The Jefferson Avenue commercial district in Buffalo, New York, is anchored by a supermarket.
There are dozens of other businesses and services along the 12-block corridor — a couple of bank branches, a library, a coffee shop, gas stations, a small plaza with a dollar store and a primary care clinic and a business incubator for entrepreneurs of color.
But Tops Friendly Markets, the only grocery store on Buffalo’s vast East Side, is the center of activity. More than just a place to buy food, pick up medications and use an ATM, the store is a communal gathering space in a predominantly Black neighborhood that, for generations, has been segregated, isolated and disenfranchised from the wealthier — and whiter — parts of the city.
Which explains how it came to be the site of a mass shooting on a spring day in May of last year. On that Saturday, a gunman, who lived 200 miles away in another part of the state, drove to Jefferson Avenue and went into Tops, and in just a few minutes killed 10 people, injured three and inflicted mass trauma across the community.
It is a scenario that has sadly, and repeatedly, played out in other parts of the country that have experienced mass shootings. But this one came with a twist: The gunman’s intention was to kill as many Black people as possible.
To achieve that, he specifically targeted a ZIP code with one of the highest percentages of Black residents in New York state. All 10 who died that day were Black.
“The mere fact that someone can research, ‘Where will the greatest number of Black people be … on a Saturday morning,’ that’s not by chance,” said Franchelle Parker, a community organizer and executive director of Open Buffalo, a nonprofit focused on racial, economic and ecological justice. “That’s not a mistake. It’s a community that’s been deeply segregated for decades.”
The day of the shooting, Parker, who grew up in nearby Niagara Falls, was driving to Tops, where she planned to buy a donut and an unsweetened iced tea before heading into the Open Buffalo office, which is located a block away from Tops. The mother of two had intended to complete the mundane task of cleaning up her desk — “old coffee cups and stuff” — after a busy week.
She saw the news on Twitter and didn’t know if she should keep driving to Jefferson Avenue or turn around and go back home. She eventually picked the latter.
When she showed up the next day, there were thousands of people grieving in the streets. “The only way that I could explain my feeling, it was almost like watching an old war movie when a bomb had gone off and someone’s in, like, shell shock. That’s how it felt,” said Parker, vividly recounting the community’s collective trauma in a meeting room tucked inside of Open Buffalo’s second-story office on Jefferson Avenue.
Almost immediately following the May 14, 2022, massacre, which was the second-deadliest mass shooting in the United States last year, conversations locally and nationally turned to the harsh realities of the East Side and how long-standing factors that affect the daily life of residents — racism, poverty and inequity — made the community an ideal target for a white supremacist.
Now, more than a year after the tragedy, there is growing concern that not enough is being done fast enough to begin to dismantle those factors. And amid those conversations, there are mounting calls for the banking industry — whose historical policies and practices helped cement the racial segregation and disinvestment that ultimately shaped the East Side — to leverage its collective power and influence to band together in an effort to create systemic change.
The ideas about how banks should support the East Side and better embed themselves in the neighborhood vary by people and organizations. But the basic argument is the same: Banks, in their role as financiers and because of the industry’s history of lending discrimination, are obligated to bring forth economic prosperity in disinvested communities like the East Side.
I know banks are often looked upon sort of like a panacea, but I don’t particularly see it that way. I think others have a role to play in all of this.
Chiwuike Owunwanne, corporate responsibility officer at KeyBank
“Banks have been very good at providing charitable contributions to the Black community. They get an ‘A’ for that,” said The Rev. George Nicholas, an East Side pastor who is also CEO of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity, a four-year-old enterprise focused on racial, geographic and economic health disparities. “But doing the things that banks can do in terms of being a catalyst for revitalization and investment in this community, they have not done that.”
To be sure, banks’ ability to reverse the course of the community isn’t guaranteed — and there is no formula to determine how much accountability they should hold to fix deeply entrenched problems like racism. Several Buffalo-area bankers said that while the Tops shooting heightened the urgency to help the East Side, the industry itself cannot be the sole driver of change.
“There are a lot of institutions … that can certainly play a part in reversing the challenges that we see today,” said Chiwuike “Chi-Chi” Owunwanne, a corporate responsibility officer at KeyBank, the second-largest bank by deposits in Buffalo. “I know banks are often looked upon sort of like a panacea, but I don’t particularly see it that way. I think others have a role to play in all of this.”
A long history of segregation
How the East Side — and the Tops store on Jefferson Avenue — became the destination for a racially motivated mass murderer is a story about racism, segregation and disinvestment.
Even as it bears the nickname “the city of good neighbors,” Buffalo has long been one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States. Of the 114,965 residents who live on the East Side, 59% are Black, according to data from the 2021 U.S. Census American Community Survey. The percentage is even higher in the 14208 ZIP code, where the Tops store is located. In that ZIP code, among 11,029 total residents, nearly 76% are Black, the census data shows.
The city’s path toward racial segregation started in the early 20th century when a small number of job-seeking Black Americans migrated north to Buffalo, a former steel and auto manufacturing hub at the far northwestern end of New York state. Initially, they moved into the same neighborhoods as many of the city’s poorer immigrants and lived just east of what is today the city’s downtown district. As the number of Blacks arriving in Buffalo swelled in the 1940s, they were increasingly confronted with various housing challenges, including racist zoning laws and restrictive deed covenants that kept them from buying homes in more affluent white areas.
Black Buffalonians also faced housing discrimination in the form of redlining, the practice of restricting the flow of capital into minority communities. In 1933, as the Great Depression roiled the economy, a temporary federal agency known as the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation used government bonds to buy out and refinance mortgages of properties that were facing or already in foreclosure. The point was to try to stabilize the nation’s real estate market.
As part of its program, HOLC created maps of American cities, including Buffalo, that used a color coding scheme — green, blue, yellow and red — to convey the perceived riskiness of making loans in certain neighborhoods. Green was considered minimally risky; other areas that were largely populated by immigrant, Black or Latino residents were labeled red and thus determined to be “hazardous.”
“The goal was to free up mortgage capital by going to cities and giving banks a way to unload mortgages, so they could turn around and make more mortgage loans,” said Jason Richardson, senior director of research at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an association of more than 750 community-based organizations that advocates for fair lending. “It was kind of a radical concept and it has evolved over the decades into our modern mortgage finance system.”
The Federal Housing Administration, which was established as a permanent agency in 1934, used similar methods to map urban areas and labeled neighborhoods from “A” to “D,” with “A” considered to be the most financially stable and “D” considered the least. Neighborhoods that were largely Black, even relatively stable ones, were put in the “D” category.
The result was that banks, which wanted to be able to sell mortgage loans to the FHA, were largely dissuaded from making loans in “risky” areas. And Buffalo’s East Side, where the majority of Blacks were settling, was deemed risky. Unable to get loans, Blacks couldn’t buy homes, start businesses or build equity. At the same time, large industrial factories on the East Side were closing or moving away, limiting job opportunities and contributing to rising poverty levels.
“Today what we’re left with is the residue of this process where we’ve enshrined … a pattern of economic segregation that favors neighborhoods that had fewer Black people in them and generally ignores neighborhoods that had African Americans living in them,” Richardson said.
Case in point: Research by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition shows that three-quarters of neighborhoods that were once redlined are low- to moderate-income neighborhoods today, and two-thirds of them are majority minority communities.
Adding to the division between Blacks and whites in Buffalo was the construction of a highway called the Kensington Expressway. Built during the 1960s, the below-grade, limited-access highway proved to be a speedy way for suburban workers to get to their downtown jobs. But its construction cut off the already-segregated East Side even more from other parts of the city, displacing residents, devaluing houses and destroying neighborhoods and small businesses.
As a result of those factors and more, many Black residents have become “trapped” on the East Side, according to Dr. Henry Louis Taylor Jr., a professor of urban and regional planning at the University at Buffalo. In 1987, Taylor founded the UB Center for Urban Studies, a research, neighborhood planning and community development institute that works on eliminating inequality in cities and metropolitan regions. In September 2021, eight months before the Tops shooting, the Center for Urban Studies published a report that compared the state of Black Buffalo in 1990 to present-day conditions. The conclusion: Nothing had changed for Blacks over 31 years.
As of 2019, the Black unemployment rate was 11%, the average household income was $42,000 and about 35% of Blacks had incomes that fell below the poverty line, the report said. It also noted that just 32% of Blacks own their homes and that most Blacks in the area live on the East Side.
“Those figures remain virtually unchanged while the actual, physical conditions that existed inside of the community worsened,” Taylor told American Banker in an interview in his sun-filled office at the center, located on the University at Buffalo’s city campus. “When we looked upstream to see what was causing it, it was clear: It was systemic, structural racism.”
Banks’ moral obligations
As the East Side struggled over the decades with rampant poverty, dilapidated housing, vacant lots and disintegrating infrastructure, banks kept a physical presence in the community, albeit a shrinking one. In mid-2000, there were at least 20 bank branches scattered across the East Side, but by mid-2022, the number had fallen to around 14, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s deposit market share data. The 14 include four new branches that have opened since early 2019 — Northwest Bank, KeyBank, Evans Bank and BankOnBuffalo.
The first two branches, operated by Northwest in Columbus, Ohio, and KeyBank, the banking subsidiary of KeyCorp in Cleveland, were requirements of community benefits agreements negotiated between each bank and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. In both cases, Northwest and KeyBank agreed to open an office in an underserved community.
