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The story of Sun West Mortgage Company is one of hard work, dedication, and innovation. Sun West founder, Hari Agarwal, is the quintessential example of the classic American dream and his legacy helps millions of others build their own American dreams through home ownership. For over 40 years Sun West has been a family owned- family first company. A living example of a classic entrepreneurial spirit, Pavan Agarwal is striving hard to accomplish his ultimate goal of making homeownership possible for all Americans.
Pavan Agarwal has always loved engineering and innovation. Following his father’s footsteps, Pavan began working alongside Hari at Sun West Mortgage Company as a child. He developed an automatic APR calculator when he was just 13 years old. As soon as he completed his engineering degree, he began working full-time at Sun West. Pavan used his software engineering expertise to create ReverseSoft, the backend software that Sun West and other mortgage companies, such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Generations, use today for reverse mortgages. He continued in the software engineering role, until the 2008 financial crisis caused him to rise up and take charge.
“My dad left it up to me to work it out; he said the company is yours and you can do whatever you want with it. Through this crisis, I was able to steer Sun West to where we are now. Sun West has advanced significantly from real estate transactions and mortgage software to become an industry leader in cutting-edge technologies, including blockchain and artificial intelligence,”, reveals the leader.
Pavan took advantage of the company’s 42 years of expertise to create the most comprehensive loan assistant called MORGAN, a 24/7 empathetic AI product designed to make the home buying process easier and more efficient.
“I have spent my entire life working in the mortgage industry. When I was barely 11 years old, my father founded Sun West, and I learned everything by working alongside him. The most beneficial real estate investing course was being given right in front of me. With only few dollars in our pockets at first, we would go into the properties and make the necessary repairs so they could be rented out”, asserted Pavan Agarwal while explaining more about his journey.
Sun West’s Incorporation: Rewind to the Early Days
Hari Agarwal did not set out on his career path with the intention of founding a lending company. He was a real estate broker in the 1970s and watched in shock as interest rates reached 18%. Feeling the sting of the market, he obtained a warehouse line of credit and started making loans. He began lending only with the goal of increasing his commissions and gaining total command over the clientele. Then, when the mortgage business began to expand, he gave up real estate brokerage and concentrated only on developing and improving Sun West.
This was a business built by immigrants who just came to the US from India with very little capital. He was able to get things started with a mere $50,000. Despite being slow in the beginning, they persisted. Sun West gradually grew as new software products for the mortgage sector were released over time, such as an automatic APR calculator, reverse mortgage software, and now MORGAN.
Service Offerings and Clientele at a Glance
Still, in 2023, potential African Americans home buyers are almost twice as likely to be denied a loan as their white counterparts. One of Pavan’s proudest career moments was when Sun West was able to help a wounded war veteran who had been trying to purchase a home for a decade and was struggling due to post-service health issues. Other lenders told them, “No, your DTI is too high and your credit is too low.” However, Sun West was able to analyze the guidelines and find a specific program aimed at veterans with disabilities. The innovative solution by the company easily combs through all the data to find the perfect program for every buyer by analyzing every possible scenario and generating an answer.
For instance, a borrower can say, “I make $10,000 a month, have $500 in monthly debt, my credit score is 550, and I will calculate the interest rate and down payment for this property I am looking at.” Within seconds to minutes, Morgan will provide them with an answer.
Artificial intelligence needs to be trained with large data sets and MORGAN has been trained with over 40+ years of lending data. That is why Morgan is able to provide assistance to all clients with the same level of quality and speed, regardless of how complex a customer’s situation may be,
The Key Differentiating Factors: What Makes it Stands Out?
A pioneer in the mortgage industry, Sun West Mortgage puts a strong emphasis on creating innovative technology to provide the best experience to customers. This drive has a direct impact on consumers and bridges the homeownership gap between races. With their platform, they are able to provide an equal lending experience. In addition, Sun West’s focus on technology truly sets it apart from the crowd. Since the beginning, they have been leaders in mortgage technology, from the reverse mortgage software to the APR calculator and now Morgan.
“I believe that technology can make or break a client experience. The mortgage industry is filled with antiquated processes to the detriment of borrowers. Today, homeowners are wealthier, older, and more racially homogeneous than any other generation in the past. Other mortgage companies do not have the capacity, nor do they believe it is worthwhile to spend time and energy on loan applications that have the potential to fall through. This is because they do not have the computing power and artificial intelligence that Sun West has. It is simple and fast to have a machine calculate every possible scenario for every type of borrower, compared to the hours it would take to do this manually. Thus, many other lenders simply give up and cater to the loans that make the most sense and yield a greater success rate than taking losses. We use technology to level the playing field for all customers”, asserted the visionary leader Pavan Agarwal.
Maintaining a Healthy Work Environment
Sun West fosters creativity and innovation at the workplace, where they encourage collaboration. The best part about Sun West’s work environment is that there is no hierarchy. The CTO works directly with the rest of the engineering team and collaborates with them, rather than just commanding and overseeing.
Pavan Agarwal believes a healthy work environment is one that allows the employees to focus on the truly important things in life, like family, rather than focusing 100% of their time and energy on menial tasks. Life is about more than work, and alleviating that stress with Morgan is my ultimate goal.
The Future Endeavours of Sun West Mortgage
From a professional standpoint, Pavan Agarwal focuses on making everyone’s lives simpler by making Morgan as smart as he can. He seeks to reduce the homeownership gap in the US and enhance the work-life balance for all real estate professionals. As a member of an immigrant family, he is aware of how crucial home ownership is to creating wealth for future generations.
“On the personal side, I just want to spend more time with my family, travel with them, and see my kids grow up. I want to help them become leaders in their fields and keep innovating, Pavan delightfully shared.
