For Southern Top Producers, the inventory shortage curtails business

A larger percentage of the Top Producers from the South were very concerned about the effect of the housing inventory shortage than the nationwide sample of participants in NMN’s Top Producers ranking.

In the survey, conducted in January and February, those that track listing data noted that potential sellers were not putting their properties up for sale — a condition that persists today. Even as the purchase market has rebounded strongly in recent months, it has led to higher prices and reduced affordability given the low number of homes on the market.

When it comes to first time home buyers, 35% of loan officers based in the South said they were very concerned about the inventory shortage affecting this group, versus 31% of all respondents. Over three-quarters, 77%, of Southern loan officers expressed any degree of concern, versus 71% of the nationwide total.

Asked about the effect on move-up buyers, 27% of respondents based in Southern states were very concerned about the shortage, the highest share among the four regions.

It is the single greatest challenge in real estate, said Alexander Jaffe, the branch sales manager with First Home Mortgage in Chevy Chase, Md.

"With low housing stock, the opportunity for buyers to purchase housing affordably, and therefore for us to make loans to them, is limited,” Jaffe wrote. “We should work with all levels of government to address this need, as affordable and available housing have multiple documented benefits for all."

When asked about the biggest issues within the originations market today, Robby Oakes, the managing director of Corporate Mortgage Investors Group of Morehead City, N.C., noted a need for greater transparency within the relationship between loan officers and the real estate brokers.

"There [are] still too many marketing services agreements and desk rentals driving up consumer costs," Oakes said. "Consumers need to know what they are paying and who is benefiting from a relationship between a real estate agent and a MLO. The answer should always be the consumer."

But the relationship between the three groups need not be contentious, said Max Leaman, the CEO, branch manager and senior loan officer of LoanPeople, an Austin, Texas-based company.

"For example, intuitive loan applications pull credit and allow borrowers to match mortgages to properties," Leaman wrote. "Efficiency such as this saves time for customers and loan officers, providing the client valuable credit information faster, and enabling the loan officer to review and qualify files with less organization work."

Here are the top 20 originators based in the South: