One in Three Loan Officers Quit. The Loans Stayed.
Eight Northern Michigan markets with nobody in them. A transition team whose only job is keeping your pipeline closing for six months while you learn a new system. Lending in every state but New York. You keep your own brand and your own market.
Licensed, actively originating mortgage loan officer. Commission based, full time, with Union Home Mortgage. You stay in your market, build your own brand, and work from a branch office or a desk inside a local real estate office. Open territories: Manistee, Frankfort, Glen Arbor, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Boyne City, Elk Rapids and East Jordan.
The Industry Since 2021
Transition Support
Everywhere But New York
Markets Open Now
Why Anyone Is Hiring Right Now
Fair question, because most of the industry is doing the opposite.
The number of licensed mortgage loan officers in this country fell from a peak of about 124,800 at the end of 2021 to about 86,200 by the first quarter of 2026. Roughly 38,000 originators gone. One in three. Average production headcount at a mortgage company dropped from about 555 people to about 337 over a similar stretch.
Now the other side of the ledger. Loan counts came in around 5.45 million in 2025 and are forecast at about 5.69 million for 2026. Flat to slightly up.
The industry cut a third of its people. It did not cut a third of its loans. Whatever volume exists is being split among meaningfully fewer originators than it was four years ago. Margins are thin, which is why everyone is nervous, but thin margins on available volume is a very different problem than no volume.
The originators who come out of this ahead are the ones still standing with enough product behind them to say yes. That is the bet Union Home Mortgage is making, and it is why they have been acquiring companies and adding staff through the same stretch where the names you read about were announcing cuts.
We are not going to pretend this is an easy market. It is not. Rates have been sitting near seven percent and net production profit across the industry has been running a fraction of what it was in 2021. If somebody tells you this is a great time to be in mortgages, they are selling you something. What we are saying is narrower and more useful: there is less competition for the business that exists, and product depth decides who gets it.
Most Originators Will Move Twice This Cycle
Here is the pattern we keep watching play out. Companies merge, get acquired, or quietly change their comp plan. Good originators scramble, take the first reasonable offer in front of them, and discover eight months later that they solved for urgency instead of fit. Then they move again.
If you are reading this and nothing is actually wrong at your shop yet, you are in the best possible position to have this conversation. You are not negotiating from a bad spot. You can ask hard questions, take your time, and say no.
We would rather talk to you now than compete with four recruiters later.
Every State but New York
This is the first question most originators ask and it is worth answering early. Union Home Mortgage lends in every state except New York.
That matters more than it sounds like it does. The past client who took a job in Texas. The referral partner handling relocations. The buyer whose parents are retiring to Florida and want to buy near them. At a lot of shops that business just walks, because the company cannot lend there. Here, it does not have to.
Your own licensing determines where you can personally originate, and adding states is a normal, supported part of the process.
The Eight Open Markets
These are territories where we currently have no originator. Not underserved. Empty.
Manistee · Frankfort · Glen Arbor
Benzie and Manistee county markets with a heavy mix of year-round residents, seasonal cottage, and vacant land. Construction and renovation lending carry more weight here than they do in a metro.
Petoskey · Charlevoix · Boyne City · Elk Rapids · East Jordan
Emmet, Charlevoix and Antrim county markets. High values on the water, working neighborhoods a mile inland, and resort condo inventory most lenders cannot finance.
Northern Michigan is the priority because that is where our open territory is. It is not a boundary. If you are a strong producer somewhere else entirely, tell us where you are and we will work out whether it makes sense.
Where You Would Actually Work
We have branch offices in Traverse City and Manton. On top of that, we are placing desks inside local real estate offices in the markets we are opening.
That second part is a deliberate choice, not a cost decision. If your business comes from agent relationships, the most valuable square footage in your market is the room where those agents already are. You hear about the listing before it hits the MLS. You get pulled into the conversation when a buyer's financing falls apart. You are the lender in the building, not the lender someone has to remember to call.
We are not capped at a set number of desks. The goal right now is two in these areas, and we will add more wherever the right originator turns up. If you already have space you like, or you would rather work from a home office, that works too.
Who This Is For
We would rather be specific and lose you early than vague and waste your afternoon.
This fits you if: you hold an active NMLS license, you are currently originating, and you have a documented history of production you sourced yourself. You have real referral relationships with agents, builders, or local professionals. You are comfortable advising a borrower into the right structure instead of quoting a rate and hoping.
This does not fit you if: your production has come from assigned leads and you have not built your own referral base, you want a salaried position, or you are looking to be handed a pipeline. We do not have one to hand you. What we have is the infrastructure to make your own relationships worth considerably more than they are worth today.
We do not care what the logo on your business card says today. Bank, credit union, independent mortgage bank, broker shop, it makes no difference to us. If you are producing and the business is yours, we want the conversation.
Your Name, Not Ours
You would join the Kirby and Angie Team. You would not become the Kirby and Angie brand.
