Apr. 4: Population trends for LOs; Third party provider product news; Saturday Spotlight: Foundation Mortgage

What are “bone ash apartments”? Trust me: you wouldn’t want one next to you here in the States; it’s an example of when the government interferes with housing. China has two space problems, and one has become a solution to the other. The first issue is a property glut. Widespread government construction and a saving strategy centered on buying up more apartments than one might need means a lot of buildings are empty. And property prices in the country can be incredibly low, as they have dropped 40 percent between 2021 and 2025. The other problem is that cemetery space is limited. These spaces come with just a temporary lease that must be renewed every 20 years. They can be pricey; a burial plot in Beijing's Changping Tianshou Cemetery will run you between 10,000 and 200,000 yuan (US$1,450 to US$29,000), with a tombstone pot starting at 150,000 yuan. Clearly, a market inefficiency has been revealed here. Now, authorities have begun to crack down on “bone ash apartments,” or the use of residential properties specifically for the placement of ashes, prompting a new law banning people from storing cremated remains in empty apartments.

Saturday Spotlight: Foundation Mortgage Corporation

_________________________________________________

“Our mortgage solutions go beyond normal industry offerings.”

In 3-5 sentences, describe your company (when was it founded and why, what it does, where, recent growth and plans for near-term future growth).

Foundation Mortgage Corporation, an independently owned mortgage bank, was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Miami Beach, FL. In October 2022, a new owner and executive management team joined, introducing a Wholesale channel in January 2023 and a Correspondent channel in April 2024. Leveraging the new leadership’s extensive experience in secondary markets, credit, and operations, the company transitioned from a retail mortgage banker to a rapidly expanding Non-QM Wholesale and Correspondent Lender. Over the past two years, Foundation has strategically refined its business model, achieving better execution and accelerated growth. In 2024, the company expanded its product offerings, including a portfolio Second Lien product developed through an agreement with one of the top 20 banks worldwide.

Tell us about what type of volunteer work employees are encouraged to engage in, or charities your company supports, and why.

Foundation Mortgage is deeply committed to the belief that education can transform lives. Over the years, the company has supported numerous educational initiatives, including helping gifted individuals access higher education and sponsoring schools in underprivileged areas of Central America to keep their facilities open during COVID. Additionally, Foundation sponsors children through Compassion International, actively promotes and supports foster homes and adoption services, and contributes to The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. These efforts reflect the company’s dedication to creating opportunities and improving lives through education, healthcare, and community support.

What does your company do to help elevate your employees’ growth? Describe any mentoring programs, outside classes or training, in-house training. How does the company help people develop?

Foundation Mortgage values its employees as the cornerstone of its success and is dedicated to their growth and development. Each employee is paired with a senior mentor, independent of their manager, to provide personalized guidance and professional development opportunities. This mentorship program fosters skill enhancement, career advancement, and a supportive environment for employees to thrive.

Tell us how your company maintains its culture in a work-from-home environment, or how you plan on bringing employees back into the office, if applicable.

Foundation Mortgage operates as a 98 percent remote company with no plans to require employees to return to the office. The company believes exceptional talent often lies beyond its geographical boundaries and values enabling employees to remain rooted in their communities, where they have established lives, schools, and social connections. To maintain a strong culture, Foundation fosters online engagement through activities like virtual bingo, where numbers are emailed during the workday. The company thrives with self-starters and self-motivated employees, who often perform more efficiently in a remote environment.

Things you are most proud of that don’t have to do with sales.

At Foundation Mortgage, we take immense pride in our people, culture, and strong sense of community. Our "can-do" attitude and the way we support each other go beyond being colleagues: we truly operate as friends and family. This supportive environment is fostered from the top down, with senior leadership deeply committed to preserving this culture as we continue to grow.

(For more information on having your firm’s extracurricular activities, employee growth, and your charitable side featured, contact Chrisman LLC’s Anjelica Nixt.) 

Population and home spending trends matter

_________________________________________________

U.S. population growth slowed to 0.5 percent in 2025 from 1.0 percent in 2024, driven primarily by a sharp 54 percent decline in net immigration, though foreign-born inflows still exceeded pre-pandemic norms. Growth remained concentrated in the South and Mountain West, led by South Carolina and followed by states such as Idaho, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah, while only five states (Vermont, Hawaii, West Virginia, New Mexico, and California) saw outright population declines. Domestic migration largely normalized, with notable slowdowns into higher-cost states like Florida and Texas, and underlying demographics remained a constraint nationwide as low birth rates and aging populations kept natural population growth modest and uneven across states.

