Dec 2019/ Jan 2020 Issue by HousingWire

HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

MULTIFAMILY Small multifamily loans providing sustainable and affordable solutions. P.62

PROPTECH HomeLight, Lereta help move real estate forward. HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

P.76

> Sandra Jarish Page 47 Sanjiv Das > Page 39

< Gary Beasley Page 35

Kevin Peranio > Page 53

STEWART. GUARANTEED. Over the past 125 years Stewart has expanded our reach from Galveston, Texas to locations around the world. Throughout our history, finding and sharing the OPPORTUNITY TO SUCCEED has been integral to who we are. As Stewart moves into the future, you can continue to COUNT ON US to be here for our customers, our partners and our industry.

See how we’re ready to make our opportunity work for you at stewart.com/hw192.

HOUSINGWIRE DECEMBER 2019/ JANUARY 2020 EDITORIAL

CONTENT SOLUTIONS

MANAGING EDITOR Ben Lane

MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Wheeler

REAL ESTATE EDITOR Kathleen Howley

DIGITAL CONTENT STRATEGIST Alyssa Stringer

ONLINE EDITOR Maleesa Smith ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kelsey Ramírez REPORTERS Alcynna Lloyd Julia Falcon CONTRIBUTORS David Stevens, Phil Shoemaker, David Howard, Mark Besharaty

ASSOCIATE CONTENT EDITOR Jessica Davis CREATIVE GRAPHIC DESIGN Traci Cortez

SALES

CORPORATE

NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Jennifer Watson Laws jlaws@HousingWire.com

PRESIDENT AND CEO Clayton Collins

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Diego Sanchez CALIFORNIA MARKETING MANAGER Christi Lingard Caren Karris clingard@HousingWire.com MARKETING CENTRAL COORDINATOR Mark Adams Katie Galbraith madams@HousingWire.com CLIENT SUCCESS SOUTHEAST MANAGER Tamara Wren Haley Hess twren@HousingWire.com AD OPERATIONS GREAT LAKES COORDINATOR Lorena Leggett Matthew Stafford lleggett@HousingWire.com CLIENT SUCCESS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Josh Farnsworth Talia Quigley josh@HousingWire.com CONTROLLER Michelle Monroe

GOODBYE 2019 WOW! What a year it’s been for both the housing industry and us here at HousingWire. Big changes for us this year and a big business boom for the housing industry thanks to unexpectedly low interest rates. At this time last year, everyone was fully expecting 2019 to be a rough year for the housing business, but that didn’t happen thanks to interest rates falling when they were expected to climb. And as we approached the end of the year, the word I heard most often from lenders was “capacity” as they worked to deal with the onslaught of refinances they’d received after interest rates fell as spring turned to summer. But the housing industry weathered the storm and had one of its best years in a long time. And it’s in that spirit that we honor the housing industry’s top leaders as winners of this year’s HousingWire Vanguard award. This award is reserved for the true pacesetters in the housing industry, the ones leading the charge into a challenging and exciting future. As one of those tasked with picking the winners, let me say that this year’s nominees were truly top notch and whittling it down to just 50 winners was almost impossible for myself and other members of the editorial review board. That’s why we’re so honored to share this list with you. Please turn to page 32 to see the full list of winners and read why they are truly deserving of this honor. Beyond that, we have excellent features on what’s happening in multifamily lending, valuable perspective from female leaders in the housing space on how to balance life and work, and looks ahead to what’s on the horizon in the housing industry, including perspective from former MBA President David Stevens. Here’s to a great 2020 for us all!

Ben Lane Managing Editorial @BenLaneHW

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. © 2019 by HW Media, LLC • All rights reserved

Tweets From The Streets Former big city mayor, Housing Secretary, and presidential candidate here. I would: 1. Increase the stock of affordable housing 2. Make housing vouchers an entitlement 3. End housing discrimination But first you have to see people without homes as...people. Shocking. 63

816

3.2K

by @JulianCastro

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 5

FEATURES DECEMBER/JANUARY

2019 VANGUARDS 50 creators, influencers and leaders in housing By: HousingWire Staff

MULTIFAMILY

WOMEN’S PANEL

PROPTECH

SPOTLIGHT

Small multifamily loans providing sustainable and affordable solutions

Women in housing: how to work and participate in the housing market

Two companies whose solutions are helping move real estate forward.

Sourcepoint helps lenders and servicers carve out a digital path

By: Mark Besharaty

By: Kelsey Ramírez

By: HW Content Solutions

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 7

Arch MI Congratulates

Michael Schmeiser President and Chief Executive Officer

Michael has been named one of HousingWire’s distinguished 2019 Vanguard Award winners. We congratulate him on this recognition for his exceptional leadership of Arch MI.

CONTENTS DECEMBER/JANUARY

16 THE LINEUP 12

PEOPLE MOVERS

Former Freddie Mac CEO Donald Layton was appointed to a new position in housing.

14 EVENT CALENDAR MBA Independent Mortgage Bankers Conference comes to San Francisco. 15

ON THE SHELF

Marc Benioff peels back the curtain at his cloud-based software company.

THE LINEUP

VIEWPOINTS

20 A LIST

26 GSE REFORM

Trulia breaks down the most affordable neighborhoods in the U.S.

Is it unleveling the playing field for small lenders and first time buyers?

22 TAKE 5

28 2020

Former head of Fannie Mae Tim Mayopolous answers five personal questions.

Here are three trends you should keep an eye on in the next year.

24 HOT OR NOT

30 SMART HOMES

Banks could return to FHA lending, cycbersecurity threats are increasing and more.

How smart home technology revolutionized rental housing.

16 DISPATCH Partnering with Compass Analytics helped VanDyk Mortgage create streamlines. 18 DISPATCH Here is the complete guide to confidently perform renovation loans.

HOUSINGWIRE â?ą DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 9

QLÂ® MORTGAGE SERVICES

STRONGER TOGETHER Bill Thams QLMS Account Executive

Lindsey Peterson Marketing Coordinator Loan Pronto Charlotte, NC

Call (888) 762-5035 QLMortgageServices.com/StrongerTogether Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in all 50 states. NMLS #3030

CONTENTS DECEMBER/JANUARY

BACK DEPARTMENTS 82

CFPB WATCH

Supreme Court takes on CFPB case

The Supreme Court agreed that it will now take on the CFPB constitutionality case.

86 LENDINGLIFE Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now appear to be here to stay. How exactly did that happen?

OPENHOUSE

Is climate change coming to a housing market near you, and can we afford to ignore it?

96 INSIDE BASEBALL HUD Secretary Ben Carson on False Claims Act – “The monster has been slayed.”

100 KUDOS In partnership with Habitat for Humanity, over 230 homes built in 2019 Home Builders Blitz.

104 Q&A 1 TD Bank says its customer-centric approach relies on tech powerhouse Roostify.

106 Q&A 2 Covered Insurance promotes an unbiased marketplace for choice and transparency.

108

BACK DEPARTMENTS 108 KNOWLEDGE CENTER

Next wave of RPA and IPA

Here are eight reasons to automate your secondary marketing function.

110 KNOWLEDGE CENTER The next wave of RPA and IPA might catch mortgage companies by surprise.

112

COMPANIES/PEOPLE INDEX

114 PARTING SHOT

110 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 11

Donald Layton Enterprise Community Partners

12 HOUSINGWIRE â?ą DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

MAC PHERSON

PICKERING ELKINS

MAKHIJANI PATCH

ormer chairman and CEO of Bank of New York Mellon Charles Scharf has been named the CEO of Wells Fargo. Scharf is also a former CEO of Visa and former top executive at JPMorgan Chase. Mortgage industry veteran Andy Peach has been named president and chief executive officer of Waterstone Mortgage. He joins the company with more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage lending industry. Peach has also worked for several major financial services firms such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers or Aurora Loan Services. Online residential rental marketplace Zumper recently announced that it was hiring Vishal Makhijani to serve as its next chief operating officer and president. Before being hired on at Zumper, Makhijani served as the CEO of Udacity, an online education innovation service. After serving as president for two years at Academy Mortgage, an independent purchase lender, James Mac Pherson has been promoted to serve as the company's

BAILEY

PEACH ANTEBAIN

Former Freddie Mac CEO Donald Layton was appointed to the board of trustees of Enterprise Community Partners. Layton retired in June after serving as the CEO of Freddie Mac for seven years. Previously, Layton spent time at JPMorgan Chase, E*TRADE and eventually Freddie Mac.

CEO. But his role as president wasn't his first at the company. Prior to taking the position of president in 2016, Mac Pherson served in a plethora of roles at Academy including manager at the regional, divisional and area levels; branch manager; and loan officer. Academy Mortgage also made another change to its executive team by adding Kristi Pickering as the company's chief operations officer. She joined Academy earlier this year as senior vice president of process automation. She brings over 25 years of mortgage industry experience to the role, including more than 10 years in high-level roles at Bank of America Home Loans. Lynn Stillman was promoted to senior vice president of Title Resources, after having previously served as the Texas underwriting counsel for a year. Stillman brings more than 12 years of experience to her new role in handling regulatory, compliance and corporate matters relating to the title insurance and real estate industries. Real estate veteran Ohan Antebian

was recently named the general manager of ATTOM Data Solutionsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; consumer businesses. Before taking on the new role at ATTOM, Antebian served as chief product officer for Sold.com. In fact, Antebian brings about two decades of industry experience. WEST Financial appointed Darcy Patch as its new vice president of marketing and lender services. Patch holds more than 20 years of experience in the housing industry. Before taking on this new role, she previously served as vice president of marketing for Veros Real Estate Solutions. After working for a time at Century 21 Real Estate, Nick Bailey announced he has returned to RE/MAX as the company's chief customer officer. Before leaving, Bailey had previously spent more than a decade at RE/MAX World Headquarters, where he led the company's growth and development. Aces Risk Management, which is also known as ARMCO, announced that it named Trevor Gauthier as its next CEO. In addition to leading the comapny as CEO, Gauthier will also serve as a member of its board. But this is not his first role leading a company. Gauthier brings extensive experience to his leadership role as, before joining ARMCO, he served as the president and CEO at Mortgage Cadence for about 14 years. PrimeLending announced that it named Tim Elkins its new chief production officer. Elkins has been with the company since 2008, starting out as the senior vice president of technology. Elkins holds more than 25 years of experience in the mortgage industry, which he will use to guide him in his new executive role.

Comprehensive Multifamily Training From a Trusted Source MBA Education, the education and training division of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), delivers the knowledge and skills needed to be strong in today’s challenging marketplace. Our signature programs are conveniently offered through several platforms, online and in-person, to meet your company’s budget and learning style, and cover all facets of multifamily real estate finance. School of Multifamily Mortgage Banking From origination through securitization and servicing, discover and compare the various financing vehicle and programs available for MF financing, including conventional, GSE, FHA and CMBS lending options.

School of Multifamily Property Inspections Understand the nuances of physical property conditions and how to perform efficient physical inspections.

FHA Multifamily Underwriter Training Program Gain the knowledge, skills and abilities expected of HUD-approved MAP underwriters.

CRE Basics: Underwriting Multifamily and Valuation Learn the basic concepts of underwriting a multifamily property.

CRE Basics: Introduction to Commercial / Multifamily Real Estate Understand the legal interest, benefits and rights associated with the ownership of commercial / multifamily real estate.

CRE Basics: Introduction to Commercial / Multifamily Servicing Learn about the final stage in the loan lifecycle, including roles, responsibilities and regulations.

WAIT THERE’S MORE! There’s so much more to explore, including online self-studies and FREE webinars just for multifamily professionals.* Check us out at mba.org/education. * Must be an MBA member to get webinars for free.

HELP OFFSET PROGRAM COSTS! MBA’s Path to Diversity Scholarship enables employees from diverse backgrounds to advance their career development by receiving up to $2,000 in education funds. Check out which programs are eligible at mba.org/pathtodiversity. For corporate training and group pricing, please contact Jeff Schummer at jschummer@mba.org

21029

MBA.ORG/EDUCATION

EVENT CALENDAR

MBA INDEPENDENT MORTGAGE BANKERS CONFERENCE JANUARY 28-31, 2020 Host: Mortgage Bankers Association Location: Hyatt Regency, San Francisco Cost: $500 - $2,350 On the agenda: The Mortgage Bankers Association’s conference brings together the nation’s top independent mortgage bankers to provide the latest insights and updates on industry trends. The event will address topics like the changing regulatory environment, the latest technology solutions, managing operations costs, and increasing process efficiency. In addition to keynote speakers and legislative updates, there will be plenty of opportunities for networking. www.mba.org

SAN FRANCISCO The Independent Mortgage Bankers Conference takes place in the Embarcadero area on San Francisco’s waterfront. It’s steps away from the Ferry Building, known as a foodie paradise. A series of piers offer ferries to Alcatraz Island, science exhibits at the Exploratorium, restaurants and Bay Bridge views.

MISMO WINTER SUMMIT JANUARY 13-17, 2020 Host: Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization Cost: $375 - $949 Location: Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino, Las Vegas On the agenda: The MISMO Winter Summit provides an opportunity to meet industry experts and participate in industry workgroup sessions where the standards are being set. Educational sessions are designed to meet the needs of everyone from those new to MISMO to those with years of experience. www.mismo.org

LAS VEGAS The MISMO Winter Summit takes place at Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino, one block of the famed Las Vegas Strip. The facility features a Las Vegas Monorail stop onsite for easy access to all the entertainment Las Vegas offers. 14 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change BY MARC BENIOFF, MONICA LANGLEY CURRENCY

Marc Benioff peels back the curtain at his cloud-based software company to share his vision for the future of business. In Trailblazer, Benioff writes how Salesforce’s core values have impacted the company in a tangible way. Benioff writes, “no matter what business you’re in, values are the bedrock of a resilient company culture that inspires all employees, at every level, to do the best work of their lives.” In light of that, Benioff shares how building a company culture which values permeate everything you do can be the key to growth and innovation.

What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture BY BEN HOROWITZ HARPERBUSINESS

In his latest book, Ben Horowitz takes lessons from history and modern organizational practice to craft advice to help executives build cultures that can withstand anything. In What You Do Is Who You Are, he looks to answer the question: “How do you create and sustain the culture you want?” By taking readers on a journey through history and more modern case studies, Horowitz seeks to prove that culture is far more than doing yoga at work or a list of values on a wall – it’s action. What you do.

Discover

ON THE SHELF

The Power of the Network Industry leading interactive content dictated by our lender members

Innovative peer-to-peer networking forums & Actionable takeaways Best-in-Class Preferred Partner Solutions to Grow Your Business and Operate More Efficiently in 2020

Themortgagecollaborative.com

COMPASS ANALYTICS | SPONSORED CONTENT

How partnering with Compass Analytics helped VanDyk Mortgage to streamline their secondary department More control led to better incentives and communication with investors

“

It was a game-changer for us,” said Jonathan Barnes, vice president of secondary marketing at VanDyk Mortgage Corp. Summarizing the impact of the Compass Analytics CompassPoint implementation, he added, “We’re now in control and can direct our business so much easier than before.” Starting in 2011, VanDyk, a nationwide mortgage lender with a concentration in the greater Michigan area, experienced substantial production growth in the following five years, more than doubling their annual volume to nearly $1.5 billion. In that same time, VanDyk made the decision to partner with a hedge advisor to outsource key secondary tasks such as loan sales, choosing to focus internal resources on other strategic priorities in secondary. By late 2016, however, Barnes identified an opportunity to increase revenue, improve efficiency, and essentially transform VanDyk’s business. After evaluating potential partners and preparing internally for this key business initiative, VanDyk selected Compass Analytics to bring loan sales back in-house. Reflecting on how their business changed in the 18 months since completing the Compass implementation, Barnes commented, “It’s opened up communication throughout our organization as well as with the investor community, which is something we didn’t expect. We’ve even seen better incentives from the investors in the areas they actually want to buy, which helps us make our operations and post-closing operations a new, more efficient unit.” How did VanDyk make sweeping changes to their business while maintaining their commitment to exemplary customer service? To answer this question, we first went back in time to look at a typical day in the life of the company before they implemented the Compass solution.

2012 – A DAY IN THE LIFE Barnes and his team begin each trading day by manually exporting an Excel spreadsheet containing loan and lock information from VanDyk’s loan origination system. Around 10 AM EST daily, VanDyk would receive an executive summary report from their hedge advisor detailing their starting risk position – two hours after the TBA market opened. Meanwhile, throughout the day, additional loan and lock information is transmitted to the hedge advisor for the next day’s 16 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

report. Therefore, the team could not adjust hedge coverage to respond to any intra-day fallout, renegotiations, or any other milestone movements until the next day – often too late. A SOMETIMES-MESSY HEDGE Even with the summary report each morning from the hedge advisor, Barnes often could not make decisions confidently due to the lack of granularity provided. “For example,” Barnes explained, “if we took in $4 million worth of locks, $2 million of that might have been FHA / VA / USDA with periods varying anywhere between 15 and 90 days. The other $2 million might have been conventional. With just a blanket report of new lock coverage, we were unable to apply correct coverage, which led to a lot of on-the-spot adjustments. For example, we wouldn’t need 60-day coverage if 75% of our lock volume was in 15-day locks.” Without the transparency that would allow Barnes to stratify exposure and minimize loss, VanDyk was constantly long or short on hedges the day after market movement, often by a significant margin – as much as $2 million! In a worst-case scenario, they would experience a compounded effect in losses should the market see an extended rally. Barnes knew then that there had to be a nimbler way to do this. LIMITED LOAN SALE CAPABILITIES Loans sales were similarly manual. Using the daily Excel export, VanDyk would flag loans as ready to sell to the secondary market. On specified days, the hedge advisor would send bid tapes to VanDyk’s investors for a competitive auction. After about an hour, VanDyk would receive back the investor’s bids and would work to allocate the loans to investors. This began a time-consuming process of considering all the tangible – and intangible – factors of the loan sale process: in addition to comparing investor pricing, scrubbing the investor bids for soft eligibility considerations and factoring in operational ease of delivery. When finally satisfied with the allocations, VanDyk would send the results to their trader. Eric Bridges, capital markets manager at VanDyk, continued, “We would typically receive the final data file with where the loans went around 4:30 or 4:45 PM. From there, we were manu-

COMPASS ANALYTICS | SPONSORED CONTENT

ally keying this information into our system of record.” Of course, this manual data entry took time away from more valuable analysis and investigation. Recognizing the limitations and cost of their current third-party loan sale outsource, VanDyk prioritized finding a path forward. The benefits of this decision would eventually spread far beyond simply cutting costs. JOINING COMPASS ANALYTICS Barnes and Bridges embarked on a search in early 2017 for the best available partners. VanDyk was immediately intrigued by the dramatically different approach to risk management at Compass Analytics. They signed up with Compass in January 2018 and went live with their new platform in two months. Instead of the daily, manual process of downloading and sending a data file and waiting until after 10:00 AM for their executive summary, Barnes and Bridges leveraged a real-time integration between their LOS and CompassPoint. Now, locks were valued in real-time, intraday, automatically slotting to the proper coupon and settlement month. Even in volatile markets, their risk position was much more predictable. Added Bridges, “Our volume had doubled and we really got more granular with our pricing in 2018. We felt it was critical to support our producers by giving them the most competitive pricing we felt was possible. With added risk, waiting for reporting information the next day wasn’t an option.” Barnes continued, “If you’re not getting the accurate, real-time information that we do now through CompassPoint, you’re at a distinct disadvantage. If you’re okay with that risk and with the cost that’s associated, then stay with your current processes. But when you sit back and start adding up what those costs are, all the guesswork can be a couple months of someone’s wages at a minimum.” Armed with more accurate, timely inputs and reliable reports, Barnes and Bridges turned their attention to optimizing their loan sale process. A STREAMLINED PROCESS Right away, VanDyk worked with the Compass account management team to address the items that cost the most time in their loan sale process. VanDyk leveraged the eligibility capabilities within CompassPoint to model their delivery preferences to take control of which loans are sent to which investor. Eric Bridges used the example of a loan with a DTI >45, pointing out that while certain investors might be willing to buy that loan under their guidelines, the operational process of purchasing that loan can be onerous. “Maybe the investor will ultimately buy that loan, maybe they will not. We know it will be an operational challenge either way, so we can build in those kinds of rules and it’s been the biggest time-saver for us,” said Bridges. Working in conjunction with the Compass Analytics team, VanDyk planned the transition to selling loans themselves. After jointly selling the first bid tapes, VanDyk took over the process in its entirety. Remembering that inaugural loan sale, Bridges added his team was “almost in awe of how much information [they] had

and the kind of time [they] saved.” Bridges continued, “It was night and day in terms of the control we had and the clarity of our decisions. We immediately recognized the difference between thinking ‘yes, I think that looks right,’ versus actually knowing that everything is set up exactly how you wanted it to be.” “Previously, we would only see the end result and not know what took place to get us there. Now, I can call the investor’s desk and say to them, `If you improve two basis points, you’re going to win another $2 million of volume.’ That is huge. We are able to control and direct our business like never before.” IMPROVED EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS AND INTERNAL COMMUNICATION Above it all, the information available to VanDyk resulted in deeper investor relationships. “Now we can go to our investor meetings and actually talk about volume specifics, why they got the volume they did,” said Bridges. “It was a game changer for us, and we definitely see a lot more positive feedback from them.” Because VanDyk is now directly communicating with their investors on a regular basis, they can answer questions with much more certainty. The improved relationships also yielded better incentives from investors, as well as insight into the types of loans that investors are most interested in buying. Having this insight has helped VanDyk to optimize post-closing processes and made the entire secondary team more efficient, simply by knowing more about the investors. “Using CompassPoint to sell our loans to investors has allowed us to engage in deeper conversations with investors, conversations that used to consist of a lot of guesswork, if they were happening at all,” explains Bridges. THE VALUE OF CONTROL VanDyk has also enjoyed dividends from their new processes in unexpected places. Year-end audit requests were simplified as VanDyk simply pointed to their own policies and procedures, rather than interpreting the loan sale policy of a third party. Bridges also saw improvements to internal communication with senior management. “We cannot emphasize enough the responsiveness of the information. Now, I can just click two buttons and I’ve got the report that tells me what I need to know. I no longer have to send an email or make a call and hope that the person on the other end is not working with someone else already. It’s really a lifesaver. Honestly, I can be on the phone with my CFO and get him whatever he needs in two minutes.” Looking back, Barnes succinctly summed up his feelings. “We are now in control of the hedge cost, being in the driver’s seat. If someone were on the fence about making a similar transition, I would advise them to run an informal SWOT analysis — What are your opportunities? What are the threats you’re facing? When we asked ourselves these questions, the answers overwhelmingly indicated that we need to be in control. We chose Compass because the benefits far outweighed the cost.” HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 17

TMS | SPONSORED CONTENT

The complete guide to confidently perform renovation loans America’s aging housing stock provides tremendous opportunity for lenders

he overlooked truth about America’s aging housing population is in the wording — they’re consistently and without fail getting older. And while most people hate getting older, this reality is the exact type of certainty lenders need in the market right now. From 2009 to 2016, approximately 1.7 million housing units were deemed uninhabitable or obsolete and were demolished and removed from the housing stock, according to the National Association of Realtors. If put back into habitable conditions, those 1.7 million housing units could significantly increase the amount of existing homes available for sale. To put it in perspective, there were 1.46 million homes for sale at the end of the fourth quarter in 2017. New construction also can’t keep pace with the number of homes falling out of usability, meaning the number of homes eligible for a renovation loan will just keep growing as houses keep getting older. So, time + housing inventory = massive renovation loan potential. When properly educated on the process, renovation loans help borrowers land a home in today’s tight inventory market, give lenders a much-needed boost to their business, and fix America’s aging housing stock. It's a triple win. To successfully navigate these complex loans, find a correspondent partner who can provide exceptional customer service and top-notch efficiencies to make these loans happen with no delays or problems. Go through this renovation loan list of best practices to discover the right type of customer service essentials that need to be delivered to confidently provide renovation loans. All parties involved need to be on the same page in order to see a renovation loan through to the end. From the beginning conversation with the borrower and contractor to selling the loan to the investor, this check list will make sure the important requirements and conditions of the renovation loan are fulfilled, so borrowers land their dream home. LENDER TO BORROWER AND CONTRACTOR • Try to get at least three reputable quotes from licensed contractors to assure that no contractor is over or under charging for the same work • Make sure the contractor provides a detailed estimate that is broken down item by item with labor and material cost • Verify the contractor’s references and ensure they are aware of the renovation draw process • Check with the contractor to make sure they understand the timeline of renovation loans and to properly follow the bid • Remind contractors and borrowers that nothing can change 18 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

without approval from the lender • Make sure the contractor can financially sustain the project since they don’t get paid upfront • Confirm that all parties understand that the money in escrow are the only funds available and no changes can be made once the loan closes • I nform borrowers to not start any additional work on the property with any other contractor or current contractor for work outside the renovation scope until the project has been completed and closed out • Verify that borrowers understand what permits and signoffs are required for the home, and at what point of the project the town/city needs to come in for inspections/sign-offs • Ensure borrowers read and understand the homeowner/contractor agreement since it will be referenced if there are any concerns or situations that arise CORRESPONDENT PARTNER CHECKLIST • Handle all draws internally to help guide and better control the process, allowing the partner to consistently deliver excellent customer service • Host a welcome call with the borrower and contractor after the investor buys the loan to see if they have any questions. • Make sure the borrower was educated upfront (see previous checklist items if they haven’t been) about the loan • Check in with the borrower every month to make sure everything is running smoothly • Make sure the borrower and contractor have a single point of contact • Streamline the process by not requiring any additional HUD disclosures • C ommit to answering emails/communicating within 24 hours • Accommodate requests and make decisions quickly due to the nimble and fast-moving operational process • Serve as a go-to resource for any confusion or questions that can crop up during the renovation process since each home has unique needs Renovation loans represent a tremendous opportunity for borrowers and lenders. Looking at the previous stats, the U.S. could substantially increase the stock of habitable properties, helping more people fulfill their dream of homeownership. With this indepth list of best practices for successfully executing a renovation loan, lenders can confidently start chipping away at America’s aging housing population.

