"It is never too late to be what you might have been." – George Eliot

It’s been exactly five months since I walked away from my job at HousingWire & took the biggest risk of my career: launching an independent media outlet devoted to covering the people, power, & money shaping the U.S. mortgage & housing finance industry. No fluff, no spin, no corporate filter.

It took me many months to summon the courage to leave. It was a great job, but it was also a variation of something I’d been doing since I was 18 years old. I’ll be 40 in August. I had never challenged myself to learn marketing, distribution, sales, or just be fully in charge. It was time.

Ultimately, I turned down investors & launched a radically different newsletter product without any backing or safety net (and with a baby & toddler at home).

I won’t mince words: It’s been grueling. There are moments of real self-doubt, stress about money, & days when I push through sickness just to hit publish. My wife has been incredible, & I’m lucky to have her support. But there are no true days off.

I’ve quickly learned that this style of independent journalism provokes strong feelings & pushback. People who I once considered supporters now take petty shots at me. I’ve received legal threats from powerful companies. Potential advertisers disappear the moment they learn I won’t do pay-to-play. There’s a cost to independence in this industry.

(🙏 If you like what you’re reading, tell a fellow mortgage junkie to sign up here.)

Even w/ the stress, I’ve never been happier or more excited about the future.

I get to build this crazy thing my way. And I get to do so alongside ten31 Media’s Hiten Samtani, who ran The Real Deal’s newsroom w/ me for 5 years & is a brilliant journalist & publisher. Together, we’re trying to create something I feel the industry has been missing: smart, honest, entertaining coverage that doesn’t talk down to readers or protect powerful interests.

In just five months, The Mortgage Scoop has published deep dives into ICE’s complicated relationship w/ mortgage, UWM’s shift toward the non-del model, Rocket’s plans to recruit retail LOs & even an insider’s account of JPMorgan’s “shitty” mortgage business. 

We’ve exposed FHA borrowers gaming the system, recruiter-to-LO pipeline plays, very questionable broker practices, emerging fraud schemes, Cake’s Thanksgiving funding woes, Mesa’s collapse, regulatory scrutiny around UWM’s Success Track & much more. 

And yes, plenty of fun/colorful stuff too: the greatest voicemail ☎️in mortgage history, the untold account of the infamous Triple Play 🥊 brawl, & the death of Chairman’s Club debauchery.

This work is only achievable because people care about making the industry better.

All of this is to say, thank you for being here & taking this leap w/ me. If you believe in what we’re building at The Mortgage Scoop, I’d love for you to become a paid subscriber & help support independent journalism.

We’ll launch a podcast, expand into video & have merch in ‘26 (The Scoop doggie poop bags? 🐶💩 🛍 ).

What you’d like The Scoop to tackle in ‘26? Reply to this email & let me know. We’re off on Friday but will be back next week! Hope you have an amazing New Year’s!

If you’ve been reading The Scoop, you already know what you’re getting: real reporting, deep sourcing, & stories nobody else in mortgage media is touching. We’ve exposed shady lender tactics, examined ICE’s hate-love relationship w/ mortgage, broken dozens of tech stories, dug into UWM’s correspondent play, Rocket’s retail strategy & much more… Insiders get the full Monday/Wednesday/Friday edition—scoops, analysis, sourcing, & context you will not find anywhere else—plus early access to new features.

If you rely on The Scoop to stay sharp, informed, & ahead, this is your chance to support independent, scoop-driven mortgage journalism. Insiders pay $275 a year ($22 a month). Sign up for a 2-week free trial today. We also do group discounts.

There’s been a C-Suite change at NFM Lending. In an internal company video, founder David Silverman announced that he is stepping down as CEO. He’s tapped longtime President/COO Bob Tyson III to fill his shoes as CEO. LaTasha Waddy has been promoted to Tyson’s role as well.

Tyson & Waddy have been at NFM for about 15 years & embody NFM’s entrepreneurial values, Silverman said in the video. Silverman will continue to have a role in coaching, leadership & technology but won’t be involved in the day-to-day operations.

Waddy told The Scoop that she’ll be taking on new challenges in recruiting & retention as well as capital markets. Waddy, a business lawyer by trade, said NFM’s other mortgage company Lucas Home Loans will soon be receiving its CDFI credz. They will be launching non-QM vehicles Waddy says will be a disruptor in the 2nd mortgage space.

“You have more opportunity versus a traditional bond program. There’s margin pickup & we were awarded grants from Treasury to build out the technology,” she said.

Waddy recently published a children’s book & is currently working on an app that simulates the homebuying experience to better educate prospective FTHBs.

Maryland-based NFM originated roughly $8B in mortgages in ‘25 & recently picked up Homespire Mortgage.

A federal judge has barred 8 former Union Home Mortgage employees from originating loans in their local cities, NMN’s Andrew Martinez reports. The lender sued ex-branch managers & LOs earlier this year after they moved to American Pacific Mortgage. The judge wrote that UHM is likely to succeed on its breach of contract claims regarding the noncompete provisions.

Interestingly, LOs admitted to taking screenshots of client lists, sending emails of loan applications to themselves but alleged mistreatment & claimed they were encouraged to falsify the source of leads & violate the LO Comp Rule.

Is it just me or is the industry becoming much more litigious?

Non-del correspondent is red-hot & accounts for much of the growth in the wholesale channel.

“What’s always been exciting to me is that one of these guys will crack the code & be the next CrossCountry in 5 years,” one longtime wholesale exec told The Scoop. “It's a similar margin business as wholesale w/ half the effort.”

Unfortunately, he said that some of the non-del execs “have no idea” what they’re doing. 

“And then there’s guys who have been doing it for about a year, & then there’s sophisticated guys like NEXA who understand capital markets, how to hedge & just need investors.”

From a fulfillment perspective, there’s some counterparty risk. 

“Warehouse banks are starting to really extend credit to a lot of these guys which is scary in some ways because some of them have a net worth of like $25K. It’s not enough to do anything…They're willing to give out $5M or $10M lines w/ really no recourse. It’s very risky. It's only going to take one of those guys to get smoked.” 

(🙏 If you like what you’re reading, tell a fellow mortgage junkie to sign up here.)