Former Wells Fargo executive relishes challenge at smaller independent mortgage firm

“Coming to Sprout Mortgage has been a wonderful experience. There are only a few decision makers in the organization, and many of those decisions are being made very quickly between the president, Shea Pallante, the CEO, Michael Strauss, and myself,” he said.

Johnston hinted that Sprout’s agile decision-making process, a hallmark of small companies, was a feature he’d be able to exploit for the benefit of his new employers. “We won’t have the challenges, certainly early on, of being a large company, and that means we’re a flatter organization that is also able to make very quick decisions for our team and for our customers,” he said, relishing Sprout’s “boutique feel.”

Sprout’s overall business approach, which he described as “innovative”, was also cause for celebration. He said: “It’s not just in the development of the product but the execution.”

Despite the “tight inventory”, which Johnston attributed as much to a decade-long deficit in home building as to the recent rise in construction costs, he said the industry would adapt without too much difficulty, adding that Sprout was well placed to take advantage of current market trends.

“It’s likely that interest rates will start to step up a little bit over the next few years from where they are today,” he said. “The composition of the market will become a little bit more purchase and less refinance, as many homeowners have locked into rates that are sub 3% or so.