Evans Bank opened its first East Side branch in the fall of 2021. The office is located in the basement of an $84 million affordable senior housing building that was financed by Evans, a $2.1 billion-asset community bank headquartered south of Buffalo in Angola, New York.
Banks have been very good at providing charitable contributions to the Black community. They get an ‘A’ for that. But doing the things that banks can do in terms of being a catalyst for revitalization and investment in this community, they have not done that.
The Rev. George Nicholas, an East Side pastor who is also CEO of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity
On the community and economic development front, banks have had varying levels of participation. Buffalo-based M&T Bank, which holds a whopping 64% of all deposits in the Buffalo market and is one of the largest private employers in the region, has made consistent investments in the East Side by supporting Westminster Community Charter School, a kindergarten through eighth-grade school, and the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood, a nonprofit organization focused on improving access to education in the city’s 14215 ZIP code.
Currently, Buffalo Promise Neighborhood operates four schools. In addition to Westminster, it runs Highgate Heights Elementary, also K-8, as well as two academies that serve children ages six weeks through pre-kindergarten. Twelve M&T employees are dedicated to the program, according to the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood website. The bank has invested $31.5 million into the program since its 2010 launch, a spokesperson said.
Other banks are making contributions in other ways. In addition to the Jefferson Avenue branch and as part of its community benefits plan, Northwest Bank, a $14.2 billion-asset bank, supports a financial education center through a partnership with Belmont Housing Resources of Western New York. Meanwhile, the $198 billion-asset KeyBank gave $30 million for bridge and construction financing for Northland Workforce Training Center, a $100 million redevelopment project at a former manufacturing complex on the East Side that was partially funded by the state.
BankOnBuffalo’s East Side branch is located inside the center, which offers KeyBank training in advanced manufacturing and clean energy technology careers. A subsidiary of $5.6 billion-asset CNB Financial in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, BankOnBuffalo’s office opened a month after the shooting. The timing was coincidental, but important, said Michael Noah, president of BankOnBuffalo.
“I think it just cemented the point that this is a place we need to be, to be able to be part of these communities and this community specifically, and be able to build this community up,” Noah said.
In terms of public-private collaboration, some banks have been involved in a deeper way. In 2019, New York state, which had already been pouring $1 billion into Buffalo to help revitalize the economy, announced a $65 million economic development fund for the East Side. The initiative is focused on stabilizing neighborhoods, increasing homeownership, redeveloping commercial corridors including Jefferson Avenue, improving historical assets, expanding workforce training and development and supporting small businesses and entrepreneurship.
In conjunction with the funding, a public-private partnership called East Side Avenues was created to provide capital and organizational support to the projects happening along four East Side commercial corridors. Six banks — Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the nation with $2.5 trillion of assets; M&T, which has $203 billion of assets; KeyBank; Warsaw, New York-based Five Star Bank, which has about $6 billion of assets; Northwest and Evans — are among the 14 private and philanthropic organizations that pledged a combined $8.4 million to pay for five years’ worth of operational support, governance and finance, fundraising and technical assistance to support the nonprofits doing the work.
Laura Quebral, director of the University at Buffalo Regional Institute, which is managing East Side Avenues, said the banks were the first corporations to step up to the request for help, and since then have provided loans and other products and education to keep the program moving.
Their participation “is a signal to the community that banks cared and were invested and were willing to collaborate around something,” Quebral said. “Being at the table was so meaningful.”
Richard Hamister is Northwest’s New York regional president and former co-chair of East Side Avenues. Hamister, who is based in Buffalo, said banks are a “community asset” that have a responsibility to lift up all communities, including those where conditions have arisen that allow it to be a target of racism like the East Side.
“We operate under federal charters, so we have an obligation to the community to not only provide products and services they need but also support when you go through a tragedy like that,” Hamister said. “We also have a moral obligation to try to help when things are broken … and to do what we can. We can’t fix everything, but we’ve got to fix our piece and try to help where we can.”
In the wake of a tragedy
After the massacre, there was a flurry of activity within banks and other organizations, local and out-of-town, to respond to the immediate needs of East Side residents. With the community’s only supermarket closed indefinitely, much of the response centered around food collection and distribution. Three of M&T’s five East Side branches, including the Jefferson Avenue branch across the street from Tops, became food distribution sites for weeks after the shooting. On two consecutive Fridays, Northwest provided around 200 free lunches to the community, using a neighborhood caterer who is also the bank’s customer. And BankOnBuffalo collected employee donations that amounted to more than 20 boxes of toiletries and other items that were distributed to a nonprofit.
At the same time, M&T, KeyBank and other banks began financial donations to organizations that could support the immediate needs of the community. KeyBank provided a van that delivered food and took people to nearby grocery stores. Providence, Rhode Island-based Citizens Financial Group, whose ATM inside Tops was inaccessible during the store’s temporary closure, installed a fee-free ATM near a community center located about a half-mile north of Tops, and later put a permanent ATM inside the center that remains there today. And M&T rolled out a short-term loan program to provide capital to East Side small-business owners.
One of the funds that benefited from banks’ support was the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund, which has raised $6.2 million to address the long-term needs of the East Side.
Bank of America and Evans Bank each donated $100,000 to the fund, whose list of major sponsors includes four other banks — JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, M&T and KeyBank. Thomas Beauford Jr., a former banker who is co-chair of the response fund, said banks, by and large, directed their resources into organizations where the dollars would have an immediate impact.
“Banks said, ‘Hey, you know … it doesn’t make sense for us to try to build something right now. … We will fund you in the work you’re doing,'” said Beauford, who has been president and CEO of the Buffalo Urban League since the fall of 2020. “I would say banks showed up in a big way.”
Fourteen months later, banks say they are committed to playing a positive role on the East Side. For the second year, KeyBank is sponsoring a farmers’ market on the East Side, an attempt to help fill the food desert in the community. Last fall, BankOnBuffalo launched a mobile “bank on wheels” truck that’s stationed on the East Side every Wednesday. The 34-foot-long truck, which is staffed by two people and includes an ATM and a printer to make debit cards, was in the works before the shooting, and will eventually make four stops per week around the Buffalo area.
Evans has partnered with the city of Buffalo to construct seven market-rate single family homes on vacant lots on the East Side. The relationship with the city is an example of how banks can pair up with other entities to create something meaningful and lasting, more than they might be able to do on their own, said Evans President and CEO David Nasca.
The bank has “picked areas” where it can use its resources to make a difference, Nasca said.
“I don’t think the root causes can be ameliorated” by banks alone, he said. “We can’t just grant money. It has to be within our construct of a financial institution that invests and supports the public-private partnership. … All the oars [need to be] pulling together or this doesn’t work.”
‘Little or no engagement with minorities’
All of these efforts are, of course, welcomed by the community, but there is still criticism that banks haven’t done enough to make up for their past contributions to segregating the city. And perhaps more importantly, some of that criticism centers on banks failing to do their most basic function in society — provide credit.
In 2021, the New York State Department of Financial Services issued a report about redlining in Buffalo. The regulator looked at banks and nonbank lenders and found that loans made to minorities in the Buffalo metro area made up 9.74% of total loans in Buffalo. Overall, Black residents comprise about 33% of Buffalo’s total population of more than 276,000, census data shows.
The department said its investigation showed the lower percentage was not due to “excessive denials of loan applications based on race or ethnicity,” but rather that “these companies had little or no engagement with minorities and generally made scant effort to do so.”
“The unsurprising result of this has been that few minority customers or individuals seeking homes in majority-minority neighborhoods have made loan applications … in the first instance.”
Furthermore, accusations of redlining persist today, even though the practice of discriminating in housing based on race was outlawed by the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
In 2014, Evans was accused of redlining by the New York State Attorney General, which said the community bank was specifically avoiding making mortgage loans on the East Side. The bank, which at the time had $874 million of assets, agreed to pay $825,000 to settle the case, but Nasca maintains that the charges were unfounded. He points to the fact that the bank never had a fair lending or fair housing violation, no specific incidents were ever claimed and that the bank’s Community Reinvestment Act exam never found evidence of discriminatory or illegal credit practices.
The bank has a greater presence on the East Side today, but that’s because it has grown in size, not because it is trying to make up for previous accusations of redlining, he said.
“Ten years ago, our involvement [on the East Side] certainly wasn’t what you’re seeing today,” Nasca said. “We were looking to participate more, but we were participating within our means and our reach. As we have grown, we have built more resources to be able to do more.”
Shortly after accusations were made against Evans, Five Star Bank, the banking arm of Financial Institutions in Warsaw, New York, was also accused of redlining by the state Attorney General. Five Star, which has been growing its presence in the Buffalo market for several years, wound up settling the charges for $900,000 and agreeing to open two branches in the city of Rochester.
KeyBank is currently being accused of redlining by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. In a 2022 report, the group said that KeyBank is engaging in systemic redlining by making very few home purchase loans in certain neighborhoods where the majority of residents are Black. Buffalo is one of several cities where the bank’s mortgage lending “effectively wall[ed] out Black neighborhoods,” especially parts of the East Side, the report said.
KeyBank denied the allegations. In March, the coalition asked regulators to investigate the bank’s mortgage lending practices.
Beyond providing more credit, some community members believe that banks should be playing a larger role in addressing other needs on the East Side. And the list of needs runs the gamut from more grocery stores to safe, affordable housing to infrastructure improvements such as street and sidewalk repairs.