You build and keep your own identity in your market: your name, your reputation, your relationships. We are not going to repaint you. For an originator in a town of four thousand people, that name is the most valuable thing you own, and asking you to trade it would be a bad deal dressed up as a promotion.
What you get is marketing, website, CRM, content and local SEO support pointed at whatever you have already built. We do that work in house, which is probably how you found this page.
The Product Bench
This is the part that matters most if your current shop keeps running out of answers, so here is the actual list rather than a promise of "a full suite."
- Conventional, FHA, VA and USDA Rural Development. The core four, done well.
- Jumbo.
- Construction to permanent across conventional, FHA, VA and USDA. One closing. A genuine differentiator up here, and most of your competition cannot do it at all.
- Renovation lending. FHA 203k Limited and Standard, Fannie Mae HomeStyle, VA renovation, USDA rural rehabilitation.
- Manufactured and modular homes. A real share of Northern Michigan housing stock and a program a lot of shops will not touch.
- DSCR for investment property, qualified on the rent instead of tax returns. Multiple investor programs, so a decline from one grid is not the end of a file.
- Bank statement loans for self-employed borrowers whose returns do not tell the real story.
- Down payment assistance. MSHDA MI First Home, MI 10K DPA, and FHA down payment assistance outside of MSHDA.
Count the deals you turned away or lost in the last twelve months because the program did not exist where you work. That number is the real compensation conversation.
The Part Everybody Actually Worries About
Nobody hesitates to change companies because of the comp plan. They hesitate because they have twenty-two loans in the pipeline and a new system to learn at the same time.
A White Glove Transition Team
Union Home Mortgage assigns a transition team to you for your first six months. Their job is keeping your deals moving and closing while you learn a new system, not handing you a login and a training video.
Six months is long enough to actually get fluent. Most places give you two weeks and a pat on the back.
Guarantee Packages
There is an income gap built into any company change. We have guarantee packages designed to get you over that hump, structured individually against your documented production history.
We talk about the specifics in the first or second conversation rather than making you guess or wait.
Our Own Local Ops Team
A team loan officer assistant and a team processor, both based in Northern Michigan. Not a national queue, not a ticket number, not somebody three time zones away who has never heard of Boyne City.
You can walk over and ask. That is the difference, and anyone who has worked both ways already knows it.
About Compensation
Our comp plans are competitive and we are not going to publish a number. Any figure on a web page would be wrong for most of the people reading it, and the originators we want to talk to already know that.
What we will tell you: the structure is commission based, there are guarantee packages tied to your documented production to get you through the move, and earnings depend on what you produce. We give real numbers in the first or second conversation, confidentially, rather than making you sit through three rounds to find out.
The Mechanics, Since You Are Going to Ask
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Employment | W2 employee of Union Home Mortgage. |
| Pay schedule | Twice a month. Loans funding in the back half of a month pay on the fifteenth of the following month. |
| Fees charged to you | None. Two optional exceptions, both your call: an elected marketing budget withholding, and our company coaching program. |
| Turn times | Eighteen to twenty days on average for a clean file. An average, not a promise. |
| Systems | Encompass, plus Zuhm, Union Home Mortgage's own platform. |
| Production expectation | No published quota, but this is a production role and you are expected to produce to keep it. |
How the Conversation Works
- A confidential thirty-minute call with Angie and Kirby together. Both of us, one call. Mostly us answering your questions, not the other way around.
- A second conversation covering compensation specifics, guarantee structure, transition support, and what your market looks like with our product set behind it.
- Formal application through Union Home Mortgage and licensing transfer, if both sides want to move forward.
Discretion is not a formality here. Northern Michigan is small and we all end up at the same closings. We do not discuss these conversations with anyone, including other originators and agents in your market. If it is not a fit, we say so plainly and you have lost an hour.
We are hiring now and moving quickly.
Questions Originators Actually Ask
In roughly the order they get asked.
Union Home Mortgage lends in every state except New York. That is usually the first thing an originator asks, and it matters more than people expect. If you have past clients who moved, a referral partner working relocations, or family connections in another state, you are not turning that business away. Your own licensing determines where you can personally originate, and adding states is a normal part of the process.
No, and we want to be straight about that up front. We do not assign leads and we are not handing anyone a pipeline. This role is built for an originator who already generates their own business through referral relationships. What we provide is the product depth, the operations support and the marketing infrastructure to make the relationships you already have produce more than they do now.
Yes. You would be a W2 employee of Union Home Mortgage. That is standard for originators at a mortgage bank, and if someone is offering you a 1099 origination seat it is worth asking a lot of questions about why.
This is the real question and most lenders answer it badly. You get a white glove transition team for your first six months whose job is keeping your deals closing while you learn a new system. You also get a team loan officer assistant and a team processor who are based in Northern Michigan, not a national queue in another time zone. Guarantee packages are available to bridge the income gap that comes with any company change.
On a clean file we average eighteen to twenty days. That is an average and not a promise, and not every file is clean. A lot of it comes down to the originator, because the files that close fast are the ones that were set up correctly at application. We have a system for that and we are always working on it.
