When mortgage lender Ditech Mortgage Corp relaunched back into the industry in March 2014, it did so with a new business plan, including direct consumer lending, retail lending and correspondent lending with its "600-plus institutional partners," according to company spokesman Richard Smith.
Smith also told HousingWire that the company was ready to expand quickly. “We are actively pursuing top performing loan officers and branches to join our retail network, and we are looking for branches that are doing at least $10 million a month in originations,” Smith told HousingWire in December.
ditech is indeed expanding, announcing Thursday that it is opening several new retail lending branches in “key” U.S. markets.
According to ditech, the new retail branches are in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Ohio and Illinois and “complement the company’s existing retail operations, enhancing its current presence and adding new outlets in key markets across the country.”
Matt Soto, senior vice president of originations at ditech, echoed Smith’s message, saying that building ditech’s retail base with “top-performing” loan officers and branches is part of ditech’s overall strategy.
“Our unique retail model leverages ditech brand marketing to provide lead opportunities on a local level,” Soto said. “This strategy allows our originators to utilize the power of the ditech brand, giving them opportunities to increase their business and their referral network, as well as building upon the success they’ve had in their respective markets. In addition to these new branches, we continue to look for opportunities to expand our retail footprint in other states.”
The new ditech was formed from the assets from the GMACRescap estate, purchased by Walter Investment Management Corp. (WAC)/Greentree Originations in November 2012.
The company also announced in December that it would be participating in the 97% loan-to-value program of Fannie Mae.
According to ditech, the company’s Northwest presence now includes offices in Kirkland, Puyallup, Othello and Yakima, Washington, with the offices reporting to regional manager Mark Farley. In addition to continued expansion in Washington, ditech has recently opened offices in Oregon and Utah, where teams are also reporting to Farley, the company said.
ditech’s expansion also includes offices in Mansfield and Independence, OH, led by regional manager Chris Dallas. Additional expansion opportunities are being explored throughout Ohio, as well as in Indiana and Michigan, ditech said.
In Illinois, ditech recently opened a branch in Schaumberg and said it expects to increase its presence in the state by year’s end.
Other states in ditech’s expansion plans include New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California and Texas.
“With our expanded retail strategy, we are building a consistent and dependable culture of service, so that we can fulfill our mission of wowing our customers – both our referral partners and consumers,” Soto added.
“We realize the importance of being flexible, of meeting customers where they live, so that they can relate to their home loan specialists on a more personal level throughout the finance process,” Soto concluded. “Whether they prefer to communicate with us online, through direct-to-consumer methods, or in-person through our retail branches, we strive to meet our customers’ needs exactly how and where they want to be met.”
