Synergy One rolls out homebuilder division

Synergy One is diversifying its product offerings, announcing last week the launch of a homebuilder division—a move the company has been mulling for more than a year.

The San Diego-based lender is now offering single-family construction loans to building partners. Over time, the mortgage shop aims to introduce builder forward commitments, too. 

Synergy One's 2024 acquisition of Mann Mortgage provided a good foundation for the company's push into the homebuilding space, said Steve Majerus, CEO of Synergy. 

The purchase of the Montana-based mortgage company brought with it originators and administrative employees that have expertise required to launch such an initiative.

"We have the product and processes built out and the liquidity from our partners, so a solid foundation to spring into this," Majerus added. Synergy hopes that its loan product will attract small to mid-sized builders and give its loan officers more tools to be successful.

The added value proposition will aid in the company's overall growth initiative. Majerus hopes building loans will attract other originators to the company. The CEO added that his company is "aggressively pursuing growth opportunities" right now, which may include more company acquisitions in the near future.

Apart from acquiring Mann Mortgage, Synergy also brought on board 11 former Draper & Kramer Mortgage offices that opted out of a deal in which their parent company sold its single-family lending assets to New American Funding. 

As such its roster of originators has grown. The mortgage lender has almost 400 sponsored LOs, per the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System as of Feb. 7. It is licensed in 49 states and has approximately 75 branches. 

Apart from growing headcount, Synergy has also doubled down on giving its originators cutting edge technology tools to be competitive.

Most recently, the company rolled out an internally facing AI chatbot, dubbed Synergy GPT. The main function of the chatbot is to help employees easily locate information. 

Additionally, Synergy launched a tool called Clarity, which provides a point-of-sale as well as quality control in the origination process.

Majerus in a separate interview highlighted 2025 plans to "incorporate AI in the loan process itself in a more meaningful way."

"We do think that pushing more analytics to the very front end of the process is an opportunity that is just staring us right in the face," he added.