

As vice president of marketing at Finance of America Reverse, Ashley Smith has fundamentally transformed the company’s marketing structure. Rethinking FAR’s team structure has enabled Smith to spearhead dramatic changes in the company’s marketing strategy heading into 2021. Recently, Smith has spearheaded a series of disruptive, eye-catching campaigns that put the focus on potential FAR customers and demonstrate that FAR truly understands seniors’ retirement concerns and dreams. Through her close involvement in securing FAR’s strategic partnership with the Stanford Center on Longevity, Smith has helped to break the mold for reverse mortgages.

Additionally, her efforts to nurture ongoing relationships with the Financial Planning Association and the Academy for Home Equity and Financial Planning have led to new opportunities to market FAR’s products and expertise to a wider range of audiences. While many in the industry were caught off guard last summer over changes in guidelines from Google and Facebook regarding ad-targeting permissions, Smith’s digital-first experience gave FAR a competitive advantage. By maximizing a behavioral targeting strategy based on research-backed attitudinal segmentation, Smith was able to maintain cost-efficient marketing activations and sustain FAR’s success in driving leads.

As group president of Agency Services at Stewart Title, Tara Smith is continuously proving why she’s a valued contributor at Stewart.

During Smith’s eight-year tenure with Stewart, she has served as vice president, agency financial director and executive vice president before her most recent promotion to group president in 2019.

Smith oversees Stewart’s independent title agency network of Trusted Providers and all products and services offered to their agency network. She also oversees Stewart’s Marketing department, which, under her leadership, successfully implemented a complete brand and website refresh in 2020. Smith has also been at the forefront of Stewart’s expansion of technological capabilities over the past year, particularly in the launch of products focused on addressing issues that have long plagued the title industry. One of her most recent successes in this space was introducing a deal with CertifID. She’s currently focused on making significant investments in enhancing Stewart’s underwriter technology solutions to streamline processes for their agents. Outside of her role as group president, Smith serves as an active mentor to the next generation of title professionals. She also extends her leadership outside of Stewart by speaking annually at the National Settlement Services Conference and serving on the Board of Governors of the American Land Title Association.

CFO

Head Strategy and Sales

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VP, Marketing

Group President, Agency Services

AUGUST 2021

Katie Sweeney

Abbie Tidmore

Association of Independent Mortgage Experts

PennyMac

As a millennial leader in the mortgage industry, Katie Sweeney has leveraged her modern asset management and traditional industry knowledge to position brokers for a more substantial market share in a competitive housing environment. Sweeney joined the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts in early 2020 as the executive vice president of strategy and, despite the pandemic, she continued AIME and the wholesale channel on its growth trajectory that the organization sparked when it was founded. Since taking over as CEO in January of 2021, Sweeney has been laser-focused on helping the AIME community build sustainable businesses and create success for themselves.

These actions include developing lender and vendor partnerships through the Brokers Are Better Network, team development training and new advocacy initiatives to directly impact the success of the broker channel and empower more borrowers to become homeowners.

Under Sweeney’s leadership, AIME also recently announced its first class of trainees for the Ignite Mortgage Career Training Program and the inaugural class of recipients for the Spark Small Business Grant aimed at recruiting a new generation of qualified and diverse professionals from retail to become independent mortgage brokerage owners and trained support staff in the wholesale channel. As a female executive in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Sweeney has made mentorship an integral part of her day-to-day life.

A key leader at PennyMac since 2011, Abbie Tidmore brings strong financial and analytical acumen as the senior managing director of PennyMac correspondent. Since taking over the leadership of PennyMac’s correspondent channel in 2017, Tidmore has architected a methodology and customer value platform that has set the standard for correspondent investing in the industry. From her early days as part of the leadership team who built out the channel, to managing director in 2017, to being named senior managing director of PennyMac correspondent in 2021, Tidmore has played a key role in building PennyMac correspondent from the ground up. Tidmore engineered unique business strategies around the correspondent market, based on a modernized approach for each purchase type — Best Effort, Bulk, and Solutions for partners who sell direct to government agencies, including different pricing strategies, value-added strategies and forecasts. Tidmore is a first mover in the correspondent space, including leading her teams to build the P3 correspondent platform that sets the standard for operational fulfillment, pricing, customer communication, speed and precision. Beyond leading her team, Tidmore is recognized as a female role model across the organization as co-founder and committee member of wEMRG, an enterprise-wide program with the purpose of empowering, mentoring and promoting the success of high potential women within PennyMac.

Tammy Turner

Josephine Umana

CMG Financial

Freddie Mac

For the past five years at CMG Financial, Tammy Turner has led the Retail Channel’s Eastern Division. In that time, she’s grown her division from five offices, primarily in two states with less than 100 employees, to 50 locations in 16 states, with over 600 employees.

Last year, Turner’s division’s production increased 90%, from $2.7 billion to $5.2 billion. Year over year, Turner consistently doubles the production that she manages. She promotes an environment of teamwork and respect; the 600-plus members of her “work family” overachieve in productivity and efficiency because of her commitment to those principles. Under her guidance as the eastern division manager, more employees have reached new heights than in any other division. Turner’s division led the way in finding efficiencies in 2020, which was a record year for production. Doing more with less was not only a focus for retail at CMG but also critical to survival.

From origination to underwriting, Turner and her leadership team created better reporting and a feedback loop on file quality. Through the changes she implemented, she was able to increase her loans per employee by 50% and underwriting decisions per day by 40%.

Beyond the growth and management responsibilities, Turner is part of a senior leadership team that takes a collaborative approach to running the Retail Channel.

In her 25 years at Freddie Mac, Josephine Umana has worked to create a more authentic workplace for herself and her team. Umana joined Freddie Mac as a financial analyst and has led various corporate functions over the years, including investor relations, capital planning and corporate insurance. As chief operating officer, Umana oversees the day-to-day business operations of the division, which manages Freddie Mac’s mortgage investments portfolio and performs all mortgage securitization, interest-rate hedging, liquidity management and corporate treasury functions for the company. During late 2020, she created a reverse mentoring pilot in which millennial employees representing different minority groups serve as mentors to capital markets executives. The pilot has helped to maintain engagement and connection during the pandemic and spur meaningful conversations about inclusion, diversity and equality. Also in 2020, under her leadership, the I&CM back office processed over $25 trillion in transactional volume — more than double the prior year — while incurring no operational losses. In addition to overseeing back office operations, Umana’s ongoing responsibilities include leading I&CM’s operational risk management, data governance, vendor management and business resiliency. She also serves as the trustee for Freddie Mac’s single-family mortgage securitization programs.

CEO

Senior Managing Director, Correspondent National

SVP, Chief Operating Officer of Investments & Capital Markets

AUGUST 2021

53 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE

Eastern Division Manager

Lynley VanSingel

Cristy Ward

First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation

Mortgage Connect

A culture carrier and advocate for employees, Lynley VanSingel leads First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation’s Learning and Employee Experience team by storm. Her commitment to authenticity and learning initiatives have led to a robust corporate employee experience initiative, a community partnership with CASA and increased retention at the firm. VanSingel manages onboarding, ongoing training for sales and operations, annual compliance training, product rollouts and employee experience initiatives. In the past year, her team grew from three to 12 employees to meet the ongoing needs of the business. With this growth, she was able to scale up major projects including a revised and expanded operations training, improved onboarding for new hires and new offerings for employee growth. Under VanSingel’s leadership, FGMC launched the Pulse initiative which provides programs and opportunities for employees to expand their skills, connect with leadership, enhance their careers and get involved with their community. In 2019, her training team won first place in Strategic Planning at ATD Dallas in developing the outline for these programs. Additionally, VanSingel is active in the MBA, NEXT and the Association of Talent Development and serves on the Human Resources Advisory Panel at the University of Houston. Her compassionate but fierce leadership has been inspirational throughout her over 15 years in the mortgage industry.

Cristy Ward runs Mortgage Connect’s strategic relationships for 17 of the top 20 most innovative banks and lenders, adapting their systems to flexible, scalable platforms. Having joined Mortgage Connect in 2012, Ward helped as the company expanded to provide a more robust product and solution set to address pain points across origination and post close. During these 8 years, Ward has spearheaded technology solutions and business process innovations, including the industry’s first Enhanced Closing Model.

She has also launched the company’s business continuity plan and created a flexible business environment allowing remote workers to stay on track. In response to the tsunami of anticipated borrower interaction due to COVID-19, Ward was instrumental in the launch of MC Consumer Connect, a plug-and-play web interface that provides a seamless, immediate solution for mortgage servicers to streamline and automate their borrower assistance intake workflows.

Additionally, Ward has a strong passion for helping future generations of women thrive in the mortgage and housing industries, and recently organized and hosted the annual Women Empowering Women Council event. The event, which included six HousingWire Women of Influence, brings together top industry female players to launch initiatives that elevate and open doors for women in the industry through a network of collaboration and support.

Kisha Weir

Kim Wolcott

Movement Mortgage

Academy Mortgage Corporation

With 20 years of mortgage experience, Divisional Leader Kisha Weir continues to attract and coach seasoned mortgage professionals and young loan officers. Weir holds the highest sales leadership position of all women at Movement Mortgage as she oversees the Western U.S. for one of the country’s fastest-growing lenders. Weir joined Movement Mortgage in 2019 as a regional director with Movement’s first-ever acquisition, assuming responsibility for five new markets. In her short time at Movement she has helped propel the Pacific Northwest region to 2nd in volume with over $5.5 billion and ranked No. 1 in profit. Upon recognizing the need for women to have a platform for collaboration and networking, Weir organized the Ladies of Movement group. This group is a no-judgment safe space where women can freely share ideas, brainstorm business strategies and cultivate relationships. She also formed a team dedicated to supporting female mortgage professionals so they can have community, both professionally and personally. As an advocate for community involvement, Weir’s Western division nominated and secured six separate grants from Movement Foundation worth $60,000 for local community nonprofits nominated by her team in early 2021. Outside of Movement Mortgage this year, Weir was honored with an invitation to join the Washington Mortgage Bankers Association board of directors.

Academy Mortgage Senior Vice President Kim Wolcott’s life is centered on daily service, whether it’s to her clients, referral partners, team members, family, friends or those in her community. Her enthusiasm, energy and positive attitude directly correlate to the success of her 38-year career in the industry. Wolcott began her career with Academy Mortgage in 2014 as district manager and since joining the company has moved up the ranks from district manager to region sales leader over Academy’s Washington Region. In April 2021, she joined Academy’s Sales Leadership Team as senior vice president.

During her 7-year tenure, Wolcott has overseen the growth in production by establishing new branch locations, recruiting top talent and mentoring loan officers and other team members across the region. Prior to her recent switch to senior vice president, Wolcott led Academy Mortgage’s Washington Region with a record breaking $1.77 billion in total volume. Under Wolcott’s leadership, this region is on track to far exceed last year’s volume. This past year, Wolcott partnered with two other team members to give back and inspire hope within their community. Together they gifted funds to Ticket to Dream, a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing hope and opportunity for foster kids across the nation, and with their gift, they were able to give back to 2,000 children.

SVP, Learning and Employee Experience

Chief Strategy Officer

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Divisional Leader

SVP

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Kristie Wolford

Jennifer Wollmann

Synergy One Lending

MIAMI Association of Realtors

Kristie Wolford has been in the mortgage industry for more than two decades in various operations, leadership and executive roles, primarily in consumer-direct businesses. Wolford currently serves as chief production officer at Synergy One Lending, bring a strong background in mortgage banking, sales, operations, process improvement and technology development/implementation to the position. Most recently, Wolford worked at AmeriHome, helping turn the Consumer Direct division into a profitable business channel. During her time at AmeriHome, she grew the division by 4x in production and 3x in fundings per FTE compared to the two years prior. With the new remote environment, under Wolford’s direction, the division did not skip a beat from March 2020 to March 2021 and became a thriving remote call center that grew production by 125%. Also during that time, Wolford saw the opportunity to grow employees unconventionally by welcoming inexperienced people outside of the mortgage industry.

She was dedicated to training and developing the skill sets needed to succeed. Under her leadership, AmeriHome’s “Train and Retain” program was born, providing opportunities for professional development and career growth. Additionally, Wolford donates her time to organizations, including working at Illumination Foundation Carnival for Kids events and teaching financial literacy to elementary school students through the Junior Achievement program.

As 2021 MIAMI Realtors chairman of the board, Jennifer Wollmann is working with local governments, universities and other trade associations to address housing affordability. For 20 years, she has participated in annual Realtor trips to Tallahassee to influence state legislative policy. Through her work on myriad committees and associations, she has successfully pushed for more housing opportunities for first-time homebuyers and workforce housing for teachers, police officers, etc. In April 2020, Wollmann was one of eight people named to the Economic Recovery Task Force for Miami-Dade County to generate ideas to help local small businesses stay open amid the global pandemic. During the pandemic, Wollmann and the MIAMI leadership team worked to educate their 52,000-plus members and the public on how to view properties and complete transactions virtually and then safely in person. She and her team launched MiamiRealtorsLIVE. com and created a successful virtual open house program with over 340,000 users. In April 2021, she worked with MIAMI’s advocacy team as they advocated against Florida Senate Bill 2512, which if signed into law would cut 50% of affordable housing trust funds, and instead argued lawmakers should use housing trust funds for housing. Wollmann is a strong believer in community involvement and has influenced so many people to volunteer for associations and committees through the years.

Chief Production Officer

Chairman of the Board

Sue Woodard

Hear from the Women of Influence themselves!

