Mortgage Broker Icon Joins UMortgage to Usher in a Better Future for Loan Officers

UMortgage is proud to announce that Kyle Koller, Branch Manager of UMortgage West, has been named one of HousingWire’s 2024 Rising Stars award recipients. This award spotlights 80 leaders aged 40 years or younger who are driving the mortgage, real estate, and fintech industries forward. Since he joined the UMortgage platform in 2021, Koller developed UMortgage West into one of the biggest brokerages in the state of Utah and UMortgage—which has averaged +128% growth from 2021-2024—into one of the fastest-growing mortgage platforms in the country. His exceptional leadership and mortgage expertise led the branch to exponentially increase its production year after year to help serve more than 1,000 families in 2023. At the start of the year, he was a key driver in the negotiations that led to UMortgage’s acquisition of Houzd—a high-producing Utah-based brokerage that originated 400 units for $185mil in volume in 2023. By aligning the two top mortgage brokerages in Utah, Koller and his team will further increase homeownership opportunities offered to residents throughout the state and beyond. “It is an honor to be recognized as a HousingWire Rising Star in this current industry,” celebrated Koller. “UMortgage has provided me the platform to grow the nation's greatest team of Loan Officers while providing mentors that can help me grow as a better leader and communicator. They are helping me become the best Branch Manager in the United States, and I’m thrilled to continue to create life-changing opportunities through homeownership.” Koller exemplifies UMortgage’s core value to Create Strong Communities by regularly getting involved in his local community to help create life-changing opportunities through homeownership. He hosts weekly training sessions for real estate agents in his area to provide personal housing market updates and other inside knowledge to help them arm their homebuyers with knowledge. With his 2024 Rising Stars award, Koller is one of 4 current UMortgage leaders honored with a HousingWire award in the last two years. Gil Arbitsman, CFO, was a 2023 HousingWire Finance Leader, Corie Meredith, VP of Marketing, earned a 2023 HousingWire Marketing Leaders award, and David Higgins, Senior Project Manager, earned the distinction as a 2023 HousingWire Insider. Under its award-winning leadership team, UMortgage is ushering in the future of the mortgage industry. During an internal presentation on April 18th, it announced that Koller’s former fellow UMortgage West Branch Manager, Jimmy Hobson, had been promoted to National Sales Leader. With this leadership in place, UMortgage hopes to replicate the successes of Koller and the others at UMortgage West across all branches. Following the platform’s record-breaking year in 2023, UMortgage is off to a great start in 2024. Despite an unexpected spike in mortgage rates, the platform is projected to surpass its company record for funded volume yet again after funding 1,547 units for $510mil in volume in Q1 of 2024. Register here to learn more about the ways that UMortgage can elevate your business and make you a rising star in the mortgage industry.

PHILADELPHIA, PA., April 19, 2024 — Following up on its record-breaking year of growth that culminated in a 127% year-over-year increase in funded volume in 2023, UMortgage clearly outlined its path forward for the remaining 3 quarters of 2024 and the years to come in its Vision, Goals, and Priorities presentation on April 18th. It also announced new leadership to help those at the platform achieve these goals — including the promotion of Jimmy Hobson, former UMortgage West Branch Manager, as National Sales Leader. “As a company, we’ve come a long way,” stated Anthony Casa, President & CEO. “When I founded UMortgage in 2020, $2bil in volume seemed like the moon to us. Now, we’re coming off a year in 2023 where we funded just shy of $2bil with +128% year-over-year growth, and that’s down to the ways that we’ve developed our culture, processes, and identity to give us this platform that we’ve been able to build upon.” Having averaged 175% year-over-year growth every year since 2021, UMortgage has cemented itself as the fastest-growing mortgage company in the country. Less than 3 and a half years into its business cycle, the Philadelphia-based mortgage platform is placed among the top mortgage companies in the country with 20 Loan Originators featured in the 2024 Scotsman Guide Rankings. The evolution of leadership at UMortgage has been at the center of the platform’s growth since