Alexander Wright is founder of the African Heritage Food Co-op, an initiative launched in 2016 to address the dearth of grocery store options on the East Side, where he grew up. Wright said that while banks’ philanthropic efforts are important, banks in general “need to be in a place of remediation” to fix underlying issues that the industry, as a whole, helped create. (After publication of this story, Wright left his job as CEO of the African Heritage Food Co-Op.)
Aside from charitable donations, banks should be finding more ways to work directly with East Side business owners and entrepreneurs, helping them with capital-building support along the way, Wright said. One place to start would be technical assistance by way of bank volunteers.
“Banks are always looking to volunteer. ‘Hey, want to come out and paint a fence? Want to come out and do a garden?'” Wright said. “No. Come out here and help Keshia with bookkeeping. Come out here and do QuickBooks classes for folks. Bring out tax experts. Because these are things that befuddle a lot of small businesses. Who is your marketing person? Bring that person out here. Because those are the things that are going to build the business to self-sufficiency.
“Anything short of the capacity-building … that will allow folks to rise to the occasion and be self-sufficient I think is almost a waste,” Wright added. “We don’t need them to lead the plan. What we need them to do is be in the community and [be] hearing the plan and supporting it.”
Parker, of Open Buffalo, has similar thoughts about the role that banks should play. One day, soon after the massacre, an ATM appeared down the street from Tops, next to the library that sits across the street from Parker’s office. Soon after the ATM was installed, Parker began fielding questions from area residents who were skeptical of the machine and wanted to know if it was legitimate. But Parker didn’t have any information to share with them. “There was no outreach. There was no community engagement. So I’m like, ‘Let me investigate,'” she said. “I think that’s a symptom of how investment is done in Black communities, even though it may be well-intentioned.”
As it turns out, the temporary ATM belonged to JPMorgan Chase. The megabank has had a commercial banking presence in Buffalo for years, but it didn’t operate a retail branch in the region until last year. Today it has four branches in operation and plans to open another two by the end of the year, a spokesperson said.
After the Tops shooting, the governor’s office reached out to Chase asking if the bank could help in some way, the spokesperson said in response to the skepticism. The spokesperson said that while the Chase retail brand is new to the Buffalo region, the company has been active in the market for decades by way of commercial banking, private banking, credit card lending, home lending and other businesses.
In addition to the ATM, the bank provided funding to local organizations including FeedMore Western New York, which distributes food throughout the region.
“We are committed to continuing our support for Buffalo and helping the community increase access to opportunities that build wealth and economic empowerment,” the spokesperson said in an email.
In the year since the massacre, there has been some progress by banks in terms of their interest in listening to the East Side community and learning about its needs, said Nicholas. But he hasn’t felt an air of urgency from the banking community to tackle the issues right now.
“I do experience banks being a little more open to figuring out what their role is, but it’s slow. It’s slow,” said Nicholas. The senior pastor of the Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church, located about a mile north from Tops, Nicholas is part of a 13-member local advisory committee for the New York arm of Local Initiatives Support Coalition, or LISC. The group is focused on mobilizing resources, including banks, to address affordable housing in Western New York, specifically in the inner city, as well as training minority developers and connecting them to potential investors, Nicholas said.
Of the 13 members, seven are from banks — one each from M&T, Bank of America, BankOnBuffalo, Evans and KeyBank, and two members from Citizens Financial Group. One of the priorities of LISC NY is health equity, and the fact that banks are becoming more engaged in looking at health disparities is promising, Nicholas said. Still, they have more work to do, he said.
“I need them to think more on how to strengthen and build the economy on the East Side and provide leadership around that, not only to provide charitable things, but using sound business and banking and community development principles to say, ‘OK, if we’re going to invest in this community, these are the types of things that need to happen in this community,’ and then encourage their partners and other people they work with … to come fully in on the East Side.”
Some bankers agree with the community activists.
“Putting a branch in is great. Having a bank on wheels is great,” said Noah of BankOnBuffalo. “But if you’re not embedded in the community, listening to the community and trying to improve it, you’re not creating that wealth and creating a better lifestyle for everyone.”
What could make a substantial difference in terms of banks’ impact on the community is a combination of collaboration and leadership, said Taylor. He supports the idea of banks leading the charge on the creation of a comprehensive redevelopment and reinvestment plan for the East Side, and then investing accordingly and collaboratively through their charitable foundations.
“All of them have these foundations,” Taylor said. “You can either spend that money in a strategic and intentional way designed to develop a community for the existing population, or you can spend that money alone in piecemeal, siloed, sectorial fashion that will look good on an annual report, but won’t generate transformational and generational changes inside a community.”
Banks might be incentivized to work together because it could mean two things for them, according to Taylor: First, they’d have an opportunity to spend money in a way that would have maximum impact on the East Side, and second, if done right, the city and the banks could become a model of the way to create high levels of diversity, equity and inclusion in an urban area.
“If you prove how to do that, all that does is open up other markets of consumption all over the country because people want to figure out how to do that same thing,” Taylor said.
Some of that is already happening, at least on a bank-by-bank case, said KeyBank’s Owunwanne. Through the KeyBank Foundation, the company is able to leverage different relationships that connect nonprofits to other entities and corporations that can provide help.
“I see this as an opportunity for us to make not just incremental changes, but monumental changes … as part of a larger group,” Owunwanne said “Again, I say that not to absolve the bank of any responsibility, but just as a larger group.”
Downstairs from Parker’s office, Golden Cup Coffee, a roastery and cafe run by a husband and wife team, and some other Jefferson Avenue businesses are trying to build up a business association for existing and potential Jefferson-area businesses. Parker imagined what the group could accomplish if one of the banks could provide someone on a part-time basis to facilitate conversations, provide administrative support and coordinate marketing efforts.
“In the grand scheme of things, when we’re talking about a multimillion dollar [bank], a part-time employee specifically dedicated to relationship-building and building out coalitions, it sounds like a small thing,” Parker said. “But that’s transformational.”
An old tool is back as mortgage rates rise: Seller financing often occurs when buyers hope to save on closing costs and sellers want top dollar for their home.
NEW YORK – Real estate professionals report an increasing interest in seller financing for transactions involving residential properties after the rise in interest rates.
Seller financing was almost nonexistent when mortgage rates hit record lows, but it’s not a new tool. It’s used most often when buyers seek to increase their purchasing power by saving on closing costs or paying lower interest rates – and, at the same time, by sellers who want buyers to make a full-price or higher offer on the home.
However, sellers who give buyers the title upfront face significant risk if they provide financing.
David Dweck, a private investor from Boca Raton whose portfolio consists of single-family homes in Florida and North Carolina, says he carefully vets his buyers when he agrees to provide financing.
“I underwrite it as if I’m a bank,” he says. “I want to have a reasonable expectation that the borrower will pay me back.”
Dweck requires a down payment of at least 20% and will only consider seller financing if the buyer pays full price or above.
Danny Hertzberg, an agent with The Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker in Miami Beach, says that while owner financing is often discussed between buyers and sellers, it is rarely consummated. He noted its most likely to occur when the house has either been languishing on the market without any offers, or the offers come in too low.
“There has to be some carrot for the seller to consider it,” he said. “Usually that carrot is a buyer offering full asking price or close to it.”
Source: Wall Street Journal (07/26/23) Friedman, Robyn
Efficiency, Fulfillment, Correspondent Products; Offices Into Housing; Capital Markets
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Efficiency, Fulfillment, Correspondent Products; Offices Into Housing; Capital Markets
By: Rob Chrisman
Mon, Jul 17 2023, 10:25 AM
I am often asked about the jumbo segment of our business. Frankly, aside from the coasts and a couple cities in-between, much of the nation is not overly concerned with it. Paying $1 million or more for a house may seem excessive to most Americans, although that doesn’t mean million-dollar homes aren’t prevalent in some parts of the U.S. Per LendingTree, only an average of 6.68 percent of owner-occupied homes in the nation’s 50 largest metros in 2021 were valued at $1 million or more. The share of million-dollar homes has grown: That’s up from an average of just 4.71 percent of owner-occupied homes in the nation’s 50 largest metros in 2020. San Jose (66.3 percent) and San Francisco, CA (52.9 percent) have the largest share of million-dollar homes, the only two cities where most homes are worth at least $1 million. Including San Jose and San Francisco, the four metros with the highest percentage of million-dollar homes are in California. Only four metros (Buffalo, NY, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Louisville, KY) have fewer than 1.00 percent of owner-occupied homes valued at $1 million or more. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized advisory, audit, tax, technology and other services to the mortgage industry for almost four decades. To experience how Richey May can help you transform your mortgage business, visit richeymay.com. Hear an interview with Richey May’s Nathan Lee on outsourcing considerations and changing fixed costs into variable costs.)
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Sleep in Your Office? What About the Vacant Homes Conspiracy?
Before “van life” people would occasionally sleep in their offices. But what about making the office into a place to sleep?
There’s an anomaly facing major cities in the U.S.: many office buildings are empty while housing is in short supply. There has been a lot of talk of simply converting large offices into more apartments, but it’s much more difficult than it seems. Conversions are possible, but real estate developers face a variety of physical, regulatory, and financial constraints. Zoning restrictions and regulations restrict alterations and limit the scope for office-to-residential conversions. Structural complexity and code requirements mean that not all buildings are conducive for repurposing (e.g., ceiling height, access to lighting, plumbing considerations, etc.), and many structures have to be reinforced with more steel. Repurposing is often an expensive process that comes on top of initial acquisition costs, and ultimately will not save or make any money.
