Sell a Mortgage Brokerage business

Owner-operator mortgage brokerage businesses trade at 1.8x–3x SDE for typical $500K–$3M SDE ranges. At $3M+ EBITDA scale the same operators sell at 3.5x–6x EBITDA. Multiples in this category are ebitda-based and data-sourced from InsuranceJournal Q4 2024 + Cerulli Associates RIA M&A 2025 + Optis Partners. Where you land in the range is driven by growth trajectory, revenue mix, customer concentration, and management-team depth beyond the owner.

United Wholesale Mortgage (NYSE: UWMC), Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT), and PE platforms drive strategic and turnaround-oriented mortgage consolidation. Active buyer archetypes in financial services include Aggregator / roll-up platform, Financial services PE, Internal succession. Which of these bids for your business depends on scale — sub-$1M SDE is typically individual or search-fund territory, $1-3M SDE opens up PE platforms and strategics, and $3M+ EBITDA gets full LMM buyer attention.

Mortgage brokers with balanced purchase-vs-refinance mix (60%+ purchase preferred), retained-servicing options, and multi-state licensing footprint trade at premium. Beyond the industry-specific factor, the universal drivers in financial services are recurring commission or aum revenue (not one-time transactional); client retention rate (>95% for premium multiples); book of business quality (commercial vs personal, hnw vs mass market).

Mortgage volume is highly rate-cycle exposed with sharp swings in refi share; buyers scrutinize your purchase-mix stability and origination-cost discipline. Buyers in this category also standardly scrutinize producer / advisor departure with book of business and carrier or custodian concentration. Addressing these in advance in a well-prepared CIM materially reduces retrade risk during diligence.

Typical transaction range for mortgage brokerage is $1.0M–$40M in annual revenue. Below that, buyer pool narrows to individual and small-search-fund. Above that, PE platforms and strategics dominate. NAICS code 522310 — buyers screen by NAICS in most deal sources.

From the day you engage a broker to close, expect 6–12 months for a well-prepared business in financial services. The prep work — financial cleanup, addbacks documentation, key-employee retention agreements, real estate lease sorting — is where 3-6 months of the timeline hides. Starting that early is what separates a full-multiple exit from a discounted one.