The Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals has voted to reaffiliate with the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.
“It’s been a long-time coming,” said Valerie Saunders, FAMP’s immediate past president, of the nearly three-year fissure between the two organizations. “It’s important to show unity. Splintering off into a variety of other national groups just shows that the business is fractured,” Saunders, who works for RE Financial Services in Clearwater Beach, said at her group’s annual convention in Orlando.
The Florida group’s new president, Jon Turla, a sales manager with Home Lending Source in Dania Beach, said the decision to rejoin comes at an opportune time for both groups. “There are many federal issues we can help address,” he said. “We can work together to get things done.”
“We’re excited about it,” said Mike Anderson, a New Orleans broker who is an NAMB vice president and chair of its government affairs committee. “We need to unite now more than ever.”
FAMP split with NAMB in September of 2008 over a variety of issues, including what it saw as an ill-timed dues increase and what it considered to be poor decisions by leadership.
As the broker’s share of originations has dwindled – from an estimated 60% in its heyday to roughly 6% today – both groups have shrunk to a fragment of their former selves.
At one time, the national organization had 30,000 members with a full-time staff. Meanwhile, membership in FAMP, which once totaled 4,500 cardholders (making it NAMB’s second largest affiliate behind California but ahead of Texas) has dwindled to just under 1,000.