Total Expert

With more than 30 years of financial services and mortgage industry experience, Sue Woodard has served as “customer engagement visionary” both inside and outside of Total Expert. As chief customer officer, Woodard has become the driving force behind Total Expert’s mission to put customer experience above all else. Her strategic vision focuses on helping America’s largest mortgage lenders and financial institutions achieve greater productivity and long-term success. Woodard openly shares her expertise with attendees of events, during industry-specific webinars, as an author in leading industry publications and directly with customers, participating in more than 20 industry events in 2020. Over the last 12 months, Sue has been hyper-focused on helping Total Expert’s financial services customers pivot to support their own customers amid the pandemic. During this time Woodard launched her podcast called “Fresh Takes” that allows listeners to “take a walk” with financial services leaders. She also developed the Total Expert Bootcamp, an experience designed for end users to excel in leveraging the technology, and launched the Experience Experiment, an “undercover audit” conducted by Total Expert customer success team members. Woodard makes sure each business function hones in on and prioritizes customer experience at every touchpoint and interaction.

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We sat down with some our Women of Influence for a special series in our HousingWire Daily podcast. Take a listen at housingwire.com/podcast!

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Chief Customer Officer

Suha Zehl

Chrissy Zotzmann Brown

Chief Analytics Officer

Equity Prime Mortgage

Chief Operations Officer

Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group

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For the last 20 years, Suha Zehl has been laser-focused on the real estate and financial services ecosystem and passionate about supporting and encouraging women to unleash their best. As Chief Analytics Officer at EPM, Zehl is a member of the executive team, providing key and actionable insights to the organization’s leaders to support the business vision and strategy and to drive organizational growth across all channels. Zehl’s contributions have helped reduce the average cycle time, reduce the underwriting turn times, increase productivity and increase customer satisfaction dramatically. This year, Zehl created and hosted “In the Spotlight with Suha,” an online platform on LinkedIn to help fill a need that has long been overlooked — recognizing and appreciating the next generation of women leaders in the mortgage lending ecosystem. In this series, Suha interviews young women who are not in management or leadership roles and who are making a significant difference to their organizations and helping to reshape our industry for the better every single day. In addition to her role as CAO, Zehl is a founding member of EPM’s Diversity, Inclusion & Equity initiative and is a leader of the organization’s Core Values and Culture programs. She also serves on the board of governors for NAMMBA and the board of directors for Women with Vision. Zehl is using her voice and passion to raise awareness and help families realize their homeownership reality.

Chrissy Zotzmann Brown brings nearly 25 years of extensive mortgage operations and sales experience to her role at Atlantic Bay. Zotzmann Brown began her mortgage career as a receptionist and then worked as a closer, underwriter and loan officer before she became Atlantic Bay’s chief operations officer. During the digital environment of this past year, Zotzmann Brown guided the team to not only continue streamlining processes but shortened turn times in many areas. She has advocated and assisted in the implementation of new technologies and automation/bots that have continued to improve efficiencies. In the past 12 months, her leadership and forward-thinking has guided Atlantic Bay to offer a full-stop digital mortgage experience for mortgage bankers and borrowers and positioned the company as a leader in the e-Closing arena.

In April 2021, Zotzmann Brown was responsible for securing Atlantic Bay’s approval for Ginnie Mae eNotes. Recognized as an opportunity to not only improve the mortgage experience for all parties but also reduce room for errors, she has been leading the team to seamlessly integrate eClosing into all transactions. Outside of her career at Atlantic Bay, she is an active advocate to government agencies on behalf of the mortgage industry; she recently had the opportunity to speak with the White House on the effects of the recent PSPA amendments.

A podcast focused on female financial empowerment featuring HousingWire's Sarah Wheeler and Brena Nath.

Listen here: housingwire.com/podcast

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Three women leaving a legacy Paving the way for the next generation of women leaders

By Brena Nath

It was a sunny and extremely humid Thursday morning. Of course, that’s almost standard for Dallas, and it wasn’t going to prevent these three women from showing up to the magazine cover shoot with an energy and excitement that couldn’t be stopped.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I’d say this cover is worth so much more than that. These three Women of Influence not only carry the grace and lessons of those who have gone before them, but they’re leaving a priceless legacy for the next generation of leaders. Rebecca McDonald, chief product officer at Rocket Mortgage, Pam Perry, Single-Family vice president of Equitable Housing at Freddie Mac, and Hilary Saunders, co-founder and chief broker officer at Side, are all featured on the cover and were named to HousingWire’s 2021 Women of Influence. I had the honor of sitting down with them to learn more about the projects they’re passionate about, how they’re making a difference and what advice they’d share with those in the industry.

Rebecca McDonald, Chief Product Officer, Rocket Mortgage Brena Nath: HousingWire: First off, congrats on being named a 2021 Women of Influence. 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?

Rebecca McDonald: Well, thank you very much, it is quite an honor. I definitely would first start with my family. My husband is my rock and has been with me on this entire journey and is such a great support system. My kids, I learn from them every single day, they constantly keep me on my toes, and I really appreciate it. My mother, who is one tough lady and defied a lot of odds, and really set the stage for being a person of integrity and hard work.

And of course, my siblings, I come from a big family, and they’re very supportive of me as well.

When I think about my mentors, there are three people that really stand out and were really important, although there have been hundreds of people that I could say right now from the organization. I definitely want to highlight Shawn Krause. She’s one of the first mentors I had when I first started out. And she was the person that without even batting an eyelash presented possibilities to me of things that I might do, that I never even would have considered.

Bill Emerson just gave me so much opportunity to grow and fail and then succeed and really was an incredible mentor, support and challenger for me. Lastly, I would say Linglong He. A little bit later in my career, she really came in and helped me refine and fine-tune my leadership and individual contributor expertise as well.

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BN: You’ve really watched Rocket change and grow over the last 24 years that you’ve been there. How would you describe the growth of Rocket and where it’s headed?

RM: You know, it’s been an amazing journey, it really has.

The exponential growth, it’s just incredible. It’s a testament to the vision of the leadership team, Dan Gilbert, Jay Farner, Bill Emerson and the whole group. I think that as

an organization, we are so focused on really understanding and being there for our clients and doing everything we can to create an amazing value for them, that has given us this opportunity for exponential growth, and it continues to happen.

BN: What are some of your proudest accomplishments over the years?

RM: I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many different folks in so many different teams. It’s hard to kind of narrow down a handful of them. A few of the things that really jumped out is that right now, I’m super proud of the product team, the growth of the product team to over 200 individuals in 24 states. It’s just an amazing group of talented people, and I’m super excited about how they’re going to lead our organization in the years to come.

As I look back, I also think about initiatives around the 2010s, where we had a lot of change in our industry, and just being a part of teams that lead through massive organizational change to meet the regulations and our clients’ needs was just a really fun and exciting riddle, but also very challenging. And then, in the early 2000s, I spent almost a decade with our Mousetrap team, which is the team that worked in almost every area of our organization and really built out the scale to meet the demand that came after the financial crisis. It really positioned our organization in a place where we could scale super quickly.

And that was a really fun and amazing time because we were doing things that nobody else in the industry was doing at that time.

BN: What is one project or initiative that you’re working on that you’re really passionate about?

RM: I have the opportunity to work on initiatives that focus on our culture and our leadership development. I think it all starts with the environment that we create and understanding how we can make an incredibly supportive and empowering culture. Then, you combine that with really developing leaders and helping them get to a place where

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Hilary Saunders, Rebecca McDonald and Pam Perry (left to right).

“The more you can understand and empathize with your team members and clients, and understand the community around you, the better impact that you can have.”

all of their talents and amazing abilities can really shine.

Being a part of mentoring, coaching and onboarding senior leaders, it’s something I’m very passionate about, and I really enjoy it because it’s fun to see. It’s really exciting for me to see them thrive and be able to be their best self and be wildly impactful for themselves and for the organization.

BN: Now, you’ve achieved a lot in your career, what does worklife balance look like for you, or what does it even mean to you?

RM: I love this question because like everyone, I have many sides to me. There is a work side, and there’s, of course, family, friends and community. There’s a balance that we all must find, and that balance is different for everybody, and it’s different at different times in our life.

The most important thing is that you understand what your priorities are, and how you think about each area of your life, your physical health, your mental health, your spiritual health. And work is a really exciting part of that. You never want to put it in competition with or as a negative detractor of everything else, it’s a really healthy important part. It’s just a matter of making sure that you’re checking in with all the different areas within yourself to make sure that each one of those is in a place where it is thriving. And if not, then you have to make those pivots to make sure that you’re investing where

- Rebecca McDonald you need to invest. So, when I think of work-life balance, I think, check-in, be present and make modifications if something’s not working for you.

BN: As a woman of influence and someone creating impactful change, what areas of change would you want people to know about?

RM: I think there are multiple areas to think about. First, how are we building for the future? And what do I mean by building for the future? Building teams, building an organization, building within our community, all for the future. When we look at our team members, client base and communities and really empathize and understand what they need and what they’re trying to achieve, that’s the winning recipe. At our organization, we are very focused on all of those areas. That is a big differentiator for us. The more you can understand and empathize with your team members and clients, and understand the community around you, the better impact that you can have.

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BN: What are some things that companies can or should start doing today to bring more diversity into the workforce?

RM: There are some foundational things. The first thing is understanding your talent, not only your existing talent but the talent that you want to bring into your organization. And being very intentional about creating an environment that is welcoming and bringing in a diverse perspective. It is so important for us to truly understand, and the only way to understand our team members, com-

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munity, and client base is to actually have representation and bring those perspectives in. That’s when you really can make something meaningful and impactful. And so, looking at your talent, understanding and creating an inclusive environment that allows that talent to thrive, then from there, expand out and really start supporting your communities and think about that marketplace and the partners that you’re engaging in.

BN: There aren’t a lot of women at the c-suite level in the industry. What unique challenges did you face in getting to where you are today?

RM: Truth be told, I think I hit the jackpot, unbeknownst to me, when I joined the organization 24 years ago. I have been extremely fortunate to be a part of an organization that truly does value ideas and execution, but there have absolutely been riddles along the way. The way I would summarize it best is first understanding yourself and really believing in yourself and creating a belief system that empowers you to lean in, to engage, to be curious and be collaborative.

BN: What’s one piece of advice you would give people in this industry?

RM: Understanding the whole ecosystem is really important. You’re going to have your area that you’re going to

- Rebecca McDonald

Pam Perry, Single-Family Vice President of Equitable Housing at Freddie Mac BN: First off, congrats on being named a 2021 Women of Influence. 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?

Pam Perry: It would be my mother. She truly is my hero in terms of resilience. For me personally, I think that is one of the traits and characteristics that I think define most people’s careers because things rarely take a linear path.

I definitely feel as if being able to pivot, being able to make lemonade from lemons, being able to keep moving forward in a purposeful manner, doing work that I feel strongly about and trying to achieve at a very high level with no particular goal in sight, other than continuing to do good and meaningful work, for me, my mother is that role model. That her life from the daughter of sharecroppers to mother of four children with graduate degrees, including five Harvard degrees among her children, she is one of the smartest people I know, and life has not been easy for her.

BN: Now, you are pioneering this new role at Freddie Mac. Can you talk to us about this role?

PP: I feel incredibly privileged to lead Freddie Mac’s racial equity efforts in the single-family mortgage space. Like most corporations, coming out of the events of 2020, Freddie Mac has looked inward and tried to determine what ways Freddie Mac can play a leadership role in advancing racial equity in the country. My team is an outgrowth of that effort. Senior management decided that this required a commitment in terms of an officer leading this team. It is my privilege to lead this team having been Freddie Mac’s fair lending lawyer for the prior nine years. We really are looking very critically at the mortgage ecosystem and looking at ways in which it doesn’t serve African American and Latinx families as well as it could and really asking tough questions as a precursor to innovating some solutions that address some of the pain points. The system functions perfectly to create the result that it has created. If we want a different result, we need to change the system. Many of us are working on this collectively in the industry, and Freddie Mac has a unique role to play in the single-family mortgage industry, and in the single-family mortgage industry’s response to racial equity. How are we going to do better to address the Black homeownership gap, the Latinx homeownership

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“The way I would summarize it best is first understanding yourself and really believing in yourself and creating a belief system that empowers you to lean in, to engage, to be curious and be collaborative.”

be an expert in. But understanding how it all fits together really can empower and create those innovations, those new ways of accomplishing whatever the goal is, because you understand the wider picture. I would say get curious and spend time in different parts of our industry so that you can be the best for your particular role.

gap? How are we going to do better to ensure that Black and Latinx families realize the wealth opportunity that homeownership provides to the majority of white families in America? I am privileged truly to lead this effort and to ask tough questions and be willing to change the system in ways that will drive meaningful impacts in terms of Black and Latinx communities.

BN: Along similar lines, can you talk about some of the initiatives you’re working on?

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PP: There’s a significant homeownership gap and wealth gap between Black Americans and white Americans and a somewhat smaller, but still very significant gap, for the Latinx community relative to their white counterparts.

We are laser-focused at the outset on addressing the gaps that exist for Black Americans because that is the community that has a very long-standing history, including federal policy, that contributed to some of where we are today. I refer to it as four pillars that, at the outset, I’m really purposely addressing individually, although they are somewhat related. The first is barriers to loan qualification. The second is the expansion of financial capability. The third is addressing appraisal gaps. And then the

“Like many successful women, I had very little work-life balance early in my career, because I thought that “outworking” my peers was the key to success. While that’s often true for young professionals, relationships matter far more...” - Pam Perry

fourth is addressing access to housing supply. In each of those pillars, I’m doing something a bit different, with a different set of partners. Freddie Mac is not going this alone; we have a different value proposition as it relates to each of those pillars. I’ve been in my role for more than six months, and I’ve really spent a lot of time listening. I think it’s critically important to ensure that we are solving for the right problems and not creating solutions for assumptions that we may be making about what are the impediments to more equitable outcomes in the housing industry for Black and Brown families.

BN: You’ve accomplished a lot in your career. What does worklife balance look like for you and/or what does it mean to you?

PP: Like many successful women, I had very little worklife balance early in my career, because I thought that “outworking” my peers was the key to success. While that’s often true for young professionals, relationships matter far more, both for professional advancement and for personal wellbeing. At 40, I gave birth to twins, and I had no choice but to shift my priorities. Not everywhere I’ve worked has been supportive of the needs of working parents, but I’m really lucky to have landed at Freddie Mac 10 years ago, and it’s no accident that I’m still here.

