a group of young professionals gather around a conference table to discuss their mortgage bank relationship We were getting recruited last fall by America’s third-largest mortgage bank.

B/c of our size and unique model, the CEO showed up to review our entire tech stack, our Salesforce buildout, our org chart, our marketing plan and collateral, our website, our sales organization, our ops structure, our training program, our HR policies, and our vision.

After soaking it all in, he said: “Wow, you guys have built an entire business, why do you need us?”

WHY WE DON’T GO IT ALONE

One of the reasons we align with mortgage banks is simply economies of scale.

With the right deal structure (explained below), we can take advantage of a large mortgage bank’s investor relationships and many efficiencies resulting from sheer size, and make more money than we would if we are on our own.

And that is most definitely the case now with the mortgage bank we are currently aligned with.

I frequently get asked why we don’t go out on our own, and also about our relationship with our mortgage bank – so I thought I’d address it in this blog.

UNIQUE AND INDEPENDENT

We aligned with American Pacific Mortgage (APM) and more specifically with their Preferred Rate Division.

We were most definitely “not acquired” by them, as some of our competitors have been saying. 😊

Heejin and I own the JVM name and the enormous treasure trove of intellectual property that goes with it.

B/c JVM itself generates substantial lead volume and cash flow, independent of any personalities or loan officers, the company is valuable enough that we frankly would never allow ourselves to be acquired.

Our plan is to continue growing indefinitely by taking advantage of our competitive edges (low-cost producer, lower rates, smoother client experiences, faster and better tech adoption, exceptionally talented team, training program, powerful sales and marketing machine, etc.).

In regard to our independence, we run on the same Loan Origination Software platform as our mortgage bank (for compliance and communication purposes), but run almost everything else independently.

This includes our hiring, our culture, our website, our training, our marketing, our office space, our entire tech stack, and much of our compliance. We even employ separate loan application or POS software, as we use Blend and APM uses SimpleNexus.

What APM/Preferred Rate does for us is underwrite, fund and sell our loans. And they do it extremely well, as Preferred Rate is brilliant at hiring and keeping fully staffed no matter how busy they get. They also bend over backwards to accommodate us.

OUR “DEAL”

Many mortgage banks recruit us b/c they want our volume and to be associated with our reputation, and b/c of this, we are able to command very advantageous terms.

Most loan officers and branches with mortgage banks simply have to “accept” whatever pricing, rates and fees their mortgage banks throw at them – with no control.

Hence, if a mortgage bank wants to increase rates and profits for any reason, they can just do so and the loan officers have to accept it.

In contrast, we see and get “raw pricing” (the rates available on the secondary market at any given time) and we share in capital markets gains from the sale of all of our loans.

For the most part, we split all of the profits that our loans generate after all our expenses are paid. And once again, this results in more profits than we could ever obtain if we were on our own.

The real benefit to all of this is that we can offer lower rates than our competitors and still make money.

DRAWBACKS

One of the risks of being so independent though is the fact that we are also responsible for our losses. With an overhead of over $800,000 per month, they could be substantial in the event of a slowdown.

But, that is the normal risk (and the fun) that comes with any business – and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I love working with our team, I love what I do, and I love coming to work every day.

Will we ever “go it alone?” Maybe.

Once we clip $2 billion in funded loans over a 12 month period, we will reevaluate all of our options.

At our current rate of growth, that is not too far away.

Jay Voorhees
Founder/Broker | JVM Lending
(855) 855-4491 | DRE# 1197176, NMLS# 310167

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