It’s hard to believe, but our 2019 Winter Collaboration Lab Summit is right around the corner. And by right around the corner, we mean less than 5 weeks away! Now’s the time to nail down your plans to collaborate with other leading lenders within the network from all across the country in one centralized location.

Our Member Engagement Team will be finalizing the groups this week, and we’re asking our lender members to commit to make the trip! We know it'll be worth it.

There’s lots of prep calls, surveys, and data metrics to get out to everyone and collect…tons of behind the scenes work to ensure we put the right discussion topics on each groups’ customized agendas, get everyone ready to roll, and stack up the data so we can talk about the meaning behind the numbers.

That’s what we do, and it’s what we’re all about. We take great pride in providing excellent experiences for our lender members. TMC does the heavy lifting, buttons up all the details, and makes sure everyone walks in ready to collaborate and make the most of our two days together in Scottsdale.

It's not just an escape from the cold, it's valuable investment of your time! ...But yes, we picked a pretty fabulous resort in a nice climate to help us get over the beginning of winter blues.

Nearly 40 companies joined us for our first Collab Lab Summit earlier this year, and many more are anticipated to attend this go around - it’s clear that we’re on to something special. We've even gone so far as to find a great sunny spot for us to gather as the winter months start closing in on our TMC Family, and for that, you're very welcome.
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So, what are you waiting for?

Register to join your peers and the TMC crew, and to book your stay at the gorgeous Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia by November 4th. By then, we’ll be a month out from the kick-off, and we certainly don’t you want to miss out on our $209 room rate – yes, it expires in less than a week!

Check out the agenda, details, testimonials and videos here – and if you still have questions, contact Rich Swerbinsky or Jen Peachman. We're always happy to help paint the full picture of what a TMC Collab Lab is all about and what it can do for you!

The Power of the Network was well represented in National Mortgage Professionals Magazine’s second annual list of “Mortgage Banking’s Most Powerful Women”. 

Honorees were selected based on their accomplishments where they were instrumental to major industry innovations, their number of social media followers, or by overcoming some seemingly insurmountable obstacle in their career to rise to the top. Pioneer, leader, and innovator were three key words that were taken into consideration when compiling the list.

Congratulations to the following women from our network who were honored:

• Elizabeth Karwowski – Chief Executive Officer, Get Credit Healthy, Inc.
• Salpi Meyer - Senior Vice President Sales, National Correspondent Division, Plaza Home Mortgage
• Christina Pham – President, JMAC Lending
• Kelsey Rauchut – National Business Development Manager, AnnieMac Home Mortgage

We are extremely grateful and proud to have these women as part of our TMC family. Congrats once more, ladies!

Over the past several years, the housing and mortgage industry has changed in leaps and bounds in regards to the technology available to make the process more accessible and run smoother. Each year, HousingWire recognizes 50 technology trendsetters - the brilliant minds behind some of the industries most valuable tech innovations, and we're lucky enough to call several of these masterminds family. 

Amy Broman, Notarize
"Notarize would not be where it is, leading the digital mortgage revolution, without the contributions of Amy Broman."

​Steve Gaenzler, Radian
"Steve Gaenzler spent 25 years at the intersection of technology and the business of housing."

Matt Hansen, SimpleNexus
"In 2014, the mortgage industry was still acclimating to its shift from paper-based processes to web-based origination tools designed for the desktop when SimpleNexus founder and CEO Matt Hansen launched SimpleNexus with a vision of moving the home loan experience to the devices with which borrowers, real estate agents and loan originators are most intimately connected: their phones."

Rick Lang, Freddie Mac
"In his role as single-family vice president, Rick Lang leads the strategic direction and industry integration efforts for Freddie Mac’s Loan Advisor platform of tools and services."

Tim Mayopoulos, Blend
"A veteran in the financial services industry, Tim Mayopoulos served as president and CEO of Fannie Mae for more than six years before joining Blend in 2019 as president."

Chris McEntee, Intercontinental Exchange
"Since Intercontinental Exchange first started considered entering the residential mortgage industry, Chris McEntee provided the vision for the business."

