Is a 20% Servicing Market Share Possible?

Ten years ago Countrywide Home Loans was the nation's No. 1 ranked residential servicer with $110 billion in housing receivables on its books and a market share of 3.23%. Today, Countrywide is once again No. 1 - after a few years of being ranked second and third - but its market share has grown to 11.43%.

Stated differently, the California-based company's market share grew by 253% while its receivables jumped by 711%. (At the end of March, Countrywide serviced $893 billion in home mortgages, about $20 billion ahead of the No. 2 ranked Wells Fargo. See rankings in this issue.)

Countrywide's founder and chairman Angelo Mozilo has long expressed his desire to see Countrywide have a 20% market share. The question, though, begs: can Mozilo and his talented crew pull it off.

Judging by the numbers (which come from Mortgage Servicing News affiliate, the Quarterly Data Report), it would appear that Countrywide is facing a basic dilemma: the faster it grows - and the larger it grows - the overall market is growing even faster, much faster.

It's no secret that Countrywide clawed its way back to the top by becoming a correspondent-buying behemoth. Its retail and wholesale growth has been impressive, no doubt, but it really turned on the juice by aggressively purchasing already-funded loans (as well as the underlying servicing rights) from other mortgage banking firms.

Is there anything wrong with this strategy? Not really - as long as you keep your production channels diversified and (more importantly) as long as you don't overpay for mortgages. Anyone who knows Angelo Mozilo and his No. 2, Stan Kurland, realize that these two grizzled industry veterans never overpay for anything. Ever.

Overpaying for correspondent production - as Messrs. Mozilo and Kurland will understand - is the quickest way to the abyss.