For the year ending 6/30/25 (2025), the US population grew 1.8 million, or 0.53%, down from 1% in 2024, the slowest population growth since 0.2% in 2021. The major cause; the drop in net immigration from 2.7 million in 2024 to 1.3 million in 2025. During the Great Depression, growth was 0.6%/year, and in the decade preceding Covid it was 0.7%/year. Growth is expected to slow further in 2026.

U.S. population growth slowed to 0.5 percent between 2024 and 2025 after a brief post-pandemic rebound, largely due to a sharp drop in net international migration while natural population change remained relatively stable. The slowdown had uneven effects across states, with many (particularly in the Northeast and other regions with persistent domestic outflows) having relied heavily on international migration to sustain growth in prior years. As immigration declined nationwide, fewer states saw it as their primary growth driver, domestic migration and natural change became more prominent in some areas, and states like California shifted from population gains to losses when reduced immigration could no longer offset ongoing domestic out-migration.

There’s set of statistics, pre-war: “As a result of stretching their finances to cover homeownership costs, many buyers reduced their discretionary spending (32%), depleted their savings (26%), and took on additional debt (18%).”

It is good for originators to be able to advise their clients about what happens after buying a home, and be realistic about it. Recent home buyers spent an average of $31,502 on additional home-buying expenses beyond their down payment, 4x more than the $8,083 they expected, according to a new report from Best Interest Financial and Clever Real Estate.

“On average, recent home buyers spent the following on these expenses: Repairs and improvements during the first year of homeownership, $15,073, concessions to the seller, $7,678, closing costs, $5,719, and moving costs, $3,032. Additionally, buyers whose sellers choose not to cover the buyer's agent commission may have to pay the average rate of 2.82 percent, an extra $15,058 on the average-priced home. That brings total costs to a staggering $46,560 beyond the down payment.

“Although 64 percent of buyers felt fully informed about the total cost of buying a home before making an offer, 81 percent were still surprised by at least one home-buying expense beyond the sale price. Notably, 41 percent of first-time buyers did not feel fully informed about the total cost of buying a home before making an offer. On average, they also paid about 30 percent more in additional expenses than repeat buyers ($36,460 vs. $28,260), and were far more likely to exceed their budget (61 compared to 44 percent).”

According to this study, “Had they known the true cost of buying a home, 73 percent of home buyers would have made different decisions. With a different approach, buyers think they could have saved an average of $38,082 on their purchase. When asked what the single most surprising home-buying cost was, recent buyers say repair and upgrade costs (18 percent), closing costs (16 percent), property taxes (14 percent), moving costs (12 percent), homeowners insurance (9 percent), and ongoing maintenance costs (8 percent).

“As noted, recent buyers spent an average of $15,073 on repairs in their first year of homeownership, with over half (55%) spending more on repairs and maintenance than expected. That number jumps to $16,152 among first-time buyers (38%), who were nearly 2x more likely to purchase a fixer-upper than repeat buyers (20%).

“Monthly housing costs also are higher than expected for 56% of first-time homeowners. About 58% of first-timers say the cost of purchasing their home forced them to put other financial goals on hold. Three-quarters of recent buyers (75%) say the cost of purchasing a home significantly impacted their finances within the first year of owning it. About 72% of buyers have regrets about their buying experience, with the most common being not negotiating enough (21%), underestimating post-purchase expenses (18%), and exceeding their budget (17%).”

Read the full report at: https://bestinterest.com/research/how-much-does-it-cost-to-buy-a-house.

Third party provider product news continues

_________________________________________________

From the primary to the secondary markets, vendors have rolled out some very interesting products. In no particular order, who’s been up to what?

Vertyx, a provider of intelligent mortgage servicing technology built for enhanced portfolio performance, announced Homeowner Navigator, a platform providing AI-driven homeowner insights and omnichannel engagement with borrowers. The platform is designed to help mortgage servicers maintain visibility into borrower needs after closing, when opportunities to support retention, recapture and broader relationship growth are often harder to identify. For servicers, this means better visibility into borrower needs, stronger recapture opportunities, and more effective portfolio management in an increasingly competitive market.

MISMO announced the publication of two new standards in candidate recommendation status: the ALTA Title Policy Dataset and the ALTA Settlement Statement Dataset. Developed in partnership with the American Land Title Association (ALTA), these datasets align ALTA’s widely used forms with MISMO’s trusted data standards. The collaboration delivers a unified digital foundation that enhances efficiency for lenders, title companies, settlement agents, servicers, and technology providers. The work also supports MISMO’s broader commitment to powering a more digital, data-driven mortgage experience.

