Feb. 14: Institutions owning SFH to rent; Credit payment trends; Vendor news; Saturday Spotlight: Kastle.ai; Valentine's Day humor

Did someone say it’s Valentine’s Day? Indeed. I don’t know the statistics, but my guess is that a sizeable chunk of couples met each other at work or at school. Hopefully they’re paying their tuition, but… New data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicated that about one million borrowers defaulted on their federal student loans last year, with 9.6 percent of balances at least 90 days past due. As of September 2025, 3.3 million borrowers were between 31 and 270 days late on payment and 3.6 million were technically in default (more than 270 days late on their payments). Another 5.2 million were actually in default as of September 30, though most had defaulted prior to the pandemic. In addition, 9.8 million borrowers are in forbearance, pausing their payments while the loans accumulate interest. Some will say that student debt and mortgage debt are unrelated, but others will say that the tendency to make payments on all debt is linked. It appears that Americans with higher incomes are starting to fall behind on payments: Rising debt levels and more missed payments pushed a financial stress gauge to its highest level ever. And that is not good for any lender, in any debt business.

Saturday Spotlight: Kastle

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“The most deployed AI agent in the mortgage industry”

Kastle is an AI platform built specifically for mortgage lenders and servicers to deploy AI agents across their operations. FDIC-insured banks and large IMBs use Kastle to automate customer interactions in sales, customer service, and collections with fully compliant AI agents.

Kastle is already integrated with major systems of records such as ICE MSP, consumer direct CRMs, and all major contact center platforms. Kastle is backed by some of the largest investors in Silicon Valley including Y Combinator and Emergence Capital. Since launch, Kastle’s AI agents have handled millions of borrower calls and processed more than $300M in cash transactions for mortgage lenders. The company has also won top industry recognition, including the Digital Mortgage Conference Innovation Challenge and LendingTree’s Innovation Summit.

Lenders are building their AI workforce on Kastle using natural language.

Current use cases include agents for AI Customer service agents to resolve borrower inquiries across voice, email, and webchat, AI Collections agents to reduce delinquency rates, AI Loan officer assistants to generate warm transfers and automate manual follow-ups, and AI Quality Assurance Agents to automate manual call and document QC. Kastle’s platform allows lenders to modernize operations, improve borrower experience, and implement AI in a safe, compliant, and cost-effective way.

What we are most proud of is how deeply we partner with our customers.

We see ourselves as an extension of their AI team—spending time onsite, working shoulder-to-shoulder, and aligning around outcomes. In our early days, we even moved the entire company to Tempe from San Francisco to help a top five mortgage lender go live, and that same ethos of customer commitment continues today.

If you are looking to reduce your cost to fund and service loans, connect with us to design a one-year roadmap for successfully deploying AI across your operations.

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

President Trump’s executive order leaves one thing out

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President Trump’s executive order that would bar big investors from acquiring single-family homes includes an exemption that allows them to build homes for rent, so newly built rental housing is permitted under President Trump’s executive order.

Matthew Goldstein wrote, “President Trump has identified what he says is a clear culprit holding back the housing market: corporate investors buying up single-family homes and renting them out. ‘Homes are built for people, not for corporations,’ Mr. Trump said in a speech last month in Davos, Switzerland. ‘America will not become a nation of renters.’ But buried in Mr. Trump’s recently announced executive order that seeks to bar large investors from acquiring single-family homes is an exemption that allows them to build homes for renting out. These build-to-rent housing communities are a growing niche of the market and involve some of the same Wall Street landlords that Mr. Trump has blamed for preventing average Americans from owning their own homes.

“In recent years, private equity firms like Blackstone have been building new subdivisions of single-family houses that are all for rent. Large home-building companies like Lennar and D.R. Horton have also gotten into the business, building single-family homes dedicated as rentals. One of the president’s own top housing officials, Bill Pulte, had a small business of buying newly built rental homes before he joined the administration.

“The build-to-rent exemption may seem at odds with the Trump administration’s stated goal of making more homes available for sale to middle-income Americans by cracking down on Wall Street-backed landlords. Similar proposals have garnered support from some Democratic and Republican politicians over the years. But housing analysts say, from a policy perspective, build-to-rent communities make sense because they are improving the availability of quality rental housing. Rick Palacios Jr., director of research for John Burns Research and Consulting, a housing research firm, said build-to-rent communities catered to parents with young children who weren’t quite ready to buy a home. ‘Build-to-rent is really a natural steppingstone for homeownership,’ he said.

