Thousands of originators made the cut for this year’s Top Dollar Volume list, with entrants from all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, but only 52 can be crowned as State Champions. The exceptional originators on the following pages had the highest sales volumes in their respective states in this year’s Top Originators rankings (which measure last year’s volumes).

The past few years saw plenty of real estate shake-ups across the nation, with migration patterns shifting and housing costs increasing. Last year set a record for most interstate movers, with 8.2 million people switching states and another 31 million people relocating within the same state, according to StorageCafe. The relatively expensive states of Alaska, New York, Illinois and California experienced the most negative net migration. Conversely, states like Idaho, Vermont, Montana and South Carolina have had high levels of positive net migration and tend to offer more affordable real estate.

Amid a high interest rate environment, movers are understandably eager to save money. Closing costs have increased alongside home prices, but several states are still affordable in this regard, according to an Assurance report released this past August. The lowest closing costs were in West Virginia, Alabama, South Carolina and Arkansas, all clocking in at less than $2,500 on average.

On the other end of the spectrum, New York, California and New Jersey had the highest closing costs, with expenses in each of these states averaging more than $7,500. Measured as a percentage of home value, however, the most expensive states for closing costs were Texas, New Mexico, Michigan and Wisconsin, where these miscellaneous expenses averaged more than 2.5% of a home’s value.

The state champion from Alabama, Kim Moon of FirstBank Mortgage, noted that migration is up in her market of Huntsville. The city grew 3.3% during the past year, its highest growth rate in a decade. And the Kentucky state champion, Jesse Cronen of Northpointe Bank, highlighted how his state’s relative affordability helps him to close more loans.

For this month’s rankings feature, Scotsman Guide reached out to six originators from all corners of the nation — from coast to coast and north to south — to learn what it’s like to work in their markets. Hear from Moon, Cronen and the four other Featured State Champions on Page 39.

This list is the final installment of the 2023 Top Originators series. We’ll take a break from rankings content for the next few months as we gear up for next year. The submission period will open Jan. 1, 2024, and the new rankings will debut in April. Visit scotsmanguide.com/rankings now to see updated guidelines, including changes to the qualification thresholds for dollar volumes and closed loans.

We can’t wait to see your name in next year’s Top Originators rankings. For now, enjoy the holiday season, and best wishes for the new year ahead.

Disparate home price gains between states

National home prices should rise by 3.4% during the year ending in August 2024, according to a forecast this past October from CoreLogic. In August 2023, prices rose 3.7% year over year, but state-level gains were vastly different across the board.

CoreLogic noted that eight states (Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New York, Texas, Utah and Washington) posted annualized declines in home prices. Four other states in the West — California, Colorado, Oregon and Wyoming — saw gains of 1% to 3%.

Much of the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard, meanwhile, saw increases of 5% or more, with the highest gains clustered in New England. New Hampshire led the nation with 9.4% year-over-year growth, while Maine and Vermont each saw increases of 8.9%. Among large metros, Miami led the pack with an 8.3% price gain. Chicago, Washington, D.C., and San Diego each had growth of more than 4%.

CoreLogic also measured the markets that are most at risk of home price declines in the coming year. It ranked the metro areas of Spokane, Washington; Cape Coral, Florida; Youngstown, Ohio; Ocala, Florida; and Deltona, Florida, at the top of this list. The report estimated the probability of price declines in these metros at more than 70%.

The post 2023 State Champions appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

ARIZONA

Brent Nardecchia

High Place Mortgage Inc.

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 199

Total Dollar Volume: $204 million

“I do what I say I’m going to do, I always show up, I communicate and I do what is best for my clients. Instead of just chasing commissions, I forge long-term relationships. And I’m in a luxury market, which keeps me on my toes with all different types of clients. Although we average loan amounts in the jumbo market, we service every client, including first-time homebuyers, veterans and more.”

OREGON

Julee Felsman

Guaranteed Rate

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 405

Total Dollar Volume: $180.5 million

“We get to do a little bit of everything — from jumbo to USDA, from condos to new construction, from vintage properties to manufactured homes. Urban, suburban and rural, we really run the gamut. And Oregonians are a creative and entrepreneurial lot, so many of our clients are self-employed or freelance. I love the challenge of keeping up on everything and never knowing what puzzle we’ll have the opportunity to solve next.”

IOWA

Amber Ernst

New American Funding

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 352

Total Dollar Volume: $72.1 million

“Our market is saturated with portfolio lenders, so it is a challenge sometimes to help the customer understand the difference between fixed-rate financing and combo ARMs. I really try to break it down and show pros and cons, so they understand. In a stable market, things are easy — everything stays the same. But when things change like they have, man, it is a blessing to have a fixed-rate loan.”

ALABAMA

Kim Moon

FirstBank Mortgage

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 229

Total Dollar Volume: $77.8 million

“I have been in the industry for 40 years and know a lot of people in my market (Huntsville). That is one of the benefits of working in the market where I live. Our market has been named one of the top cities in the U.S. to live for affordability, and we are growing at 3%-plus per year. A challenge is that our market is very rate- and cost-conscious. You must be very competitive on every deal.”

KENTUCKY

Jesse Cronen

Northpointe Bank

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 546

Total Dollar Volume: $146.7 million

“Kentucky is a very affordable market, thus allowing more clients to achieve the dream of homeownership. With that said, I’m also armed with many products to help meet clients’ needs and ultimately close more loans. If you take care of your clients and put their needs first, your referral base will grow. And with a strong referral base and a strong work ethic, you can grow to whatever heights you put your mind to.”

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Chris Cox

First Savings Mortgage

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 279

Total Dollar Volume: $200 million

“I have been in this business for over 25 years, and I have built long-lasting relationships with agents and real estate offices in the D.C. metro area. I have a talented team and back room. I am beyond lucky to work in Washington, D.C. I set up an office on Capitol Hill in the early 2000s and it was the best decision of my career. I immediately became easy to reach, meet with and drop in on, and this changed everything for me.”

The post 2023 Featured State Champions appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

The following pages contain the Top Purchase Volume and Top Refinance Volume rankings. These lists highlight the top 100 salespeople for purchase volume, as well as the top 100 for refi volume, based on 2022 production reports. As with each of this year’s previous rankings, sales numbers are down across the board compared to 2022 data, which measured 2021 production. As the housing and mortgage markets have dipped and normalized since the post-pandemic boom, Scotsman Guide’s rankings have reflected it. But these numbers are not historically low by any means. This year’s Top Purchase Volume rankings exceeded figures from the 2021 list, both in aggregate volume and top individual volume.