I’m proud to work for a company that genuinely supports women through the lifecycle of their lives and careers.

The culture at Freddie Mac is that everyone has a life out-

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BN: Can you share one or two defining moments in your career that really shaped who you are today?

PP: Racial equity is important to me, and I’ve been fortunate to build a career in advancing it. I care deeply about fair housing, both as my professional calling and as a Black American. I was raised with stories of housing discrimination faced by Black people, including my parents. Ironically, the first home I ever lived in resulted from housing discrimination my parents faced in Boston. My father secured a job based at MIT, working as an engineer on NASA’s space program, yet my parents couldn’t rent a home for our family in a middle-class neighborhood, because no one would rent to them. Fortunately, his employer intervened, and our family lived rent-free for a year, enabling my parents to save a down payment for their first home purchase. I’m fortunate to have been raised by Black parents who were homeowners, able to raise four children in a thriving community with excellent public schools.

In turn, all four of us are homeowners — as Black Americans, that’s all too rare.

and in business discussions. Diversity in leadership also matters to attracting and retaining a diverse pipeline.

Companies also should utilize employee resource groups since they provide leadership opportunities for a broader range of employees, build networks within the organization, and they spotlight role models. After the events of 2020 catalyzed the racial justice movement, ARISE, our Black employee resource group, provided a much-needed community for Black employees and many of our non-Black allies to heal, support one another, and help the company advance equity internally.

“Housing remains the bedrock of American communities, and we all can take pride in our contributions toward creating thriving communities in which American families flourish.” - Pam Perry

BN: If you were able to change three things in the housing space what would they be?

PP: Creating more affordable housing options in already thriving communities. Increasing Black and Latinx homeownership that is so critical to creating intergenerational wealth. Increasing women of color in more of the industry’s c-suites.

BN: What are three things that companies can or should start doing today to bring more diversity into the workforce?

PP: Oftentimes talented diverse candidates aren’t retained or miss out on promotion opportunities due to a lack of mentors/sponsors and a lack of high-visibility, diverse leaders. Companies must change that paradigm with intentionality. Diverse representation in leadership matters — on hiring panels, in compensation discussions

BN: From your perspective, how can the housing industry step up to increase minority homeownership?

PP: First, we must recognize that the current state of minority homeownership is a direct reflection of a housing system designed long ago to marginalize Black communities. At Freddie Mac, we are bringing a high level of focus to addressing gaps in Black homeownership and wealth because this is the community with the greatest need, rooted in long-term historical discrimination. We need to break through historical barriers ingrained deeply in the housing process — from loan qualifications to appraisals. Historic redlining has created minority communities with stagnant home values and decades of disinvestment on land often more vulnerable to flooding and climate risk. Despite challenges, there are numerous untapped opportunities for Black homeownership. Our research shows that there are 3.4 million Black Americans under the age of 45, who have the credit characteristics to qualify for a mortgage today but aren’t currently mortgage holders. These “mortgage-ready” borrowers represent a pressing opportunity for us all.

We need to address down payment assistance, financial capability, appraisal gaps and housing supply.

BN: How do we pave a new path forward for future women leaders?

PP: Financial services companies are traditionally male-dominated, but research shows that having a diverse workforce across the mortgage industry benefits us all and is good for the bottom line. We have to change the paradigm and it really starts with corporate culture. I’m

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side of work that’s worthy of respect. Work-life balance is about having time for rest and joy — to me that’s my family.

proud that Freddie Mac supports women with initiatives such as #LeadingTheWay that champion the advancement of women across the mortgage finance industry, by creating meaningful conversations and offering tools to support women’s career advancement. Sharing resources, creating opportunities for dialogue and offering a space for professionals and organizations to share knowledge is an actionable path forward.

BN: What’s one piece of advice you would give people in this industry?

PP: Housing remains the bedrock of American communities, and we all can take pride in our contributions toward creating thriving communities in which American families flourish.

Hilar y Saunders, Co-Founder and Chief Broker Officer, Side BN: First off, congrats on being named a 2021 Women of Influence. 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?

Hilary Saunders: That’s a great question, and to be quite honest, it’s our partners. I would thank my partners in

general because they had faith in us and continue to have faith in us and in what we’re doing. Our mission is to elevate the entire real estate industry and really provide the consumer at the end of the day with an amazing experience, whether they’re a buyer or seller. Our partners are the ones who are on the ground and are providing that experience.

BN: How do you create a work-life balance in your life and/or what does work-life balance mean to you?

HS: I love that question, especially since I have 16-monthold, identical twin daughters and a seven-year-old boy, who are altogether quite a handful. Work-life balance, honestly, is if you’re passionate about what you’re doing.

It isn’t balanced. I think it’s really about finding that underlying passion, so work, to me, is part of my life. And so, my entire family is a part of it. My son went on listing appointments with me when he was a baby and has been in some advertising stuff for me. It’s a family affair. At the end of the day, as long as you can take time for yourself and know that the team that you’ve built and you’ve shaped is there to carry on the mission, then you can make time for everything.

BN: Can you take us back to 2017 when Side was getting ready to launch. How did you, along with the other co-founders, come up with the idea for this alternative brokerage model?

HS: Edward Wu and Guy Gal come from an entrepreneurial tech background. I come from a real estate background. I was a real estate litigator and worked as a broker associate for a big box for a number of years and wasn’t finding the support that I needed to get to the next level. Being an entrepreneur myself, I decided to go out on my own and start my own brokerage, and then, I felt, personally, the headaches and the stress of learning QuickBooks, figuring out how to build a website, how to market myself; that’s not my expertise. My expertise is either bringing excellent customer service or legal. Our brains at that point said, “Hey, we can create a platform that not only gives agents their time back but also elevates them and takes them to the next level.” Traditionally, top-performing realtors are not necessarily great marketers or great web designers or have accounting backgrounds. We take all that off their plate, so they can go do what they’re good at, and we all excel.

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BN: Driven by the fact that working mothers have been disproportionately affected in 2020, you launched a dedicated initiative to retain the 48% of Side’s partners that are female, why was this initiative so important to you?

HS: It started before COVID and how we saw so many women exit the workforce. Prior to that, a disproportionate number of women were not doing the broker/owner experience. For whatever reason, they’re the breadwin-

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BN: There aren’t a lot of female co-founders in the industry. What unique challenges did you face in starting Side?

HS: I think a lot of the ceiling we actually put on ourselves, and if you can prove yourself through what you’re doing and your performance, then you shouldn’t judge yourself negatively. One of the challenges that I faced, even though I had started my own businesses before, was growing it to the level of a successful company that we have now.

The wonderful thing that I had was the support of two amazing co-founders, and it was the three of us on equal footing and has always been that way. Gender has nothing to do with it. It’s that we each have different talents, and so I think it’s almost just getting over that mental hurdle. What does the industry look like? It’s very white, male-dominated, but who cares? And we’ve got fresh ideas and an amazing skill set. We’ll earn our respect, I don’t need to be given it.

BN: How do we pave a new path forward for future women leaders?

HS: You lead by example, and you showcase other women who have done it and are doing it. That’s a lot of what Side does. You won’t see Side on things. We don’t want to say, “Here we are doing these things.” No, it’s our partners who

are stepping out and doing it. So, you lead by example, and you support each other. One thing that is wonderful about Side, and this goes across the board and is not just dedicated to women, it’s that our partners are at a caliber where they’re elevating each other. They’re sharing their best practices. They’re sharing their techniques, which I have not witnessed anywhere else. What I normally have witnessed is the top of the top kind of hold their cards close to the vest, and they don’t want to share because they see everybody as their competition. We’ve changed that mindset, and everybody is equal. Our collective job is to elevate the industry as a whole.

BN: What are three things that companies can or should start doing today to bring more diversity into the workforce?

HS: You cast a wide net. If you act as a company that is diverse, you will attract diversity. If you provide the opportunities and internal structure that breeds diversity, then you’ll attract it. Another thing is to support your employees’ willingness and desire to create the subculture. For example, one of our amazing teams took it upon themselves to get an amazing speaker and run a big Juneteenth celebration, and they’ve just owned it. So, you provide the internal employees the opportunity to create whatever group it is that they want, and we support that. The other thing is being active with a collective voice in the community, whether it’s on LinkedIn or providing external speaker opportunities, just supporting diversity in general.

BN: What’s one piece of advice you would give people in this industry?

HS: Life is too short, and I think you lead every day as best you can. Some days you don’t feel like you’re showing up as much, make up for it the next day. Every day, you try and go to bed proud of yourself in some way. I think that that leads to a lot of happiness that I have found. And nobody’s perfect. You cannot do it all — we try — but show up and do your best in that moment.

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ners, but they also take care of the household and potentially the kids and family sometimes. They weren’t taking that next leap to get to the next level because there was not that back-end support for them, or encouragement for that. At Side, we have been able to very successfully bring that ownership mentality to women in general, and so a lot of our partners and people who are reaching out to us are women. They want to be that ownership of their brand, and we can do that. We give women a sense of power and a feeling of ownership over the direction of their lives and what they want to accomplish. To me, that’s personally important, too. My family has always been extremely supportive of any endeavor that I’ve ever made, and just giving that to the community in general is necessary.

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What to expect next from today’s hot housing market?

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Housing emerges as a powerful stabilizer for the public

AUGUST 2021

By Joanne Cleaver

AUGUST 2021

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—

It’s the current, not the waves, that will propel longstanding changes in the American housing market, said Logan Mohtashami, HousingWire’s lead analyst.

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How much housing is built and sold; who pays for those units; and how Americans ground their lives in what and where they live: these forces are rooted in societal and family culture and largely impervious to surface turmoil.

The economic disruption caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, of course, was much more than just surface turmoil. But in the trial by fire of COVID, Mohtashami’s economic models proved incredibly accurate, laying the groundwork for his predictions for the rest of this year and next.

In winter 2020, on the brink of the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing economy was “on an even keel,” Mohtashami aid. As early as February 2020, Mohtashami foresaw the potential for the global pandemic’s “butterfly effect” on lowering mortgage rates and how, contrary to most other predictions, we would likely see an economic expansion as a result by the third and fourth quarter of 2020. Then in April 2020, in the depths of the COVID crisis, Mohtashami correctly predicted the timing and shape of the economic recovery, laying out a roadmap in his “America is Back” model.

Panicked prognosticators who forecast widespread disaster for housing were quickly proven wrong when “the leading economic indices bottomed out in April 2020 and have been rising ever since,” he said. The key is a demographic surge of Millennials reaching peak home-buying age from 2020 to 2024, Mohtashami holds, which will provide replacement buyers for housing during these years.

Looking ahead, Mohtashami said that the primary theme of the housing economy through the middle of 2022 will be how demand and supply are shaped by ongoing trends — an epic battle of solid demographics versus affordability. That the industry defied doomsday prognostications as the COVID-19 pandemic that emerged only goes to prove the resilience of the housing economy, he said.

As 2021 rounds the curve, some building commodity prices are settling back to normal, while builders have reverted to their prior habit of pursuing measured growth,

said Mohtashami. The most far-reaching effect of the pandemic will likely be the unbundling of housing growth, with two linked trends: young and multigenerational families seeking spacious dwellings and many workers seeking location first, with the expectation of working remotely.

“Americans love big single-family homes,” said Mohtashami. Since 2014, when homebuilders finally shook off the aftershocks of the 2008 housing-led recession and started building a sustainable mix of housing, the average square footage of new houses has been steadily rising. Consistently low mortgage interest rates — despite 2020’s economic spasms — have fueled ongoing demand for roomy houses on spacious lots. As long as rates hold — and Mohtashami thinks they will – there’s no reason for builders to abandon their strategy.

“Housing is primarily driven by primary owners. Don’t fall prey to the bubble talk or the institutional investors,” Mohtashami said.

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HOUSING MOVES FULL SPEED AHEAD The entire world paused in March 2020 as governments ordered their countries to stop in their tracks in response to the escalating spread of COVID-19. Mohtashami had just predicted that mortgage rates would stay low, counter to many economists who were talking about a recession.

And though he admits that it was impossible to anticipate every detail of the economic and regulatory response, Mohtashami’s April 2020 HousingWire forecast passed the acid test again and again over the last year.

In April 2020 as the economy shuddered and the COVID19 public health measures stopped many businesses in their tracks, some commentators reliably predicted doom and gloom, inflation and crashes, gleefully anticipating that their most dire predictions were about to materialize.

But in fact, once Americans recovered from the initial

AUGUST 2021

That by September, public health restrictions would start to ease, as modes of combating the virus became imminent • Stay-at-home orders would gradually ease • Swift and coordinated government protections for consumers would insulate millions from cratering credit and escalating debt • Airlines, hospitality, onsite enter tainment and other hardest-hit sectors would signal the ‘beginning of the end’ when they finally revived • And, bond markets would be the leading indicator of the long-term stability of the housing economy.

"If anything, a key takeaway from COVID-19 gyrations is that housing continues as economic ballast, especially in an economy dependent on services and information, and decreasingly dependent on inflationvulnerable goods."

Mohtashami wrote back in April: “On January 20, the first positive test for the coronavirus was reported in the U.S. A month later, the 10-year yield was 1.56%. In all my yearly prediction articles since the end of 2014, I always talked about how the 10-year yield should be in the range between 1.6% -3%.

The bond markets correctly and with great speed reflected the oncoming crash of the economy. … An early indicator of recovery would see the 10-year yield above 1% –– especially if it got above 1.33%. A range between 1.33% and 1.6% on the 10-year yield is something we should be rooting for, especially if this happens without liquidation selling of bonds.”

By June 2021, he was proven right: “The 10-year yield rose from 0.52% to 0.99% since August of 2020. That rise told us the economy was

in recovery. I proposed that the 10-year would live in a range between 1.33%-1.60% in 2021, and that is what we have seen.

