Loandepot Expands Builder Partnership Channel With Betenbough Joint Venture In Texas

California-based mortgage lender loanDepot has partnered with Betenbough Companies to launch Olive Branch Home Loans, a new mortgage company that will serve homebuyers across West Texas, the companies announced Monday.

The strategic partnership is the first to launch under loanDepot’s expanded partnership channel, which is designed to give homebuilders and their affiliates a white-label or joint-venture style option to stand up in-house mortgage operations while outsourcing most of the compliance, technology and fulfillment work to loanDepot.

Joint venture details

Olive Branch Home Loans will be led by Paul Boecker, according to a press release. The new lender will focus on serving buyers of Betenbough’s new homes in markets across West Texas, with the goal of integrating financing into the builder’s sales process and shortening cycle times from application to closing.

Terms of the partnership were not disclosed, and the companies did not provide production targets. loanDepot said Olive Branch will leverage its secondary marketing, capital markets and servicing platform, along with its existing wholesale and correspondent capabilities.

“By combining Betenbough Companies’ understanding of local homebuyers with loanDepot’s operational and customer service expertise, this collaboration puts the customer first, streamlining the process from application to closing and making homeownership more accessible, efficient and personalized,” Dan Peña, loanDepot’s president of partnership lending, said in a statement.

“We’re proud to collaborate with loanDepot to turn our shared customer-first commitment into action as we continue growing our businesses. With this model, we’ll be able to deliver more predictable, faster closings so that our buyers experience a smoother path to move-in day,” Brad Nelson of Betenbough Companies added.

The move comes as large, purchase-focused lenders look to deepen ties with homebuilders to capture limited purchase volume in a high-rate, low-inventory market. Builder-affiliated mortgage platforms have been a key growth and retention strategy for lenders ranging from traditional joint ventures to private-label arrangements.

For homebuilders, an aligned lender can help manage fallout risk, increase certainty of closing and structure incentives, including rate buydowns and closing cost credits, within regulatory guardrails. For lenders, embedded builder channels can provide more predictable purchase pipelines and better visibility into future inventory.

loanDepot, which has been restructuring and shrinking its retail footprint since 2022, has increasingly emphasized partnerships and third-party channels as a way to deploy its technology and servicing platform without the fixed costs of a large brick-and-mortar network.

“This model serves as a reproducible playbook for builders nationwide seeking to launch an affiliated home lending platform without building everything from scratch,” loanDepot said.

loanDepot happenings

The partnership with Betenbough comes after loanDepot reported a $108 million loss in 2025 despite improved origination volumes and operating margins. Company founder and CEO Anthony Hsieh said during an earnings call earlier this month that in the fourth quarter of 2025, loanDepot posted its highest volume for any three-month since 2022 and had a 71% recapture rate from its in-house servicing platform.

The company also announced earlier this month that it was officially returning to the wholesale channel, a move that was previously anticipated by HousingWire and marks the end of loanDepot’s four-year absence from the segment.

loanDepot has also undergone some recent leadership changes, including Alex Madonna’s departure after 16 years to launch his own lending business, Trust One Financial. A few months prior to that, senior vice president of sales Kyle Fleeger left loanDepot to join West Capital Lending (WCL) and lead the development of its career growth platform.

loanDepot and WCL are embroiled in a legal battle, which began in October 2025 when loanDepot accused WCL of illegal hiring practices, data theft and employee poaching. WCL filed a countersuit in March, saying that loanDepot violated the Truth in Lending Act by rewarding loan officers with bonus compensation for steering borrowers into higher-rate loans.