Shant Banosian of Guaranteed Rate is at No. 1 in the Top Purchase Volume rankings for a fifth year in a row. His purchase volume has steadily increased over the years, peaking in the 2022 rankings at more than $1 billion. If last year is treated as an outlier, however, Banosian is still on an upward trajectory, having increased his purchase volume from $477.4 million in the 2019 rankings to $815.8 million this year.

Second in this year’s Top Purchase Volume rankings is Mark Cohen of Cohen Financial Group, who similarly increased his purchase volume from $396.7 million in the 2021 rankings to $578.2 million this year. Cohen also moved up two spots in this year’s rankings after a fourth-place finish last year. He’s followed by Ben Cohen of Guaranteed Rate ($550.9 million), whose purchase volume jumped $160 million from the 2021 rankings, and Matt Weaver of CrossCountry Mortgage ($520.4 million), who posted a gain of $185 million from two years ago.

The Top Refinance Volume rankings are a little more complex. While many consider 2020 and 2021 to be the refi boom years, the surge actually began in 2019, when 30-year fixed rates dipped below 4%. In August 2019, refinances had doubled from the previous year, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Now that the boom has passed, the rankings look much like those published in 2019 based on 2018 origination volumes — impressive when considering that the average mortgage rate in 2022 was almost 1% higher than in 2018.

While there are a couple of familiar names in the top five, this year’s Top Refinance Volume rankings saw dedicated refi originators jump up the list dramatically. Hank Metzger of American Financing Corp. took the top spot for 2023, up 10 spots from last year, with a refinance volume of $239.7 million. Notably, 100% of Metzger’s business in 2022 came via refinances. He’s followed by Damon Germanides of Insignia Mortgage ($184.4 million), who increased his refi volume by $26 million and placed No. 2 after not finishing among the top 100 a year ago.

Germanides is followed by Mark Cohen ($173.2 million), who rose nine places from last year; Daniel Klein of Century Capital Partners ($170.7 million), who is new to these rankings; and Thuan Nguyen of Loan Factory Inc. ($156.3 million), who was No. 1 on the Top Dollar Volume and Top Refinance Volume lists in 2021 and 2022.

Congratulations to everyone who earned a place in this month’s rankings. In a difficult year, you outdid yourselves despite a significant disadvantage with interest rates. Keep an eye out next month for the final 2023 Top Originators ranking, State Champions. Have a happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful start to your holiday season, and as always, thank you for reading.

Rate locks drop as credit tightens

This past July, interest rates for 30-year conforming loans rose above 7% for the first time since spiking in November 2022. This caused a drop in mortgage demand, according to Black Knight’s Originations Market Monitor report, despite a decrease in rates by the end of that month.

Overall rate lock volumes were down 7% from June to July. Purchase loan locks made up the lion’s share of rate locks at 88% but were still running well below July 2022 levels. On a year-over-year basis, purchase locks were down 27%, and they were down 35% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The average purchase price also dropped slightly from its peak in June, receding to $456,000.

According to Black Knight, signs of credit tightening were seen in July’s rate-lock data through rising downpayments, higher credit scores and lower loan-to-value ratios. Average credit scores on purchase locks for primary residences hit a record high early in July before edging downward.

Temporary rate buydowns drop from recent peak

Mortgage rate buydowns gained popularity in 2022 as interest rates rose, allowing new homeowners to temporarily reduce their rate for a period of one to three years. In December 2022, buydowns peaked at 7.6% of all Freddie Mac-funded loans, according to a report from the government- sponsored enterprise.

But the most recent data available, in June 2023, found only 2.8% of loans with buydowns. This still represents an increase from the near-zero levels of buydowns in early 2022.

Buydowns remain a very niche market, according to the report. They’re clustered both geographically and by lender as 12 nonbanks accounted for 80% of all buydowns in June. Western states had significantly more buydowns, led by the likes of Utah, Colorado, Idaho and Arizona. On average, mortgage buydowns comprised about 1% of all loans in Eastern states, while shares in Western states tended to be in the 3% to 4% range, with Colorado (6%) and Utah (7.1%) as outliers.

Buydowns appear to have a trade-off for homeowners, according to Freddie Mac. While these homeowners pay less for the first few years of their loan, their interest rates were 15 basis points higher on average, meaning they could pay more over the life of their loan if they don’t refinance or move.

Refinances rise after eight straight quarterly declines

Mortgage origination activity rose across the board in second-quarter 2023, according to Attom. The total number of mortgages issued increased to 1.56 million during these three months. While still representing a decrease of 38% from Q2 2022, originations rose 21% from Q1 2023, ending eight straight quarters of declines.

Despite a slight rise in interest rates in Q2 2023, improvements were seen in the purchase, refinance and home equity markets. Purchase loans jumped by 29%, refinances by 14% and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) by 13%.

Notably, the rebound in refinances came after the market posted a record-low total in Q1 2023. From April through June, lenders issued $141 billion in refinances across 477,219 loans, with units up 14% and volume up 8% from the prior quarter. Refis improved in 90% of U.S. metros analyzed, with the largest quarterly increase in Knoxville, Tennessee (up 87.4%). Refis accounted for 30.7% of all originations in Q2 2023.

HELOCs also increased after two straight quarters of declines. In the second quarter, lenders originated $50.9 billion in HELOCs across 284,591 loans. HELOCs made up 18.3% of all loans during these three months, down from 19.6% in the prior quarter but still four times higher than the levels of early 2021.

Midwest states lead in affordable single-family rentals

Although homeownership is temporarily out of reach for many Americans, many families still want to live in single-family homes. While this tends to be a more expensive option than an apartment, there are still many U.S. markets where this can be achieved affordably, especially due to the growing trend of built-to-rent homes.

An August 2023 report from RentCafe found that 20 markets across the country had single-family homes with average rents of less than $1,700. Of these metro areas, about half were priced below $1,500, on average.

The Midwest accounted for eight of these 20 markets. Milwaukee ranked No. 3 overall, posting an average rent of $1,317 for a single-family home in June 2023. Indianapolis was 15th, with average rents of $1,628.