I was more bullish than anyone last year but even so, I didn’t foresee the 10-year yield going over 1.94%.”

Why? With long-term trends unshaken by COVID, 10-year yields revived quickly, in spring 2020.

“This is confusing. This is some of the best growth and hottest inflation in the 201st century and the bond market doesn’t care,” Mohtashami said. The market doesn’t care, he added, because 2021’s gyrations in the prices of commodities — especially housing-essential commodities, like lumber and steel — have only temporarily blurred the strength of the fundamental demand for housing.

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WHAT ABOUT THE HAPPY PESSIMISTS? It’s easy to understand how news-buffeted commentators could misread the tea leaves. Daily economic news — and the commentators who whip the news into frothy predictions.

And, predictably, according to Mohtashami, the “I told you so” crowd gathered like regulars at a bar to toast what appeared to be the first signs of a crumbling housing market. The irony is that February 2020 was “the most prolific month for housing data in the prior 12 years,” said Mohtashami, “But the reports we got in March 2020 made everyone forget about that.”

But instead of proving them right, the COVID-19 pause and subsequent boom proved them very wrong. “You

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shock of the pandemic and consequent public health directives, housing quickly emerged as a powerful stabilizer for the public, the financial services sector, investors and policymakers.

In April 2020, Mohtashami assured HousingWire readers that the year would end much better than it began:

can’t have a housing crash if demand is stable,” said Mohtashami. “And it’s hard to create massive inflation in mature economies because inflation is wage-based and it’s hard to escalate.” He added, “COVID was a deflationary factor.”

If anything, a key takeaway from COVID-19 gyrations is that housing continues as economic ballast, especially in an economy dependent on services and information, and decreasingly dependent on inflation-vulnerable goods, he said.

While the recovery inevitably will invoke some additional tremors, the new normal — which is really the old normal — will soon prevail.

“We’re going to get some crazy inflation data because we’ve had a V-shaped recovery,” he said. “It’s going to look crazy for a short time and once it comes back, with normal production, at the end of 2022. A lot of inflationary factors are transitory.”

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DEMOGRAPHIC DESTINY Eroding birth rates in America and globally will gradually and predictably shape the housing economy.

At the end of 2020, Mohtashami emphasized to HousingWire readers that demographics are destiny…and U.S. demographics spell steady, reasonably predictable demand. He wrote then:

mortgage rates rise.

The one downside of the 2020 housing market is the rapid home-price growth. My biggest concern for the years 2020-2024 was that home-price growth would accelerate to an unhealthy 4.6% plus nominal growth level. I hope that as the economy recovers, bond yields will rise. Higher bond yields will result in higher mortgage rates and cool down the market, as we saw in 2013-2014 and 2018-2019.

However, as long as COVID-19 is with us, the economy won’t run at full capacity, keeping the 10-year yield under 2%. The take-home lesson from 2020 is that demographics and mortgage rates drive housing, and these two factors are at the best levels for housing in our history."

Last year, COVID responses “kept rates lower than normal,” he noted. “Without COVID, mortgage rates would be around 4% and that would cool the market, so buyers would have more choices. Now, it’s like the Hunger Games, but we’ll probably end 2021 with home sales just a little higher overall than 2020, due to a raw inventory shortage.”

Because of the covid recession, it has kept rates lower than normal. The pa ndem ic on ly u nderscored the evolving effect of demographic currents on the housing market, Mohtashami said.

In mid-2021, rebounding employment and rising wages converged to refuel space-seeking suburban and small town housing sales. Lenders refused to compromise loan requirements throughout, which means that even the 2020 burst in home values is likely to prove out, Mohtashami said.

“If we get a 25% rise in nominal home price gains in these five years, we’ll be okay,” he said. “Right now, prices are rising because of a shortage, not because of demand. And the purchase application data from 2002 to 2005 looks very different from 2014 to 2021. Credit is sane and mortgage debt is limited. These are very good home buyers. Their debt

“Without COVID, mortgage rates

would be around

4% and that would cool the market,

so buyers would

have more choices.

“We also got lucky in terms of demographics. If economics is demographics, then the U.S. housing market demographics showed its muscle this year when we needed it the most. I have been talking about the favorable housing demographics during the years 2020-2024 for a long time.

These strong demographics mean we have a healthy number of replacement buyers in America. If people start to move up, down, coast to coast, or state to state, demand should remain stable. The best housing market is a stable one. The next few years’ challenges will be demographic-driven demand vs. affordability when

Now, it’s like the

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Hunger Games."

AUGUST 2021

payment to income [ratio] is low because interest rates are low and wages are rising. They have equity.”

INDICATORS TO WATCH Already, indications are that rising wages, the potential for remote work and widespread demand are converging to affect affordability.

The National Association of Realtors reported in April that the housing affordability index stood at 155.8, a steady decline since Januar y 2021, when it stood at 186. Over the same period, the price of a median-priced existing single-family home grew from $308,000 nationally to $346,200. Meanwhile, the qualifying income to buy the median-priced house escalated from $48,528 to $56,832.

The drive to remote work — now widely predicted to permanently realign the workforce — looks like it will hard-wire demand for small towns and developing suburban rings.

And while builders take the long view — aiming for steady, not spectacular — growth, said Mohtashami, the housing economy will be steadied by moderate demand and even more moderate supply.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the American birth rate is slowly eroding, which means that smaller families have more options for how much space they want, where that space is located and how they use that space.

Multigenerational living might rebound a bit, said Mohtashami, especially in the wake of the pandemic, when adult children returned to their parents’ homes for both economic and caregiving reasons.

“Variations on the multigenerational household will continue to support the sale of larger homes,” he said.

“The housing

economy will

be steadied by

moderate demand and even more

moderate supply."

AUGUST 2021

Bio: Joanne Cleaver has been producing stories since 1981 and currently, manages projects to advance women in the accounting, transportation and other industries.

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And the pandemic will only reinforce many older Americans’ determination to live independently in their houses as long as possible, said Mohtashami. The much-predicted burst of turnover expected by baby boomers abandoning their houses for carefree senior residential facilities has failed to materialize.

According to AARP, by 2030, all baby boomers will be 65 or older.

They will then comprise 19% of the American population, compared to 13% in 2010. The widespread failures of nursing homes and, to a lesser degree, senior residential complexes, to shield residents from the COVID19 pandemic have tarnished the appeal of large-scale senior housing. If, as indicators seem to predict, more seniors re-invest in their single-family homes to stay longer, the housing market will rely even more on new building to meet demand.

It’s past time, said Mohtashami, to retire the hope that baby boomers will exit the single-family housing market in time to turn those houses over to Gen Y grandchildren now forming households.

“The peak was supposed to be in 2015,” said Mohtashami. “COVID-19 might actually undermine this purported ‘silver tsunami’ even more.”

- SPECIAL REPORT -

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Sponsored Content

AUGUST 2021

- SPECIAL REPORT -

Sponsored Content

eClosing Special Reports The COVID-19 pandemic forced the mortgage industry to digitize transactions that were once completely done in-person. And while technology has streamlined the industry, many housing professionals are still hesitant to exist in a digital landscape. This is partly due to the complexity of the mortgage process, especially at closing. For everything to run smoothly, there needs to be effective coordination between everyone involved, which can be challenging.

The seven companies featured in this section offer platforms that enable lenders to connect with all parties involved in the mortgage transaction process, 100% online, to ensure loans stay in compliance and transparency is maintained between all stakeholders.

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Black Knight................................................................76 DocMagic.....................................................................77 First American Docutech..........................................78 ICE Mortgage Technology....................................................79 Notarize........................................................................80 SimpleNexus..............................................................81 Snapdocs....................................................................82

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BLACK KNIGHT, INC. BlackKnightInc.com

THE EXECUTIVES:

ANTHONY JABBOUR CEO Anthony Jabbour leads the company’s overall vision and direction for Black Knight to provide premier solutions and services for many of the nation’s largest lenders and servicers.

JOE NACKASHI PRESIDENT, BLACK KNIGHT Joe Nackashi provides an overall strategic direction to Black Knight’s operating groups to maintain a laser focus on clients and deliver the solutions that help them achieve greater success.

RICH GAGLIANO PRESIDENT, ORIGINATION TECHNOLOGIES

Black Knight’s Expedite Close eClosing solution uses automation to select the best way to close each loan

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ore than ever, borrowers want and expect to close their loans digitally, from the initial loan application through the final review and approval of their loan package. But while eClosings are convenient, it can be challenging to offer the same level of customer service online as with in-person closings.

Additionally, with more options available for closings — wet-sign, hybrid, fully digital — lenders can struggle to determine which approach works best for each loan.

Black Knight is committed to helping all stakeholders involved in a real estate transaction move closer to a secure, paperless closing environment, while shortening the closing timeline to effectively reduce closing costs.

Black Knight’s Expedite Close, an innovative, end-to-end eClosing solution, leverages automation and intelligent analytics to systematically select the best way to close each loan, offering lenders a simplified closing process with lower closing costs, as well as the ability to offer an improved borrower experience.

Expedite Close accounts for each participant’s role during the closing stages, including the Realtor and settlement agent, and enables lenders to work at their own pace in a flexible and scalable setting.

Client-defined rules, built-in logic and transaction data are used to identify factors such as jurisdiction requirements, consumer preferences, settlement-agent processes and investor requirements, to determine if the closing should be fully digital, paper or a hybrid of both.

“Expedite Close offers a truly end-toend digital close experience that easily

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Rich Gagliano is responsible for the overall strategy and product direction of Black Knight’s origination technologies.

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connects all participants in a real estate transaction and allows them to securely collaborate online, regardless of the processes, document providers or systems that lenders currently have in place,” said Rich Gagliano, president of Black Knight Origination Technologies.

Once an eClosing process is initiated in Expedite Close, borrowers are provided a clear overview of the documents they need to review and sign, as well as individual tags to help them make informed decisions.

As borrowers review and sign the closing documents, they are given lender-specific, detailed information on a document-by-document, line-by-line basis — insight typically given at the closing table.

At the end of the digital closing package, any documents that require notarization can be handled with Black Knight’s integrated Remote Online Notarization (RON) solution.

This solution connects signers with online notaries over a secure video call, following applicable national and state guidelines. The platform also verifies the content, creator and creation date of any digital document to help eliminate the risk of forgery, fraud or theft.

“The technology is easy to learn, cost-effective, and is fast to implement,” Gagliano said.

“Lenders can quickly leverage a secure, online system to support their existing workflows and processes, with easy document upload capabilities, so all participants can seamlessly interact with each other remotely. With Expedite Close, a better way to close is here.”

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he mortgage industry is looking to drive results in a new digital environment where organizations must respond to change at an accelerated pace.

DocMagic provides lenders a competitive advantage with digital technology that offers more flexibility, improves efficiency and provides a better user experience than paper-based methods.

DocMagic’s Total eClose solution is a comprehensive, end-to-end eClosing system that provides everything necessary for a paperless eClosing. The seamless digital workflow includes all hybrid eClosing options and is comprised of DocMagic’s comprehensive suite of eMortgage solutions, including SMART Doc eNote generation, remote online notary (RON) capability, certified eVault technology, and culminating with Investor eDelivery.

With DocMagic’s new remote online notary technology, eligible borrowers can electronically review, sign and notarize documents within an intuitive, end-to-end eClosing workflow.

Total eClose features both Settlement Agent and Notary eClose consoles, providing users with all of the functionality required for a successful eClosing. The console allows settlement agents and their notaries to browse a complete document package and easily upload any additional documents that may be necessary.

DocMagic’s AutoPrep system further simplifies the process by instantly identifying signatures, initials and notary regions, and automatically applying the essential e-tag information required by most eClosing platforms.

The eClose Console is a powerful control center for monitoring and facilitating an efficient and successful eClosing ceremony. It contains all of the information settlement agents and their notaries need to manage signers and other participants.

The system makes it easy to select and confirm a RON-certified eNotary from a na-

tional network of over 25,000 approved, fully vetted and RON-certified notaries.

The eClose console also provides the notary with the instrumentation needed to execute a smooth and efficient eClosing ceremony. This includes all pertinent loan transaction information, contact information for all participants, a real-time countdown to the eClose ceremony and more. Notaries can easily review the complete document package and print any borrower documents that must be signed with a pen. The system also provides important identity verification utilities such as Knowledge-Based Authentication and Identity Validation that leverage the signer’s smart device for secure, effective authentication. The console automatically records the RON signing session and creates all required entries within the notary’s electronic journal. All of this information is automatically stored within a secure action log.

“By providing the key participants with a secure online eClose portal, we’re ensuring transparency and complete control throughout the eClosing process,” President and CEO Dominic Iannitti said.

“In practice, these new levels of participation mean fewer errors and a better loan process from end to end.”

DocMagic’s hands-on approach to implementation, from developing the project roadmap to synchronized testing of each facet of the eClosing process, ensures each client’s success. “We partner with our clients to put the essential pillars in place, paving the way to more flexible and scalable operations with paper-free eClosings at the heart of their workflow,” Iannitti said.

An eClosing has many moving parts. As a single-source solution, DocMagic has eliminated the issues that plague other providers — not just after implementation, but over the long term as lenders embrace electronic closings.

AUGUST 2021

DOCMAGIC docmagic.com/total-eclose

THE EXECUTIVE:

DOMINIC IANNITTI PRESIDENT & CEO Dominic Iannitti founded DocMagic more than 30 years ago with a commitment to provide the mortgage industry with superior technology solutions and services to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of paper.

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DocMagic’s Total eClose solution features consoles for both settlement agents and notaries

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Sponsored Content

FIRST AMERICAN DOCUTECH docutech.com/solutions/solex/

THE EXECUTIVE:

AMY BRANDT PRESIDENT OF FIRST AMERICAN DOCUTECH

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Amy Brandt is president of First American Docutech, a part of the First American family of companies, providing leadership and vision to deliver end-to-end integrated digital mortgage solutions that enable lenders to accelerate the real estate closing process.

