Bringing it home: 2019 in review
Our business tripled since last year, but we focused, too.
We brought homeownership to more people.
Three new offerings made the process even easier.
And smart partnerships brought it all home.
We’re making a name for ourselves.
And we can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store.
We built bigger
When we say 2019 was a year of growth for us, we mean serious growth. We’ve grown three times year-over-year from 2018, funding, on average, $700M a month for homeowners. Last year, we funded 4,051 homes between January and November. This year, during that same period, we funded 12,533.
As a company, we’ve added new offices and new employees to better handle the needs of our borrowers and seize opportunities to improve our technology. We closed one of the largest Series C funding for a fintech company in New York. That money comes from some of the biggest financial institutions in the world, including Goldman Sachs, Ally Financial, Citi, and American Express.
$7.1B in mortgages funded in total
$700M funded monthly, on average
900 new employees
$160M in Series C funding secured
New offices
Charlotte, NC
Irvine, CA
Oakland, CA
We built for speed and ease
Our continued growth has fueled our mission to make homeownership more accessible — and our numbers show that we’re on our way to achieving that goal while making the process more efficient for everyone.
This year, 40% of our homeowners completed their applications from a mobile device,* signaling a shift towards a customer base largely dominated by millennials and minority groups. Even with an industry-wide 20% decline in homeownership among young adults — attributed to student loan debt — one in four of our borrowers has student loans.
Our loan processing times also continue to outperform the industry, which means we’re able to help more people get home faster. And since we’ve been able to reduce our labor costs per loan, we can give even more savings back to our homeowners. Our homebuyers save an average of $21,000 over the life of their loan, and homeowners who refinance with us save an average of $3,900 per year.
*If over 50% of the application process is completed on a mobile device, that homeowner is considered a mobile applicant.
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Over 60% lower labor costs per loan vs MBA industry average in Q2 2019
13 days faster purchase loan processing times vs industry average
5 days faster refinance loan processing times vs industry average
26% of our borrowers have student loan debt
We broadened our horizons
As the needs of our homebuyers change, we’re honing our offerings to meet them where they need us most. This year, we launched affiliate businesses in real estate, title insurance, and homeowners insurance to make the homebuying process even easier.
- Better Real Estate
- Better Settlement Services
- Better Cover
We made some new friends
Our partnerships only make us stronger — that’s why we’ve continued to build strategic partnerships to make the homebuying process and the services we offer the best they can be. We’ve partnered with Ally Financial to help their consumer mortgage business grow 4.5x higher year-over-year. We began working with Compass to offer bridge loans for their clients, providing solutions for even more problems.
We got a few shoutouts
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Startup of the Year
Business Intelligence Group
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14 Best Mortgage Lenders of 2019
NerdWallet
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Best Lender for Immigrants
NerdWallet
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Best Mortgage Companies to Work for
National Mortgage News
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Best Places to Work NYC
Crain’s New York Business
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2019 Fast 50: #31 Fastest-Growing Companies in NYC
Crain’s New York Business
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Best Small + Medium Workplaces
Fortune
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2019 Vanguard Award: Vishal Garg, CEO
HousingWire
We’re just getting started
As we look forward to 2020, we’re setting our sights high. We’re close to being licensed in all 50 states and our offices are expanding to include Las Vegas, Honolulu, and Kansas City. We also set a goal to hire 5,000 veterans and military spouses by 2025.
Thanks for helping us make 2019 our best year yet. Here’s to reshaping the mortgage industry and getting people home.
See you in 2020