 THE 

A-LIST MOST AFFORDABLE NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE U.S.

America’s lack of housing inventory has resulted in a steady climb of home price appreciation that has priced out the nation’s low and middle-class homebuyers. As prices are projected to increase throughout the year, even climbing to a 5.4% increase as early as 2020, housing affordability has become a concern for homeowners and homebuyers across the country. In order to gauge which markets offer potential buyers the most bang for their buck, Trulia conducted a study that identifies America’s most affordable neighborhoods. According to the company, these housing markets boast the most affordable neighborhoods in the country. Here is the percent of zip codes for each city that have neighborhoods where all homes are affordable to the typical homebuyer.

T H ES E A R E T H E TO P 5 I N T H E U. S . 1. PITTSBURGH

22.5% Median Home Value: $143,200 Median Income: $59,000

2. COLUMBUS, OHIO

19.1% Median Home Value: $192,000 Median Income: $64,480 3. ST. LOUIS

18.2%

Median Home Value: $166,500 Median Income: $60,900 4. KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

5. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

16.4%

Median Home Value: $192,990 Median Income: $62,600

20 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

13.9%

Median Home Value: $166,800 Median Income: $60,000

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. And Fannie Mae is better now in so many different ways due to Mayopoulos’ leadership. “It’s in a position of greater humility,” Mayopoulos said as he prepared to start his new adventure. “I’m leaving the company in better shape than I found it.” Below, Mayopoulos answers five questions to give us an inside look at him: 1. If I had picked a different career path… I would be an architect or designer.

TIM MAYOPOULOS Blend President

2. Besides my job and family, my greatest passion is… black and white photography. 3. My workout playlist includes… Empire State of Mind, by Jay Z and Alicia Keys. 4. The book I can’t stop recommending is… Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, by James Agee and Walker Evans. 5. After I am finished with my career I hope people remember that… I helped to accomplish the unexpected.

22 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

CONGRATULATIONS PrimeLending CPO Tim Elkins 2019 HousingWire Vanguard Award Winner We applaud your relentless drive to modernize retail mortgage origination through the perfect

Tim Elkins

combination of powerhouse people,

Chief Production Officer

digital marketing programs and innovative technology. Thank you for bringing your fresh perspective and exciting vision for the future.

PrimeLending.com

ÂŠ2019 PrimeLending, a PlainsCapital Company. (NMLS: 13649).

Hot SIZZLE? Not FIZZLE? 1 1 WHY THE

WHY THE

FED RATE CUTS



The Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 basis points in October in a bid to keep the decade-long U.S. economic expansion going while signaling it likely was done, for now. It was the Fed’s third consecutive quarter-point cut as the central bank tries to bolster the economy while preserving ammunition that would be needed if the nation sinks into a recession. The FOMC post-meeting statement dropped its prior pledge to “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion.” Instead, the committee promised to monitor data as it “assesses the appropriate path of the target range.”

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RETURN TO FHA LENDING The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to decrease the use of the False Claims Act to punish Federal Housing Administration lenders. HUD wants the big banks to return to FHA lending. And according to FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery, that’s what is going to happen. Montgomery said “a few” banks have already committed to returning to FHA lending now that the government won’t be using the False Claims Act as often.

UPCOMING RECESSION

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AI TECHNOLOGY Ellie Mae announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Capsilon, a provider of AI-powered mortgage automation software. This acquisition will accelerate Ellie Mae’s vision to offer a fully digital mortgage. It will combine its Encompass Digital Lending Platform with Capsilon’s AI solutions to create an end-to-end Software-as-a-Service for the mortgage industry. The process, as it stands now, is very document centric, from requesting documents to created documents to be signed, but with this acquisition, the company hopes to move from a document-centered process to being data-driven.

24 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

A recession could be a real possibility in 2020, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. At the MBA Annual conference in Austin, MBA Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research and Industry Technology Mike Fratatoni forecasted 2020 could possibly see a recession, even as soon as the first half of the year. “We could absolutely get a recession in the first half of next year is what makes sense for when it would happen,” Fratantoni said at the conference. But this could depend on the economy from other parts of the world.

CYBERSECURITY THREATS Every 14 seconds, a company falls victim to ransomware attacks. Richey May Executive Director of Cybersecurity Services John-Thomas Gaietto presented this alarming statistic, which was originally reported by Cybersecurity Ventures. Cybersecurity threats are only increasing, so companies need to be prepare for them now. Gaietto pointed out traditional firewalls are not enough to protect companies from ransomware attacks. These attacks doubled from 2017 to 2018, and he predicts this trend will continue.

GSE CONSERVATORSHIP Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria explained the agency is preparing to help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac exit conservatorship. The FHFA released its annual Scorecard for the government-sponsored enterprises, outlining the goals its regulator will use for judging their performance in 2020. The goals for the GSEs this year included, “Prepare for transition out of conservatorship.” As exiting the conservatorship moves closer, Calabria explained he will ensure that it is done right. “I will not end the conservatorship unless I am confident that once Fannie and Freddie leave, they will never have to return,”

VIEWPOINTS

By David Stevens

Unleveling the playing field for small lenders and first-time buyers? The potential effects of the administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reform plans

In September of this year, the Trump administration released two housing finance reform plans, one from the U.S. Department of the Treasury addressing the government-sponsored enterprise conservatorship and another focused on the Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae programs under the authority of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developent. 26 HOUSINGWIRE â?ą DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

The immediate response produced applause from many stakeholders from industry as well as shareholder interests who began to see their light at the end of this decades-long tunnel of conservatorship. The plan also resulted in significant pushback from consumer advocates and civil rights groups concerned that the outcome of administrative action could wors-

David Stevens is CEO of Mountain Lake Consulting and former CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association and former Assistant Secretary and FHA Commissioner at HUD.

en access to credit for minorities and other first-time homebuyers. The Treasury plan called for both legislative and administration action but made clear that in the absence of legislation, the administration was ready to move on its own. Calling for steps to crowd in private capital, the plan calls for increased capital and a focus on shrinking the footprint of the GSEs’ relative to roles that could be filled by the private sector. “This plan endeavors to promote private sector competition in the housing finance system,” the Treasury paper states. “A driver of the GSEs’ growth has been a regulatory framework that is biased in favor of GSE-supported mortgage lending – a bias that has increased following the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform.” Likewise the HUD plan calls for a similar outcome to crowd in private capital, stating, “Through a formalized collaborative approach, FHA and the Federal Housing Finance Agency must work together to ensure that government-supported mortgage programs are not competing and do not crowd private capital out of the marketplace, both in their single family and multifamily programs.” This is a complicated set of objectives and there are many critical elements set forth in both papers that could have longterm impacts to the housing finance system. But a core element here is to consider what it means to pull back in order to make room for the private sector. Prior to the Great Recession, the private sector was robust. The PLS markets was vibrant with loans that offered everything from low down payment mortgages to strong credit borrowers, but also extending into subprime, no doc, negative amortization, interest only and more. To a fault, the PLS market had disintermediated both the GSEs’ and FHA’s market power ultimately to a point where FHA, for example, had approximately 3% market share at its low point. The unsustainable features of so many of these products created this house of cards scenario where almost anyone could get a

loan and in the end, when it collapsed, it took the entire PLS market with it. In more than a decade since the collapse, there has been but a trickle of private market growth returning to housing relative to total volume. The majority of it has come from whole loan buyers like REITs and bank’s balance sheets who have become competitive in jumbo lending and some non-QM mortgage offerings. But to be clear, there has been no substitute to fill the hole for low down payment first-time homebuyers anywhere but at FHA and the GSEs. The market for the first-time homebuyer is dependent both on these government supported programs but also the role of smaller lenders, and mid-sized independent mortgage bankers who were particularly important to support the housing market as many of the larger bank lenders pulled away from lending to this segment of the market following the recession. In fact, it is the smaller to mid-sized lender consisting of community banks, credit unions and independent mortgage bankers that became the majority player in mortgage banking. They met the needs of communities across the country that might have otherwise not been served by the lending industry. This segment of the market, with literally thousands of small lenders, helped insure a continuity of credit access when the nation needed it most. Unfortunately, policy makers now may be headed towards decisions that will reduce these small lenders’ ability to compete. While working to reform the GSEs and HUD and crowd in private capital by surgically weakening the GSEs through reducing their respective footprints using pricing and product terms to constrain their role, we face a potential void in low down payment lending that is critical to the first-time buyer. As is stated in the Treasury paper, “FHFA should conduct an assessment of the credit and other risks posed by the GSEs’ underwriting parameters, including acquisitions of single-family mortgage loans with greater risk characteristics such as

high LTV, high DTI or risk layering, and that assessment should guide underwriting restrictions to be prescribed by FHFA.” Clearly the focus on high LTV is a particular concern. So, who wins and who loses if the scale back happens? Clearly balance sheet investors will be net beneficiaries. And, while applauding the effort to shift lending back to the private sector and away from the GSE’s and the GNMA programs, one must ask whether this a “cart before the horse” scenario. First-time homebuyers of the future will be dominated by minorities who, for the most part, lack inherited wealth. Scaling back down payments, implementing riskbased pricing as proposed in the HUD paper, and other steps are worthy of discussion, but we are missing any focus on bringing back a healthy private market to replace that lending. Some argue that GSE reform should be second after focusing on PLS. By going the other way, we may reduce credit access for the diversity of homebuyers of the future. And, there is another victim here. The small to mid-sized lender, especially IMBs who helped the housing economy move forward when others pulled away, do not have balance sheets to hold loans. They depend on investors. Should the government-backed programs pull back, there will certainly be private players to step in for lower LTV, higher credit score product, but the entry-level buyers, and these smaller lenders will be potentially left out. We should all applaud the efforts of the administration to end the conservatorship. But pulling a leg or two off the stool of housing support should be in concert with the building of a new foundation of support in the private sector, one today that does not exist for most of the firsttime homebuyer population in this country. Moving fast should not be the goal for anyone other than perhaps the shareholders and hedge funds who bought these stocks. Disruption of a market that is one the bright spots of the economy should be the first consideration. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 27

VIEWPOINTS

By Phil Shoemaker

3 housing trends to watch for in 2020 The housing market will see continued consolidation, adaption, technology

The year 2020 is now upon us, and as we say goodbye to 2019, we welcome a new decade and all the twists and turns it will bring for the housing industry. Despite forecasts that mortgage lenders would struggle in 2019, an unexpected turn in interest rates, which were expected to rise throughout the year, created a low rate environment in which lender profits were up, pipelines were full and refinances surged. 28 HOUSINGWIRE â?ą DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

Now, as 2020 dawns, what can we expect to see for the future of housing? For starters, I fully expect the trends that began in 2019 will continue into the new year and even grow stronger as education and competition increase and the need for technology and adaptation grows.

1. MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS WILL GROW As I previously mentioned, 2019 was a great year for housing despite forecasts and worries that high-interest rates would keep lenders from earning a profit. While they may have struggled a bit in the first half of the year, a recent report from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed that in the third quarter of 2019 lenders made the highest profit per loan

Phil Shoemaker is executive managing director and chief business officer at Home Point Financial. Shoemaker joined as chief business officer. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the mortgage industry, most recently serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer for production at Caliber Home Loans.

they’ve seen since 2016. Independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a profit of $1,675 on each loan they originated in the second quarter. This is up significantly from a profit of just $285 per loan in the first quarter and marks the highest profit since the third quarter of 2016 when profits hit $1,773 per loan. But despite this increase in profits, lenders will still struggle amid increased competition in 2020, leading to an increase in mergers and acquisition activity. The period we’re in right now is truly historic for rates. At the end of its September meeting, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the second time in 2019, bringing the benchmark rate to a range of 1.75% to 2%. And the Fed is still expected to cut rates once more in 2019 at the December meeting. Yet despite these low rates, I still see many lenders that are struggling to sustain profitability. We are likely to swing violently back into the red with any meaningful slowdown in rates, home purchases or both. And Fannie Mae predicts a slowdown is on the horizon. U.S. economic growth will probably slow to 1.3% by 2020’s final quarter from 1.9% in the current period, Fannie Mae said in a forecast. If this forecast is correct, then that would be the weakest economy since 2013, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This will continue the surge in M&A activity that has been picking up over the last few years. The big will get bigger and the people who are able to adapt will be the only ones left. There are simply not enough buyers to compete for in the market, and the number of buyers will only decrease as the economy slows. Large companies will continue to adapt

to the changing environment and use their resources to acquire and merge with smaller companies that can’t keep up. Back in 2017, the MBA predicted that uncertainty in the future of mortgage finance would continue to drive m&a activity over the next couple of years. Now, as we move into 2020, M&A activity still looks no closer to slowing down, and lenders should

And a large number of loan officers will continue to make the migration from distributed retail and the broker channel will grow proportionately alongside it. 3. FINTECH TO INCREASE Mortgage lenders will continue to improve their technology. Increasingly, mortgage lenders are arguing that we are in an adapt or die environment. In fact, the reason for some M&A activity is the inability of some lenders to keep up with the ever-changing regulations and technological requirements. In 2020, finance technology will make more meaningful inroads into the process and model. And while some of these advancements might be good, others could create negative consequences, such as making the market less competitive as the fintech giants jump ahead of the rest and creating less of a need for the more clerical based mortgage jobs. Of course, while more basic, data entry type jobs could be eliminated, it will be replaced by higher-skilled jobs and positions that require higher levels of human interaction. More lenders will begin to integrate tech into their mortgage process in order to lower costs and streamline the borrower experience. Some of the largest fintech companies will even continue to expand their reach into how much of the process they control. Companies such as Zillow, Quicken Loans, Opendoor, Redfin and many others companies are expanding their reach by offering real estate and lending based products. The iBuyer experience, where a company instantly buys a seller’s home, fixes it up, then sells it themselves, continues to grow in popularity as more and more companies continue to launch their own iBuying programs. The goal seems to be to become the next one-stop-shop for all your housing needs. And 2020 could bring them one step closer to that goal.

“One advantage of the broker channel includes price differentiation: brokers are able to get a better price for borrowers as they can shop around rather than just offer the products from one mortgage lender.”

prepare themselves for a host of new mergers and acquisitions in the year to come. 2. BROKER EXPANSION Mortgage brokers are expanding and will continue to expand in 2020. The bottom line is, at the end of the day economics will win. In the current environment, brokers have better execution for the borrower in the current environment. Third-party originators are able to give more borrowers what they want and need than other channels in any environment that isn’t a historical outlier. One advantage of the broker channel includes price differentiation: brokers are able to get a better price for borrowers as they can shop around rather than just offer the products from one mortgage lender. This highly evident when we see the same company participating in multiple channels, but vastly better pricing for customers coming through a broker. Brokers will continue to pick up market share and spread education among borrowers on the benefits of using a broker.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 29

VIEWPOINTS

By David Howard

Get smart: How smart home technology revolutionized rental housing Making life accessible for millions of Americans

Perhaps the defining trend in residential property management over the past ten years has been the rise of smart home technology. Offering services ranging from playing music to unlocking your door and setting the temperature, these new technologies have made life more convenient and accessible for millions of Americans. And while millions of homeowners are taking advantage of these services, rental housing providers are also increasingly offering smart-home integration as part of their portfolios. The increasing interconnectedness of American housing represents nothing 30 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

short of a revolution in the way the rental housing industry manages its properties and serves its residents. And it’s crucial for property managers to stay abreast of the latest technology so they can continue to offer their residents the best possible experience. A CHANGING RENTAL EXPERIENCE Smart home devices have revolutionized the residential experience for tenants of both single-family and multifamily rent-

als in recent years. From Amazon’s Alexa devices to Nest thermostats, the devices have exploded in popularity. Americans now expect to be connected everywhere — especially their homes. Some smart-home solutions are specific to either the single-family or multifamily industry — SFR companies, for instance, need tailored offerings to manage a disparate collection of properties throughout a market, while multifamily operators face a different set of questions, such as how to efficiently manage a network of hundreds of Nest thermostats in a single building. As smart-home technology was reaching critical mass across the country, more and

David Howard is executive director of the National Rental Home Council, a trade association dedicated to advocating on behalf of the 16-million-home singlefamily rental industry and its residents.

more Americans were making the decision to rent their home: the homeownership rate today is 64.1%, down from 69% in 2004. One in five Americans now say they don’t plan to buy a home in their lifetime. One major reason for that shift is the improved resident experience brought on by professionalized property management and innovative technologies. The industry’s leasing companies and accompanying service providers are working to offer a best-in-class housing experience before a lease is ever signed. That starts with self-showing technology, allowing prospective renters to visit their dream home on their own time, without having to coordinate a schedule with a property manager. And once the renter signs the lease, the same technology they’ve already used for the tour can be used to continue accessing their home. “Our industry is customer service driven; smart home technology can help create a holistic solution to provide our renters additional security, greater convenience and increased economic efficiency,” said Manjula Perera, Progress Residential vice president of technology and chair of the National Rental Home Council’s Technology Committee. “Separately, our having improved customer data should help us to better serve our residents over time, as it advances our knowledge of our customers and helps us better satisfy their wants and needs,” Perera said. “As smart home technology continues to improve and become more ubiquitous, it will help provide us with better real-time information on our customers and properties,” she said. The adoption of smart-home technology across Progress’ portfolio, which encompasses more than 26,000 homes in markets across the country, demonstrates the extent to which large-scale rental housing operators can offer resident benefits at a scale unmatched by their smaller peers. Typically, the ability to customize your home has been a perk of homeownership.

But thanks to this new generation of technological solutions, it is increasingly possible for hundreds of thousands of renters to access the same benefits. These choices are specific and deeply personal for every renter: As smart home devices have grown in prevalence, so too has the number of possible combinations a user might have. A renter who has an Alexa device and an iPhone will need a technology solution that works for them just as well as a renter with a Google Home and a Google cell phone. To offer a solution that works for every renter, smart-home providers need to make customization a major priority. PointCentral, a provider of enterprise smart home solutions, offers a platform that supports all three voice platforms (Google, Apple, Amazon), with applications for Apple Watch, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. And the platform supports add-on hardware devices ranging from indoor and outdoor video cameras to garage door openers to sprinkler systems. FINDING SOLUTIONS TO CRITICAL PROBLEMS It’s not just about being able to play music or turn on the lights with the sound of your voice. A connected apartment or house can be a game-changer in an emergency. But SmartRent, which recently received a strategic investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund, describes what users should do to maintain their safety through the use of smart home technology: If a resident loses their phone, we suggest they change their password when they redownload the app. We also offer two factor authentication and biometrics login options so that residents can be assured that no one but them can access their home. The option to manually type in their access code is always an option if a resident forgets their phone as well. If they have no phone and do not remember their access code, the site staff can use their code to get the resident into the home. Residents may also call our

support line or use smartrent.com/lockout to get an emergency code. Smart home providers are also helping rental housing operators and law enforcement tackle the challenge of fraud. Fraudulent practices are unfortunately prevalent in the rental housing industry, but NRHC and its members are working on multiple fronts to combat the problem. Smart home vendors are a key component in this fight, implementing solutions that help renters, owner-operators and law enforcement in the fight against fraud. Rently, which offers self-showing solutions for property managers, outlined the following process for helping the industry’s anti-fraud efforts: We also take steps to keep bad actors from misusing our self-showing capabilities. When a prospect inquires on any of the listing sites, we send them an auto response message via email. From the auto response, the prospect sets up their Rently account and a time they wish to see the property. In order to create a Rently account, a prospect must upload a photo of the front and back of a government issued ID, a credit card, and a selfie. This allows our security software team to verify prospects’ identities and block any “bad actors” from accessing our clients’ properties. SMART AND GETTING SMARTER The trend is clear: as more and more renters demand these offerings, rental housing operators will need to offer best-in-class smart home benefits or risk losing market share to their competitors. “It is no longer a question of whether the ROI justifies the expense, rather it is a matter of with whom to partner and when is the best time to implement,” Perera said. “Smart home technology will allow us to serve our customers better, while increasing efficiency of energy and labor, and reducing long-term costs of operations.” As companies identify new ways to put smart-home technology to work, the rental housing industry will continue to be on the front lines of these innovative shifts that are changing the ways Americans work, live and play — for the better. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 31

32 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

35 > Les Acree

43 > Ernie Graham

52 > William Newman

35 > Gary Beasley

44 > Rohit Gupta

52 > David Parker

36 > Rick Bechtel

44 > Jerry Halbrook

53 > Kevin Parra

36 > John Berkowitz

45 > Mark Hanson

53 > Kevin Peranio

37 > Doug Bibby

45 > Chris Heller

54 > Tammy Richards

37 > Dariusz Bozorgi

46 > Anthony Jabbour

54 > Stephen Rosenberg

38 > Malcolm Cannon

46 > Steve Jacobson

aron Samples 55 > A

38 > Anthony Casa

47 > Sandra Jarish

55 > Andy Sandler

39 > Vicki Chenault

47 > Brad Johnson

56 > Michael Schmeiser

39 > Sanjiv Das

48 > Michael Jones

56 > T homas Sponholtz

40 > Sarah DeCiantis

48 > Robert Karraa

57 > L isa Springer

40 > Eric Drattell

49 > Aaron King

57 > Lakshmi Stockham

41 > Tim Elkins

49 > James Mac Pherson

58 > Patrick Stone

41 > Vince Furey

50 > J ennifer McGuinness

58 > Drew Uher

42 > Vishal Garg

50 > G regg Meyer

59 > Tim Von Kaenel

hris George 42 > C

51 > Ben Miller

59 > Ian Wong

43 > Scott Gordon

51 >Tom Millon

HOUSINGWIRE â?ą DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 33

The HousingWire Vanguard award is one of the top achievements for housing professionals. It recognizes the top shapers, influencers, creators and leaders of the housing industry. The HW Vanguard Award recognizes leaders of businesses contributing to the growth of the housing economy and its various sectors, including mortgage, fintech and real estate. And this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winners distinguished themselves as some of the top leaders innovating the housing industry today.

