94
at's a quote from Zach Oppenheimer, senior vice president
and head of customer engagement at Fannie Mae, from earlier
this year. In a short look at the changing face of the American
borrower, Fannie Mae stated that by 2024, somewhere in the
neighborhood of 5 million new U.S. households formed‒‒a
third of the overall number‒‒will be Hispanic households.
Moreover, Millennials will drive most of
the growth and new household formations
will be driven by greater numbers of ethnic
and racial minorities, who will be much more
technologically advanced than borrowers of the
past.
But that's just racial and ethic diversity. e
mortgage market of the very-near future is going
to include a much broader sweep of cultural
diversity, gender diversity, age diversity, religious
diversity, and diversity in sexual orientation and
identity. People in all these categories‒‒many
who will fit into more than one‒‒will begin to
enter into the market at an accelerated rate.
In short, the American borrower is
diversifying at rapid speed, and the mortgage
servicing industry needs to approach them
smartly. For Cheryl Travis-Johnson, executive
vice president and COO of VRM Mortgage
Services and member of the American
Mortgage Diversity Council (AMDC),
reaching the borrower of the future starts with
shifting away from the word "diversity" and
toward the word "inclusion."
DIVERSITY VS. INCLUSION
Say "diversity" to a business, Travis-
Johnson says, and it's likely to be translated
into something like "affirmative action"‒‒a
well-meaning attempt to open up jobs to people
who don't fit the WASP male mold that puts
a lot of businesspeople off. Push too hard to
diversify, and mortgage company managers will
feel coerced into certain hiring and promotion
actions. e goal should be to make inclusion a
normal aspect of the hiring and sourcing process
through making sure all qualified applicants and
suppliers have access to opportunities. Business
I N D U S T R Y I N S I G H T / S C O T T M O R G A N
BUILDING THE BEST TEAM
"Borrowers of the future will be substantially
different than those from past generations."
