Brokers must keep adopting new tech to keep up with megalenders
The topic of new technology can be polarizing in the mortgage industry. Some people are simply not interested in hearing about it, while others can’t stop talking about it. No matter where a broker lands between those two extremes, new tech continues to change mortgage lending.
Much of the new tech introduced gets labeled artificial intelligence, even though some of that is more marketing than reality.
One thing is certain: major companies are touting the benefits of technology for closing more mortgages faster, which is why one analyst believes brokers have to stay on the cutting edge of what is available.
Bruce Gehrke (pictured top), senior director of wealth and lending intelligence at JD Power, said new tech is giving brokers working with it a major advantage.
“We’ve seen some numbers on it,” Gehrke told Mortgage Professional America. “I know Rocket had included some in one of its investor calls, and I think UWM did too, about the impact on conversion rates.”
Helping with recapture
With the possibility of lower rates in 2026 leading to a rise in refinance opportunities, Gehrke said brokers and major lenders can use this new tech to increase the recapture rate.
“Where true recapture is for most servicers or most lenders, there's a lot of room for opportunity there,” Gehrke said. “Getting a 5% or 10% improvement in those kinds of metrics really is impactful for revenue and overall profitability. It’s a machine that you've got to keep primed. The more you have, the better it is, the more cost-effective it is.”
Gehrke said the rise of AI technology has followed a similar path to the widespread adoption of the internet, and how that changed the mortgage industry.
“These kinds of things really improve as they get adopted,” he said. “It's the adoption curve, like any technology, and we saw that with the internet. The internet changed a lot of things, especially around pricing, because it created transparency. With artificial intelligence, consumers are now using it to shop by asking ChatGPT for recommendations. That's something that people have to consider. It's a fast-changing world.”
While rapidly changing technology can create significant uncertainty in the mortgage world, it also opens doors that allow brokers to do business in ways previously not possible. Gehrke said it’s why brokers cannot wait around and must embrace tech adoption.
“The changes in real estate will impact the mortgage business quite a bit as well, just because of the way they're intertwined,” Gehrke said. “All these things coming together at the same time create a lot of unknowns, but it also creates a lot of opportunity. Now is not the time for complacency or for doing the same as we did in the past.
“That mentality has really driven the business for a long time, and it's worked. You can't really fault people for doing that. And the question is, how much longer will it work? And what do we need to do about it? These are really interesting times.”
Perceptions positive
While some people may be resistant to trying new technologies, this surprisingly hasn’t extended to end customers. Gehrke said one of the things that he has seen in JD Power surveys conducted in 2025 is that homebuyers have reacted mainly favorably to the new tech they’ve been exposed to in the mortgage industry.
Even with the positive perception, Gehrke said there are still things to be ironed out, and brokers will have to determine what works for each customer.
“Initial perceptions of artificial intelligence have been very positive,” he said. “I don't think that the general consumer, myself included, really understands what is possible or what is really happening behind the scenes. So when you start getting automated phone calls, is that what we really want? Is that the relationship we want?
“It will be interesting to see how people adapt to it, and it may be something that we just become comfortable with, because I've heard and seen some of the demonstrations. I've seen some of them, and they're noticeable, but they're very good, and it'll only get better.”
Benn Jackson of Constructive Capital highlights why technology integration is the top priority for non-QM lenders in 2026, aiming to boost efficiency, speed, and broker adoption as demand grows.https://t.co/nZhUF7qWSx
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) December 15, 2025
And even with all the new tech to be embraced, Gehrke said it still comes down to the one-on-one human relationship to drive the mortgage sale. The hope is that the tech frees the broker up to nurture those relationships even more in 2026.
“Instead of being transactionally focused, you're more relationship focused,” he said. “You could, in the past, as a broker, be more relationship-focused. But this really completes it for the customer. They’ll see it more clearly now, and I think it'll be much more effective. It will be interesting to see how well they can deliver on that.”
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