Having assessed the lenders’ financial position, the decision to merge was solidified. “Luckily, Doorway and many companies have a couple of great years where we’re able to establish a good war chest of operational success and liquidity to get through this period. For many companies, this is really an opportunity to reassess and look at their goals. In the case of Priority Mortgage, they said ‘hey look, we just think we’d be more successful as part of a larger enterprise. We can have a little more economy of scale, a little more synergy.’ And that led to us having conversations to bring our two companies together.”
The merger allows Doorway Home Loans to essentially have a hub in a part of the country where it already has loan officers originating loans, Danilowicz noted.
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“Here’s what it really comes down to,” he said. “Number one, we’re able to combine our two production pipelines – their loan originators join our loan originators. in the world of mortgage banking, volume typically allows us to command improved pricing, improved service, and just an overall better execution on the sale of our loans to aggregators and investors when we can pull together a large number of loans when we sell. So, in that regard, just by raising our top line revenue, that’s a help to both companies.
“And then the other dimension to this is from our perspective, as a California-based company. For a long time, I’ve been looking to find an East Coast-based based operation that could help us provide better operational support to our East Coast-based loan originators. Doorway in the last couple of years has expanded into 30 states, so we’re now licensed in 30 states across the US. Most states with the exception of the northeast – which is a tough regulatory environment, we’re not so active there – but in other parts of the country we’ve got loan officers scattered about. I wanted to give them better access to folks in their time zone but also people who are culturally a little bit closer to their sensibilities and create an environment that would be a little more comfortable for our Eastern-based loan originators. So now having this hub in Columbus, Ohio, really ensures our borrowers will be better served, our loan officers will get better attention. So there’s a great synergy from that as well.”
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