NEXA Lending has agreed to acquire UMortgage in a deal that symbolizes a truce in one of the mortgage broker channel’s most public rivalries.
The transaction has already been signed and NEXA has transferred funds, NEXA Mortgage CEO Mike Kortas confirmed to HousingWire ahead of the deal’s announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal, structured as an asset purchase rather than a stock acquisition, represents a significant shift for the two companies, which had notably been rivals for several years. It also gives NEXA, already the nation’s top brokerage shop, an added edge. The company will add UMortgage’s team of 246 loan officers that originated $2.05 billion over the past 12 months, according to data from RETR, bringing NEXA’s total to 4,047 loan officers and $14.15 billion in annual volume.
For Kortas, the deal also represents the end of a long-running rivalry with UMortgage CEO Anthony Casa and an example of former competitors finding common ground.
“If Anthony and I can come together, then we can all stop the stupid fighting,” Kortas said. “If we can come together after what we went through, then why can’t anybody?”
Casa told HousingWire that the relationship between him and Kortas changed after Todd Bitter, the former chief sales officer of UMortgage who joined NEXA as national sales director in January, helped facilitate a meeting between the two.
The meeting was initially intended to repair the relationship rather than discuss an acquisition, Casa said.
“Once we got together, we started to build our relationship, and that kind of led to, ‘Hey, what would it look like if we potentially brought what we’re doing together?’” Casa said.
The conversations eventually turned to the economics of combining UMortgage’s production with NEXA’s larger platform.
“With their scale, [NEXA] can pay loan officers way more aggressively and still provide all the systems, all the technology, all the culture, and all the things that you really need to be a competitive mortgage platform,” Casa said.
As part of the deal, Casa will be joining NEXA as an executive partner. Three others from UMortgage and NXT Mortgage, a residential mortgage team powered by UMortgage, will also become executive partners: Jimmy Hobson, Nash Paradise and Tyler Hodgson.
Hodgson, the current executive vice president of growth at UMortgage and founder and president of NXT Mortgage, said that although he thought about taking NXT back on its own, he ultimately found NEXA to be a good fit. As a result, NXT will transition to NEXA as part of the deal.
“Mike and Anthony have a little history of squabbles back and forth on social media, and so I think people are gonna be very shocked by this move,” Hodgson said during a conversation with HousingWire. “But I think it’s an awesome story because I’ve worked really closely with Anthony over the last four years and seen how he’s changed as a person and as a leader…Mike’s had a similar journey over the last couple years, so I think it’s just a really cool story about two people who used to be enemies who come together and set that aside and partner together to try to take the best of both companies and create something greater for the whole.”
Hodgson said that his entire team will move to NEXA and no layoffs will occur on his side of the business.
“Everybody on my team who I’ve talked to…is supportive, trusts in me and my judgment, and is excited for the opportunity,” he added.
As an executive partner, Casa said one of his primary responsibilities will be helping NEXA pursue additional broker acquisitions, as well as build the company’s sales culture and serve as a conduit between loan officers and the executive team, gathering feedback from sales teams around the country and helping leadership identify areas where the platform can improve.
As for company structure, both Kortas and Casa confirmed that the UMortgage name will be dissolved as an entity by the end of 2026. However, Kortas said that NEXA will allow teams to continue using the UMortgage name through a DBA if they choose.
UMortgage also will transition from its recently launched flat-fee model to Nexa’s NEXA 100 compensation program, which pays its loan officers 100% of the commission splits.
Casa also clarified that UMortgage’s proprietary tech platform, Tempo, will not disappear as part of the transaction, adding that the company is working to spin Tempo off as an independent platform that can eventually be offered to loan officers beyond NEXA.
Casa said the transition will not involve mass layoffs, although “approximately eight to 12 UMortgage employees” whose roles overlap with existing NEXA departments are not expected to join the company. Casa said that he has already helped place about half of those employees with other companies and is assisting the rest with finding new roles.
A potential catalyst for consolidation
Casa sees the transaction as part of a broader shift toward consolidation in the mortgage broker industry. “I think we’re at the beginning of a very big trend that happened in the real estate community over the last 10 years,” he said.
He expects NEXA’s model to become increasingly influential among mortgage brokers and sees the UMortgage transaction as a potential catalyst for further consolidation.
“The flat-fee, low-margin rev-share models, that’s what NEXA has perfected, and I just think that’s the future of the channel,” Casa said. “This is really going to start the process of a lot of that consolidation.”
A big year for NEXA
The acquisition comes during one of the busiest years for the Arizona-based company, which underwent a rebrand in October last year. Following the rebrand, NEXA revamped its leadership team, adding industry veterans like Geri Farr and Tammy Richards to its roster.
In January, NEXA launched new artificial intelligence tools through its Agenetic AI platform. The following month, Kortas acquired FSBO.com, a for-sale-by-owner platform. Though NEXA does not own the platform, Kortas said that the company would benefit through discounted leads and lead aggregation.
Kortas also ended his legal fight with NEXA co-founder Mat Grella this year, giving Kortas 100% of NEXA ownership. Shortly after, Kortas entered mortgage servicing with the launch of evoLend, an approved servicer for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae loans designed to help NEXA loan officers strengthen borrower relationships beyond origination.
