Texas broker retreated to retail after Dodd-Frank before his return
Texas-based broker Kenneth Travis (pictured), of Greenlight Mortgage, transitioned from retail to wholesale twice in his long career and has only one regret: He wishes he had stayed the first time.
“Knowing what I know now, I think the broker world is substantially heads and shoulders better than the retail side,” he said during a telephone interview with Mortgage Professional America, “for most people – not everyone, but a lot of people – just because of the technology from a consumer perspective and the savings you’re able to provide.”
In terms of the latter advantage, those touting the advantages of using a broker often cite data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act showing average savings of $9,400 for consumers for consumers retaining independent brokers – jumping to an average of $10,400 in savings for minority borrowers.
Soldiering through the rough spots
Yet Travis was candid when assessing the state of the current market marked by inflation and volatile mortgage rates. He commemorated his 20th year in the business in February, and said he’s never had a rougher time of it. Having formerly served in the US Marines for eight years, he’s toughened enough to endure current market shifts, he suggested.
“I’ve seen some ups and downs in the market,” he said. “I’ve experienced Dodd-Frank, I’ve experienced 2008 and that didn’t really affect me. I kind of felt market compressions in 2018 for the most time. But, man, I wanna tell you, 2022 and 2023 have been brutal. It’s been probably the worst two years I’ve had in my 20-year career.
That’s quite a statement considering the two other watershed moments he references in comparison. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (commonly known as Dodd-Frank) is sweeping legislation enacted in 2010 as an overhaul of financial regulation in the wake of the Great Recession. The causes of the latter crisis were varied but included a series of triggering events – arguably the most prominent being the burst housing bubble. Values of mortgage-backed securities fell dramatically, resulting in the collapse of several prominent investment banks or them having to be bailed out by the government.
Retreating to retail
While the Great Recession didn’t affect him personally, it altered his career trajectory. Having already been on the broker side by 2007, he succumbed to the blame game, casting brokers as having been part of the problem in pushing subprime mortgages for approval.
“They scared people into retail,” he recalled. “They were using the CFPB [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] and going to prison as recruitment,” he said only half-jokingly. He learned in retrospect he would’ve been fine: “Man, they weren’t interested in small broker shops,” he said. “They went after the big fish.”
He would later re-enter the broker space, culminating in his opening of Greenlight Mortgage as president and CEO by September 2022. While he expressed some regret at having left the broker channel in the first place, he acknowledged that it wasn’t what it is today. “The broker world was different back then,” he said. “There was very little support and technology wasn’t available like it is today.”
Despite its nascent status, Greenlight Mortgage is licensed in seven other states in addition to Texas: Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota and South Carolina.
His varied experience also prompted him to launch Next Level Loan Officers, meant to empower his fellow professionals. Among the offerings are live weekly coaching calls, a training library, webinars and a tailored app designed to enhance networking skills and the like.
With his second go-around as a broker, it’s back to basics. In his east Texas community of Longview, he’s built a reputation for helping military veterans – a client segment resonating with him given his own past service in the Marines.
He recalled a recent client: “I had a guy I was working with who was a veteran,” he began. “He worked with two or three different lenders who were telling him he couldn’t purchase a home because of this, or that, or whatever,” he said. “Somehow, he got to me and I told him I’m 90% sure it can be done, but let me just double check.”
He ran the loan by United Wholesale Mortgage, and the deal was ultimately approved. “It was so quick, the efficiency of finding out and being able to access the information on their resource page and get back to him as quickly as possible,” Travis said. “We ended up closing the deal three weeks later.” As for the veteran’s reaction: “He just couldn’t believe it after all the ‘no’s’, he had had.”
The name of the town from which Travis conducts business is said to have been coined by a railroad surveyor who exclaimed “What a long view!” as he gazed from the porch of the town founder’s home. In speaking with Travis, it’s clear he’s happy to have taken the long view by re-entering the broker channel the second time around.
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