AIME helps in retail to wholesale migration

“When we talk about the biggest reasons why retail is migrating into wholesale, the largest component is market compression,” he said. “Brokers now have the speed and technology to offer their client a better service than what they’ve ever been able to, due to having quality wholesale partners that allow independent mortgage experts across the country to operate with the same technology if not better than retail originators have but without needing 17 or 18 layers of management above them to be able to originate.”

He invoked his day job to illustrate the dynamic. “At my company, we’re number two or three in the country with about 500 loan officers,” he said. “The majority work at home. That used to be a daunting task, without having the technology or speed to help deliver a referable experience.” This has changed, he said, “due to advances in technology and wholesale partners really going all in and helping brokers across the country.”

Notwithstanding the dizzying pace of technological advancement, the concept is fundamental: “We’re in the business of selling money. As a mortgage professional – whether you designate me as a broker or banker or loan originator – my sole duty is to give my clients a great transaction, and a great transaction relies on interest rate, process, and cost. And right now, wholesale is dominating that.”

He ticked off some of the advantages of securing the services of an independent broker rather than turning to retail. “We’re proven to have a lower interest rate, lower cost, and our speed of service. Right now, it is blowing the doors off retail because they’ve also been forced to lay off a lot of people recently. You’ve read about the mass number of layoffs happening nationwide from retail lenders whereas on the wholesale side, it’s been the opposite.”

Again, he tore a headline from company news: “At least for us, we’ve been growing and you’re starting to see a lot of other companies growing on the wholesale side as well,” he said.