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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 44 May 2025 W hen will the mortgage market see its next upswing? At this point, who really knows? We do know this, however … it will eventually rebound. No, it likely will not be an even recovery, but rates will come down and volume will increase at some point. Hunkering down and waiting, however, is not the approach success- ful lenders are taking. Anyone can cut expenses and eliminate costs during market slowdowns. But then what? In all likelihood, that eventual market rebound will signal the start of an inevi- table surge of staffing up that we always see at that point in the course of things. After all, more volume requires more operational capacity and greater through- put. And that wave of recruiting, hiring, training, and deployment also unfailingly leads to hiccups, uneven service levels and inconsistent quality while we wait (again) for things to even out. Except … It's not the mid-2010s anymore. This eventual rebound and how the mortgage industry responds to it will be unlike the previous pivots. You'd have to have lived in a cave for the past five years not to realize that we simply don't originate mortgages the way we used to. A huge part of that can be credited to the introduction of a breathtaking wave of new technology. But it can also be attributed to the fact that, finally, most lenders realize that doing things the way we always have in the past is now the roadmap to a quick exit from the space. The borrower expects more. The secondary market expects more, and they will find it from the competition if we do not evolve. The most successful lenders have already implemented effective technol- ogy and modernized their workflows. Operational strategy is no longer something we talk about while simply continuing the "lather, rinse, repeat" of the past 20 years. The way we deliver a mortgage product has become just as important as the product itself. And that will be important to remember for busi- nesses seeking to avoid the traditional operational lag that once came with an upswing. It's Not Just About Tech, But How You Use It T echnology has become the back- bone of the modern mortgage operation. The lenders poised for the quickest and most sustainable success have already been investing in solutions that enable efficiency, transparency, and scalability. » Automated processes: Automation is critical for handling an uptick in volume without seeing a decline in service quality. From underwriting to document collection, lenders are turning to tools that reduce manual intervention. Automated workflows allow tasks like income verification, credit assessments and document checks to proceed with minimal human oversight, speeding up the approval process, and freeing staff for more complex tasks. » Intelligent decisioning tools: With artificial intelligence (AI) and ma- chine learning, lenders can prioritize high quality applications, identify bottlenecks, and accurately estimate processing times. This real-time in- sight helps teams focus on high-prior- ity files, improving throughput. » Enhanced customer portals: Today's consumer expects any purchase or loan, whether it involves a car, a student loan, or even an appliance, to F E A T U R E PREPARE NOW TO AVOID OPERATIONAL LAG John Cady of Citywide Home Mortgage explains that an uncertain market cycle is exactly when lenders should prepare for an inevitable rebound. B y J O H N C A D Y J O H N C A D Y is the CEO and President of Citywide Home Mortgage. During the course of his 34-plus years in mortgage lending, he has grown both regional and national platforms in excess of $16 billion in yearly production. He has extensive experience in building and managing all channels of mortgage production and op- erations including retail, wholesale, joint venture, credit union, consumer direct, and recruiting. He may be reached by email at john.cady@citywidehm.com.