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Retail Channel Trumps Wells Decline – HECM Originators October 2011

Now that we know November’s endorsement totals weren’t as scary as they could have been, it puts October’s reports in a different light. We reported in last month’s HECM Lenders that October endorsements were down -16.8%, owing primarily to Wells Fargo’s first big monthly decline.

Now that we have details available to report, it’s perhaps even more interesting that the broker/wholesale channel still declined faster than retail/direct, even though Wells Fargo’s decline was almost entirely felt on the retail side (Wells was 93% retail). Wholesale declined -18.3% vs. -16.1% for Retail, marking the fifth consecutive month of under-performance.

It’s logical then, to assume that other retail lenders did better in October than brokers in aggregate, and page 4 of our report makes it clear how each of the top 100 fared (although the list doesn’t distinguish retail lenders vs. brokers). A few notables:

  • American Advisors Group (#4) was up 49.3% in the month (and 132.5% year to date) – Retail
  • New Day Financial (#11) was up 34% – Retail
  • Great Oak Lending (#17) was up 34.8% – Retail
  • Open Mortgage (#23) was up 25% – Broker

Click the image below to access the full report:

HECM Originators

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