When looking at their newly formed mortgage joint venture, Revenos Mortgage, executives at both eXp Realty and Newrez, see nothing but opportunities ahead.
“When you think about our ecosystem across the entire real estate landscape and the opportunity set, Leo [Pareja] and I were talking to each other about this possible opportunity and thinking about it from a lead perspective. [With] our existing home set or how we think about our originating business, attaching to a global real estate company was really strategic for us,” Baron Silverstein, the president of Newrez, said during a session at eXp Con on Friday. “I would say it was a bit of love at first sight.”
The partnership with Newrez comes roughly a month after HousingWire reported eXp’s decision to wind down Success Lending, its former mortgage joint venture with Kind Lending.
According to eXp executives, the joint venture was losing money, which prompted the shuttering of the venture.
“As executives of eXp, we needed to protect our tents from a financial perspective and to protect our brand. In a down market, in an up market, our corporate margins are very small in the real estate business and where we need to excel is in affiliated services. When we decided to sunset Success Lending, we went and met with everybody, Rocket, Cross Country and eventually Newrez. What continued to grab us about Newrez was not their statistics, but their people,” Jeff Crisalli, a vice president at eXp Realty, said during a breakout session on Revenos Mortgage, Friday afternoon. “It was about who they were and how they showed up, and we really wanted to be in business with the right people who had the right vision.”
Pareja, the newly appointed CEO of eXp Realty parent company, AGNT, also emphasized that the leadership team took its time in finding a new lending partner.
“Looking into this next season, with the next 12 to 36 months that I warned you about, purchase is going to be everything,” Pareja said. “We were very thoughtful, we took our time and decided that this was the next partner for us.”
Options galore
One of the main things that attracted Pareja and eXp to Newrez was everything the non-bank lender has to offer, from running operations in all origination channels, to its book of servicing business to its link to single family rental operations through its parent company Rithm Capital. In addition, Newrez offers a full suite of mortgage products and partners with hundreds of down payment assistance programs nationwide, which Pareja sees as yet another way to help his agents win clients when they are in buyer or seller presentations.
According to Pareja, once the joint venture is launched in January 2027, eXp’s name and logo will be included on all Newrez servicing statements as a way to get the brokerage’s name out in front of consumers well before they are thinking of moving.
“This is your mortgage company. We are building it brick by brick from the ground up to meet your needs and to meet our customers’ needs,” David Schroeder, head of national sales at Newrez, said.
Schroeder also noted that Newrez has over 6,000 lending partners and clients.
“That is really important because it shows that we understand how to partner with business partners. We understand that you are entrusting us with your customers and your business every time you provide us a referral, and we are only as good as our last deal. We are very attuned to the service level and urgency that is required, so part of what we are doing is making sure that we are building a platform that has transparency and clarity so you know what is going on with your loans,” Schroeder said.
Educational opportunities
In addition to providing agents with more leads and opportunities to provide clients with more lending options, leaders at both companies also see this partnership as a way for real estate agents to become more knowledgeable about mortgage and lending.
“We’re not asking any of you to become loan officers,” Schroeder said. “We want to educate you to have better conversations with loan officers that can then fulfill your client’s needs and keep you informed as you go.”
Crisalli added that they are by no means encouraging agents to become dual licensed as loan officers, but this doesn’t mean they can’t use this opportunity to learn more about lending.
“Being the subject matter expert, not only in the home that your buyer is trying to buy, but in a way that can bring your client’s transaction to the next level or help the client who is still thinking about getting into the market, that will help you build your business,” he said.
Revenos Mortgage is officially launching in January 2027, however, Schroder noted that in the meantime, Newrez has a team of LOs dedicated to helping eXp agents and their clients if they would like to give Newrez a try before the joint venture launches.