One of the biggest challenges for third party originators can be keeping all of your lenders on the same page. The more lenders you have, the harder it can be to keep everyone updated on rate sheets, pricing, and your different borrowers and who is assigned to whom. Keeping these things in check is key for third party originators, though, as doing so keeps your business running smoothly and efficiently.

We often talk about the importance of putting your rates online. Doing so gives your business exposure to thousands of online borrowers, on a platform that is still growing and completely changing the way the entire mortgage industry operates. Our online auto quoting tools are one such way that you can gain that increased exposure for your business. Mortech is the trusted source to provide mortgage rates to sites like Zillow, Lending Tree, QuinStreet, and Smart Asset, processing millions of transactions daily across those marketplaces. And as more transactions happen and more online borrowers are exposed to your business, people start to take notice.

Mortech has been named to HousingWire’s HW TECH100™ list of the housing economy’s most innovative companies for 2017, as announced by HousingWire earlier today.

This distinction is Mortech’s fourth-consecutive year of being recognized for its innovation in mortgage technology solutions, which have streamlined mortgage pricing, secondary desk, online rate quoting, and lead management operations for mortgage lenders across the country. The TECH100™ was created to recognize mortgage technology companies who are transforming an industry that sees more growth in, and reliance on, technology each year.

A growing question in the mortgage industry is: “when should I think about mortgage hedging?” After all, for those with the capability to hedge, doing so should be a no-brainer. Properly hedging your pipeline mitigates risk and allows for the execution of trades on hedge products that allow you to make more money. And at the end of the day, who doesn’t want that?

Often when considering mortgage hedging, though, you have to think about the barrier to entry, and if you’re ready to jump in or not. While there isn’t an exact number that you can point to as the right amount of money you should be seeing each month before hedging, there’s a pretty defined range that you can see if you fall into. Typically, lenders want to be on the higher side of between $12-15 million dollars in monthly hedgeable loans before considering mortgage hedging. And while being closer to $12 million can work, it’s typically best to wait until you’re at least trending toward the higher end of that range before diving in.

But then, once you’ve evaluated how much money you’re seeing monthly in hedgeable loans, and you’ve decided that mortgage hedging is something you want to get into, what’s the next step? That’s where Mortech comes in.

Gone are the days of, “I’ll get that to you tomorrow”. Ever since the internet began powering our everyday lives, the world has become that of instant gratification, for better or worse. Everything from the news we get, to the way we communicate happens instantly, and waiting too long can drive those you’re communicating with crazy. These same ideas have spread into how businesses, and even entire industries, operate. As communicating and working together becomes faster and more simplified, utilizing these tools keep your business ahead of the curve.

In the last six months, mortgage rates have taken a sharp turn from the direction they were headed for much of the last two years. After a steady decline, rates shot back up at the beginning of November in 2016, and despite dropping some, they still remain substantially higher than they were at any point in the last two years.

However, as rates have gone up, so has online quoting by lenders.

Over the six-month span, as rates began to climb, online quoting and advertising by lenders followed suit. As interest rates rise, and refinances dwindle, online quoting is a great way for lenders to get their brand in front of thousands of potential borrowers on a daily basis. By quoting online to marketplaces like Zillow, Bankrate®, and LendingTree®, you can find more long-term borrower contacts, and reach them with the most accurate depiction of a product you can offer.

If the last six months are any indication, rates may not be dropping again any time soon. Are you staying competitive, and getting your rates in front of potential long-term borrowers? Are you providing them with the most accurate and updated rates, and reaching out to them as soon as possible? Mortech has the tools you need to do that and more. Together with Mortech, you can keep filling your pipeline with leads, and also be equipped with the tools you need to distribute and nurture those prospects.

Mortgages have come a long way since 2007. After the housing bubble burst, many wondered if the market would ever recover, and if it did, how long it would take? Now, a little over six years have passed since the U.S. Treasury announced it would be providing unlimited support to Fannie and Freddie, despite the huge losses at the time. We can now look back at what the market’s recovery has looked like.

The correlation of data is pretty straightforward – as rates began to decrease in 2010, the average loan amount for the year trended upward, and after 2012 when rates went on a two-year climb, average loan amounts responded by dropping. It’s interesting to note that other than the drastic change in 2012, which led to a responsively less ideal next two years, the data was pretty consistent in trending one direction. Even when rates had risen for the second straight year in 2014, they were still lower than 2011 or 2010, and when they began to drop again in 2015 and 2016, average loan amounts shot up to the highest they were in the entire period.

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? You shouldn’t just set goals for your personal life though; lenders should also set business goals for themselves, and set out to provide better service to their customers, get bigger returns, and improve overall performance. Fortunately, with Mortech at your side, these goals you set can be a lot more achievable than something like going to the gym every day.

With that in mind, here are four things you can do right now to start improving your business throughout the coming year, all with Mortech’s help along the way.

The past year has been a busy one for the mortgage world. With 2016 in its final few days, we wanted to compare this year to 2015, and look at any changes year-to-year – something we did with 2015’s statistics this time a year ago.

Across the board, mortgage data took mostly positive turns over the past year. Average mortgage rates saw a decline – to be expected with the Fed’s choice not to raise rates – but the average LTV for the year also shrank compared to the year prior. Both of these are in spite of slightly lower average FICO scores, however that difference from a year ago is the most minimal of the three. Moving forward, average rates will likely discontinue their two-year decline, as the Fed has already announced that Fed Funds Rate increases will happen more than once in 2017.

As for months with the most lock activity, January went from first to worst in the twelve-month span, going from the month with the most locks in 2015 to the least in 2016. Meanwhile, August took over the top spot for most locks this year, which would make sense considering that rates were hitting their lowest point before starting to climb again in October and November.