Lykken on Lending

<p>In this episode of <em>Lykken on Lending – Hot Topics</em>, David Lykken sits down with Josh Lehr, Founder of Lehrjet, to cut through the noise surrounding AI and mortgage technology. With more than two decades of experience spanning Zillow, Total Expert, and fintech partnerships, Josh offers an independent, practitioner’s perspective on what actually works. The conversation explores AI voice assistants, agentic AI, backend automation, data strategy, and why the future isn’t about replacing loan officers—but empowering them. This is a must-listen for mortgage leaders trying to separate hype from impact and make smarter technology decisions in 2026 and beyond.</p>

<p class="ql-align-justify"><strong>The Lykken on Lending Weekly Mortgage Update</strong>&nbsp;delivers expert commentary and timely insights from across the mortgage industry. Each episode features a curated lineup of respected thought leaders and analysts:</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><ul><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Adam DeSanctis</strong>&nbsp;with the&nbsp;<em>MBA Mortgage Minute</em>, providing key updates from the Mortgage Bankers Association.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Les Parker’s&nbsp;<em>TMSpotlight</em></strong>&nbsp;offers a macroeconomic perspective with his signature musical parodies.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Matt Graham</strong>&nbsp;of MBS Live, breaking down market activity and interest rate movements.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>David Kittle</strong>, CEO of The Mortgage Collaborative, sharing insights on mortgage originations and industry trends.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Alice Alvey</strong>&nbsp;of Union Home Mortgage, delivering essential regulatory and legislative updates.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Allen Pollack</strong>, with the&nbsp;<em>Tech Report</em>, spotlighting emerging technologies impacting mortgage operations.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Bill Corbet</strong>, presenting&nbsp;<em>Bill's Bullet Commentary</em>&nbsp;with focused insights on loan servicing and capital markets.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Marc Helm</strong>, offering&nbsp;<em>Marc’s Rant</em>, an unfiltered take on operational and agency-related developments.</li></ul><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">Together, this expert panel brings clarity, relevance, and a touch of personality to the ever-evolving mortgage landscape.</p>

<p class="ql-align-justify">This podcast segment explores how AI is reshaping mortgage technology by lowering origination costs, reducing vendor sprawl, reinforcing the LOS as core infrastructure, and separating real operational gains from marketing hype.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">-----------------------------------------------------</p><h3 class="ql-align-justify"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-pollack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(49, 130, 206);"><strong>Allen Pollack</strong></a><strong>, Tech Consultant</strong></h3><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">Allen Pollack, a Mortgage &amp; Financial Services Technology Advisor, is a subject matter expert in the mortgage origination process along with software product management and software development.</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">In today’s financial services push to all things Digital, Allen has been helping lenders and financial services solution providers align their digital transformation and technology strategies by removing the human element of risk, and automating processes that drive efficiencies and margins into profits.</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">Over the course of his career, Allen has co-created and developed technology business models that have birthed highly successful, innovative solutions and companies.</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">Allen co-founded and served as CTO of New York Loan Exchange (NYLX), a loan product eligibility and pricing engine (PPE) that made an immediate impact on the industry, scaling the company quickly and forming partnerships with multiple mortgage and financial lending companies. In 2012, Allen was a co-founder of a merger between NYLX and Aklero Risk Analytics that created LoanLogics, A Mortgage Loan Quality and Performance Analytics company. Allen served as CTO where he continued to bring new and innovative product solutions to the market that made a significant impact to mortgage lenders that reduced risk, scaled business channels, and grew profits in a very competitive and highly regulated market.</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">Allen is also is mortgage and finance technology contributor on a weekly live industry podcast, Lykken on Lending, and is launching a new podcast soon to be released, TechStack Radio, dedicated to technology and innovation in Financial Services.</p>

<p class="ql-align-justify">This podcast segment explains how President Trump’s $200 billion MBS purchase announcement overshadowed economic data and the jobs report, driving a sharp MBS rally, tightening mortgage spreads, and reshaping mortgage rate dynamics.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">-----------------------------------------------------</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-graham-714bba8/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(49, 130, 206);">Matt</a>&nbsp;began as an originator in 2002. He fell in love with the idea of following MBS in real-time but felt that existing products were only scratching the surface. Thus was born MBS Live in 2007, the first-of-its-kind platform with real-time market data/analysis, and live chat with analysts, traders, and originators around the country. He is currently the Founder and CEO of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mbslive.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(49, 130, 206);">MBS</a>Live!</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">He's been covering bond/mortgage markets, writing commentary, alerts, and chatting with the live community every business hour of every business day ever since.</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">Matt also serves as the Chief of Operations for&nbsp;<a href="https://mortgagenewsdaily.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(49, 130, 206);">mortgagenewsdaily.com,</a>&nbsp;where he is one of the industry's most respected mortgage rate experts, frequently quoted in the media. Mortgage News Daily's rate index is used as the definitive resource on day-to-day mortgage rate averages.</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and son, where he enjoys skiing, fishing, coaching youth sports, playing the guitar, and more DIY projects/hobbies than he'd care to admit.</p>

<p>In today’s noisy digital world, attention has become the new currency—and impact is what turns that attention into trust and relationships. In this episode, David Lykken sits down with Josh Pitts, Founder and CEO of Shred Media, to explore how mortgage professionals can win on social media without overthinking, overproducing, or burning out. Broadcasting live from his catamaran anchored off the coast of Panama, Josh shares how he and his family have built a location-independent life while scaling a fast-growing business, and why authenticity, consistency, and simplicity matter more than perfection. Together, they unpack how AI can be used to create <em>attention and impact</em>—not artificial content—and why embracing imperfection may be the most powerful marketing move mortgage professionals can make in 2026.</p>