LoanDepot’s Dan Hanson on the past, present and what’s to come for the mortgage industry

Today’s Daily Download episode features an interview with Dan Hanson , the executive director of distributive retail at loanDepot. In this episode, Hanson discusses his history as a longtime leader in the mortgage industry. During the interview, Hanson explains how his interests in lending pivoted his career towards the industry, where he has spent numerous decades across several different mortgage cycles. “As you look back over the different decades, there always seems to be a couple of pivotal events that happen decade by decade that change the complexion of the mortgage space,” Hanson said. According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic is one of those events as he claims the housing market’s success in 2021 will depend on many variables that have been impacted by the virus’ spread, including housing inventory and interest rates. “I think we're in for a change in the pattern in which people choose where to live, and how they manage their real estate investment, which is their home in most cases,” Hanson said. “I think rates will stay low, so we'll have a positive environment there and I think equity and property will remain high, because inventories are low.” Hanson wraps the interview by discussing the IPO transformation currently happening in the mortgage space, even touching on loanDepot’s plans to go public at some point in 2020. Though it’s still nebulous when the company will officially move forward on their poised plans to take the company public, Hanson says its chairman Anthony [Hsieh] is talking about it and weighing options. “I think every company has different reasons for it, and I think when things are good, and it looks like there's going to be a positive low-interest rate environment for a period of time, I think people perceive that as a positive valuation for their company,” Hanson said. “And if it's an opportunity to go public, they're taking advantage of it.” The Daily Download examines the most compelling articles reported by the HousingWire newsroom team. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward . Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham. HousingWire articles covered in this episode: Will loanDepot finally file for IPO? Geoff Zimpfer and Sarah Wheeler on the IPO craze and the nation's forbearance rate loanDepot promotes Dan Hanson to chief retail production officer