High costs require high rents to offset, meaning that most office conversions tend to cater to the luxury segment of the market and won’t help to alleviate a shortage of affordable housing in the city. Finally, as the status of remote work remains in flux, there’s a big question mark over the desirability of these conversion projects in the first place.
While we’re talking about inventory solutions, Chris Maloney with BOKF had some recent thoughts on people who look at the level of vacant single-family homes “that are, to them, evidence of a nefarious plot by speculators to hold supply off the market, drive prices higher and then sell at an even greater profit.” “There are a number of problems with this viewpoint, the most evident being that the total of vacant houses in these United States is currently far below its historic average.
“Except that of the 145 million or so housing units in the country, only about 15.1 million (or 10.4 percent of total housing stock) are vacant, which if it were proportionate to what the average has been this millennium (12.7 percent of total housing stock) would mean we’d have about 3.3 million more vacant homes than we currently see. The supply of vacant homes, like everything else in the housing market, is scarce. And of the 15 million housing units that are vacant, the Census Bureau number crunchers estimate only about 3.6 million fall into the ‘other’ category where speculators reside, and of that 3.6 million only about 227,000 fall into a sub-category (such as “preparing to rent/sell”) which points to the unit being readied for a near-term sale.
“Bottom line, it does not appear (at the national level) that speculators holding homes off the market, waiting for a better selling point, are the cause of the housing crisis. Of course, an institutional investor can concentrate its fiscal firepower onto specific areas, but even if they do the question here comes down to private property. If someone buys a home and wishes to take the risk of holding it off the market until they decide it’s the right time to sell, that is their right as it is their house, not society’s.” Thank you, Chris.
Capital Markets
Where to start with last week? Upbeat quarterly earnings reports on Friday from three of the largest U.S. banks capped a week in which almost everything rallied in markets. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo all reported above-consensus results to kick off the Q2 earnings season. However, the main economic headline over the last week was the continued deceleration in inflation, as core CPI was below 5 percent for the first time since November 2021. Consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in June and core CPI increased 4.8 percent from one year ago as durable and nondurable goods saw price declines. U.S. inflation is down from its peak of 8.9 percent, and suddenly “disinflation” is the buzzword on trading desks.
While the lower inflation numbers were welcomed by the markets, the Fed is still expected to increase the federal funds target following its next meeting on July 26. The committee is likely to feel validated that tighter monetary policy is slowing inflation while economic growth has not turned negative. Housing costs may continue to be a headwind in the Fed’s fight to get back to 2 percent inflation as higher interest rates not only reduced demand as intended but have also severely limited supply which has buoyed home prices. For those thinking that the Fed is done hiking rates, Fed Governor Waller said on Friday that he expects two more rate hikes this year.
This week kicks off with a limited calendar that consists of just NY Fed manufacturing for July. Data and supply pick up over the remainder of the week and include June retail sales, June industrial production/capacity utilization, May business inventories, and July homebuilder sentiment tomorrow, June housing starts and permits on Wednesday, and July Philly Fed manufacturing, June existing home sales, June leading indicators, and $17 billion in new 10-year TIPS on Thursday. After the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dropped 23 basis points over the course of last week to 3.82 percent, in the early going to start the week, Agency MBS prices are better about .125 versus Friday, the 10-year is yielding 3.78, and the 2-year is 4.72.
Employment
Black Knight is hiring an MSR Account Manager in its Optimal Blue division. This person will be responsible for helping clients with strategies related to mortgage servicing rights valuation and hedging, whole loan valuations, and more through the employment of industry-leading, proprietary analytics. This position is available in Chevy Chase, Md., Denver, Colo., and San Francisco, Calif. For more details on this role, contact Betsy Meek. In addition, Black Knight is always looking for talent across many roles. Visit BlackKnightInc.com/Careers for a full listing of all open positions.
Recently named by Euromoney.com as the Best U.S. Super Regional Bank in 2023, Citizens is garnering attention for its clear vision, strong leadership and disciplined execution. With the recent strategic acquisitions of HSBC branches and Investors Bancorp., making it geographically complete, Citizens is looking for talented salespeople (managers, loan officers, account representatives) in all three mortgage lines of business – Retail, Wholesale and Correspondent businesses throughout the Northeast, MidAtlantic, Midwest and Florida. Our deep product mix allows us to help many different loan needs, from affordable loan programs such as HomeReady to a best-in-class one-time close construction to permanent product, Citizens has what you need to succeed. Our specialty loan programs such as condo/co-op financing, rate protection programs with extended rate locks, along with an amazing Private Wealth discount value proposition for high net worth banking clients, ensures you have all the tools to win in this challenging market. To learn more, contact Sean Reilly or visit here.
Nations Lending continues growth, expanded opportunities for producers! Nations Lending is continuing its growth with multiple in-house product offerings, creating a world of opportunities for its origination team nationwide. The company’s dedication to servicing almost all its agency business and its licensure in all 50 states highlights its commitment to building the businesses of its loan officers. This proves true with the expansion of its recent product offerings: RIO and ACE. RIO is the company’s DSCR product (underwritten in-house), which eliminates proof of employment or income verification, services LLCs, and caters to short-term rentals. With ACE, borrowers complete their loan application and receive financing approval before initiating the homebuying process, varying largely from traditional pre-approval methods. Corey Caster, EVP of National Production says, “We know the headwinds originators are faced with today and our goal is to give them as much ammunition as possible. Every day our Leadership Team is focused on how we can improve our platform.”
“At Guaranteed Rate Affinity we believe our loan officers need the perfect combination of technology and human touch to succeed in this market. Not only are we a fintech organization but we focus on memorable experiences to drive loan officers’ personal branding. We have a dedicated events team to support our loan officers in the creation of these experiences that will leave a lasting impact. Build your business by leveraging the power of events to make connections and partnerships organically and stay top of mind in your community. Your Events Coordinator will take care of everything from start to finish, all you have to do is host your referral partners and clients. Learn more about what sets us apart. Contact Tim McGraw to get started.”
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If you’re like me, you’ve received lots of mailers from a bank called “Third Federal Savings & Loan,” promising a low rate mortgage with very few fees.
After maybe the 10th piece of mail from them came through my mailbox, I decided it was finally time to write a review. So here we go.
Third Federal Has Been Around Since 1938
Began during Great Depression in Cleveland, Ohio
Initially served immigrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries
Now operates in 25 states and DC, with branches in Florida and Ohio
They are a direct mortgage lender that offers purchase loans, refinances, and home equity products
First off, let’s talk a little history. Third Federal isn’t a newcomer like Better Mortgage or Rocket Mortgage.
They’ve been around since 1938, which if you’re counting, is nearly a century. That gives them some credibility, and if you ask, they’ll tell you that staying power can be attributed to conservative lending.
In other words, avoiding fads and questionable product choices like subprime or Alt-A in exchange for lasting relationships and more stability.
The company was started by Ben S. and Gerome Stefanski in Cleveland, Ohio during the Great Depression, using $50,000 in capital provided by members of the Slavic Village neighborhood.
It began by serving struggling immigrant families from Poland and other Eastern Europe nations who had settled in the area.
Over time, the business grew and thrived, and today they do business in 25 states, and run a branch network in the states of Florida and Ohio.
Where Third Federal Mortgage Operates
As noted, they do business in 25 states and the District of Columbia, but not all products are offered in all states. So pay close attention.
You can get a purchase loan or refinance in the following states: OH, FL, KY, NC, VA, MD, NJ, PA, IN, IL, GA, MO, TN.
And you can get just a refinance in these states: CO, NH, CA, NY, OR, MA, CT, DC, WA.
Additionally, home equity loans are available in: OH, FL, KY, CA, PA, NJ, VA and NC.
Lastly, bridge loans are available in all purchase markets mentioned above if you need to buy before you sell your existing home.
What Home Loan Programs Does Third Federal Offer?
You can view real rates and apply for a mortgage online
Or generate a free, true pre-approval that can even be locked in
They offer lots of interesting conventional loan products like Smart Rate ARMs and jumbo loans
But do not offer government loans or finance second homes or investment properties
While they don’t sound like a disruptor in the mortgage space, they do offer a similar digital experience along with interesting loan products.
If you want to apply for a home loan or equity line of credit, you can start the process online in minutes.
You can generate a pre-approval letter and even lock in your rate before you find a property via their prelock option.
The company specializes in conventional loans, meaning non-government stuff backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with jumbo loans on owner-occupied properties.
You won’t find FHA loans, VA loans, or USDA loans here, or mortgages for second homes and investment properties, but they do everything else, including home equity lines of credit.
They offer both fixed-rate mortgages and adjustable-rate mortgages, including lesser-known options like the 3/1 ARM and 10-year fixed mortgage.
Interestingly, their ARMs are tied to the Prime Rate, as opposed to say the LIBOR or some other index. Once the fixed period ends, they reset to Prime minus 1%.
They have two caps, including a periodic cap of 2%, meaning your rate could increase (or decrease) by up to two percentage points at the first adjustment.
And a lifetime cap of 6%, meaning the most the rate could increase during the life of the loan is six percentage points.
Their ARMs come in three different terms, including a standard 30-year term, 15-year term, and 10-year loan term. That’s pretty unique.
Additionally, they offer a discount on jumbo loans as opposed to charging more for them, which is typically the norm.
If you’re happy with your first mortgage, they also offer home equity lines of credit with no teaser or introductory rate.
