Evergreen Home Loans, a full-service direct home loan lender offering origination, funding and home loan servicing, is on track to have its best year of loan production in company history. Evergreen Home Loans, which is a privately held company, has offices in six Western states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. They’re also licensed to originate home loans in Alaska.
Major company highlights of 2015 include:
- In September, the company recorded its highest month in production in company history. Total production for the month was a 51 percent increase over the same month the previous year.
- The total amount of residential lending nationally is expected to increase by 10 percent in 2015 compared to 2014. Evergreen saw a 58 percent increase in its total volume in consumer-direct origination sales for the same time period.
- The company is expected to increase its loan servicing portfolio by 80 percent by year-end.
- Fourteen new branch offices were opened: Ellensburg, Enumclaw, Grandview, Marysville, Moses Lake, Omak, Penn Valley (California), Port Angeles, Portland, Sequim, Sumner, Vancouver, Vashon and Yakima, as well as a new regional operations center in Vancouver, Washington.
- Loan officer productivity increased by 33 percent compared to 2014 via enhanced technology and a dedicated focus on support for its production associates.
- The company recently passed 500 associates for the first time in company history and was awarded the designation of one of Washington’s 100 Best Companies to Work For by Seattle Business magazine for the second year in a row.
- Additionally, the company rolled out new products including a proprietary bridge loan and a proprietary construction financing product that provides homebuyers with combined construction-to-permanent financing in one loan transaction.
- The company also launched a new product to serve those customers who have major credit blemishes in their recent past and cannot qualify for traditional financing. This product shortens some of the waiting periods for borrowers who pose a good credit risk yet may have suffered financial setbacks such as a bankruptcy, foreclosure or short sale.
“We’re really excited about our organic growth in 2015,” said Don Burton, president of Evergreen Home Loans. “At the end of the day, our success comes back to our people. We’ve built a great company culture at Evergreen Home Loans that strives to help customers navigate one of the biggest purchases of their life, buying a home.”
Evergreen Home Loans began with just five employees in West Seattle, Washington in 1987. Over the years the company has grown to more than 500 associates and 37 branches since its founding. Many regions within the United States have experienced a banner year in the real estate market, with rising rents, volatile inventory levels and unemployment numbers falling to record lows. The growth of Evergreen Home Loans helped to meet the increased demand of buyers.
“Our loan officers have been able to step up and meet the demand of the market in large part due to the company’s platform, thereby raising the average production of each originator in 2015,” said David Floan, executive vice president, loan production. “They’ve done it by improving the standard of service that we deliver to our customers. Every day we strive to deliver a ‘wow’ moment to our customers and referral partners, and make sure loans close on time and as promised®.”
With the real estate market continuing to remain competitive, Evergreen Home Loans has no plans of slowing down. The company is committed to developing innovative products for consumers, meeting and exceeding new industry standards while providing outstanding customer service at every interaction.