Executive hopes to help brokers become a 'professional investor expert'
There has been no shortage of geopolitical turmoil over the past few months, and the early days of January have seen that ramp up quite a bit.
Threats of tariffs on Europe due to its pushback on the Greenland issue are just one of the ongoing international news stories the markets are monitoring closely.
For brokers, the challenge is to cut through the headlines to find what actually matters to them and their customers. At the same time, they need to keep a close eye on mortgage rates for any volatility.
In the non-QM space, which can be more resistant to rate volatility, one mortgage executive said the challenge is to cut through the noise and focus on his company’s mission.
Tom Hutchens (pictured top), president of Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, said while everyone keeps one eye on what’s going on in the world, it comes down to focusing on what’s in front of you.
“We always really try to focus on what we can control,” Hutchens told Mortgage Professional America. “We can't control all the noise, all the things that are in the news cycle. It will be totally different in the next hour. So, we control what we can control, and that's really what we keep our focus on.
“Let’s execute as best we can, and that's really been our focus. Also, keep growing this business and the industry. To keep growing this business, we have to get originators who get into the space, try it, and then want to come back because they see how easy it is.”
Becoming an expert
Hutchens said he saw a wave of new brokers and originators enter non-QM lending for the first time in 2025. He is hopeful that the lower rates that have started off 2026 will bring more brokers out of agency loans for the first time.
“I would say lower rates are going to generate more activity, more real estate transactions, more purchases, just more loans, more activity in the whole sector,” Hutchens said. “So non-QM, we're going to get our share of that. As overall volume grows, the non-QM piece will grow organically. But I think at the same time, our percentage and our piece of the pie is going to continue to grow, as these originators understand and really get their feet wet.”
As he speaks to originators, he stresses that by not just offering non-QM loans, but becoming experts in them, brokers can differentiate themselves from others in their market.
“You need to be doing something different in order to grow your business,” he said. “We have a lot of our customers who are out on social media. They built their brand as the ‘self-employed expert’ or the ‘professional investor expert.’ So they've really taken non-QM to that next level, where they don't fall back into non-QM. They lead with it because it's a differentiator for them.”
The lingering misconception about the non-QM space is that it is a kind of loan of last resort or used exclusively for those who can’t qualify for agency loans. Hutchens said the other challenge is getting brokers to understand that the lowest rate in the space might not be their best option.
“I do hear from a lot of our customers that maybe are newer customers, that they treated non-QM like an agency loan,” Hutchens said. “They just went into a pricing engine, and they went with the best rate. I would say not all non-QM lenders are the same. Of course, I'm partial, but I would say experience matters. And quality matters. There are a lot of moving parts in non-QM, and those who have the experience know how to move those parts efficiently, which really matters.”
Opportunities in every market
At a time when housing supply is low, and investor loans are needed to boost that supply nationwide, Hutchens said it presents a great opportunity for brokers to facilitate those loans.
“America is built on small business owners,” he said. “So there's opportunity in every single market. There are investors and investment opportunities in every single market. So, offer these to your borrowers and your referral partners, the people who work with real estate agents. They need to let their real estate agents know. Post-financial crisis, real estate agents were a filter.
“They wouldn't show properties to people who didn't have tax returns that showed a good income. They screened out a lot of borrowers. So we spent a lot of time educating not just originators, but everyone within the real estate sector to understand that there's more out there. These borrowers are underserved. They're not underqualified.”
Overall, despite some external noise, Hutchens is optimistic about what 2026 can hold for brokers across the industry.
“The market is going to be what the market is going to be,” he said. “Rates are going to be what they're going to be. I'm optimistic about rates and optimistic about the volume and the activity in the market. We're just going to stay focused on what we can do to be better.”
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