They say it’s “always Prime minus 1.01%,” a rate they believe is 20% lower than most other lenders.
It comes with no closing costs and no prepayment penalty, and costs just $65 per year after being free the first year.
They also offer construction-to-perm loans and an end-loan mortgage product.
Third Federal Mortgage Rates
They openly advertise all their mortgage rates online
Rates offered with or without most closing costs (Low Cost option)
Their Smart Rate feature allows you to relock your rate whenever you want
Appear to be competitive with other lenders but always shop around
One thing I like about this bank is its transparency. They let you know about everything. And it’s no different when it comes to their mortgage rates.
They are advertised right on their website for all to see, without the need to apply or create an account.
You can see current rates for the 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed, 10-year fixed, 5/1 ARM, and 3/1 ARM.
Low Cost Mortgage Option – Pay Just $295 in Closing Costs!
Additionally, they show the “Low Cost” version of many of their loan programs, which requires just $295 in closing costs ($595 in NY).
They pay for everything other than pre-paid items like interest, taxes, and insurance, along with transfer taxes if applicable.
You aren’t on the hook for an application fee, underwriting fee, processing fee, appraisal, credit report, title insurance, recording, notary, and so on.
Nor do you need to pay a loan origination fee or mortgage points, unless you wish to pay discount points to obtain a lower-than-market rate.
These “Low Cost” options come with slightly higher interest rates to offset the lack of closing costs, and could be a good choice for someone who doesn’t plan to keep their mortgage long.
Their rates appear to be pretty competitive, and with low fees and no commissions paid to their loan officers, the APRs are similarly low.
One nice benefit is that they don’t charge extra for cash out refinances, so if you want to tap some equity, your interest rate won’t be higher as a result.
As always, compare their rates to other banks, credit unions, mortgage brokers, and so on to ensure you’re getting the best deal for your particular loan scenario.
Third Federal Smart Rate ARMs Feature Rate Relock Feature
Their ARMs feature a free Rate Relock option that allows you to fix your rate at any time
If your 3/1 ARM or 5/1 ARM is about to reset higher, you can relock for just $295
Fixed rate is then extended for three or five years, respectively
You can take advantage of this option as many times as you’d like during the loan term
They also offer a “Rate Relock” feature that allow you to relock your rate at any time if you take out one of their so-called “Smart Rate” adjustable-rate mortgages.
The process is apparently super simple and quick, and does not require an application or appraisal. However, I do believe they check your credit.
You just request the Rate Relock, pay a low $295 fee ($595 in NY), and your new interest rate will be relocked at current rates.
In the month following your request, the new interest rate will go into effect.
That way you don’t have to worry about your ARM exploding higher after the initial fixed period comes to an end.
It could be super beneficial if rates remain low or go down, as you could lower the interest rate on your mortgage without refinancing.
The company says with Rate Relock, “you’ll never have to refinance again!”
While true or not, it’s a neat little feature, just make sure the convenience isn’t built into a higher mortgage rate versus the competition.
Why Use Third Federal to Get a Mortgage?
They offer unique home loan programs you can’t find elsewhere
Purchase loans come with Lowest Rate Guarantee and On-Time Closing Guarantee
Standard rate lock period is 60 days as opposed to just 30
They service all the loans they close instead of selling them off to other companies
Assuming you live in a state where they do business and your property qualifies, Third Federal offers some really interesting loan options like ARMs with various loan terms.
Additionally, their mortgage rates appear to be pretty competitive, especially with the lack of most closing costs on their Low Cost option.
If you have a jumbo loan, your rate could be even lower, and all mortgages come with a standard 60-day rate lock as opposed to just 30 days.
Those purchasing a home with a Third Federal mortgage can take advantage of both their Lowest Rate Guarantee and On-Time Closing Guarantee.
And you can take out a mortgage up to 85% LTV without paying private mortgage insurance.
Also, they service 100% of the loans they originate, as opposed to selling them off to some unknown loan servicer you might not like.
Ultimately, they are probably a good choice for someone interested in taking out an ARM vs. a fixed mortgage.
You get added flexibility on the ARM with the Rate Relock feature, which could be really beneficial if mortgage rates continue to stay flat and/or low.
However, as mentioned, they do have some limitations when it comes to borrowing on all property types, and their fixed mortgages might not be as competitive as other banks.
Mortgage Passport Review
Recently, Third Federal launched a new online lending division known as “Mortgage Passport.”
They refer to the company as the coming together of high tech and human touch. In other words, same great service you’d get from a bank, but with the latest technology.
They pride themselves on their low rates, easy-to-use digital loan application, and their “smart” non-commissioned loan officers.
Mortgage Passport appears to offer refinances in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DC, GA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OR, PA, TN, VA, and WA.
The Mortgage Passport division seems to be focused on refinances, and specifically cash out refinances that allow you to tap equity.
And they aren’t shy about showing off their mortgage rates, with daily rates prominently displayed on their website.
You can easily compare standard closing cost mortgages, no lender fee mortgages, and no closing cost mortgages side-by-side without having to log in or provide personal information.
From what I saw, their mortgage rates were very competitive, even the no-fee options. Note that no cost loans are not available in NY.
To get started, simply head to their website, click on “Apply Online” and you’ll be off to the races.
From there, a loan officer will reach out to review your application and collect a deposit (likely an appraisal fee) so your loan can be processed and underwritten.
While there aren’t a ton of Mortgage Passport reviews just yet, they do have a 4.9-star rating out of 5 on Bankrate from 8 reviews, with a 100% recommend rating.
And on their own website, a 4.8-rating and 100% recommend rating from five reviews. So it appears the feedback thus far is very positive.
If you’re looking for a digital mortgage process and a low mortgage rate on a refinance (with a variety of different closing cost options), Mortgage Passport could be a good choice
Homebuyers watching mortgage rates should buckle up—but they probably won’t enjoy this ride.
Mortgage interest rates were above 7% for the past two weeks—much to the dismay of many cash-strapped buyers. They averaged 7.09% on Tuesday before falling to 6.96% on Wednesday for 30-year fixed-rate loans, according to Mortgage News Daily.
“Within the last 30 days, we’ve seen everything from low 6% to low 7%,” says Jason Lerner, producing area manager at George Mason Mortgage in Towson, MD. “That’s exceptionally volatile.”
It has, in fact, been a wild ride. Mortgage interest rates have been up, down, and then up again as investors try to guess the Federal Reserve’s next move. The Fed has been steadily hiking its own short-term rate to bring down inflation by cooling the economy.
When the Fed raises its own rates, mortgage rates have often followed. And Fed officials have indicated another rate increase—or two—is likely this year.
The results of the Fed’s actions have been mixed. Inflation has tumbled down to 3% annually in June. That bit of good news caused mortgage rates to fall below 7% on Wednesday. But while that’s a big improvement from when inflation was running at 9.1% during the peak in June 2022, it’s still higher than the Fed’s 2% goal. Other data, such as recent employment reports, shows the economy is still stronger than the Fed would prefer.
When a report comes out that shows employers are still looking for workers, consumers are still spending, or inflation remains high, investors worry the Fed will raise rates. So mortgage rates rise in anticipation of another Fed increase.
“We should expect a lot of bumping around,” says David Stevens, CEO of Mountain Lake Consulting, which provides consulting services to the mortgage industry. He’s also the former CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “Whatever the economic news is, we see rates swing.”
Higher rates have made it more challenging for buyers to afford homes and incentivized many would-be sellers to stay put instead, worsening the housing shortage.
Even when mortgage rates do come down below 7%, buyers shouldn’t expect they will fall down to the record lows experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One can never truly predict the future, but I don’t see mortgage rates returning back to the 3% range in the remainder of my lifetime,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors®, told CNBC.
Where will mortgage rates go next?
Real estate experts don’t expect mortgage rates to remain this high forever.
By year’s end, Realtor.com® expects rates to be around 6.1%. Stevens believes rates will be back in the mid-5% to 6% range by the first few months of next year.
Once the Fed wrangles inflation down to its target, it should stop raising rates. The Fed is walking a tightrope trying to cool the economy without causing additional bank failures or pushing the nation into a recession. If the economy slumps too much, the Fed will likely cut rates to stimulate it. That should bring mortgage rates down as well.
“Rates will never go back to where they were to the peak of the COVID pandemic, which was in the 2% to 3% range,” says Stevens. “But they will normalize.”
Lower mortgage rates could lead to more homes for sale
Lower mortgage rates could help ease the housing shortage—and high home prices.
Right now, many homeowners are reluctant to sell. Most sellers are also buyers who don’t want to give up their ultralow mortgage rates to take out another mortgage with a rate that’s likely more than double what they have now. Many are waiting for rates to come down, at least to the 5% range, before listing their properties.
“Existing homeowners with a very low mortgage rate [have] very little incentive to decide to sell,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist of Realtor.com. The result? “There’s nothing to buy, it’s expensive to buy what’s available to buy.”
So when a move-in ready home in a desirable area is listed at a good price, it’s a bit of a unicorn in today’s market. Hordes of buyers typically descend, and that fierce competition bids up the price of the home.
“With an increase in mortgage rates, you’d expect a drop in property values,” says Roland Weedon, CEO of Essex Mortgage. Essex does business in 40 states, working primarily with first-time buyers and renters. “But because there’s such a shortage of inventory, that hasn’t happened.”
Mortgage lender Lerner is seeing borrowers stretch their “comfort levels” with higher mortgage payments to make homeownership work.
