UMortgage's 2023 Housing Market Predictions

In 2022, the UMortgage platform saw tremendous growth across the board with an exponential increase in the number of team members, loan originators, national footprint, and, most importantly, homeowners served. This year of accelerated development for the mortgage platform was capped by the year’s most successful quarter in Q4. To provide all individuals within the organization full transparency into the investments that allowed for this growth, the physical growth metrics, and the targeted areas for continued growth, President & CEO, Anthony Casa, hosted UMortgage’s Q4 Investor Call alongside CFO, Gil Arbitsman. “We believe this level of transparency creates accountability throughout our organization and helps our team members connect the work we are doing daily with the overall performance of our business,” said Casa. “We are incredibly excited about the exponential growth we have experienced over the last year and what we expect in the future.” An overarching theme of the investor call was UMortgage’s ability to grow during a historically poor quarter for the mortgage industry. UMortgage made several financial investments to restructure the platform and spur its growth, all of which paid dividends through Q4 and into Q1 of 2023. The UMortgage platform was built to solve the pain points that all loan originators experience, whether their background is at a retail mortgage company or a brokerage. These investments allowed UMortgage to emphasize the ways that they resolve these issues. Growth Signaled by High-Profile Recruitment A signal that UMortgage was best suited to address LO's most common pain points was sent to the rest of the mortgage industry when the platform announced in December of 2022 that it had hired mortgage broker advocate and icon, Todd Bitter, to be its Chief Sales Officer. Bitter boasts more than 25 years of experience within the mortgage industry and has spent the last five years prioritizing the education of fellow brokers to replicate the success he’s seen as one of the industry’s top producers. UMortgage’s ability to solve industry pain points also played a key role in its recruiting strategies as it acquired the #1 brokerages in both Ohio and Texas. The acquisitions of Dallas-based NXT Mortgage—the nation’s fastest-growing brokerage—and Breon Price’s Cincinnati-based branch of Motto Mortgage served as the catalysts to positively impact homebuyers in the Texas and Ohio markets and increase its recruiting footprint in those regions; 168 new loan originators from Ohio, Texas, and beyond were welcomed to UMortgage, more than doubling its roster from Q3. An increase in loan originators also led to an increase in homeowners served by the platform. UMortgage LOs managed a 70% year-over-year increase and an 11% quarter-over-quarter increase in homeowners served in Q4. They also more than doubled the number of rate locks in Q4 of 2022 with a 96% year-over-year increase. Investing in Employees at UMortgage Internally, one of the marquee initiatives of Q4 was to change UMortgage’s holding company from Premier Processing LLC to UMortgage LLC. This initiative allowed UMortgage to launch UShares—an employee stock option program that allows all team members to buy equity into the company as it continues to grow. UShares was officially launched midway through Q1 of 2023 thanks to those investments made in Q4. UMortgage also acted proactively by bolstering its Operations teams and proactively training new team members to support the influx of new LOs and the increased volume which would follow. This allowed those new LOs to hit the ground running upon joining the platform while avoiding any bottleneck as loans are processed and closed. Laying the Foundation for Growth in 2023 The investments made in Q3 and Q4 of 2022 helped set the stage for a historic Q1, and likely another groundbreaking year of growth for UMortgage. The platform has already started 2023 with plenty of momentum as it doubled its lock volume from Q4 of 2022 in the first quarter of the new year. During the call, Casa highlighted a goal to fund +2,000 loans monthly in Q4 of 2023. Aside from the continued growth of UMortgage’s roster of LOs, UMortgage will also invest in the development of its current LOs through a LO coaching program which will provide the tools and knowledge needed to increase an individual's average monthly funded loans by 50%. This growth isn’t stopping any time soon. The UMortgage platform plans to continue to create life-changing opportunities through homeownership with the brightest LOs in the country. Every Wednesday at 2pm ET, Casa shares how Loan Originators Powered by UMortgage are set up for success with a community of industry experts and fellow LOs to lean on, a growing selection of lenders and loan products, and best-in-class support staff that helps LOs focus on what they do best—originate loans.

