Lenders have been downsizing their organizations since March of this year to keep pace with a shrinking market. Next year, the mortgage market is expected to plummet still more.
The bright side is lenders are getting creative – expect new loan products, new strategic alliances and new delivery systems – as the downtime is spent strategizing. Easy come, easy go. Well, maybe not that easy, but easier than the last time business disappeared overnight. That seems to be the conclusion of the nation's mortgage community, as it bids farewell to the boom times of the past several years and – well, quite frankly – hunkers down for leaner times. ...new products, rethinking consumer approaches…
Others express the same concerns. "It is time for a fresh look at the mortgage industry," says Joe Kelly, manager of the Service Savers division of National City Mortgage in Miamisberg, Ohio, which grew its origination business this year. "It is not enough to revisit old programs and stress the same old good…"
- Lawrence Richter Quinn
December 1999 - Mortgage Banking