Mortgage Market Intel #29 - Do Some Mortgage Company Models Create Stickier Realtor Relationships Than Others?

Market Movers

Last week, 306 originators switched companies and 1,422 individuals obtained their NMLS license. Notable originator movements last week include:

• Daniel Forbes ($86.1M, 132 units) joined Synergy One Lending, Inc.
• Michael Araiza ($65.3M, 233 units) joined Mission Loans, LLC
• George Elliott ($63.1M, 120 units) joined Synergy One Lending, Inc.
• Ruby Grynberg ($59.7M, 95 units) joined Golden Empire Mortgage, Inc.
• Blake Carrillo ($57.5M, 149 units) joined CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC
• Jason Chinchilla ($56.2M, 131 units) joined Universal Lending
• Raphael De Souza ($49.7M, 104 units) joined Guaranteed Rate, Inc.
• Thierry Hygino ($46.2M, 98 units) joined Guaranteed Rate, Inc.
• Kyle Bradley ($45.8M, 133 units) joined Flat Branch Home Loans
• Anna Luperini ($45M, 87 units) joined Synergy One Lending, Inc.

Figures are based on last 14 months’ production.

Market Movers (Gainers by Producer Volume)

Top Gainers (non-Bank/CU):

1. ClickStart Mortgage LLC +15.68%
2. Synergy One Lending, Inc. +15.32%
3. X2 Mortgage LLC +14.36%
4. Mortgage Solutions FCS Inc. +10.17%
5. Mission Loans, LLC +9.27%
6. Equitable Lending +7.26%
7. Universal Lending +6.53%
8. Appli Home Loans +6.37%
9. Swift Mortgage LLC +6.24%
10. Anchor Funding, Inc.+4.92%
11. Consumer Real Estate Finance Co. +4.51%
12. RAPID HOME LOANS LLC +4.1%

Calculations based on last aggregate production of individual LO’s 14 months’ production. Excludes companies below $100M in 14mo LO production value after gains factored in.

Do Some Mortgage Company Models Create Stickier Realtor Relationships Than Others? 

Mortgage companies measure production, recruiting, pull-through, retention, and market share.

But there is another question that may matter just as much:

Which companies are best at helping their loan officers build Realtor relationships that stick?

Over the past several weeks, we have used the Agent Loyalty Index (ALI) to examine how consistently real estate agents work with the same mortgage lenders.

This week, we shifted the lens from agents and markets to mortgage companies.

We analyzed qualifying loan officers across more than 1,000 mortgage companies and calculated a company-level measure of agent loyalty—what we might also call a company’s Realtor stickiness factor.

The results suggest that some mortgage company models may create meaningfully stronger agent relationships than others.

How We Measured Company-Level Agent Loyalty

To qualify for this analysis, a mortgage company needed at least 10 qualifying loan officers.

Each qualifying loan officer had to originate at least 10 loans during the past year.

For every qualifying LO, we identified the real estate agent with whom that LO completed the most transactions during the past 12 months.

We then took the Agent Loyalty Index score for each LO’s top agent and averaged those scores across the company.

That produced the company’s Agent Loyalty Average.

In practical terms, the score helps answer this question:

How loyal are the top Realtor relationships attached to a company’s loan officers?

Which Company Types Had the Highest Agent Loyalty?

Across 1,046 qualifying mortgage companies, the average company-level Agent Loyalty score was 5.11, while the median was 5.22.

But the averages varied substantially by company type.

Brokers recorded the highest average Agent Loyalty score at 5.81.

Independent mortgage banks and other nonbank lenders followed at 5.43.

Banks and credit unions averaged 4.55.

That represents a difference of approximately 1.26 points between brokers and banks or credit unions.

On a 0–10 scale, that is not a small gap.

How Common Are High-Loyalty Companies?

The differences became even clearer when we looked at how many companies reached certain loyalty thresholds.

Among brokers:

• 82.4% had an Agent Loyalty Average of at least 5.
• 46.8% reached 6 or higher.

Among IMBs and other nonbank lenders:

• 69.8% had an average of at least 5.
• 34.8% reached 6 or higher.

Among banks and credit unions:

• Only 32.1% reached an average of 5.
• Just 7.2% reached 6 or higher.

The data does not prove that one company model is inherently better than another.

But it does suggest that Realtor-lender relationships develop very differently across mortgage business models.

The Overall Top 10

The following companies recorded the highest Agent Loyalty Averages among all qualifying companies.

Five of the Top 10 were brokers.

Four were IMBs or other nonbank lenders.

One was a bank or credit union.

It is also worth noting that the companies at the very top generally had smaller qualifying LO populations. That does not diminish their results, but it does mean company size should remain part of the interpretation.

Why Might Company Type Matter?

The data raises several important questions.

Do brokers and IMBs depend more heavily on Realtor referrals than banks and credit unions?

Does greater LO autonomy create stronger personal relationships with agents?

Do distributed retail organizations allow loan officers to build more durable local brands?

Are bank and credit union relationships more likely to be driven by consumer-direct channels, institutional relationships, deposit customers, or other sources of business?

Or are company size, geography, product mix, and operating model influencing the results?

This analysis cannot establish causation.

But it does show that the average strength of top agent relationships differs materially across company types.

That alone should get the industry’s attention.

Agent Loyalty May Be a Company-Level Capability

Mortgage companies often treat Realtor relationships as an individual LO responsibility.

The loan officer builds the relationship.

The loan officer maintains it.

The loan officer owns the outcome.

But if certain company types consistently produce higher Agent Loyalty scores, there may be more happening beneath the surface.

Technology, sales management, marketing support, recruiting, compensation, product availability, local autonomy, and company culture may all influence an LO’s ability to create sticky agent relationships.

That means Agent Loyalty may not be just an individual skill.

It may also be a company-level capability.

Next: The Gap Within IMBs

Company type appears to explain part of the difference.

But it does not explain all of it.

If company structure were the entire story, firms within the same category would produce similar results.

They do not.

Among qualifying IMBs, the highest company-level Agent Loyalty score was 8.43, while the lowest was 2.24.

That is a spread of more than six points among companies operating within the same broad business model.

Next week, we will take a deeper look at independent mortgage banks and examine which companies are producing the stickiest Realtor relationships—and how wide the gap is between the strongest and weakest performers.

Because understanding which company model performs best is useful.

Understanding why certain companies outperform their direct peers may be even more valuable.

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