Solex eClosing from First American Docutech provides lenders with eSigning efficiencies and eVault integration

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s lenders strive to reduce costs, close loans faster and deliver a safe, seamless and convenient borrower experience, leveraging a comprehensive eClosing platform is a top priority. Solex eClosing from First American Docutech is designed to accelerate the closing process through a streamlined, end-to-end, modern digital experience, inclusive of lenders, settlement agents, notaries and borrowers.

“The combination of First American and Docutech is driving the digital transformation of the real estate closing process forward through collateral file management from the inception of the mortgage process through post-closing,” said Amy Brandt, president of First American Docutech.

The Solex eClosing platform is approved

by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for eClosing, eNote and eVault functionality. Solex provides lenders with efficiencies from point of sale through post-closing, and includes intelligent eEligibility, native SMARTDoc eNote, electronic notarization including Remote Online Notarization (RON), and its proprietary eVault with a direct integration to the MERS eRegistry.

Through First American Docutech, lenders gain the benefit of an intelligent eEligibility engine that analyzes each closing package and helps determine the most appropriate eClosing path. Lenders can also provide title and settlement with secure access to review and add title documents to the closing package.

The process is also convenient for the borrower as they can review their documents in advance from any device and can eSign relevant documents, thereby shortening the actual closing ceremony.

On the day of closing, Solex provides options for in-person eNotarization, RON and eRecording.

For lenders utilizing First American Docutech’s dynamic document generation engine, ConformX, integrated with lead-

AUGUST 2021

ing loan origination systems and borrower portal solutions, every relevant field is imported, defaulted or automatically populated through rules-based intelligence.

All disclosures and closing documents are generated with eSignatures and interaction points tagged natively, eliminating manual labor and missed signature and interaction points.

In addition, settlement agents can easily upload relevant documents to the closing process for an automated and accelerated eClosing experience. Soon, lenders on any document generation system will be able to utilize Solex eClosing for hybrid closings and later for a full RON eNote eClosing.

After the eClosing is completed, the eNote is registered on the MERS eRegistry through the Solex eVault, where all of the life of loan events can be managed. Once registered with MERS, lenders can manage secured parties or interim investors, transfer control to a final investor, update the servicer and location fields when needed, and later flag an eNote as being paid off, assumed, modified or other life-of-loan events.

“As part of the First American family of companies, our combined expertise in title, settlement and document services technology delivers a complete suite of digital mortgage solutions to make it easy for lenders and settlement providers to close loans faster,” continued Brandt.

“We are focused on accelerating the closing process for all involved through the creation, delivery, execution and perfection of the documents, from application through post-closing.”

First American Docutech provides lenders with a complete and integrated digital mortgage solution that streamlines the complex closing process. Solex eClosing continues to lead the industry and has now helped lenders digitally close more than 500,000 mortgages.

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ortgage lenders are looking for ways to accelerate the digital mortgage process and deliver a one-of-a-kind experience for borrowers.

ICE Mortgage Technology’s Encompass eClose allows lenders to electronically order documents, collaborate with settlement agents and partners, eSign documents with borrowers, electronically record and will soon deliver electronic notes and vault to eRegister with MERS. Historically, providing a true eClose experience workflow has been a complex process. Lenders often need to work with multiple vendors and technology platforms to achieve an end-to-end digital closing experience. With components ranging from ordering electronic documents, eSigning capability, settlement agent collaboration, eNotarization and eRecording, implementation can be complicated and costly. Not to mention, it often leads to a fragmented experience for borrowers and steep learning curves for lenders and settlement agents.

With Encompass eClose, users can eliminate the pain and added cost associated with managing multiple vendors and streamline the closing process all from within the industry’s most recognized LOS, Encompass.

“By leveraging the largest connected network in the industry with Encompass, Simplifile and MERS, our eClose solution accelerates digitization and improves profit margins through efficient utilization of the workforce and workflow,” said Joe Tyrrell, president of ICE Mortgage Technology. “This enables lenders to attract more borrowers by providing a better loan experience.”

Encompass eClose provides: • One partner: By working with one provider, lenders only need to handle one contract, one security review, one implementation and one invoice.

• One workflow: All steps of the eClose process can be completed without leaving Encompass and the workflow remains consistent with both

hybrid and full eClose loans. In addition, even fully ink packages follow the same workflow in Encompass, streamlining implementation and adoption by users and creating a digital post close process, improving ROI even on paper loans.

• One data source: ICE Mortgage Technology brings data together into one tightly integrated solution, creating operational efficiencies and improving quality control.

• O ne ne t wor k : IC E Mor t ga ge Technology offers one of the largest ecosystems of lenders, settlement agents, partners, service providers and mortgage investors all in one place.

For lenders, Encompass eClose helps lower operational costs by streamlining and digitizing traditionally manual, paper-driven workflows to close loans more efficiently. Borrowers get a better mortgage experience since they can use a single portal from their application to close.

Settlement agents experience greater ease of use through real-time transparency and view into the loan closing process, an audit trail, and necessary security and access through one platform across multiple eClose steps.

“This fall, ICE Mortgage Technology plans on launching eNotes, an eVault that fully integrates into the MERS eRegistry and more to enhance the eClose experience further and get closer to providing a true digital mortgage experience,” said Nancy Alley, VP, Product Strategy of ICE Mortgage Technology. “True to our goal to simplify adoption, users will be able to manage their eNotes all from within Encompass and not be required to learn a new eVault interface.”

By bringing together the expertise and innovation of Encompass, Simplifile and MERS into the ICE Mortgage Technology Platform, lenders and their customers and partners can leverage one streamlined workflow for eClose that lowers operational costs, boosts profitability and delivers a superior experience for borrowers.

AUGUST 2021

ICE MORTGAGE TECHNOLOGY icemortgagetechnology.com/ eclosing

THE EXECUTIVES:

JOE TYRRELL PRESIDENT OF ICE MORTGAGE TECHNOLOGY Joe Tyrrell is head of ICE Mortgage Technology, the leading cloud-based loan origination platform provider for the mortgage industry and part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure.

NANCY ALLEY VP OF PRODUCT STRATEGY OF ICE MORTGAGE TECHNOLOGY Bringing 30 years of financial services and mortgage industry experience to her role, Nancy Alley is the strategic leader for ICE Mortgage Technology’s eClose solutions.

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With Encompass eClose from ICE Mortgage Technology, all eClosing steps can be completed within one workflow

- SPECIAL REPORT -

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NOTARIZE www.notarize.com

THE EXECUTIVES:

PAT KINSEL CO-FOUNDER AND CEO Pat Kinsel leads Notarize, the first company making it possible to legally notarize documents online and on demand, allowing anyone to buy, sell or finance their home online.

TERRI DAVIS GENERAL MANAGER, REAL ESTATE

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Terri Davis leads Notarize’s efforts to empower the success of partners as the company digitizes processes and modernizes real estate.

Notarize offers its users digital identity proofing and authentication services for eClosings

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echnology has streamlined the real estate industry, but it has also left the industry confused on how to bring the myriad of regulations, documents and requirements together into a cohesive, simple and secure experience that benefits all parties involved. The pioneer of remote online notarization (RON), Notarize is the first platform to enable individuals to sign and notarize documents online, 24/7. By integrating technology with live human interaction to establish identities, Notarize is able to digitally mirror the in-person notary experience and offer added digital identity proofing and authentication services.

“When buying, selling or refinancing a home, Notarize’s products and services bring trust to life and businesses’ most important moments and make them more convenient, secure and verifiable,” CEO Pat Kinsel said.

“As a product and policy-led company, our goal is to build trust in a digital age through a protected online transaction.

Once consumers, title agencies and lenders utilize RON and realize how compliant, secure, and streamlined the experience is, they never go back.”

RON is a fully-digital experience that mirrors the traditional notarial act and provides the same legal protections, but with enhanced security and fraud prevention.

A signer verifies their identity and appears before a notary on a video call, and together they complete, sign and legally notarize the document. Each video session is recorded and retained along with an audit trail of the transaction.

Notaries use this technology to remotely obtain evidence of identity and communicate in real-time with signers. Signers can only connect to a commissioned notary once they’ve completed security measures, including personal identity challenge questions and credential analysis of their government-issued ID. All documents notarized on the platform are digitally signed by the notary using a special x.509 digital certificate issued to the notary (after a rigorous identity securi-

AUGUST 2021

ty process). Once a notary’s digital certificate is applied to a document, it creates what’s called a digital “hash” which functions as a hidden record of all the bits and bytes comprising the document.

If any component of the document is later changed, the document will show that it has been changed after the digital signature was applied.

This enables all users to confirm that they are looking at the original document as originally signed and notarized, and all digital originals are available immediately, reducing the need to print or ship stacks of documents.

“We’ve built proprietary technology that gives users — notaries and signers — access to this secure digital signing table where they’re getting the ease of what a digital-first service can provide, but with unrivaled safety and fraud prevention,” Kinsel said. “Our application development team has extensive experience building bank-grade, highly secure software systems and the data is transmitted and stored using industry-best data security practices.

“We’ve also built software to comply with more than 14 million compliance and acceptance rules across the country to meet any of our customers’ requirements,” he added.

There’s a shift happening in today’s society toward online services, but this convenience and efficiency shouldn’t come at the expense of anonymity and reduced trust. Notarize exists to solve this problem in real estate by creating trust and legal certainty, delivered efficiently at the speed of the internet.

“Notarize’s business has skyrocketed more than 600% since March 2020, and the company has seen rapid adoption of the platform, especially within the real estate ecosystem,” said Terri Davis, General Manager, Real Estate. “We work with thousands of organizations in the real estate industry who want to go fully digital while upholding the highest levels of security and identity verification available. The time for RON is now.”

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s homebuyers complete more of the origination process digitally, from asset verification to disclosures, they expect a similarly modern closing ceremony. Nexus Closing from SimpleNexus enables lenders to deliver mortgages that are digital from application to closing. “ With Nexus Closing a nd the SimpleNexus platform, lenders can provide borrowers with a fully digital, single sign-on home buying experience for a memorably modern experience that increases repeat and referral business,” CEO Cathleen Schreiner Gates said.

Nexus Closing features single sign-on convenience for borrowers, full LOS integration to preserve lender workflows, enhanced title collaboration tools and support for traditional, hybrid and fully digital closings.

With one set of account credentials, customers can securely navigate the entire mortgage process, including the closing stage. Borrowers are also allowed early access to 80% of their final documents before the day of closing, reducing the time at final closing.

Nexus Closing offers a single-platform eClose solution with the flexibility to integrate into a lender’s existing workflow to streamline mortgage operations and deliver modern convenience to borrowers. The platform includes Hybrid eClose, which allows lenders to send hybrid closing packages for the borrower to sign electronically. The security instruments, or any documents that require a notary, will still be signed in person by the settlement agent and the borrower.

Nexus Closing also features integrated remote online notarization (RON), so lenders can deliver fully digital closings by allowing notary required documents to be signed online using a video calling ceremony between a borrower and notary.

In addition, the RON scheduling feature opens up the availability of times where all

parties can meet to finalize any remaining paperwork as quickly as possible.

The eMor tgage integrations within Nexus Closing include the generation of the eNote document, tamper sealing of the eNote during the closing, validation of the tamper seal and delivery of the eNote into the eVault for registration to MERS eRegistry.

“Nexus Closing gives lenders the flexibility to make the closing experience as digital as they want. In addition to improving the consumer experience, Nexus Closing offers lenders substantial ROI with improved operational efficiency, increased data integrity and faster delivery of loans to the secondary market,” said Andria Lightfoot, VP, Professional Services.

A core feature of Nexus Closing is the deep LOS integration that preserves existing workflows and delivers new efficiencies of digitizing the closing process. The platform can move closing documents bi-directionally between the LOS and title company, enabling lenders to reduce redundancies and process closing paperwork more quickly.

“For businesses and borrowers alike, time is money,” added Jay Arneja, senior product manager.“By eliminating hours spent driving to closings, mobile notary agents can schedule more closings per day. And best of all, Nexus Closing cuts time spent printing, scanning, faxing and mailing documents back and forth while also saving on expenses related to paper, ink, shipping and physical document storage.”

SimpleNexus is a mobile-native homeownership platform where borrowers can apply for a loan, sign disclosures, submit documentation, communicate with their lender and close on their loan, all with the same login from their device. SimpleNexus has brought the intuitive purchase experience consumers have come to expect from their commerce apps to lending.

AUGUST 2021

SIMPLENEXUS simplenexus.com/eclosing/

THE EXECUTIVES:

CATHLEEN SCHREINER GATES CEO For 35 years, Cathleen Schreiner Gates has accelerated growth at early stage and global software-as-a-service (SaaS) organizations.

ANDRIA LIGHTFOOT VP, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Andria Lightfoot is a renowned mortgage technologist with experience leading mortgage operations, providing strategy for enterprise software solutions and implementing innovative change management solutions.

JAY ARNEJA SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER Having held positions at MERS and worked closely with Fannie and Freddie, Jay Arneja has more than 25 years of experience in wholesale /correspondent lending as well as expertise in building process/product and technology solutions for primary and secondary market mortgage operations.

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With Nexus Closing from SimpleNexus, lenders can make the closing experience as digital as they want

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THE EXECUTIVES:

AARON KING CEO Aaron King has worked in the mortgage industry since high school. Aaron founded Snapdocs in 2013 with the mission to perfect the mortgage closing process.

CAMELIA MARTIN HEAD OF INDUSTRY & REGULATORY AFFAIRS Camelia Martin brings over 16 years of experience in mortgage finance technology to her role at Snapdocs, where she collaborates with a broad spectrum of industry participants to advance the adoption of digital mortgage closings.

BRIANA INGS

Snapdocs gives lenders a proven path to adopting digital closings, powering millions of closings a year

T

he technology components required to digitize closings — things like eSignatures and webcams — have existed for decades. But until recently, digital closings had never been adopted at scale.

