Origination News Feature Story

New President Takes the Reins at NAMB

By Lew Sichelman

SAN ANTONIO-Corpus Christi broker Jim Pair quietly took over the reins at the National Association of Mortgage Brokers here late last month, vowing to put the struggling organization back on a solid foundation.

"I have no long-term goals, only short-term ones, revenue and membership," Mr. Pair told a small crowd of no more than 100 at the one-day midyear meeting.

The new NAMB president, the group's "Broker of the Year" in 2007, said the organization is in a "crisis situation," with membership down to under 10,000 and less than $12,000 left in its political action committee.

But the ex-mortgage banker who served as president of two savings and loans over his 40-year career promised to reverse the downward spiral, saying that if the enthusiasm and dedication shown by the new board of directors are any indications, he can succeed.

Mr. Pair listed a number of initiatives planned for this year, including a new corporate membership category and a search for new industry partners. "There are lots of companies whose services we use" that are potential member partners, he said.

The NAMB also has launched NAMB Enterprises, a for-profit division that will affiliate with moneymaking endeavors. "If we can do a fourth of what the numbers indicate," Mr. Pair said, "this is going to be great."

NAMB's first for-profit partner is Home Loan Advocates, a Westlake Village, Calif., firm that offers loan modification services with no upfront fees to troubled homeowners.

In addition, the group's communication committee will be recruiting via a new social network platform - sort of a blogging for members, if you will, by broadcasting its message to members, non-members and consumers. And the education committee hopes to use the new federal licensing laws to bring in new members as well.

Under the SAFE Act, all originators, not just brokers, must be licensed and have taken a minimum amount of classes by Jan. 1, regardless of their experience. And NAMB plans to offer those classes as a recruitment tool.

"Many small mortgage bankers have more in common with us that the Mortgage Bankers Association," Mr. Pair told the meeting. No matter how successful the group is at bringing in new blood and more money, the new president warned that if the battle in Washington over yield-spread premiums is not won, the NAMB might as well fold its tent.

The association faces a number of other issues, too, including the dreaded Home Valuation Code of Conduct and the Obama administration's plan to rewrite the nation's laws as they apply to the entire financial sector.

But as far as Mr. Pair is concerned, YSP tops the list.

"If we can win the YSP battle, the future looks bright," Mr. Pair said. "If not, it's probably going to be 'out of business' as far as brokers are concerned."

Outgoing president Marc Savitt was a bit more optimistic, predicting that NAMB "will regain the prestige in Washington that it used to have.

"I believe very passionately in our industry and in our association," said Mr. Savitt, who heads The Mortgage Center in Martinsburg, W.Va. "We are going to recover."

Meanwhile, now that the larger, better-capitalized National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders have joined the battle to delay, if not repeal, the HVCC, NAMB plans to step back and let other groups carry the ball.