And while brokers are getting ready for the spring buying season, Casa warns not to ignore the refinances most likely to rise throughout the year.
“If I were personally offering recommendations to customers, I ‘d say to brokers, I would say, yes, concentrate on the home purchasing season,” Casa said. “But the single greatest chance is, there is going to be a knife defend your previous client. If you’re not staying in touch with them, if you’re not clearly setting expectations on how you’re going to support them, when rates boil down, they’re as excellent as gone. All these business are going to pilfer those previous customers.
“My advice to everybody would be to actually concentrate on how they’re remaining in touch with their previous customers, not simply through automation, but through sales activities, telephone call, and discussions. Be in a situation where they prioritize customer retention, because that will grow their service much faster than just the new service they’re coming from.”
What Casa is stating aligns with what other home loan executives have actually said. Michael Brenning, primary running officer at eLEND, told Home loan Professional America in October that servicers were coming for these refinances.
“Retention units within these huge maintenance shops that bought MSRs out there have the tools now and the assistance from their business organizations to keep those portfolios at a nuclear level,” Brenning said. “They couldn’t do that in the past, even as recently as the COVID-fueled refi boom. Those servicers weren’t prepared, highly and process-wise, to support that boom. So the free market and brokers got to regain their own customers and deliver them back.