34 HOUSINGWIRE â?ą DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

2019 VANGUARDS

LES ACREE

GARY BEASLEY

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THIRD PARTY ORIGINATION

CO-FOUNDER AND CEO

Freedom Mortgage

Roofstock

es Acree manages all aspects of Freedom Mortgage’s correspondent and wholesale lending operation, which is among the largest in the mortgage industry. A career-long mortgage professional, he began with Irwin Mortgage in Indianapolis, Indiana and joined Freedom Mortgage in September of 2006 when Freedom Mortgage acquired the mortgage assets and technology platform of Irwin Mortgage. Acree is executive vice president of Freedom Mortgage’s third-party originations and a member of the Freedom Mortgage Executive Leadership team. He has provided leadership and inspiration for thousands of employees over the years and is well-respected by his peers. His charismatic charm and quick wit always make Les a favorite speaker at the annual Freedom Mortgage Leadership Conference. Earlier this year, Freedom Mortgage Wholesale announced its inaugural membership and integration with NAMB All-In, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers’ new cloud-based platform. Powered by Calyx Technology, NAMB All-In is designed to deliver an intuitive, convenient digital borrower experience and streamline workflows for mortgage brokers. Freedom Mortgage is the first wholesale lender in the Calyx Wholesaler Marketplace to offer brokers and their borrowers the convenient ability to digitally verify assets while applying for a home loan. Freedom Mortgage offers enhanced disclosure management through Docutech – one of the industry’s leading document generation platforms that delivers the full initial disclosure package – federal, state and investor disclosures, including broker disclosures.

WHAT ONE HABIT HAS MADE A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS? “Always leading by eample, that my actions inspire others to learn more, do more and become more.”

s co-founder and CEO of Roofstock, Gary Beasley is leading Roofstock into new, innovative spaces, continuing to position it as a leader in the fintech and real estate investment space. This year, Beasley led Roofstock to launch a number of initiatives that support its mission to democratize and simplify how people invest in real estate. In doing so, Roofstock has seen rapid expansion in its customer base and accelerated revenue generation for the company. In February 2019, Beasley led his team to launch Roofstock One, a fractionalized investment offering that lets accredited investors purchase “shares” of homes for as little as $5,000. Since launching, Roofstock One has been very successful, expanding to four metro markets and attracting investments in millions of dollars of housing stock in just over six months. This year was also the realization of a long-held vision of Beasley to transform Roofstock from just an investment marketplace into a platform on which others can build real estate businesses – essentially becoming the Amazon Web Services of real estate. This year Roofstock rolled out Roofstock Platform Services, empowering investors of all types to invest in real estate with confidence and at scale in a low-friction, low cost, plugand-play way. Customers can now access Roofstock’s acquisition, transaction, property management, asset management and disposition services. Thanks to Beasley’s leadership, Roofstock has also been certified for three years in a row as a Great Place to Work and named as one of the Best Companies to Work for in the Bay Area by Fortune Magazine.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT? “There are two things I can’t do without – innovation and technology. You have to constantly challenge the way things have always been done. Staying motivated and constantly thinking ‘what’s next?’ is how you truly succeed. Disruption is no small feat – but well worth doing.” HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 35

2019 VANGUARDS

RICK BECHTEL

JOHN BERKOWITZ

HEAD OF U.S. RESIDENTIAL LENDING

CEO

TD Bank

OJO Labs

hen Rick Bechtel joined TD Bank in October 2017, the bank’s residential lending business was the 88th largest provider of mortgage loans in the country. Within two years, Bechtel was able to help raise TD through the ranks to where it now sits – No. 49 by size. In getting there, TD was ranked No. 1 for growth among the top 50 mortgage originators in the U.S. for the first half of 2019. To drive this growth, Bechtel focused on technology investments, community lending and product development. He directed a complete restructuring of TD’s technology stack. This included investing in Encompass by Ellie Mae, giving TD’s entire team total visibility throughout the home loan experience, in addition to integrating the Optimal Blue pricing engine. This allowed TD to provide tailored loan recommendations for each individual customer. In spring 2019, his team stood up a self-service digital mortgage application on TDBank.com through Roostify which allows customers to submit applications online, whenever, wherever, from any device, for the first time. Bechtel also identified TD’s opportunity to sharpen the bank’s focus on lending to low-to moderate-income customers and delivering on the company’s Community Reinvestment Act goals. He scouted and hired Michael Innis-Thompson to jumpstart TD’s community lending program. Additionally, Bechtel expanded the bank’s product set by introducing a medical professional mortgage product catered to alleviating the specific homeownership challenges faced by physicians and dentists early in their careers. This program enabled many debt-burdened medical practitioners to secure a home loan.

ohn Berkowitz is leading a transformation within the real estate industry through OJO Labs’ AI technology that conducts text conversations with consumers at scale and serves as a powerful digital assistant for home buyers and sellers. Berkowitz launched OJO Labs in 2015 and has grown the company to over 340 employees steeped in a culture that encourages individual thinking, idea-sharing and a drive to accomplish the impossible. He has secured enterprise partnerships with the largest brokerages, bringing OJO to multiple markets across the U.S. and Canada and obtained $70 million in funding. OJO is supported by a network of industry experts who supplement the data when needed, continuously training the technology. To accomplish this feat, Berkowitz leveraged his previous experience setting up and running major call centers and built proprietary tools and a 36,000-square-foot real-time AI training center in St. Lucia to enable the capacity to tag, categorize and direct hundreds of thousands of messages and images. The company’s patented process and combination of machine learning and human interaction provide OJO with the necessary resources to track down information not readily available on other online property databases. Since OJO’s commercial launch in September 2018, starting with its integration into Realogy Holdings Corp’s key brokerages across several U.S. markets, OJO has helped thousands of real estate agents connect with leads. Recently, OJO Labs joined with Realogy on the TurnKey program with Amazon that will connect buyers to agents through Amazon’s platform.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “My strategy remains centered on building trust with customers by humanizing the mortgage process. I continually reinforce to my team that homebuyers need personalized, expert guidance, and to support this, I ensure the bank delivers world class training for TD’s mortgage officers.”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “While playing an integral role in Yodle’s growth, I saw first-hand how a company’s needs, challenges and opportunities shift over time. This understanding around how to make critical decisions as an entrepreneur is one of the most impactful in preparing me to be CEO.”

36 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

2019 VANGUARDS

DOUG BIBBY

DARIUS BOZORGI

PRESIDENT

PRESIDENT AND CEO

National Multifamily Housing Council

Veros Real Estate Solutions

oug Bibby has worked in the real estate industry for his entire career, including helming the apartment industry’s trade association, the National Multifamily Housing Council, for nearly two decades. On the cusp of his retirement next summer, Bibby leaves behind his legacy in the housing industry. Almost every major initiative Bibby has undertaken is with a view to ensuring the long-term health and growth of our sector. Perhaps his most enduring contribution is his effort to create NMHC’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative – a long-term commitment to promote diversity within the multifamily industry. In fact, at the 2019 NMHC Annual Meeting, the vision of diversity and inclusion took a step forward – as nearly 500 women gathered for NMHC’s first-ever Women’s Event. Recognizing the critical need to attract talent to the commercial real estate industry, Bibby personally recruited 26 related trade associations last year to create the Careers Building Communities platform, which is designed for students, educators and other individuals to explore the industry and learn more about what it takes to obtain education and employment within each sector. Bibby was also the driving force behind the creation of NMHC’s Emerging Leader program, designed to ensure that once talent is attracted to the industry, there are avenues to help those professionals advance. Since its inception, thousands of under-40 future leaders have participated in the program, and several of the Emerging Leader Committee members have gone on to assume CEO and other C-Suite roles in their companies.

ver the last 12 months, Darius Bozorgi finalized a deal with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to awarded its Appraisal Management Services contract to Veros. Through the contract, Veros will now provide appraisal solutions as part of VA Home Loan Guaranty program. The company will “work to improve the veteran’s home buying experience by focusing on efficiencies related to the appraisal scheduling, tracking and completion process.” Beyond that, Veros states that it will work with VA to, “enhance collateral data collection, risk review analytics, and reducing the overall risk associated with VA loans.” Bozorgi was personally involved in the deal, every step of the way and looks forward to the opportunity to work with the VA and help service members and veterans buy homes. In addition to the VA contract, Bozorgi also helped Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD/FHA and now VA introduce mission-critical systems that allow these institutions to better identify and act upon those loans requiring special attention while streamlining the approval of those that meet industry-standard requirements. This year, Bozorgi added spearheaded the addition of Veros disaster data to the company’s expansive data offering. One of his primary goals in adding this data set was to provide lenders and servicers with near-real-time post-disaster insight to enhance borrower relations by proactively identifying at-risk loans at the property-specific level (as opposed to county-level only) and rapidly initiating contact with the borrower. The data will also perform other actions such as eliminating unnecessary property inspections – a substantial cost savings.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Have a vision, hire the right people and empower them to carry out that vision.”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Three things: Surround yourself with talented people – the best leaders know what they don’t do well, finding those who do is very important. Be honest. Do what you say you’re going to do.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

MALCOLM CANNON

ANTHONY CASA

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

CHAIRMAN

Quantarium

Association of Independent Mortgage Experts

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT? “I cannot do without highly intelligent and high-integrity people around me, pushing me, challenging me, but also willing to learn from my unique experience. Modern organizations certainly have IP but people are the nub that builds superb and sustainable organizations.”

WHAT ONE HABIT HAS MADE A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS? “Don’t just count your days, make your days count.”

s chief operating officer for Quantarium, a Seattle-based artificial intelligence company, Malcolm Cannon demonstrates excellence and leadership through a unique combination of deep software operations experience, real estate industry knowledge and depth. Combining these with a motivating and inspiring attitude towards world-class talent, Cannon leads Quantarium personnel daily through example. Cannon was an original Quantarium start-up partner. With over 20 years of experience, he has an extensive background in both analytical data approaches and data lakes as well as broad executive enterprise technology management, having led multiple technology companies providing mission-critical ERP applications to large customer bases. Quantarium’s Data and Search Platform was built by data scientists, mathematicians and computer architects with backgrounds related to some of the most successful companies in technology, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Cannon aids in driving Quantarium’s unique approach to fuse a multi-sourced comprehensive national-footprint data corpus with innovative proprietary multidimensional data modeling and evolutionary programming technology. Put simply, Quantarium is, at its core, an AI engineering company, rather than a real estate or mortgage company that is implementing AI. Cannon built an operational plan for Quantarium that emphasizes growth through customer success. No employee at Quantarium is non-customer-facing; no area of Quantarium operations is removed from customer success. This insight is indeed the secret-sauce of Quantarium’s stellar growth.

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n the last two years, Anthony Casa has become one of the most prominent names in the mortgage broker community. Casa founded the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts in early 2018, before choosing chose to divest his personal stake in Garden State Home Loans in order to dedicate his full time and attention to leading AIME. Casa has been a tireless advocate for mortgage brokers during his nearly two years leading AIME. Casa initiated events, meetings and working sessions in multiple states to educate and unite mortgage brokers, along with lenders and other partners within the wholesale community. In the last two years, Casa has established relationships with top companies that are now providing AIME members with access to resources and benefits to help them grow their business. Earlier this year, AIME launched ARIVE, a complete digital ecosystem including a loan origination system with lender connectivity, point of sale and customer relationship management functions. The ARIVE system is available exclusively for independent mortgage originators. Casa has also worked extensively to strengthen partnerships with wholesale lenders on behalf of brokers across the country, ensuring the lenders’ business practices support brokers instead of compete with them. Casa also pioneered the first-ever “Arizona Mortgage Broker’s Day” in August and plans to replicate that event in multiple states in 2020, in an effort to unify brokers who own businesses in the same states or regions. Casa has also established a prominent presence on various social media platforms, using those platforms to push AIME’s message that “Brokers are Better.”

2019 VANGUARDS

VICKI CHENAULT

SANJIV DAS

EXECUTIVE

CEO

CoreLogic Collateral Valuation Solutions

Caliber Home Loans

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “The secret to my success is attributed to the people I’ve worked with over the years. The problems and opportunities we are trying to solve cannot be done by one person and must be approached collaboratively. My team inspires and energizes me every day to bring my best work forward.”

WHAT ONE HABIT HAS MADE A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS? “I practice brain exercises daily to improve my cognitive function. Like physical exercise for our bodies, our brains need exercise to stay sharp and agile.”

or the last 22 years, Vicki Chenault has held various leadership roles at CoreLogic. Since she became a mortgage professional in 1987, Chenault has helped propel the entire industry forward through technology and digitization. When Chenault led escrow services, which was comprised of the flood and property tax divisions, the flood division grew to become one of the top service providers in the U.S. Chenault transformed and modernized the flood determination process, leading to the automation of more than 90% of all determinations. Now, Chenault has taken on her next big challenge, reimagining the end-to-end appraisal process. As the executive of CoreLogic Collateral Valuation Solutions, Chenault leads a team of more than 1,000 employees. With 32 years of industry experience, Chenault is focused on recruitment and developing the next wave of valuation professionals. Chenault brings in new talent and appraisers into the market through an in-house training program her team has developed, which revolves around new technologies, data and analytics. Over the last 12 months, Chenault’s team has spent their time innovating outdated appraisal market segment, with the creation of a multitude of new integrated solutions. With the help of Chenault’s team, the CoreLogic Collateral Valuation Solutions group completed a series of acquisitions, which delivered valuation tools and platforms to support an efficient appraisal process. The suite of tools now offered by Chenault’s group aims to remove the back-and-forth communication and required re-work oftentimes associated with the appraisal process to increase productivity and improve quality and overall customer satisfaction.

anjiv Das is a senior financial executive with 30 years of extensive experience in consumer banking and capital markets. As an executive with a global perspective, Das has successfully led numerous companies in both growth and turnaround positions. During the Obama administration, Das was instrumental in designing and successfully delivering numerous consumer programs in collaboration with the government, which helped families stay in their homes, avoid foreclosure and regain their financial footing. Many of these programs were ultimately incorporated into housing policy guidelines and continue to serve as the foundation for sustained homeownership in the U.S. As the CEO of Caliber Home Loans, Das has leveraged his deep experience in hyper-competitive markets, consumers and regulation to position Caliber as one of the largest mortgage companies in the country. In Das’ four years at Caliber, he has steadily grown the company, drastically increasing origination numbers. In 2018, Das successfully led Caliber to an all-time best year as the company reached more than $52 billion in originations. Additionally, Das led the charge on Calibers’ partnership with Figure Technologies, resulting in the development of the Caliber Home Equity Line of Credit, positioning the company as one first mortgage lenders to book an all-digital Home Equity Line of Credit. Furthermore, Das launched Caliber’s Women in Leadership affinity group, an organization that is dedicated to empowering and enriching employees, through an inclusive platform of leaders that supports gender equality in the workplace.

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2019 VANGUARDS

SARAH DECIANTIS

ERIC DRATTELL

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER

United Wholesale Mortgage

Roostify

arah DeCiantis is the catalyst behind United Wholesale Mortgage’s strategic approach to marketing, which has helped the company become the No. 1 wholesale lender in the U.S. for four straight years. DeCiantis is the client-focused leader of UWM’s in-house marketing team. As the chief marketing officer, DeCiantis oversees advertising, public relations, social media, creative and customer relationship management that has established the company as the gold standard of the wholesale mortgage industry. In her time at UWM, DeCiantis has facilitated rapid growth through various marketing vehicles. From new websites to an enhanced digital presence, social mentions and campaigns launched, marketing has been a key driver for the company’s overall development. DeCiantis prides herself on truly being in the weeds in all aspects of UWM marketing, as she regularly meets with clients to help assess their goals from a marketing perspective so UWM can help them grow their business, stressing the importance of building a strong social presence and driving business through content. In 2018, DeCiantis directed the re-launch of a new website for consumers to find a mortgage broker and for loan originators to find out how to become a mortgage broker. She also unveiled a new video series called Success Stories, which follows UWM’s production team as they travel to broker shops and conduct interviews. Under DeCiantis’ leadership, UWM has revolutionized the mortgage business with eye-catching marketing campaigns and an industry-leading website that has driven brand recognition for United Wholesale Mortgage up by 36% in the past year and a half.

ver the past year, Eric Drattell has led the team at Roostify that is responsible for the certification of Roostify’s platform designed to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under Drattell’s leadership, Roostify announced that the platform – both web-based and accessible on mobile devices – meets 100% of the applicable requirements and is fully accessible to borrowers with physical, visual and auditory disabilities. This was huge for Drattell, as his wife is hearing impaired. He personally saw to Roostify being certified to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, Level AA, enabling lenders to offer an ADA-compliant loan experience to their applicants. The certification recognizes that the Roostify platform is accessible to all users, including people with limited or no vision, limited or no hearing, colorblindness and limited mobility. As a lawyer himself, Drattell knows there is a cottage industry of plaintiffs lawyers who search out bank websites to see if they are ADA compliant, and when they find one that is not, they sue the banks on behalf of their clients. Drattell’s efforts proactively mitigate that hidden threat. Customers who use the digital mortgage platform Roostify provides its lending clients are making the biggest decision of their lives – buying a home. Drattell tirelessly works to ensure that the all borrowers, regardless of ability, can truly understand everything in the process. As chief compliance officer, Drattell manages all aspects of the company’s legal matters and leads the team responsible for compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, ISO 27001 and SOC-2 certifications, and privacy and security.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “A mentor of mine once said ‘People join companies and leave leaders. Be the leader no one wants to leave.’ This has stuck with me throughout my career and remains my north star as a leader.”

WHAT ONE HABIT HAS MADE A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS? “Persistence. It’s not just about showing up, it’s about digging in, driving to a resolution and conclusion. As a former litigator, I have challenged clients and still had to mount the best case possible. Those lessons helped me succeed.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

TIM ELKINS

VINCE FUREY

CHIEF PRODUCTION OFFICER

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

PrimeLending

OpenClose

tarting out as chief information officer, then making his way to chief production officer, Tim Elkins has played a vital role at PrimeLending in the 10 years he has spent there so far. Elkins led the company’s ongoing initiatives to leverage technology-based sales to streamline and improve the digital mortgage process, by assembling high-performing teams, identify high-impact opportunities and deliver dynamic solutions that propel us to the forefront of the industry. Elkins also led PrimeLending’s initiative to replace its current LOS with a new cloud-based, future-proof system called Blue Sage. Elkins brought in innovations to change PrimeLeding’s production and fulfillment processes by adding artificial intelligence automation. Apply Now, its web-based application platform that securely manages the borrower’s digital mortgage experience from application to documentation to approval to closing; Business Partner Mobile App, a Realtor/builder-facing mobile platform that provides real-time loan status updates and reminders that help business partners manage their clients’ closings more efficiently; and on demand prequalification letters. Elkins is the former chair of the Residential Technology Forum for the Mortgage Bankers Association. Additionally, working with fellow CIOs from other industry-leading brands as well as senior staff from CIO.com and the Harvard Business Review, Elkins has been a member of the Enterprisers Editorial Board. In 2019, Elkins was recognized on Constellation’s Business Transformation 150. In 2013 and 2014, Elkins was honored as one of the Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders and led his team to being selected as a CIO 100 recipient.

WHAT ONE HABIT HAS MADE A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS? “Facing my fears and being willing to step outside my comfort zone every day. I have learned that doing things that scare me is the best way to accomplish more and grow.”

ince Furey has more than 25 years of senior-level banking experience and an extensive background in national sales, lending technology, operations, credit, secondary marketing and compliance to go with it. Prior to joining OpenClose, Furey founded Ovation7, a national consulting and business services firm. While he was running that company, he provided C-level outsourced solutions and advisory services for the banking and financial services industries with a specialization in CIO/CTO-level technology consulting, business development, loan delivery and strategic planning. Prior to that, he held senior leadership positions in retail, wholesale, and correspondent sales and operations at Mellon Bank, Bank One and Pinnacle Financial Corp. Under Furey’s leadership, OpenClose already has at least a 100% uptick in revenue, compared to 2018. Furey has spearheaded a business strategy to offer its own POS digital mortgage technology, integrating it closely with their consumer direct portal, ConsumerAssist. This allows OpenClose to offer an end-to-end digital mortgage solution. With Furey being key to the accomplishment, OpenClose’s LOS platform, POS system and PPE received the highest Overall Satisfaction and Lender Loyalty Score’s in STRATMOR’s last two Technology Insight Study reports. Furey played a key role in the business strategy to implement and make available a RESTful API suite that was launch in November 2018. One of OpenClose’s core goals is to create elevated efficiency levels and reduce lenders’ cost per loan. As a lender’s business model changes, they have new needs and often must flex with shifting marketplace conditions.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Surrounding myself with talented, highly motivated people, giving them autonomy, and always supporting them over the goal line.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

VISHAL GARG

CHRIS GEORGE

CEO

PRESIDENT AND CEO

Better.com

CMG Financial

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Working harder to action the future first. Most people agree on what the future is; few people agree on how to get there. By being first to actualize the future, more people surrender to your way of doing things.”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “I firmly believe giving back to those in need leads to success – at work, at home and in life. I established the CMG Foundation, a philanthropic endeavor to support non-profit organizations at community and national levels, for this purpose.”

nder the leadership of Vishal Garg, Better.com has expanded the company’s growth in many aspects. Since its launch in 2016, Better.com has gone from a small startup to a force to be reckoned with. Garg launched Better.com when he and his wife struggled with their own mortgage experience, having lost their dream home to an all-cash buyer because the traditional mortgage process is long and sometimes difficult to understand. In order to build Better.com, Garg assembled a team of hungry partners from the best companies in tech, marketing, and finance: economists from the Federal Reserve; the chief counsel from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, engineers from Google, Spotify, and Microsoft, traders from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, financial analysts from Blackstone, marketing talent from JetBlue and C-Suite talent from PHH Mortgage. This uniquely-skilled group formed the foundation of what is now a highly successful company. Over the last 12 months, Better.com has increased its customer base by 276%, and seen a 300% growth in revenue, bringing the company’s valuation north of $600 million and projected to reach $1 billion by the end of 2019, launched a major partnership with Ally Bank and opened three new offices, hiring nearly 700 employees, all under Garg’s leadership. Better.com has been expanding so rapidly, tripling its size in the last year, and opening offices around the country. Even though Better.com began as a digital mortgage company, it now has three new business lines: title insurance, homeowners insurance and a network of real estate agents.

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hris George not only leads CMG Financial as the company’s president and CEO, he has also helped lead the Mortgage Bankers Association as the trade group’s chairman since October 2018. Fulfilling the responsibilities of MBA chairman has kept him away from CMG Financial’s corporate office in San Ramon, California for most of the year. During this time, George has testified before Congress, met with influential housing leaders, and served originators within his company and those working with other lenders all over the country as an industry advocate. Despite that intensive travel schedule, George has also continued to oversee the growth of his own company. In the past 12 months, George oversaw the addition of 40 new retail branches, leading to a 40% growth in year-over-year production problem. Each of CMG Financial’s lending channels, retail, wholesale and correspondent, ranks among the highest producing in the industry. Growing beyond the core channels, George also developed a new joint venture partnership division and launched CMG Securities, an owned affiliate broker/dealer of CMG Financial. Before taking on the role as chairman of the MBA, George served on the MBA’s board of directors since 2012. George is also a member of the MBA’s Independent Mortgage Bankers Executive Council and MBA’s Consumer Affairs Advisory Council. George also serves on the board of directors for MBA’s Opens Doors Foundation, is the immediate past chairman of MBA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and is the past chairman for California Mortgage Bankers Association.

2019 VANGUARDS

SCOTT GORDON

ERNIE GRAHAM

CEO

Open Mortgage

Homebot

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “When asked what he would do differently Michael Dell said, ‘I would hire better people sooner.’ I believe your people are everything, and this advice is more powerful than people realize.”

