More Q2 Layoffs for Mortgage Professionals

Mortgage brokers, originators, and other loan production personnel continue to face a tough jobs market as two mortgage giants slashed their payrolls, according to second-quarter employment numbers released by ""MortgageDaily.com"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/. The mortgage Web site predicted that bad loans and invitingly low mortgage rates could create the pickup needed for lenders to hire more brokers and loan officers.

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The ""_Second-Quarter 2011 Mortgage Employment Index_"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageEmploymentIndex.asp?spcode=pr, which MortgageDaily.com uses to track new hires and layoffs, found the latter eclipsing the former by a net loss of 464 desks, with results showing 5,404 job losses, compared with 4,940 hires. The survey covered job gains and losses for mortgage brokers, loan originators, underwriting specialists, and processors.

The results follow much worse numbers from the first-quarter over 2011, as mortgage giants pushed the eject button for 4,318 brokers and originators and signed new contracts with only 2,513 new personnel.

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The confidence-busting effect: a net loss of 1,805 jobs, all this after 740 new second-quarter jobs for brokers and officers over 2010.

""Wells Fargo"":https://www.wellsfargo.com/ emerged from the pack of slash-friendly mortgage giants with the most job losses, as it wiped 2,500 personnel off its payroll over the second quarter. A MortgageDaily.com ""statement"":http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/29/3868708/weakening-mortgage-employment.html attributed Wells' losses to decisions by the mortgage giant to gut its share of the reverse mortgage market. ""Bank of America"":https://www.bankofamerica.com/ and ""Kondaur"":http://kondaur.com/ gave the pink slip to hundreds of their own employees, with the former sending home 954 brokers and officers and the latter waving goodbye to only 161 nationally.

""JPMorgan Chase"":http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Home/home.htm offered a sharp contrast to these gloom-and-doom numbers by picking up the jobs slack with 2,585 new hires, many of which occurred in Ohio, according to the statement. ""USBank"":http://www.usbank.com/index.html and ""MetLife"":http://www.metlife.com/ followed suit with 394 and 200 new hires, respectively.

""Hirings could pick up as rates have recently fallen to record lows - sparking a refinance rally and boosting demand for loan originators, processors and underwriters as well as other production personnel,"" the Web site said in the statement.

""However, since some of the biggest lenders already made massive job cuts this year, this group might be reluctant to staff up too quickly,"" it added. ""Instead, small- to mid-sized mortgage bankers and brokers are likely to quickly capitalize on the building refinance wave.""

The MortgageDaily.com statement concluded with another hopeful note, attributing ""additional recruiting by mortgage servicers"" over the next quarter to ""deteriorating delinquency and bloated foreclosure inventories.""