Better’s Chad Smith on mortgage underwriting trends and tech tools for 2025
On this week’s episode of the Power House podcast: HousingWire President Diego Sanchez catches up with Chad Smith, president and chief operating officer Better. The duo discuss Smith’s decision to join Better, the company’s new platform and AI lending assistant, and its growth strategies through 2025.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To start the conversation, Sanchez dives into Smith’s decision to join Better following the company’s recent struggles.
Diego Sanchez: Better has had a bit of a rough time with PR in recent years. Why did you decide to take on the role of president at a company that has a bit of a tarnished reputation?
Chad Smith: I’m a little surprised at how long the PR hangover has lasted, so to speak. When Better called me, I was honored to be called. With what has happened in the market in recent years, I have a better chance to break through that and be part of a team that is able to innovate and implement change.
Sanchez: How can the mortgage industry do better to avoid these boom hiring trends?
Smith: One thing Better has done a great job of is becoming one system with the Tinman platform. You don’t have all these different integrations or legacy vendor contracts. We’ve managed to reduce production costs by 35% compared to the industry average, and I think that really should be the answer for the wider industry. We focus on making people more productive.
Sanchez: Let’s talk a little more about Tinman since it is a proprietary, end-to-end platform. How will Tinman Better help grow and gain market share in 2025?
Smith: We’re obsessed with reducing costs on the fulfillment side. I think customers are doing a lot more homework just from an affordability perspective. If you can use technology to make fulfillment costs lower than price, consumers should benefit and that should improve conversions.
Sanchez: Do you make Tinman available to other lenders?
Smith: We have a pipeline. We concentrate on that. In this cycle we have been very focused on our own home. That said, if people want fulfillment, solutions, and quote-unquote “mortgage in a box,” then we certainly entertain those conversations.
Sanchez: I want to talk about Betsy. That was an interesting press release you put out recently. What is it?
Smith: Betsy is the mortgage industry’s first voice-based AI loan assistant. It uses AI and language models to create solutions for consumers and internal customers. She is fully integrated with Tinman. We are confident that we can scale in 2025 and beyond.
The conversation ends with Sanchez and Smith exploring Better’s growth strategies through 2025, as technology becomes more prevalent due to the impending refinancing boom.
Smith: Servicers have many MSRs and are in a slow phase. They are in a good position to secure small refinances. For us, it’s about being in the right place, making sure you test your marketing channels and maintain a relationship with consumers.