The limiting factor was not technology, but the fact that the closing process requires coordinated participation from many members of a fragmented ecosystem, each with their own chosen technologies and workflows.

Snapdocs has emerged as the digital infrastructure that connects the mortgage closing ecosystem in order to orchestrate perfect digital closings at scale. It enables lenders to connect with all parties and technologies involved in a mortgage transaction to complete the entire closing process online. The platform allows all participants in a mortgage closing to work together to close deals faster, more efficiently and with dramatically fewer errors.

Snapdocs’ technology platform is built on a multi-party workflow engine that coordinates the activities of all stakeholders in a mortgage closing, bringing clarity and transparency to every step of the process. This capability plugs into any loan origination system (LOS) or document prep provider, allowing all users to stay in their systems of choice while Snapdocs operates to improve the experience in the background. Snapdocs then employs artificial intelligence to assure accuracy in every document and closing package, eliminating errors and the cost associated with rework.

Technology alone does not enable closings at scale. For the foreseeable future, lenders are certain to have a mix of closing types to manage, be they wet-signed, fully digital or a hybrid of the two. Snapdocs be-

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VP, PRODUCT Briana Ings leads Snapdocs’ development team in helping lenders transform the closing process. Briana’s teams prioritize providing pragmatic solutions to lenders through modern and intuitive workflow design, powerful AI capabilities and seamless integrations to core systems.

AUGUST 2021

lieves that a single process for all closing types is the key to unlocking scale and ROI. Snapdocs provides lenders with a pragmatic, proven path to adopting digital closings — an approach that also offers borrowers a modern, digital closing experience every single time.

Snapdocs now powers millions of closings a year for lenders, title companies and notaries, touching nearly 20% of all US real estate transactions every month, representing over $60 billion in mortgage value.

“Snapdocs is in the background of the closing processes of the most successful lenders, providing the necessary infrastructure for digital closings to work at scale,” Snapdocs CEO Aaron King said.

Waterstone Mortgage is just one example of the power of the Snapdocs platform in action. Waterstone is one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders with 650 employees lending in 48 states. In early 2020, Waterstone used Snapdocs to spearhead a strategic initiative to move all closings to fully digital experiences. In just three months, the company was able to go from zero digital closings to closing 70% of its loans as hybrid closings.

“We’re already seeing Snapdocs and our ‘hybrid-as-default’ offering become a competitive advantage,” said Tom Knapp, CIO of Waterstone Mortgage. “It’s still a nice surprise for some once they’ve chosen Waterstone Mortgage as their partner, but borrowers now seek us out because of it.”

In 2020, Waterstone closed 40% more mortgages than it had the previous year, with the same number of closers. On average, the company’s hybrid eClosings were 60% faster than wet closings, with an 80% reduction in errors.

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THINGS HOUSING. SEPTEMBER 27-28 FRISCO, TEXAS PRESENTING SPONSOR

REGISTER AT HOUSINGWIRE.COM/ENGAGE

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......................................85 ALTA......................................85 MBA ......................................86 NAHB ....................................86

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NAR.......................................87

AUGUST 2021

TRADE DESK

Marc Summers

President Association of Independent Mortgage Experts

AIME members, AIME is proud to leverage the strategic importance of its most vital asset, its members, to bring even greater change to the things that matter most to independent mortgage brokers as we continue on our mission to protect and support the wholesale channel.

Our association lived up to this promise during National Mortgage Broker’s Month in July when it announced six new Member Committees focused on campaigns vital to maintaining the wholesale channel’s continued growth and development. Now, with a new leadership team at the helm, AIME is ready to reach even greater heights in a mortgage environment that requires innovative and visionary strategy.

AIME is preparing to once again host the industry’s premier national event during its fourth annual Fuse National Conference in Las Vegas at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino on September 24th and 25th of this year. As always, Fuse will offer attendees the opportunity to

network with broker-owners, loan originators and mortgage professionals from across the country in the largest gathering of independent brokers within the wholesale mortgage industry.

The conference will also offer independent mortgage brokers the ability to grow their business through innovative workshops on industry best practices, breakout sessions highlighting industry experts and exclusive access to AIME’s elite vendor and lender partners.

Fur ther, attendees will be empowered to push the boundaries of their business capabilities thanks to keynote speakers like 5-time NBA Champion Magic Johnson, motivational leadership expert and “Start With Why” author Simon Sinek, and the bestselling author of “Molly’s Game,” entrepreneur Molly Bloom. I am excited to once again be able to gather with our community this September at Fuse and celebrate the success of both our present and our future.

ALTA members, The standard ALTA Policy Forms have been formally revised over the years to reflect changes in the marketplace brought about by evolving business practices, expectations of insureds, laws, regulations and legal decisions. Advancements in electronic notarizations, changes in certain consumer and creditor rights law and case law developments were primary drivers leading to the latest revision of the ALTA Loan and Owner’s policies and numerous other ALTA forms approved on May 26 by the ALTA Board of Governors.

This effort is the culmination of more than six years of dedicated work by the ALTA Policy Forms Committee. A special thank you to ALTA Members Jim Gosdin, senior vice president, associate general counsel and chief underwriting counsel at Stewart Title Guaranty Co., and Paul Hammann, senior vice president and chief title counsel at First American Title Insurance Co., for their leadership on the committee and all their hard work!

For historical perspective, the 1970 policies were re-

vised in 1984, followed by a complete rewrite in 1987.

In 1990, the forms were modified again, adding the creditor’s rights exclusion for the first time. A limited modification was made in 1992, followed by a complete rewrite of the base forms in 2006.

The forms, in general, are made available for customer convenience and can be found online at alta.org/policy-forms. The parties are free in each case to agree to different terms and the use of these forms is voluntary unless required by law.

The forms are copyrighted, and use is restricted to ALTA Policy Forms Licensees (including ALTA Members) in good standing as of the date of use.

American Land Title Association AUGUST 2021

Diane Tomb

CEO American Land Title Association

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Association of Independent Mortgage Experts

Robert Broeksmit

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President & CEO Mortgage Bankers Association

Mortgage Bankers Association

TRADE DESK

MBA members, MBA recently issued a policy brief explaining why the Communit y Reinvestment Act should not apply to Independent Mortgage Banks.

For background, banks obtain deposit insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, giving consumers in local communities the confidence to put their money in the banks. The CRA was enacted in 1977 to encourage banks that benefit from FDIC insurance (and other federal programs) to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they do business, including low and moderate-income communities.

IMBs already invest heavily in the communities that the CRA seeks to help. According to MBA’s analysis of federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, within the Federal Housing Administration, which predominantly serves minority and first-time homebuyers, IMBs account for 85% of loans. All told, IMBs originate 62% of purchase mortgages for low- and mod-

NAHB members, Regulations imposed by federal, state and local governments drive up the price of housing through costly compliance requirements during land development and the construction of new homes. A study by economists at the National Association of Home Builders shows those costs account for $93,870, or 23.8% of the current average sales price of $394,300, for a new single-family home.

The costs were broken down into $41,330 attributable to regulation during development, and $52,540 due to regulation during construction. The total exacerbates the already critical need for housing across our nation by further limiting supply, particularly for the entry-level market in need of inventory. In addition, record increases in lumber prices and widespread shortages of materials and labor are receiving almost daily attention recently and, combined with regulatory costs, threaten to slow the housing market’s steam.

The cost of regulation study, conducted every five years, shows the current total is up 11% from $84,671 in the 2016 study and 44% from NAHB’s 2011 estimate of $65,224.

More than $24,000 is attributable to changes in building codes alone over the past 10 years.

The only variation in methodology from the 2016 study is

erate-income borrowers and 67% for minority borrowers. Homebuyers who rely on IMBs have loans that are, on average, 11% smaller than those who use banks covered by the CRA. Applying the CRA to IMBs could undermine the purpose of the law itself.

IMBs already are subject to a robust and successful regulatory system.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, state regulators, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac apply high standards to IMBs with respect to capital and liquidity, consumer protection, fair lending and other requirements.

Expanding the CR A would expose them to significant new regulatory burdens, adding costs and complexities that would make their current operations more difficult to continue while providing no apparent benefit given their strong lending records.

Federal and state policymakers should keep this fact in mind and remember that IMBs already are a key mortgage provider in low-and moderate-income communities.

that the new version is based on two separate surveys: one of land developers with experience developing single-family lots and selling them to builders, and one of single-family builders that were included in a special section of the March 2021 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

NAHB understands the purpose behind government regulations. But excessive, needlessly redundant or poorly structured regulations can slow economic activity and affect tens of thousands of small businesses and millions of consumers.

NAHB encourages lawmakers to consider approaches that provide greater flexibility, including regulations that encourage innovation to help meet our nation’s goals for a cleaner environment, safer workplaces and a competitive market. To see the full study on the cost of regulation and other NAHB economic news, visit E yeOnHousing. org.

National Association of Home Builders AUGUST 2021

Chuck Fowke

Chairman National Association of Home Builders

TRADE DESK

NAR members, As the nation’s largest trade association representing more than 1.4 million members across the country, the National Association of Realtors is positioned to do a tremendous amount of good in America and throughout our world. Two summers ago, in August of 2019, NAR kicked off a partnership with the Food Recovery Network, a national nonprofit that since 2011 has been committed to fighting food waste and hunger by recovering perishable food from meetings, conferences and other types of events. Since its founding, the network has recovered over five million pounds of food and donated 4.1 million meals to families in need. Although the opportunities to donate unused food from in-person meetings were not as plentiful during the pandemic, NAR has resumed our partnership with the FRN and we continue to support the efforts of food banks nationwide.

Food insecurity remains a persistent, lasting problem for too many in our nation, but I am encouraged by the progress we have made and am thrilled to have the support of so many industry partners and state and local Realtors associations in our ongoing fight to combat hunger.

NAR will encourage all of the 1,200 state and local Realtor associations across the country to join hands with the FRN and do whatever they can to help families in need in their respective communities. Realtors are in the business of helping families secure one of the most universal human needs: a roof over our heads. So, it’s only natural for Realtors and associations to be as eager to help in other ways, too. And that’s exactly what we have seen with this partnership, as NAR members, their families and even their friends have stepped up and pitched in to reduce the amount of food being wasted and the number of people who are hungry in America. It is an honor to participate in this fight and we hope others will join CEO us as well.

Bob Goldberg

National Association of Realtors

National Association of Realtors

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REAL ESTATE

AUGUST 2021

REAL ESTATE

Lumber and appliance woes still vexing homebuilders WHAT IS THE BEST CHANCE FOR NORMALCY?

H

igh lumber and app lianc e prices, as well as slow shipping and delivery times, continue to hamstring homebuilders in 2021.

It’s an issue that has been reported on at length by HousingWire, from the onset of the shortage to the crippling price increases — of both lumber and building materials — that coincided with the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the U.S. Specifically, new home builders were hit extremely hard by the drop in inventory and, in part, by the subsequent skyrocketing prices, due to an increase in the number of homebuyers looking to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates.

“There is a disconnect between lumber supply and housing demand,” said Jerry Konter, NAHB vice chairman, in a statement from the NAHB. “U.S.

“Lumber scarcity, and a dearth of building materials more generally, is absolutely still affecting everything.”

-Chuck Fowke

AUGUST 2021

sawmill output increased only 3.3% in 2020, and over the same period, single-family construction increased 12% to almost 1 million housing starts, and the remodeling market expanded 7%.

Chuck Fowke, NAHB chairman, added that remodeling activity has also been held back by high lumber prices, and multifamily, affordable housing projects are also being delayed — or even shelved outright — due to the current complexity of financing.

“Lumber scarcity, and a dearth of building materials more generally, is absolutely still affecting everything,” he said. “And the increasing number of units authorized but not started — for example, the builder has pulled a permit but has not broken ground — is evidence of just that.”

As lumber prices went up, other suppliers — who were dealing with their own lack of product — began increasing their rates, as well. Before they knew it, builders were paying an inordinate amount of money for appliances and basic building materials, as well as lumber.

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BY GEORGIA KROMREI

REAL ESTATE

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L

Lumber mills in Canada began shutting down in the spring of 2020, when the virus began spreading throughout North America. Lumber inventory in the U.S. immediately began plummeting, but the demand for housing didn’t, since mortgage rates were at a sub-3% level.

As more and more people looked to take advantage of low interest rates, builders simply couldn’t keep up — there was a lack of materials, and the ones that were available had increased dramatically in price.

Back in March, lumber prices alone more than quadrupled since April 2020, to an astonishing $1,500 per thousand board feet. And more recently, lumber alone is reported to be adding nearly $36,000 to the final price of a new build.

This is on top of the dwindling lumber inventory the country has seen since the 1990s. Alicia Huey, NAHB second vice chair, recently said that the country was harvesting roughly 10 billion board feet of lumber per year in the 1990s. She added that number has now fallen below 3 billion.

While new builds became increasingly more expensive for the eventual homeowner, existing homes all over the country were selling less than a week after they hit the market. And these new homeowners — many of whom were stuck at home due to company mandated work-from-home orders — couldn’t remodel, or replace the old appliances, or expand without paying a king’s ransom for supplies.

“The popular complaint is that all suppliers are moving slowly, and they are — but some companies are only delivering in the region they service out of. They’re trying to cut down on risk by not shipping all over the country."

-David Logan

AUGUST 2021

It’s not completely fair to blame lumber mills for every supply delay, price increase and skeleton workforce in 2020 and 2021, noted David Logan, NAHB senior economist and director of tax and trade policy analysis. You can, however, blame the pandemic — the genesis of the housing crisis, Logan said — and, strangely, some ill-timed weather.

“The success of shipping and supply chains have been so regionally dependent during the pandemic,” Logan said. “The popular complaint is that all suppliers are moving slowly, and they are — but some companies are only delivering in the region they service out of. They’re trying to cut down on risk by not shipping all over the country.”

