Former New Century exec founds HomeView Lending
By PATRICK CROWLEY
1/13/2006

The former wholesale president of one of America's largest subprime lenders, who started out as an account executive at the company, has launched a new wholesale lender. The company offers nonprime and option ARM programs.

Kal Elsayed says it took him just nine years to go from an account executive to president at New Century Mortgage Corp.'s wholesale division.

So Elsayed says he is optimistic about the success of HomeView Lending Inc., the new wholesale mortgage lender he has started in Orange County, Calif., even as other in the industry are downsizing and bracing for a slowdown as some experts are predicting.

"People are attracted to the energy of a startup," Elsayed said in an interview with MortgageDaily.com. "I'm going to pace myself with this new company [even as] some of the big players are shedding talent. The (employee) pool is plentiful. People know we're hiring and the phone hasn't stopped ringing."

Elsayed is hiring 50 people now, 18 of whom will be sales representatives. He plans on having 100 sales reps and volume of $1.7 billion by the end of the year.

HomeView Lending will serve the subprime, Alt-A and option-ARM markets, Elsayed said. He won't divulge how the company will market and sell its products other than to say that "technology will be a big part of streamlining the process of writing and closing loans."

"The industry is changing, it's fragmenting," he said. "We see an opportunity for a new kind of mortgage company. Brokers and homeowners are looking for fast, no-hassle ways to close nonprime and Alt-A loans."

Mortgage brokers will often use three to five new wholesale lenders a year, so Elsayed said he is confident his company will be given an opportunity "to show what we can do."

"When brokers see what we are all about, they will give us an opportunity," he said. "If we perform, they'll give us another opportunity."

Elsayed said he served three years as president of New Century's wholesale division. In 2004, he said he "accounted" for $38 billion in wholesale loan production.

Taking a swipe at some of his competitors' sponsorships and other activities, Elsayed said his company "is going to concentrate on mortgage banking, and nothing else."

"We're not going to get into car racing," he said. "We're not going to sponsor Olympic athletes. We're not going to do those things that [lenders] have gotten into in the past."

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