Huron Valley Financial has spent much of its first 17 years establishing its mortgage services in Michigan.
Today the Ann Arbor-based company has eight branches in Michigan, employing 75 people. That's after it opened two new branches in Clarkston and Kalamazoo over the last year, prompting it to hire a additional dozen people. Those new hires are mostly of loan officers and customer support professionals.
Now Huron Valley Financial is eyeing a bigger expansion across the U.S. this year. Indiana, Texas and Florida have licensed Huron Valley Financial to originate mortgages, and a few more states are in the works.
"We have Ohio and California in the works right now," says Casey Daniels, vice president of business development for Huron Valley Financial. "Our California application could be approved any day now."
Huron Valley Financial is working to expand to southern statements to help smooth out its business model. Its revenue usually spikes in the warmer months in the Midwest to correspond with housing sales. Warmer climates in southern states means a steadier sales volume, which creates a smoother revenue stream for Huron Valley Financial.
"We would like to be able to tap into the warmer states for when it gets cold up here," Daniels says.
Huron Valley Financial has continued to grow as the mortgage industry has shrunken over the last year, primarily thanks to rising interest rates and falling refinancing sales. Despite this, Huron Valley Financial kept on growing while other lenders were laying people off.
"We never grew too big too fast, even during the good times," Daniels says. He adds, "We haven't gone through any layoffs because we have a great business model."
Source: Casey Daniels, vice president of business development for Huron Valley Financial
Writer: Jon Zemke
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