Mortgage Technology

Mortgage Technology

Mortgage Technology, June 2006 issue

Brankers Unite!

A new organization has emerged that caters specifically to the broker wishing to move into a banker position. BrankerConnect, Novato, Calif., is a partnership formed in January of this year, between Garrett Watts & Co., a national mortgage banking consulting firm, and ComUnity Lending, a nationwide mortgage banker founded in 1980, with 108 retail branches in 39 states.

The BrankerConnect proposition is that they will mentor the broker through the conversion process, while managing the operational aspects of banking, including furnishing the technology, until the broker can function independently as a banker. Additionally, they will help the prospective banker develop a relationship with two warehouse lenders.

The technology consists of a proprietary system called Seamless, with a SQL database, Web interface and a data interface with the warehouse lender, built in-house by ComUnity Lending 13 years ago. "It draws docs, has all loan level data, has an interface into their accounting system. So essentially we're renting the mortgage banking platform to mortgage brokers," said Corky Watts, a pioneer in the development of the Web for mortgage lending.

"Part of the value proposition is we will train the operational people, and after they have gone through the two-week training program, there's another two weeks at our Nevada training office working on the prospective banker's files," explained Mr. Watts. "So it ends up being about a four-week period altogether, depending on how they do with the training. Some might take an extra week."
After the training, BC imbeds "Mortgage Masters" in the broker's shop. These experienced people do all the underwriting, documents and funding - only for loans to be funded and purchased by ComUnity Lending. ComUnity then performs due diligence after closing.

Mr. Watts explained that a small, recently converted mortgage banker, who has a minimum net worth, is at a comparative disadvantage compared with a larger bank, with worse pricing. "So essentially what ComUnity is doing, through getting all of these prospective bankers together and pooling all the loans, is to get a better execution than these guys would get if they were trying to deliver on their own. We feel that we can get a better price and then pass that benefit on to them," he said.

"We just started this," he added. "We have a couple of betas. This is brand new, as it's only been in effect for about 90 days. We actually funded our first loan about two weeks ago."
(c) 2006 Mortgage Technology and SourceMedia