The butterfly effect from supply and shipping companies only working in a smaller, centralized area is then easy to trace: A builder in Maryland who usually orders appliances from a company in Texas might have to pivot to ordering from a more expensive outfit on the east coast.

While travel time might be cut in half, the east coast company knows demand for its product is higher and raises its prices.

“We obviously do a lot of overseas shipping and importing that you would expect to take a hit [with the pandemic], but even our domestic supply chains have really suffered,” Logan said.

Specifically, the cost — and scarcity — of new appliances for homes has been an added thorn in the side of homebuilders and prospective buyers, as the median price of refrigerators, washing machines, and ovens had increased 10% by the end of 2020, Logan said. Those prices have stabilized as the calendar turns to June 2021, but delivery time is still a problem, he said. “ We’re talking up to six months for delivery of appliances in some cases,” Logan said. “And that’s another

REAL ESTATE

regional issue. The country gets a lot of refrigerators and refrigerator parts from Mexico, for example, and they were in a lockdown for a long time. That really hurt anyone ordering freezers or refrigerators.”

Then, just as prices improved for the first time in months, a once-in-a-lifetime winter storm hit Texas in early 2021, further disrupting supply — and builder schedules — throughout the country.

“There are a few major companies in Texas, for example, that are major suppliers of refrigerator insulation and other appliance accessories, and those were completely shut down for a few days in February,” Logan said.

Thus continues the immensely frustrating cycle builders are in: The pandemic shut down lumber mills, which drove up the price of lumber, which in turn drove up the prices of everything needed to build a home, Logan said.

“What we’ve seen over the past year, in terms of building supplies, appliances and other materials, is either prices have increased dramatically, or the items are in short supply,” he said. “And from the most basic, Economics 101-perspective, that doesn’t make any sense.”

before that they struggle to find full crews to build homes, as enhanced unemployment benefits — enacted by the government to combat the effects of the pandemic — are keeping workers at home. And even if they aren’t receiving a large unemployment payment, the risk of getting sick isn’t worth it, they said.

Fowke said a return to normalcy sometime in 2022 — when more of the U.S., and the world, is vaccinated — is more realistic.

“Policymakers need to act,” he said.

“We’re not going to return to anything normal [before 202 2] given the strong housing demand and strained bottlenecks.”

“Policymakers need to act,” he said. “We’re not going to return to anything normal [before 2022] given the strong housing demand, and strained bottlenecks."

-Chuck Fowke

T

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The continued distribution of the multiple COVID-19 vaccines is key to a return of affordable prices and shorter delivery times, according to multiple experts interviewed for this story. Lumber mills returning to full strength will certainly help, but those still operating at less than 100% capacity are doing so, in part, to keep workers healthy.

“Really, it’s going to take the working share of the population get ting vaccinated and back to work for things to really improve,” Logan said.

Builders have told HousingWire

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REAL ESTATE BROKERAGES

AUGUST 2021

REAL ESTATE BROKERAGES

How is the housing market impacting real estate agents?

HOW TO SURVIVE DURING ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING MARKETS

BY ROBYN FRIEDMAN

“Licenses went up dramatically due to job changes, and it does weed out the amateurs, the folks who can’t adapt to change fast enough.”

-Sherri Johnson

There’s plenty of advice available to help buyers and sellers navigate the current housing market. But what about real estate agents? What are they doing to adapt and ensure their survival during one of the most challenging markets in history?

“So many people got into the business last year because of the pandemic,” said Sherri Johnson, a national real estate coach and speaker. “Licenses went up dramatically due to job changes, and it does weed out the amateurs, the folks who can’t adapt to change fast enough. The cream of the crop always rises, though. Anyone who is a good agent can sustain any type of economic or health crisis or any issue going on in the country.”

S

Schechter has pivoted to survive in one of the most competitive housing markets in the country.

According to the Miami Association of Realtors, real

AUGUST 2021

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G

eorge Schechter has an entirely new business model. A real estate agent at Compass Florida in Coconut Grove, Schechter has 12 years of experience in the real estate industry, so he’s familiar with its cyclical ups and downs. But today’s housing market has forced him to pivot to remain successful.

“This market is like nothing we’ve ever seen,” he said. “In certain neighborhoods, such as Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, we’re at 25-year lows in inventory, with buyer demand I’ve never experienced.”

A recent example of the frothy market in South Florida: Schechter listed a house in Coconut Grove on a Friday at 7 a.m. for $895,000. By 10 a.m., he had 62 showing requests and by Monday, 27 offers. The house sold for $1.5 million.

REAL ESTATE BROKERAGES

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estate in Miami-Dade County posted its best April sales month in history. Total home sales surged 151.3% year over year, single-family luxury ($1 million and up) transactions jumped a whopping 541.1% and median prices increased 34.8% year over year in April.

Redfin recently reported that the housing market was more competitive in April than any time since the company began tracking national housing data in 2012. A typical home that sold in April went under contract in 19 days, 16 fewer days than a year earlier and the fastest pace on record. And in April, 49% of homes sold above list price, the largest share on record.

Danny Hazim, 25, an agent with DLP Realty in Bethlehem, Pa., now works seven days a week, 12 hours a day. He gets up at 8 a.m., goes through emails, then gets on the road for showings, arrives home at around 7 p.m. and writes offers.

“It’s very stressful and tough,” he said.

Now in his third year in the business, Hazim expects to close over 50 deals this year. But that might sound better than it is.

“If I sell a house and make a $3,000 commission, it might have taken me six months to make that,” he said. “If you count all the driving, all the time and the money spent on gas, it’s so little.”

Indeed, according to the National Association of Realtors 2021 Member Profile, the median gross income for a Realtor in 2020 was $43,330, down from $49,700 in 2019. Realtors with 16 years or more experience had a median gross income of $75,000, a decrease from $86,500 a year earlier. Only one out of four Realtors earned $100,000 or more.

“There’s not any inventory, and you are going out with buyers desperate to get a place, putting offers on homes they don’t even love — and then not getting them."

how he handles the listings that are so difficult to come by these days. Rather than listing a home in the MLS, waiting for showings and then for offers to eventually roll in, Schechter creates a sense of urgency by listing homes on Thursdays, holding open houses on the weekend and then asking for “best and brightest offers.” With 165 people showing up at a recent open house, he’s found that to be a more effective way to show a house than to arrange individual tours.

Once the offers come through — he recently received 27 offers on a listing — he prepares an Excel spreadsheet that lays out all the details of each offer, from closing date to purchase price, financing details, down payment and inspection period. He goes through each offer, making sure his clients understand all the terms, and then they choose.

Schechter, who refers to himself as a “bona fide real estate geek,” also spends about seven to eight hours a week studying homes on the market. “Even if I don’t have clients interested in them, I can now turn a buyer I meet on the phone into a hard-contract buyer within 72 hours just based on that knowledge,” he said.

-Craig Brody

W

While real estate agents are faced with a lack of inventory on the sales side, they’re also coping with frustrated buyers.

Craig Brody, an agent for Douglas Elliman in Boston, has only been in the industry for three years, but he’s noticed the changes.

“There’s not any inventory, and you are going out with buyers desperate to get a place, putting offers on homes they don’t even love — and then not getting them,” he said. “It’s very tiresome.”

S

Schechter, of Compass, has changed

AUGUST 2021

REAL ESTATE BROKERAGES

To avoid wasting his time, Brody now tells buyers they need to be prepared to make an offer on the spot if they see a house they like — and that the offer needs to be over list to be successful. “I tell them if they’re not willing to go eight to 10% over asking, they have no shot,” he said.

“Our time is our money – when there’s no inventory, and they’re getting 15 or 20 offers on a place, it feels like you’re just wasting time.”

Alison Malkin has another strategy — when there’s no inventory available for her buyers to purchase, she creates it. “I have a sphere of influence with past clients,” she said. “I always stay in touch and ask them for business, but I’ve intensified that.” Instead of reaching out once a quarter, she is now in touch once a month, keeping them posted on market conditions and helping them craft a plan to capitalize by selling their home at the peak of the market. Malkin, broker/owner of RE/MAX Essentia [cq] in Avon, Conn., has closed eight off-market deals since January by knocking on doors to see if people are interested in selling.

“I’ve been doing this a long time so I try my best to set expectations right from the beginning, but I feel their emotional pain."

best to set expectations right from the beginning, but I feel their emotional pain.”

To cope, Castellanos makes sure she takes care of herself. “I do my self-care so I can be there for my clients,” she said.

“My workouts and morning routine are super important to be mentally prepared for what the day brings. Whether it’s reading, journaling or meditating, real estate agents should make some time for themselves to make sure their mind is clear.”

Johnson, the coach, said that any agent can survive this market if they’re flexible and adapt. “They need to re-engineer how they look at the business,” she said.

“Instead of thinking that something is in the MLS, they have to make it happen.

That will create an anything-proof, recession-proof, health-crisis-proof economy for any real estate agent.”

-Gloria Castellanos

C

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Certainly, buyers are frustrated when they spend weeks looking for a home, making multiple offers and not winning any. Hazim said he recently worked with a couple who made more than 12 offers on homes and were outbid each time. “It was very tough to give them the news that they didn’t get the house because I knew how badly they wanted it,” he said.

Gloria Castellanos, an agent with The Agency in Beverly Hills, Calif., said one of her clients got very emotional — crying — when she lost a house in a bidding war.

“I’m not made of stone,” she said. “I’ve been doing this a long time so I try my

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POLITICS & MONEY

AUGUST 2021

POLITICS & MONEY

Behind the executive exodus at Fannie Mae THE FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO TALENT DRAIN

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i g h - l e v e l departures from Fannie Mae show no signs of abating.

Celeste Mellet Brown , Fannie Mae’s chief financial officer, is the latest executive to depart the government sponsored entity. Brown’s 2020 compensation, despite a strict salary cap imposed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was $2.3 million, making her the third-highest paid employee at the company.

Some observers believe the string of executive walkouts is the result of a simple calculus: an experienced, talented executive can make far more money elsewhere.

That’s certainly true in Mellet Brown’s case. At Evercore, where she will assume the role of chief financial officer by the end of the year, she will earn twice what she made at Fannie Mae. In addition to

“Fannie Mae is keenly aware of the risk of executive attrition due to its sub-par compensation levels."

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a $500,000 base salary and $3.75 million annual incentive bonus, Brown will receive $2.6 million in stocks over the next four years, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Her employment agreement even offers to make up for deferred compensation from Fannie Mae if it exceeds $600,000.

Few could resist such a pay hike.

Fannie Mae is keenly aware of the risk of executive attrition due to its sub-par compensation levels. The limits, which cap base salaries at $600,000, place it “at a disadvantage compared to many other companies in attracting and retaining executives,” the company told investors in its most recent annual report.

The filing goes on to note that if there were “several high-level departures at approximately the same time,” its ability to conduct business could be adversely affected. Several of the executives who recently left had spent decades at Fannie Mae. A spokesperson for the company said that such changes are a natural part of corporate life

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BY GEORGIA KROMREI

POLITICS & MONEY

and Fannie Mae is no exception. The spokesperson added that in addition to the strong executive leadership team at Fannie Mae, there is a strong bench to support them.

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Besides the compensation limits — which cap base salary at $600,000 — executives may be looking for the exits simply to escape working under conservatorship.

The structure gives the FHFA the power of management, boards and shareholders at the two enterprises. It’s a rub for executives who don’t typically relish being subject to such strict oversight controls.

Former employees who spoke to HousingWire describe a stifling environment, which they attributed to FHFA’s conservatorship, and a bureaucratic regime that is antiinnovation. It ’s not just employee pension plans that were axed when the government seized the enterprises: FHFA clamped down on conferences and travel to meet customers, former executives said.

Then there’s the attitude toward Fannie Mae’s customers, which some perceive as overly dismissive. In March, new limits on the amount of investment property mortgages the GSEs are permitted to buy sparked an industry backlash.

Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the National Economic Council, acknowledged that there were “issues” with the policy, and said he would speak to the FHFA. A spokesperson for the regulator said that the focus of the enterprises, according to the role they have been given by the federal government, is to provide liquidity in the marketplace and

“In other respects, the data speaks for itself, record profits, more capital than they’ve had since they failed and were bailed out by the government, and both are frequently listed among the best places to work.”

-FHFA spokesperson

let the private industry innovate and compete.

“The Enterprises continue to attract the most experienced mortgage executives in the industry and their attrition rate for all employees is low,” a spokesperson for the FHFA said. “In other respects, the data speaks for itself, record profits, more capital than they’ve had since they failed and were bailed out by the government, and both are frequently listed among the best places to work.”

Over the past year, the likelihood of returning the GSEs to the private market has dimmed significantly. While leaving conservatorship was a key priority of the Trump administration, it does not appear to be one for the Biden administration.

“Smart and dynamic executives want the freedom and latitude to do smart and dynamic things at their discretion,” Tim Rood, a former Fannie Mae executive who is now head of industry relations at SitusAMC, said. “If you put operational and policy restrictions on these executives – as FHFA has certainly done – then morale at the top suffers and that trickles down to their subordinates.”

T

Though Hugh Frater remains as CEO, the high-level executives who have left in recent months amount to nearly 150 years of experience — a significant loss of institutional knowledge at Fannie Mae, the larger of the two GSEs. Many of the departures have been in the single-family business. Former employees say the bench is becoming thin. Andrew Bon Salle, one of Fannie Mae’s most senior leaders and its head of single-family, left at the end of 2020.

The parent company of wholesale lender Homepoint named Bon Salle chairman

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POLITICS & MONEY

recently its head of corporate strategy, left in January after two years at Fannie Mae.

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According to Fannie Mae employees who have left in recent years, working at the GSE was a well-paying, interesting job. Those working in single-family, in particular, described the work as exciting and rewarding. Even under conservatorship, many stayed because they felt they could have a positive impact on the health and efficiency of the housing market.

Others may have been motivated by wanting to finish long-term projects, such as the development of a platform that allows the GSEs to issue a single mortgage-backed security.