Encompass, plus Zuhm, which is Union Home Mortgage's own platform. If you have originated at an independent mortgage bank in the last few years, Encompass will already be familiar.
We have branch offices in Traverse City and Manton, and we are placing desks inside local real estate offices in the markets we are opening. We are not capped at a set number of desks. The goal right now is two in these areas, and we will add more where the right originator is. If you already have space you like, or you would rather work from a home office, that works too.
Conventional, FHA, VA and USDA Rural Development, plus jumbo. Construction-to-permanent across all four agencies. Renovation lending including FHA 203k Limited and Standard, Fannie Mae HomeStyle, VA renovation and USDA rural rehabilitation. Manufactured and modular homes. DSCR for investment property. Bank statement loans for self-employed borrowers. Down payment assistance including MSHDA MI First Home, MI 10K DPA and FHA down payment assistance outside of MSHDA.
Compensation plans here are competitive, and we discuss the actual structure directly rather than publishing a number that would be wrong for most people who read it. There are guarantee packages tied to your documented production to get you through a move. Earnings depend on your production and are not guaranteed. If you want real numbers, the conversation is confidential and we will have it in the first or second call.
Twice a month. Loans that fund in the back half of a month are paid on the fifteenth of the following month. It is a predictable schedule, which matters more than people expect when you are planning around a company change.
No. There are two optional exceptions and both are your call: you can elect to have a marketing budget withheld, and you can opt into our company coaching program. Neither is required and neither is automatic. Nobody is quietly taking a piece of your comp for something you did not ask for.
We do not publish a quota number, but this is a production role and you are expected to produce to keep it. We are not looking to collect non-producers. The one exception is an originator who clearly has the relationships, the work ethic and the market and simply has not been handed the tools yet, and that is a conversation rather than a policy.
Yes. We are looking for originators who hold an active NMLS license and are currently writing loans. This is not an entry level role and it is not a training program. If you are producing and you have built your own referral base, the logo on your business card today does not matter to us.
Yes. You would join the Kirby and Angie Team, but you build and keep your own brand, your own name and your own market identity. You are not folded into our brand or handed a script. You get marketing, website, CRM, content and local SEO support behind whatever you have already built.
Because the loans did not go away, the originators did. The number of licensed loan officers fell from roughly 124,800 at the end of 2021 to roughly 86,200 by the first quarter of 2026, while loan counts stayed flat to slightly higher. Fewer people are competing for the same business. Union Home Mortgage has been acquiring companies and adding staff through this stretch rather than cutting.
Northern Michigan is the current priority because that is where our open territory is. It is not a boundary. Union Home Mortgage lends in every state except New York, and we will have the conversation with a strong producer anywhere. If you are good and you are somewhere else, tell us where you are and we will work out whether it makes sense.
No. Northern Michigan is small and we all end up at the same closings, so discretion is not a formality here. We do not discuss these conversations with anyone, including other originators and agents in your market. If it is not a fit, we say so plainly, that is the end of it, and you have lost nothing but an hour.
A confidential first conversation with Angie and Kirby together, usually thirty minutes. If there is mutual interest, a second conversation covering compensation, guarantee structure, transition support and what your market looks like with our product set behind it. Then a formal application through Union Home Mortgage and licensing transfer. We are actively hiring now and moving quickly.
Start a Confidential Conversation
Goes to Angie and Kirby only. Expect a reply the same day, including weekends.
Got it.
Angie and Kirby will reach out directly, usually the same day. If you would rather move faster, text Angie at 616-581-6123 or Kirby at 231-709-3136.
Would rather not fill out a form? Text Angie at 616-581-6123, text Kirby at 231-709-3136, or email TeamAngie@UHM.com.
Pick the Market You Already Own
Manistee, Frankfort, Glen Arbor, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Boyne City, Elk Rapids, East Jordan. Or somewhere else entirely. Tell us which one is yours and we will tell you what it looks like with our product set behind you.
Equal Opportunity Employer. Union Home Mortgage Corp. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.
About compensation. This position is commission based. Guarantee packages and transition support are determined individually based on documented production history and are subject to applicable company policy. Earnings depend on individual production and are not guaranteed. No specific earnings figure is promised or implied anywhere on this page.
Turn times. Closing timelines referenced on this page are historical averages on complete files and are not a guarantee. Actual timelines vary by file, program, third party turn times and underwriting conditions.
Industry data. Loan officer counts are drawn from Nationwide Multistate Licensing System figures as reported in August 2026, comparing a Q4 2021 peak to Q1 2026. Loan count figures are Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts as reported at the same time. Industry data changes and is presented here for context only.
Angie Anderson NMLS #1999286. Kirby Slocum NMLS #680817. Union Home Mortgage Corp. NMLS #2229229. Equal Housing Lender. Union Home Mortgage Corp., 8241 Dow Circle West, Strongsville, OH 44136.
