Rocket Pro is putting speed behind its latest Power Play.
The wholesale arm of Rocket Mortgage is extending its 100-basis-point stacked purchase credit through Aug. 3, while adding a new closing-speed commitment aimed at helping brokers compete in a tight purchase market.
The July Power Play includes a same-business-day conditional approval and a 12-business-day clear-to-close commitment for conventional purchase loans.
If Rocket Pro misses the 12-business-day clear-to-close window on qualifying loans, broker partners will be eligible for a $1,000 lender credit.
Austin Niemiec, chief revenue officer at Rocket, said the latest Power Play is designed to address a familiar broker tradeoff: speed, price and technology.
“We always hear brokers talking about how they have to choose between, you know, speed and price and technology,” Niemiec said. “But we believe that it is our job to deliver all three of those things at once consistently.”
The new speed commitment applies to conventional purchase loans submitted with a full package. Niemiec said Rocket Pro is targeting the purchase market because real estate agents and borrowers are looking for certainty in a competitive environment.
“You're right. I mean, it is an incredibly tight and competitive purchase market right now, and to win and to grow, you have to be able to build relationships with real estate agents,” Niemiec said. “And real estate agents are gonna build relationships with those that can execute and deliver with speed and with certainty.”
Rocket Pro is also extending its 100-basis-point purchase stack, which includes a 60-basis-point purchase credit available to all brokers and an additional 40-basis-point Compass credit when brokers work with Compass agents. The incentive had been set to expire today, but Rocket Pro is extending it through Aug. 3.
Niemiec said the credit has become “the hottest product in the broker space right now when it comes to purchase.”
Rocket Pro also previously increased its cash-out refinance credit, but Niemiec said that incentive is sunsetting as planned.
Rocket Pro’s purchase credit has been a centerpiece of the lender’s relationship with Compass, which merged with Anywhere Real Estate earlier this year. Niemiec said the partnership is helping brokers build new relationships with real estate agents.
“We've been blown away with the volume since we've rolled,” Niemiec said. “Hence why we've extended it a few times.”
He added that Rocket Pro is seeing “hundreds of connections,” meaning brokers and Compass agents coming together for the first time to do loans because of the partnership.
“That’s not just something that's helping our brokers win today,” Niemiec said. “It's also helping our brokers win tomorrow and for years to come, because these successful relationships, many of them, we believe, will be lifelong between our partners on both the broker and Compass front.”
The July Power Play also builds on Rocket Pro’s effort to position itself as a broker partner rather than a closed ecosystem. That theme has become increasingly important as Rocket embeds more deeply into broker workflows, including through its expanded integration with ARIVE, which allows brokers to submit loans and receive loan-status updates from Rocket Pro inside the broker platform.
Niemiec said Rocket’s strategy is built around meeting brokers where they already work.
“We have a different philosophy than a lot of competitors in our space,” Niemiec said. “It's not us against the world. It's how do we, along with the rest of the world, come together to help everyone home?”
He pointed to Rocket’s broader relationships with Redfin, Mr. Cooper, Compass and ARIVE as examples of that strategy.
“We're not in this to create a closed loop with a lot of barriers and contracts and things like that,” Niemiec said. “We're very open-minded, and we want to come together and partner.”
For Rocket Pro, the July Power Play is another attempt to connect short-term pricing pressure with longer-term technology and partnership strategy. In a purchase market where every basis point and every day can matter, Rocket is betting that brokers want more than a discount. They want speed, certainty and tools that can help them win the next referral.
“These incentives are more than incentives,” Niemiec said. “They're strategic moves that are helping brokers win.”
Big Pitch Finalists Coming Into Focus
Rocket Pro is also naming the three finalists in The Big Pitch, its $100,000 broker technology contest announced last month.
Here are the names of the finalists and the category of their idea and the partner promise it aligns with:
George Jules of Clearview Lending Solutions, whose idea falls under the category “Cut time, not corners” and aligns with Rocket Pro’s partner promise of “Human expertise, with the speed of AI.”
Seth Hasan of West Capital Lending, whose idea falls under “Compete when it counts” and aligns with “The better we serve you, the better you serve your clients”
Andrew Haff of Barren Hill Mortgage, whose idea falls under “Save more deals” and aligns with “Helping everyone home means everyone.”
Rocket Pro received more than 350 submissions from brokers across the country, including many who are not currently partnered with the lender.
“We've been blown away with the energy and the response of the big pitch,” said Niemiec. “We had over 350 submissions from brokers across the country, and many of them are brokers who aren't even partnered with Rocket.”
The finalists will work directly with Rocket Pro’s product and technology teams to develop their ideas. Additional details and public voting are expected to launch in a few weeks. The finalists will then present their concepts live at Rocket Pro’s RPX event in September.
Niemiec said many of the submissions centered on solving broker pain points through artificial intelligence.
“I would say there's a lot of camaraderie around some of the main key themes,” Niemiec said. “Solving problems via AI was the biggest theme.”
For Rocket Pro, The Big Pitch gives the lender another way to fold broker feedback into its technology roadmap while building visibility beyond its existing partner base.
“It's not a forced thing, it's a freedom thing,” Niemiec said. “It's refreshing to the entire broker community and that's what I attribute a lot of our momentum to.”
