Residential Finance Corp., a Columbus, Ohio-based mortgage lender which last year added a retail branching business to its call center operation, has been so successful in that transition that it is moving the Charlotte, N.C.-based operations center for that unit into a space more than four times larger.
Daniel Jacobs, president of the retail branching division, said in an interview with National Mortgage News during the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations that the unit looks to leverage the contacts local originators have with their local referral sources.
The unit has already opened 19 branches and there are plans to add 20 more this year. The typical branch manager has more than 14 years' experience in the business, and many have worked with Jacobs, who previously was an executive with 1st Metropolitan Mortgage, in the past.
In Charlotte, RFC will be going from 2,000 square feet to a facility with 9,200 square feet. Its staff there, currently consisting of six underwriters, plus people in licensing and closing and a director of operations, will eventually grow to over 40 people.
Jacobs spoke of the support the retail unit has gotten from RFC's management, especially because it is such a different model than they had been operating under. Retail branches are more attuned to a purchase environment, while call centers are more aimed towards refinancings.
