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The list of mortgage lenders partnering with Calque to help homeowners tap their equity and buy before they sell continues to grow, with Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based EMM Loans the latest to offer “The Trade-In Mortgage.”
Calque isn’t a lender — all mortgages, bridge loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are provided by the lenders it’s partnered with nationwide — but a fintech that provides a guaranteed backup offer to homeowners so they can make a non-contingent, “cash-like” offer on their next home.
Brad Miller
The Trade-In Mortgage “ensures that borrowers who currently own a home can experience the ease of a bridge loan experience without the worry that they might have to carry two mortgages indefinitely,” EMM Loans Senior Vice President Brad Miller said in a statement Tuesday.
Licensed in 36 states and Washington, D.C., EMM Loans sponsors 88 mortgage loan originators working out of 11 branch locations, according to records maintained by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS).
EMM Loans also does business as EQ Loans, Fidelity Lending LLC, Ideal Mortgage Group and Maximus Mortgage Advisors. EMM Loans’ Neptune Wholesale division also provides conventional, jumbo and government loans through mortgage brokers.
Michael Bremer
“Calque selected EMM Loans and its [affiliates] as the ideal partner to introduce The Trade-In Mortgage to their borrowers,” Calque CEO Michael Bremer said in a statement. “These are some of the most knowledgeable mortgage specialists in the nation, and they can enable more homebuyers to leverage their equity for a smoother transition between homes.”
The partnership with EMM Loans follows on the heels of similar deals with Searchlight Lending in June and with two divisions of GVC Mortgage Inc. — Fancher Mortgage Group and Jones Mortage Group — in May.
Based in San Rafael, California, Searchlight Lending is the “doing business as” name of Pure Lending Solutions, a boutique mortgage brokerage that’s licensed in seven states and sponsors 39 mortgage loan originators, according to NMLS records.
GVC Mortgage is based in Pendleton, Indiana, and, according to NMLS records, is licensed in a dozen states, sponsoring 147 loan originators who work out of 22 branches.
Calque pitches its service to lenders as a way to increase their purchase lending business by helping buyers submit more competitive bids and out-compete proptech companies by offering a more efficient service. Calque says its backup offers are rarely needed, and homes purchased by its clients don’t have to change hands twice.
In addition to allowing homeowners who want to trade up to make non-contingent offers on their next home, The Trade-In Mortgage removes their current house from the debt-to-income (DTI) calculation when underwriting the purchase loan on their next home. Homeowners can use a bridge loan or HELOC to tap their equity and make a bigger down payment to avoid paying for private mortgage insurance.
For homeowners who have already saved enough for a down payment, Calque also offers “The Move Ahead Mortgage,” which does not involve taking out a bridge loan but allows them to make a non-contingent offer when buying their next home before they sell.
Founded in 2020 by Talroo executive Jeremy Foster, Calque appointed Bremer, a former CoreLogic executive, as CEO in March.
This year, Calque has partnered with some high-profile lenders like C2 Financial and Cornerstone First Mortgage, as well as smaller players like APEX Mortgage Group (Atlanta, Georgia), Aslan Home Lending Corp. (Denver), Augusta Mortgage Company (Augusta, Georgia), Haus Capital Corp. (Rochester, New York), HMA Mortgage (Pittsburgh), Sammamish Mortgage (Bellevue, Washington), Theory Mortgage (Portland, Oregon) and Waymaker Mortgage Company (Austin, Texas).
Calque doesn’t have the market to itself, however. Pioneering power buyer Knock has tightened its focus to providing bridge loans through partner lender and real estate agent channels, announcing last month that lenders can integrate the Knock Bridge Loan into their pre-qualification process.
NFM Lending is the first lender to take advantage of Knock’s new application program interface (API) to incorporate the Knock Bridge Loan estimate into its loan officers’ workflow through an Encompass plugin.
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