If the mortgage market is a ship at sea, 2023 proved to be a year of storms. Things were already turbulent entering the year, but high interest rates, inventory shortages and affordability struggles cast the market into choppier and even more treacherous waters.
I don’t need to tell you that last year was hard. You felt the impact on a personal and professional level. Many originators exited the business entirely, many suffered layoffs and others shuffled around, joining new companies.
There were breaks in the clouds. As I spoke with many top originators throughout the year, it seemed that the focus had shifted; rather than quantity, the effort went to quality, with spotless applications and deeper relationships. Similarly, originators put effort toward expanding their market share by filling empty niches and growing social media followings. Of course, much effort went to expanding product offerings, with mortgage companies launching new loans, apps and initiatives.
Mortgage professionals persevered, repeating the mantra: it’s a cyclical business. It hurts when we’re in a down cycle, but it will not last forever. And though originators saw their regular business as much as halved last year, many stayed, patiently awaiting the eventual upswing. These determined originators recorded impressive volume in a down year, and I’m excited to share their results with you.
Welcome to the 15th annual Top Originators rankings. Here at Scotsman Guide, we’re intimately familiar with the mortgage industry’s ups and downs. This year, we knew we had to do something different. We always aim to represent 3-5% of the nation’s most prolific originators in these rankings; to stay true to that representation this year, we adjusted our qualification thresholds from $40 million or 100 units to $25 million or 75 units. Going forward, we plan to monitor these thresholds to keep up with the market.
In the second quarter of 2023, there were 88,131 active mortgage originators, according to NMLS data. This year, Scotsman Guide’s complete rankings include 4,244 originators — 4.8% of the nation’s best. We’re proud to continue offering these exclusive, comprehensive rankings to celebrate the best of the business.
Reclaiming the No. 1 spot for the first time since 2018 is Mark Cohen of Cohen Financial Group. Cohen closed $743 million across 576 loans in 2023, just $8 million — or about 1% — shy of his 2022 volume. Cohen is a longtime fixture in the Top Originators rankings, remaining in the top 10 for more than a decade.
Shant Banosian of Guaranteed Rate, another familiar face in the industry, took the No. 2 spot in this year’s rankings. The Massachusetts power- house originator closed $581.2 million across 1,045 loans in 2023. Third place went to Jarret Coleman of U.S. Bank ($401.8 million), followed by Matthew Weaver of CrossCountry Mortgage ($373.1 million) and Douglas Crouse of BMO Bank N.A. ($353.9 million). Notably, Weaver closed the most loans in our rankings this year, with 1,188 units.
A few originators increased their volumes from 2022 to 2023 and skyrocketed through the ranks. Jeremy Durkin of CrossCountry Mortgage jumped from 32nd to 12th place with an $8 million increase, Dustin Rosenberg of Convoy Home Loans jumped from 52nd to 16th place with a $25 million increase and Sherry Wang of Citibank N.A. soared from 124th to 18th with an impressive $65.3 million increase.
On the following pages, you’ll find the top 250 originators ranked by total dollar volume as well as the top 50 originators ranked by non-qualified (non-QM) volume. While total volumes fell as expected in 2023, non-QM volumes remained pretty steady. The cutoff to make the list fell only $2 million year-over-year, and the top 5 non-QM originators closed more than $1.2 billion combined in these loans.
While we can showcase only a few hundred originators in print, thousands more who submitted and closed $25 million or 75 loans qualified for our online rankings. The complete Total Dollar Volume and Most Loans Closed rankings are available now; click the button at the top of this post. Find yourself and tag us on social media @scotsmanguide!
Throughout the year, Scotsman Guide will print additional rankings content, beginning with next month’s Top Women Originators. Follow along through the end of the year for content like Top Veteran Originators, Top Emerging Stars and State Champions. And for a sneak peek at lists like Top Mortgage Brokers, Top Purchase Volume and Top Refinance Volume, visit the online rankings at scotsmanguide.com. Scotsman Guide is here to offer resources and advice to get you through what is expected to be a slow start to 2024. Flip through these pages for articles from industry experts and our editors and remember that you can always find more online. These industry-leading rankings are only possible because of our loyal subscribers — thank you for your submissions, and have a great April. See you all again next month as we highlight the best women originators in the business! ●
