Bay Equity Home Loans adopts e-signing as Marin County-based company continues fast growth

Bay Equity Home Loans returned to the Inc. 5000 list of fast-growing U.S. private companies for a second time.

The Sausalito-based retail mortgage lender this year ranked No. 2,953 for 138 percent three-year revenue growth, reaching $133.1 million last year. That's down from No. 2,186 in 2016, the company's debut in Inc. magazine's annual list.

The company has 1,148 employees nationwide.

Three brothers — Brett, Casey and Jon McGovern — started Bay Equity in San Francisco's Financial District in 2007 then relocated it to Marin County in 2015. The mortgage banker funds loans out of credit facilities then sells the instruments to capital-market investors. Most are conforming loans sold to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. The rest are jumbo loans sold to the likes of Chase, Mill Valley-based Redwood Trust and others.

Growth has come from transitioning to national lender from regional player, and the pace is accelerating with a new focus on retail lending, according to CEO Brett McGovern.

'Our growth is a result of our strategic plan for methodical growth across the country,' he told the Business Journal in 2016. 'We bring on the best of the best loan originators.'

Bay Equity is currently licensed in 32 states and is expanding across the nation. In addition to retail branches in 23 states, the company has corporate and operations centers in Concord and Sausalito in California, Denver and Grand Junction in Colorado, Lake Oswego in Oregon, and Everett, Washington.

In May, Bay Equity introduced a new e-signing platform, designed to reduce time spent at the closing table from hours to minutes. It's called 'BE Express Closing.'

'Until now, home loan borrowers paged through a stack of documents, affixing hundreds of signatures. They got tired, their hand got tired,' Sue Melnick, chief compliance and operations officer, in a statement. 'For borrowers, it's just a lot easier, and everybody's a lot happier.'

Depending on state regulations where the loan is originated, BE Express provides two e-signing options. 'Full e-close' borrowers sign their name once or twice, and the system populates the rest. 'Hybrid' closing requires certain documents to be printed out and hand-signed.

Contact Jeff Quackenbush at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.

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