Jerry Schiano, CEO of Spring EQ, joined host Andrew Berman, head of engagement and outreach for NMP magazine, for the April 29 episode of Mortgage Leadership Outlook series to discuss some of the more pressing issues that mortgage professionals have been facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As COVID-19 continues to pose challenges for the mortgage industry, the Mortgage Leadership Outlook series looks to help mortgage professionals navigate through uncertain times.
Schiano has over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in the mortgage industry, including founding and successfully leading multiple lending organizations. Prior to starting Spring EQ, he founded New Penn Financial, taking it from a startup ,to a top 30 mortgage lender with 1,400-plus offices and 1,800 employees nationwide. Schiano sold New Penn to Shellpoint partners and remained on the executive committee.
Schiano opened up New Penn Financial in 2008 during the mortgage meltdown. He said, at the end of the day, when you get past the panic, people are still going to buy homes. He believes in the mortgage business, despite the fact that there may be disruptions. He firmly believes that refinances are going to spike again.
Highlights From The Interview
►“One of the ways that I think this economy is going to go, after it settles down, is we’re going to see a lot of refinances, as people put more money in their pockets. So, I believe in mortgage finance.”
►“When the market expands, then you can go to Wall Street and have them create products. Or, you can work with depositories and create products that don’t fit within the agency and the government structure.”
►“We now have a home equity and a first mortgage division at SpringEQ. What we found out is pretty simple ... some customers should take out a home equity loan and some customers should do a cash out to get the cash that they need.” Schiano says the company likes to provide both options.
►Schiano says that his company seems to have seen a gain in productivity with folks working from home. However, he believes this is solely because nothing is open right now. He believes that productivity will dip as soon as the world opens up again. SpringEQ did a small furlough, but they were able to keep a number of jobs thanks to the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Check out the entire chat between Schiano and Berman in the video below.
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