Casa says putting ego aside was the key to the deal, and he hopes other broker owners are paying attention
The last 18 months have seen a large number of mergers and acquisitions in the mortgage industry. The one announced over the weekend may be one of the most stunning ones.
When NEXA Lending's acquisition of UMortgage was announced over the weekend, reaction came from all corners of the industry. Many wondered how two industry leaders who haven’t always seen eye-to-eye would reach a point where they would join forces.
There have been plenty of other deals in the broker channel since the start of 2025. Most of them have been framed as consolidation plays driven by scale economics, competitive pressure, or founders looking for an exit after years of building.
However, according to Anthony Casa (pictured top), president and CEO of UMortgage, his motivation for making this deal happen has nothing to do with wanting to make his exit from the industry. In fact, he said the move is more about doubling down instead.
"I think the consolidation we've seen in the industry is all kind of like people trying to cash out," Casa told Mortgage Professional America. "People that have had a platform for like 20 years and they're cashing out. I think the big difference here is I'm 41 years old. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not cashing out. I'm looking to go all in on this."
Casa’s new role
After the sale, Casa will be an executive partner at NEXA. Casa said his primary focus post-sale will be mergers and acquisitions, making the case for consolidation to owners who may not have considered it.
"A big part of my go-forward is being able to have the conversations with the broker shop from $100 million to $2 billion," he said. "If it can make sense for a $2 billion a year company like UMortgage, how does it not make sense for anybody smaller than us?"
He said the attraction to NEXA was not just scale but the quality of the leadership model around NEXA CEO Mike Kortas. For Casa, the absence of yes-men around a founder is a sign of how well an organization will actually function.
"One thing we see in a lot of organizations is you see a great entrepreneur, and sometimes you see a lot of yes-men around them," he said. "And when you get that, that's where the organizations stall out. What I saw with Mike is he built a really good leadership team and he does get held accountable and he does get a lot of feedback."
Growing the pie for LOs
For the UMortgage loan officers who will transition into NEXA's platform, Casa said the focus will be on what happens to individual origination volume rather than overall headcount, since NEXA already has more than 4,000 loan officers and the goal is not simply to add 246 more and move on.
"What we're really focusing on is how do we increase the funding for a loan officer," he said. "How do we help our loan officers build their teams and take their businesses to the next level? We want to grow the pie for each individual LO."
He said the technology and sales culture UMortgage built will come into NEXA's organization and help level up the existing team. UMortgage landed on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the country three years running, a track record he said backs up the argument he will be making to other broker shops.
As for why he made the move, it was about staying ahead of the competition. He believed UMortgage had plateaued and could not invest at the level needed to stay competitive, while Kortas was already doing the things Casa wanted to do, including launching evoLend, a servicing platform, and acquiring longstanding websites like FSBO.com.
"Instead of waiting five years to catch up to where they are today, let's get on that today and let's see if we can together get way ahead of the market," he said.
A conversation between two rivals turned into a major industry move. Casa said they were able to get the deal done, and that the move could build momentum for more consolidation in the industry.
"I hope that we set the example that we have to put what's best for business and best for our team ahead of what's best for our ego," he said. "I do think this is going to be one of those snowball moments where we see a lot of consolidation in the brokerage realm that historically hasn't been there."
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