Mortgage Market Intel #30 - What Happens to Loan Officers After a Mortgage Company Acquisition?

Market Movers

Last week, 263 originators switched companies and 1,385 individuals obtained their NMLS license. Notable originator movements last week include:

• Steven Abelman ($80.2M, 55 units) joined SOFI BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
• Maria Espana ($78.2M, 261 units) joined Mission Loans, LLC
• Peter Munguia ($75.8M, 260 units) joined Ease Mortgage 
• Richard Spadola ($67.8M, 137 units) joined MTH MORTGAGE, LLC
• Phillip Zhin ($61.8M, 254 units) joined Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC
• Steven Roy Quincey ($59.2M, 181 units) joined Ease Mortgage
• Anthony Pellegrino ($57.9M, 153 units) joined FIRST HERITAGE MORTGAGE, LLC
• Noel Brownell ($57.7M, 133 units) joined Clearview Home Lending, Inc.
• Shelley Beckworth ($57.4M, 155 units) joined Boost Mortgage LLC
• Alan Russell ($52.3M, 41 units) joined New American Funding, LLC
• Trevor Richardson ($48.1M, 125 units) joined Cornerstone First Mortgage, LLC
• Travis Saling ($47M, 73 units) joined Answer Home Lending, Inc.
• Valerie Holbrook ($43M, 148 units) joined Atlantic Coast Mortgage, LLC
• Scott Hamling ($42.7M, 80 units) joined Home Mortgage Advisors, LLC
• Nancy Alton ($41.5M, 215 units) joined West Capital Lending, Inc.
• Jenny Chu ($41.2M, 53 units) joined Fifth Third Bank, National Association
• Dawn Nettle ($41.2M, 154 units) joined FIRST HERITAGE MORTGAGE, LLC
• Garrett Greene ($41.1M, 99 units) joined GoodLeap, LLC
  

Figures are based on last 14 months’ production.

Market Movers (Gainers by Producer Volume)

Top Gainers (non-Bank/CU):

1. SayGo Home Loans, LLC +13.59%
2. Lumin Lending Inc. +12.56%
3. Home Mortgage Advisors, LLC +11.59%
4. Mission Loans, LLC +11.07%
5. Mortgage Solutions FCS Inc. +9.25%
6. Ease Mortgage +6.67%
7. Madison Mortgage Services Inc. +5.54%
8. Ladera Lending, Inc. +5.09%
9. Trademark Financing Corp. +4.99%
10. Reliant Mortgage LLC +4.02%
11. MortgageOne, Inc. +3.91%
12. Answer Home Lending, Inc. +3.68%

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.

What Happens to Loan Officers After a Mortgage Company Acquisition? 

Part 1 of RETR’s Post-Acquisition Loan Officer Attrition Study

A mortgage company can acquire the business without acquiring the entire sales force.

RETR analyzed seven mortgage acquisitions involving 1,573 Loan Officers on the acquired companies’ latest available pre-acquisition rosters.

Only 1,108 LOs—70.4%—could be verified as transferring to the buyer.

Nearly three in ten never made the move.

How many Loan Officers transfer after an acquisition?

Transfer rates varied dramatically by transaction:

The range was striking: 40.4% to 86.8%.

In some acquisitions, more than four out of five LOs transferred. In others, fewer than half did.

This suggests that the first major LO attrition event may occur during the transaction itself—not after the integration begins.

Transfer rate and retention rate are different

Mortgage executives should evaluate two separate questions:

Transfer rate: How many acquired-company LOs joined the buyer?

Retention rate: How many of those transferred LOs remained over time?

A buyer cannot retain an LO who never made the transition.

Academy Mortgage, for example, transferred 77.2% of its roster to Guild Mortgage. Draper & Kramer transferred 40.5% to New American Funding.

Before either buyer began integrating the acquired sales force, they were starting with very different shares of the available roster.

Where are the transferred LOs today?

Of the 1,108 LOs who transferred across these seven transactions:

• 644 remain within the acquiring company’s corporate family
• 297 are active at another lender
• 167 no longer appear active as Loan Officers

That produces a simple acquisition funnel:

1,573 LOs on the pre-acquisition rosters

1,108 transferred to the buyers

644 remain with the buyers today

The final number is a current snapshot, not a standardized retention benchmark. These transactions occurred at different times, giving some buyers much longer to experience attrition than others.

We will account for that in Part 2 by comparing retention at equal points after each acquisition.

Most departed LOs are still originating

Among the transferred LOs no longer with the buyer, 64% are active at another lender.

That means most post-acquisition attrition is not simply the result of LOs leaving the mortgage industry.

In many cases, the buyer loses the LO while a competitor gains their market knowledge, Realtor relationships, past customers and future production potential.

The talent did not disappear.

It moved.

What does this mean for mortgage acquisitions?

An acquisition creates two talent challenges.

First, the buyer must convince the acquired Loan Officers to transfer.

Then it must retain them.

Across these transactions, buyers entered the second challenge with only 70.4% of the available LO roster.

That raises a question that deserves more attention when mortgage acquisitions are evaluated:

How much of an acquired company’s sales force is actually transferable?

How RETR measured LO transfers

RETR used the latest available roster before each acquisition and followed the employment history of every LO through July 25, 2026.

An LO was classified as transferred when the buyer was the immediate next recorded employer and the transition occurred within 45 days. Retention was measured across the buyer’s broader corporate family.

Norcom Mortgage was excluded from the transfer-rate calculations because CMG Financial acquired its retail assets and the available roster did not distinguish retail from wholesale personnel.

Coming next: How long do acquired LOs stay?

Transfer rates reveal how many Loan Officers entered the acquiring organization.

They do not reveal how long those LOs remained.

In Part 2, we will compare retention at three, six, 12, 18 and 24 months after the transition—and examine when post-acquisition attrition is most likely to occur.

Upcoming RETR Training

• • Mon, July 27 @ 2p ET - Intro to RETR: The Modern Loan Officer’s Data Advantage Register    
  • Wed, July 29 @ 1p ET - Know Your Market: Company & Builder Intelligence in RETR Register     
  Note: Full training calendar is available at https://training.retr.com

Is RETR Better?

When it comes to mortgage market intelligence, you have a handful of options, and RETR is one that truly stands out. Here’s what Greg Sher, Managing Director at NFM Lending has to say about RETR: “This is the most accurate loan officer and real estate agent data tool I’ve ever seen. RETR has taken our tech stack to an entirely different stratosphere.”

 But you don’t have to take their word for it. RETR offers a free trial to individuals and organizations to judge the quality of the data and insights for themselves.