“Last year, some 66,000 homes in build-to-rent communities were completed, according to Zonda, a home-building data and research firm. By comparison, just 11,000 build-to-rent community homes were constructed in 2021.

“The president’s executive order could give a boost to the nation’s home builders, at a time when many Americans cannot buy single-family homes because of high mortgage rates, rising home prices for existing homes, and a severe shortage of newly constructed affordable homes.

D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest homebuilder, said in a recent regulatory filing that it sold 3,546 single-family rental homes last year, compared with 83,622 that were mainly sold to ordinary buyers. Lennar started a dedicated online platform in August for investors looking to buy newly built rental homes.

“Alan Ratner, a managing director at Zelman & Associates, an investment bank focused on the housing industry, said build-to-rent deals provided a ‘built-in hedge’ for builders. The ability of a homebuilder to presell a significant number of rental homes in a given development to a large institutional buyer gives the builder comfort to build more homes than it normally might, he said.

“Today, almost all of the big Wall Street landlords (Invitation Homes, American Homes 4 Rent and Blackstone) are either cutting deals with homebuilders to buy newly constructed homes in dedicated rental communities or setting up their own construction firms. Last month, Invitation Homes, one of the original Wall Street landlords, acquired a build-to-rent developer that specialized in constructing single-family rental home communities in several Southeastern states.

“Invitation Homes, which already owns 80,000 rental homes, announced its deal roughly two weeks after Mr. Trump announced his ban on corporate investors turning single-family homes into rental units. For many years, Invitation Homes and its private equity owner at the time, Blackstone, were the public face of the Wall Street-backed landlords. The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, which left millions of Americans in financial ruin, was a buying opportunity for Invitation Homes, which acquired tens of thousands of foreclosed homes to operate as rentals.

“Wall Street-backed firms’ buying of foreclosed homes helped stabilize the housing market in some regions because it took vacant homes off the market and helped put a floor under falling home prices. But over time, the Wall Street landlords became a lightning rod for critics who said the deep-pocketed firms were crowding out first-time home buyers in places like Atlanta, Nashville, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Tampa, Fla., where most of the firms concentrated their buying. In recent years, several members of Congress introduced bills that would limit institutional investors from buying large numbers of homes to operate as rentals. But the measures were not adopted.

“Mr. Trump’s executive order would similarly require congressional action to be fully put into effect. The executive order also instructs the Treasury Department to come up with a definition of what constitutes a big institutional buyer and operator of single-family rentals.

“Most of the big Wall Street landlords, which came into existence in the wake of the financial crisis, long ago moved on from buying large numbers of existing homes. Soaring home prices and low foreclosure rates have made such purchases less profitable.

“Today, Wall Street landlords make up only a small segment of the homebuying market. By some estimates, they own 1 to 3 percent of all single-family rentals in the country. Blackstone, in a fact sheet, said it owned 22 percent fewer homes than it did eight years ago. Most investors buying single-family homes are mom-and-pop businesses that own a handful of rental homes and are not expected to fall under the executive order. Other active buyers are smaller investment firms that have acquired a few dozen rental homes, as opposed to whole communities.

“Investing in single-family homes had been lucrative for Wall Street. Blackstone took Invitation Homes public in 2017 and fully exited its investment in 2019, generating $7 billion in gross proceeds, about twice its original investment.

“Big Wall Street landlords like Blackstone, which acquired Tricon two year ago, are making deals with homebuilders to buy newly constructed homes in dedicated rental communities or establishing their own construction firms. Two years ago, Blackstone got back into the business in a big way, acquiring Tricon Residential, a large single-family rental firm that already had been active in the build-to-rent market and is continuing to manage rental communities in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, and Georgia.

“Last year, Tricon broke ground on a development that will include 93 rental homes and town homes in Simpsonville, S.C. The company is working with a Florida-based builder to construct the development, which will include a pool, a dog park, a playground, and pickleball and tennis courts. A sign at the development said: ‘Brand New Homes for Rent.’

