Mortgage lenders say remote work cut costs, hint at new office model

Mortgage companies are giving remote operations mixed reviews and indicated they plan to use a wide range of hybrid business models post-pandemic, Fannie Mae found in a special edition of its lender sentiment survey released Tuesday.

Nearly 80% of over 200 senior executives surveyed plan on keeping anywhere from 21-80% of workers at home post-pandemic, given that 62% found productivity rose and 51% were able to cut costs. However, 52% found employee communication suffered.

Long-term remote operations are now more likely than they were prior in March of last year, but companies are unlikely to go all-in on the strategy permanently. Some origination and servicing positions will move back to the office, the survey found. About 77 percent of lenders expect an increase in requests for permanent remote work arrangements.

“While remote work has been a success, as measured by productivity gains and operating cost savings, the physical office will also play an important role in fostering collaboration,” said Mark Palim, vice president and deputy chief economist at Fannie Mae, in the report.

A relatively high percentage of respondents thought people in the following jobs should return to the office: senior executives, 51%; those working with consumer customers, 28%; servicing employees, 19%; loan officers, 16%; administrative support, 16%; and closers, 15%.

“C-suites need more interaction and quicker off [the] cuff discussions than Zoom allows for. Debate is limited when people are separated,” one anonymized respondent from a small lender said in a comment related to why senior executives are likely to be based on-site.

The need for physical documents, wet signatures, access to mail, notaries and payments were among the reasons respondents cited for wanting servicing employees, LOs and closers in an office.

There were 236 respondents to Fannie’s survey representing 214 different companies broken down as follows: small, 93; medium, 61; and large, 60. Mortgage banks, depositories and credit unions were all represented in the survey.

Fannie defined large firms as those whose originations totaled more than $1.25 billion in 2019. Mid-sized companies funded between $379 million and $1.25 billion that year, and small businesses produced less than $379 million in 2019.