Casa founded the platform in 2020. During the presentation, it was announced that Hobson had been promoted to National Sales Leader. In his role, Hobson will implement set standards for loan submission, sales strategies, and marketing to foster a consistent mortgage experience across the organization. “I’m humbled to be able to continue to drive this incredible company forward as its National Sales Leader,” said Hobson. “What’s needed for UMortgage to take the next step is synergy with everything we do. I’m going to spearhead better collaboration between Sales and Operations, more coaching opportunities to get everyone pulling in the same direction, and stronger lender relationships. We have a lot of talent here and with better alignment and coaching, we can work our way straight to the top. Hobson joined UMortgage in 2021 to lead UMortgage West — the platform’s Utah-based branch — alongside fellow Branch Managers, Kyle Koller and Adam West. In less than 3 years, UMortgage West grew to become UMortgage’s highest-producing branch and served nearly 1,000 families for more than $340mil in volume in 2023. UMortgage is eager for Hobson to share the practices that helped facilitate UMortgage West’s growth across the entire organization. Christina Escobar, former Loan Specialist Team Leader, earned an executive role after being promoted to VP of People. UMortgage also formally welcomed Mike Farah as Director of Sales Operations. Farah previously worked at the New Jersey-based brokerage Garden State Home Loans as its VP of Operations. These new members of UMortgage’s executive leadership team will work together to help the platform reach multiple goals outlined in the Vision, Goals, and Priorities presentation. Under refreshed leadership, UMortgage has targeted benchmarks of 4 monthly fundings per LO, a loan cycle that’s 16 calendar days from TRID to clear to close, and a maximum cost per funded loan of $1,650. These goals are central to UMortgage’s plan to become the best mortgage company in America. For UMortgage, this means a team-centric culture that offers all associated parties a consistent, communicative, and relationship-driven client experience. With a fresh, experienced, and diverse leadership team driving these target goals, UMortgage plans to originate upwards of $6bil in yearly volume by the end of 2025. The platform is constantly growing and wants to do so with the best Loan Originators and Operations support in the country. Follow this link if you’re interested in learning more about UMortgage’s mission to create life-changing opportunities through homeownership. About UMortgage UMortgage is a national mortgage platform on a mission to create life-changing opportunities through homeownership for homebuyers across the country. With Loan Originators licensed from coast to coast, an expansive suite of lenders to shop from, and a quick, clear, & communicative homebuying process, UMortgage is ushering in a modern mortgage experience that can cater to any homebuyer.

Just six months into his role, Patton Gade’s positive influence on UMortgage’s success has been clear. With 33% of all loans originated by UMortgage representing VA loans, 133% growth within the UMortgage Veterans Alliance—a branch solely focused on serving homebuyers from the military community—and a drastic shift in the perception of VA loans throughout the organization, it’s hard to believe he joined the team as National Director of Military Lending just 6 months ago. As we celebrate half of a year of Patton and the positive impact he’s had across UMortgage’s entire organization, let’s reflect on some of the big milestones that he’s helped us reach. Patton Gade Joins UMortgage – October 2023 After spending more than 2 years as a Branch Manager at a large retail platform, Patton joined UMortgage to usher in a new standard for VA homebuying services for veteran and active-duty military members across the country. As the leader of UMortgage’s Military Lending Division, Patton set out on a vision to, “educate and serve veterans through their homeownership journey with the same selfless passion in which they serve our country.” Patton Shares His Mission as National Director of Military Lending on Cheddar News – November 2023 Shortly after he joined UMortgage, Patton made the short trek from UMortgage’s Philadelphia headquarters to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to help educate individuals across the nation on VA loan benefits with a segment on Cheddar News. His segment, which appropriately was broadcast just days before Veterans Day, centered around the ways that VA loans