At a time when agency pipelines remain stagnant, Non-QM lending is quietly powering ahead.
At Originator Connect in Las Vegas (Aug. 14-16) top industry voices — Bill Ashmore, founder and CEO of Vista Point Mortgage, Aaron Leffler, president of Brokers First Funding (BFF), and Sam Bjelac, senior vice president of third party originations at Carrington Mortgage Services — share how originators can win in the fastest-growing corner of the mortgage market.
Bill Ashmore: Simplify The Complex
Non-QM has a reputation for being difficult, considering the industry-wide pull-through rate on those loans is about 50%, Ashmore admitted.
“So if I was a manufacturer and I said here's a business where 50% of what you make, you have to throw it up the back door because it costs you but you can't sell it. [That’s] very inefficient,” he said. “So my goal here is to figure out how I use my experience in innovating and — with or without using technology — to be able to create a higher pull through and a better experience.”
Ashmore’s company has leaned into closed-end seconds as the fastest-growing segment. With U.S. homeowners sitting on $32 trillion in tappable equity, blended-rate strategies allow borrowers to unlock cash without sacrificing their 2–3% first lien.
He pointed out that much of that equity is tied up in first mortgages originated between 2020 and early 2022 at rates below 4.5%. Vista Point has already securitized more than $1 billion in second liens and is nearing $1.5 billion in production, making it a leader in the space. To help borrowers and brokers calculate savings when pairing a low-rate first with a higher-rate second, the company promotes its tool at blendedrate.com.
For example, he explained: “let's say the guy has a $200,000 first [lien] at 2%, and let's say he wants $200,000 cash out. Well, he could do a $400,000 cash out, whole new first, but he incurs the charges on that whole loan amount, plus also a higher rate. That higher rate is probably somewhere in the 7% [range]. A 2.5 % first at 200,000, a blended second at 8.5% blends out to the mid-threes.”
In another scenario, a borrower might take out a $200,000 second lien today, then refinance again if rates drop in the future. If first-lien rates fall to around 4.5%, that borrower could either take additional cash out or move into a new property. “The point,” Ashmore stressed, “is that you’ve helped the borrower now, rather than telling them you can’t do anything for them.”
Most importantly, he insists Non-QM borrowers are far from subprime: Vista Point’s portfolio averages 735 FICO, low DTIs, and CLTVs under 70. To cut through complexity, he’s boiled down dozens of guidelines into just two programs: one for firsts, one for seconds.
Ashmore added that his team is investing heavily in technology to make Non-QM easier for brokers to use — from pricing to compliance.
“We’ve developed proprietary technology that can price it, prequalify it, and we'll also do some compliance checks on it as you are doing your scenarios,” he said. “The more you simplify the delivery, the process, and the explanation to the borrower, the better your pull-through and borrower satisfaction will be.”
Aaron Leffler: From Broker To Banker
Leffler sees Non-QM not just as a product opportunity but as a way for brokers to transform their business model. Transitioning from a broker platform to a non-delegated correspondent lender, he argues, provides more control and flexibility.
“One of the more compelling reasons to become a lender is the ability at closing … to make adjustments,” he explained, pointing to scenarios where applying credits or “adjusting LO compensation, switching from lender paid to borrower paid” can save a deal from falling through.
Still, he recognizes the leap can feel intimidating. Setting up warehouse lines, clearing conditions, and navigating compliance issues can overwhelm a broker making their first move into lending. That’s where Brokers First Funding steps in. “We walk you through that transition — drawing docs, shipping collateral, clearing warehouse lines,” he said. The goal is to minimize missteps and provide a safety net for firms ready to scale.
Leffler advises new entrants to start small: pick one channel, one product, and get the wheels turning before expanding into multiple programs. “If you’re really conscientious as you’re making this move, you can minimize if not almost eliminate any risk or exposure,” he said.
On the product side, he highlighted DSCR loans, bank statement programs, mixed-use properties, and cross-collateral loans as key growth areas. Cash-out refinances are also coming back, especially as consumer debt climbs.
“I think the wonderful thing about Non-QM right now is that it's expanding,” Leffler added. “We've just moved into, after some of the tariff tantrum and the different things that are going on, we've moved into this season of a little bit more stability. And in that, the capital markets are opening up. So we find the products opening up and the counterparties being more stable.”
He added that Non-QM rates are now competitive with — and sometimes even better than — conforming loans, giving originators a chance to round out their product mix and better serve self-employed borrowers, investors, and debt-consolidation clients.
Sam Bjelac: Awareness, Education, Growth
For Bjelac, the outlook is clear: Non-QM is the rare sector of the mortgage market that’s actually growing. “Fannie and Freddie originations are flat or down. In this interest rate environment, Non-QM is growing,” he asserted.
The demand is being driven by two borrower types: self-employed clients who don’t qualify under traditional income documentation, and real estate investors who benefit from DSCR loans. The investor demand, he noted, exploded after Fannie and Freddie restricted how many investment properties could be included in their securitizations and raised LLPAs on those loans.
Bjelac acknowledged that many brokers are still learning the ropes. At the Originator Connect Non-QM Summit, he said he saw a mix of seasoned originators and newcomers just getting started. “The toughest part about Non-QM is creating awareness … and then education,” he explained.
He also admitted that Non-QM loans can be more complex than traditional products, but pushed back against the perception that they’re risky. “Non-QM is not push-button, get mortgage,” he said, “and unfortunately, a lot of originators were exposed to that during the low interest rate environments. There's a lot of new technologies that’ve been [implemented] into Non-QM originations on the front end and even the back end. So it's not just originating and manufacturing on the front end, but getting the loan closed, getting the loan packaged, and the loan securitized.”
Bjelac also stressed the collaborative nature of the Non-QM industry. “We either win together or we lose together,” he said. “The agencies don’t care. The government doesn’t care. We’re kind of out on our own. So we all work together, we all work responsibly. We all want to grow fast, but we want to grow with sustainable loans too.”
Looking ahead, he expects Non-QM to keep expanding as originators search for volume in a flat market. “You’re going to see good growth out of the Non-QM sector over the next couple of years,” he predicted.
The Takeaways For Originators
All three leaders agree: Non-QM is no longer a fringe product — it’s the growth channel. For brokers, that means two things:
Expand your product mix — seconds, DSCR, bank statement, cross-collateral, mixed-use.
Invest in education and process — training, tech adoption, and possibly transitioning to non-delegated lending.
For Ashmore and other leaders in the Non-QM space, the momentum is as much about listening as it is about innovating.
“We’re building our wholesale nationwide channel and so today is one of the biggest venues that we can come to,” Ashmore said. “Being the founder and CEO, it’s important for me to be here. I was out last night with our top AEs hearing their concerns, issues, and what they wanted to do. That’s helping me not only to develop programs but also processes and ways to make us more efficient.”
It’s a reminder that in a market defined by change, the brokers who stay closest to their partners and adapt quickly will be the ones who capture the opportunities Non-QM has to offer.