The cheapest market was Lafayette- Lake Charles, Louisiana, at $1,203, followed by Clarksville, Tennessee, at $1,213. The states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana were listed, while Arkansas, Kansas and Indiana each had two cities that made the cut. Major metros on the list included Pittsburgh; Oklahoma City; Columbus, Ohio; and Las Vegas.

The post 2023 Top Purchase and Refinance Volume appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac update the conforming loan limits each year, many homes in pricier markets still don’t qualify for mortgages backed by the government-sponsored enterprises. That’s where jumbo originators come in, armed with the products and knowledge to make $1 million-plus loans possible for high-end clients.

Jumbo loans have seen a significant increase in popularity of late. In 2020, they represented only 19% of the market, according to CoreLogic data. But in 2022, the jumbo share of the market was 32%, the highest level seen since 2005.

Welcome to Scotsman Guide’s first-ever Top Jumbo Originators ranking. This list focuses on originators who regularly produce these large, nonconforming loans. To create this list, the publication calculated and ranked the average loan size for everyone who qualified for its 2023 Top Originators rankings (based on full-year 2022 origination volume). On the next two pages, you’ll find 100 originators who specialize in serving elite clientele, each with an average loan size of more than $1 million.

These originators appear to value quality over quantity. While the number of loans closed by the Top Jumbo Originators ranges widely, from 25 to 552, the median number of closed loans is 58. The median dollar volume is $77.5 million, good for a median loan size of $1.3 million.

The geographic breakdown of these originators is not unexpected: California dominated the rankings, with 58 of 100 originators based in the Golden State. New York was a distant second with 19 originators on the list, while Texas, Connecticut and Maryland each have three originators.

Many of these originators work for private banking arms — or well-placed branches — of large institutions like Citibank and U.S. Bank, each of which have more than 20 originators in this ranking. But independent brokers are represented too. Notably, Beverly Hills-based boutique brokerage Insignia Mortgage Inc. has four originators in the top 11.

In fact, Insignia broker Romy Nourafchan took the No. 1 spot, with an average loan volume last year of more than $3.27 million. Nourafchan has been building his jumbo business since the 1990s and has a wide base of clients, with loans ranging from $1 million to $50 million and beyond. To learn more about Nourafchan and his business, read his Featured Top Originator profile on Page 18.

Second place went to Ghazal Doustar of U.S. Bank, with an average loan size of $3.16 million. Rounding out the top five are Anish Singla of U.S. Bank ($2.84 million), Damon Germanides of Insignia Mortgage ($2.75 million) and Kevin Cassell of City National Bank of Florida ($2.35 million).

We hope you enjoy this new ranking and find it informative. Feel free to reach out with any questions, comments or concerns. Warm wishes for a wonderful autumn, and as always, thank you for reading.

Midwest cities offer advantages for first-time homeowners

The cost of the first year of homeownership — including downpayment and fees, mortgage payments, homeowners insurance and property taxes — varies widely across the country. Point2, a division of Yardi Systems, recently analyzed the 100 largest U.S. markets to pinpoint the most and least affordable cities for first-year homeownership.

Sixteen cities had first-year costs of less than $80,000, with most of these in the Midwest. Detroit was the least expensive city, with total costs of about $25,000 for the first year, followed by the Ohio cities of Toledo and Cleveland, each under $40,000. Fort Wayne, Indiana, and St. Louis rounded out the top-five least-expensive cities with costs in the $60,000 range.

Conversely, the 15 most-expensive cities had costs that exceed $200,000. California accounted for each of the top-eight priciest cities. Unsurprisingly, San Francisco topped the list with total first-year costs of $390,000. A smaller Bay Area neighbor, Fremont, was not far behind, followed by San Jose, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland and Anaheim.

Point2 also found that median-income renter households that save 20% of their annual income can take anywhere from four to 24 years to save up enough to cover these first-year costs. Los Angeles had the longest timeline among the cities analyzed, while Detroit had the shortest.

Coastal urban counties have lowest homeownership rates

The national homeownership rate has increased slightly in the past few years, but many counties — especially those in coastal urban areas — continue to lag. A recent analysis from the National Association of Homebuilders found that 2021 homeownership rates ranged from less than 25% in urban counties of New York to more than 90% in suburban and rural counties of Colorado and the South.

Population density has a lot to do with the lower rates in urban counties, the analysis noted. Four counties in the New York City metro area were among the 10 lowest rates in the nation. Bronx County registered a 19.8% homeownership rate. New York County (Manhattan), Kings County (Brooklyn) and Hudson County, New York, each had rates below 33%.

Similar trends can be found on the West Coast. San Francisco and Los Angeles counties have respective homeownership rates of 38.2% and 46.2%. Meanwhile, California counties with less density (including Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado and Sierra) hover around 80%.

The 10 counties with the highest homeownership rates in the nation each exceeded a 90% rate. Four of these counties were in the census bureau’s Mountain Division: Colorado’s Elbert and Park counties (92.6% and 91.1%, respectively), along with Storey County, Nevada (96.5%), and Meagher County, Montana (92.1%). Five others were in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, Alabama and West Virginia.

The post 2023 Top Jumbo Originators appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

Brokers significantly increased their representation in this year’s Scotsman Guide Top Originators rankings.

In the Most Loans Closed rankings (which were published in April and include every Top Originator who closed at least 100 loans last year), brokers made up 13.4% of the list. Last year, brokers accounted for only 4.3% of the same list. And with nonqualified mortgages (non-QM) gaining steam, brokers have increased their representation in the Top Non-QM Volume rankings as well. Last year, brokers made up 17% of the Top Non-QM list, but they nearly doubled their share this year to comprise 33% of the list.

The broker channel also has continued to gain share in the overall mortgage market. According to a recent report from the Stratmor Group, using data from Inside Mortgage Finance, the wholesale share of the market was consistently in the 14% to 16% range from 2011 to 2017. It began to rise in 2018 and has stayed between 18% and 21% since then, reaching 20% in 2022.

Top wholesale lenders have been increasing their share in the broker channel as other lenders have exited. As of 2022, the top-three wholesale lenders controlled 54% of the wholesale market, according to the Stratmor report. And as wholesale lenders continue to expand their loan product offerings while targeting underserved borrowers, self-employed borrowers and more, the wholesale channel may continue to grow its share of the market.

