Union Home Mortgage Strikes Again

Ever-acquisitive Union Home Mortgage is doing its thing. In today’s edition of The Mortgage Scoop, I share details of Bill Cosgrove’s latest M&A pickup. Plus, loanDepot argues West Cap’s lawsuit is little more than sour grapes, how the summer market is going for LOs, my own frustration/anxiety in trying to get a mortgage & more!

Existing home sales in March were the weakest they’d been since ‘09, but by mid-April mortgage rates had fallen to around 6.3%. On April 15, I reported that LOs across the country were optimistic that declining mortgage rates & improved inventory would lead to a strong end-of-spring & bountiful summer.

It hasn’t quite materialized. The war in Iran that we are totally winning & related game of chicken w/ the Strait of Hormuz has pushed mortgage rates up to their highest levels in a year. I’m currently trying to buy a co-op in Brooklyn & it’s absolutely brutal (more on that below). I asked LOs what they’re seeing in their respective markets. 

“We have had steady business for the first half of 2026, tracking for similar to slightly elevated volume versus 2025,” said David Whitley of Whitley Mortgage in North Carolina. His mix is roughly 80% purchase & 20% refi. Product-wise, he’s at 80% conventional & 20% govie, with a smattering of DSCR loans & bank statement loans.

“The purchase buyer is probably 50% FTHB versus seasoned homebuyers. We have about 10 new construction loans in the pipeline right now, so that accounts for a decent percentage of our overall activity. People seem resigned to just deal w/ higher interest rates & look forward to a refinance when rates finally come down.” 

Whitley said he does not hear “much complaining” about rates these days. “In our market, wage increases have outpaced home price increases or are at least on par. Everyone is looking forward to de-escalation in the Middle East, which will lead to lower inflation and lower rates.”

Ravi Patel, who runs a Union Home Mortgage branch in Cincinnati, said business is steady.

“Buyers who are on the fence are still taking their time through the process, but job changes & relocation packages are keeping the market moving,” he said. “Listing agents are noticing homes lasting longer on market w/ fewer showings in the less desirable areas, or when sellers aren’t priced right. But homes in the good neighborhoods are still going into multiple offers w/ over list price action.”

The uncertainty around the new Fed chair & potential rate hikes, plus the conflict overseas, isn’t helping buyers & sellers unless there’s a real urgency to move, he told me. “Feels like everyone is waiting for clarity before they commit.”

It’s 11:13 a.m. & my wife and I are total stress balls. Today we find out whether we can finance a beautiful apartment for our family.

Here’s how we got here: Our Brooklyn landlord sold our three-unit building in early July. He said the buyer would keep the tenants. The new owner introduced himself last week and told us he bought the place for his entire family.

He wants everyone out yesterday. We have 90 days to find a place.

We hired a great Compass agent (I know, I know) and found an incredible two-bedroom co-op in Ditmas Park: sunny, renovated, balcony, big bedrooms & some insane jacuzzi-style tub.

The challenge is the financing.

My wife is a Corporate Wage Slave W-2 worker, but The Mortgage Scoop is only about a year old. That makes us a complicated file, & GSE financing isn’t yet an option. A trusted source who runs a retail lender tried to help, but he could only finance condos. (The rate was 7.5% for warrantable units & closer to 7.9% for non-warrantable ones — FML)

NYC co-ops are a different animal. There isn’t a deep investor market for the paper; depository banks really dominate here.

So we’re working with a Big Bank recommended by our agent. The LO is excellent & believes the bank may count some of my business income & keep the loan on portfolio.

But dios mio, the full-doc review has been like getting a colonoscopy during an audit. They’ve requested a mountain of paperwork, & we may need to move our personal & business banking over to sweeten the deal. If it works, we could land a rate in the low 6s & compete in a multiple-offer situation.

If not, we will probably remain renters for another year…

Fresh off his acquisition of Sierra Pacific Mortgage, Bill Cosgrove has picked up another established lender doing a healthy 🥕 book of business in California. And this one’s got non-QM game.

Multiple sources told The Mortgage Scoop early Friday morning that Texas-based AmeriTrust had joined the Ohio multichannel lender. (AmeriTrust is not to be confused w/ AmeriFirst, which UHM scooped up a couple years ago. Watch out AmeriHome?)

More details available exclusively for Mortgage Scoop Insiders 👇 .