Today’s mortgage environment is complex, competitive, and rapidly changing. This one-day In-Person Residential Mortgage Lending Seminar gives originators, processors, underwriters, and lending leaders a complete, practical overview of the full mortgage lifecycle from accurate applications and efficient processing to underwriting fundamentals, compliance requirements, and workflow optimization. Participants gain the clarity and confidence needed to deliver high-quality loans in any market.
Date: October 23, 2026
Time: 9:00am-3:30pm EST
Residential Mortgage Lending Agenda
Current State of the Mortgage Market
- Rate environment & volume trends
- Purchase vs. refi dynamics
- Affordable housing challenges
Loan Origination Excellence
- Best practices in pre-qualification
- Accurate 1003 completion to prevent downstream issues
- Setting borrower expectations
- Identifying red flags early
- Documentation checklists and reducing “back-and-forth” friction
Processing for Speed and Quality
- File setup best practices
- Document gathering strategies
- Verifications (VOE, VOD, IRS transcripts, appraisals)
- Common bottlenecks and how to eliminate them
- Turn-time expectations and workflow tools
Underwriting Fundamentals & Risk Analysis
- Ability to Repay / Qualified Mortgage (ATR/QM) refresher
- Income calculation essentials (W-2, SE income, variable income)
- Credit risk indicators
- Automated underwriting systems (DU/LP) – interpreting findings
- Documentation standards
Compliance & Regulatory Updates
- TRID refresh (common errors)
- Fair lending considerations
- Appraisal independence
- HMDA reminders
- Red flags for fraud (occupancy, income, identity)
Cross-Functional Interactive Case Studies
- Review sample loan files from start to finish
- Identify issues at each step (originator → processor → underwriter)
- Group discussion on how to improve workflow
- Best-practice approaches for difficult scenarios
Building a High-Performance Mortgage Team
- Communication expectations between roles
- Standardizing handoff points
- Turn-time scorecards
- How to reduce re-work and improve loan quality
Audience: Mortgage originators, processors, underwriters, branch managers, and other mortgage professionals who want to strengthen their end-to-end knowledge of the lending process, improve workflow efficiency, and stay current on compliance, underwriting, and market best practices.
Location: Link to Lodging Information
Sheraton Hartford Hotel at Bradley Airport
1 Bradley International Airport
Windsor Locks, Connecticut, 06096, USA
Hotel is connected to airport by a walking bridge, no need for outside travel.
Breakfast served from 8:30am-9:00am, snacks and lunch also provided. If you are attending and have any food sensitivities, please email Emily@CFTeducation.org so we can be sure to accommodate your needs.
By the end of the seminar, you’ll have a deeper understanding of mortgage lending fundamentals and the operational discipline required to deliver clean, complete, and compliant files. You’ll leave better prepared to support borrowers, work efficiently across departments, and contribute to stronger pipeline quality.
Related Topics
Instructor
Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith has been the Chief Lending Officer at Freedom Credit Union in Springfield, MA since 2013 and is in charge of managing the Commercial, Mortgage, and Consumer Lending portfolios, as well as t... read more.