Over the following pages, you’ll see the top 150 producers on Scotsman Guide’s 2023 Top Mortgage Brokers list. Returning to the top spot is Mark Cohen of Cohen Financial Group, who brokered $751.4 million last year across 552 loans. Cohen was previously the No. 1 broker in the 2020 rankings, when he closed 515 loans for an aggregate volume of $584 million.

Second place this year went to Thuan Nguyen of Loan Factory Inc., who originated $475.7 million across 1,359 loans. Rounding out the top five are Mike Roberts of City Creek Mortgage ($309.4 million), Damon Germanides of Insignia Mortgage Inc. ($285.5 million) and Amit Sakhrani of TransUnited Financial Services Inc. ($260.9 million).

From the top 150, Scotsman Guide chose four brokers to interview and feature. From up-and-comers to company presidents, these brokers have found great success by investing their time and energy in the wholesale channel. All four listed flexibility, good pricing and better product availability as major benefits of the broker channel. Read their stories here.

Next month, we’ll launch a brand-new ranking, Top Jumbo Originators, which will highlight originators by average loan size. We’re looking forward to sharing it with you, but until then, enjoy the end of summer. As always, thank you for reading.

Sun Belt metros lead the home flip charge

Home flips are happening at the highest levels in decades. Nearly 73,000 single-family homes and condominiums were flipped in the first quarter of 2023, according to Attom, making up 9% of all sales. The only time this century the figure has been higher was in Q1 2022, when home flips accounted for 9.4% of all sales.

Across U.S. metro areas with a population of at least 200,000 and 50 or more home flips in Q1 2023, the hottest locations were Macon, Georgia; Atlanta; Jacksonville; Memphis; and Clarksville, Tennessee. In each of these five metros, flips represented more than 14% of home sales. Unsurprisingly, the counties surrounding these metros also saw high percentages of home flips, led by Baker County, Florida (outside Jacksonville), where flipped homes made up 22.7% of all sales.

Across individual ZIP codes, Attom found that three of the top 10 ZIPs for flips in Q1 2023 were in Pennsylvania and two were in Arizona. Florida, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Washington each had one ZIP code in the top 10. The top ZIP code, where flips accounted for 62.5% of all sales, was 85337 in Gila Bend, Arizona, about an hour southwest of Phoenix.

Walkable communities remain desirable

Residents of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas who live in walkable communities are more likely to be “very satisfied” with their quality of life, according to the 2023 Community and Transportation Preferences Survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The survey found that 79% of respondents determined it important to live within easy walking distance of shops, parks and other amenities, while 78% of this group said they would pay more to live in a walkable community. There were generational differences in the willingness to pay more for walkability. While 33% of millennials and 35% of Gen Zers said they would pay “a lot more” to live somewhere walkable, only 14% of baby boomers and 21% of Gen Xers said the same.

Among those who already live in walkable neighborhoods, 89% said they were satisfied with the quality of life in their community, with 48% reporting that they were very satisfied. While 81% of people in “somewhat walkable” neighborhoods and 74% of “somewhat unwalkable” neighborhoods also reported satisfaction with their quality of life, only about one in four respondents were very satisfied.

Construction activity rises as costs stabilize

Texas and Florida are leading the nation in residential construction permit approvals, according to CoreLogic’s Quarterly Construction Insights report for Q2 2023. In the first three months of this year, about 200,000 building permits were authorized in the South region. Texas and Florida each had more than 50,000 authorizations to sit atop all states. Most of these permits were for single-family units, the report noted.

Housing starts were down slightly between Q4 2022 and Q1 2023, but building permits were up slightly to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.434 million. Sales of both new and existing homes also improved on a quarterly basis.

Inflation has increased the expenses for many construction materials, including concrete, bricks, insulation and carpet. This contributed to an overall quarterly increase of about 2% for residential construction costs. Costs for other materials, however, were declining. Lumber costs in the U.S., for example, dropped by 15% in the first four months of 2023. Prices for plywood, rebar, steel studs and PVC pipe decreased as well.

The post 2023 Top Mortgage Brokers appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

#11 Tammy Saul

Federal Hill Mortgage

2022 Production Numbers

Brokered Loans: 541 / Brokered Volume: $180.9 million

Newly licensed attorney Tammy Saul was working at a prestigious Baltimore law firm in 2003 when she decided to work temporarily alongside her then-boyfriend and now-husband Ryan, who was the director of sales for a mortgage company. She had no intention of staying in the industry long term, nor did she have experience or training.

“What I did have was natural smarts, mad work ethic, instinct and a burning desire to win,” Saul said. Within three months, she was the branch’s top-producing loan officer. Eighteen months later, the couple opened their own brokerage. The business has grown from a basement to a 10,000-square-foot building that Saul bought last year — and from zero employees to 20. Her 18 years as a broker has made her a master of guidelines, niches and critical thinking.

“To me, being a broker is akin to what I did when I practiced law — I listened to the client, diagnosed the issue and then offered a solution from the universe of available possibilities,” Saul said.

To build business, she hired the right people to help manage her files and workflow, and then delegated to them. That freed up time for her to build new and existing agent relationships. Saul also said she knows how to “ride the wave and reinvent” herself to weather hard times.

“This industry is kicking everybody’s butt right now, including mine,” she said. “This is where you choose to fold or you choose to fight. I’ve never folded and I never will … It goes all the way back to me coming here as a first-generation immigrant. I’m 100% Ukrainian, so I have an appreciation for the American dream and a hunger for opportunity, no matter how hard.”

#17 Joel Mathew

Champions Mortgage

2022 Production Numbers

Brokered Loans: 410 / Brokered Volume: $150.8 million

With only six years in the industry, Joel Mathew is young for a CEO. But armed with encyclopedic industry knowledge and intense drive, Mathew heads up Champions Mortgage, one of the fastest-growing brokerages in Texas.

He was only about a year into the industry when he opened the brokerage out of his parents’ home. After closing a few loans, he signed an office lease and began to grow.

“From there, I was grinding every day to earn business from Realtors,” Mathew said. “I was very good at figuring out solutions on loans other loan officers couldn’t figure out. One of my first strategies was to go to Realtors and say, ‘I don’t want to come in here and ask for your best client. Give me your tough clients that no one else can approve.’”