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “How to hire great teams. I used to look for skills and experience above all else. I learned the hard way to put ‘culture fit’ first. The collaboration, productivity, innovation, and passion will follow – every time.”

pen Mortgage has experienced significant growth over the past 12 months, which is a direct response to the leadership and decision making of the company’s CEO, Scott Gordon. Gordon, who is a serial entrepreneur with an education in software engineering, and an interest in start-ups and business investing, is currently a board member for several financial organizations across the country. In 2018, Gordon worked to position Open Mortgage in a favorable position for expansion by building up its forward and reverse lending departments, as well launching new marketing and operational products that aimed to help employees grow their personal businesses. Gordon also oversaw the on-boarding of Live Well Financial’s core team of mortgage lending executives and roughly 50 sales and operations employees, which significantly increased Open Mortgage’s national footprint and service capabilities. Additionally, he led the charge in the acquisition of Premier Home Mortgage, a lender that specialized in financing rural and small-town American communities, which added $300 million in loan value to the company. Through the acquisition, the company has now added offices in Iowa, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming - all markets that were previously untapped by Open Mortgage. As a result, Open Mortgage, which was awarded the #10 spot on the top HECM lenders in the nation list, is now predicting 30% production growth within the next year, coupled with a 30 to 50% production increase.

rnie Graham is the entrepreneurial leader behind Homebot, a fintech company delivering technology for lenders and real estate agents. Graham drives Homebot’s vision of empowering homeowners to build wealth while positioning lenders and real estate agents as the trusted advisors they can rely on to make informed decisions. With a 50% monthly client engagement rate, lenders and agents leverage Homebot to maximize their purchase/refi and repeat/referral business. Graham’s professional excellence has been recognized by the industry. In the last year, Homebot was a finalist at the NAR iOi Summit, claimed the grand prize at the Realogy FWD Innovation Summit and was named a HousingWire Tech100 winner. Homebot has experienced significant growth fueled significantly by Graham’s commitment and leadership. With more than 800% customer growth across the past twelve months, Homebot is now helping millions of consumers manage their home equity and build wealth. The Homebot team has evolved, too, as it nearly doubled in size since this same time last year. Graham continues to foster excellence and promote innovation, building a team of dedicated trailblazers who share the Homebot vision of helping consumers maximize their wealth through homeownership. Graham ensures Homebot is growing with the community it serves by dispelling the misconception that technology should aim to replace industry experts. Everything Homebot does is working towards reinforcing the crucial relationship between buyers, lenders, and agents. Graham is the leader behind this mission.

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2019 VANGUARDS

ROHIT GUPTA

JERRY HALBROOK

PRESIDENT AND CEO

CEO

Genworth Mortgage Insurance

Volly

s the president and CEO of Genworth Mortgage Insurance, Rohit Gupta’s vision, knowledge, and drive has taken the company to new heights. Working in tandem with Genworth’s senior leadership team, Gupta’s guidance has yielded several notable accomplishments within the last year. In 2018, the company reached its highest quarterly and annual income ever, coming in at $147 million and $490 million, respectively. Additionally, Gupta was also integral in the development and launch of several products at Genworth including the company’s proprietary dynamic pricing engine, GenRATE, as well as its Home Suite Home program, which helps borrowers alleviate unexpected homeownership costs. But while Gupta’s business strategy has been integral to the company’s development, it’s important to note that the value he assigns to workplace culture has been vital to Genworth’s overall success. Gupta has been an advocator for employee inclusivity, as he has supported an increased focus on diversity in the workplace, including advocating for a reinvigoration and expansion of its employee resource groups, an annual Respect in the Workplace training requirement and a dedicated HBCU-focused recruiting program. Over the past year, the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts have been recognized as best in class by both the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Diversity and inclusion Residential Leadership Awards and the Triangle Business Journal’s Leaders in Diversity Awards.

erry Halbrook has held several C-suite executive positions in financial services and mortgage banking including roles at Deloitte & Touche, Prudential Home Mortgage, Citibank and Bank of America. He has also served in executive consulting capacities with both KKR and Blackstone and has been involved with successful startup fintech companies. Halbrook served as the president of Black Knight’s Origination Division from 2011 until 2017. He led the successful growth of the Empower Loan Origination System as well as Black Knight’s big data and enterprise business intelligence solutions. He has consistently driven success in lending, both as a mortgage business leader and a mortgage technology provider. In November 2018, Halbrook was appointed CEO of Volly, a provider of cloud-based marketing automation, CRM and POS solutions for banks and mortgage companies. He joined Volly after serving for over 34 years in various executive-level positions within the mortgage industry and the mortgage technology industry and has applied that expertise to transforming Volly from a portfolio of three separately managed family-owned businesses into a comprehensive industry-leading technology platform strategy. Halbrook has negotiated significant partnership arrangements with complementary leading-edge technology companies to provide data-driven campaign management and AI capabilities to supplement the core platform strategy of Volly and provide significant value creation and performance for its clients. These partnerships reflect his ability to form complex partnerships and focus on the best interest of Volly clients and the needs of employees and customers.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “Learn the depth and breadth of the business so you know what makes the business successful. Beginning my career in products, segment and pricing roles, I had to be intentional about building a broader view of the forces that drove or prevented our progress—and that investment has paid dividends.”

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “Some advice I received was to not focus on counting other people’s money, or watching other people’s accomplishments, but to always focus on serving his clients, customer, shareholders and employees in the best way he could every day and the success and rewards would take care of themselves.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

MARK HANSON

CHRIS HELLER

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF SECURITIZATION

CHIEF REAL ESTATE OFFICER

Freddie Mac

OJO Labs

ark Hanson’s leadership was essential to the successful 2019 launch of the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security, the most significant change to the $4 trillion To-BeAnnounced market in a generation. As Freddie Mac senior vice president of securitization, Hanson helped conceive the UMBS, which combines aspects of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae MBS into a single, more liquid instrument. Hanson’s commitment to teamwork and consensus-building among a diverse set of teammates and stakeholders contributed to this success. He coordinated the work of hundreds of people within Freddie Mac and many more across the housing finance industry. His tireless efforts have included traveling the globe to build the confidence of overseas investors, gathering brokers and traders at UMBS conferences in New York to address questions and concerns about the security, providing requested and trusted expert advice to officials, and giving numerous media interviews explaining the economic rationale for the UMBS. In the last year alone, his efforts have helped yield an IRS ruling on the tax treatment of the UMBS; new FHFA rules to facilitate the launch of both the new security and the proprietary Common Securitization Platform that administers it; and updated SIFMA rules for good delivery in the TBA market. The result of these efforts has been a remarkably smooth transition. Just six months after the launch of forward trading in March, more than $16 trillion of UMBS has traded, and $200 billion of Freddie Mac’s legacy participation certificates have converted to UMBS.

WHAT ONE HABIT HAS MADE A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS? “The best habit for a leader is to be the boss you wish you had: Recognize the needs and accomplishments of others. Give them a chance to grow, achieve and amaze. When they need your help and support, dive in.”

n July 2019, Chris Heller joined OJO Labs as chief real estate officer. Heller dove in and began shaping partner strategies, creating a cohesive structure between real estate professionals and OJO and accelerating adoption in the industry to create a phenomenal consumer experience. As chief real estate officer, Heller brings deep expertise having held influential industry positions including CEO of mellohome and former CEO of Keller Williams Realty International. Heller earned his real estate license when he was just 20 years old and from there proceeded to build one of the most successful real estate teams in the U.S. From rookie of the year in 1989 to becoming the top-producing agent in San Diego County and the No. 1 Keller Williams associate in all of North America, Heller has earned the respect of colleagues and clients for the results he delivers. Under Heller’s leadership, the Chris Heller Real Estate Team sold more than 100 homes a year for almost three decades. At mellohome, Heller was fortunate to lead the growth of a new company starting from zero, to helping thousands of buyers each month connect with agents and lenders, and enabling them to get into the homes of their dreams. By mid 2019, he had built a network of over fifteen thousand agents with more than one thousand leads being generated monthly. The successes at mellohome and Keller Williams were both integral in Heller’s decision to shift to a full-time role at OJO Labs. He is now advocating for industry-wide adoption of OJO’s AI technology.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “My success can be attributed to my willingness to do what it takes, and being as resilient as a tree that bends in a storm but does not break.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

ANTHONY JABBOUR

STEVE JACOBSON

CEO

Black Knight

Fairway Independent Mortgage

ince joining Black Knight from Fidelity National Information Services in April 2018, Anthony Jabbour has worked to improve upon Black Knight’s already strong foundation as one of the top technology companies in the housing business. Under Jabbour’s leadership, Black Knight has become a leader in the digital mortgage space, developing technology that improves the home buying and home owning experience for all parties involved, including financial institutions, consumers, settlement agents, Realtors and real estate agents. In his time at Black Knight, Jabbour has led the development of several Black Knight products that are helping to transform the mortgage industry. One of those products is Black Knight’s Servicing Digital solution, a mobile app and responsive site that helps homeowners access important data about their home, loan and neighborhood from their mobile device or laptop, but it also provides them with the ability to make loan payments from their phones, if they choose. Black Knight recently moved into AI with the development of AIVA, an AI virtual assistant. Jabbour also challenged Black Knight’s developers, engineers and product teams to develop tools that provide clients with actionable business intelligence and data visualization, which the company did with its Actionable Intelligence Platform and Rapid Analytics Platform. The AIP is a unified framework that delivers business intelligence across the loan life cycle, while RAP is a cloud-based, virtual analytics lab where data scientists and quantitative analysts can create their own analytics based on their own data assets, as well as Black Knight’s data and analytics.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “I believe in being a servant-leader. Empowering my colleagues and helping them reach their goals is the path to achieving the greatest success.”

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EO Steve Jacobson has created a culture of giving back and has placed Fairway Independent Mortgage’s focus on community and serving people across America. Over the past 12 months, the company has served 58,906 first-time homebuyers, and has received $885,000 in donations for its nonprofit, American Warrior Initiative. Additionally, the company donated 21 service dogs to veterans. It also created another nonprofit, FairwayCares, which was established to provide support to individuals and families with a critical illness, have sustained physical trauma, or are grieving the loss of a loved one. It has sent more than 800 care packages to those in need over the past 12 months. Jacobson proposed the development of a new training for Fairway loan officers, which led to the creation of the military mortgage specialist division within Fairway. The division trains Fairway loan officers on the culture and core values of military clients. Fairway employees from around the nation gathered in Dallas at the very first military mortgage specialists training in April of 2012, and since that time, thousands of Fairway loan officers have received this designation. Just a few weeks later at an annual meeting, Fairway employees were encouraged to donate through payroll deduction to help veterans in need. Within 10 minutes, a quarter of a million dollars was pledged to give back over the next year to disabled veterans. Jacobson encourages his team to give back, and provides training specialized to the military community, saying that, “They served us, now we serve them.”

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “You can choose to make adjustments and improve – stay in the precious present!”

2019 VANGUARDS

SANDRA JARISH

BRAD JOHNSON

PRESIDENT

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Planet Home Lending

RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing

andra Jarish’s ability to transform non-performing borrowers into re-performing borrowers has made Planet Home Lending a legend among the EBO community. Servicing excellence is Planet’s core competency, it’s just one reason Planet, a servicer and sub-servicer, is renowned for making high-touch customer service cost-effective. Whether it’s getting a borrower to re-perform, resolving a customer issue or mitigating a loss, Planet works as a cohesive, empowered team, as inclusion and engagement are critical components of their work environment. Under Jarish’s guidance as president, Planet has earned its issuer authority under Ginnie Mae based on its positive servicing track record. In order to do this, Jarish built a best-in-class operation by adapting technology to deliver deep insight to investors and single-point-of-contact loss mitigation to customers. Using Planet’s digital loss mitigation system, borrowers apply online, submit docs, track progress and see retention options. Data flows into a performance system monitoring timeline slippage and identifying guideline exceptions that could reduce losses. Jarish’s special servicing system gives private clients anytime views into portfolios and integrated data on deliveries by seller, liquidations, cash flow, delinquencies, roll rate trending, loss mitigation, bankruptcy, REO and foreclosure. Jarish’s team has been so successful at getting loans to reperform via modification, repayment, and reinstatement that in 2019, the team posted a 42% reinstatement rate, of which 54% were not loan modifications.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Transparency and open communication with each other and our clients are the secrets to Planet’s success. We share performance data, reporting and analyses. We encourage everyone to question our tactics and processes and identify what works and what doesn’t.”

s chief operating officer, Brad Johnson is heavily involved in all parts of the company’s business. For example, over the last 12 months, Johnson has led or is actively participating in a number of corporate initiatives, such as the firm’s new corporate headquarters facility in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Johnson led the HQ team through the design and construction of this build-to-suit space, which will initially house approximately 550 employees. The three-story building is also big enough to accommodate more than 1,100 employees, which will allow RoundPoint to eventually double in size. Johnson also helped lead RoundPoint’s web transformation project, which included the complete overhaul of the firm’s website. Johnson helped push the initiative through the company’s internal processes and provided vision and direction for the project. As part of this effort, Johnson also oversaw the continued enhancement and growth of RoundPoint’s Homeownership Marketplace, an online portal of discounted home-related products and services. Johnson also led the company’s re-launch of its near shore and offshore operation strategies, redesigning the strategy, consolidating certain offshore locations and expanding others near shore like in Mexico. As chief operating officer, Johnson led the effort to manage the 100% growth RoundPoint has experienced in its mortgage origination volume over the last six months as compared to the same six-month period last year. That effort included the expansion of marketing strategies and operations units to fulfill the increase in business.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “The best advice I was given…succeeding in leadership isn’t just about how you handle pressure. It is also about knowing where, when, and how to apply pressure to achieve desired results.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

MICHAEL JONES

ROBERT KARRAA

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

PRESIDENT

Thrive Mortgage

First American Database Solutions

s the chief financial officer for Thrive, Michael Jones has been accountable for the administrative, financial and risk management operations of the company. In 2019, for the third time in four years, Thrive Mortgage was named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing privately owned companies in the U.S. Additionally, in late 2018, Thrive was an inductee into the Baylor University Institute for Family Business Hall of Fame. This award is given to a company who earns the university’s Texas Family Business of the Year honor for a third time. In addition to guiding and growing Thrive Mortgage, Jones is also a published author of “Reset: A Mortgage Novel” and numerous articles in various media outlets. His knowledge pertaining to secondary markets, financial relationships and managing the financial well-being of the company has led to countless opportunities to take part in advisory panels, councils and trade organizations. Jones has been invited to Washington, D.C. on several recent occasions to represent coalitions of mortgage lenders in meetings with the CFPB, Fannie Mae and members of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. At a more regional level, Jones is continually invited to be a panelist and contributor to many local conferences and speaking engagements. He is highly involved in numerous trade organizations including Texas Home Builders Association, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and the Community Mortgage Lenders of America. Jones recognizes tech trends in the industry and position Thrive Mortgage to provide innovative products and services that enhance the borrower experience.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “The best advice I’ve ever received is, first, ‘Never be afraid to fail.’ The second best is, ‘Don’t let your ego keep you from saying, ‘I don’t know.’”

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nder Robert Karraa’s leadership and vision, First American DataTree delivers cutting-edge technologies that fuel the growth of the real-estate market with robust, quality data and service solutions. According to First American, DataTree boasts the industry’s largest database of property and homeowner information, spanning 100% of U.S. housing stock and including nearly 7 billion recorded document images. As president, Karraa has sponsored the application of new technologies – like artificial intelligence and optical character recognition – to enable customers to search for documents using any combination of keywords, phrases or numbers, such as notary numbers, legal descriptions or estate names. As a result, customers are no longer limited to searching by owner name, address or APN. Now, all segments of the real estate market, including lenders, servicers, title insurance, title production, attorneys, appraisers and more can leverage extensive coverage with the highest data accuracy and search enhancements, including abstract property search; capabilities not possible with legacy technologies. In the past five years, DataTree has experienced significant growth by delivery of unique, value-centric data capabilities. According to First American, DataTree was the first to market with 100% coverage in every U.S. jurisdiction. With Karraa at the helm, First American DataTree is capturing 75% more data in 33% less time, bringing new real estate transparency to the market and delivering value-added data and services to the industry and customers. His vision is that First American customers will have the data they need, when they need it and how they want it.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Hire the best talent, get out of the way and let them create magic.”

2019 VANGUARDS

AARON KING

JAMES MAC PHERSON

FOUNDER AND CEO

CEO

SnapDocs

Academy Mortgage

aron King, a 20-year veteran of the mortgage industry, has led Snapdocs since he founded the company in 2013. Earlier in his career, King used his knowledge as a notary signing agent to launch a nationwide notary signing service. Eventually, that experience led King to found SnapDocs, which launched with a mobile notary scheduling product that automated the search and coordination of a mobile notary for settlement companies. In the convening years, King and SnapDocs have worked to ease the mortgage closing process, incorporating more lenders, settlement companies, and even borrowers into the process. Then, in 2018, Snapdocs expanded its offerings with the launch of a digital closing product for lenders. By utilizing SnapDocs offering, the company’s clients are able to do thousands of hybrid closings. According to the company, lenders who use Snapdocs typically see more than 60% of their hybrid closings successfully eSigned. The lenders are also able to shorten the closing process by two days and reduce the closing appointment to just 15 minutes. SnapDocs has seen tremendous growth in the last year. Over 5% of all U.S. real estate transactions currently take place via Snapdocs’ digital closing platform. Snapdocs’ revenue has also increased by 90%. Beyond that, the company’s workforce has nearly doubled in size within the last year, growing to more than 90 people. Snapdocs also expanded outside of the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time, opening a new office in Denver, Colorado in September 2019.

fter serving as the president of Academy Mortgage since 2016, James Mac Pherson was promoted in August 2019 to become the company’s CEO. Mac Pherson has steadily worked his way up the ladder at Academy. Prior to being named president, Mac Pherson held management positions in compliance operations and helped build the company’s disclosure operations department and QA audit department. Mac Pherson also spent time as a regional and divisional manager. Prior to moving into the company’s corporate office, Mac Pherson was an area manager, a branch manager and a loan officer in St. George, Utah, where he established Academy with 20% market share. Under Mac Pherson’s leadership as president, Academy closed 37,138 loans for a total of $9.04 billion in 2018, ranking the company among the top independent purchase lenders in the country and a top-30 lender overall. Mac Pherson also helped launch mobile and AI technology to enhance the mortgage process and allow loan officers to originate from anywhere. Beyond that, Academy also expanded its product portfolio to more than 200 loan solutions. Mac Pherson also played a key role in establishing several leadership, training, and overall company-wide initiatives. Included among those where the Torch Bearer sales program, a program that resulted in a 113% increase in quarterly production for nearly half of the participants in 2018. Beyond that, the company also launched the Leadership Academy, an internal executive management program for the company’s top leaders, which is now in its third session.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “There’s tremendous power in being a great listener. Most people are decent at listening, but hyper-effective leaders continuously hone this skill. They become adept at quickly getting to the core of the thoughts, beliefs, and observations of those around them.”

WHAT ONE HABIT HAS MADE A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS? “Listening and seeking to understand others’ perspectives. In doing so, truth can be revealed to make the best decision possible.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

JENNIFER MCGUINNESS

GREGG MEYER

CO-FOUNDER, MANAGING PARTNER AND HEAD OF AGGREGATION AND STRUCTURED FINANCE

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Strategic Venture Partners and Mortgage Venture Partners

ennifer McGuinness has more than 24 years of experience in lending and aggregation, banking, asset management, servicing and structured finance. She is the co-founder and head of Strategic Venture Partners, a strategy firm focused on innovative fintech and asset management. She’s also the co-founder and head of aggregation and structured finance for Mortgage Venture Partners, a woman-owned, minority-owned and veteran-owned business that’s the first end-to-end fintech-enabled mortgage loan aggregator. In the last 24 months, McGuinness and her team have brought to market an array of innovative lending products, including the first fintech-empowered first-lien home equity line of credit mortgage product and array of fintech optimization that insulates risk and streamlines origination, asset management and structured finance workflows. McGuinness was named a 2019 Women of Vision by Women’s Mortgage Banking Magazine. She also was listed as a Woman in Real Estate by REI Ink Magazine and was nominated for two 2019 Five Star Institute Keystone Awards, the first for Diversity and Inclusion and the second the Laurie Maggiano Legacy Award. Previously, McGuinness was the head of the deal team for the first hedge-fund issuer of residential mortgage-backed securities collateralized by newly originated mortgage loans. She also designed single-asset lending landlord loan programs. She is a thought leader and innovator who mentors peers and collaborates with stakeholders to ensure best execution. She has sat in the seat of both the business builder and leader and she strives every day to move the market forward.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “You meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way down” Just because someone may not be as senior as you doesn’t mean that they cannot add significant value. Collaboration and creativity are key to effectuating outcomes and no one has achieved success alone!” 50 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

Evolve Mortgage Services

ince becoming chief operating officer and president of Evolve Mortgage Services, Gregg Meyer has made sweeping internal changes leading to consecutive record months and a record year of growth and volume for the firm. Whether instituting process improvements or by empowering people at Evolve Mortgage Services, Meyer has positioned us for success and to continue helping our customers scale. While he is leading the internal teams, and as the team manages its rapid growth, Meyer is also constantly developing his direct reports and encouraging other managers to identify and develop potential leaders the company has at the firm in order to move others forward into a leadership role. Meyer recognizes the importance and value of building and improving Evolve Mortgage Services people while also balancing the rapidly growing volume of loans the company is working on in support of its clients. As a result, Meyer is forming a culture where people know they are valued and will be recognized for their hard work. He recognizes that the company is growing tremendously, and sees the challenges the increase creates for the company’s employees at every level. However, because Meyer continues to prove he is genuinely concerned and interested in seeing people succeed and grow, he is able to elicit the extra effort and performance the company and its team members need. One of Meyer’s favorite quotes on leadership actually comes from a children’s author: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” from Dr. Seuss.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT? “My Team! I really believe we have the best people in the industry, and I am lucky to work with them. I learn so much from our people and they always have great attitudes and ideas which continually propel Evolve forward.”

2019 VANGUARDS

BEN MILLER

TOM MILLON

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

CEO

SimpleNexus

Computershare Loan Services U.S.

en Miller joined SimpleNexus in 2014, the same year the company was founded, and was tasked with scaling the startup’s business. And that’s just what Miller has done during his time with the company. In the last five years, SimpleNexus has risen from startup to become a leader in digital mortgage technology. To date, SimpleNexus has connected its 21,000 active loan originators with 1.1 million borrowers and 65,000 Realtor partners to produce nearly five million loans totaling over $100 billion in volume. As chief operating officer, Miller runs the operations side of the company, with responsibilities ranging from setting up strategic partnerships to managing implementations. In the last year alone, Miller has led SimpleNexus to add 60 clients to its roster, bringing the total number of enterprise lenders using SimpleNexus to 223, including 15 of the top 25 retail lenders in the U.S. SimpleNexus also saw 102% revenue growth in the fiscal year 2018 and has seen 1,405% growth over the last three years. And the company is not done growing. SimpleNexus continues to steadily increase the number of loan applications it processes each month to nearly 40,000 per month. The company has also grown its employee base substantially, so much so that the company needed a new headquarters to accommodate its growth, and bolstered its senior leadership team with the appointments of three vice presidents to support the company’s expanding roster of mortgage lender clients: vice president of customer success, vice president of finance, and vice president of product.

om Millon founded a one-man business in 2003, before surrounding himself with industry experts. After 10 years, Millon created a national brand, Capital Markets Cooperative, serving over 500 financial institutions. Computershare limited acquired Capital Markets Cooperative in May 2016 as part of an effort to grow its global mortgage services business. In 2017, Specialized Loan Servicing, a third-party mortgage servicer that is owned by Australia’s Computershare, announced that it planned to expand its offerings to include subservicing for prime and non-performing loans. In April 2019, Millon was appointed as CEO of Computershare Loan Services US. Over the last 12 months, the team at Computershare Loan Services US has been expanding its services in the end-to-end mortgage ecosphere. With the recent acquisition of LenderLive, Computershare Loan Services US builds on an already strong fulfillment offering with an originations platform and new POS offering. The team at Computershare Loan Services U.S. Funding is now the fourth largest co-issue buyer in the market. The ratings agencies continue to recognize Specialized Loan Servicing as a top-tier servicer. The S&P reaffirmed above average rankings in July, citing strong technology, controls and management experience. Millon has been able to create a culture of high performers within Computershare Loan Services US. Millon instills big things in the future for Computershare Loan Services US, as he and his team continue the work to increase the use of innovative technology in the origination and servicing space and introduce new products to satisfy the needs of their clients and future clients.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “The people at SimpleNexus have been the secret to our success. Our people are real difference makers because they believe in a shared vision and they live our core values of being hungry, innovative, vibrant and empathetic.”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Being surrounded by strong innovators, empowered to make decisions that support the vision of the company and our clients. I wouldn’t be where I am without each one of those people. We all have our strengths and passions, it’s when we bring those things together that innovation and change occur.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

WILLIAM NEWMAN

DAVID PARKER

PRESIDENT AND CEO

CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER

Home Point Financial

LoanLogics

WHAT ONE HABIT HAS MADE A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS? “Curiosity. Curiosity drives us to learn, and learning gives us the tools to succeed. Never stop wondering how things work, because that way you can make them work better. A curious mind is an incomparable advantage.”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Three secrets: Being driven by a common vision, melding the diverse talents of other people to achieve great accomplishments and leading by example with a great work ethic, integrity, passion, perseverance” and humbleness in all actions.”

nown for his knowledge of the industry and innovation, William Newman has led many initiatives since becoming president and chief executive officer of Home Point Financial in 2014. Newman holds a bachelor’s in business administration in finance from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration in finance and business economics from Wayne State University. With over 25 years of mortgage industry experience, Newman led Home Point Financial to increase its loan volume by 98.5% from the first quarter of 2019 through the second quarter of 2019. Newman is one of the primary architects behind InterFirst Wholesale Mortgage Lending’s Development. In 1997, Newman was a part of the creation of ABN AMRO Mortgage Group, after InterFirst’s parent company, Standard Federal Bank, was acquired by ABN AMRO. While he was with ABN AMRO Mortgage Group, he led development of the first Internet-based wholesale lending portal, named Mortgages Online at InterFirst. Newman also rebuilt Mortgage. com, turning it into a consumer direct website and lending operation. With a partnership with Cole Taylor Bank in 2010, Newman started up Cole Taylor Mortgage, helping lead them to become a top 40 lender and servicer. In 2014, Stone Point Capital and Newman created Home Point Capital, which operated as Home Point Financial with the acquisition of Maverick funding in 2015. Newman lead the Customer For Life Program, which centers brokers in the mortgage space. He also oversaw the integration into the ARIVE platform.