He’s also seeing buyers offer lower down payments. They’re using the rest of the money that would have gone toward their home to pay down other debt, so they have more money available for monthly mortgage payments.
“The fact that we’re back at this point again could be a drag on the housing market in the months ahead,” says Hale. “We do expect mortgage rates will eventually decline. It’s going to take some more progress on inflation.”
What determines mortgage rates
While rates are influenced by the Fed’s rates, and often move in the same direction, they’re more tied to what’s happening in the bond market.
After a mortgage is made, lenders will typically bundle it up with other loans into a mortgage-backed security, aka mortgage bonds. Then those are sold to investors on what’s called the secondary mortgage market. This gets the mortgage off of a lender’s books, freeing up more money to make new loans.
If investors believe the Fed is likely to keep hiking rates, they’re often reluctant to purchase mortgage bonds. One reason is they assume that the borrowers of those mortgages are likely to refinance those loans once rates fall again. There are also more mortgage bonds on the market for investors to choose from as a result of the bank failures. The FDIC is selling the portfolios of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. This makes these bonds less valuable.
As mortgage rates are the inverse of bond prices, when bond prices are down, mortgage rates go up.
“Going forward, we can expect rates to continue paying a tremendous amount of attention to incoming economic data,” says Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. “Traders are on the edge of their seats, waiting for evidence that the economy and inflation are finally cooling off in a meaningful way. … When it happens, we should see a reasonably swift move back toward more livable rates.”
Today we’ll take a hard look at AmeriHome Mortgage Company, LLC, which is a direct mortgage lender based out of Southern California.
Their current company headquarters are in Thousand Oaks, CA, just north of Los Angeles.
You might recognize the name from Designing Spaces on Lifetime TV, where they are featured.
They have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and a 4.2/5 score with Trustpilot. But first a little background.
AmeriHome History
Launched in 1988 as a Michigan-based corporation
Later acquired by Impac Mortgage Holdings in 2010
Sold to Aris Mortgage Holding Company LLC in 2014
Now led by CEO Jim Farush, an ex-Countrywide and PennyMac executive
Acquired by Western Alliance Bancorporation in early 2021 for $1 billion
The company was started way back in 1988 as a Michigan-based corporation, but has changed hands several times since then.
It was later sold by Impac Mortgage Holdings in 2014 to Aris Mortgage Holding Company LLC, after becoming a redundant mortgage platform for the company.
AmeriHome is now led by Jim Farush, who is also the current CEO of the company.
His experience includes working as CEO for Countrywide Bank, which was the banking business that backed former #1 mortgage lender Countrywide Financial.
He also helped launch PennyMac, which began as a purchaser of distressed mortgage assets, and later become a full-scale lender.
Clearly he’s got a strong mortgage pedigree, so we’ll assume AmeriHome has ambitions to be one of the top mortgage lenders in the country.
Now let’s dig into the details of what the company offers to its mortgage customers.
AmeriHome Quick Facts
AmeriHome derives much of its volume by purchasing residential mortgage loans from correspondent sellers
They service and purchase loans in 49 states and the District of Columbia
But only offers mortgages via the retail channel in 30 states at the moment
Originated $64.5 billion in home loans during 2020 with most volume coming from the states of California and Texas
Loan servicing portfolio totaled $98.8 billion as of December 31st, 2020
What AmeriHome Mortgage Offers
Home purchase loans
Refinance loans
Conventional loans (Fannie/Freddie)
Government loans (FHA and VA)
Fixed mortgages and ARMs
Like most other mortgage lenders, they offer both home purchase loans and refinance loans.
So both existing homeowners and prospective home buyers can get a home loan from AmeriHome.
With regard to loan type, they offer conventional loans, such as those backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with government loans, including FHA loans and VA Loans.
It’s unclear what individual loan programs they offer other than the 30-year fixed and 15-year fixed, though my guess is you can get a variety of adjustable-rate mortgages as well.
AmeriHome Mortgage Rates
I always appreciate it when a mortgage lender lists their mortgage rates on their website.
Sure, they should be taken with a grain of salt because they make a lot of assumptions, such as low LTV and high credit score.
But it shows they’re perhaps a little more transparent than the next guy.
Anyway, based on the rates displayed at the time of this writing, they appeared to be pretty competitive.
The APRs were similarly low, which tells me they may not charge too many fees.
Of course, these are just baseline rates and individual loan scenarios will vary.
Certainly take the time to shop around as you would any other product to ensure you obtain the best pricing.
What States Does AmeriHome Originate Mortgages In?
At the moment, AmeriHome isn’t nationwide, which is one of the potential negatives.
In fact, they only lend in 30 states, and do not originate mortgages in DC either.
They work with home buyers and owners in the following states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, NH, NJ, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WA.
So make sure your state is listed before you consider getting a mortgage from AmeriHome.
Applying for a Mortgage with AmeriHome
You can call directly or use the rate quote engine on their website
Can get a pre-qualification in minutes and a pre-approval in 24 hours
A loan officer will help you submit a loan application
Unclear how fully digital their loan process is beyond document upload
To get started, you can call them directly or visit their website and request a rate quote. They do not have any physical branches or a loan officer directory.
Once you fill out some basic questions, like loan amount and credit score, it will populate loan options and rates, without the need for a credit pull.
From there, a loan officer will help you submit a loan application, assuming you want to move forward.
You can also get a pre-qualification in minutes and a pre-approval in 24 hours by the next business day.
They say a “next generation digital platform” powers AmeriHome’s mortgage origination process, but it’s unclear exactly what that entails.
You’re able to submit documents via their secure web portal, but whether you can link financial accounts like other lenders, such as Rocket Mortgage or Better Mortgage, is another question.
In any case, AmeriHome claims its “sophisticated information management tools” allow it to be a direct-to-consumer mortgage lender, which lowers costs that can then be passed onto its customers.
AmeriHome Rewards Program
Once you get a mortgage from AmeriHome, you’ll save $1,095 on origination costs for subsequent loans financed via the company.
In other words, if you wish you refinance your existing home loan with AmeriHome, they’ll give you a discount.
This is very similar to the loanDepot Lifetime Guarantee offered by that company.
To be eligible, AmeriHome Mortgage Company, LLC should appear on the Promissory Note for the loan and you must be listed as a borrower on the note. As always with these deals, it’s best to shop around beyond your current lender to see what competitors may offer.
Loyalty doesn’t always pay, especially in the mortgage business.
The AmeriHome Rewards Program doesn’t apply to FHA streamline refinances or the VA IRRRL loan.
AmeriHome’s Correspondent Lending Division
Whether you realize it or not, you might get a mortgage from AmeriHome via one of their clients thanks to their sizable correspondent lending division.
They act as a sponsor for independent mortgage bankers, community and regional banks, and credit unions throughout the country.
In other words, these institutions both big and small can offer mortgage products backed by AmeriHome.
They offer all types of loan via this channel, including conforming, FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo, and even non-QM loans.
As such, they refer to themselves as the nation’s 4th largest correspondent investor.
In 2017, they were the first correspondent investor in the country to be endorsed by the American Bankers Association (ABA).
AmeriHome Reviews
As noted, AmeriHome does a lot of its business via the correspondent lending channel, meaning other banks originate loans on behalf of the company.
So many customers may not actually know their mortgage came from AmeriHome.
But they still have roughly 1,300 customer reviews on Trustpilot with a 4.5-star rating out of 5, which is considered excellent.
Per Trustpilot, they typically respond to negative reviews within a week and have replied to 95% of their negative reviews.
In other words, if you have a problem, they will likely respond to it, which is a plus.
They also have an A+ BBB rating and have been accredited since 2018.
Additionally, they have a ~4-star rating out of 5 on the BBB based on customer reviews, which is pretty good relative to most other mortgage companies.
Funded more than $11 billion in home loans in 2018
Has roughly 1,000 mortgage loan originators
Licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia
Today we’ll review Homebridge Financial, which through recent acquisitions has grown to be a top-20 mortgage lender in the United States.
In mid-2019, they acquired HomeStreet Bank’s home loan centers and its personnel, and two years earlier the operating assets of Prospect Mortgage.
They consider themselves one of the largest privately held, non-bank lenders in the United States (in the top-10).
Aside from being a direct-to-consumer retail mortgage lender, they also operate two wholesale mortgage operations.
They include Homebridge Wholesale and REMN Wholesale, so it’s possible you could get a home loan from Homebridge via a mortgage broker.
For the record, REMN stands for Real Estate Mortgage Network.
How to Apply for a Mortgage with Homebridge Financial
When it comes to applying for a mortgage, you can visit a Homebridge branch if there’s one nearby or use their loan originator directory if you’ve been referred by someone.
Or you can simply input some basic information on their website and a loan originator will get back to you.
If you know the name of the individual you want to work with, you can also enter it via the short form on the Homebridge website to ensure you’re paired with the right person.
Homebridge has physical branches in the following states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, MA, MD, ME, MO, NC, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, VT, WA.
While many so-called digital lenders allow you to complete much of the loan process online without speaking to anyone (think Rocket Mortgage or Better Mortgage), Homebridge appears to be big on building relationships.
And they feel that “using an online mortgage lender just doesn’t provide the same kind of personalized service.”
Unfortunately, there’s no mention of a digital loan process. So for those who like convenience over all else, Homebridge might be lacking somewhat.
But for those interested in a human touch, they could be a good choice.