More Realtors heard about Mathew and sent him their tricky loans. He earned their trust and the referrals kept coming. Mathew now oversees a team of 35 loan officers and continues to originate his own loans too, closing more than $150 million in business last year.

“I think for a business to be successful, the head of the company has to have the technical knowledge of the industry. … I’m able to answer questions about guidelines on the fly, not just to my loan officers but to Realtors sending me scenarios others turned down,” Mathew said. “Having the knowledge of the guidelines, to me, is the biggest X factor that sets this brokerage apart from the competition.”

#27 Whitney Bulbrook

Carolina Ventures Mortgage LLC

2022 Production Numbers

Brokered Loans: 270 / Brokered Volume: $108.1 million

Whitney Bulbrook probably wouldn’t be working in mortgage sales if she hadn’t studied abroad in Seville, Spain, in college. On the trip, Bulbrook fell in love with language learning, so she changed her major and graduated with honors from the Spanish program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“My aunt Diane plucked me right out of college and said, ‘You’re fluent in a second language; you’re getting into the mortgage business,’” Bulbrook said. “Unbeknownst to her husband, Kearny, he was going to train me to be a mortgage broker from ground zero. I really owe so much of my success to them.”

She decided she liked the industry and that she’d stay in it, expanding her horizons to solve puzzles for all borrowers. After a few years, her husband proposed opening a brokerage. Bulbrook thought he was crazy and the timing was wrong, but she was inspired. She opened up shop soon after while pregnant with their first child.

She prioritized a streamlined, 100% digital process with fast, easy closings for clients, and she exercised her deep knowledge about lending guidelines. She enjoyed the educational aspect of her career so much that she launched WikiWhitney, a portion of her website that’s dedicated to educational videos about mortgage finance. With dozens of short videos available, Bulbrook aims to demystify the process for consumers.

“The mortgage world turned out to be the right fit, with me being a high-energy person who really doesn’t like the answer ‘no,’” Bulbrook said. “I love figuring out where all the pieces fit to bring clients to a smooth and successful closing. I want clients thinking, ‘Well, that was easy.’”

#38 Brendan McKay

McKay Mortgage Co. LLC

2022 Production Numbers

Brokered Loans: 153 / Brokered Volume: $84.2 million

McKay Mortgage is a family company started by Brendan McKay and his mom, Tina, in 2017. Detailed documentation and a buttoned-up loan process keep the small team running smoothly, and McKay’s efficiency allowed him to close $84 million in volume last year with only himself and two processors.

McKay’s deep involvement with his local community keeps the loans rolling in. He’s on the board of his local chamber of commerce, takes part in networking groups and has a core group of Realtors he’s connected with over the years. The broker channel allows for a lot of flexibility, problem-solving and choice, McKay said, and he can’t imagine doing anything else.

“If you’re working with lenders that know what they’re doing and you have solid relationships, you get the best of both worlds,” McKay said. “You get price, you get control, you get service, everything.”

McKay might be most passionate about his work as an advocate. Working with local and national industry groups, McKay pushed to get a law passed in his home state, Maryland, that helps disabled veterans become homeowners.

Existing law exempts these veterans from real estate taxes after taking ownership, but the new law extends the benefit to the underwriting process, improving debt-to-income ratios and creating tens of thousands of dollars in purchasing power. He closed the first loan using this law less than 60 days after it was passed, and industry groups are working to implement it in other states.

The post 2023 Featured Top Mortgage Brokers appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

#7 Dustin Rosenberg, Convoy Home Loans

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 262 / Total Volume: $216.8 million

At only 33, Dustin Rosenberg is principal and CEO of Convoy Home Loans, which he runs with his business partner, Jonathan Yoo. They worked together at another lending company and saw an opportunity to establish themselves in a niche that has become quite popular: nonqualified mortgages.

Rosenberg’s previous job was all conventional loans, but he had clients coming in who wanted to purchase investment properties. That’s difficult with conventional programs, so when Rosenberg started Convoy, he knew he wanted to focus on luxury and investment properties. Getting into the non-QM business early served him well, as he was able to establish relationships with realty companies and private partners to purchase his loans before the market turned in 2022.

“You’re going to get different pricing from one broker to another because the relationship with the investor or private fund might be better,” Rosenberg said.

Working with real estate investors, he said, can lead to many more deals than a conventional transaction. “You make one relationship with one investor, and you might be able to do 10 or 12 loans with them in one year,” Rosenberg said. “It’s a completely different ballgame that you’re playing. Really use that book of business and let it work for you.”

#39 Jonathan Kulak, Trident Home Loans LLC

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 239 / Total Volume: $112.5 million

Before Jonathan Kulak became an originator at Trident Home Loans, he was a client. As an active-duty Air Force pilot, he purchased a home, coming away “super impressed and blown away” by the deal and the customer service he’d received. He started referring business to the company, and the owner, Marty Medve, asked Kulak if he’d ever considered a career in mortgages.

Medve mentored Kulak behind the scenes for the next couple of years, and when Kulak transitioned away from active duty, he participated in the military’s SkillBridge program, where he was able to work at Trident and continue to learn from Medve. He became an originator, built a business through word-of-mouth referrals, and the rest is history.

Kulak said he gets a lot of repeat business as active-duty military move around frequently or transition to civilian life. His company, he said, prioritizes saving money for clients and closing quickly so people moving will have somewhere to land.

“I think about it as a flight I’m taking,” Kulak said. “You plan your path, but you don’t know exactly what variables you’ll get once you take off. You’re going to have to make some real-time decisions. But one of the most critical things to a smooth landing is getting set up as far in advance as you can. Be prepared, because life’s always going to throw you a curveball.”

#67 Gina Allman, Ent Credit Union

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 230 / Total Volume: $86.9 million

With 20 years of banking experience under her belt, Gina Allman may be one of the most experienced Top Emerging Stars. She started at her current company, Ent Credit Union, as a teller when she was 18. After a few years learning the ropes, she wanted to move into the mortgage department. She was promoted through the ranks, from receptionist to processor to underwriter, eventually becoming an originator about 10 years ago.

