EverBank Financial (EVER) expects to grow its single-family business to $1 billion in mortgage commitments by the end of the year.
The Jacksonville firm purchased the warehouse business line of MetLife Bank and filed an initial public offering. It holds $720 million in commitments as of May and $350 million in newly originated home loans.
Tom Wind, executive vice president of residential and consumer lending at EverBank said much of the growth is backlog that came over from the MetLife deal, but the firm looks to take some of the market share from larger players exiting the space.
“I think what’s encouraging lately has been the re-emergence of the independent mortgage bank,” Wind said in an interview with HousingWire. “We like the business. We’re not the low-end of the market, and we’re not one of the huge guys. We just originate prime, good, strong mortgages.”
EverBank uses roughly 20 correspondent lending firms originating between $500 million and $750 million home loans annually, but Wind said that number is set to grow as well, possibly more than double by the end of the year.
This comes at a time when some of the largest banks are leaving correspondent channels such as Bank of America (BAC) and Ally Financial.
Wind keeps an eye on regulatory shifts, specifically the upcoming Qualified Mortgage rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He said EverBank will only originate loans within whatever guidelines the bureau develops and he’s hopeful to get the “safe harbor” provision that would protect the firm against unpredictable litigation risk.
In and out of meetings at the Mortgage Bankers Association secondary conference in New York Tuesday, Wind said he’s already seeing an interest from investors and lenders.
“It’s been more than we expected actually,” Wind said.
