Photo: Derek Jensen (illustrative archive, 2005)
Rate and Compass International Holdings are combining Guaranteed Rate Affinity and OriginPoint into one mortgage joint venture under the OriginPoint name, bringing together 672 loan officers, according to HousingWire’s interview with Rate CEO Victor Ciardelli.
The combined business is projected to reach $13.2 billion in mortgage volume by the end of 2026, with most of that volume coming from Guaranteed Rate Affinity, Ciardelli told the publication. That figure is a forecast, not a reported year-end result. Rate will hold a majority stake in the venture.
Dave Dickey, president and chief production officer of Guaranteed Rate Affinity, and James Elliott, president and CEO of OriginPoint, will serve as co-presidents. Rate and Compass have been working on the integration for six months, according to the report, which did not specify a closing date.
One mortgage platform across brokerage brands
The combination brings together businesses with different origins. Rate and Anywhere Real Estate formed Guaranteed Rate Affinity in 2017. Rate and Compass launched OriginPoint in 2021. The integration follows Compass’s merger agreement with Anywhere last year; it is a new combination of existing ventures, rather than the original launch of OriginPoint.
Ciardelli said the current interest-rate environment did not drive the decision. Instead, the companies wanted to unite the ventures within Compass’s expanded brokerage network and build a shared technology platform.
The combined operation will be connected to an owned-brokerage network of more than 80,000 real estate professionals, HousingWire reported. Loan officers who have worked with Coldwell Banker would gain access to Compass agents, while OriginPoint officers would be able to work across other brands, including Coldwell Banker, @properties, Sotheby’s and Corcoran, Ciardelli said.
The companies estimate that Compass and Coldwell Banker Realty together account for more than 200,000 buy-side purchase transactions representing over $200 billion in purchase volume. Those figures describe the brokerage opportunity available to the venture, not mortgages already originated by it.
Growth targets depend on winning business
Ciardelli outlined a potential $4.5 billion to $10 billion in additional mortgage volume if the venture captures 10% to 20% of its partners’ buy-side transactions, according to HousingWire. The growth targets depend on borrowers choosing the venture; they are not completed production.
Compass chairman and CEO Robert Reffkin said in a statement quoted by the publication that bringing the ventures together would connect more of the network’s real estate professionals with loan officers and simplify the homebuying process. The companies said their technology could allow customers to find, secure and close on a home in as few as 10 days, a company claim rather than a guaranteed timetable.
Ciardelli also said Rate is focused on recruiting loan officers and expanding its existing ventures instead of adding more joint ventures as a central part of its strategy. Separately, he told HousingWire that Rate’s shift toward retaining mortgage servicing rights had produced a $50 billion servicing book, part of an effort to maintain longer relationships with borrowers.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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