How Warehouse Lenders Can Improve Execution and Prepare for Rising Volumes

Warehouse lenders face mounting pressure to deliver faster execution, maintain liquidity and manage operational complexity as mortgage market conditions shift. Tenielle Hammett, Senior Vice President of Warehouse Administration Services at SitusAMC, recently spoke with MPA TV about how lenders can improve efficiency through workflow automation, real-time monitoring and smarter platform configuration, while positioning their operations to scale as volumes increase. Watch the full interview here. 

“Real-time visibility is paramount in warehouse lending execution practices,” Hammett said. “Speed to market drives choices that warehouse customers make every single day.” 

Warehouse borrowers can shift business to competing lenders that execute transactions faster, whether providing a critical Fed reference number, shipping collateral or removing a loan from a facility. Real-time visibility helps lenders protect client relationships, identify operational bottlenecks and maintain liquidity. 

SitusAMC's ProMerit platform recently introduced a monitoring dashboard that provides up-to-date information on individual warehouse relationships or across an entire portfolio. By highlighting pending deliveries, loan-level errors and transactions stalled in workflows, the dashboard allows lenders to identify potential issues earlier and accelerate execution. 

Building a Stronger Foundation Through Automation 

For warehouse lenders launching, expanding or modernizing their operations, Hammett emphasized the importance of making the right platform configuration decisions from the outset. Well-defined workflows, controls and reporting requirements can help lenders avoid costly adjustments as their businesses grow. 

“Strong configuration up front helps lenders avoid rebuilding workflows later, especially as they add counterparties, asset types or reporting requirements,” Hammett said. 

Automation is particularly important for lenders seeking to expand capacity without proportionally increasing staffing. SitusAMC's Warehouse Configuration Services team has implemented straight-through processing that allows clean file submissions to be processed nearly instantly. The team has also automated margin call processes and reporting for lenders and their clients, reducing manual interactions while improving accuracy and access to information. 

“Expanding capacity without increasing resources requires some level of automation to be introduced to the process,” Hammett said. 

Preparing for the Next Increase in Mortgage Activity 

Even if the mortgage market recovery remains gradual, warehouse lenders should anticipate periodic increases in activity driven by seasonal home purchases, cash-out refinancing and home equity demand. 

“Manual touches will always slow down the process,” Hammett said. “The slower times in the industry allow for retooling and reimagining what the process looks like.” 

Lenders can use periods of reduced activity to reassess operational requirements, identify unnecessary manual steps and implement automation while maintaining appropriate bank and regulatory controls. Another significant opportunity lies in reducing handoffs between funding validation, collateral movement, cash reconciliation, system data and reporting. 

“When those pieces are connected through a common process and a platform, teams spend less time chasing status and more time managing exceptions,” Hammett explained. 

SitusAMC's Warehouse Administration and Configuration Services teams support these efforts through technology, operational services and consulting. Over the past five years, SitusAMC has supported more than $11 trillion in warehouse financing, with its solutions offering potential annualized cost efficiencies of up to 30% compared with in-house resources. 

Defining What It Means to Be Ready 

Drawing on more than 25 years of warehouse lending experience, Hammett emphasized that operational readiness depends on detailed planning, clearly defined loan-level eligibility parameters, a well-structured data model and an understanding of reporting requirements and downstream impacts. 

“The difference of being ready is in the details,” Hammett said. 

Ultimately, lenders must evaluate their ability to maintain service levels and operational controls under changing market conditions. 

“A warehouse lender that is truly ready has already defined how it will scale,” Hammett said. “Not just how it will process today's volume, but how it will maintain control, visibility, and the service level when the market moves.” 

Watch the MPA TV interview here. 

SitusAMC has been a leader in warehouse financing technology for 36+ years, helping clients achieve more efficient, effective and connected warehouse lending and borrowing. Our SaaS-enabled, cloud-hosted platforms ProMerit and WLS are the most widely selected platforms by the top warehouse lenders for their ability to automate functions and scale to any size of operations. For more information, visit our website.