Agency Business Commitments. We must make certain representations and warranties concerning each loan we originate for the GSE or HUD programs. The representations and warranties relate to our practices in the origination and servicing of the loans and the accuracy of the information being provided by us. In the event of a breach of any representation or warranty, the GSEs or HUD could require us to repurchase a loan, even if the loan is not in default. Our obligation to repurchase the loan is independent of our risk-sharing obligations.

Our Agency Business is subject to supervision by certain regulatory agencies. Among other things, these agencies require us to meet certain minimum net worth, operational liquidity and restricted liquidity collateral requirements, and compliance with reporting requirements. Our adjusted net worth and liquidity required by the agencies for all periods presented exceeded these requirements.

At December 31, 2024, we were required to maintain at least $22.4 million of liquid assets in one of our subsidiaries to meet our operational liquidity requirements for Fannie Mae and we had operational liquidity in excess of this requirement.

We are generally required to share the risk of any losses associated with loans sold under the Fannie Mae DUS program and are required to secure this obligation by assigning restricted cash balances and/or a letter of credit to Fannie Mae. The amount of collateral required by Fannie Mae is a formulaic calculation at the loan level by a Fannie Mae assigned tier, which considers the loan balance, risk level of the loan, age of the loan and level of risk-sharing. Fannie Mae requires restricted liquidity for Tier 2 loans of 75 basis points, 15 basis points for Tier 3 loans and 5 basis points for Tier 4 loans, which is funded over a 48-month period that begins upon delivery of the loan to Fannie Mae. A significant portion of our Fannie Mae DUS serviced loans for which we have risk sharing are Tier 2 loans. At December 31, 2024, the restricted liquidity requirement totaled $91.5 million and was satisfied with a $70.0 million letter of credit and cash issued to Fannie Mae.

At December 31, 2024, reserve requirements for the current Fannie Mae DUS loan portfolio will require us to fund $35.2 million in additional restricted liquidity over the next 48 months, assuming no further principal paydowns, prepayments, or defaults within our at-risk portfolio. Fannie Mae periodically reassesses these collateral requirements and may make changes to these requirements in the future. We generate sufficient cash flow from our operations to meet these capital standards and do not expect any changes to have a material impact on our future operations; however, future changes to collateral requirements may adversely impact our available cash.

We are subject to various capital requirements in connection with seller/servicer agreements that we have entered into with secondary market investors. Failure to maintain minimum capital requirements could result in our inability to originate and service loans for the respective investor and, therefore, could have a direct material effect on our consolidated financial statements. At December 31, 2024, we met all of Fannie Mae’s quarterly capital requirements and our Fannie Mae adjusted net worth was in excess of the required net worth. We are also subject to capital requirements on an annual basis for Ginnie Mae and FHA, and we believe we have met all requirements at December 31, 2024.

As an approved designated seller/servicer under Freddie Mac’s SBL program, we are required to post collateral to ensure that we are able to meet certain purchase and loss obligations required by this program. Under the SBL program, we are required to post collateral equal to $5.0 million, which is satisfied with a $5.0 million letter of credit.

We enter into contractual commitments with borrowers providing rate lock commitments while simultaneously entering into forward sale commitments with investors. These commitments are outstanding for short periods of time (generally less than 60 days) and are described in more detail in Note 13 and Note 14.

Debt Obligations and Operating Leases. At December 31, 2024, the maturities of our debt obligations and the minimum annual operating lease payments under leases with a term in excess of one year are as follows (in thousands):


Year	Debt Obligations		Minimum Annual Operating Lease Payments		Total
2025	$	4,314,861	$	11,081	$	4,325,942
2026	3,540,874		11,297		3,552,171
2027	1,772,038		9,782		1,781,820
2028	180,000		9,093		189,093
2029	—		8,576		8,576
Thereafter	154,336		19,308		173,644
Total	$	9,962,109	$	69,137	$	10,031,246

At December 31, 2024 and 2023, our leases had remaining lease terms of 2.1–9.2 years and 0.8–10.1 years, respectively, with a weighted average remaining lease term of 6.8 years and 7.6 years, respectively, and a weighted average discount rate of 5.8% and 5.7%, respectively. We recorded lease expense of $10.9 million, $10.9 million and $9.6 million during 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Unfunded Commitments. In accordance with certain structured loans and investments, we have outstanding unfunded commitments of $2.20 billion at December 31, 2024 that we are obligated to fund as borrowers meet certain requirements. Specific requirements include, but are not limited to, property renovations, building construction and conversions based on criteria met by the borrower in accordance with the loan agreements.

Litigation. From time to time, we may become involved in legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. Except as set forth below under “Securities Class Action,” we are not currently a party to any material legal proceedings, and we are not aware of any pending or threatened legal proceeding against us that we believe could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition. Because the results of legal proceedings is inherently unpredictable and uncertain, we are currently unable to predict whether it will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

On July 31, 2024, a purported shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against us and certain of our executive officers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (the “Court”), alleging violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. The plaintiffs seek to represent a class of shareholders who purchased our shares of common stock between May 7, 2021 and July 11, 2024.

An amended complaint was filed by the lead plaintiffs on January 21, 2025. The amended complaint alleges that we have made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material information in connection with allegedly overriding internal controls, engaging in substandard lending practices and not complying with agency requirements. The plaintiffs are seeking damages in an unspecified amount, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

We believe that the allegations in the lawsuit are without merit, and we intend to vigorously defend against the claims. At this time, we are unable to determine whether an unfavorable outcome is probable or to estimate reasonably possible losses.

In June 2011, three related lawsuits were filed by the Extended Stay Litigation Trust (the “Trust”), a post-bankruptcy litigation trust alleged to have standing to pursue claims that previously had been held by Extended Stay, Inc. and the Homestead Village L.L.C. family of companies that had emerged from bankruptcy.

In June 2013, the Trust amended the lawsuits, to, among other things, (1) consolidate the lawsuits into one lawsuit, (2) dismiss certain defendants from the lawsuits, none of whom were related to us, and (3) reduce the counts within the lawsuits.

After extensive motion practice and discovery, in early December 2022, the plaintiff and certain co-defendants, including our affiliates, commenced discussions regarding a possible settlement of the Action, and in late December 2022, those parties reached an agreement in principle to settle the Action for a total of $38.0 million. We agreed to pay up to $7.4 million of the settlement amount, which amount was accrued in our December 31, 2022 financial statements.

In early March 2023, the parties to the settlement finalized the settlement documents and on April 25, 2023, the Bankruptcy Court approved the settlement. Following the Bankruptcy Court approval, the parties made the agreed upon payments, the broad mutual releases became effective and on June 23, 2023, the litigation was discontinued, with prejudice.

Due to Borrowers. Due to borrowers represents borrowers’ funds held by us to fund certain expenditures or to be released at our discretion upon the occurrence of certain pre-specified events, and to serve as additional collateral for borrowers’ loans. While retained, these balances earn interest in accordance with the specific loan terms they are associated with.