Brett Dillenberg, an executive vice president at CrossCountry Mortgage, runs six branches mostly situated across the West Coast and oversees 19 others spread out throughout the country.
Last year, his team of about 150 employees, churned out $850 million worth of originations. And this year, despite the headwinds, Dillenberg hopes to be “north of a billion.”
Dillenberg’s branches – those he owns and others he oversees – were previously under the LendUS umbrella.
The company was acquired by Ohio-based CrossCountry Mortgage in April 2022 after LendUS’ CEO, Rob Hirt, “saw the writing on the wall” that the mortgage industry would be in for a tumultuous ride. “Though I’m not sure [Rob] expected it would be this bad,” Dillenberg said.
Close to 800 employees transitioned from Alamo, California-based LendUS to CCM. And almost a year into being acquired, 600 employees from LendUS remain.
Dillenberg says that since the acquisition, he is turning his attention to bringing more branches onboard to join his division. Most recently, Dillenberg brought on board groups from Ventura and Temecula, California. He’s now focusing on expanding CrossCountry’s footprint into states like New Mexico, Missouri and Idaho.
National Mortgage News spoke with Dillenberg about what benefits he sees from integrating with CCM, his outlook for the spring homebuying season and the trends he’s watching.
