Lower
continues
to
make
moves
designed
to
support
its
expansion
efforts,
hiring
former


Waterstone
Mortgage
executive

Dustin
Owen
as
its
new
divisional
sales
leader
and
senior
vice
president
of
growth.

Owen,
who
is
based
in
the

Orlando
area,
spent
the
past
16
years
at
Waterstone,
most
recently
as
its
vice
president
of
Eastern
division
sales.
In
joining
Lower,
he
will
report
to
chief
production
officer

Randell
Gillespie
to
execute
plans
for
“transforming
the
modern

mortgage
experience
for
consumers
and
industry
professionals,“
according
to
a
company
statement.

Owen
is
the
founder
and
host
of
“The
Loan
Officer
Podcast,”
which
tallied
more
than
1
million
downloads
in
2022.
He
helped
to
grow
Waterstone’s
presence
in
the
Southeast
from
five
employees
and
$40
million
per
year
in
production
volume
to
more
than
100
employees
with
annual
originations
topping
$1
billion.

In
an
interview
with
HousingWire,
Owen
said
he’ll
be
doing
something
similar
but
at
an
even
bigger
scale.
He’ll
be
tasked
with
recruiting
regional
and
branch
managers
to
produce
$2
billion
in
annual
production
volume,
and
he’s
not
bringing
over
his
team
from
Waterstone.

“I
spent
16
years
at
one
company. It
was
going
to
take
something
special
for
me
to
leave,”
he
said.
“Waterstone
is
boutique
and
elite
at
what
they
do.
But
when
I
look
at
the
future
of
mortgage
lending,
I
do
believe
our
industry
is
going
the
way
of
the
banking
industry.
There
will
be
the
top
10
and
then
everybody
else.”

Owen
said
Lower’s
combination
of
ambition,
its
capitalization
level
(which
includes
$100M
in
venture
capital
funding),
technology
platform
and
heavily
engaged
founders
could
help
propel
it
from
$7
billion
a
year
to
$70
billion
a
year
in
the
next
five
years.
The
lender
hopes
to
marry
online
lead
generation
with
offline
lead
generation
to
boost
volume.

“We
are
dedicated
to
our
vision
to
becoming
a
top
five
lender
in
the
nation
—
a
large
part
of
which
is
focused
on
adding
key
team
members
like
Dustin
to
our
growing
team,“
Lower
CEO

Dan
Snyder
said
in
a
statement.
“Professionals
like
him
are
the
ones
who
will
build
the
future
of
mortgage.
 His
energy
and
influence
are
so
infectious
and
that
was
apparent
from
the
first
meeting.“

“We
are
continuing
to
build
our
legacy
by
adding
great
people
to
the
Lower
platform,“
Gillespie
added.
“Dustin’s
personal
brand
for
exceptional
professionalism
and
leadership
is
a
perfect
fit
for
the
Lower
vision
as
the
future
of
home
lending.”

The
Columbus,

Ohio-based
digital
multichannel
lender
made
a
splash
at
the
end
of
June
when
it
hired
former


CrossCountry
Mortgage
executive

Craig
Montgomery
as
its
chief
strategy
officer.
It’s
also
brought
in
former
Rate
SVP
of
residential
lending,
Amir
Syed,
as
head
of
growth.

That
move
followed
a
pair
of
acquisitions
late
last
year
as
Texas-based

Thrive
Mortgage

merged
with
Lower
in
December
and
Denver-based
Universal
Lending
merged
in
November.
Snyder
previously
told

HousingWire
that
Lower
plans
to
remain
active
in
the
mergers-and-acquisitions
space
and
is

willing
to
pay
a
premium
to
acquire
the
right
company.

In
an
interview,
Owen
said
Lower
is
planning
on
executing
a
national
rebrand.

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