“The company I work for is amazing in our community. They’re so supportive. I’ve been super loyal and now I’ve been here almost 21 years. That speaks volumes,” Allman said. “I’m thankful that I have all that experience because as I originate, it helps me know what’s going to work and what’s not going to work.”

Working at a nonprofit credit union lets Allman offer unique benefits to her clients, including in-house processing, underwriting and servicing, lower fees and competitive rates. Allman is also unique in that she tries to attend as many closings as possible.

“Going to the closings has been something I’ve always believed in, that I’ve done, and it gives you an opportunity to have face to face with both the buyer’s agent and the listing agent,” she said. “Since we’re local, we only lend in the state of Colorado, I am able to be present and available. I think the agents have learned that their loan’s going to close with me. They trust me.”

#77 Shireen Shackelford, CrossCountry Mortgage

2022 Production Numbers

Closed Loans: 372 / Total Volume: $82.8 million

Shireen Shackelford built her business brick by brick. When she started in the mortgage business in 2007, she worked 12- to 14-hour days, selling refinances and subprime loans. She built a group under her and managed her own call center. And when she made the decision to transition to purchase lending, she took her core people with her and began to build even further.

“I really took that same grind, that mentality of hustle, and just applied it to the purchase world,” Shackelford said. “I just transferred where the hustle was. I put all my time and energy into meeting as many agents as possible. Anyone that gave me a chance, I would handle with white-glove treatment.”

Shackelford has built a wide range of product knowledge that she’s continuously expanding, and she likes to say that every single buyer has a home with her team. She offers conventional and government loans programs, downpayment assistance and, more recently, non-QM products as well. She’s licensed in 14 states but keeps a majority of business close to home in Ohio.

“I think what keeps me going every day is doing something different,” Shackelford said. “Nothing is ever just easy and straight W-2 income. Working the guidelines and system to where we can make people’s scenarios make sense is the most special thing.”

The post 2023 Featured Top Emerging Stars appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

More than half of these respondents think that it will be harder for them to get raises, promotions or new jobs in the next few years. Half also expect that starting a family will become even more difficult, if not impossible. Many already live with family members or children in multigenerational housing.

With the millennial and Gen Z segments reporting pessimistic feelings about the economic future of the country, it’s more important than ever to reach out to them with information and encouragement about the homebuying process. Home equity is one of the most important building blocks for wealth in America, and with more members of these younger generations in homes where they can build their families and lives, their economic outlook may improve.

Enter a small army of millennial and Gen Z mortgage originators who are here to help their peers find a path forward to homeownership. Many mortgage industry leaders believe that the key to lending inclusively is to hire originators who can relate to their clients, and this month’s Scotsman Guide rankings section is evidence that they’re on their way to achieving that.

Welcome to the second annual Top Emerging Stars rankings. In its sophomore year, this ranking that highlights standout originators under the age of 40 has more than tripled in size. Last year, the publication listed only the top 100 producers by dollar volume. This year, we’re highlighting every young originator who submitted to the Top Originators rankings and did at least $40 million in business in 2022. To see the complete list of 372 Top Emerging Stars, click the button below.

Tim Potempa of OneTrust Home Loans took the top spot by originating $438.9 million across nearly 1,000 loans last year. Second place went to Danny Meier of Academy Mortgage Corp., who originated $408 million across 581 loans.

The rest of the top-five emerging stars include David J. Edmondson of TD Bank ($302.8 million), Amit Sakhrani of TransUnited Financial Services Inc. ($260.9 million) and Hanh Dao of Next Door Lending ($258 million). Sakhrani, a California-based broker who started his sales career in a Christmas tree lot, is this month’s Featured Top Originator. Read more about him here.

We handpicked four of this year’s Top Emerging Stars for interviews, where we learned more about their careers and where they’re headed. To read their stories, click here or use the button below.

Congratulations to all of the Top Emerging Stars — buckle in for the long careers ahead of you. We hope to see you in many rankings to come. And as always, thank you for reading.

Young generations see positive change along with concern for future

This year’s iteration of the massive Gen Z and Millennial Survey from Deloitte found that while the past few years have brought some positive changes to their lives, young people are still concerned for their futures. The 2023 survey polled more than 22,000 young people in 44 countries.

The survey found that satisfaction at work has improved for these generations. Respondents reported higher satisfaction with their work-life balance, partially due to the rise in remote work. Respondents were also happy with employer progress on environmental sustainability efforts, as well as work tied to diversity, equity and inclusion. Still, less than half of respondents believed that business has an overall positive impact on society.

The survey respondents were economically wary, with the high cost of living ranked as their No. 1 societal concern. Half reported living paycheck to paycheck and expressed worry about the impact of a potential recession on their ability to improve their personal financial situation. They’re reportedly reacting to these pressures by postponing big life decisions such as buying a home or starting a family. They’re also becoming more likely to take on second jobs, or to adopt money- and planet-saving behaviors like shopping secondhand or not driving a car.

Small towns and cities are best for first-time buyers

Ten small cities and towns — including three in the state of New York — topped Realtor.com’s list of the best markets for first-time homebuyers in 2023. Portsmouth, Virginia; DeForest, Wisconsin; and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, took the top three spots. Each of these cities are suburbs of larger metropolitan areas (Virginia Beach, Madison and Hartford, respectively).

Realtor.com based its ranking on a list of criteria that included the share of residents between the ages of 25 to 34, the availability of homes for sale, job opportunities, commute times and local amenities. The ranking also took into account forecast home price growth and current affordability of homes, which was estimated using the incomes of the 25- to 34-year-old population in these cities.

The other cities that earned spots in the top 10 were Gloucester City, New Jersey; Moore, Oklahoma; Magna, Utah; the New York cities of Eggertsville, Watervliet and Mattydale; and Somersworth, New Hampshire.

Top Emerging Stars Methodology

Nominations for Top Emerging Stars were made during the Top Originators submission period from Jan. 1-31, 2023. Originators who submitted individually could choose to nominate themselves by entering their age on the submission form. Companies that submitted originators in bulk had the option to nominate any or all of their originators under the age of 40.

Top Emerging Stars nominations will open again in January 2023 as part of the next Top Originators submission period.

The post 2023 Top Emerging Stars appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

While the overall volume of the Top Veteran Originators in the 2022 production year fell from the sky-high totals of the two previous years, it rose from the 2019 production year and continued an overall upward trend. The winning individual volume also increased from 2019, with the No. 1 Top Veteran Originator — Jason Smith of Nova Home Loans, a Navy vet — doing $175.5 million in business.

