Non-QM lender Kiavi shrinks workforce by 7%

“As my final day with Kiavi comes to a close, I can only express my gratitude for the opportunity to work with such an amazing bunch,” wrote Danielle Wheeler, recruiter at Kiavi.

An employee told HousingWire that while the company is still doing well, the problem is that it is now backed by the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Because we are in the hard money space, we don’t have a lot of investors willing to buy our assets because of the rate hikes, is what our CEO told us,” a source said.

Founded in 2013, Kiavi (formerly known as Lending Home) has grown to become one of the largest lenders to real estate investors. Last month, Kiavi, which operates in 32 states and Washington, D.C, closed a $271 million revolving securitization of unrated residential transition loans (RTLs). The deal marked its first deconsolidated transaction to date and “demonstrates the strength” of its underlying collateral, the company said in a statement at the time.

In response to the workforce reduction, Kiavi issued the following statement to Mortgage Professional America.

“At Kiavi we are focused on delivering outstanding products and services to our customers,” it said. “Given market conditions, we have carefully evaluated our operation and determined that a headcount reduction was needed. Our top priority is to approach this process with empathy, fairness and transparency, ensuring that we treat our team with utmost respect and dignity. We are offering severance and outplacement services to make this transition as smooth as possible.”