Caliber Funding, Dallas, hopes to hire dozens of new loan officers over the next few months, especially in California, according to chief executive officer Brian Simon.
Simon, though, was non-committal about giving an exact number but said, “I'd like to hire 100 LOs over the next few months.”
Owned by Lone Star Funds, Caliber's eventual goal, Simon said, is to become a $1 billion a month originator. The way things stand now, Caliber hopes to originate about $100 million during the month of September.
The nonbank lender is licensed to originate in 45 states.
The firm has seller/servicer approvals pending at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Government National Mortgage Association. It presently originates through 'assignment of trade' transactions. “We want to be a GNMA issuer,” he said.
Simon joined Caliber about two months ago from Freedom Mortgage, where he worked for eight years.
He said originations should be strong the next few months but like many mortgage bankers, he is concerned about volumes in 2012. “Next year could be difficult,” he said, but added that Lone Star “will invest and build this company during a downturn.”
