United Wholesale Mortgage president and CEO tells brokers to stop waiting for better rates
Mortgage rates sliding to the lowest levels in several years has brokers talking about a wave of activity during the fall housing season.
And while most are taking advantage of these low rates, some brokers might still be waiting for even lower rates, as the Federal Reserve is projected to cut rates during its last two meetings of 2025, with lower rates forecasted in 2026.
However, one mortgage executive said that any loan originators waiting for even lower rates risk missing the perfect time to make deals.
Mat Ishbia (pictured top), president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), spoke to brokers at the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) Fuse event in Nashville on Friday. His message was simple: the time to make deals is right now.
“The biggest barrier for people to be successful is your mindset,” Ishbia said. “If I would have talked to you guys a year ago and said, ‘The 10-year is going to be below 4%, and the 30-year fixed in the 5s,’ everyone would be pretty excited, right? The problem is it's below four right now, and everyone's like, ‘Well, I'm waiting for it to get a little bit lower.’”
A dominant mindset
Ishbia said that brokers who base their whole mood on the daily market swings are not focused on the right things.
“If you're one of those people that looks at the rates today and say, ‘Oh, got better by 20 basis points this morning. Let's go. I'm excited.’ Or, ‘Market got worse by 15 basis points. This could be a tough day.’ You're missing the whole point. Stop doing that right now. Your mindset has to be: it's time to dominate.”
He credited brokers for surviving the high-rate environment, making those who continue to wait even more baffling.
“We've been waiting for years, literally almost four years now,” he said. “You guys have done amazing, that's why you're still here. We're the winners, but we've been waiting. Sometimes people are waiting for the good times, and you keep waiting. The good times are here. The opportunity is here right now.
“Stop being the guy or gal saying, ‘I’ve got to wait for rates to get better. Rates are there. Rates are better. Stop waiting and stop messing with your mind every single day, thinking about what rates are doing. You have no control over it. We've got to go. Right now is the opportunity.”
Speed will win deals
One area where Ishbia challenged the broker community to improve is in the refinance market. As brokers continue to grow their share of the overall market, the percentage of refis they originate continues to lag the percentage of purchase loans.
“We're in a refi boom,” he said. “If you're not doing a lot of refis right now, we've got to work with you. Brokers are well over 40% on purchases and well below 20% on refis. That means we're not good at that. That's okay, let's get better at it. I'm just going to remind you every borrower that was done from July 1, 2022 so July 1, 2025, every single one of those loans should be refinanced right now.
“They all should be refinanced. ‘Well, they're at six and a quarter. It's not enough savings.’ They probably had an MI. Let's get them out of MI. They probably have some equity. But if you sit there and say, ‘Oh, well, I’ve got to wait,’ you're going to keep waiting. And you know what happens when you keep waiting, they refi with some servicer or somebody else that's going after them.”
Barry Habib, CEO of MBS Highway, predicted mortgage rates could fall to around 5.5% in 2026, citing expected Fed rate cuts, increased Treasury purchases, and tighter mortgage spreads. He urged brokers to prepare clients by setting a “strike rate.”https://t.co/jQNJt4LyFM
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) October 21, 2025
Ishbia shared a slide with the audience showing that the chance of getting a refinance closed drops from 95% if closed in less than 5 days to 39% at 45 days. It also showed compensation dropped during that time from 1.81% to 1.29%.
“Your borrowers are smart,” he said. “They're using AI, they're on ChatGPT, they're always shopping you. The other one is to look at the comp. You actually make less money, and you have a lower chance of closing. It's a depreciating asset every day. Every day you have a loan and it doesn't close, you're losing money. Time kills deals these days. So, mindset: the market is great. Go. When you get a borrower, let's get them closed, fast. Speed will win.”
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