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avid Parker has more 30 years of experience helping mortgage lenders take advantage of new technologies to streamline processes, lower costs, improve loan quality and achieve growth. But his accomplishments as chief product officer for LoanLogics have propelled Parker into one of the housing industry’s foremost leaders. Since joining LoanLogics in January of this year, Parker has been responsible for defining and executing the direction of LoanLogics’ unique portfolio of technologies and services to rapidly grow sales and increase customer engagement and retention. He was instrumental in implementing product innovations for the LoanLogics IDEA, Intelligent Data Extraction and Automation, platform, enabling LoanLogics to be the technology provider behind Freddie Mac’s new tool, known as Freddie Automated Servicing Transfer. The purpose of FAST is to help streamline the transfer of mortgage servicing rights for Freddie Mac’s Cash-Released XChange. Parker’s visionary ideas are the driving force behind the development of additional technology enhancements to expand the capabilities of FAST in order to support Freddie Mac’s Co-Issue XChange product. Within only nine months of joining LoanLogics, Parker’s leadership of the product management team and successful roll-out of enhanced functionality positively impacted the network of firms using LoanLogics’ platforms. There has been a 49% annual growth rate in the buyer/seller origination network and a 55% growth rate in the servicing network related to MSR acquisition.

2019 VANGUARDS

KEVIN PARRA

KEVIN PERANIO

CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO

CHIEF LENDING OFFICER

Plaza Home Mortgage

Paramount Residential Mortgage Group

evin Parra is an industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience in all facets of mortgage banking. He co-founded Plaza in 2000 and led it through the mortgage crisis and global recession. In addition to his leadership role at Plaza, Parra has served on Fannie Mae’s Customer Advisory Board and on the Board of Directors of the California Mortgage Bankers Association. Under Parra’s leadership, Plaza has grown to be a leader in third-party originations, offering a full range of GSE, Government including FHA, VA and USDA, non-conforming, including nonQM, renovation and reverse mortgage programs. This year, Plaza is on track to originate $10 billion in mortgages. Over the past 12 months, Parra has played an integral role in the overall strategic direction of the company, spearheaded technology initiatives, rebranded the company and overseen the development and launch of several new loan programs, products and initiatives. Parra is passionate about giving back to the community and has instilled this belief into the corporate culture of Plaza, donating more than $500,000 to charities since the founding of the company. Plaza has been active with a number of charities over the years, including hurricane relief for the American Red Cross, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and with the San Diego affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Last year, the company donated a percentage of its overall October loan volume to Komen San Diego, totaling $41,000 and plans to do so again this year.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “I always try to keep in mind that what we do is so important – we help people get into their homes, which isn’t just one of the biggest financial transactions of people’s lives, but also what they dream about. I am so proud to be a part of that.”

evin Peranio has demonstrated himself to be an active industry leader. As chief lending officer and partner for PRMG, he has committed himself to stay apprised of the latest emerging technologies, sales platforms and offerings in the mortgage industry. Like an ambassador who travels endlessly across the country from one mortgage industry tradeshow to another, Peranio has made it his mission to gather relevant information on the latest loan origination technologies, point of sale systems, CRM platforms, including digital and social media marketing playing an instrumental part as PRMG’s digital mortgage advancements, but never losing sight that this industry relies on human connection as well. Peranio understands the market, has an astute awareness of the competition including the emergence of fintech companies, many of which are attempting to eliminate and devalue the local resident experts such as loan originators and real estate agents who are essential to bringing face-to-face service to the customer. Peranio has forged strong relationships with many of the industries’ top leading organizations, such as AIME, NAMB, NAHREP and NAMMBA to protect the brokers, originators and real estate professionals who work every day to help borrowers across the country experience the dream of homeownership. It is this kind of activity that allows Peranio to continue to serve for success – all of which he brings back to corporate headquarters and shares with leadership, sales and operations teams to help PRMG continually stay its course to being “progressively better in all that we do.”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Inspiring others so we can all contribute collectively is an infinite wisdom that will help us all stick around a very long time and remain together. At PRMG, this ideology along with remaining privately owned and sticking to our service model has helped us to serve for success.” HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 53

2019 VANGUARDS

TAMMY RICHARDS

STEPHEN ROSENBERG

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

FOUNDER AND CEO

loanDepot

Greystone

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “The Tim McGraw song, ‘Humble and Kind,’ offers good advice for executives to ease the way for the next generation of leaders— especially women—entering the workforce: ‘When you get where you’re goin’ don’t forget turn back around help the next one in line always stay humble and kind.’”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Making others feel cared for and important prepares the soil of their psyche for inspirational, ground-breaking thinking, and sets them up for success.”

ince joining the loanDepot team, Tammy Richards has been an integral player in the company’s mission to redefine the home lending customer experience—and, specifically, leveraging technology to enhance the human connection among borrowers and loan officers. As loanDepot’s chief operating officer, Richards is responsible for the expansion and refinement of the company’s loan production processes including underwriting, processing, funding and closing, as well as quality assurance protocols. Richards is a true servant leader whose guiding principles of honesty and integrity shine through every day. A strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, including gender equality, Richards has dedicated much of her career to advancing opportunities for women and minorities in the mortgage industry. Under her leadership, her team is continuously seeking opportunities to simplify and improve customer transactions, with a goal to deliver a seamless experience that has become the expectation in today’s digital age. In February, Richards’ team unveiled the mortgage industry’s first end-to-end digital loan, powered by loanDepot’s proprietary technology. The product, mello smartloan, delivers fully digital documentation, eliminating the time-consuming and frustrating paperchase that has historically weighed down the mortgage transaction. For loan officers, processors and underwriters, the product seamlessly ticks through the entire loan process, providing significant time-savings. The resulting experience is more secure, hassle free, and can reduce the time to close by up to 75%.

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teve Rosenberg founded Greystone in 1988 and has since developed it into a leading national commercial real estate lending, investment and advisory company that has a reputation as one of the nation’s top FHA multifamily and healthcare lender. As CEO, Rosenberg is responsible for the strategic vision of the firm, which is to be able to provide a solution to – and also anticipate – the needs of real estate investors in whatever phase they may be in, whether that be by helping them complete a capital stack, reformulate a portfolio, or optimize holdings for the current and future market. Under Rosenberg’s leadership, Greystone has become a top ten Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lender, as well as the only institutional EB-5 sponsor that is a full-service real estate lender, investor, advisor, loan securer and developer. The company has also expanded its capital markets activities, including the industry’s first CLO offering comprised solely of healthcare assets, and the $80 million acquisition of a publicly traded limited partnership to deepen its financing capabilities for affordable housing and market-rate multifamily properties. As a result, the company has developed more than $2 billion in multifamily and mixed-use properties nationwide, and now owns and manages more than 7,600 affordable multifamily units across the country. In 2018, Greystone reported a total loan origination volume $10.3 billion, bolstering its loan servicing portfolio to $36 billion. The company now employs 8,000 employees in more than 30 offices nationwide.

2019 VANGUARDS

AARON SAMPLES

ANDY SANDLER

CEO

FOUNDER AND CEO, SENIOR PARTNER,

First Guaranty Mortgage

Temerity Capital Partners, Asurity Technologies, and Mitchell Sandler

n just two years at First Guaranty Mortgage, Aaron Samples has made a significant impact. Samples was named president of the company in January 2018, and was promoted to CEO just 13 months later. Under Samples’ leadership, FGMC has undergone a complete transformation in terms of profitability, company culture, and innovation. In the last year, Samples led the creation of the FGMC Strategic Pillars, which serve as a blueprint for the company. Samples also managed the company’s entry into the non-QM market through the creation and rollout of a proprietary line of products under the brand, Maverick Solutions, to the correspondent, wholesale and retail channels. Samples also shepherded the firm through several major technology implementation projects including an employee intranet, retail point of sale and B2B portal technologies in order to streamline processes and increase efficiencies for clients and employees throughout correspondent, wholesale, consumer direct and corporate entities. Samples also guided the re-launch of FGMC’s wholesale division, supporting both inside and outside sales teams, to further meet the market demand for non-QM loan solutions throughout the broker community. In total, Samples drove unprecedented firm growth of 84% year-over-year while implementing expense reductions of 12%, and increasing production volume through expansion and incentive strategies by more than 30%. Samples also helped build a company culture initiative by implementing recognition events, ongoing employee experience and training resources, promoting work-life balance through remote work opportunities and increasing transparency.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “Don’t lose sight of what’s truly important: the people. Taking care of yourself and others, and focusing on family brings happiness, not money. Your career will fall in line behind those priorities.”

ndy Sandler is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the housing industry. He founded and led Buckley Sandler, a leading financial services and mortgage industry law firm, as its chairman and executive partner. Sandler also founded Treliant in 2009 and served as its CEO from 2009-2017, building the company into one of the top consulting firms in the financial services industry with a specific focus on the mortgage industry. In his more than 30 years in the housing business, Sandler has served as a legal advisor and counsel to the mortgage and financial services industry, defended banks and independent mortgage companies in many of the most significant lawsuits and enforcement actions directed at the mortgage industry, and counseled on many noteworthy bank and mortgage company acquisitions. More recently, Sandler founded and leads Temerity Capital Partners, which invests in and advises early-stage companies with a focus on companies developing new technologies to assist banks, mortgage companies and other financial services firms. Sandler is also CEO and founder of Asurity Technologies, a software firm focused on providing automated compliance management solutions for the mortgage and banking industries; and founder of The Sandler Family Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic efforts on social impact through entrepreneurship and financial education. Sandler also recently returned to law practice as a senior partner in newly formed Mitchell Sandler, a majority women owned and managed financial services and fintech law firm. Sandler also serves as a strategic advisor to many Temerity portfolio companies.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Temerity, profound optimism, and tenacity. Finding and empowering strong business leaders to reach their full potential.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

MICHAEL SCHMEISER

THOMAS SPONHOLTZ

CEO

CEO AND FOUNDER

Arch Mortgage Insurance

Unison

s president and CEO of Arch Mortgage Insurance Company, Michael Schmeiser oversees about 850 employees, is committed to furthering Arch MI’s mission of providing bestin-class solutions that meet the needs of mortgage lenders. Since taking the top role at Arch MI, Schmeiser has made employees a priority. His relaxed, informal style fosters a collaborative environment and encourages employees at all levels to bring their ideas to him. Schmeiser hosts quarterly all-employee town halls and creates other opportunities for employees to freely share ideas with him and other senior leaders. The company culture Schmeiser is spearheading was recently spotlighted by the Triad Business Journal, which named Arch MI one of the Best Places to Work in 2019 based on feedback from employees. Schmeiser is quick to point out, however, that despite his relatively informal leadership style, he is an intense competitor. The Arch Global Mortgage Group delivered record profits in the first half of 2019 with more than $500 million in underwriting income with the majority coming from Arch MI. In August, he oversaw the introduction of a new RateStar Refinance Retention tool, which enables lenders to offer reduced borrower-paid MI premiums for eligible borrowers refinancing Arch MI-insured loans — helping lenders capture more refinance business in an environment where mortgage rates have declined. Schmeiser says he is committed to Arch MI maintaining its position as a leading MI provider in the U.S. by making data-driven decisions, listening to the customer and continuing to make Arch MI a great place to work.

homas Sponholtz’s focus is clear at Unison, and it’s changing how people buy and own homes and lowering the barrier to homeownership. In 2004, Sponholtz founded Unison, where he invented home co-investing as an alternative to debt-only financing, which brings investors together with consumers to solve both of their problems. The goal Sponholtz had in mind when beginning Unison was to launch a company whose model was focused on aligning the interests of consumers with those at the source of their capital. Sponholtz led the company’s change to a direct-to-consumer business model. This inspired the company’s brand re-launch. In 2018, Sponholtz led Unison to a 370% year over year revenue growth, and a 308% year over year growth in customer transactions. Also in 2018, Sponholtz raised a $40 million Series B funding round for the company, which was the first time it had to seek outside investor funding since its launch. This year, Sponholtz expanded Unison’s HomeOwner and HomeBuyer services to eight additional states in the nation to introduce the advantages of home co-investing to over 5 million more homes. As of July 1, 2019, Unison has helped more than 5,000 people and families, with a total of $3.5 billion invested into homes. Sponholtz’s idea of “enlightened capitalism” and Unison’s “secret sauce” of patient capital provided by larger fund managers from pension funds and endowments enable Unison to design products that are in consumers’ best interests. Unison was designed to have interests fully aligned with its customers.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “One of my friends from business school once said, ‘Be patient for titles, but impatient for learnings.’ If you want to get to the next step and develop your career, it’s vital to learn within your current role, build new skill sets and take on projects, even without a promotion.”

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to truly believe in your mission. I have seen this advice come to life since launching Unison. There are many ups and downs when launching a business, and it is essential to be passionate and remember why you started initially.”

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2019 VANGUARDS

LISA SPRINGER

LAKSHMI STOCKHAM

CEO

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF RETAIL PRODUCT AND CUSTOMER ACQUISITION TECHNOLOGY

STRATMOR Group

TD Bank

isa Springer leads her team toward achieving the firm’s strategic goals by creating a finely-tuned and highly profitable professional services organization. Over the past year under her leadership, STRATMOR has achieved its highest levels of performance. As CEO, Springer has spearheaded the organization and deployment of STRATMOR’s analytics group, led by senior partner, Nicole Yung. This team is dedicated to providing STRATMOR’s partners and consultants valuable information to guide mortgage lenders and vendors to enhance profitability, ROI and M&A strategies. Springer has also guided the firm to a more corporate structure by increasing accountability and expectations and guiding its newly formed marketing department to increase STRATMOR’s recognition and exposure in the industry. The popular Insights Report that she started in 2016 went to a totally online format in January 2019, making it easier for readers to find, use and share the report’s information on current mortgage industry topics. She also implemented a virtual help desk and leads a very robust team of technology professionals who manage the firm’s servers and who are capable of troubleshooting security and technical issues remotely. In 2019, the Technology Insight Study, a survey from lenders on their experiences with in-use mortgage technology, was expanded under Springer’s leadership. The new format is now offered in easy-to-respond-to modules, and is available on mobile devices. The number of lenders who participate in the study has increased in 2019, making it possible to provide the mortgage industry with a greater understanding of available technology.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “As leaders, you encounter challenging decisions every day. A friend once taught me to ‘hold the fear and take the risk.’ For me, this means don’t avoid confronting issues as soon as they arise. If you do, the same issue, left unchecked, becomes much bigger and harder to confront later.”

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT? “Collaboration. Whether at work, at home or in the community, I strongly believe in the power of teamwork and diverse thinking. It drives learning, growth and innovation. It’s important for me to keep learning and to inspire those around me to be the best versions of themselves.”

s the executive responsible for technology strategy and delivery for retail consumer banking at TD Bank, Lakshmi Stockham is transforming the lending experience for millions of customers. Stockham is at the forefront of enabling customer experiences at a time when consumer expectations and preferences are evolving faster than ever before. Through her work to onboard cutting-edge platform and artificial intelligence capabilities, TD’s consumer bank is enabled to better understand the voice of the customer and employees can do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. Stockham’s work and leadership have stood out across the industry, earning her various accolades. In September 2019, 20/20 Vision for Success Coaching and the Mortgage Women Magazine recognized Stockham one of its 2019 Women with Vision, an award that honors inspiring female professionals. In June 2019, the PROGRESS in Lending Association named Stockham one of the 2019 Most Powerful Women in FinTech. She earned this recognition for her thought leadership on the role fintech will play in reshaping financial services and for her work to introduce transformative capabilities that are driving growth at TD Bank. A stand-out characteristic of Stockham’s leadership style is her passion for continuous innovation. She has championed a customer-centric vision of the home buying journey and worked to create a seamless experience for customers by removing points of friction. Lakshmi used automation to create a seamless self-service for consumers.

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2019 VANGUARDS

PATRICK STONE

DREW UHER

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER

FOUNDER AND CEO

Williston Financial Group Family of Companies

HomeLight

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “I strongly believe in and have had great success with rejecting a hierarchical organizational model. I encourage everyone to say what’s on their mind, there’s no downside to disagreeing with me. I would rather people say what they are thinking right now than find out later that they thought differently.”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? “Our team is our biggest advantage. We hire people who are not only experts in their respective fields but also who are all around great people to work with. HomeLight’s success is a direct result of putting people first.”

ince founding Williston Financial Group, Patrick Stone has worked to take isolated elements of the real estate industry and create collaboration in order to increase efficiency and improve the mortgage experience for homebuyers. This has been evident in the past year, as Stone has established a client-first culture at WFG that’s best summated by the fact their Netpromoter score hit 81 in August. During the time leading up to this telling score, Stone oversaw the launch of WFG’s DecisionPoint, a completely automated title decisioning system. Using this, lenders will know almost instantly the application-to-close time, as well as any curative steps needed based on the results. Stone also spearheaded the expansion of the use of My Home from real estate agents to homebuyers and lenders. My Home is a secure messaging network where real estate agents, homebuyers and lenders can all safely track a real estate transaction’s progress in a way that is both customizable and mobile friendly. Stone recognized the value in offering this service to lenders, so they can also track a loan’s progress. Stone brings a wealth of industry experience, previously running Fidelity National Financial, where he oversaw 2,000 offices. But now, he is leading the Williston Financial Group of companies toward increased consolidation. The results of his emphasis on and investment in technology versus physical addresses has been phenomenal. This year, WFG is on track to generate significantly more revenue per office than its competitors, despite needing only a fraction of the office space and related overhead costs.

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rew Uher, HomeLight’s founder and CEO, has been a tireless leader for HomeLight since its founding in 2012. His most unique characteristic is to effectively balance deep understanding of the business across nearly every functional area – marketing, product, engineering, finance, sales and operations – with strategic vision. Under Uher’s leadership, HomeLight is now known as the destination for home buyers and sellers to find the best real estate agent via its industry leading agent matching platform. HomeLight has assisted with well over $17 billion in real estate business with thousands of real estate agents nationwide and served hundreds of thousands of clients. It has seen revenues increase by 4300% over the last four years and, on average, introduced a client to a top agent every two minutes in 2019. Uher has grown HomeLight from just a few employees to over 180 with offices in San Francisco, Scottsdale, Brooklyn and Seattle. And HomeLight has had a transformational year under Uher’s leadership in 2019. In addition to growing its core agent matching business, HomeLight evolved and expanded its offering to a full suite of options, fundamentally changing the way people transact real estate. This year, HomeLight launched its Closing Services division, providing title and escrow services to agents and home sellers; announced its simple sale product, designed to match sellers with the hundreds of iBuyers across the U.S.; launched its agent services division to provide innovative products and services to its network of agents and acquired Eave.

2019 VANGUARDS

TIM VON KAENEL

IAN WONG

CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER

Cloudvirga

Opendoor

n 2018, Tim Von Kaenel joined Couldvirga as its chief production officer. Von Kaenel wants to make getting a mortgage easy, low-cost and accessible to everyone. To do that, he drives digital mortgage innovation that’s rooted in the user’s point of view. Von Kaenel has over 20 years of experience managing startups and Fortune 500 companies under his belt. Prior to joining Cloudvirga, Von Kaenel drove the product technology strategy for loanDepot’s MELLO digital mortgage and MELLO Home Real Estate referral platform, and prior to that, he guided multiple startups to acquisitions and two public offerings. Since joining the company just a year ago, Von Kaenel has spearheaded Cloudvirga’s partnership with ARIVE, bringing efficiency to the wholesale mortgage industry by integrating consumer and originator point-of-sale, CRM, pricing, secure document storage functionality and more to the origination process. Von Kaenel led the global team of product, engineering, quality assurance and UX to develop and launch The Cloudvirga Digital Mortgage Platform, a point-of-sale software platform that combines a world-class borrower experience with an automated lender workflow to radically cut overall loan costs, increase transparency and reduce the time to close a loan. Von Kaenel also oversaw the deployment of the platform to six top wholesale mortgage lenders throughout the U.S. And today, Cloudvirga has expanded to now work with ten of the nation’s top 30 lenders, as well as rolled out an entirely redesigned consumer point of sale experience that earned an NPS of 73.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? “Customer Adoption is the only true measure of success for a Product Leader. Be relentless in asking the customer what they like or dislike about your product. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Leave your EGO at the door. If customers LOVE the product/service you build, success with follow.”

an Wong built his career helping businesses make smarter, data-driven decisions. As the co-founder and chief technology officer of Opendoor, he leads a team of engineers and data scientists focused on modernizing the real estate industry. Together, they are responsible for the development of Opendoor’s products and technology that are rebuilding every component of the real estate transaction to make it automated, frictionless and low-cost for consumers. Wong’s goal is to make it as easy to buy and sell a home as it is to hail a ride, buy something online, or book a flight. That requires rebuilding every part of the home buying and selling process to make it automated, frictionless and simpler. In the past year, Wong’s team has created an on-demand buying experience for customers and continued to build out Opendoor’s home selling service, which integrates home assessments and valuations, repair and financing into one seamless model. Wong also is leading the development of Opendoor’s pricing model which leverages machine learning and advanced algorithms to ensure sellers and buyers get the most accurate price possible. Opendoor’s pricing model delivers accurate pricing for billions of dollars of real estate. His team builds the product that delivers simplicity, certainty and speed to sellers and buyers. His product team has transformed a home sales process full of hassles into a simple online experience giving customers control of their move. And as for homebuyers, the product can help consumers find, tour and even purchase homes on their schedule and right from their mobile device.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT? “I cannot do without a blank sheet of paper and a pen. When I come across something complicated, I will try to distill the core idea until it fits on a single, hand-written page.”

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The lack of affordable housing has reached crisis level in the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cities and suburbs.

From Seattle to New York, rising demand and declining construction have pushed home prices and rental rates beyond the grasp of many middle- and modest-income Americans whose wages have not increased at the same rate as rental prices.

