How They Built a $27B Mortgage Business | Eric Hines, West Capital Lending

How do you scale a powerhouse mortgage enterprise to $27 billion in originations while navigating one of the most volatile rate environments in history? In this episode of Unblocked, Figure CEO Michael Tannenbaum and Figure's VP of Lending Partnerships, Anthony Stratis, sit down with Eric Hines, co-founder of West Capital Lending to learn exactly that. Eric breaks down how his team built a winning model during a highly volatile market, shifted away from traditional consumer-direct constraints, and leveraged innovative partnerships that has allowed West Cap to fund nearly 100,000 loans in just five years. In this episode, we cover: • Building a hybrid mortgage model: Leaving traditional consumer-direct shops to gain equity, schedule flexibility, and centralized support with high-split incentives. • Navigating rate volatility: How West Cap survived the fast rate increases following the refi boom by rapidly pivoting into Non-QM, DSCR, and niche lending options. • Fintech-driven liquidity: Reaching $27B in originations by accessing institutional-grade liquidity and fast HELOC tech without taking on debt. • AI on the sales floor: Testing voice agents, OCR, and ChatGPT while preserving high-trust human relationships in mortgage deals. • What makes a 10x LO: Why discipline beats sales talent, and how operational efficiency via AI could scale top producers to 20x. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 05:56 - Building a hybrid mortgage model 09:08 - Navigating rate volatility 13:49 - Fintech-driven liquidity 23:34 - AI on the sales floor 36:42 - What makes a 10x LO See how leading lenders leverage Figure to unlock institutional liquidity and eliminate origination friction: https://www.figure.com/partner-heloc/...