Sales manager’s best serve for brokers

The move may have been timely, but there’s no escaping the fact that most mortgage firms are going through a tough time – Homepoint included.

“I would say this is the toughest market that I have seen in my entire career, and that’s saying something. The market crash of 2007 was a really tough one too, but this one has a whole different set of challenges, and a lot of it’s around the margin pressures,” he said.

Most experts now agree that the US is sliding into a housing recession. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage demand has dropped to the lowest level in 22 years, down by 18% year on year.

Home sales are also down by 20% over the same period, according to the National Association of Realtors, even if house prices appear to be holding up.

To cap it all, the MBA only last week revealed that independent mortgage banks (IMBs) reported a net loss of $82 on each loan they originated in Q2, making it an even tougher environment for lenders.