The squeeze has tightened across housing segments steadily for years. Between 2005 and 2017, the stock of single-family homes remained essentially flat, resulting in unattainable homeownership for many. Though expected wage increases and moderating home prices should offset some of this higher homeownership cost, the U.S. credit card debt being at an all-time high and the student debt load topping $1.5 trillion means that the down payment needed to purchase a home is simply not possible for many Americans. With renter demand continuing unabated and many Americans being priced out of owning a home, the single-family market is feeling the pressure of higher interest rates, a lack of affordable 64 HOUSINGWIRE â?ą DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

single-family supply, and historically high debt loads. According to Harvard researchers, from 2001 to 2016 rentersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; median housing costs rose by 11% while their income actually fell by 2%. Even though rental units grew 23% during that span, the rental market has also remained constrained and seen prices soar. A b o ut 10 8 m i l l i o n Americans, equivalent to approximately a third of the country, are renters. And of this 108 million, 23 million live in a low-income household that pays more than half of its income for rent, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Although solutions to the wide-scale problem are elusive, borrowing programs initiated by the government-spon-

sored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have eased conditions and could even prove game-changing in a pivotal market segment: small multifamily residential properties. Expanding incentives to borrow, the programs have lately caught fire with investors because they increase the affordability of this category of housing for owners and renters alike. Gary Ghiselli is a prime example of an owner who has taken advantage of these programs. Earlier this year Ghiselli, a surgeon based in Denver, Colorado, looked to refinance a 24-unit property he owned with a low-fixedrate loan that would shield him from market volatility. A real estate finance company steered him to Fannie Mae’s Multifamily Small Loan program, which gave him the protection he desired—and more—and in less than 45 days. During a rally in U.S. Treasury rates, he locked in a 4.09% fixed-rate loan for 12 years, a vast improvement over the variable-rate, shorter-term bank loan he had previously taken to acquire the property. What’s more, the new loan was non-recourse and interest-only, leaving him with extra cash to pay for upkeep, improvements, and to further invest in workforce housing properties throughout the area. “Since the rates and fees were low, I was able to refinance the property while keeping rents affordable for the families who live here,” Ghiselli said. Ghiselli achieved all of this with limited paperwork, low fees and an exceptionally streamlined process – the perfect solution for a property owner whose investments are not the primary source of

income. The small loan financing option does not only benefit the casual investor; WCI Partners, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvaniabased real estate development company is leveraging these programs to realize their business goal and mission of urban revitalization. Experts in shaping communities in tertiary markets like Harrisburg, the WCI Partners team saw an opportunity to refinance three of their properties utilizing Fannie Mae’s small multifamily loan program. They received a 10-year, non-recourse, $8 million loan, with a three-year interest only option, and 30-year amortization. Because WCI Partners was able to quickly and painlessly refinance these three properties, they were also able to better focus on their mission to “create residential and commercial projects that are both economically and socially valuable for their surrounding communities.”

Market Transformation The benefits for lessors and lessees have spurred a sharp rise in GSEs’ share of the multifamily loan market. Traditionally, banks were the dominant source of small loans to fund affordable multifamily housing, with small meaning in the $1 million to $7 million range for buildings often between five and 50 units, and they remain so today. That being said, the small multifamily lending landscape changed after Fannie Mae entered the market in the mid-2000s. This change further accelerated when Freddie Mac introduced their small-balance loan program back in 2015. Fast-growing cities like

Denver, Seattle, San Antonio, Texa s a nd Jack sonv ille, Florida, are especially fertile territory for agency financing. Secondary and tertiary markets are also benefiting from the streamlined loan offerings provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because the GSEs can offer data and insights into niche markets thanks to their national reach and broad network of lending partners. Last year in the U.S., more than 71,000 properties were financed by small loans totaling $169 billion in volume. Banks accounted for $117 billion, or 69%, of the total, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s share was $12.9 billion or 7.6%. Insurance companies, credit unions and other non-bank lenders such as online lenders, funded the remaining 23%, according to data compiled by CrediFi. To be clear, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not lend money directly. They market the loans through financial service firms called delegated underwriting and servicing lenders for Fannie Mae and Seller/Servicers for Freddie Mac. Some companies in this category include Walker & Dunlop, CBRE, Arbor and Newmark Knight Frank. The DUS lenders screen borrowers, then underwrite and originate the loans for a fee, after which they continue to provide servicing and asset management for the properties. In some cases, the obligations are then transferred to the agencies, who in turn bundle and sell them as asset-backed securities. After such transfers, the private lenders continue to administer the loans. These programs are rising in popularity namely because they offer terms and options that meet the specialized needs of borrowers such as

“With renter demand continuing unabated and many Americans being priced out of owning a home, the single-family market is feeling the pressure.”

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Ghiselli, whose multifamily investments represent their side gig.

Banks versus Agencies But the choice of which to borrow from, a bank or an agency, is not always black and white. Since banks are licensed to promote loans only in specific markets,

2018 by the numbers

Some of these options include: • Non-recourse loans • Fixed or floating rates • Longer-terms – 15-, 20- and 30-year • Lower closing costs than traditional agency financing – Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Streamlined processes, with less invasive documentation required of the borrower • Active lending in all markets; primary, secondary, and tertiary

As a rule, the terms of agency loans soundly beat what one can obtain from banks—primarily loans that do not exceed seven years and are full-recourse, meaning that borrowers are on the hook for the full amount if they default. By contrast, agency-backed loans a re ma in ly non-re course, and they enable borrowers to lock in attractive fixed rates for up to 30 years.

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their expertise in those markets can be deep, while the agencies are nationwide and have no geographic limits. With respect to underwriting, banks focus primarily on the creditworthiness of the borrower, asking to see individual tax returns and requiring a fairly detailed global cash flow analysis. For example, they provision for borrower credit card debt, car loan debt, personal loans and a variety of other types of debt in order to satisfy the bank’s individual underwriting requirements. This process can be time consuming and complicated, requiring a fair amount digging to fill out the necessary paperwork. In addition, many banks will require

the borrower to have a minimum amount deposited at the bank in order to qualify for such a loan. For borrowers with complicated tax returns, loans handled through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are more attractive because there is no need for debt-to-income analysis. The agencies do not require underwriting of individual tax returns and, as non-depositary institutions, do not require deposits. Because the loans they offer are non-recourse, they focus somewhat less on the borrower and more on the characteristics of the property itself, including its past, current, and projected cash flow.

Even so, the agencies favor borrowers who have experience owning and operating multifamily properties or apartments—typically Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prefer to see at least two years of experience with at least two properties or apartments of a similar size. So, if they are a borrower looking to finance their first apartment loan, bank financing may be a better option. After the borrower has put in a few years owning and operating a portfolio of two or more properties, refinancing with an agency loan at better terms may be a perfect fit. Moreover, if they have improved or renovated the properties and increased their cash

69%

Bank financed properties

7.6%

Fannie/Freddie financed properties

23%

Lenders financed properties

flow, the agency may be open to taking out additional proceeds beyond their existing debt. Agenc y loa ns a re available for everything from market-rate and rent-stabilized properties to affordable housing communities. In fact, the main focus of the Freddie Mac Small Balance program has been to promote the financing of rental homes throughout the country that are price accessible. As such, they have incentives for completing and funding afford-

able homes more quickly than their market-rate counterparts. These properties may include: •E xpiring-use LIHTC financing • Long term HAP contracts • Regulatory Agreements that impose rent or income restrictions • Tax abatements • Section 8 vouchers Manufactured home communities – a ubiquitous housing option

throughout the country – may also qualify for these new financing options as long as the units have paved roads and two parking spots per home, entry through a patio or raised porch, and 75% of the units are owned by residents. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have quickly become the market leaders for these properties. Loans for mixed-use properties having commercial establishments on the ground floor and multifamily above are also available, as long

as the retail space comprises less than 35% of the total building. These properties are most popular in smaller towns and sprawling cities, and cater to renters of all types. T he t wo gove r nment-sponsored enterprises routinely roll out new and improved multifamily loan packages, such as the Targeted A f fordable Housing Express Program that Freddie Mac debuted last year. Additionally, Fannie Mae has a Green Rewards program that offers low-cost financing to incentivize landlords to lower properties’ energy and water consumption. For example, these programs often incentivize landlords to update appliances, replace old windows and doors, invest in solar panel systems or improve thermostats and heating controls in order to increase energy savings. In this instance, both the owner and tenant reap cost savings benefits as a result of the owner implementing these green improvements. DUS lenders have also made steady strides at simplifying and accelerating each step in the lending process. Each program comes with a unique set of pros and cons depending on the borrower’s investment strateg y and business goals.

The overall impact of small balance lending, however, extends well beyond the borrower. According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, only 37 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. Small multifamily loans provide sustainable and affordable f ina ncing solut ions for smaller apartment properties. The market is on a fast track to help satisf y soaring housing demand while addressing the needs of investors and renters. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, banks and other alternate players in this space are making a critical difference in the lives of many citizens by providing owners with loans that directly result in affordable housing options for potential tenants. The advent and growing popularity of the small multifamily finance market segment is just one of the many ways we can tackle this affordability crises. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ma rk B e s h a rat y i s a Senior Vice President and Chief Production Officer at Walker & Dunlop. He leads operations and originations for the company’s multifamily small loans team and has over 25 years of commercial real estate experience.

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Women in Housing How to work and participate in the housing market Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s be honest, the housing and mortgage inudstries are not diverse. As women it is important that we strive and even fight for positions or leadership, and use those positions to guide others. Female leadership is becoming more widespread. Women are constantly shaping the future of housing while supporting individual growth and advancement for all in the industry. The following pages are unedited responses from women in leadership as they share their thoughts on what it means to have work-life balance and what they would tell their 20-year-old selves about working, and participating, in the housing market.

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Each woman answers two questions: QUESTION 1: We often hear the term “work-life balance” when it comes to professional women. What does work-life balance mean for you and what tips can you provide to other women on how to maintain it? QUESTION 2: Hindsight is always 20-20 as they say. If you could go back and tell your 20-year-old self something about both working in housing and participating in the housing market, what would you say and why?

Meghan Bartholomew

Senior Vice President of Credit and Counterparty Risk Management Years in the Housing Industry: 18 ANSWER 1: I have been fortunate to maintain a solid work-life balance. I have learned that there are personal priorities that may conflict with my work schedule, but instead of worrying that “I should be at work right now,” I find time before or after business hours to catch up on the work. During my career, I have been transparent with my various managers when I need time for my family. I am very confident that I am a better employee and leader when I make my personal life a priority too. We all strive for long and successful careers, so I think it’s important to constantly seek the appropriate balance and try to avoid getting too worried about recent or short-term imbalances. Instead, just try to rebalance. ANSWER 2: I would tell my 20-year-old self the housing market is complex and influenced by so many factors, and we should be constantly listening to our customers, colleagues, competitors and housing experts to ensure that we are considering new risks, as well as ensuring that we have the appropriate controls in play to manage through the next cycle. I would tell myself to cultivate my business relationships and seek networking opportunities. Sometimes it can be hard because we can be heads down with our day-to-day work, but I have found tremendous value in talking through various issues with business contacts. They have offered an informed and different perspective that directly benefits my approach or my thinking on that topic. 70 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

Katie Brewer

Senior Vice President of Real Estate Services Operations Years in the Housing Industry: 16 ANSWER 1: Work-life balance is tough, but the key is focusing on your happiness. For me, this means spending adequate time with family and focusing on my health. I try to schedule travel around major activities for my kids and, if not possible, ensure that I use technology, videos and FaceTime, to stay connected. I volunteer at school when possible, help with homework and always put them to bed when not traveling. From a health perspective, getting in a workout is important to my well-being and feeling good. I often get creative with my workout schedule and activities to fit it in while traveling. The best advice I have is to find what makes you happy and focus on doing a few things daily that promote that. If you’re not happy, you can’t be successful at work or in life.

ANSWER 2: When I started my career in mortgage servicing, I viewed it as my first job out of college, I but didn’t expect it to become my career. As I worked my way through collections, loss mitigation, management and other areas, I learned all that the housing industry had to offer. With the many facets within the industry, there are tremendous opportunities in various fields, and all contribute to the larger housing ecosystem. I would tell myself to get involved, network, build relationships, go outside of your comfort zone and stretch yourself. While it didn’t seem important at the time, my later career has been focused on industry involvement and investing in business relationships, which has helped me learn, develop and grow as a leader.

Jill Cadwell

SVP, Settlement Services Operations Years in the Housing Industry: 31

Aviva Bush

Senior Vice President of Radian Valuation Services Years in the Housing Industry: 25 ANSWER 1: To have a work-life balance, I believe, I need to be realistic about what I can and cannot do. Working toward perfection at home or work creates unrealistic outcomes and undue pressure on myself and those around me. To me, the balance needs to be a give and take – more like a see-saw. I think it’s important to do something you like. We live busy lives and it’s easier to put your energy into something you like doing. If you don’t like your career, it will be hard to have the motivation and energy to succeed. It’s essential to find some quiet time for yourself to read, exercise or do other things you enjoy. One of the most important things I do to keep balance is not read emails prior to going to bed; you work all day and perhaps even when you get home, but I do not work while sleeping. One bad email can keep you up all night. ANSWER 2: I would tell my 20-year-old self to take risks, embrace the unknown and don’t worry about failure or what I don’t know. I would encourage myself to have confidence to go beyond my comfort zone and take on a challenge which advances your career, even if I am petrified. Then I would remind myself that new challenges bring personal growth. There are many talented women in the housing industry. You should find a network of women and use them to solicit advice, guidance, share ideas and struggles. I think we underestimate the value of that.

ANSWER 1: I set my career and personal goals together. My goals include work, family and time for myself by doing something that brings me peace and happiness. Last year, I set a goal that I would be there to watch my son play hockey. I told my leaders it was important to me. His games were an appointment on my work calendar. I protected this time from business and travel conflicts. Did I make it to every game last hockey season? No, but that was okay because I made it to most of his games. I felt contentment, and not guilt. As women, we tend to feel guilty about way too many things. Give yourselves a break from time to time, knowing you are doing the best you can to maintain that precious balance. ANSWER 2: I would tell my 20-year-old self that the housing market is a great place to build a long-lasting career. You should quickly find a great leader and learn from them. You will need to embrace change as our market place is ever changing. Utilize technology wherever possible as it will increase your team’s efficiency and improve your customer’s experience. Finally, be a supportive influence when interacting with other women colleagues. It’s great to compete, but we should be doing it with the thought of lifting one another up, not tearing each other down.

Angela Capone

Senior Vice President of Field Sales Years in the Housing Industry: 35 ANSWER 1: Work-life balance is a critical question for everyone. Setting a balance becomes a group decision when more people, spouses and children become involved. The balance is a constant evolution as lives develop and jobs change. The first step is to understand personally what you as an individual want out of life. It is important to establish a point of beginning for

what you individually want to achieve in life no matter how that is defined. More than likely what one desires out of life will change but there needs to be an apparent point of beginning. More importantly, there is nothing wrong with not aspiring to higher-level positions. The important thing is to understand your personal needs and desires and develop a path for achieving your goals as an individual and as a family. ANSWER 2: I would tell my 20-year-old self, first listen to those who really care about you and want you to be successful. Look for a mentor, one that you admire,

respect and can relate too. After food, housing is one of the fundamental human needs. Housing, like life, has become much more complicated. These days, housing is not a single industry but a conglomeration of industries. Neither housing industry employees nor homebuyers know all the answers. Working together, industry employees can earn a good living and feel good about working to bring about home ownership for many families.

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Betty Cohen

Senior Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management Years in the Housing Industry: 28 ANSWER 1: Work-life balance means consciously deciding to make time for myself and my family, while trying to achieve success in my career. It means working remotely so that I can attend a family event, taking time off to go hiking, or sometimes even leaving work at a more reasonable hour in order to meet a friend for dinner. However, the balance can be difficult to maintain. It is not always easy to take a break, even when I know that doing so will make me more productive when I return to work. My advice is not to be too hard on yourself – do the best that you can to attend the family occasions that really matter but understand that sometimes you may miss certain events due to work commitments.

ANSWER 2: The housing industry will provide many opportunities for growth. Develop relationships and find mentors who recognize your potential and can help you to navigate. Be thoughtful about your career choices but realize that your path could take unexpected twists and turns that will lead to exciting opportunities for you to expand your knowledge and develop new skills. Don’t be afraid to fail – trust your ability to do the work and ask for help when needed. Don’t compromise your integrity or values even when it may be difficult to stand strong. The housing market is cyclical and there will be challenging times, but if you work hard, you will have a fulfilling career in an industry where women can thrive.

Zoe Devaney

Senior Vice President of Marketing and Customer Experience Years in the Housing Industry: 25

ANSWER 1: I discovered many years ago that managing personal and work responsibilities can often resemble a see-saw on a daily basis but can be balanced over time. Depending on life events or critical work initiatives, one will take priority over the other. The key for me was identifying those life events, activities and commitments that had to remain top priority and ensuring that they received the attention needed. Creating a strong, collaborative team environment, forging partnerships with other functional areas and providing opportunities to others will not only help achieve goals and meet tight deadlines but also help minimize the see-saw impact. Making time for your own development, health and professional growth is critical and will also assist in creating perspective and balance in your life. 72 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

ANSWER 2: I would tell my 20-year-old self the housing industry is complex, dynamic and provides a multitude of opportunities for a very interesting career with significant growth potential. Explore as many facets as possible across the home buying and lending spectrums. Learn the business. Take risks by seeking job opportunities in a variety of functional areas that stretch your capabilities and growth potential making you more valuable in every role. Research and find the most relevant industry associations and then join committees and working groups that pique your interest taking leadership roles, if possible. Find a mentor, seek out advocates and forge strong relationships with co-workers, clients and other industry participants.

Nadia Girardot

Senior Vice President of Chief Audit Executive Years in the Housing Industry: 4

ANSWER 1: I like to think about priorities instead of work-life balance. It is all about understanding what feeds my soul and my body, and knowing what my focus is in the season of my life. Giving my best is my goal and making decisions based on priorities is what helps me find peace without feeling frustrated. Be comfortable saying no to things that are not on the priority list. I also recommend reassessing the priority list regularly. I like taking quick breaks every three to four months to dissconnet so that I can shake any signs of early burn out. ANSWER 2: In the housing industry, like in any other industry, it is very helpful to reach out to resources that provide you with adequate and timely information. I have found those resources in the network of professionals, including both current and former co-workers, that I have developed over time but also in periodic on-line newsletters, magazines and other publications.

Suzanne Powell

Senior Vice President of Digital Client Experience Years in the Housing Industry: 26 ANSWER 1: To me worklife balance means balance and not perfection. Early in my career, I constantly felt guilty and was my own worst critic. Over time, I learned that in order for there

to be balance, I had to accept that time lost on one meant I needed to appreciate the time spent on the other. I had to accept that some days my balance would be better than others. This realization alone helped me achieve it more times than not. ANSWER 2: I would tell my 20-year-old self that you are on the right track career wise. Working in housing is fun and im-

Susan Kropp

Senior Vice President of Client Advocacy Years in the Housing Industry: 38 ANSWER 1: I’d suggest that the term should be “life-work balance.” Everyone’s lives and positions are different but it’s important early on to establish some boundaries to ensure that you find the balance that works best for you. For example, for several years I worked out of state and commuted home on weekends. During that time, I focused my weekdays/nights almost exclusively on work but did my best to “turn off” work over the weekends when I was home. ANSWER 2: I would tell my 20-yearold self to focus on five priorities. 1. Continuous Education – learn as much as you possibly can about your company, your position and the industry. Understand how your position fits into the bigger picture. 2. Find mentors – important on many levels, career growth, networking, knowledge, etc.

portant. Growing up I always asked “Why?” I still do today! “Why did this happen? Why is this important to customers? Why can’t this be easier?” Asking those questions and truly being interested in the answers is what has allowed me to continue to do new and exciting things.

3. Ask questions – don’t be afraid to speak up if there are things that don’t make sense or that you don’t understand – knowledge is power. 4. Advocate for yourself – promote your accomplishments, seek out growth opportunities, seek candid feedback. 5. Get involved – participate in trade associations; company initiatives and anything else that can help you to grow within the industry. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 73

Donna Ross

SVP, Chief Information Security Officer Years in the Housing Industry: 20

Emily Riley

Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Years in the Housing Industry: 20 ANSWER 1: First, I believe the definition can be different for everyone, which may seem obvious. For me, work-life balance means feeling a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment at work, at home and everywhere in between. If one area of your life is a success yet another is challenging, you can feel a consistent internal struggle which may lead to a feeling of failure. The goal, I believe, is to take time for all the important things in your life, while also taking equally important time to enjoy life’s moments, both personal and professional. ANSWER 2: Share your ideas. Don’t hesitate to speak up and be heard. Stop apologizing! No idea is too small or insignificant and if you voice your opinion you may be surprised by how much it’s valued. You may also be disappointed that your idea isn’t a win, but that’s not a failure, it’s a learning experience. Don’t wait for someone to ask what you think because they may not – take a chance!

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“ We need to be role models” -Ross

ANSWER 1: Work-life balance is simply creating balance between work life and other life roles to ensure all are valued equally. As a chief information security officer, worklife balance is especially important given the stress that can be associated with protecting the company and the information entrusted to us by the various stakeholders. I make time for personal wellness and exercise. I hike, kayak, spend time with friends and family. We need to be role models – ensure work-life balance is a part of our personal priorities and lead by example. Use flexibility when warranted and where possible, including work from home, alternative schedules, part time roles or job sharing. For my team that means a quiet work area, use of IP telephony, chat and collaboration tools as well as a shared team calendar that shows schedule and location. ANSWER 2: As a person working in housing, I’d say that the past – financial crisis, recession, etc. – is the best predictor of the future. Look back at where we were and learn from it. Don’t repeat the errors of the past. The housing market will recover. Secondly, technology can be a market disruptor, especially as markets start to recover. Lastly, pay attention to key risk indicators. As a homeowner and consumer of real estate services, be an educated consumer. Consider your risk tolerance. Protect yourself with a diversified portfolio of assets.

Anita Scott

Title: Senior Vice President of Human Resources Years in the Housing Industry: 19 ANSWER 1: Those three words often do not have a common definition or even understanding. For me, it means being true to myself in managing, prioritizing and executing on my personal and professional goals. Goals could mean making commitments to others, accepting invites outside of work, making sure I am home to eat dinner with the family or delivering on a work project. I learned early on, burnout or imbalance at work and/or at home leads to negative mindset and often leads to disengagement overall. I learned to create structure and discipline, knowing what my limits are, take time to re-charge and learn how to work smarter, versus working longer hours. I developed a mantra for myself – Family First.

If I’m not balanced at home, it’s hard to be balanced at work! Burnout can look different to different people. ANSWER 2: I would tell myself to stay hungry and have a thirst for learning and networking, ask questions, be curious and strive for growth. Asking questions not only helps you, but it tells others that you are interested in learning. Networking is a scary word to some but in hindsight it is an activity that serves you well at 20, 30, 40 or more. Networking can be simple or strategic, no matter how you approach it. Meeting and staying connected to a diverse group of friends, colleagues and associates is a treasure chest of resources.

Colleen Teears

Senior Vice President of Corporate Real Estate & Facilities Management Years in the Housing Industry: 38 ANSWER 1: Work-life balance is finding that specific way for you to not only be engaged at work but equally as engaged in your life outside of work. No single part of your life should define you. I believe it’s a combination of the two that makes you who you are and provides the best balance. As women, we often think we need to be the perfect employee, manager, executive, trainer, mentor, mother, wife, daughter and friend. When we cannot be everything to everybody, we feel that “overload” moment when life and work collide. We feel inadequate. For me personally, I have learned over the years that as long as I give my best to whatever is at hand and live and be present in each moment, then the balance is good. When I am spending time with my family and friends, I make a conscious decision to focus solely on the people surrounding me. When everything is in balance, I am happier, calmer and more productive in both work and play. ANSWER 2: I would tell myself, “You are young and have many opportunities in front of you. Try them all! See what fits! Never say no to opportunities! Work hard! Do the grunt work, not just the glory work.” You will come across many obstacles in your career. It is not the obstacles that will show what you are made of but how you handle them that will define you. Finally, I shared the following with my daughters when they were first embarking on their careers – Your first job out of college will most likely not be your last. However, do not, under any circumstances, give it less than your all or less than one year. Gut that first year out because it is a learning experience and giving it less than one year will only short-change you. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time,” Thomas Edison once said.