ZestyAI, the risk and decision intelligence platform for the insurance industry, announced Z-SPARK™, an AI-powered model that predicts non-weather fire risk at the individual property level. The model evaluates the factors that influence ignition and fire spread to help insurers identify the structures most likely to generate costly fire losses.

MeridianLink unveiled an evolved brand centered on “Lending Made Human,” reflecting its belief that as automation and AI reshape lending, technology should simplify the complexity behind lending while empowering financial institutions to focus on what matters most: the people and communities they serve. MeridianLink’s platform is designed around the principle of human-in-the-loop innovation. By combining automation, AI-powered insights, and the industry’s largest partner ecosystem, MeridianLink’s solutions orchestrate the complex workflows behind modern lending.

Ascendant Capital and Black Lake launched RESOLVE™, the first complete end-to-end platform purpose-built for pricing, trading, and transferring scratch and dent mortgage assets. It operates through a seamless, transparent auction process powered by Black Lake’s proprietary auction technology, MATRIX™. RESOLVE™ brings institutional-grade efficiency to a market segment that has long relied on fragmented, manual workflows, and advances how lenders, investors, and servicers manage non-performing and defective loan portfolios. View the Press Release for details.

Friday Harbor, an AI underwriting program, just integrated with the Calyx Path LOS to bring pre-underwriting into the origination flow. The goal is simple: catch and resolve file issues before they reach underwriting, reducing rework, conditions, and time to close. More details can be found in the full press release.

Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter^®), announced Ask Aiva^®, a conversational AI assistant natively embedded within the Empower^® loan origination system (LOS) that allows lenders to query their origination environment in plain language, receive instant answers to see how those answers were derived. Ask Aiva is unveiling at Horizon 2026, the company’s annual user conference.

Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter^®), announced a new integration between its Empower® loan origination system (LOS) and Snapdocs, the mortgage industry’s leading digital closing platform. Through the seamless, two-way integration, closing teams can generate orders, track transaction progress with real-time status updates and automate key closing and funding workflows, all without leaving their system of record.

Alorica Financial’s Systems & Services Technologies (SST), is partnering with PayNearMe to modernize how borrowers make payments and interact with their servicers across channels.

Integrating PayNearMe’s PayXM platform expands payment options (debit, credit, ACH, cash and major digital wallets like Apple Pay, Cash App Pay, Venmo, PayPal and Google Pay) across IVR, digital and agent‑assisted channels. The partners are also positioning PayXM as a payment continuity layer that preserves tokens, schedules and payment histories when portfolios move between originators, subservicers and backup servicers, helping prevent collections and cash‑flow drop‑off during servicing transfers and distressed situations.

ICE Mortgage Technology has launched its new Homeowner Portal, powered by LERETA’s tax tracking data, giving homeowners real-time visibility into their property tax and insurance payment information. The integration enhances transparency for borrowers while helping servicers improve efficiency and reduce inbound customer inquiries. Read the full press release here.

Friday Harbor  announced Income and Asset Sandbox, a new capability that lets loan officers dynamically structure income and asset decisions earlier in the workflow. Income and Asset Sandbox is part of Friday Harbor's broader AI pre-underwriting platform. For more details on how it works, view the full press release here.

Argyle has integrated with AI-native LOS Vesta striving to streamline one of the more manual parts of the mortgage process: verification. Integration gives lenders in-platform access to real-time income, employment, and asset data, allowing them to order, view and refresh VOI, VOE and VOA without leaving their LOS or relying on documents collected across multiple systems. Argyle’s commitment to innovation is backed by investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Checkr, Mastercard and SignalFire.

MeridianLink®, Inc. announced that Onslow Bay Financial LLC (“Onslow Bay”), a long-term residential mortgage investor has gone live with MeridianLink® Mortgage, the company’s loan origination system (LOS). Designed for credit unions, community banks, and independent mortgage bankers to ensure speed and accuracy from application to approval. Lenders choose MeridianLink Mortgage because of the sophisticated open API framework, which offers flexibility to quickly scale business needs and integrate with a vast ecosystem of more than 400 partners.

When someone calls you “an eagle eye,” it is a real compliment… as seen in this mesmerizing video.

Visit www.ChrismanCommentary.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. You can also explore the Chrisman Marketplace, a centralized hub connecting mortgage professionals with trusted vendors and solutions. If you’re interested, check out my periodic blog on the STRATMOR Group website. This month’s piece is titled, “Mortgage Rates Are Not Random.” The Commentary’s podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple and Spotify.

qoɹ

(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes, visit the Chrisman Job Board. This newsletter is intended for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For the latest mortgage news, visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.ChrismanCommentary.com. Copyright 2026 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman. The views and opinions in this newsletter are mine alone unless otherwise specifically stated herein.)