Why it’s ‘Game On’ at United Wholesale Mortgage

Then comes the long-term strategy: “We said why don’t we take some of this, we’ll invest in it, we’ll spend a bunch of money to help make that conversion of retail loan officers, help our current brokers grow the business and we know in the long run it’s really going to work,” he said. “That’s really the strategy behind ‘Game On’ – putting our brokers in a better position to be competitive and widening the gap between wholesale and retail.”

Elezaj touted local brokers, who are the main cog of the ‘Game On’ effort. “The average consumer saves $9,400 going through a broker in wholesale versus retail and its even higher than that for minorities – it’s $10,400,” Elezaj explained. “And this is based on HMDA data – it’s not UWM’s opinion or anything like that. This is factual data that has come out for 2021. I think it’s really important to recognize that.”

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If ‘Game On’ is akin to a chess game, competitors are able to see each other’s move via public documents. Elezaj explained: “Everybody’s coming out with earnings releases and stuff like that, and it really puts pressure on the competition,” he said. “One of the benefits of most of our competitors being public is we see their numbers. We know they can’t operate at the margins where they would need to be to beat us on our ‘Game On’ initiative. They simply can’t compete. So strategically, not only does that help our retail brokers grow but it is a market share plane that puts a lot of pressure on those guys.”

Ishbia credited that sort of agility inherent to “Game On” with the company’s strong performance in the second quarter: “UWM’s scale and agility, coupled with the momentum of the broker channel drove outstanding results in the second quarter,” he said in a prepared statement. “Not only were we able to deliver strong profitability, we also continued our streak of delivering significant purchase volume. We remain committed to providing elite service, technology and speed to enable our clients, independent mortgage brokers, to shine and grow in any market environment.”