“Suddenly, Homepoint is gone”
“Before things slid downhill in 2023, Homepoint was the firm number three wholesale lender – well liked, considerable volume, and because of the UWM/Rocket ultimatum, Homepoint was number two for a lot of people,” Brad Pettiford, senior director-corporate communications & brand strategy, wrote to Mortgage Professional America via email. “Suddenly, Homepoint is gone.”
By one measure, United Wholesale Mortgage commanded a 48% share of the market in the second quarter — “the first quarter in which Homepoint was essentially non-existent,” Pettiford noted. Such command of the market as UWM enjoys is unhealthy for a robust marketplace, Pettiford suggested: “I think it can be reasonably argued that a number that high is negative and potentially endangers the wholesale channel more than anything,” he wrote.
Even though The Loan Store continues to grow and add products and state license, it might yield greater fruit to refer to TLS as the “closest thing to Homepoint for those consumers with fond memories of Homepoint,” he said.
More competition is key
Brian Cooke, vice president and mortgage advisor at SunnyHill Financial, agreed. “More competition is good for any industry,” he said. “It keeps companies putting their best foot forward in every aspect of their business.”
“We work with six different wholesales partners regularly,” Cooke said. “I don’t think many brokers want to do this, they just pick one they’re comfortable with. All the wholesalers I work with I’d say are on par with all the others’ services – technology, speed. The industry isn’t faced with the capacity restraints like we were during the refi boom.”
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