When Nicollette Chapman launched her award-winning career 25 years ago she wasn’t just brand new to housing and real estate – she was also a new mom. She insists that if her oldest son had not been born, she might not be working at Zonda today as the Senior VP of national mortgage data solutions.

“I was in a job back then where I had to travel quite a bit, and I thought, ‘What’s more local than working in real estate’?” Chapman recalls.

Looking to spend less time on the road and more with her growing family, Chapman took a job as a title rep focused on her own local market of Arizona. While finding her way as a new mother, she also had to find her feet in real estate – fast. Although Chapman had an education degree from Arizona State University, she had absolutely no experience in real estate or housing.

Heck, she hadn’t even bought her own first home yet. She dove in fearlessly anyway.

“You can’t be afraid to learn about something you don’t know,” says Chapman. “So I jumped right in, immersed myself in everything I could about the business. I credit that career decision to being a mom because motherhood sort of pushed me to be hyper-local in what kind of work I was doing at the time.”

Chapman quickly ascended the industry’s ranks to roles as senior sales exec, VP, and president within the realty realm. She eventually found her way to Zonda – but not as an employee.

Finding a home at Zonda

“I came to Zonda after having been a customer of theirs first,” she explains.

Chapman was working for a mortgage lender at the time. When top brass asked her to launch a national builder division for their business, she tapped into Zonda’s cutting-edge technology, unparalleled data sets, and expert human insights.

“The company I worked for was really desperate for data sources to enable what they wanted to do quickly and scalably. So when I came across Zonda, I immediately embraced everything they had to offer,” she says.

Zonda recognized Chapman’s talent and expertise, too. She joined the company as a VP in 2019 and was promoted to her current position in 2023. She sees her role as “helping lenders win builder business.” That means leveraging timely, relevant data to help lenders stay on top of evolving market conditions so they can service builders better and create new lending opportunities.

“We also help builders understand what’s going on in the current market landscape so they can have the conversations they need to have with their lender partners,” Chapman says.

She’s an evangelist of sorts, exhorting lenders to expand their horizons by tapping into home builders as a wellspring of potential mortgage business. Chapman’s mantra? “Follow the builder growth, follow the loans.”

Building resilience

Chapman’s 25 years of experience are especially valuable amid the ongoing headwinds facing today’s mortgage sector. Tariff chatter has roiled stock markets and reignited inflation fears. Thanks to soaring debt-to-income levels and other affordability challenges, 42 percent of all mortgage applications are now being rejected, the highest denial rate in over a decade. Plus, the average age of a first-time buyer has hit an all-time high of 40 years old, shrinking the client pool for the mortgage business overall.

While Chapman foresees a “higher for longer” rate environment brewing, she urges mortgage lenders to pivot beyond first time buyers and embrace the other end of the demographic spectrum: baby boomers. For example, she says lenders could help boomers finance their retirement via underutilized tools like reverse repurchase programs. Chapman also advises lenders to dig deep to unearth new business opportunities.

“Really dive into your guidelines, learn about product offerings, and be a creative loan technician,” she says.

Mama bear

Besides her vast knowledge, Chapman also brought her leadership style to Zonda.

“She colloquially describes herself as a little bit of a mama bear when it comes to her team,” says Kyle Cheslock, an executive VP of sales in Zonda’s data division. “She’s there to support them with whatever they need, whether it’s flying across the country to speak at a local event or connecting with them over a glass of wine on a personal level. She’s extremely loyal and she’s always gonna be in your corner.”

Though Chapman’s job revolves around data, Cheslock says her people skills are the secret to her success.

“She’s a wealth of knowledge for the broader mortgage industry, from the biggest national lenders to your local independent mortgage broker. But she’s also extremely personable. The clients not only look to her as that resource in the industry, they love working with her. And that’s just a credit to who she is as a person,” he says.

A fan of sky-high heels, Chapman is also a diehard fitness buff who loves working out. As the wife of a professional soccer coach and proud mom of two athletic sons (including college soccer star Jack), she calls her family a loving but “super competitive” bunch. Chapman’s play-to-win attitude also gets results at Zonda. Cheslock points out that despite today’s challenging mortgage environment, her small team of four has produced two of Zonda’s top 10 salespeople.

Full circle

Things don’t always turn out as planned. Sometimes, that’s a good thing.

Chapman never put her education degree to use as a classroom teacher, yet she educates mortgage lenders and home builders about the latest trends at countless events. And 25 years after her oldest son was born, there’s no need for her to stick closer to home.

“It’s great because now that I’m an empty nester, I travel all the time to help out our national accounts,” she says.

Wherever her kids, colleagues and clients may be, they’ve always got Nicollette Chapman in their corner.