Shant Banosian doesn\u2019t believe that retail mortgage lenders are at a cost disadvantage when pitted head-to-head against wholesale competitors.<\/p>\n
Banosian<\/a>, the Massachusetts-based originator and president of Chicago-based Rate<\/strong><\/a>, pointed to data showing that independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and their retail-heavy presence are responsible for 84% of single-family mortgages<\/a> in the U.S.<\/p>\n Although wholesale lenders do not carry the overhead costs of the retail branch model, individual brokers do. And retail lenders, he said, compete against the collective wholesale market despite the continued dominance in that arena by United Wholesale Mortgage<\/strong> and Rocket Mortgage<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Banosian also pointed to his company\u2019s large technology investments<\/a>, which he says have resulted in lower costs and additional savings for borrowers through competitive rates<\/a> and lower fees. He labels Rate\u2019s model as \u201crelationship-driven,\u201d with the core of the business centered on partnerships rather than consumer-direct outreach.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing more powerful in the entire mortgage industry than those relationships with our consumers, with our partners, like real estate agents<\/a> and financial advisers<\/a>,\u201d Banosian said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s these factors that led Rate to place 424 of its loan officers on the inaugural HousingWire<\/strong> Mortgage Rankings<\/a>, which measured 2025 production and included LOs who did at least 60 loans or $20 million in volume.<\/p>\n Rate\u2019s 424 LOs on the list accounted for $20.64 billion in volume, or nearly $49 million per producer, according to HousingWire\u2019s AI-driven internal data analysis. And Banosian was the country\u2019s second-ranked producer<\/a> with $638.6 million across 901 loans.<\/p>\n HousingWire\u2019s analysis found that Rocket Mortgage led the way by a wide margin with 1,729 Top Originators by Loan Amount<\/a>. Second place went to CrossCountry Mortgage<\/strong> at 743, with JP Mortgage Chase <\/strong>and Mortgage Research Center<\/strong> (dba Veterans United Home Loans<\/strong>) next at 595 and 555, respectively.<\/p>\n Measured by aggregate volume, the top producers at Rocket originated $64.12 billion in 2025, followed by CrossCountry ($35.61 billion), Chase ($29.36 billion), DHI Mortgage<\/strong> ($25.68 billion) and Veterans United ($23.29 billion).<\/p>\n Heather Lovier, chief operating officer of Rocket Companies<\/strong>, told HousingWire<\/strong> that Rocket\u2019s success in 2025 is attributed to a multifaceted approach \u2014 including its mission to help everyone buy a home, brand positioning and strategic investments in AI to enhance efficiency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last five years, more intensely the last three years, being so heavily focused on AI and creating efficiencies for our mortgage bankers \u2026 has been a strategic priority, and it\u2019s really starting to pay off, which we saw in 2025,\u201d Lovier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lovier also said that Rocket\u2019s acquisitions<\/a> of Mr. Cooper Group<\/strong> and Redfin<\/strong> put more products on the table that were not previously available. Specifically, the acquisition of Redfin\u2019s mortgage arm, Bay Equity<\/strong><\/a>, has been a key driver.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPurchase is absolutely a main focus for us to continue to drive market share in that facet. And because of our acquisitions, we\u2019ve been able to expand into the market,\u201d she said. \u201cFor example, Rocket Local<\/strong>, which has our loan officers out in the market, we have more than doubled the folks there with the Bay Equity acquisition. So we have over 500 folks out in the local markets, helping clients and agents as we continue to expand our reach.\u201d<\/p>\n As for specific products to boost growth for the Detroit-based fintech, Lovier said that the company\u2019s closed-end second-lien product has been a \u201cgame changer,\u201d with most of the loans closing in as little as 10 days.<\/p>\n After taking on the role<\/a> of company president last year, Banosian said he has focused on teaching LOs to be \u201crainmakers\u201d and the \u201cCEOs of their business.\u201d Their winning formula, he explained, is platform + people + playbook, with lead generation, scaling and relationship management at the forefront of strategy.<\/p>\n Along with that three-pillar formula, Banosian said it\u2019s crucial to understand that structuring specific deals is an art form, so the LOs who are experts on product guidelines and can explain the benefits to clients will win more business.<\/p>\n \u201cI win deals because I am a professional loan officer. \u2026 I\u2019ll win a deal where a competitor could offer the same product \u2014 the loan officer just doesn\u2019t know about it or doesn\u2019t know how to articulate it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lovier, meanwhile, expects to see continued heavy investments in AI<\/a> and in the company\u2019s wholesale arm, Rocket Pro<\/strong><\/a>. While the end goal is efficiency and \u201cmeeting clients where they are,\u201d the rollout of any offerings is intentional.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think the way that we think about it is, we don\u2019t try to roll out new products or new offerings every single week. We try to limit it to either monthly or quarterly, because you also want to give time for folks to adjust and adapt,\u201d she said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shant Banosian doesn\u2019t believe that retail mortgage lenders are at a cost disadvantage when pitted head-to-head against wholesale competitors. Banosian, the Massachusetts-based originator and president of Chicago-based Rate, pointed to data showing that independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and their retail-heavy presence are responsible for 84% of single-family mortgages in the U.S. Although wholesale lenders do…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Dissecting the numbers<\/h2>\n
Keeping up the momentum<\/h2>\n