A recent episode of “The Loan Officer Podcast” features a high-profile guest masterclass. Host Dustin Owen sits down with Lower CEO Dan Snyder to explore his journey from studying law to founding a mortgage fintech platform, along with key entrepreneurial tips for aspiring originators.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
To start the conversation, Owen and Snyder dive into the CEO’s past before founding Lower.com, including his transition from a managerial role running the mortgage division of a small bank in Maryland.
Snyder: We were one of the first retail P&L branches. We weren’t Fannie Mae direct; we weren’t anything. If you’re a small bank, it’s very hard to survive — no different than a small mortgage company over the last couple of years. So, they had to move into a place to position the company to sell. And, you know, mortgage is a great, great income generator for banks.
Owen: You basically grew it from virtually nonexistent to doing billions in volume, and you probably made several mistakes along the way and learned a ton along the way. By 2013, the bank ended up selling.
Snyder: Mike (Baynes) and I ended up starting Homeside Financial in 2014. We took a very, very small portion of the team. It was Bob Tyson, Chris Miller and Grayson Hanes. I had a little bit of a consumer direct background, plus I like modern tech, etc. Grayson and Chris had deep retail experience. Bob Tyson had a lot of operations experience, and Mike can do sales, finance and so on. We wouldn’t be there without a real balanced partnership.
Owen: In 2018, you had this vision and you wanted to put juice behind it. What was that vision in 2018? Does it look similar to the vision in 2024?
Snyder: I don’t think it’s changed since 2014. We’ve always thought about building. If we could build a company that we as originators like, then we could build something pretty great and durable over the long term. Focus on what you can do. That’s just the mantra. How far can we go? It’s good long-term thinking. I think it helps inform investments. It helps inform career paths.
Owen: Was it in 2018 that you started figuring out how to raise money?
Snyder: I tried to do the best to navigate it, but it was going to be really hard to raise money with a company or a brand that’s four years old in 2018. The investments were going to the new-age companies. So, we created a completely separate brand focused on direct-to-consumer and online.
Owen: How do you see the future of mortgage lending?
Snyder: I think that you learn a lot of lessons in downturns, and so we are committed to building a durable company in the future, committed to investing in our team, bringing that modern approach. How do we really provide elite-level service, help customers refinance in a few clicks, service our customers really well and be the source of authentic content at Lower.com?