Second on the list is Army vet Patton Gade of LoanDepot, who originated $165.4 million. Named after the legendary Gen. George Patton, Gade specializes in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans and also took the top spot among the publication’s Top VA Volume originators. Read more about him in this month’s Featured Top Originator.

Third on the Top Veteran Originators list is Ray Shanahan of TowneBank Mortgage, an Army veteran who closed $159.7 million in loans in 2022. Rounding out the top five are Navy vet Martin Medve of Trident Home Loans LLC ($147.6 million) and Air Force vet Joseph Smith of CrossCountry Mortgage ($119.3 million).

Also highlighted this month are the Top VA Volume rankings. These originators specialize in loans for active-duty military members, reserves and veterans, and you’ll see a lot of overlap with the Top Veteran Originators list. As members of the military community, many of these originators speak the language of VA loans and excel in this arena.

At the front of the Top VA Volume list, as mentioned, is Patton Gade of LoanDepot, who originated $135.8 million across 255 VA loans. Reginald Maddox of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. came in second, originating 236 VA loans for an aggregate volume of $133.2 million. Jennifer Beeston of Guaranteed Rate was third, originating $117.3 million across 286 VA loans. Rounding out the top five are Martin Medve of Trident Home Loans LLC with $117.1 million and Scott Evans of CrossCountry Mortgage with $115.3 million.

Scotsman Guide thanks all of the Top Veteran Originators for their service, as well as the Top VA Volume professionals for helping the nation’s military members and veterans to secure their dream homes. Happy Independence Day to all of our readers — soak up some sun and enjoy the barbecues and fireworks.

Rankings verification: Hannah Darden, Brian Warr

Total loan volume drops but exceeds pre-pandemic figure

The aggregate volume of the 75 people listed in this year’s Top Veteran Originators rankings fell significantly from last year but is still trending upward overall compared to the year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s aggregate volume was $4.7 billion, down from last year’s total of $7.7 billion, while still representing an increase from the $4.1 billion total in the 2020 rankings (based on the 2019 production year).

Additionally, the average loan size for this year’s top 75 originators — the aggregate loan volume divided by the total number of loans closed — fell by only $2,000 from the 2022 rankings. The average loan size of $363,297 represents a huge increase from the 2019 production year, which saw an average loan size of $285,135. And the total loan volume of the top-ranked veteran loan officer also rose during this time, jumping from $101.9 million in the 2020 rankings to $175.5 million this year.

Home prices, interest rates of concern for VA borrowers

More than 70% of current military service members plan to buy a home in the next five years, according to a recent survey from Veterans United Home Loans. About 30% of all respondents said they’re planning to buy this year, including 15% of veterans.

Among the service members and veterans surveyed, high home prices had the biggest impact on the decision to buy a home. About 56% of respondents believe that it will be somewhat difficult or very difficult to buy a home in the next year. Veterans also noted rising mortgage rates as a concern for their homebuying plans.

Almost 70% of active-duty military reportedly rent a home or live in base housing. Only 29% own their homes, compared to 58% of veterans and 61% of National Guard and Reserve members. Awareness of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loan program was highest among active-duty personnel, while most respondents said that the zero-downpayment option was the biggest benefit.

Notably, the proximity of a service member to a military base influenced their awareness of the VA loan benefit. Those who lived less than 30 minutes from a base were much more aware than those who lived at least three hours away. According to the survey, this means National Guard and Reserve members may be less aware of their benefit.

Steady rise of women in military continues

The total number of U.S. military and civilian personnel remained relatively flat from 2020 to 2021, with the share of women in the military ticking upward slightly, according to a demographics report from the Department of Defense. Inclusive of all active-duty, National Guard, Reserve and civilian personnel, about 3.5 million Americans work in military jobs.

In 2021, the last year of available data, women represented 17.3% of the active-duty force, up 10 basis points from 2020. Among the National Guard and Reserves, women made up 21.4%, an increase of 30 basis points from 2020. Between 2017 and 2021, female representation rose 1.1 percentage points in the active-duty force and 1.8 points in the Guard and Reserves.

The report found that 31.1% of active-duty members were racial minorities, with 17.2% identifying as Black or African American. Another 17.7% of active-duty members identified as Hispanic or Latino.

The average age for an active-duty member was 28, with more than 44% under the age of 26. Among officers, the average age was 34 years, with the 26- to 30-year-old age group and the 41-and-over group each representing the largest brackets by age at 23.1%.

Coastal areas saw most expensive VA loans

Coastal and island states, along with U.S. territories, had the largest average VA purchase loan sizes in fiscal year 2022 (the 12-month period ending this past September), according to data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Unsurprisingly, Hawaii topped the list with an average VA purchase loan amount of $741,962.

Washington, D.C., followed closely behind at an average of $726,625. In third place was California, with an average purchase loan amount of $600,334, while the U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington state rounded out the top five with average loan sizes of more than $500,000. While thousands of VA purchase loans were done in Hawaii — and tens of thousands in California and Washington — it’s worth noting that only 467 purchase loans were completed in Washington, D.C., with just 40 in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The states with the most VA purchase loans were Texas, Florida and Virginia. This suggests that while the typical loan amounts aren’t as high in these locations — ranging from $358,000 in Florida to $429,000 in Virginia — there’s more business to be done there.

The post 2023 Top Veteran Originators appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

The Top Mortgage Lenders worked harder than ever to stay on top in 2022. Strong referral pipelines, high home prices, smart financial moves and innovative loan programs helped to keep these lenders afloat while their originators worked to bolster individual books of business. And while this year’s numbers reflect a sharp decline from the 2020 and 2021 production periods, total volume actually increased from the 2019 production year (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), as did the average loan size.

Welcome to Scotsman Guide’s 11th annual Top Mortgage Lenders rankings. United Wholesale Mortgage took first place on the Top Overall Lenders list for the fourth time, closing nearly 350,000 loans for an aggregate volume of $127.3 billion. Last year’s champion, Pennymac, took second place by closing $109 billion across more than 350,000 loans. Rounding out the top of the list are some familiar names: Newrez LLC/Caliber Home Loans finished in third place (216,000 loans, $68 billion), LoanDepot was fourth (161,000 loans, $53.8 billion) and AmeriHome Mortgage was fifth (152,000 loans, $46.3 billion).

