UMortgage Investor Call Highlights Exponential Growth in Q3

Here at UMortgage, we’re committed to promoting radical transparency across our entire organization. As part of that commitment, we hosted our first quarterly Investor Call to give all UMortgage team members and Loan Originators an inside look at UMortgage’s year-to-date financial performance and future investments planned by the platform through Q3 and into the final quarter of 2022.

During the 40-minute presentation, Anthony Casa—UMortgage President & CEO—and Gil Arbitsman—UMortgage CFO—shared some of the many ways that UMortgage has grown in 2022, including year-over-year funded volume growth, quarter-over-quarter lock volume growth, annual purchase volume growth and quarter-over-quarter LO headcount.

Despite a 60% downturn in funded loans across the entire mortgage industry in 2022, UMortgage saw 379% growth from the end of Q3 in 2021 and Q3 in 2022. Forward momentum across the organization saw exponential quarterly growth in terms of funded loans as well, with a 32% increase between Q2 and Q3 this year.

Locked loans also saw exponential growth across Q2 and Q3 this year, with a 34% increase quarter-over-quarter. This increase “tells us where we’re going and indicates future buyers,” according to Casa during the call.

Now, what’s driving this growth? While UMortgage loan originators are able to maximize their business using this innovative platform, an exponential increase in its roster of LOs drove company-wide growth in Q3. Between the second and third quarter this year, UMortgage onboarded 103 new LOs for a 112% increase. But according to Casa, these numbers mean much more than UMortgage having a strong year.

“For UMortgage, it’s not just winning the quarter; it’s understanding that we’re focused on the long-term,” said Casa. “We’re focused on building a platform which is the best platform for Loan Originators to build and scale their business, but also serve their consumers and serve their community. We’re focused on creating this platform which loan originators don’t want to leave because it’s predictable and easy to use.”

During the call, the pair also took a look forward to the ways in which the organization will continue to get better every day by covering some of the major investments made into technology, recruiting, and operations.

Highlighting these investments included the hiring of Sabrina Lopez as Vice President of Operations. Lopez joined UMortgage with more than a decade of experience in the mortgage industry, most recently as Managing Director of TPO Production at Homepoint.

One of Lopez’s first initiatives after joining UMortgage’s executive team was the company’s first Operations Open House which kicked off a plan to onboard an influx of loan processors, loan coordinators, operations support, and closers across the next three quarters to match the growth of its roster of Loan Originators. 

Additionally, experience at publicly-traded companies within the housing industry has been an important factor when investing in UMortgage’s executive leadership team. The company’s eight executive leaders bring professional experience from Homepoint, United Wholesale Mortgage, Freedom Mortgage, Guaranteed Rate, LoanDepot, AIME, and American Financial Resources.

“Our leadership team has made a conscious effort to forego short-term profits in order to build for the future,” said Arbitsman. “We think there's a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on what’s going on in the market currently. We’re confident that by 2024—when rates drop—we’ll be in a position to maximize this business’ potential and continue to scale at a fast rate.”

Finally, Arbitsman also touched on a corporate restructuring which will soon be taking place at UMortgage. By creating a new holding company—UM Group Holding Company, LLC—and changing the name from Premier Processing, LLC to UMortgage LLC, dba, UMortgage will be able to distribute shares to new shareholders and create opportunities for non-originating team members to own shares of the company.

The call closed with some updates to UMortgage’s Capital Raise. As of the end of Q3, UMortgage was given a valuation of $18m—a $6m rise from the start of Q2 of 2022. “The interest in investing in UMortgage was through the roof,” said Arbitsman before sharing that the company has a group of 28 shareholders who are actively invested in the continued growth of the company.

Growing in a shrinking market isn’t for everyone, and that’s evident with reports about local competitors recently laying off 1,000 employees surfacing this week. Behind innovative technology with Loan Originator business growth top of mind, robust operations support helping create industry-leading turn times, and a growing portfolio of lenders and loan products to help LOs compete in any market, it’s evident that UMortgage is set to change the future of the mortgage industry. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the ways that UMortgage is disrupting the status quo for other mortgage lending platforms to benefit Loan Originators and their clients, sign up for the weekly UMortgage Discovery Meeting, happening every Thursday at 2pm ET.