Tracy Stephan, Fannie Mae
"When Tracy Stephan was asked to define a process at Fannie Mae to help address housing issues in a radical new way, she established a team to research, test and apply emerging technologies, collaborating with startups and fintech companies outside of the housing industry."

Brian Walerius, Total Expert
"Brian Walerius played a key role in the company’s growth over the last several years. Walerius joined Total Expert in 2015."

Suha Beidas Zehl, Guidance Residential
"Suha Beidas Zehl played a transformative role in the home finance industry by creating opportunities that previously didn’t exist for American Muslim homebuyers."

We already can't wait to see what 2020 brings for our industry, and what great ideas these powerhouse professionals will come up with next. 

​The theme for September with TMC Benchmark - another incredibly strong month for closed loans, but new applications and operational efficiency started to tail off as we head into the fall.

July and August were record closing months for many of our members, and historically, have been the two strongest closing months of the calendar year over time. Typically closings start to subside as we move into the fall months but September was actually the strongest closing month of the year for participants of TMC Benchmark with closed loan units up 1.6% over August. We saw several members have record closing months in September. This was no doubt aided greatly by a pretty precipitous drop in interest rates in August, with rates returning to near record lows after we saw them increase in July.

Some other trends of note on September closings - the mix of conventional product was up, with conventional loans accounting for 67% of all closed units, up 6% from August's 61% total. Additionally, mirroring the trend we saw in August with an increased % of refinance applications, 42% of all September closed loan units were refinances, also up 6% from the previous months 36% total. Again, both of these trends are pretty directly corollated to the drop in rates in August.

On the flip side, September applications (measured in units, not dollars) were down 18% from August's new application totals. Rates spiked in mid-September, which slowed down refinance application activity and pushed a lot of prospective home buyers back on the fence. Not surprisingly, in tandem with the drop in application totals, we saw higher %'s of government loan and purchase loan activity. Even with an 18% drop in apps in September, October and November are still likely to be better closing months for most lender than they were projecting this past winter, when things looked bleak. In addition, rates dipped back down to those historically low levels in early October, which will no doubt help October application and November/December closed loan totals.

Through these busy closing times in September, operational efficiency fell off a little bit for our network. The average underwriter decisioned 48.8 loans in September, down from 56.6 in August. It should be noted that this number lived in the low 30's earlier this year. The average "app to clear to close" cycle time increased slightly on September closed loans, rising to 40.8 days from 38.9 days on closings the prior month. Loans closed per processor, underwriter, closer, secondary personnel and per loan originator decreased slightly in September as well.

The average LO comp rose to 91.3 bps in September from 90.6 bps in August. The average non-third party lender fees charged stayed pretty flat at $1,100 on conventional loans and $1,096 on govies. Average salaries paid to processors ($50,934), underwriters ($83,981), and closers ($52,509) also stayed relatively flat month over month.

This was a record month for participants in TMC Benchmark! Amusingly, exactly 50% of participants were IMB's and 50% were depositories. In August that mix was 55% IMB's and 45% depositories. 41% of September participants originate $500M or less in annual production, 27% are in the $500M-$1B annual originations range, and 32% of September TMC Benchmark submissions were from companies that originate more than $1B/year.

Rich Swerbinsky
Chief Operating Officer, The Mortgage Collaborative
rswerbinsky@mtgcoop.com

Time for a little diversion from the day-to-day rigors of helping families achieve the American dream with a refreshed look at one guys’ opinion on the 25 greatest names in the mortgage industry. With a big assist from many of you out there that send me your suggestions when you see a truly ingenious name come across your desk or computer screen. So keep the suggestions coming!

1. Robert Fightmaster, First State Bank

I don’t know Robert, nor do I know his prowess as a mortgage banking exec. But if I’m Quicken or GR or Loan Depot, I am seriously considering hiring this guy to run sales nationally on his name alone and pairing him with a behind the scenes social media genius to create copy for him and unleashing the duo on the unsuspecting online masses.

2. Pierce Outlaw, Patriot Home Funding

An almost perfect name. Pierce sounds stately and refined … Outlaw gives the name some grit and edge. You picture being an LO up against this guy for a deal? Borrower: “I’m being quoted 3.875% from Pierce Outlaw.” Competing LO: “Uncle.”

