Cornerstone, Oakwood Homes Launch Mortgage Joint Venture

Nonbank mortgage company Cornerstone Home Lending has launched a new mortgage company as a joint venture with homebuilder Oakwood Homes.

The company, Nest Home Lending, has started operations in Colorado, with plans for Utah next. Nest is operating as a separate company with its own Nationwide Multistate Licensing System number.

Nest will function as a full-service mortgage banker and handle all pieces of the origination process, including underwriting and closing. The company will also fund loans in house.

Oakwood Homes Chief Operating Officer Scott Thorson said in a news release Nest would offer buyers of Oakwood properties "an even better one-stop shopping experience from contract to close."

"With our new home counselors and lending officers working side-by-side, they know our buyers, their concerns and the stage of their home's construction every step of the way," Thorson said. "It's truly a seamless experience."

This is not Cornerstone's first attempt at a joint venture. In 2011, the company partnered with Move Inc. to launch the mortgage origination website Mortgagematch.com. At the time, Move had a licensing deal to run realtor.com for the National Association of Realtors and cross-promoted the two sites. This drew the ire of real estate agents who said it interfered with their own mortgage referral relationships.

With MortgageMatch.com, Move ran the website, while a Cornerstone subsidiary actually funded and underwrote the loans. Within months of bringing the site to market though, Cornerstone exited the venture.

Oakwood finds itself in good company as it enters the mortgage market with Nest. Real estate brokerage Redfin said in January that it was forming a mortgage banking subsidiary. And Remax launched a franchising model for mortgage brokering with Motto Mortgage in October.