What Homebridge Financial Offers
Home purchase loans and refinance loans
Conforming, jumbo, government, and interest-only loans
Fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loan programs
Renovation loans including FHA 203k and Fannie Mae HomeStyle
Mortgages on second homes and investment properties
Reverse mortgages
Energy Efficient Mortgages
Mixed use and Commercial loans
VA 100% cash out
Non-warrantable condos
Homebridge allows you to purchase a home, renovate one, or refinance an existing mortgage, including the option to pull cash out.
They offer all the usual loan types, including conventional, FHA, USDA, and VA loans.
Loan programs include fixed-rate mortgages like the 30-year and 15-year, along with adjustable-rate mortgages such as the 5/1 ARM.
You can also get a jumbo and even a super jumbo loan with them, along with a interest-only home loan, reverse mortgage, or a renovation loan (FHA 203k or Fannie Mae HomeStyle).
In terms of niche offerings, you can get a VA 100% cash out loan, a construction-to-perm loan, an energy efficient mortgage, mixed use and commercial, and even financing on a non-warrantable condo.
They also have a builder division devoted to helping real estate agents and home builders sell more homes, with extended rate locks and a dedicated condo/co-op approval process.
Homebridge Financial Mortgage Rates
With regard to their mortgage rates, we’re in the dark here because they don’t openly advertise them on their website or elsewhere.
That’s not to say they’re bad or just average. In fact, they could be really good, we just don’t know because they don’t have a page on their website dedicated to them.
Additionally, we don’t know much about their lender fees because those are also nowhere to be seen.
Again, they could be in line with industry averages, lower, or higher. But they seem to keep this information to themselves.
So if you’ve gotten a mortgage quote from Homebridge, be sure to compare the rate and closing costs to those of other lenders. Otherwise you won’t know how competitive they are.
Homebridge Home Rewards
One perk offered by Homebridge is the “Homebridge Home Rewards” program, which provides customers with a gift card valued at up to $595.00 for taking out a home purchase loan or mortgage refinance loan.
You must make the gift card request prior to loan origination, and your mortgage must be either an FHA loan, VA loan, or a conventional conforming loan.
The following types of borrowers are eligible:
Members or employees of an approved Affinity company
Members, volunteers, donors or sponsors of an approved non-profit
Military
Law Enforcement
Teachers
Firefighters/Emergency Medical Technicians
For non-profits, eligible borrowers will receive a gift card for up to $250.00 and a $250.00 donation will be made in the borrower’s name to the non-profit.
The minimum loan amount in order to be eligible is $100,000. It is not available in the state of Utah.
Homebridge Financial Reviews
They have a 4.6 out of 5 star rating on Trustpilot, which is considered excellent. It’s based on over 1,650 reviews.
At Zillow, they have a 4.97 out of 5 star rating on nearly 3,000 reviews, which is pretty hard to beat.
Many of the reviews say both the interest rate and fees/closing costs were lower than expected.
They are not an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), not that it necessarily matters.
If you’re thinking about buying a home or refinancing an existing mortgage, you may have come across Eagle Home Mortgage on your journey.
They’re more likely to come up if purchasing a home since they are a direct mortgage lender owned by Lennar, which is now the nation’s largest homebuilder thanks to its acquisition of CalAtlantic in April 2018.
In short, Eagle Home Mortgage acts as the home builder’s financing department, though if you buy a home from Lennar you don’t have to use them.
It’s just that borrowers often use the builder’s finance department as opposed to an outside mortgage lender seeing that it’s the easiest and most obvious choice, and usually the path of least resistance.
There may also be some synergies to using affiliated companies, whether it’s a special incentive or just a faster loan process, knowing a home purchase with their builder is on the line.
In 2019, they provided home loan financing to more than 34,000 families looking to purchase a home. Let’s discover more about Eagle Home Mortgage.
Eagle Home Mortgage Fast Facts
Retail consumer-direct mortgage lender founded in 1981
Subsidiary of Lennar Corp., nation’s largest homebuilder
Company headquarters located in Miami, Florida
Closed more than 34,000 home purchase loans in 2019
More than 1,500 employees nationwide
A top-30 mortgage lender overall that specializes in new home purchase financing
Does most of their business in Florida and Texas
Where Is Eagle Home Mortgage Licensed?
First things first, you should make sure the company is actually licensed to do business in the state where you reside, or are purchasing a home.
Unfortunately, they are only licensed in less than two dozen states and not nationwide. This clearly has to do with Lennar and its communities, which are located in just 21 states.
As suspected, Eagle Home Mortgage is licensed in 21 states, including: AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, MD, MN, NJ, NV, NC, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA.
Now if Lennar decides to build new homes in additional states, there’s a good chance Eagle Home Mortgage will move into those states as well.
So if and when you’re interested in buying a Lennar home, expect Eagle Home to be a potential mortgage provider.
Eagle Home Digital Mortgage and Eagle Express Close
You can apply online or by phone with their digital mortgage app powered by Blend
Or visit a local branch office if you prefer a face-to-face meeting
Use their loan officer directory if you’ve been referred to someone specific
And take advantage of their Eagle Express Close with e-signing capabilities to fund your loan quickly
The company has the tagline, “Paperless. Effortless. Awesomeness.” It’s in reference to their digital mortgage experience, which I assume is both fast and easy on the environment.
They say you can get pre-qualified in as little as 10 minutes via their digital mortgage process that is powered by fintech company Blend.
You simply fill out a loan application on their website as opposed to having a loan officer walk you through it. Of course, you can do that too if you need a helping hand.
Their digital process also allows you to link bank accounts and other financial information so it can be securely added to your application for more accurate figures and faster processing.
Those who are more old school have the option of using the company’s branch directory to find a local office for a phone call or face-to-face meeting.
And if you’re already working with someone or have been referred, you can use the loan officer directory on their website to find that individual.
When it comes to closing your home loan, Eagle Home also offers a digital process known as “Eagle Express Close” that includes online closings and remote signatures for documents.
You can review and e-sign many of your closing documents before attending your closing appointment, and download them instead of printing them all out.
The process can be faster while also giving you time to review everything with your loan officer, instead of feeling overwhelmed at the closing table.
Eagle Home Mortgage Loan Options
Mainly focused on home purchase financing but also offer refinance loans
Loan types include conventional and government (FHA, VA, USDA)
Offer fixed-rate mortgages and adjustable-rate mortgages in varying terms
Jumbo loans and reverse mortgages are also available
Their loan officers are well-educated on available down payment assistance (DPA) programs
Eagle Home Mortgage has tons of available loan options, including both conventional loans and government loans.
You can get a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or an FHA loan, USDA loan, or VA loan.
With regard to home purchase financing, their loan officers are well-versed in the many down payment assistance (DPA) programs that may be available via your local or state government.
Eagle Home Mortgage says it has many DPA options available to help customers become homeowners, seeing that down payment is often the biggest hurdle toward homeownership.
These may be in the form of a second mortgage (or even a third mortgage), or a grant that might not need to be repaid and can typically be used toward both the down payment and closing costs.
Those purchasing or refinancing a more expensive property can also get approved for a jumbo loan via Eagle Home Mortgage.
In the refinance department, they offer both rate and term refinances and cash out refinances, the latter of which can be used to tap into home equity if you need money for other purposes.
They also offer the “Student Loan Debt Mortgage Program,” where they will contribute up to 3% of the purchase price to pay off a borrower’s student loans when they buy a new home from Lennar.
Lastly, they offer reverse mortgages to borrowers aged 62 or older who wish to tap equity without taking on monthly mortgage payments.
The only loan options they seem to be lacking are renovation loans and home equity loan/line programs.
With regard to loan type, you can get a fixed-rate mortgage or an adjustable-rate mortgage with various loan terms, and they offer financing on primary residences, second homes, and investment properties.
They mostly seem to originate 30-year fixed mortgages, with some 15-year fixed mortgages and a smaller proportion of ARMs.
Eagle Home Mortgage Rates
In terms of how competitive they are, they don’t make many mentions of their mortgage rates or lender fees on their website.
However, they recently posted a limited-time promotion pitching “our lowest historic rate,” which was a 2.5% mortgage rate.
It’s unclear what type of mortgage it is, but I assume it’s a 30-year fixed since that seems to be their go-to loan program for their customers.
Now that promotion aside, I can’t say with any certainty how they stack up against other mortgage lenders out there.
Ultimately, you’d have to take the time to shop around. But as mentioned, many Eagle Home Mortgage customers are likely buying Lennar-built homes, so they may want to keep everything in-house, no pun intended.
Remember, you can always use an outside lender if buying a new home from a developer, so it’s wise to set aside some time for comparison shopping.
Eagle Home Mortgage Reviews
The company seems to be very well regarded, with a 4.94 rating out of 5 on Zillow based on roughly 1,600 reviews.
Many of the customer reviews indicate the interest rate was lower than expected, and lots say the fees/closing costs were also lower than anticipated.
So they seem to be well-liked and competitive pricing-wise, assuming these customers shopped around with other lenders.
While they aren’t an accredited business, they do have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, which appears to be based on the lack of customer complaints currently filed against the company.
As always, customer experiences will vary, especially at a very large company. But as noted, their loan officers will likely be highly incentivized to close your loan if it’s also a Lennar-built home.
That means there’s a good chance they’ll do all they can to get your home loan to the finish line.
