Eric Braun, who was a top producer at Long Island-based Contour Mortgage, has moved to Melville, NY-based Interstate Home Loan Center. A sizable contingent of Contour originators and support staff – including roughly a dozen who work directly on Braun’s origination team – are expected to join him over the next few weeks.
Braun joined Contour in 2017 as an MLO before becoming Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth in April 2023. He moved to Interstate on Oct. 15, to become Vice President of Growth.
Braun told NMP he has been working with effectively the same group of originators since he began his mortgage career nearly a decade ago. "I always have faith in our leadership team but after this move, I have even more," he said.
"The reason we decided to move our…organization was just to provide a better platform for everybody. It's time for the mortgage industry to be shaken up a bit — bring [even] more value to the originator,” he said. "We want to be the new face — the new kids on the block."
The team’s goals as they move forward in their new home include a stronger concentration on professional development and growth.
"We definitely want to emphasize and focus on the development of our staff. We want to help everybody excel individually so we can be the best collectively,” Braun said, adding that operational efficiency is a priority. “I think for a lot of smaller or midsize mortgage banks, that's really the bottleneck, and we believe if we solve an operating inefficiency it's a benefit to all parties -– operations people, borrowers, and referral partners on the transaction."
They are also planning to “tighten up process and support for the originators and sales force, build up our marketing and brand recognition and ultimately, grow our originator headcount and, more importantly, production," Braun noted.
Contour Mortgage, which opted out of commenting on this move, reported $932.4 million in volume in the past 12 months, for 2,056 units. Braun alone reported $24.74 million in volume in the past year, totaling 55 units.
Contour lists 250 LOs on record, including 178 producing LOs. Essentially, the company lost one-fifth of its originators last year, according to both Modex and HMDA data.
Interstate tracked $83.2 million in volume for 194 units in the past 12 months, according to Modex data. The company lists 23 LOs, including 12 producing LOs.
When NMP reached out to Interstate CEO and President Alex Niven, he had no comment.
On departing Contour, Braun added, “They are a great place to do business; we learned a lot. We aren’t the type of group that jumps around or makes rash, impulsive decisions. We hope we played a part in their growth as much as they played a part in our growth. We wish them nothing but the best and a ton of success.”
“Being transparent and a good person is always a good business strategy,” Braun confided. There were no non-compete agreements made previously, he added, so that did not hinder the move.
“We're just really excited to build something different. We're all people that not only have been in the trenches a very long time but also are currently in the trenches," Braun claimed. "Leadership at [some] other companies have not been in the trenches a long time, if they ever were.”
