What are some of the major challenges you’re facing in the industry today?

Ali: The biggest challenges right now are the new regulations and the constantly changing guidelines. I feel that they are constantly trying to figure out a way to make it more difficult to protect the consumer, but not always protecting the consumer and just protecting the banks a lot of the time. It’s TRID, but it’s also the underwriting guidelines. One example: higher down payment amounts. For a short period of time they came down with a low minimum down payment amount, but now they’re moving away from that and toward a higher down payment. There are different overlays on the amounts needed for down payments that need to come into focus.

Brouwers: Staying one step ahead of technology. We’re in a world where we are in an instant-gratification society. We have to make sure we mirror match what society is looking for in a mortgage process. Right now we’re moving toward a fully digital mortgage experience. We’re continually striving for new and better technology to help our consumers and help them in more situations.

Flodin: The decrease in homes sales in our market means lower purchase loan volume, and the increase in mortgage rates since the election has slowed down refinance loan volume. Mortgage originators need to put in the effort to make up for that difference.