Sara Stogsdill from Deephaven Mortgage: Operations is at the Center of Disaster Recovery
Sara Stogsdill is Senior Vice President, Wholesale Operations with Deephaven Mortgage. Founded in 2012, Deephaven led the creation and development of the Non-QM/Non-Agency mortgage market and makes its loans available through mortgage brokers and loan officers, in addition to buying loans from correspondents. Contact her at sstogsdill@deephavenmortgage.com.
MBA NewsLink: I feel lucky to have a few minutes with you! I understand you have been exceptionally busy since Hurricanes Helene and Milton wreaked so much havoc.
Sara Stogsdill: Yes; definitely. I live and work in the Southeast, so I’m accustomed to the effects of hurricane season, but the overwhelming repercussions of these back-to-back storms meant we were going nonstop for an extended period. I’m grateful to my operations team for jumping in with me to handle all the closings that were delayed. It’s been a particularly intensive process for us as a wholesale lender.
Our mortgage broker and loan officer partners, who are dealing with their own challenges, have really needed our support so that they can respond to their borrowers during an emotionally fraught period. Deephaven Mortgage is a national Non-QM lender headquartered in North Carolina, and we have team members across the Southeast. All of us have been concerned about our families, friends and professional partners affected by the storms, even as we’ve pushed forward.
MBA NewsLink: You mentioned that you’re accustomed to dealing with hurricanes. As an operations leader, what are your goals during events like these?
Sara Stogsdill: Minimizing everyone’s losses, and resuming closings as quickly as possible, are our main goals. That starts with preempting problems before storms approach. We constantly monitor weather forecasts—taking screenshots of projections and keeping an eye on how fast a hurricane or tornado is predicted to make landfall in the U.S. We counsel everyone across our own and our partner organizations, including correspondents, and recommend preemptive actions such as a temporary pause in funding.
These are important protections for our borrowers as well as ourselves. Imagine the repercussions of closing on a home in a hurricane zone, only to have a tree go through the roof one day later. Or imagine packing up a family to move to a new school district, only to have no place to go. Rather than rushing to complete a transaction, borrowers may want to walk away completely and avoid these risks. Warehouse banks are also wary of losses when closings turn out to have been premature.
MBA NewsLink: What happens once a storm does hit?
Sara Stogsdill: At that point, we are in crisis management mode nearly 24/7. With Helene, for example, we met every morning for three consecutive weeks. During that time, we were constantly reviewing the FEMA website and poring through any declared disaster areas, comparing them with our mortgage pipeline.
Excellent communication with everyone involved was critical. We had to make borrowers and brokers aware of the need for funding pauses, disaster inspections, etc. Out-of-state business-purpose investors needed details on the condition of all their properties and neighborhoods. Everyone in operations, sales, underwriting, and processing needed complete and current information on which files were affected and which closings could continue to proceed on course. We had to “check all the boxes” regarding additional fees, time constraints, rate lock extensions, and a range of other details and meet associated federal and state regulatory requirements. Operations was the nerve center for all this, ensuring that we proceeded as seamlessly as possible under the circumstances. It was truly an all-consuming effort.
MBA NewsLink: What are some of the “standard” challenges you have to overcome that applied here too?
Sara Stogsdill: Staying on top of the latest predictions is one. For every major storm, we pull together a variety of sources to narrow our focus—weather channel content, Google Maps, etc. We might call our colleagues in Jacksonville, for instance, and ask them what their local news station is reporting about the weather, or where city/town officials are suggesting evacuations.
MBA NewsLink: Are there any special considerations when you’re dealing with business-purpose investors?
Sara Stogsdill: Business-purpose investors may have both a purchase and cashout refinancing on the line when an intense storm strikes. That makes it doubly important that we have “eyes on the property” after the event is over. Our job is to get those properties producing income as quickly as possible, and first we need to know that they are still intact. It helps us when our appraisal partners have access to technologies like virtual inspection software when appropriate—since they can help speed up many 1004D inspections.
We see technology as increasingly critical to keep our transaction pipeline moving forward, despite some of the more intense storms we’re seeing. 2025 should be a little more promising for the mortgage industry, and our operations team is pleased to stand behind our partners when storms threaten to derail them and their borrowers.
(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policies of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA NewsLink welcomes submissions from member firms. Inquiries can be sent to Editor Michael Tucker or Editorial Manager Anneliese Mahoney.)
