What to do when you’re a broker facing margin compression

Stoy’s gritty determination and no nonsense, pragmatic approach has so far served him well. He was, after all, voted mortgage advisor of the year by the North Carolina Home Builders Association in 2021, an accolade that came hot on the heels of a grueling mortgage deal involving a couple, their eight children and a 2,700-mile drive across the entire breadth of the country to buy a home.

It took Stoy 75 days to close the deal, due largely to the borrower’s complex employment history, but the plucky determination he displayed at the time will also be needed now, during the hard times.

Last month he got his fingers singed, if not burned, when Sprout Mortgage went under and he had to walk away from a condo project involving the ill-fated non-QM lender.

“I literally spent a whole month working (on this) because it’s a brand-new condo complex, and it was only the first building of five. So it was a lot of lost effort, money and energy on my side, unfortunately,” he said with no trace of regret in his voice, aware that he was not in a unique position.