A shift in the mortgage lending landscape and increasing emphasis on company culture are just two of the major changes the mortgage industry has experienced over the past 40 years, STRATMOR Group Senior Partner and co-founder Jeff Babcock said in the company’s latest Insights Report.
In the report, Babcock, who is set to retire at the end of the year, shared some of the lessons he’s learned since the mortgage advisory firm was founded in 1981. The number of strategic opportunities, challenges, changes and outright threats that the mortgage industry has seen during that time “literally staggers my imagination,” he said.
“Today, the top 30 lenders account for less than 60 percent of the total market, down from 90 percent just 10 years ago,” Babcock said in the release. “Further, our industry still has relatively low barriers to entry, despite complex regulatory requirements, thus creating great opportunities for upward mobility.”
Additionally, 23 of the top 30 lenders today were not among the top 30 lenders 10 years ago, according to STRATMOR Group’s research.
According to the InFocus article “STRATMOR Celebrate Our Founding Partner Jeff Babcock,” one of the biggest changes has been the trend toward less concentration of volume among the top mortgage players. Not counting mortgage brokers and vendors, the mortgage industry is currently home to several hundred lenders of scale, with significant fragmentation among them.
A few more of the lessons Babcock discusses in the article focused on independent mortgage banks being here to stay, company culture being critical to achieving success in the industry, and the idea that winning teams are built on collaboration.
As Babcock’s retirement approaches, numerous colleagues and clients praised contributions to the industry.
“Jeff uses the data that STRATMOR collects very wisely,” Rob Chrisman, STRATMOR senior advisor and author of the popular “Rob Chrisman Daily News and Commentary,” said. “His grasp of trends in the business is matched only by his curiosity about the industry. He is very good at asking the right questions and then analyzing the answers against what he knows or has heard from others.”
Wintrust Mortgage CEO David Hrobon is a “raving” fan of Babcock’s, whom he worked closely with identifying acquisition targets for the company.
“Jeff works as a salesperson in the beginning, and then he takes that hat off and becomes a data analyst and financial modeling guru,” Hrobon said. “Along the way, he plays psychiatrist to everybody involved to keep people focused on the prize and to help eliminate some anxiety. He’s gifted at all of this, which is a rare attribute.”
STRATMOR CEO Lisa Springer added her praise.
“Jeff set the tone for our entire company. Our vision, our purpose, and our core values are based on his work over the past 40 years,” she said. “Jeff brought high integrity, an incredible work ethic, and the mantra that we live by, ‘The most successful lenders live by their numbers; they embrace change and create a culture of accountability and transparency.’ STRATMOR is committed to carrying on that tradition and guiding our clients to do the same.”