Angel Oak Home Loans, the retail arm of the Angel Oak Companies, which deal in non-qualified mortgage (non-QM) products, as well as traditional mortgages, has expanded its presence in Louisiana with the opening of new branches in Baton Rouge and Covington.
“It’s exciting to be entering a new state with an expert team and a wide array of products,” says Steven Schwalb, managing partner of Angel Oak Home Loans, in a release. “Our presence in these two key housing markets means homeowners will have access to our innovative products and customer service, which have been pillars of our growth.”
Alongside Angel Oak’s ability to close loans quickly is the recent release of the MyHomeLoan digital mobile app, which will help borrowers and realtors easily access loan activity and streamline the application and loan process.
“Across the board, we are seeing success at Angel Oak Home Loans through rapid growth and helping borrowers achieve their dreams of homeownership,” says Schwalb. “Given our presence in the Southeast, it makes sense to focus our efforts in Louisiana.”
Angel Oak Home Loans now services borrowers in 17 states through a growing line of mortgage products.
The company recently announced a record-breaking non-QM volume in the first and second quarters, with a combined total of over $1 billion in originations across all of the Angel Oak affiliated residential lenders, also including Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions and Angel Oak Prime Bridge.
Non-QM lending for all three units in the second quarter alone was $512 million – a 52% increase compared with the first quarter and a 90% increase over the second quarter of 2017.
Broken out by unit, each affiliate produced its own record origination numbers.
In addition to record-setting volume, the company also grew its staff by 25%, opened new offices and completed a major acquisition.
“Our growth over the last few quarters has been incredible, but the second quarter stands out as a true milestone for our company and the industry,” says Mike Fierman, co-CEO of Angel Oak Companies. “It’s not just industry insiders that recognize the growth of non-QM anymore. Loan officers, borrowers and realtors across the country are seeking out Angel Oak because they know we offer the best non-QM products and service in the industry.”
In addition to record lending volume, Angel Oak Capital Advisors, the investment management affiliate of Angel Oak Companies, crossed $9 billion in assets under management and finished the quarter with approximately $9.1 billion in AUM.
In addition, it completed the largest non-QM securitization in company history – a $402 million securitization almost entirely comprised of non-QM residential mortgages.
This was the seventh non-QM securitization offering from Angel Oak Capital Advisors since 2015, accounting for approximately $1.6 billion in total production securitized.
Angel Oak Companies’ record-setting performance have also led to growth across all affiliates, both in staff and geographic reach. Angel Oak affiliates added 104 new employees in the second quarter and now employ 527 staff members.
Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions completely filled its new operations center in Dallas and is searching for additional space to support the fast growing demand for its products, the company reports.
Retail affiliate Angel Oak Home Loans also recently opened new offices in North Carolina, expanding its presence in one of the hottest markets in the country.
Similarly, Angel Oak Prime Bridge expanded its footprint to 16 states.
In addition, Angel Oak Commercial Lending completed the acquisition of Los Angeles-based Cherrywood Mortgage, further expanding the wholesale small-balance commercial lending arm of Angel Oak Companies.
In other company news, Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions recently announced a flurry of promotions and new hires. Tom Hutchens was promoted to executive vice president, production and charged with continuing the expansion of Angel Oak’s wholesale and correspondent channels.
Mel Freyre takes over management of the wholesale sales channel as senior vice president, wholesale sales.
In addition, John Jeanmonod, John Wise and Moises Bonet have all been promoted to regional sales managers. Jeanmonod will oversee Florida and Texas; Wise will be responsible for the Northwest region; and Bonet takes over managing the inside sales team.
“The increase in demand has put us in a position where we are struggling to find enough high quality mortgage professionals to keep up,” Hutchens says. “We’ve been saying for years that the non-QM market has incredible upside. Now lenders are finally starting to take notice, which is why we are breaking production records quarter after quarter.”
That growth trajectory has also led Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions to recently hire six new account executives, including Mark Dombrowski in Arizona, Tim Saucier in Maine, Gil Moran in Chicago, Shawn Hartman in Indianapolis, Robyn Smith-Manchas in Oregon and Jennifer Hernandez in Southern California.
