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Massachusetts’ top loan originators did battle with high interest rates in 2024, but they still found ways to succeed.
Leader Bank had six of the top 10 loan originators in the state of Massachusetts according to volume in 2024 according to The Warren Group, the publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
“At Leader, we always pride ourselves on having a tight team of extremely high performing, purchase-focused loan officers,” said Sean Valiton, head of residential lending at Leader Bank. “I’m confident to say that by holding a high bar on the sales team, we have the best group in the state, if not in the country.”
Cape Cod 5 also saw success in 2024, having three names in the top 10 bank loan originators in the state by number of loans. Leader Bank also had two loan originators make the list.
“Where we are, we have a local name, and we actually have been growing throughout the state,” said Patti Lotane, a mortgage loan officer at Cape Code 5. “Also, we’ve been able to capture or keep market share, which has been really good.”
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New Ways of Meeting Client Needs
Andrew Marquis came in second in both volume of loans and total number of loans in the state among mortgage company loan originators. The senior vice president at Cross Country Mortgage said that 2024 was an improvement over 2023.
“Last year was an improving year,” he said. “Improving conditions, meaning more transactions. Rates came down slightly throughout the year, inventory improved slightly throughout the year, we did see small segments of refinance activity, where rates would come down for several weeks people would refinance but in general, it was still more of a purchase market, a heavily dominated purchase market. It’s still a tight market, and what I mean by that is multiple offers on well-priced homes, so it’s still tricky from that perspective. But I’d say, it seems like in general, we’re in an improving market.”
It might have been an improvement, it wasn’t without its challenges. Lotane described the competition for loan customers as fierce.
Lenders also had to deal with continued elevated interest rates, with some slight relief arriving towards the end of the year.
“We’ve had these rates that have been kind of elevated,” Marquis said. “I would say, artificially elevated, since COVID to bring inflation under control. You have house prices, which, especially in our area, really have not declined so you have borrowers that are still having to pay a high price for a home, in addition to a slightly higher rate. So, it’s sort of like a double whammy.”
Loan originators say they’ve had to work hard keeping prospective clients up-to-date on the nitty-gritty of the state’s economic condition to make sure the true state of affairs here isn’t drowned out by news from other parts of the country. iStock illustration
Sometimes, though, tough conditions have a way of driving innovation in the industry.
Leader Bank launched its “Purchase Pass” program, which helps prospective home buyers offers stand out in a market that is highly competitive. Over 1,000 homebuyers used the program which features an upfront lending commitment and a 10-day closing guarantee, as well as appraisal protection.
“Those are all things in a highly competitive market that you need to be able to help yourself stand out from the competition and win houses, and by putting that in front of our agent partners, by packaging it well, by truly explaining and educating around how that helps you and why,” said Valiton. “In this market, it’s just giving our loan officers who are already amazing in their own networks in their own right, this deep offering with their partners to really just drive home what makes them so good.”
Grappling with Economic Anxiety
This year didn’t get off to the best start – rife with economic anxiety and stock market volatility – and still remains uncertain moving forward due to tariffs, cuts to government funding and trade wars.
Some lenders believe that the impacts of tariffs will be greater in other parts of the country compared to Massachusetts, putting pressure on their staffs to keep business coming in.
“I think what we have to do is constantly be educating both our clients and referral partners as to the local market conditions,” Marquis said. “I think when people read the news, they’re really looking at national headlines like ‘stock market crash’ or ‘housing market is soft.’ That could be the case in Florida, but isn’t necessarily the case in Boston.”
That’s why Marquis believes that loan originators need to be proactive in educating partners and borrowers on what market conditions are actually in their local territories.
“If we see interest rates bumping up, we’ve just been going back to [customers] and just making sure they’re still qualified based on the price range that they were looking at and just updating our real estate agents on a weekly basis,” Lotane said, “giving them updated rate sheets, but pretty much going out into the community and just kind of keeping everybody at bay.”
Confidence for the Rest of 2025
Still, Valiton said that Leader Bank executives are confident in their team of loan originators to find wins, despite the challenges.
“2025 with all the ups and downs, it’s not new,” he said. “The volatility has been going on for a long time and I actually feel like because we have this culture of grit and focus and drive, and our brand is so strong in the market now that as the reality of higher rates has kind of settled in, it’s allowing us to continue to grow, and it’s really just deepening our market share and our trust among our agencies, which is really just powerful.”
Sam Minton
But competition for loans remains high and will remain high in 2025. For Cape Cod 5, Lotane said, being a locally trusted name has allowed it to be successful.
“I think there are probably mortgage originators in the business that are having a tough time again,” she said. “We are very grateful that we have Cape Cod 5 behind us, because we do have good reputation. Being local here in Massachusetts, it’s been a big plus for us when it comes to competition.”
One thing that hasn’t yet appeared in the Massachusetts home lending market this year: a new wave of refinancings. As the year closed, many businesses had hoped 2025 would see more economic growth and lower Federal Reserve interest rates, two key ingredients in bringing mortgage rates down from their 10-year highs.
Marquis said that while his company’s projections show a potential for a 30 to 50 percent increase in loan production overall year-over-year, the refinancing market has struggled.
“I think that’s still a tough segment of the market for us, because we haven’t seen rates go down enough to attract that business,” he said. “That business is very much driven by market conditions and by financial markets, and I feel like we haven’t seen enough cooperation on that side yet to make that happen. If you really look at the numbers and you compare purchase business year over year, our purchase business is probably some of the best it’s ever been but because we’re missing that whole segment of refinance business, which generally makes up, a third to 50 percent of our business.”