On February 28th and March 1st, UMortgage brought together more than 150 of its loan originators, Operations staff, corporate leaders, and team members for its Relationships Not Transactions Summit. This two-day event hosted at the Four Seasons in UMortgage’s hometown of Philadelphia sought to emphasize the importance of genuine, authentic relationships to turn referral partners from surface-level business transactions into life-long alliances. The event broke down these relationship-boosting tactics into three key actions: attract, engage, and retain. By hitting these three measures, individuals can connect on a deeper level with their referral partners and foster a working relationship that can stand the test of time. “The Relationships Not Transactions Summit was an incredible couple of days for us to come together as a team to strengthen our relationships, learn, share, and get better individually and collectively,” said UMortgage President & CEO, Anthony Casa. “Our people are what makes us special, our relationships are what makes us most valuable, and when we share that value with members of our local communities, we can really make an impact.” During the event, overarching themes included the importance of establishing a foundation of trust, ensuring your relationships are reciprocal instead of one-sided, and that consistently providing value can make oneself a go-to resource. After all, with rates rising once again, a world-class client experience for both borrowers and agents is even more paramount. To help one another grow as a team and continue to improve that client experience—which has earned UMortgage an industry-best 95 net promoter score—attendees shared their personal experiences and tactics to attract, engage with, and retain those partners and clients, as well as ideas to further build upon that experience. In fact, a highlight of the event’s first day was a panel led by four UMortgage’s LOs: Jay Bunte, Keena Gehringer, David Koch, and Kristen Morgan. They shared specific strategies that they employ in their local communities to lift one another up and connect with others in the real estate industry on a more-genuine level, such as charming charity events, engaging educational seminars, locally sourced baked goods, and friendly neighborhood forums. Success also requires recognition to maintain a positive environment centered around individual and collective growth. Along with a record month for funded loans, Casa presented awards to individuals within the organization who exemplify each of UMortgage’s five core values. Recipients were a mix of loan originators, operations leaders & team members, and corporate team members. The award winners were as follows: Create Strong Communities Award: David Koch (Loan Originator) & Natalie Mothorpe (Closer)  Experience is Everything Award: Sonja Thomas (Loan Processor) & Denisa Hyseni (Operations Team Leader)  Get Better Every Day Award: Melanie Lynch (Director of Talent Acquisition) and Adam West (Loan Originator)  Relationships Not Transactions Award: Bill Kessler (Human Resources Team Leader) & Shaun Hamman (Branch Manager)  Own the Moment Award: Victoria Blackie (Loan Originator) & Roberto Rellini (Operations Team Leader and Escalation Manager)  The UMortgage platform has grown in a shrinking market by identifying the pain points of our current loan originators in their previous companies—whether that be a retail shop or their own brokerage—and addressing those pain points with value-based solutions. After a record month for loans funded this February, it’s clear that UMortgage’s platform allows loan originators to win over referral partners and clients in any market. If you’d like to learn more about the platform’s four-pronged approach to success, sign up for the weekly UMortgage Discovery Meeting, which is hosted by Casa every Thursday at 2pm ET.

Following a massive year of growth capped by big-name additions in the month of December, UMortgage signaled its intent to continue to grow and develop its innovative platform after announcing its new Q1 Goals, Priorities, and Deliverables to kick off 2023. Each of these goals aims to fuel the continued growth of the UMortgage platform and aligns with its vision to create life-changing opportunities through homeownership. UMortgage's 2023 Q1 Goals #GetBetterEveryDay Since UMortgage was founded in 2020, it has been committed to the evergreen resolution to Get Better Every Day. While every goal listed in this blog falls under the umbrella of individual and collective development, a high level of Report Up engagement will provide direct avenues for the company to continue to grow through transparent feedback and thoughtful solutions. #CreateStrongCommunities UMortgage is always looking to invest in the best and brightest stars of the mortgage lending industry. The goal to reach 500 total Loan Originators by the end of Q1 stays consistent with UMortgage’s commitment to continue to grow while also forecasting month-over-month business. Concurrently, a growing roster of LOs will theoretically increase the number of communities that UMortgage is able to impact. Together with that goal is a goal of 1,000 total homeowners served, which directly feeds into UMortgage’s vision to create life-changing opportunities through homeownership. #RelationshipsNotTransactions UMortgage and its team of LOs have built their businesses by prioritizing Relationships, Not Transactions in their local communities. Onboarding new LOs can help reach those communities but retaining its team of loan originators through strong relationships and support ensures that the platform continues to maintain those communities across the nation. To properly measure the impact our LOs make in their communities, UMortgage has also set benchmarks for total credit pulls and total loans locked in the quarter. Credit pulls are a leading indicator that allows UMortgage to predict the potential volume of locks across the following 30 days and total loans locked helps monitor progress on the evergreen goal of increased loan origination volume. #ExperienceIsEverything For UMortgage, Experience is Everything. This includes the client experience, realtor experience, and even the loan originator experience. The smoothest possible loan process is one of the aspects that makes UMortgage stand out against its competitors, making the goals under the #ExperienceIsEverything umbrella paramount to the success of the organization. Faster cycle times are one of the most noticeable ways to foster a greater client experience. As UMortgage improves its operational processes, it has set the goal to maintain a 12-day cycle time from App Complete to CTC by the end of Q1. The measure of a better client experience can be seen directly with a high Net Promoter Score (NPS). UMortgage has maintained a best-in-class NPS above 90 since Q2 of 2022 and will aim to maintain a score above 93 in Q1 of 2023. To ensure that the LO experience remains the best in the industry, UMortgage has created a LO-specific NPS survey and will aim to achieve a score above 90 for the quarter. #OwnTheMoment To continue to promote accountability and improve every day, UMortgage prioritizes the ability to Own the Moment. Credit pull-to-funded pull-through and lock-to-funded pull-through metrics measure UMortgage’s operational efficiency and will help improve these processes throughout the quarter. Additionally, a lower active loan escalation rate will allow the organization to identify the types and frequencies of escalations received week-over-week. These evaluations will help identify real-time coaching opportunities which may shed more light on Report Up & peer-to-peer themes. Finally, to keep the company accountable in achieving these goals that have been set, UMortgage will aim to accomplish 90% of the deliverable commitments completed during the prior quarter. This is a metric that reflects how well UMortgage was able to forecast projects that impacted the business, allocate the right resources towards these goals, and stay committed and focused on the delivery of these goals. At the Executive Leadership level, it’s crucial that the company continues to spend the right time, money, and resources on projects that will continue to help UMortgage grow and develop into the best mortgage platform for loan originators, real estate agents, and borrowers. If you’d like to learn more about the UMortgage platform and its big plans for 2023, sign up for the weekly UMortgage Discovery Call which occurs every Thursday at 2pm EDT.