Common Securitization Solutions, a joint venture owned by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, facilitates issuance of the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security, releases ongoing disclosures and administers the securities after they’ve been issued.

“The common securitization platform was a high-risk transition,” said Jaret Seiberg, the financial services and housing policy analyst for Cowen Washington Research Group. “A lot of people were very vested in wanting to see that succeed.”

It also gave the engineers and executives that developed the technology a “solid landing zone,” Rood said, after they left Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, although he added there was nothing untoward about that.

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For years, high-level GSE employees have been awaiting the end to conservatorship.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in their twelfth year of conservatorship, and Congress has not yet enacted legislation to define the GSEs’ long-term role in the housing finance system,” the document reads. “The Administration is committed to housing finance policy that expands fair and equitable access to homeownership and affordable rental opportunities, protects taxpayers, and promotes financial stability.”

Housing finance experts agree there is little reason for the government to end what is an extremely lucrative arrangement. Through the end of 2020, the GSEs have paid $301 billion in dividend payments to the Treasury.

Under conservatorship, the GSEs are certainly a moneymaker for the Treasury, but they also allow the federal government to effectively control the housing market.

Former Fannie Mae employees attest that the federal government is unlikely to give up the influence it wields through the FHFA. “The problem with conservatorship is that it works too well,” said Seiberg. “It works so well that no one is willing to take the risk to try something else.”

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of the board in January. He also serves on the board of Sagent, a mortgage fintech firm. Fannie Mae named Malloy Evans, previously the company’s chief credit officer for single family, to head the division.

Two other Fannie Mae executives followed Bon Salle to Homepoint.

John Forlines, most recently Fannie Mae’s chief risk officer, joined Homepoint as its chief risk officer in March. His career at Fannie Mae spanned 34 years.

Noelle Lipscomb, Fannie Mae’s internal audit vice president, spent 17 years at the enterprise before joining Homepoint in April as its chief audit executive.

Nearly all of the recently departed executives have been quickly scooped up by financial services, fintech and mortgage firms.

Henry Cason, who spent more than 27 years at Fannie Mae and was most recently the head of digital products, departed in January to become CEO of St. Louis-based personal finance startup FinLocker.

Renee Schultz, Fannie Mae’s senior vice president of capital markets, left Fannie Mae in April after 22 years at the firm. She now serves on the board of directors for her alma mater, St. Mary’s College, and PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust appointed Schultz to its board of trustees in May. Desmond Smith, who was chief customer officer in Fannie Mae’s singlefamily business, left in February. In March, United Wholesale Mortgage hired him as its chief growth officer.

Andrew Peters, Fannie Mae’s head of single-family strategy and insights, left in April to be president of mortgage banking consulting firm LenderWorks.

Jeffrey Walker, most recently Fannie Mae’s single-family chief strategy officer, departed in October 2020. Walker is now on the board at Get Credit Healthy, Inc., a credit remediation company.

And Fernando Correa Arango, most

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w i th Laura Grannemann Vice President of Strategic Investments, Rocket Community Fund

Rocket Community Fund founder on affordable housing A look inside the philanthropic arm of Rocket Companies Last year, Laura Grannemann’s dedication to providing Americans with access to safe and affordable housing earned her a spot as one of HousingWire’s 2020 Women of Influence. Today, her passion is still apparent in the work that she’s doing to help those in underserved communities own homes and build wealth.

“COVID-19 has starkly highlighted housing inequities across the country, so while the underlying issues haven’t changed, our level of urgency around mobilizing must increase,” said Grannemann, vice president of strategic investments for Rocket Community Fund. “No matter what issue you look at — repair issues, tax foreclosure, homelessness, etc. — the racial wealth gap is at the core.”

We reached out to Grannemann to discuss her latest projects with Rocket Community Fund, the philanthropic arm of Rocket Companies she founded at age 24, and her hopes for the future generations of housing professionals.

HousingWire: Last year you and your team took the lead on tackling complex issues like the lack of quality housing inventory and supporting individuals experiencing chronic and veteran homelessness. Which projects are you focusing on this year and where do you see the most need in 2021?

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Laura Grannemann: Home has never been more important than over the past year. COVID-19 has starkly highlighted housing inequities across the country, so while the underlying issues haven’t changed, our level of urgency around mobilizing must increase.

No matter what issue you look at — repair issues, tax foreclosure, homelessness, etc. — the racial wealth gap is at the core. The Rocket Community Fund is committed to systematically increasing opportunities for Americans of color to own homes and build wealth.

For example, as part of our 10-year, $500 million commitment to building economic stability and opportunity for residents of Detroit, we recently launched the Detroit

Tax Relief Fund, which is a $15 million fund to eliminate unjust property tax debt for low-income Detroit homeowners. This will be the linchpin in ending systemic property tax foreclosures in Detroit.

HW: You have certainly found a clear path with your career in housing. What advice do you have for young professionals, particularly women, who are entering the industry?

LG: Passion is essential in all walks of life, but your ability to execute will set you apart from others. Hone your skills — writing, communication, relationship-building, and industry knowledge. These skills will serve you throughout your entire career, and they are often the ones that are taken for granted.

HW: How do you think this past year of remote work due to COVID-19 has impacted professional development and trajectory for early-career professionals at Quicken and across the mortgage industry?

LG: In the wake of COVID-19, the Rock Family of Companies quickly pivoted to working from home. I’ve been incredibly proud to see how our team has created supportive working environments for team members that set us apart from many other employers, including technology deployment, office furniture distribution and tools for parents and caretakers.

As we see significant opportunities for supporting more clients nationwide and driving systemic change in the mortgage industry that increases equitable homeownership, it’s clear that we need early-career professionals to help shape and inform that change.

AUGUST 2021

with Camelia Martin Head of Industry & Regulatory Affairs, Snapdocs

Margin compression could serve as accelerant toward digital closings Navigating the adoption and implementation of digital mortgages As a leader in the adoption, implementation and use of digital mortgages Camelia Martin’s breadth of experience has never been more relevant to the industry. A 2020 Woman of Influence, Martin joined Snapdocs earlier this year as Head of Industry and Regulatory Affairs. We reached out to Martin to discuss her latest digital mortgage closing initiatives and what she sees for the next generation of leaders in housing.

Camelia Martin: COVID catalyzed digital mortgage closings by creating a renewed sense of urgency. As a result, the industry saw significant enablement of digital mortgage closings from a counterparty, policy and legislative standpoint. From an implementation standpoint, however, lenders were still left to deal with significant challenges when it came to identifying the optimal approach towards implementing digital mortgage closings within their organizations or fully operationalizing those implementations. There are a few reasons for this: 1) ambiguity or lack of transparency into factors that determine how digital a particular closing can be (compounded by the number of variables that influence these factors); 2) a general underestimation of the change management associated with these implementations; and 3) unprecedented loan volumes further constrained lenders’ ability to deploy the resources needed to fully operationalize these implementations within their organizations. Because of this, many lenders were not able to pivot as quickly as they would have liked — but they haven’t thrown in the towel yet. In 2021, the potential for margin compression could serve as yet another accelerant towards digital mortgage closings as lenders seek to improve capital efficiency and offer a more competitive experience to borrowers.

HW: Can you tell us a bit about your new role as Head of Industry & Regulatory Affairs at Snapdocs and any projects that you’re excited about working on in 2021?

CM: I’m incredibly excited to have joined the Snapdocs team. Throughout my career, I’ve worked on digital mort-

gage closing initiatives ranging from education, policy, standards, operations and technology. In this role, I can combine all of these facets and work even more closely with our lenders and the industry to advance digital mortgage closings.

I’m also a huge believer in the approach the company took in designing a closing solution that truly recognizes and fully accommodates the role each participant plays in the closing transaction, including the lender, borrower, settlement agent and notary. This approach ensures all participants see value in digital mortgage closings, and it’s that value that will ultimately drive adoption.

One area I’m focused on in particular this year is to help further transparency and uniformity in digital mortgage closing policies, enabling lenders to maximize their digitization efforts.

HW: When you think about the future of housing, what skills do you think are most important for the next generation of leaders to develop?

CM: The concept of mentorship is incredibly important in any industry, but I think it’s particularly critical to housing finance. There’s a lot of complexity and so many different aspects to learn that it can be incredibly overwhelming.

I credit a great deal of my professional development to a couple of mentors that shared their knowledge with me, provided coaching, championed my growth or simply offered to serve as a sounding board from time to time when I needed it. I was fortunate that these relationships occurred organically, as I wasn’t necessarily cognizant of the need to seek out mentors earlier in my career. I think both today’s leaders and the next generation of leaders stand to benefit from prioritizing the development of these relationships, and organizations should take more deliberate steps to encourage mentorship programs.

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HousingWire: The future of the digital mortgage has been a topic of interest, particularly since the emergence of COVID. What advances are you seeing being made and how has adoption changed over the past year?

KUDOS

Women-only home building group making mark in Utah A look at “the House that She Built”

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By Tim Glaze

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In 2018, Kristin Smith was tasked with starting the first-ever Utah Professional Women in Building group. Now, in 2021, the large, female-only company designed and constructed a home that was showcased in the 2021 Utah Valley Parade of Homes — and sold to benefit several good causes.

The proceeds from the sale of the home will be divided between scholarships, women-run charities and future home projects. The scholarships will account for 60% of the total profit and will be awarded to women pursuing construction management related degrees or trade school programs, and 20% of the profits will be used for education initiatives and future building events. The remaining 20% will be donated to Life Start Village Family Support Center, a local woman-centric charity.

“We reached out to as many women as possible we k new in the construction industr y, and today, we have over 60 women who are members of our council,” Stephanie S h a r p o f S t eve n Dailey Construction and PWB president, said. “Our collective goals are to continue to grow and create a valuable team that c a n promote t he growth of women in the industry.”

The t wo - stor y home, dubbed the House that She Built, was constructed in Saratoga Springs, Utah, with approximately 3,200 square feet of living space, including a finished basement.

It also includes a children’s play area and large master bedroom.

The home is a testament to and reflection of the women running Utah PWB, all of whom have multiple years of experience in the industry.

Sharp worked for an architectural office for more than 10 years before returning to work in the family business — Steven Dailey Construction, based in Draper, Utah. The Professional Women in Building group, she said, can best be defined as a national home builders association group, with separate chapters across the U.S. Smith, who started Utah PWB, is a mortgage veteran,

having been in the industry for 15 years. Jennie Taylor, PWB vice president, has worked in the finish hardware aspect of construction for 25 years. And Kristi Allen is a builder for WoodCastle Homes in Alpine, Utah and is a third-generation Utah home builder.

The Utah design team working on the House that She Built is made up of Pierrette Tierney of Magleby Construction, Stefani Thatcher of Domani, Natalie Miles of Natalie Miles Design, Alison Simpson of Acute Engineering, Kimberly Parker of Kimberly Parker Design, Allison Campbell of Allison Campbell Design, Rochelle Broadhead of Cambridge Home Company and Den ise Johnson and Randi Smith of Black Goo se Design.

“Utah is an amazing place to live and work,” Sharp sa id. “ Ut a h ha s done a great job with economic development, and I am so thankful and blessed to be able to help more families be able to enjoy the beauty of this incredible state.

We have a large population of real estate agents here and we all work together very well. It is a privilege to be able to help more families.”

Utah became a popular destination for homebuyers during the COVID-19 pandemic, as work-from-home employees realized they could move to states with cheaper — and bigger — lots.

“I think I’ve worked with more out-of-state buyers in the past 12 months than actual Utah residents,” said Caylee Bess of Bess Real Estate, located in Ogden, Utah, which sits between Salt Lake City and Logan. “It’s a lot of people from California, but also Washington, Texas and Oregon.

Our prices obviously weren’t as high as California’s at the

AUGUST 2021

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beginning [of the pandemic], but we’re definitely catching up thanks to demand.”

Bess described the bidding wars in towns like Logan — which sits 90 minutes north of Salt Lake City — and central Utah as “insane,” with homes that have been on the market for only 12 hours receiving anywhere from 20 to 40 offers — and all well above asking price.

“People are offering $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, up to $60,000 above listing price,” Bess said. “Honestly, in most cases, $10,000 over asking isn’t even going to cut it. Logan is growing a lot and has a ton of room to build, so it’s really competitive.”

Sharp agreed, noting that she and her husband began buying homes for clients themselves — usually all in cash — and then selling them back after closing to ensure the client gets the home without going through a stressful bidding war.

“This allows us to make a strong offer that the sellers can’t decline, and also allows our clients the opportunity to live in this beautiful Utah valley,” she said. “The state is in the heat of one of the busiest and craziest markets we have ever seen.”

“When helping home buyers in today’s market, they are all up against cash buyers who can offer the sellers more than the average buyer has. It’s difficult to see your clients lose home after home, due to not having a few extra hundred thousand dollars to bid, or on an all cash offer,” she added.

During the pandemic, Sharp said PWB even added employees and focused on “dominating the industry.”

She said PWB is always looking for additional skilled women in the trades, particularly plumbing, HVAC and electricians.

“In our eyes there was never a pandemic,” she said.

“We worked harder than everyone else and made our dreams reality. The best part of my job is being able to help families continue to build the American dream.”

Joining the Utah PWB is simple: Send an email to breyandi@acuteengineering.com to get started.

AUGUST 2021

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parting shot ❱ ALL EYES ON PURCHASE

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HousingWire hosted its annual engage.marketing summit, giving attendees a front-row seat to the marketing all-stars of the housing industry. This one-day, virtual event focused on topics that ranged from understanding the current market to executing a successful content strategy. And this year’s speakers brought in years of experience and insight on how to move forward in the current climate, especially as the housing market shifts to purchase.

While our team was running point from our HW Media headquarters in Dallas, team members like our HousingWire Webinar Manager Allison LaForgia, pictured right, created an impactful and engaging agenda that is still available online for our HW+ members.

AUGUST 2021

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