Bill Dallas, industry veteran and former president of Finance of America, saw the writing on the wall and left the Plano, Texas-based mortgage lender in mid-2022.

Following his departure, the mortgage shop announced an exit from the forward-mortgage space in October.

"I think [Finance of America] will come out a winner on the other side," said Dallas. "It's just not in the forward business anymore and they made that decision because the company foresaw that this was going to be a tough slog….and it is." 

Since then, Dallas has stepped into an active role of advising lenders through his consultancy company, Dallas Capital, which he has been running since 1999.

As the mortgage industry continues to face headwinds from due to lower origination activity, Dallas says mortgage shops are turning to him to figure out "what the heck to do."

"A lot of lenders are coming to me and asking the question of 'Why am I in this?' and 'What do I do with this business in general?'" 

The number one thing he recommends is cutting costs, which typically means layoffs. 

National Mortgage News sat down with Dallas to discuss the struggles mortgage lenders are facing, the companies that stand out, his time at FoA and why the P&L business model is killing retail.

This interview has been edited and condensed.