Eagle Home Mortgage Pros and Cons
The Good Stuff
Can apply directly online via a digital mortgage application
Lots of loan options and down payment assistance (DPA) programs to choose from
If also buying a home from Lennar they might be quick and dedicated to closing on time
Eagle Express Close allows you to e-sign many loan documents
Great customer reviews on Zillow
Free mortgage calculators on site
The Possible Bad Stuff
No mention of mortgage rates or lender fees
Not licensed in all states
No home equity loan products available
Might be better suited for purchases rather than refinances
If you’re thinking about buying a home or refinancing an existing mortgage, you may have come across Eagle Home Mortgage on your journey.
They’re more likely to come up if purchasing a home since they are a direct mortgage lender owned by Lennar, which is now the nation’s largest homebuilder thanks to its acquisition of CalAtlantic in April 2018.
In short, Eagle Home Mortgage acts as the home builder’s financing department, though if you buy a home from Lennar you don’t have to use them.
It’s just that borrowers often use the builder’s finance department as opposed to an outside mortgage lender seeing that it’s the easiest and most obvious choice, and usually the path of least resistance.
There may also be some synergies to using affiliated companies, whether it’s a special incentive or just a faster loan process, knowing a home purchase with their builder is on the line.
In 2019, they provided home loan financing to more than 34,000 families looking to purchase a home. Let’s discover more about Eagle Home Mortgage.
Eagle Home Mortgage Fast Facts
Retail consumer-direct mortgage lender founded in 1981
Subsidiary of Lennar Corp., nation’s largest homebuilder
Company headquarters located in Miami, Florida
Closed more than 34,000 home purchase loans in 2019
More than 1,500 employees nationwide
A top-30 mortgage lender overall that specializes in new home purchase financing
Does most of their business in Florida and Texas
Where Is Eagle Home Mortgage Licensed?
First things first, you should make sure the company is actually licensed to do business in the state where you reside, or are purchasing a home.
Unfortunately, they are only licensed in less than two dozen states and not nationwide. This clearly has to do with Lennar and its communities, which are located in just 21 states.
As suspected, Eagle Home Mortgage is licensed in 21 states, including: AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, MD, MN, NJ, NV, NC, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA.
Now if Lennar decides to build new homes in additional states, there’s a good chance Eagle Home Mortgage will move into those states as well.
So if and when you’re interested in buying a Lennar home, expect Eagle Home to be a potential mortgage provider.
Eagle Home Digital Mortgage and Eagle Express Close
You can apply online or by phone with their digital mortgage app powered by Blend
Or visit a local branch office if you prefer a face-to-face meeting
Use their loan officer directory if you’ve been referred to someone specific
And take advantage of their Eagle Express Close with e-signing capabilities to fund your loan quickly
The company has the tagline, “Paperless. Effortless. Awesomeness.” It’s in reference to their digital mortgage experience, which I assume is both fast and easy on the environment.
They say you can get pre-qualified in as little as 10 minutes via their digital mortgage process that is powered by fintech company Blend.
You simply fill out a loan application on their website as opposed to having a loan officer walk you through it. Of course, you can do that too if you need a helping hand.
Their digital process also allows you to link bank accounts and other financial information so it can be securely added to your application for more accurate figures and faster processing.
Those who are more old school have the option of using the company’s branch directory to find a local office for a phone call or face-to-face meeting.
And if you’re already working with someone or have been referred, you can use the loan officer directory on their website to find that individual.
When it comes to closing your home loan, Eagle Home also offers a digital process known as “Eagle Express Close” that includes online closings and remote signatures for documents.
You can review and e-sign many of your closing documents before attending your closing appointment, and download them instead of printing them all out.
The process can be faster while also giving you time to review everything with your loan officer, instead of feeling overwhelmed at the closing table.
Eagle Home Mortgage Loan Options
Mainly focused on home purchase financing but also offer refinance loans
Loan types include conventional and government (FHA, VA, USDA)
Offer fixed-rate mortgages and adjustable-rate mortgages in varying terms
Jumbo loans and reverse mortgages are also available
Their loan officers are well-educated on available down payment assistance (DPA) programs
Eagle Home Mortgage has tons of available loan options, including both conventional loans and government loans.
You can get a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or an FHA loan, USDA loan, or VA loan.
With regard to home purchase financing, their loan officers are well-versed in the many down payment assistance (DPA) programs that may be available via your local or state government.
Eagle Home Mortgage says it has many DPA options available to help customers become homeowners, seeing that down payment is often the biggest hurdle toward homeownership.
These may be in the form of a second mortgage (or even a third mortgage), or a grant that might not need to be repaid and can typically be used toward both the down payment and closing costs.
Those purchasing or refinancing a more expensive property can also get approved for a jumbo loan via Eagle Home Mortgage.
In the refinance department, they offer both rate and term refinances and cash out refinances, the latter of which can be used to tap into home equity if you need money for other purposes.
They also offer the “Student Loan Debt Mortgage Program,” where they will contribute up to 3% of the purchase price to pay off a borrower’s student loans when they buy a new home from Lennar.
Lastly, they offer reverse mortgages to borrowers aged 62 or older who wish to tap equity without taking on monthly mortgage payments.
The only loan options they seem to be lacking are renovation loans and home equity loan/line programs.
With regard to loan type, you can get a fixed-rate mortgage or an adjustable-rate mortgage with various loan terms, and they offer financing on primary residences, second homes, and investment properties.
They mostly seem to originate 30-year fixed mortgages, with some 15-year fixed mortgages and a smaller proportion of ARMs.
Eagle Home Mortgage Rates
In terms of how competitive they are, they don’t make many mentions of their mortgage rates or lender fees on their website.
However, they recently posted a limited-time promotion pitching “our lowest historic rate,” which was a 2.5% mortgage rate.
It’s unclear what type of mortgage it is, but I assume it’s a 30-year fixed since that seems to be their go-to loan program for their customers.
Now that promotion aside, I can’t say with any certainty how they stack up against other mortgage lenders out there.
Ultimately, you’d have to take the time to shop around. But as mentioned, many Eagle Home Mortgage customers are likely buying Lennar-built homes, so they may want to keep everything in-house, no pun intended.
Remember, you can always use an outside lender if buying a new home from a developer, so it’s wise to set aside some time for comparison shopping.
Eagle Home Mortgage Reviews
The company seems to be very well regarded, with a 4.94 rating out of 5 on Zillow based on roughly 1,600 reviews.
Many of the customer reviews indicate the interest rate was lower than expected, and lots say the fees/closing costs were also lower than anticipated.
So they seem to be well-liked and competitive pricing-wise, assuming these customers shopped around with other lenders.
While they aren’t an accredited business, they do have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, which appears to be based on the lack of customer complaints currently filed against the company.
As always, customer experiences will vary, especially at a very large company. But as noted, their loan officers will likely be highly incentivized to close your loan if it’s also a Lennar-built home.
That means there’s a good chance they’ll do all they can to get your home loan to the finish line.
Eagle Home Mortgage Pros and Cons
The Good Stuff
Can apply directly online via a digital mortgage application
Lots of loan options and down payment assistance (DPA) programs to choose from
If also buying a home from Lennar they might be quick and dedicated to closing on time
Eagle Express Close allows you to e-sign many loan documents
Great customer reviews on Zillow
Free mortgage calculators on site
The Possible Bad Stuff
No mention of mortgage rates or lender fees
Not licensed in all states
No home equity loan products available
Might be better suited for purchases rather than refinances
LINTHICUM, MD, July 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NFM Lending is pleased to announce the promotion of Laura Clapper to Chief Marketing Officer. Clapper has been with the company since 2020, serving as the Vice President of Digital Strategy.
As the VP of Digital Marketing, Clapper has led initiatives to raise the public profile of NFM Lending through targeted ads using social media and search engine marketing, as well as creating drip campaigns for borrowers at each stage of the lending process. Notably, Clapper has been instrumental in the growth of NFM’s Influencer Division. Leveraging new features from CRM systems, she devised and scaled unique video messaging campaigns for 18 loan originator influencers. The strategy resonated with their social media followers and resulted in an average of 2,500 warm leads per month with zero direct advertising costs.
“It is an incredible honor to assume the role of Chief Marketing Officer at NFM Lending,” said Clapper “Having held the role of Vice President, Digital Strategy for the past three years, I have closely collaborated with our executives and sales leaders to shape marketing processes and support key initiatives. In this new capacity, I am committed to driving our marketing efforts and maintaining a strong focus on sales growth. NFM’s innovative spirit, progressive culture and unwavering dedication to pioneering new ways of helping homeowners is what makes me love being a part of this organization.”
Clapper is a digital marketing veteran with 22 years of experience working in leadership roles within and outside of the mortgage industry.
“Laura is the most dynamic mortgage marketing person I have ever been around,” noted NFM Managing Director Greg Sher. “Her versatility and understanding of all things digital make her the perfect person to lead NFM’s charge into the future. It’s truly an honor to work with her every day.”
Clapper lives with her family in Sykesville, MD. NFM congratulates her on the promotion and wishes her continued success.
For more information on the Influencer Division, contact [email protected].
About NFM Lending
NFM Lending is a mortgage lending company currently licensed in 49 states in the U.S. and Washington, D.C. The company was founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1998. NFM Lending and its family of companies includes Main Street Home Loans, BluPrint Home Loans, Elevate Home Loans, and Element Home Loans. They attribute their success in the mortgage industry to their steadfast commitment to customers and the community. For more information about NFM Lending, visit nfmlending.com, like our Facebook page, or follow us on Instagram.