Sam Zaki

Senior Vice President of National Sales and Strategy Manager Title and Valuation Years in the Housing Industry: 28 ANSWER 1: Work-life balance for me as working wife and mother comes down to time management. If I wasn’t traveling for business, I made sure that we sat down as a family for dinner whenever possible. My husband and I always put our children and their activities first. He and I would go to dinner once or twice a month and usually during the week, so our weekends were spent as a family. When my children were younger it was very difficult for me emotionally as they would protest from time to time and ask me to find another job. While I still had a lot of guilt, it wasn’t until I sat down with our daughters, who at the time were 10 and six, and shared those feelings of guilt with them that they shared their love, understanding and acceptance. Today we have two strong adult daughters who understand commitment to family while balancing their goals. ANSWER 2: In hindsight, if I had to do it all over again, I would tell the younger version of myself to expect housing markets to come and go. Stay consistent in your work ethic and stay up to speed on all areas of the housing market. Finally, be a sponge whenever possible. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 75

PROPTECH

SPECIAL REPORT

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A downturn in housing inventory this year has increased competition in the real estate market. As lenders and agents hustle to make sales in a low-rate, low-inventory market, they continue to turn to proptech companies to help them mitigate pain points in the process and deliver an exceptional experience for their clients. In this section, we highlight two companies whose solutions are helping move the real estate market forward.

78 Home Light

79 LERETA

HOUSINGWIRE â?ą DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 77

- SPECIAL REPORT -

PropTech Report - HomeLight Sponsored Content

omeLight aims to provide the top agents in the United States with innovative services in real estate that allow them to provide exceptional service for their customers. HomeLight is tackling friction points at each stage of the real estate transaction, using technology that empowers real estate agents to deliver optimal outcomes and enables consumers to make smarter decisions about one of the biggest financial decisions of their lifetime. Buying and selling a house can be difficult. There’s an opportunity to improve at every turn, but there is no silver bullet. That’s why HomeLight aims to develop the transaction of the future by combining services that help real estate agents better meet their clients’ needs – from getting a mortgage to the final closing stages – all under one roof. The HomeLight platform makes transactions flow smoothly from one step to the next: from connecting real estate agents to consumers, to getting the best mortgage, ensuring that the closing is on-time and easy. In 2019, HomeLight expanded its offerings from its core agent matching platform to a full suite of options. HomeLight launched its Closing Services division in January, providing best-inclass title and escrow services to agents and home sellers. In February, the company announced the Simple Sale product, designed to match sellers with hundreds of iBuyers across the U.S. Sellers can receive a cash offer on their home in two minutes. In July, HomeLight acquired digi-

tal mortgage company Eave, Inc. and launched HomeLight Home Loans, allowing buyers certainty by providing full upfront financial underwriting in 24 hours and guaranteed 21-day closing. “At HomeLight, we believe in the real estate agent. We believe that the best real estate transactions are simple, certain and satisfying. “We know that when real estate agents and customers use technology in new ways, it can unlock superpowers for customers and agents and change the process of buying and selling homes in ways others never thought possible,” said Drew Uher, CEO and founder of HomeLight. “Our over 425,000 happy clients appreciate our commitment to delivering a home-buying or selling experience that puts them in the driver’s seat,” Uher said. “Real estate agents value our ability to connect them with the clients, products, and services that drive their business. Whether a client needs the perfect real estate agent for their needs, a cash deal rather than a traditional marketing process, or a lender that delivers a mortgage quickly and painlessly, selling starts at HomeLight.” HomeLight is working to move the needle toward a drastically improved buying and selling experience for more consumers that is faster than any single-solution digital mortgage, iBuyer, or eClosing business. With almost 200 employees nationwide, a highly experienced team of engineers, a product team focused on the consumer and a leadership team driven by a shared vision for the future of real estate, HomeLight aims to become the go-to place for buying or selling a home.

+ Founded in 2012 in San Francisco MISSION HomeLight’s Mission is to empower people to make smarter decisions during one of life’s most important moments: buying or selling their home. HomeLight’s vision is a world where every real estate transaction is simple, certain and satisfying. 78 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

+ To date, the company has driven

well over $17 billion of real estate business nationwide

+ Built a network of over 170 iBuyers

DREW UHER CEO and Founder of HomeLight Drew Uher founded HomeLight after purchasing his first home and has been its tireless leader ever since. Under Uher’s leadership, HomeLight is now known as the destination for home buyers and sellers to find the best real estate agent via its industry-leading agent matching platform. In addition to growing its core agent matching business, HomeLight has evolved and expanded its offering to a full suite of options, fundamentally changing the way people transact real estate.

+ HomeLight has introduced a client to a top agent every two minutes in 2019

+ Compound annual growth rate of over 145% between 2015 - 2018

+ O ver 200 employees in offices in San Francisco, Phoenix, Brooklyn and Seattle

- SPECIAL REPORT -

PropTech Report - LERETA Sponsored Content

roperty taxes at a municipal and county level haven’t seen much innovation during our lifetime. How can such an analog process be integrated with the rapidly evolving technology in areas such as originations, eClosings and cloud-based platforms? LERETA is solving that challenge by leveraging new technology to manage complex, difficult-to-mine data, and moving the real estate market forward in the process. “LERETA is connecting technology to tax servicing that hasn’t been seen before. We are committed to changing this paradigm,” said Jonnine Eras, first vice president, senior operations manager at LERETA. With over 23,000 agencies taxing real estate differently, the required management of paying taxes correctly at closing and the timely payment of taxes for escrowed loans is complex. LERETA’s investment in technology that connects servicing systems to fast and accurate tax data has allowed the company to increase accuracy and timeliness while improving the homeowner experience. Three years ago, LERETA released the first version of its Total Tax Solutions (TTS). TTS provides extensive property tax tools and seamlessly integrates tax service and loan servicing data into a single platform, which includes dashboards, reporting, workflow management and built-in servicer guidelines for tax payment processing activities. TTS eliminates the gap between tax service and loan servicing systems, resulting in decreased costs, risks and borrower frustration. The platform allows loan ser-

vicers to efficiently process a pre-cycle mini audit, automate tax payments, search open items, view tax research, and review delinquencies and payments. All data is fully integrated to prevent re-keying or guesswork, which reduces overall costs and the risk of errors. TTS gives servicing clients complete visibility, at the loan level, to LERETA’s service. “LERETA has taken a very reactionary industry process of escrow disbursements and created a transparent workflow to help customers proactively forecast and manage the process for their borrowers,” said Jory Beech, senior tax operations manager. LERETA’s tax services are challenging the status quo of the industry and introducing an interesting new take on how to define and measure what extraordinary tax service looks like. “Since the release of LERETA’s Total Tax Solution, we have met 99.7% of all SLAs for all customers, almost unheard of in our industry. This higher service level has allowed us to significantly improve our responsiveness and accuracy to client needs, ultimately improving the end experience for the homeowner,” said Jim Micali, chief operating officer. The industry has seen a void of healthy competition and innovation, resulting in the same pain points year after year, with servicers settling for the same solutions and service for over a decade. LERETA is committed to helping you improve your borrower’s experience by improving yours – taxes may be complex, but your process doesn’t have to be. LERETA is committed to helping you provide your clients with the best possible service.

+ More than 30 years in the industry

+ The market’s most experienced tax

+ Has six locations and 1,050 team members

+ Has more than 20 million loans under tax and flood service

+ Provides tax service to more mort-

gage servicers than the competitors

and flood provider

+ The fastest-growing tax service pro-

vider over the last 10 years, based on organic growth of clients, expansion of technology and the acquisition of six tax and flood service companies

JIM MICALI Chief Operating Officer Jim Micali started his professional career as a turnaround consultant assisting distressed manufacturing and service companies through his expertise in operations management, process design and improvement and quality management. In 2013, Micali was recruited by LERETA as its new Chief Operating Officer to lead its Tax and Flood Services divisions. JORY BEECH Senior Tax Operations Manager Jory Beech supports LERETA’s tax operations with both tactical and strategic process engineering. Beech is a 20-year mortgage industry veteran in mortgage servicing and specifically real estate tax and escrow. Beech began her career in operations at First American Real Estate Tax Service in 1999 and held various leadership roles at CoreLogic until joining LERETA in March 2019. JONNINE ERAS First VP, Senior Operations Manager Jonnine Eras has more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage loan servicing and real estate tax servicing industry and more than 15 years leading as a senior manager. Eras has spent the last 21 years with LERETA and currently oversees several components of LERETA’s standard tax and new client implementation lines of business.

MISSION LERETA is on a mission to increase servicer efficiency, reduce penalties and interests, and provide unparalleled service that showcases our commitment to be the industry’s best tax and flood services provider. Our extraordinary service based upon innovation, technology and flexibility will meet every customer’s unique needs. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 79

C O M PA N Y S P O T L I G H T:

SOURCEPOINT HOME SERVICES | SPONSORED CONTENT

Sourcepoint helps lenders and servicers carve out a digital path Uses tech and outsourcing to create scale, reduce costs and accelerate cycle times

s the industry works to find efficiencies to make up for higher origination costs, there’s a great deal of pressure from the market to invest in the borrower experience and implement a digital strategy. But building a digital platform on top of fragmented systems and disjointed workf lows can be daunting. Lenders and servicers need a compliance-centric partner with deep mortgage domain expertise who is willing to listen and craft inventive tech-enabled solutions that cater to their unique needs. Sourcepoint helps lenders and servicers create scale, reduce costs and accelerate cycle times with digital solutions and right-shore outsourcing. THE RIGHT PARTNER With more than 25 years of experience in mortgage services, Sourcepoint provides transformation solutions across the mortgage lifecycle to many of the top 20 lenders and servicers. The Sourcepoint team has deep industry knowledge, which allows its employees to thoroughly understand their clients’ business and speak their language. Through its flexible approach, Sourcepoint professionals immerse themselves into companies’ operations to address obstacles stalling growth and innovation and to help accomplish clients’ objectives more efficiently. The company takes a consultative approach to working with clients, listening to their needs, understanding their pain points and crafting inventive solutions leveraging right-shore production methodologies, global workforces

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and technology to meet their needs. “Imagine the power of a single partner who can facilitate the entire mortgage process end-to-end from loan fulfillment, closing and funding, title and settlement, post-close through loan boarding, servicing, customer service and lien release,” said Auvese Pasha, EVP & Chief Operating Officer at Sourcepoint. “This is where Sourcepoint excels; there is really no other partner who can handle core functions every step of the way.” Partnering with Sourcepoint means working with someone who understands your entire business across all lending channels and through servicing and default. Collaborating with Sourcepoint helps you enhance the borrower experience, mitigate vendor risk, create economies of scale for your mortgage operations and foster an environment of collaboration that creates seamless workflows capable of layering in automation and efficiencies across the lifecycle. Sourcepoint’s approach minimizes disjointed and inefficient workf lows caused by problems like miscommunication across disparate vendors and platforms. END-TO-END EXPERTISE Sourcepoint offers end-to-end loan fulfillment and component services. The company maintains the industry’s most robust set of licenses across origination, servicing and collections, spanning all 50 states, Washington, D.C., the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Sourcepoint’s mortgage domain exper-

tise includes business process management (BPM) capabilities complemented by digital capabilities that reduce costs and compliance risks. Its global delivery capabilities are focused on providing the right solution from the right location. MORTGAGE SERVICES OFFERED BY SOURCEPOINT INCLUDE: • Global Call Center & Collections (continental U.S., D.C., V.I. and P.R.) • L oan Setup, Processing, Underwriting & Closing/Funding • Title and Settlement • Post-closing • Component Routine Servicing • Escrow Administration • Document Control • Payment Processing • Claims Processing • Default Servicing • Loss mitigation • Foreclosure • Bankruptcy • Lien Release and Assignments Clients who work with Sourcepoint benefit from its strategic focus, as its engagements produce long-term results with near-term benefits. Sourcepoint helps accelerate cycle times, improve accuracy of work and reduce costs to service; its clients often experience a 30% improvement in costs and/or cycle time reduction. THE TECH ADVANTAGE A core strategy of the digital loan process involves applying Robotic Process

C O M PA N Y S P O T L I G H T:

Automation (RPA) to streamline work f low and ensure consistency in loan processing. Sourcepoint’s Process E xce l le nce a nd B u si ne s s Transformation teams work with clients to identify manual, high-volume, repetitive processes that are a good fit for RPA. Its Center of Excellence (CoE) is led by an expert in RPA and staffed by experienced developers, who work to identify processes where implementing RPA can deliver the highest ROI. With a global work force of over 3,000 employees, Sourcepoint offers 24/7 support, including omnichannel platforms and WebChat capabilities. Its Call Center allows servicers to provide bilingual coverage around the clock, giving borrowers the flexibility to reach out for assistance on their own schedule. In addition, Sourcepoint’s WebChat capabilities enable lenders and servicers to connect directly with borrowers in real time through digital channels. C l ie nt s who work w it h Sourcepoint appreciate the real-time customer insights t hey receive t hrough Ca ll Qualit y Monitoring (CQM). Sourcepoint not only provides traditional call quality moni-

SOURCEPOINT HOME SERVICES | SPONSORED CONTENT

toring, but its speech and text analytics tool First Customer Intelligence (FCI) provides next-day insights on the borrower experience. For example, FCI can identify borrowers who are confused or upset, allowing the lender to hone in on the root cause and take immediate corrective action. FCI can also identify poor agent performance or behavior and help identify opportunities to redirect borrowers to faster, online self-help tools. S ou rcep oi nt a l so of fers Optical Character Recognition a nd I ntel l igent C ha racter Recog nition document extraction and AI for pre-purchase reviews, post-close and loan boarding. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION S ou rcep oi nt i s wel l-p ositioned to support the digital transformation of lenders and servicers no matter what their path looks like, recognizing that the pace, tools and strategies deployed by each of its clients will vary substantially. As a lifecycle BPM provider, Sourcepoint can implement workflows and processes that help clients create their digital path. The team brings to the table years of process consulting expertise and technologies that can help complement and

even accelerate its clients’ digital strategies. Sourcepoint can adapt to its clients’ processes or work with its Solutions A rc h ite c t u re te a m or it s Professional Services Group to re-engineer processes. By combining human resources with automation and technology, Sourcepoint can outsource processes by layering in the appropriate technological solution to streamline and automate workflows. It’s difficult to completely bypass a human touch, but Sourcepoint is well-positioned to support a right-shore, hybrid digital approach to the loan process. Because the company is platform-agnostic, lenders who work with Sourcepoint are able to leverage their own technology, Sourcepoint technology or a custom combination of solutions. “We see our job as being there to collaborate on best practices and help drive implementation and adoption of our clients’ digital strategy while offering technology solutions such as RPA and AI that can help accelerate their digital path,” said Steve Schachter, EVP Sales & Marketing at Sourcepoint. “We see our role as serving as a partner to help our clients master digital mortgage.”

AUVESE PASHA Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

STEVE SCHACHTER Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing

DAWN ELMORE Senior Vice President, Servicing

KEVIN QUINN Senior Vice President, Business Development

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 81

CFPB Watch

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CFPB Watch

Supreme Court to take on CFPB constitutionality case WILL IT THREATEN BUREAU’S INDEPENDENCE OR BRING ACCOUNTABILITY? BY KELSEY RAMÍREZ THE Supreme Court announced in October that it will take on the case challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s leadership. Back in 2017, a battle between the CFPB and PHH Corp. began, starting with a $103 million increase to a $6 million fine initially levied against PHH for allegedly illegally referring consumers to mortgage insurers in exchange for kickbacks. PHH challenged this ruling in court, and the fight ended, or so it appeared, with the CFPB’s leadership structure being declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 vote. The CFPB fought that ruling, asking the court to rehear the case en banc, meaning that it wanted the entire court to hear the case, rather than the three judges who ruled on the case previously. That brought on several cases from the housing industry of market participants fighting the leadership structure at the bureau. And now the Supreme Court has agreed to take on the case. It will seek to answer the question: Does a dismissal without prejudice for failure to state a claim count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. §1915(g)? In addition to the question presented previously, the Court also

directed the parties to brief and argue the following question: If the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is found unconstitutional on the basis of the separation of powers, can 12 U.S.C. §5491(c)(3) be severed from the Dodd-Frank Act? As it stands now, President Donald Trump cannot fire the CFPB director unless it’s for cause. The previous decision made the CFPB director fireable at will, but that’s not the case anymore as the case continues to be challenged in court. But now even CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger is siding against her own bureau, saying, she would support the Trump administration’s view that the for-cause removal provision is unconstitutional. “I have decided that the bureau should adopt the U.S. Department of Justice’s view that the for-cause removal provision is unconstitutional,” Kraninger stated in a letter she sent to House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “A Supreme Court decision holding that the forcause removal provision is unconstitutional should not affect the Bureau’s ability to carry out its important mission.” Kraninger explained in her letter that she will join the U.S. Department of Justice in supporting a review of the case by the HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 83

CFPB Watch

“I have decided that the Bureau should adopt the Department of Justice’s view that the forcause removal provision is unconstitutional. A Supreme Court decision holding that the for-cause removal provision is unconstitutional should not affect the Bureau’s ability to carry out its important mission.” - Kathy Kraninger, CFPB Director

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Supreme Court. Currently the case is residing before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. As expected, Democrats have not been pleased with Kraninger’s stance on the issue. In the semi-annual hearing for the bureau, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., brought up the issue. “ You h av e fo rc e d t he Consumer Bureau to abandon its longstanding defense of the constitutionality of the agency’s structure,” Waters said. Various groups were torn on the hearing, with some saying

a committee to head the bureau will keep it more accountable and others saying a ruling against the current structure could threaten the CFPB’s independence. “If the Supreme Court invalidates the CFPB director’s for-cause removal protection, it would imperil the agency’s ability to function as intended, and it would allow free reign for bad financial actors to influence the agency,” said Yvette Garcia Missri, Center for Responsible Lending litigation counsel. “We’ve already seen

CFPB Watch

payday lenders successfully push their plan to commission is better for consumers because it delay and weaken the payday rule, and restitu- would enhance the independence of the bution for consumer victims wronged by industry reau, bring diverse perspectives to the policyhas significantly declined under the agency’s making table, ensure greater stability, and be more consistent with our country’s democratic current political leadership.” “Congress intentionally created the current principles.” “We thank the Supreme Court for agreeing structure so that the consumer bureau could make independent and unbiased decisions to consider the constitutionality of the CFPB’s to protect consumers—even when those deci- current structure and intend to represent credit sions are opposed by intense lobbying,” Garcia unions’ views before the court,” Donovan said. The National Association of FederallyMissri said.  Insured Credit Unions agreed the CFPB should ”The CFPB has been highly effective in responding to unlawful, abusive practices with- be overseen by a board. “Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules in the financial services industry,” Missri said. “Its effectiveness and ability to respond to un- – NAFCU still believes that a commission struclawful practices quickly, is attributable in part ture at the CFPB is absolutely essential to ento its leadership by a single director and its in- suring greater transparency and accountabilsulation from political influence and industry ity,” NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger said. “A commission would allow for more capture.” But the housing industry was happy with open debate, diversity of thought and a stable the news, and some are even hoping this will leadership structure that would better serve lead to a board of people overseeing the CFPB, consumers in the long-run.” Consumer groups are nervous, saying the rather than one director. They believe a change in CPFB leadership could actually bring more newest justice should recuse himself from the case because he has “demonstrated bias.” accountability to the bureau. “Justice Kavanaugh has demonstrated bias “We urge the Supreme Court to rule that the CFPB as structured is unconstitutional in against the CFPB on these exact issues and order to help ensure government agencies are must recuse himself from this case,” Allied accountable to American consumers and vot- Progress Director Derek Martin said. “He has ers,” said John Berlau, Competitive Enterprise previously weighed in on the specific question at stake in this matter – whether the CFPB diInstitute senior fellow. “Under the leadership of current Director rector can be fired without cause. This case Kathleen Kraninger, the CFPB has made some deserves to receive truly impartial judgment.” Kavanaugh reportedly believes the CFPB, as positive, free-market reforms that greatly benefit consumers,” Berlau said. “But her good it is currently structured, is unconstitutional. And he’s written as much. leadership doesn’t change our belief that the Back in 2016, Kavanaugh authored the Court CFPB must be made constitutionally accountable by having a director subject to at-will re- of Appeals decision that declared the CFPB unmoval by the person that Americans elect as constitutional due to its leadership structure. The case that led to the CFPB being declared their president.” Many in the housing industry agree that a unconstitutional, which was brought by PHH, board to lead the bureau would be better than dealt with how much power the agency’s director held. a single director. It seems that in Kavanaugh’s mind, the direc“CUNA has consistently advocated for legislation that provides for a multi-person, bipar- tor of the CFPB is too powerful, as he wrote that tisan commission to lead the bureau, as was the “single most powerful official in the entire originally proposed by the Obama administra- U.S. Government, other than the President,” in tion in 2009,” said Ryan Donovan, Credit Union terms of unilateral power. The Court’s ruling could soon change that. National Association chief advocacy officer. “A

CFPB WATCH TIMELINE

June 2015 Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray fines PHH $103 million

June 2015

PHH urges D.C. Circuit Court to overturn CPFB’s order

October 2016 Court declares CFPB unconstitutional

January 2018 Appeals court overturns ruling, says CFPB is constitutional

September 2019

CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger won’t defend leadership constitutionality

