Fairway hires dozens of LOs from rival shops

Fairway Independent Mortgage is making notable recruiting moves, announcing Wednesday it brought onboard origination teams from Summit Funding, Movement Mortgage, Norcom Mortgage and Intercap Lending.

All in all, 84 producers have transitioned to the Madison, Wisconsin-based company, adding to its ballooning headcount of almost 3,000 sponsored loan officers, per the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System.

The origination team from Summit Lending, which brings 22 teammates to Fairway, including Kirk Scrima and brothers Dan Kaminski and Steve Kaminski, funded 291 units last year for a volume of $159 million, a press release read. Kirk Scrima is the brother of Summit Lending's CEO, Todd Scrima.

Further, mortgage executive Tiffany Fisher, who had a short four-month stint at Movement Mortgage and was previously a regional manager at Supreme Lending, joined with 36 teammates, which operate out of Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas.

A 21-member team headed by mortgage executive Kristen Walther is also transitioning from Norcom Mortgage, bringing additional branches to Fairway in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Florida.

Lastly, Burt Hoagland and Brian Kesler transitioned with a five member team from Intercap Lending. The team, which operates out of Cottonwood Heights, Utah, originated 235 units with a volume of $111 million in 2023.

"Fairway is humbled and honored to have these amazing teams join us," said Fairway's CEO Steve Jacobson in a press release Wednesday. "We are driven to earn their trust and respect each day."

In recent months, Fairway, a full-service mortgage lender with branches in 50 states, exited from wholesale lending and rumors have swirled that the lender was considering selling operations to CrossCountry Mortgage.

In October, Fairway's founder called the allegations of a sale "noise" and said he welcomed it, noting there's "nothing wrong with a little heat." 

"We are certainly not perfect. We have never said we are but we all start at zero each day and press forward…..knowing each day in our industry is a new opportunity to earn trust and respect," he wrote.

In 2023, the mortgage lender originated $27.5 billion in total volume, per its website.