What we talked about
Marc Shenkman is President and co-founder of Priority Financial Network, a privately owned mortgage banker based in Calabasas, California. He has spent decades in the industry, from trading mortgage-backed securities at major firms to building a direct lending operation that has funded billions in home loans.
Show notes
Marc Shenkman’s opening line, “we solve problems”, is the frame he uses with every borrower, because it positions his team as advisors rather than salespeople. After decades in mortgage banking, he’s as likely to tell a borrower they can’t afford the house they want as to help them close the loan, and he argues that’s exactly why independent mortgage bankers serve homebuyers better than the large banks that have mostly exited the direct lending market.
What we covered
- Independent mortgage bankers like Priority Financial Network occupy a specific position in the lending ecosystem. Unlike banks (which lend from deposits) or brokers (who act as middlemen with no money at risk), independent mortgage bankers lend their own money through large credit lines, package the loans into securities, and sell them to agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or private investors. They are at risk until the loans are sold, which is why underwriting quality matters.
- The early-payment default window creates accountability. If a borrower misses payments in the first three to six months after origination, Priority Financial may be required to repurchase the loan, so the incentive to underwrite responsibly is built into the business model, not just regulatory compliance.
- Marc traces the 2008 collapse directly to loans borrowers were never going to be able to repay, and says the period from 2000 to 2007 was a lesson in what happens when the advisory function disappears. He recalled Las Vegas condominiums that sold for $50,000 during the crash, private equity funds bought them and held on, and those same units are worth millions now, illustrating his broader point that real estate held over time in good markets almost always appreciates.
- The lock-in effect is reshaping today’s market. Half of all outstanding US mortgages, roughly $6 trillion out of $12 trillion, are at 4% or below. Because selling means taking a new mortgage at current rates, the average loan that used to stay outstanding 55 months is now running at 77 months. Fewer homes for sale means supply pressure continues pushing prices up.
- He describes several regulations that, in his view, actively harm the borrowers they were designed to protect. Credit report costs for mortgage applications have risen roughly 1,500% in five years under what he calls a government-sponsored FICO monopoly, now running around $300 per application compared to about $1 at a car dealership. Loan officer compensation rules prevent loan officers from reducing their fee to give a borrower a lower rate, meaning they legally cannot discount their compensation even when competing for a first-time buyer.
- His advice to first-time buyers starts with one question: what is your intention with this house? How long you plan to stay determines whether a 30-year fixed makes sense. He warns against being “house poor”, carrying a mortgage so large that an unexpected $5,000 medical deductible becomes a crisis, and notes that one extra payment per year on a 30-year mortgage reduces the payoff timeline to approximately 22.5 years.
About Marc
Marc Shenkman is President and co-founder of Priority Financial Network, a privately owned independent mortgage banker based in Calabasas, California. He has spent decades in the industry spanning mortgage-backed securities trading and institutional portfolio hedging at major firms, and serves on the board of the Community Home Lenders Association of America, where he advocates on consumer finance policy in Washington, DC.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcshenkman
- Website: http://www.priorityfinancial.net
Episode 146 of the PreVetted Podcast.