Mortgage Roadmap Webinar Series Episode 5 Recap

From Gaps to Growth: Strengthening Products and Programs to Drive More Applications and Reduce Fallout

This is a recap of episode 5 of our Mortgage Growth Roadmap Webinar Series. Get access to on-demand recordings, register for upcoming episodes, and subscribe for updates below:
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When lenders spot a gap, the instinct is to build something new. But what if the right product is already on the rate sheet, and what’s missing is the program around it or the process behind it?

In Episode 5 of iEmergent’s “From Gaps to Growth” webinar series, CEO Laird Nossuli and COO Bernard Nossuli were joined by Nikki Bialka of Fifth Third. Together, they walked through how lenders can use market, application, and loan file data to find out who they’re missing, understand why, and determine whether they need a new product or a better way to deliver an existing one. The discussion paired iEmergent’s market data with Fifth Third’s real-world experience building and delivering affordable lending programs. 

The episode builds its approach around three goals, each tied to a stage of the homebuying journey: growing applications, improving pull-through, and helping owners preserve and build wealth.

Know the Three Ps

Three elements help turn a household into a homeowner:

• Product is what you lend: loan terms, underwriting, pricing, and eligible property types.
• Program is what surrounds it: assistance, education, and counseling.
• Process is how the file moves: speed, communication, second looks, and handoffs.

Timing also matters. Before the application, programs such as down payment assistance and readiness coaching help more households take the first step. During the application, process fixes and second looks keep qualified borrowers from slipping away. And long after closing, repair and equity lending help homeowners stay put and build wealth. 

Read the Whole Story

Closing a gap starts with two questions: who is missing, and why? Comparing households who could buy with those who actually applied helps reveal who isn't entering the market. Understanding why requires a closer look. No single dataset answers both questions, so lenders need to read several together:

Each pattern points to a different fix:

The key is to distinguish gaps that require a new lending product from those that can be closed by making existing products more accessible, better supported or easier to deliver.

Goal 1: Grow Applications

The biggest gap may not show up in a lender's fallout report at all. It may lie among households who never applied. Each common hesitation calls for a different program:

• “I’m not ready yet.” Savings and readiness programs give “not yet” a timeline and a next step.
• “No one in my family has done this.” First-time and first-generation programs pair money with guidance.
• “I will never save enough.” Stacked down payment assistance combines sources until the help is big enough to matter.

Stacking starts with a first mortgage that accepts layered assistance, then adds lender, state, Federal Home Loan Bank, and local help. In one example, a Fifth Third loan officer helped a Durham, North Carolina, buyer stack nearly $186,000 from five sources. Making that possible required a loan officer who understood how to combine the available programs.

Goal 2: Improve Pull-Through

The second goal picks up once a borrower applies. Nationally, only 68% of purchase applications became loans in 2025. The other 32% fell out through denial, withdrawal, an incomplete file, or an approval the borrower never accepted. 

Not all fallout starts with the borrower. Sometimes it starts with the lender’s own team. A program loan officers can’t explain is effectively a program the lender doesn't offer. These patterns in the data point to a delivery problem rather than a product problem:

Denials call for a different response. Instead of ending the relationship with a letter, lenders can give borrowers a plan for moving forward. That might begin with a second-look review before the denial is final or consideration of alternative ways to demonstrate creditworthiness, such as rent and cash-flow history, where investors allow. For borrowers who aren't yet ready to qualify, the plan might include a counseling referral with a named contact and a check-back date assigned to a specific person. Lenders can then measure how many denied applicants ultimately return and close.

When the house is the barrier, borrower assistance alone will not fix it. Options include purchase-renovation loans such as FHA 203(k) and HomeStyle Renovation, appraisal-gap help, construction-to-permanent lending and infill with nonprofit developers, as well as small balance loans and financing for manufactured homes and two- to four-unit homes.

Goal 3: Preserve and Build Wealth

Closing is the beginning of a longer relationship. After it, lenders can help owners in three ways:

• Preserve: post-purchase counseling, emergency repair funds, early outreach when payments slip, and help with title issues and heirs’ property.
• Improve: small-balance home improvement loans, renovation finance, and energy and accessibility upgrades.
• Build: home equity lines with a clear purpose, the move-up purchase, and passing wealth to the next generation.

Each stage is an opportunity to strengthen the homeowner relationship or lose it to another lender. Future lending opportunities grow out of the trust built on the first loan. Lenders can track how many mortgage customers return for their next loan and who lends to them when they don’t.

Make Innovation Stick

A strong product or program can still stall before it reaches a single borrower. Whether launching something new or improving an existing offering, lenders need answers to six questions:

• Risk and approval: Who has to say yes, and what do they need to see?
• Funding: Who pays for the assistance, and for how long?
• Investors and rules: What will the secondary market and regulators allow?
• Systems and operations: Can our systems and closing process handle it?
• Adoption: Will loan officers and partners actually use it?
• Proof and patience: How long before results show, and who will wait?

Data can show where a gap is, but not how a community will receive a new solution. Lenders need to listen to community partners first and involve them in developing the response.

Measure What Matters

Even with those hurdles cleared, lenders need a way to tell whether a new product or program is actually working. The best approach is to start small, with one market, one gap, and one solution, and to decide how they'll measure success before they launch. For each goal, that means a clear outcome and early warning signs to watch:

Final Thoughts

Closing market gaps takes more than identifying opportunities. Lenders need to understand what's keeping households from becoming homeowners and whether the answer lies in a new loan product or better use of one they already offer. And that means looking inward as well as outward. Programs and processes aren't only for borrowers. Lenders also need internal processes that make their products work and internal programs that prepare their own teams. Often, the disconnect between a good product and a homebuyer is a team that was never set up to deliver it.

Episode 6 turns to sales teams and how market intelligence helps lenders recruit, train, and retain loan officers. Follow our “From Gaps to Growth” webinar series and register for upcoming sessions.