October 2019 Seila Law takes constitutionality fight to Supreme Court

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86 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appear to be here to stay NOT TOO LONG AGO, CONGRESS WAS TRYING TO SHUT THE GSES DOWN. BY BEN LANE WHEN the federal government announced this fall that it would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to rebuild a portion of their capital reserves to a total of $45 billion combined as part of a plan to exit conservatorship, the message was clear: The government-sponsored enterprises are back and they’re not likely to go away any time soon. It’s a dramatic reversal from where things stood just a few years ago, when the prevailing sentiment in Washington, D.C. was how to get rid of the GSEs, once and for all. In fact, there were numerous Congressional efforts that would have seen the GSEs wound down within five years. And, if one of those bills had passed in 2015 (as was certainly a possibility), the GSEs likely would be in their last year of existence as we speak. Instead, the GSEs appear primed to exit conservatorship on stable footing with healthy financial backing and reformed operations. So, how exactly did we get here? Let’s start at the beginning, so to speak. Fannie and Freddie were taken into conservatorship in September 2008, with the government providing each of the GSEs with hundreds of billions of dollars in financial support in order

for the companies to survive the housing crisis. The fact that they had to be put into conservatorship at all was, at least somewhat, of their own making. Both companies, which buy and securitize mortgages, were buying riskier and riskier mortgages in a race to increase profits. That house of cards eventually toppled, leading the government to step in and begin overseeing their operations. Now, some argue that that move was unnecessary, claiming that the GSEs were on much more stable footing than the government portrayed them to be. Putting those claims to the side for a moment (federal courts are still deciding whether or not they have merit), the GSEs were taken into conservatorship, and many feared the companies wouldn’t survive the economic downturn. New management was eventually put in place at both of the GSEs, with Donald Layton taking over at Freddie Mac in 2012, and Tim Mayopoulos assuming the role of CEO of Fannie Mae in the same year. Both CEOs were tasked with getting the GSEs back on solid ground and were supported in that mission by both the Obama administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, under HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 87

plans of disappearing. the leadership of Obama-pick Mel Watt. Each GSE grew its share of the mortgage market to massive proThe Obama administration seemed content with the status quo at the GSEs, allowing them to rebuild business and send profits portions, aided, some argue, by the Qualified Mortgage Patch, to the U.S. Department of the Treasury to pay back the bailouts which allows the GSEs to buy and back loans that have debt-toincome ratios beyond the industry standard of 43%. given to the companies during the crisis. The GSEs also both began backing loans to borrowers with as Under the terms of the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements that went into effect when the government took the GSEs into con- little as 3% down, encroaching on buyer territory that was long servatorship, Fannie and Freddie send dividends to the Treasury dominated by the Federal Housing Administration. Each of the GSEs also revamped their operating models, leading each quarter that they are profitable. That wasn’t the plan initially. Early on in conservatorship, the each to turn profits in nearly every quarter for the last 10 years. But all that was happening with the GSEs seemingly sitting on GSEs only sent a percentage of their profits to the government. But that all changed with the “Third Amendment Sweep,” which a ticking time bomb. Under the PSPAs, the GSEs were prohibited from rebuilding stipulated that the GSEs send their entire profit margin to the capital and each of the GSEs’ Treasury each quarter. capital base was required to Over the years, many obbe reduced over time, evenser vers have questioned tually leading to the GSEs whether it was necessary having no capital base at all for the federal government “The enterprises are leveraged nearly on Jan 1., 2018. to modify its conservator1,000-to-one, ensuring they would That all changed when the ship agreement with Fannie fail during an economic downturn – FHFA announced late in 2017 and Freddie to sweep all the it was modifying the PSPAs profits from the GSEs into the exposing taxpayers once again. This to allow Fannie and Freddie government’s coffers, an arletter agreement between Treasury to hold $3 billion to “cover rangement referred to as the and FHFA, which allows the enterprisother fluctuations in income “Third Amendment Sweep” or in the normal course of each the “Net Worth Sweep.” es to retain capital of up to $45 billion Enterprise’s business.” At the time, the government combined, is an important milestone Later that year, the GSEs claimed the GSEs were on the on the path to reform.” officially withheld some of brink of collapse, and amendtheir profit and rebuilt a very ed the terms of the GSEs’ consmall portion of their capital servatorship to ensure that - Mark Calabria reserves. the government had enough But Watt’s term as FHFA money to bail them out again director ended early in 2019, if necessary. allowing the Trump adminisIn the aftermath, a series of Fannie and Freddie shareholders sued the government, claiming tration to fully establish its point of view on GSE reform. The Trump administration replaced Watt with Mark Calabria, the “Third Amendment sweep” was not only unnecessary but who previously served as chief economist for Vice President Mike illegal as well. As stated earlier, those claims are still being adjudicated, but Pence. Prior to serving as Mike Pence’s chief economist, Calabria for the most part, the Obama administration and Mel Watt’s FHFA appeared comfortable with allowing the GSEs to rebuild and reserved at the Cato Institute and has long been an advocate for housing finance reform. grow their businesses. As Pence’s economist, Calabria famously called for the end of That’s not to say that Watt didn’t talk a good game and even walk the walk sometimes when it came to GSE reform. There the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And with Calabria and other officials in the fold, the Trump were many occasions when Watt pushed Congress for GSE reform, and Watt did oversee the construction of the single security, a administration took basically the opposite approach of its prejoint mortgage-backed security that is now being issued by both decessors on GSE reform, in both words and actions. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, for example, said the Fannie and Freddie. Meanwhile, the GSEs were operating as though they had no Trump administration was committed to ending the GSE conser88 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

1. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac taken into conservatorship in September 2008 2. GSEs hired new CEOs in 2012 3. The Third Amendment Sweep requires GSEs to send all profits to the U.S. Treasury 4. The Qualified Mortgage Patch allows GSEs to back loans with DTIs higher than 43% 5. GSEs dipped into FHA share with 3% down mortgage programs 6. In 2017, the FHFA announced the GSEs could hold $3 billion in capital 7. In September 2019, the GSEs were allowed to retain $45 billion in capital 8. Fannie Mae can now hold a capital reserve of $25 billion 9. Freddie Mac can now hold a capital reserve of $20 billion 10. The GSEs are here to stay

Under the terms of the new agreement, vatorship, a sentiment echoed by Calabria. The rest of the administration, mean- Treasury’s liquidation preferences for its while, formally called for the end of con- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock will “gradually increase by the servatorship on several occasions. Then, in September, the Trump admin- amount of the additional capital reserves istration released its sweeping housing until the liquidation preferences increase finance reform plan that calls for Fannie by $22 billion for Fannie Mae and $17 biland Freddie to be privatized, which lion for Freddie Mac,” the department said in an announcement. Calabria has long indicated is the plan. That increase in liquidation preference And, finally, the government announced in late September that it would is to “compensate Treasury for the diviallow the GSEs to retain $45 billion in cap- dends that it would have received absent ital, further setting the stage for them to these modifications.” Beyond that, the agreement also hints exit conservatorship. The move all but ended the net worth at further recapitalization: Treasury and each of Fannie Mae and sweep, at least until the GSEs build up Freddie Mac also agreed to negotiate an their allowable capital reserves. Under the agreement between the GSEs, additional amendment to the PSPAs that the Treasury and the FHFA, Fannie Mae would further enhance taxpayer procan now hold a capital reserve of $25 tections by adopting covenants that are billion, while Freddie Mac can hold $20 broadly consistent with the recommendations for administrative reforms contained billion. Those figures are obviously a sizable in- in the Plan. The Plan also recommended that crease from what the GSEs used to be able to hold ($3 billion each) and even bigger Treasury and FHFA develop recapitalizajump from where they were supposed to tion plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie be right now – capital reserves of $0 each. Mac after identifying and assessing the But given the GSEs’ place in the mort- full range of strategic options. Subsequent gage market now, the moves are viewed amendments to the PSPAs may be appropriate to facilitate the implementation of by those involved as necessary. “The enterprises are leveraged nearly any eventual recapitalization plans. Calabria has acknowledged that fully 1,000-to-one, ensuring they would fail during an economic downturn – expos- removing the GSEs from conservatorship ing taxpayers once again,” Calabria said can’t be done without Congressional acin September. “This letter agreement be- tion, but given the difficulty of getting that tween Treasury and FHFA, which allows done quickly, the Trump administration the enterprises to retain capital of up to is taking action to put the GSEs on the $45 billion combined, is an important path to being private companies again. This fall’s move to allow Fannie and milestone on the path to reform.” Mnuchin also said the move puts Fannie Freddie to keep some of their profits was and Freddie on a path to being released a big step in that direction. And given the events of the last several from conservatorship. “These modifications are an important months, it looks like that train isn’t slowstep toward implementing Treasury’s ing down any time soon. The destination? recommended reforms that will define a Fannie and Freddie alive and well and oplimited role for the federal government erating as private companies. That’s a far cry from how things looked in the housing finance system and protect taxpayers against future bailouts,” just a few years ago. How times have changed. Mnuchin said. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 89

CONGRATULATIONS

TOM MILLON 2019 HousingWire Vanguard Award Winner

Tom Millon Computershare Loan Services US CEO

Thanks for your leadership and vision.

computershareloanservices.com

Congratulations Mark Hanson Congratulations to Mark, Senior Vice President of Securitization, and all the other recipients of the 2019 HousingWire Vanguard Award. We applaud Mark and the hundreds of Freddie Mac employees whose dedication and commitment to a better housing finance system helped make the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security possible.

92 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY2020

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Climate change: coming to a housing market near you? AND CAN WE AFFORD TO IGNORE IT? BY: KATHLEEN HOWLEY, JULIA FALCON In California, wildfires during 2018 consumed almost 2 milECONOMISTS are starting to talk about the impact of climate lion acres, killed more than 100 people and destroyed more than change on the housing market. The cost of record-breaking storms, floods and wildfires that 22,000 buildings. In 2019, the tally wasn’t as high, but America made headline news in 2019 have yet to be tallied, but most econ- was introduced to the concept of “public safety power shutoffs,” omists agree it may have topped the more than $100 billion of known as PSPS, in which large sections of the nation’s most populous state were plunged into the dark as utilities cut power in the damage seen in 2018 – only half of it covered by insurance. “Higher sea levels, heavier rainfalls, dryer conditions and the high winds rather than risk seeing a spark from a powerline cause associated fallout can cause catastrophic losses to property and a deadly blaze. Beyond that, tidal flooding has risen in many coastal commucasualty insurers,” Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco president Mary Daly said as she kicked off the first-ever Fed conference nities over the past decade and sea levels are rising, but that’s not stopping the number of new homes being built in these cities. on climate change in November. Despite the fact that 55% of Americans believe that climate “Climate change is an economic issue we can’t afford to ignore,” change is increasing the severity and frequency of natural disasshe said. This year marks the fifth consecutive year in which 10 or more ters, many still don’t have the insurance to protect their homes. About 47% of Americans have home insurance, including billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events have impacted owned and rented properties, while 31% don’t even know if they the United States. Experts say climate change is at least partly to blame for the have the protection. Those that do have home insurance – required by most mortincrease in destruction from wildfires such as those that have burned areas of California. Global warming has resulted in higher gage lenders – have seen their costs skyrocket as insurers intemperatures that have caused the landscapes in some U.S. areas crease rates to cover massive payouts. Home insurance rates increased nationally by 51% or $373 to become dryer. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY2020 93

“This can be disastrous for a homeowner whose house is their largest asset and a substantial portion of their net worth. This will have a disproportionate adverse impact on low- and moderate-income households. Obviously, this can result in a downward spiral of property values for such communities.’’ - Zillow report

from 2007 to 2016, the latest data available in a report from QuoteWizard, a LendingTree subsidiary. That’s more than triple the 15% inflation that occurred during the period, as measured by the Department of Commerce. Lael Brainard, a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, spoke at the Fed’s climate conference about the impact of severe weather events on families who suffer property damage when their finances are already stretched thin to afford the rising cost of housing. “With low levels of liquid savings to meet emergency expenditures, these households tend to be less resilient to the temporary loss of income, property damage, and health outcomes they face from disasters,” Brainard said. Nearly 40% of 175 communities that may see chronic flooding by 2045 also have poverty levels above the national average, according to a report from the San Francisco Fed. “As the frequency and severity of floods in the U.S. continues to increase due to climate change, the shortcomings of our current tools will be increasingly insufficient to quantify flood risk,” the report said. Because of increased levels of flood risk, real estate values in many markets stand an overwhelming chance of decreasing. According to Zillow, more than 800,000 existing homes worth $451 billion are at-risk for a 10-year flood by 2050. By 2100, those numbers will jump to 3.4 million existing homes worth $1.75 94 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY2020

trillion. Over the past decade, tidal flooding has risen in many coastal communities. However, since 2009, a third of the nation’s coastal cities have seen an influx of new homes being built, worth trillions. And those homes, even the ones not directly next to the water, are at an increased risk of flooding. There is a 10% annual risk of this type of devastating flood, reaching farther inland than they do now. These floods cause many problems, leading to an increase in the cost of insurance, as well. While Zillow says Florida is the No. 1 state with the highest risk of chronic flooding by 2100, New Jersey sits No. 2, along with Mississippi and Connecticut, and other coastal states. “This can be disastrous for a homeowner whose house is their largest asset and a substantial portion of their net worth,’’ the report said. “This will have a disproportionate adverse impact on low- and moderate-income households. Obviously, this can result in a downward spiral of property values for such communities,” it continued. A big roadblock in the way of addressing the problem is the polarization of U.S. politics and the popularity of a position known as “climate denial” – the rejection of scientific data showing cli-

OpenHouse

ness after storms ravaged their communities.” mate change being caused by human activity. When NAR push-posted the article on Facebook, that attempt In early 2019, the National Association of Realtors made an attempt to begin a discourse on the potential impact of climate took a turn for the worst in a post that was later removed after change on the real estate industry with an article in their member readers took to sparring – to the tune of over 700 comments – over whether climate change was real. magazine. “Climate change is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated,” In the piece, titled “Climate Change: We Don’t Have 50 Years to Wait,” author Craig Foley introduces himself as the 2019 chair commented one agent. That prompted one reader, a potential homebuyer, to say he of the National Association of Realtors’ Sustainability Advisory wasn’t going to use a Realtor after reading the Facebook posts. Group. “If your members don’t care enough about the planet they live “In recent weeks, I’ve reached out to dozens of Realtors to see if our members were experiencing negative effects on their busi- on to have these discussions, then why would I think they’ll show ness due to extreme weather events,” Foley wrote in the piece. good judgment with some place I am trying to buy?” the reader “The responses, by and large, confirmed my resolve to make sus- commented. In response to this, some Realtors stepped up to voice that they tainability a priority for our association.” Particularly in coastal areas, members have told me both they did, in fact, understand the climate change crisis. “Not all of us Realtors are climate deniers,” said one response. and their clients are worried about declining property values and buyer interest,” Foley continued. “Some agents have left the busi- “There are quite a few of us who understand this is a crisis.”

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Inside Baseball

96 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY2020

Inside Baseball

HUD’s Carson on False Claims Act – “The monster has been slayed” HUD WANTS BANKS TO RETURN TO FHA LENDING BY BEN LANE

JUST over two years ago, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told the crowd at the 2017 Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Conference in Denver that HUD was working with the Department of Justice to address the use of the False Claims Act to extract massive settlements out of lenders. And now, two years later, Carson delivered on his promise, announcing that HUD and the DOJ have reached an agreement that will see the DOJ back away from Federal Housing Administration lending enforcement and leave enforcement mostly to the FHA itself. According to HUD and the DOJ, the FHA will typically handle lending enforcement through “administrative” means. The goal of the move, according to Carson, is to bring banks back to FHA lending. Many of the nation’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America moved away from FHA lending in recent

years after the government began using the False Claims Act to extract massive settlements from FHA lenders, like Wells Fargo. But Carson and HUD want to change that, telling HousingWire that the False Claims Act “monster” is no more. “[Banks] were in before and obviously they were in because it was beneficial to them,” Carson told HousingWire about banks’ presence in FHA lending. “And then the housing crisis occurred and all of the sudden, the False Claims Act became a monster that started chasing everybody around the room, making their lives miserable, causing them an inordinate amount of pain,” Carson continued. “So they got out. But now, the monster has been slayed.” But Carson was quick to say that despite HUD’s move away from frequently using the False Claims Act, that doesn’t mean HUD will turn a blind eye to bad actors. “I have to emphasize that it doesn’t mean that we’re ignoring fraud or things that are done with malicious intent,” Carson said. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY2020 97

Inside Baseball non-depository FHA lenders,” Carson continued. “You have helped countless families across America realize the American Dream and we want you to continue as a welcomed FHA partner. But we know that at least part of the reason for the decade-long decline in depository participation is because of uncertainty about how federal agencies apply the False Claim Act.” The agreement between HUD and the DOJ, called a memorandum of understanding, establishes a specific three-step process for how FHA lending enforcement will be handled going forward. First, HUD will review the situation and determine whether it can be addressed through “administrative means.” As for what those means, Carson told HousingWire that it depends on the situation. “Education would be a big thing,” Carson said. “Working with the servicers themselves to make sure they understand what happened and how we can change that.” “And looking at their process and seeing there are things in their process that we can change, working with them,” he continued. “Could some fines be levied? They could be. But we’re talking about smaller fine amounts. Nothing outrageous.” As for when the DOJ may come into play, that’s step two and three. If HUD determines the situation exceeds its administrative options, the case will be referred to as a “Mortgagee Review Board,” which, according to the agencies, “was created by statute and empowered to take certain actions for non-compliance by FHA lenders, to review and refer FCA claims.” According to Carson, the Mortgagee Review Board is made up of some senior HUD personnel, HUD’s office of general counsel, “Education would be a big thing. Working with and perhaps the HUD Office of the Inspector General, who’s been invited to participate. the servicers themselves to make sure they Then comes step three. If that group determines that the situunderstand what happened and how we can ation needs to be referred to the DOJ, then it will be referred to the DOJ for review. change that.” The purpose of the group, according to Carson, is to prevent one - Ben Carson , U.S. Department of Housing and Urban party from having too much power over FHA enforcement. “It’s so Development Secretary we don’t have a situation where any one person has an inordinate of influence,” Carson said. “The MOU prescribes the standards for when HUD, through the But, Carson stated that HUD will be much more forgiving of “immaterial errors that occur any time human beings exist,” Carson MRB, may refer a matter to DOJ for pursuit of FCA claims, and also sets forth how DOJ and HUD will cooperate during the investigasaid. “To make those into the kind of deal that they were made into tive, litigation, and settlement phases of FCA matters when DOJ absolutely makes no sense,” Carson said of the previous enforce- receives a referral from a third party, such as in qui tam cases,” HUD and the DOJ said in a statement. ment approach. “The MOU also recognizes that application of the FCA requires, During his speech, Carson addressed the impact of False Claims among other elements of proof, a material violation of HUD reAct era of enforcement on the lending market. “Depository institutions, which represented nearly half of FHA’s quirements, and DOJ attorneys will solicit HUD’s views to deterlender base in 2010, represent less than 14% today,” Carson said. mine whether the elements of the FCA can be established.” In a statement, Attorney General William Barr said that the DOJ “That isn’t to imply we don’t value the many independent and 98 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY2020

Inside Baseball

is pleased with the agreement and is looking forward to working with HUD in a new way. “This MOU sets forth a robust and collaborative process for deciding when to pursue False Claims Act cases to remedy material and knowing FHA violations,” Barr said. “DOJ and HUD will work together to determine when HUD’s administrative remedies are sufficient, or other recourse is appropriate, to address harm to the borrower, the taxpayer or the government,” Barr continued. “Importantly, this MOU is the product of the excellent working relationship that has developed between our two agencies in our shared pursuit of greater clarity and fairness.” Carson told the crowd at MBA Annual that he expects these changes to bring banks back to FHA lending, and invited them to do so. “In taking these steps, our intention is to make it crystal clear to all responsible lenders that this is a program you should be par-

ticipating in – and if you are already, thank you,” Carson said on stage. “At the same time, HUD will never tolerate ‘bad actors’ who defraud borrowers and taxpayers, and will continue to enforce all violations under the newly revised guidance.” The new standard, according to Carson, will likely lead to far fewer False Claims Act actions by the government. “I’m not going to say we’re not going to use it. We have a mortgage review board,” Carson told HousingWire. “And when issues come up, they will do an initial analysis. The vast majority of problems can be resolved through administrative remedies that we have available to us. But if it’s something that’s more significant than that, then that will cause us to consult with the DOJ.” Carson added his “suspicion” is that “relatively few things” will rise to the DOJ level going forward. “I mean, if it’s an obvious case of fraud, that’s one thing,” Carson said. “But if this is not a pattern and it’s a mistake that’s correctable, we’re not going to make a big deal of that.”

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Kudos GIVING BACK • OVER 230 HOMES BUILT IN 2019 HOME BUILDERS BLITZ In the fall, thousands of volunteers representing professional homebuilders and suppliers partnered with Habitat for Humanity for the 2019 Home Builders Blitz. During the event, more than 230 homes were built, renovated or repaired in 76 communities across 30 states this week. “Professional home builders are highly aware of the housing affordability challenges in their communities, and they’re looking for a meaningful way to address them,” said Adrienne Goolsby, Habitat for Humanity International vice president of the United States and Canada. “We’re thankful to those builders joining Home Builders Blitz to make that impact in their communities.” Home Builders Blitz is supported nationally by KOHLER, the gold sponsor; DuPont; Ply Gem Residential Solutions – a division of Cornerstone Building Brands; Tarkett; the Elizabeth Anton Memorial Fund; Huber Engineered Woods; Martin Marietta; Masco Corporation; 84 Lumber; GAF; Hanley Wood;and Petro Home Services.

• MBA OPENS DOORS FOUNDATION RAISES $1.8 MILLION IN TWO-DAY FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN The MBA Opens Doors Foundation announced it received $1.81 million in corporate and individual donations during a two-day fundraising drive that kicked off its 2020 campaign. According to the foundation, proceeds will support its mission of caring for families with sick children by providing mortgage and rental assistance grants to families in need. “I am heartened by the amount of support we have for Opens Doors. With these donations, we will expand ODF’s mission to help even more families. I am honored to be a part of an industry that is willing to lend a helping hand when needed,” said Debra Still, CMB, president and CEO of Pulte Mortgage, and chairman of the foundation’s board of directors. 100 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

Support from MBA allows the foundation to pass on 100% of donations to families in need of assistance. According to the foundation, potential grant recipients are identified through the foundation’s ongoing relationship with children’s hospitals in Akron, Ohio; Boston; Dallas-Fort Worth; Denver; Houston; Indianapolis; Northern and Southern California; and Washington, D.C. “The Opens Doors Foundation is continuing to grow with the help of a committed and generous pool of supporters. We are grateful for the support that comes from all facets of the real estate finance industry,” Opens Doors Foundation President Deborah Dubois said. “There is nothing like working together as a team to make amazing things happen for families in need.”

• GUILD MORTGAGE AWARDS COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS TO 10 STUDENTS Guild Mortgage, an independent mortgage lender, has awarded 10 academic collegiate scholarships to students pursuing continuing education. The financial assistance was provided through the Guild Giving Scholarship Program. The program provides financial assistance to qualified members of the community, as well as Guild Mortgage employees and their dependents. Winners are awarded

$1,500 to be applied to accredited colleges, community colleges, trade schools and undergraduate and graduate degree programs in any field of study. The 2019 recipients are: Kai Broach, Western Washington University; Sebastian Castillo Cario, UCLA; Bailie Gowans, Brigham Young University-Idaho; Natasha Holland, University of Oregon; Madilyn Kusch, Texas Tech University; Grace Anne Martin, Liberty University; Dani McCartney, Pima Community College; Katharine Rucker, UCLA; Courtney Scott, Montana State University; and Miguel Velazquez, University of California San Diego. “Giving back and supporting our local communities is part of our culture at Guild,” Guild President and CEO Mary Ann McGarry said. “We’re pleased to see the Guild Giving Scholarship program continue to grow with an increasing number of applicants in 2019 and honored to help support the continuing education of these 10 bright individuals.”

Kudos

AWARDS • MARIA SANTILLO RECEIVES RE/ MAX HALL OF FAME AWARD Maria Santillo, with RE/MAX Experts, a locally owned and operated full-service real estate brokerage located in Lakeland, Florida, recently received the RE/ MAX Hall of Fame Award. This honor is given to agents who have earned more than $1 million in commissions during their careers with the company. According to RE/MAX, less than 22% of all active RE/MAX agents have earned this award since its inception. “Maria’s tireless dedication to serving her clients, consumers and our community has allowed her to achieve this high honor,” said Andrea Dockery, RE/ MAX Experts broker and owner. “Winning

this award is a significant accomplishment and we’re extremely proud that Maria Santillo is a member of our RE/ MAX team.” Santillo holds real estate licenses in both Florida and the Bahamas. According to RE/MAX, she is a consistent top performer, earning many awards and accolades from RE/MAX International including the International Real Estate Specialist Certification. Santillo earned Certified Residential Specialist designation and is also an endorsed local provider for the Dave Ramsey Financial Organization. Santillo has additionally earned the RE/MAX 100% Club Award for the last few years.

LAUNCHES

• HOMEOWNERSHIP INVESTMENT STARTUP LANDED LAUNCHES IN PORTLAND Public school teachers and faculty in the Portland area may be eligible to have half of the down payment on a home paid for them, thanks to the recent

partnership of Landed and Multnomah County. Landed, a homeownership investment startup, first launched in 2015 with the goal of helping educators afford homes in the communities in which they work. The startup pays half of the standard down payment, up

to $120,000, in exchange for a return on its investment: 25% of the appreciation gain when the property is sold. If the home goes down in value, Landed shoulders the loss. To be eligible, all faculty, administrators and staff who have worked for a public school or district in Multnomah County must have worked there for at least two years. “Our mission is to help essential professionals afford to build financial security in the communities they serve, and we know that educators across the Pacific Northwest, especially in expensive urban areas like Portland, need support,” Landed Co-founder Alex Lofton said. “We want to be partners in the home buying journey and help give families hope that their dream of homeownership can be a reality.”

In 2018, its services were available in Southern California and Denver, followed by Seattle later that fall. Earlier this year, the company announced its expansion into Hawaii. For these areas, Landed offers school teachers in grades K-12 and college professors and staff the opportunity to take on an investor to afford a down payment. Now, thanks to its partnership with Multnomah County, Landed will be available to Portland-area educators and staff. “We are pleased to identify innovative ways to support our educators’ ability to participate in homeownership, particularly in the very communities where they provide their services,” Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero said.

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