GO Mortgage is the latest mortgage lender to start a wholesale operation, but it is coming at it from a different point of view: The current way this business is done is not just inefficient; the model is broken.
"We didn't have the burden of legacy, process, technology and people," Jay Promisco, the CEO of GO Mortgage, said in an interview. "We were able to just sit and go, what should it look like? Not how it's always been."
He pointed to limitations with the existing software for wholesale lending in the market today, so GO put together a group of vendors.
"Really, it's a consistency thing for the broker in that we know what the service level could look like every single day and we're layering in a ton of
Within 10 minutes of submission, the system will be able to tell the broker whether the deal is going to work or not, and with certainty, he said.
Rob Saunders, an over 25-year veteran in the mortgage industry, has been named executive vice president of TPO production. Among his past positions was vice president and divisional sales director for Sierra Pacific Mortgage's wholesale lending channel. He also served as the managing director-West for Home Point Financial, and earlier in his career, he held positions at Caliber Home Loans and Plaza Home Mortgage.
Promisco joined GO Mortgage in January after Sierra Pacific Mortgage, where he was president,
The roll-out of the TPO program started this week and will be continuing over the next 60 days with a select group of mortgage brokers. Eventually the program will expand nationwide, as GO is licensed in 42 states.
GO is a "people-first organization," Promisco said, adding it is "really focused on using technology to augment the people that work here." When the employees are happy, usually its customers are pretty happy too.
Promisco said the wholesale business is getting pretty crowded. This includes LoanDepot's March announcement that it is
It is also highly competitive, with lenders offering promos to mortgage brokers and/or their customers.
But GO Mortgage is not looking to be the biggest in the space, Promisco said, declaring "I'm not fighting
Still, today is a great time for his company to enter the channel, and GO Mortgage wants to be a part of it. Furthermore, GO is not a large organization which needs to be doing $1 billion a month of volume to be profitable.
"There's a bunch of companies struggling in the space, there's some companies doing very well," Promisco said. "There's a space for us that we think we can attract a group of brokers that want a consistent experience."
United Wholesale Mortgage did $44.9 billion in the first quarter, all of it through the channel. Rocket produced $44.7 billion, of which just under $21 billion came from its Partner Network; this data also includes production from Rocket Pro, the company's TPO unit. Those numbers include the
But even with such dominant players, GO Mortgage fills a need in the market.
"Brokers want options. They need options," Promisco said. "The whole purpose of being a broker is to have options and we think will be a very viable option for the broker community."
At the start, GO Mortgage is offering conventional, as well as non-qualified and jumbo mortgages, but will soon add renovation and construction-to-permanent financing, including manufactured homes, the building of which, Promisco said, is the fastest way