On the following pages, you’ll also find our usual spread of specialty rankings. Three well-known lenders defended their No. 1 spots from last year in the retail, wholesale and correspondent divisions. LoanDepot remained in first place among the Top Retail Lenders, closing 88% of its volume in this category for more than $45 billion in retail loan volume. United Wholesale Mortgage again wears the Top Wholesale Lenders crown, closing all $127 billion of its volume in this category. And Pennymac kept the No. 1 spot for Top Correspondent Lenders, doing 78% of its business in this category for more than $86 billion in correspondent loan volume.

A new No. 1 can be found on the Top Non-QM Lenders list. Change Lending did 70% of its total volume last year in nonqualified mortgages, earning the top spot with more than $4 billion in non-QM origination volume. Pennymac swept the government lending categories, taking the No. 1 spot on the Top FHA Lenders and Top VA Lenders lists. In each category, Pennymac closed at least 83,000 loans with aggregate volumes exceeding $23 billion.

So far, 2023 has been marked by uncertainty, and the mortgage industry continues to adjust to the new normal. In these times, Scotsman Guide is proud to offer a moment of celebration. Congratulations to all of our Top Mortgage Lenders. Enjoy the summer sunshine and, as always, thank you for reading.

Verification: Hannah Darden, Brian Warr

United Wholesale Mortgage: No. 1 Top Overall Lenders

Industry giant United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) is back on top after closing more than $127 billion in loans last year. In a recent conversation with Scotsman Guide, UWM chief operating officer Melinda Wilner said the company achieved this success by listening to brokers and launching useful new products.

“We’re following the same strategy we’ve always followed, which is really supporting the independent mortgage broker channel and giving them the tools, the technology, the products, anything that we can do to make their lives easier,” Wilner said.

UWM prioritizes the soliciting of feedback to better understand the needs of brokers and borrowers, she added. This leads to more useful product and technology development.

Wilner is excited about many of the tools UWM has brought to brokers over the past year. The company launched a training academy for new talent as well as loan officers who are switching from retail to the wholesale channel. UWM also revamped its closing system, started a program to help combat high title and closing costs, and launched Safe Check, which allows originators to prequalify their borrowers with a soft credit check that delays trigger leads.

“There’s an obscene amount of changes here every single day,” Wilner said. “We’ve always thought wholesale is the best way to go. I think that message is getting out there as we continue to educate consumers and as we get retail loan officers to bring their referral network in as well.”

Overall volume down compared to last year

The Top Mortgage Lenders saw their loan volumes moderate in 2022 and return to pre-pandemic levels after two years of historically high volumes. The 75 Top Mortgage Lenders closed a total of 2.6 million loans in 2022 with an aggregate value of $870.5 billion.

While this represents a decrease compared to the prior two years of rankings, it also is an increase from the volumes closed by the lenders in the 2020 rankings (based on the 2019 production year). That year, the top 75 lenders closed nearly 2.8 million loans for a total of $783.7 billion.

While total volume was higher this year, the total number of closed loans was lower, a reflection of escalating loan sizes over the past three years. The total volume to clinch the No. 1 spot also rose, from $107.8 billion in the 2020 rankings to $127.3 billion in 2023.

Majority of Americans can’t afford to buy a median-priced home

Only 36 million of the 132.5 million households in the U.S. can afford a new median-priced home, according to a special report from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The report, released this past March, determines affordability based on the ability to qualify for a new median-priced home of $425,786 using a 10% downpayment and a 30-year loan with a 6.25% interest rate and no points.

Based on these numbers, a household needs an income of at least $129,645 to buy a home. Only 27% of U.S. households meet this threshold, while 73% (or 96.5 million households) do not.

Additionally, the NAHB calculated models which estimate the number of households that would be priced out by a $1,000 increase in the median home price. Using the same affordability calculations as above, an additional 140,000 households would be priced out with an increase of $1,000. The report also found that increasing the interest rate from 6.25% to 6.5% would price out another 1.3 million households.

Mortgage delinquencies decline slightly

The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate decreased slightly during the year ending in January 2023, according to CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights report. Delinquency and foreclosure numbers are both near their historic low points and well below previous peaks in the spring of 2020.

This past January, 2.8% of mortgages were 30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure. This represented a 50-basis-point (bps) decrease from January 2022 and a 4.5% decrease from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The states with the highest overall delinquency rates at this time were Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia, New York and Alabama.

While overall numbers are down, breakdowns tell a slightly different story. Mortgages in early-stage delinquency (30 to 59 days past due) and mid-stage delinquency (60 to 89 days overdue) were up slightly on a year-over-year basis. The foreclosure inventory rate in January was 0.3%, up 10 bps during the year. But the share of mortgages in serious delinquency — 90 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure — was down 60 bps during the year.

Despite some numbers rising slightly, they remain near historic lows and changes are relatively flat. The CoreLogic report also noted that while annual home equity gains slowed significantly in fourth-quarter 2022, borrowers still have about $270,000 in equity on average — a significant safeguard against foreclosure. The U.S. unemployment rate also stayed below 4% during the first three months of 2023, another good sign for foreclosure prevention.

VA loan volume falls by half

The total number of loans closed through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fell by nearly half in 2022, according to VA data. In 2022, roughly 746,000 VA loans were closed, compared to more than 1.44 million in 2021. The dollar volume of these loans fell by 43%, from $447.2 billion to $256.6 billion.

As usual, the most populous states led the charge in terms of total VA loan volume. California, Florida and Texas took the top three spots, each with more than $20 billion in volume. The states of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Washington followed. Colorado, Arizona and Maryland rounded out the top 10, each with more than $8 billion in VA loan volume.

The highest average loan amounts were found in Hawaii and Washington, D.C., with average loan sizes in these locations topping $660,000. California’s average VA loan size exceeded $520,000, while the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands each had average loan amounts of more than $450,000. The smallest average VA loan sizes were found in Puerto Rico ($199,632), Ohio ($237,943), Iowa ($238,352) and Michigan ($238,825).

The post 2023 Top Mortgage Lenders appeared first on Scotsman Guide.