work, why they’re so beneficial to active-duty and veteran homebuyers, and what the process looks like to get a VA loan from a bird’s eye view. Just two weeks into his time at UMortgage, Patton’s commitment to VA homebuyers was on display for the world to see as he busted some of the most common myths for a national audience. UMortgage Finishes 2023 with 1,031 VA Borrowers Served – December 2023 Prior to Patton’s arrival, UMortgage already had a strong team of Loan Originators who specialized in VA loans and the veteran homebuying process. Jimmy Hobson—Branch Manager & Scotsman Guide-ranked VA Originator for each of the 3 years he’s spent at UMortgage—and Jay Bunte—Branch Manager and 2024 Scotsman-ranked VA originator—both laid a solid foundation for UMortgage’s VA expertise that Patton was easily able to build upon. With Patton leading UMortgage’s Military Lending Division, the innovative mortgage company demonstrated what’s to come long-term with 1,030 of its company-record 6,085 yearly funded units in 2023 accounting for VA loans. Additionally, as of April 16, 33% of UMortgage’s total loan volume in 2024 has come from VA loans. Patton Coordinates a VA Training Hosted by Jay Bunte – January 2024 Building a mortgage platform that’s well-suited to navigate the nuances of VA loans starts with education. In January, Jay Bunte, UVA Branch Manager and 2024 Scotsman Guide-ranked VA Originator, hosted a Daily Sales Huddle on the most common mistakes that he sees LOs make when originating VA loans. By providing hands-on educational opportunities from subject-matter experts, UMortgage is elevating every LO within the organization with the knowledge needed to offer a best-in-class homebuying experience for VA homebuyers. Through Patton’s leadership and Jay’s educational offerings, UMortgage engrains a set standard across the platform for consistent and excellent service. Patton Hosts Company-Wide Training on Smoothly Scaling Production – February 2023 Building a team of great VA LOs starts with a team of great LOs; to be a great LO, one needs a solid routine of repeatable and scalable daily sales activities. Before he earned his status as the nation’s top VA LO, Patton had to first master those skills mentioned previously. In late February, Patton led a Sales Huddle for UMortgage LOs on mastering the basics to efficiently scale production. During his presentation, he shared personal anecdotes on his journey from call center LO to a consistent $100 million yearly producer with the daily structure and sales strategies he followed to get to that point. This huddle was one of the many ways that Patton’s leadership and expertise stretched beyond just VA loans to lift all of UMortgage’s LOs in his six months as a leader within the platform. Patton Joins the Good. Better. Broker Podcast – March 2023 Having approached two full quarters at UMortgage, Patton’s vision as National Director of Military Lending had become crystal clear. With the foundation for UMortgage’s Military Lending Division laid, Patton joined UWM’s Good. Better. Broker. podcast to share an inside look at the team of VA loan experts that he’s building at UMortgage. Although his goal is to make UMortgage the nation’s best brokerage for VA homebuyers, Patton also endeavors to enhance VA homebuying experiences throughout the industry by dismantling barriers and ensuring veteran homeownership becomes more attainable nationwide. After discussing the ways that UMortgage is opening more doors for homeownership, he also shared commonplace practices that all loan officers should hold to serve military homebuyers with the kind of service befitting of their service to the country. Patton Ranked #2 On 2024 Scotsman Guide Top VA Volume Rankings – April 2023 Patton has long since established himself as one of the best VA Loan Originators in the nation. In early April, he was featured at #2 on the 2024 Scotsman Guide Top VA Volume rankings with $115,577.350 in VA loan volume with 213 veterans and active-duty military members served. Alongside Patton on the 2024 Scotsman Guide Top VA Originator Rankings were Jay Bunte (#22) and Jimmy Hobson (#85). Three LOs ranked in the top 100 is a company record for UMortgage; this accomplishment, coupled with the 133% growth seen by the UMortgage Veteran’s Alliance since Patton’s arrival, is a strong sign of great things to come for veteran homebuyers. If you want to contribute to this mission as a member of the UMortgage Veteran’s Alliance, register here for an opportunity to speak directly with Patton and other UMortgage leaders about the opportunities available at the platform.