3. Chuck Chill, Flagstar Bank

I just wanna belly up at a bar with this guy to sip craft beer and watch sports so I can text people and say that “I’m chillin’ with Chuck Chill. What are you up to?”

4. Prince Aurora, Aurora Mortgage

Pierce Outlaw and Prince Aurora should be running countries, not selling mortgages.

5. Von Ringger, Comerica

A long time mainstay in the top ten of this list. It’s a cool name, but I’m an even bigger fan of names with completely unnecessary letters in them like the second “g” in Ringger. Would be a perfect name for a bad guy in an Avengers movie.

6. Richard McCool, Merchants Bank of Indiana

The mortgage industry needs a “McLovin”. Seeing that a quick Linked In search confirms we don’t have one, someone just needs to change their name legally. You can’t tell me that Bob McLovin would not have more gravitas on Capitol Hill than Bob Broeksmit.

7. Monroe Thrower, GBC Funding

It’s really a testament to the evolution of this list that Monroe ranks #7, because this is an epic name. Particularly for a baseball player or a bouncer.

8. Baird Marble, New Rez Correspondent

If #22 Carmel York married #8 Baird Marble, Carmel Marble would project top five in these rankings.

9. Flisadam Pointer, REMN Wholesale

What a Flisa-DAM good name for someone that runs marketing for a large mortgage lender! I’m so excited! And I just can’t hide it! I’m about to lose control, and I think I like it!

10. Shirleen-Queenie VonHoffmann, Homebuilders Edge

Many elements here to an incredible name. Two unnecessary letters in the last name. Hyphenation. A “Queenie” in there? Love. Love. Love.

11. Scott Beer, Hallmark Home Mortgage
12. Heather Beers, Beers Housing
13. David Sober, LRES Corp.

These three should all get together at MBA Annual in Austin later this month and go out drinking.

14. Johnny Margarini, Point Mortgage
15. Freddy Casanova, The Money Source
16. Michael F. N. Steer, MQMR

Johnny Margarini and Freddy Casanova should team up with Tommy Two Times and Ice Pick Willie and start Made Man Mortgage. Michael “Effin” Steer’s parents actually strategically gave him two middle names so he could brand himself that way, though did not see him parlaying that formidable moniker into a successful career in mortgage compliance.

17. Matt Mullett, 1st Security Bank of Washington
18. Dave Savage, Mortgage Coach
19. Scotty Pickle, Celebrity Financial
20. Don Salmon, TBI Mortgage

Matt Mullett should embrace the last name and grow a fantastic mullet. Aaron Boone thinks Dave Savage should be ranked #1 on this list.

21. Dionisia Bejarano Coffman, Chase
22. Carmel York, Western Alliance Bank
23. Taylor Stork, Developer’s Mortgage Company
24. Feliks Viner, First World Mortgage
25. Geri Glixman, First Integrity Mortgage

Dionisia Bejarano Coffman = ELEVEN SYLLABLES!!!! The York & Stork duo are hanging on for dear life at the bottom of this list, they may need a hyphenation or marriage together to survive the next update to this list. Feliks Viner should be plotting in an evil lair with Von Ringger. And “The Glix” hangs on to the last spot over others more deserving in a shameless ploy to get First Integrity to join The Mortgage Collaborative.
 
Rich Swerbinsky
COO – The Mortgage Collaborative
rswerbinsky@mtgcoop.com
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Every year, Inc. - an American business magazine based in New York City - puts out rankings of the 5000 fastest-growing organizations in the United States.  This year, our #TMCFamily was represented on that list by 10 of our fabulous Lender Members and Preferred Partners, and we couldn't be prouder!

Please join us in congratulating:

Our Lender Members...

CrossCountry Mortgage 
Intercontinental Capital Group 
Liberty Home Mortgage Corp 
OneTrust Home Loans 
OVM Financial 
Sovereign Lending Group
Union Home Mortgage 

And our Preferred Partners...

CWDL CPAs / Mortgage Banking CPAs
LBA Ware 
SimpleNexus 
Total Expert 

Congratulations again to you all for being recognized as some of the 'Most Successful Companies in America'!