Equity Smart Home Loans, based in Pasadena, California, is cutting ties with its long-time lending partner, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), to join Rocket Pro’s ever-growing ecosystem.
It’s a move of epic proportions for the mega brokerage that currently employs 435 loan officers, per the NMLS, like trading in a New York Yankees' uniform to join the Boston Red Sox. Rocket Pro scores a home run by gaining a heavy hitter like Equity Smart, which originated more than 1,600 loans in 2024, according to Modex.
CEO Pablo Martinez revealed that after being a loyal partner for several years, his decision to terminate the agreement contact with UWM last week was not an easy one — in fact, it took a year to fully commit.
“It was heart-wrenching. You know, I'm probably the most diehard UWM person you can think of — look at my office,” Martinez said gesturing to the plaques and posters decorated on his office walls. “I have so many awards [from UWM] dating back to 2017 or 2016.”
Martinez acknowledges that mortgage brokers have the luxury of choosing to work with various lenders, which makes cancelling wholesale lender partnerships unnecessary in most cases. Equity Smart Home Loans brokered about 66% of its loans in 2024, and approximately 18% of its brokered loan volume (336 loans) went to UWM, according to Modex.
However, he cited more significant reasons for terminating its relationship with UWM .
“How they run the business and the things that they want us to do to earn points and all the different things that we have to do. We’re just not aligned with that,” Martinez said. "We wanna get back to... that autonomy, that freedom, and [ability] to force lenders to compete for our business."
Moreover, Martinez’s decision came down to which lender could provide the best pricing to Equity Smart’s borrowers, saying “the pricing is much better with, with Rocket. It has been for some time and we've been monitoring that.”
Throughout the past year, Martinez began to notice that his loan officers were diverting more of their loans to away from UWM and towards wholesale lenders that offer better pricing — even if those lender don’t deliver as well on speed.
“We've seen a decline internally with our loan officers using UWM, which became concerning to us,” Martinez said. “So we're just following kind of the natural order of things that we're seeing, realizing that for the moment, pricing is important. And if we can align with a company that has good pricing and maybe not the best service, but almost comparable, then it's going to be a win for [our] borrowers.”
In addition to the fiduciary duty Equity Smart has to its borrowers, Martinez believes he also has a duty to set his loan officers up for success, saying “We want to position them where they can provide the best pricing to the consumer.”
Although Martinez likes to see loan officers using a wide variety of lenders to fund their loans, not every company is built to serve top producers or larger brokers that needs to close hundreds of loans per month. Speed of service is usually key, however, slower market conditions over the past year has allowed Equity Smart to place less focus on speed and more focus on getting the borrower the best loan for their buck.
“I think right now creativity is probably king and not speed, because most lenders have the ability right now to take a loan from A to Z super fast,” Martinez said. “A Rocket or UWM can close a loan in 10 - 15 days, [but] maybe that other lender may close it in 17, 18, 19, even 20 days. So speed is not going to be as as important, I think, as being a shop that has all kinds of creative options for the borrowers.”
Still early in the phases of transition, Martinez said he doesn’t plan on narrowly focusing on Rocket Pro as a lending partner or a resource for fintech, but he looks forward to joining an ecosystem that is undergoing exciting fintech innovations.
“I haven't explored all of Rocket’s tools and everything, but we're going to be open to receiving any type of technology tools or resources that they have that align with our goal of providing the consumer with the best pricing [and] the best experience.”
