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In a recent episode of HousingWire Daily, host Sarah Wheeler sits down with Stan Middleman, the founder, president and CEO of Freedom Mortgage. The pair discuss Freedom’s adaptability-focused business approach, potential market risks in 2025 and how lenders can prepare for long-term success.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To start the conversation, Middleman dives into his early career and his book, “Seeing Around Corners.”
Middleman: I don’t know that it’s as much seeing around corners as it is being prepared, aware of your environment, understanding where things are going and how it works. In every walk of life, if you study hard, understand your business and its environment, you can identify things in your control and certain things you can’t control.
In my career, I had the opportunity to watch Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Fed, give a talk at the Waldorf Astoria in New York in the early 1990s. He talked about the dual mandate of the Fed and how their job was to keep inflation under control and the country at full employment. That understanding led me to understand directionally how interest rates would go. Having that understanding made it easier to lean in or out of my business environment.
Wheeler: Since founding Freedom in 1990, how did you utilize your business philosophy through shifting market cycles?
Middleman: In the mortgage business, we have to manage operational risk. And sometimes you need less personnel to complete the required amount of work. Ultimately, you have to make sure that you’re making a profit. Sometimes, that requires adjusting your operations — and it can be challenging. Also, you must be prepared to operationally adjust and conform to operational risks.
Wheeler: You laid out some of the challenges of our market and the current cycle. What does it look like to focus on the things that you can control?
Middleman: Coming into this part of the cycle, we grew our servicing portfolio. This year, we went from $450 billion of MSR servicing in our portfolio to $650 billion. You never really get it right. You have to be vigilant as to what’s going to go wrong, and you have to be super sensitive and aware of all the things that are going on around you.
Wheeler: It’s obvious that you’ve played — and are playing — the long game. If you could give yourself advice in the first five years of running Freedom, what would you tell yourself?
Middleman: I’m not sure that I would change any of the failures. Most of the failures that we suffered early on taught us how to handle and avoid those failures in the future. If anything, I would continue to learn from the things that I do wrong. However, I still try to do that today.
To end the conversation, Middleman offers insight into Freedom Cares, the philanthropic arm of Freedom Mortgage.
Middleman: We take great pride in helping provide an outlet for the voiceless. Underserved communities were a large FHA lender. Military folks, veterans and active-duty military were one of the largest VA lenders. We’ve been a big USDA supporter, and a lot of the philanthropy we do supports those folks that we serve in those communities.
