How mortgage companies are navigating the uncertainty of nearly daily changes
Just two weeks shy of the six-month mark in the second term of President Donald Trump, private lending executives are assessing what has been a wild half year. News has come fast and furious since early April, causing lenders to prepare for the wild ride ahead.
Several industry executives discussed the topic at the recent National Private Lenders Association event in Atlantic City.
Eric Abramovich (pictured top left), co-founder and chief revenue officer at Roc Capital, believes the headwinds are making things challenging for the industry.
“Look, big risk, big reward,” Abramovich said. “In some cases, the outcomes are good. In some cases, they may not be so good. I don’t have an answer. I think at the margin, things have gotten a little worse since Election Day. But I’m not making a political statement here. I’m just saying I think things have gotten a little worse.
“The headwinds are stronger for our industry with tariffs and construction costs, and things like that, and interest rates.”
Challenges in construction
John Beacham (pictured top center), CEO and founder of Toorak Capital Partners, noted some of the challenges in the construction industry as it has lost members of the workforce to deportations.
“Let’s be honest, usually people would go to the Home Depot parking lot and wait and get jobs that way,” Beacham said. “That’s going away. The Trump administration has deportation goals, and are getting more aggressive.”
He believes that if the deportations continue, it will eventually have an even stronger effect on the construction market.
“The reality is this is going to hit a wall at some point,” Beacham said. “Because either it’s going to do what he said it’s going to do and actually deport 4 to 5 million people, which would have a massive impact on our industry. Or at some point, the business pressure is going to stop him, and he’s not going to do that.
“But if he actually implements what he said he’s going to implement, it’s going to have a real impact on our industry.”
Impacts on long-term planning
Beacham noted that some of these significant changes are impacting businesses that devise a business plan years in advance. Some of those plans are likely going to see major changes.
“All the uncertainty and constant changes are back and forth,” Beacham said. “Businesses like to be able to plan years in advance. They like to be able to think and have multi-year forecast models and budgets and come up with strategies and hire people. If you’re in the manufacturing business or building factories, it’s a multi-year investment cycle.
“Stability is good for business. You want to see a clear path, predictability, a long-term stability. And right now, I don’t feel like we have that. I don’t know how to quantify that. It’s definitely harder to look far out into the future.”
Glenn Tatham (pictured top right), managing director of originations at Churchill Real Estate, believes the jury is still out on how things will turn out.
“It’s largely still incomplete,” Tatham said. “It’s pretty tough for us to really say this split second how it’s going to play out the next few months. I think the good news is we had a really nice run through 2024, liquidity is there, and we see it. We still have inflows of institutional capital. We focus a little more on the RTL side. That’s a positive that kind of outweighing to some degree, some of the issues that we’re bringing up that are real.”
Beyond origination, brokers must ensure client mortgage performance, warn Jonathan Hornik of NPLA, Alex Offutt of Business Purpose Capital, and Ben Fertig of Constructive Capital. https://t.co/4RAokuU5Mh
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) July 4, 2025
However, Tatham is concerned that there could be more headwinds to navigate as things move forward.
“I think time will tell how long that sustained kind of capital that’s coming into the space is with us,” Tatham said. “If things, geopolitical, tariffs, deportation, all of those take a turn for the worse, it’s going to be a challenge. And my guess is that liquidity is going to start to kind of evaporate.”
The Trump administration has set August 1 as the new deadline for countries to either reach trade agreements or face larger tariffs. While Tatham is concerned about headwinds, he believes that Trump will continue to negotiate in order to find a path through.
“I’m still cautiously optimistic that Trump wants to ultimately do well,” he said. “So, I don’t think he’s going to put us on a path that is absolute. I think he’s going to keep maneuvering. And so, I think that we’re going to bump along here for a bit. So, I’m still cautiously optimistic.”
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