Wholesale Job Growth at CA Company

ComUnity Lending reported it has maintained much of its volume despite a mortgage industry slowdown because of its aggressive growth strategy.

“While many companies have simply downsized or cut their workforce, we decided to take a different approach,” said Executive Vice President Jayson Stebbins in an announcement.

ComUnity expects its third quarter numbers will be better year over year, and its production goal for the year is to match 2005 volume of about $4.2 billion, Stebbins told MortgageDaily.com.

Among the steps taken by ComUnity, which operates online at www.ComUnityLending.com, is the formation of a new sales force, Stebbins said. The company brought 50 account executives and 10 wholesale support employees on board during the first part of 2006.

“We are on a growth path with the account executive sales force,” Stebbins said. “By this time next year, we will absolutely have at least 50 more on board.”

Additions to the loan product menu in the past year provided brokers with a “wide spectrum” of products to offer their customers, and allowed for only a minimal drop in ComUnity’s wholesale lending levels compared to 2005 numbers, according to the announcement. Slightly more than half of the wholesale volume the company has seen this year is from brokers who recently signed up on ComUnity’s roster.

The Morgan Hill-headquartered lender has also focused on expanding into markets where it previously had limited exposure. These markets include five new cities in the Midwest and entries into the South and New England. Ten of the new AEs were for the Northeast, where the company did not previously have a wholesale presence but has emerged as its fastest growing marketplace, the announcement said.

Stebbins said he anticipates the company will open another two or three offices this year. Based on activity in the Northeast, at least one of the new openings would be there and the others would likely be in the Midwest, with each staffing three to four employees.

The executive additionally sees growth in regional service teams and the company being licensed in every state by next summer, compared to the current 44 states it is currently licensed in.

“It’s our belief that companies which can be aggressive and flexible during this time in the industry can also be very successful,” Stebbins said in the announcement. “We’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish in positioning ourselves for the future, and are pleased that the moves we’ve made recently are working well for the company.”