“Like President Trump, Mr. Pulte, his director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has been a vocal critic of corporate landlords. But before he joined the administration, Mr. Pulte was an investor in build-to-rent properties. In recent years, several of Mr. Pulte’s investment firms had bought more than a dozen single-family homes, including from his family’s former home-building business, PulteGroup, and from other big builders like Lennar and Toll Brothers. At the time, Mr. Pulte said those rental properties would help ‘give the experience of a new home to Americans who cannot afford it.’ Asked about Mr. Trump's executive order, Mr. Pulte said, ‘Unlike small landlords, corporations that are owning 100,000-plus homes are not where we should be in America.’” Thank you, Matthew and the New York Times.

Vendor news from across our biz

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Try to find a lender that does everything by itself with no outside services. Good luck. Chrisman LLC has a good listing of who’s who in the zoo, broken down by type of product. Let’s play some catch up and take a random look at who’s doing what.

LoanWorks, Inc. announced that it has become the first mortgage broker to fully integrate AngelAi into its core operating platform at the foundational workflow level, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of AI-powered lending. Leveraging AngelAi's $119 Billion intellectual property asset portfolio valuation, this category-defining achievement further bridges the gap between fintech innovation and real-world impact. Read the Article for complete details.

ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property data, and real estate analytics, announced two new offerings that further advance its technology platform and long-term growth strategy. The company is launching the ATTOM MCP Server, a new AI-native access and integration layer that securely connects AI (artificial intelligence) applications to ATTOM property data, along with offering Databricks delivery, a cloud-based data delivery option built on Databricks Delta Sharing.

ACES Quality Management® (ACES), acquired Basecap Analytics, an established enterprise data quality platform trusted by leading financial institutions enhancing ACES’ ability to deliver end-to-end quality management by expanding its platform to include enterprise-wide data quality automation. Integrating the BaseCap platform expands the capabilities of ACES Quality Management & Control Software® to include advanced data validation and more intelligent quality control functionality.

Informative Research’s (IR) work in 2025 introduced significant platform enhancements and expanded its integration ecosystem across credit and verification services. The company introduced new credit and verification capabilities, added multiple data and payroll partners, and enhanced automation through its unified platform, enabling lenders to streamline workflows, reduce manual processes and access borrower data earlier and more consistently across the loan lifecycle. IR also integrated with Vesta, enabling lenders to access IR’s suite of consumer data and verifications directly with the Vesta loan origination system (LOS) to enhance operational efficiency and reduce manual processes.

Vertyx announced the release of Borrower Relationship Management, a new capability within its end-to-end mortgage servicing platform designed to help servicers and investors identify retention and recapture opportunities earlier, deliver timely outreach through borrower channels and measure engagement. Borrower Relationship Management is designed around three stakeholders in the mortgage lifecycle: the borrower, the servicer, and the investor, with the goal of helping institutions protect portfolio value while delivering a higher-quality servicing experience. This feature surfaces mortgages within your portfolio that may need attention based on a proprietary blend of leading indicators.

Mortgage Forward, LLC announced a strategic partnership with AviaryAI, a leading provider of applied generative AI for credit unions and financial institutions. The partnership formalizes ongoing collaboration between the two organizations and strengthens their shared commitment to transforming mortgage origination and servicing through responsible, high-impact AI. Institutions have a reliable path to adopt AI in ways that enhance the member journey while protecting compliance and preserving the human touch during moments that matter.

Richey May announced that Richey May Cyber has officially evolved into RM Cyber, unveiling a refreshed brand identity and new website designed to reflect the practice's specialized cybersecurity expertise and expanding presence across the industries it serves. View the Press Release for details.

Selene Finance LP (“Selene”) launched the first phase of Selene Cares+™, a new borrower assistance campaign designed to simplify communication, increase clarity, and empower customers with accessible, educational information when they want it. The initial phase focuses on enhanced digital outbound communications, delivering educational and informative content that borrowers can access anytime, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Details are available in the Press Release.

If you’re looking for a the classic women/men lesson in communication, here you go: “It’s not About the Nail”. You won’t be disappointed.

(And for something more heartfelt, but longer, try this on for size. It’s quite a speech and you won’t be sorry if you have five minutes.)

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, “Helping Borrowers in a Market Defined by Complexity and Change.” The Commentary’s podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple and Spotify.

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(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.)