Published on February 11, 2021
Written by The Servion Group
Over the past 12 months, a persistent, record-low interest rate environment has led to record mortgage and refinance activity across most of the nation. This has resulted in record business volume for many mortgage companies, including Servion Mortgage. Though it's been a challenge at times, this unique period in history has taught us many valuable lessons, and we are applying those lessons to strengthen our company and our partner relationships.
We conducted a survey of our mortgage partners in the fourth quarter of 2020, and for many survey respondents the thing they were most interested in was information regarding our turnaround times.
For perspective, our average monthly underwriting pipeline hovered around 300 files before the pandemic. By June of 2020, that had more than tripled, with more than 1,500 in the pipeline. This influx of files from the first two months of the pandemic is what caused underwriting turnaround times to slow down for a period of time.
It was during this time that we kicked our hiring efforts into overdrive. By October, we had added a significant number of employees and as a result we were able to work through the pipeline quicker. By January 2021, the pipeline was back down to approximately 400 files and our underwriting turn times were back to our normal 3-5 day target.
By January of 2021, turnaround times had returned to the normal range thanks to our staff size increases and operational efficiencies we worked hard to achieve.
Here are just some of the steps we've taken over the past year to strengthen our company and our ability to support partners.
As a Servion Mortgage partner, you have the ability to help files move faster and more efficiently.
The best way to do that is by ensuring that you send us information that is as complete as possible. Remember, the file goes to underwriting, but you don’t go with it. As a result, the more information you can include up front, the better. The more complete the file is, the more efficient underwriting can be!
You can help the process go as quickly and smoothly as possible by:
In August we wrote an article with 3 tips on things you can do to make underwriting faster.
It has been decades since the mortgage industry was as busy as it was over the past year. It was easily the busiest year in the history of our company. To illustrate this, it may help to look at the following chart.
In addition to historic volume, several other factors were at play:
As government offices reopened and everyone got used to doing business in the "new world," these factors began to fade and the pace of business was able to increase.
Our partners relied on us more than ever in 2020. In 2021, with interest rates remaining at or near record lows, most experts are predicting another record year for home sales.
The Servion Group is well positioned to meet the needs of our partners in the coming year and many years to come. The pandemic's initial stages were challenging, but we emerged a bigger, stronger company with more capability than ever before.
We simply could not be more grateful to be in position to help. Your trust is everything and you drove our company to new heights. Thank you.