Opening Remarks: Heidi Patalano, Editor in Chief, National Mortgage News

Opening remarks for the 2023 Digital Mortgage Conference from Heidi Patalano, Editor in Chief, National Mortgage News.

Transcription:

Heidi Patalano (00:09):

Good morning. Welcome to Digital Mortgage 2023. I'm Heidi Patalano, Editor in Chief of National Mortgage News in Arizent brand. It is an absolute honor to share this space with you and to be among some of the most ambitious, tenacious, forward-thinking people in the home lending business. It is not an easy time to be operating in this industry, but in the midst of declining origination, volume, thinning margins, layoffs, consolidation, you've endured and despite all of the hurdles you made it here to learn, to connect, to be inspired, and most essentially to grow your business for the future. It's fitting that one of our keynote speakers, Glenn Stearns, the CEO of Kind Lending and an undercover billionaire, is here to talk about his new autobiography as a cancer survivor and the founder of what was once one of the largest lenders in the country, Stearns Lending. Mr. Sterns has capitalized the word grit within his book's title, integrity, my Slow and Painful Journey to Success. Grit is certainly what most of us need at this moment, and it's not in short supply. Here at this conference following a couple of the busiest years the field has ever seen, headwinds over the past several months have tested your metal, and while it's true that it's not the first time, this intrinsically cyclical business has faced a slowdown, the challenges this time around have some unique features. For example, I've heard it pointed out over and over again over the past year that double digit mortgage interest rates used to be a norm. You think 7% is bad. You have no idea. I've heard it said, and that may be true, but home prices are also so out of step with what aspiring homeowners can actually pay for a property.

(02:09)

Affordability is at the lowest it's been since 1984 according to a recent report from Black Knight. So at the same time, student loan payments are soon to resume, and it can seem that the obstacles to home ownership are only growing for younger generations. So in a time when current homeowners are locked into their bargain, basement, COVID era interest rates, the cohort who want to get into home ownership at this somewhat inopportune time have some practical and frankly psychological hurdles to overcome. Lenders have the challenge of trying to show them what's within their reach. New research produced by Arizent, which we'll be discussing in just a moment on this stage, has sought to measure just how receptive younger audiences are to marketing outreach that speaks directly to their needs.

(03:01)

It may not surprise you to learn that younger folks are far less concerned about their privacy than older generations. A substantial share said that they would be receptive to, for example, marketing that harnesses Geolocating technologies to pinging them after they visited an open house, for example, but more on that later. Another unique feature of today's market is that consumer expectations are far different than they were 10 years ago or even five years ago. When we're able to procure so much of what we need in our lives with a few taps on our phones while we're on a walk or say waiting to board a flight to Las Vegas, the prospect of a weeks' long process to get a mortgage just doesn't compute anymore, and in no time that will be flat out unacceptable to consumers if it isn't already.

(03:51)

Those who provide the fastest, easiest ways to get information and services will be the only viable businesses, and you're here because you know that's true. As younger generation C, home ownership, it's more urgent than ever that lenders provide those potential customers and the loan officers they employ with the digital tools that take as much friction out the process as possible. We're here to show you the strategies and software tools that will help you do that. Our tech demo competition, which you'll be seeing on this stage, will introduce you to some of the newest capabilities out there, many the most in the field have never seen before. I want to thank our esteemed panel of judges and the sponsor of the Competition Lending Tree for coming together for what is sure to be a lively contest. At the same time, one of the busiest topics in every profession really has been artificial intelligence, similar to how instantaneous consumer transactions have become the perceived norm.

(04:53)

Tools like Chat GPT are moving the goalposts. We have quickly adapted to having personalized, customized accurate assistance at our fingertips, but how do we take advantage of the powerful potential of these technologies in ways that also ensure the fairness and safety for our lender and our borrower? We'll be hosting a number of discussions featuring regulators, great legal minds, heads of some of the biggest investors in the secondary markets to hear about how their thinking about the safe implementation of these technologies and how they are seeking to help lenders and using them to ultimately drive the cost to produce loans down on this stage later today, you'll be hearing from Mark Calabria, the, excuse me, Former Head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency regulator to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Analyst Chris Waylan, about the role of regulators in encouraging technology adoption among lenders. You'll also get some great insights from them about how they See the mortgage landscape changing over the next few years.

(06:01)

I'm also really proud to welcome our other keynote speaker, Daniel Burris. He's a Disruptive Innovation Expert who will be speaking tomorrow about how artificial intelligence can drive innovation and growth at your company. I've been so impressed with getting to know him and his information, sponge type qualities. He has put together a presentation that really meets the moment for lenders, and I have no doubt that you'll come away from the experience feeling as though some of the intangibles about this technology have been demystified for you. And also this year at Digital Mortgage, I'm thrilled to say that we're hosting a very impressive roster of ladies for the women leading in mortgage and FinTech discussions. I'm so grateful to these talented individuals who have shared their time and expertise with us, and I'm really looking forward to hearing their perspectives on where we're at and where we're going in home lending. Our team has worked so hard to deliver an experience over the next few days that will educate, inform, inspire, and delight you. Please be sure to join us for networking breaks, happy hours, wind downs, even the SoulCycle session tomorrow morning. I'm told that's going to be an incredible experience and so thank you once again for joining us here.