New MLO - Prospecting for Business

[Ryan Davis]

Greetings BP family,

I recently passed my SAFE Act exam and am ready to begin building my book of business as a mortgage loan officer / originator in Virginia!

My question for experienced MLO's out there is, what are some tips you'd give to a new MLO looking to build business?

Of course, I'm going to call my warm market, brings donuts to RE officers, and attend local business functions, but what are some other things I can do to start filling that pipepline?

Thanks in advance!

[Chris Mason]

Hi @Ryan Davis,

I started, fresh out of college, as an assistant to a seasoned LO, with 20 years under his belt. He qualified the people, sold, originated, structured the deals, and I'd collect the paperwork needed to close them out, progressively solving bigger and bigger hiccups without the LO's help or input. 

Eventually I noticed out that, three months or a six months closing, it wasn't my boss that younger millenials were referring their friends/family/etc to... it was me. So there were a bunch in his name, where I did everything start to finish. "Wait, it says on this closing paperwork that Fred is our LO... who the heck is Fred?" was always a fun conversation from those days (note that this is only lawful if you are actually licensed and formally affiliate that license with the firm you work at, which requires approval from your employer).

And then I noticed several REI pick-me-up deals (a 'pick me up' deal is where a big bank can't figure it out, and it falls in your lap two weeks into escrow, with two weeks until scheduled close of escrow) where I figured it out when my LO couldn't and/or without his input. You will quickly learn that most MLOs suck at REI mortgage math (hell, just read this website), hence all the fumbled pick-me-up deals. And then it was the same thing, those REI didn't call my boss back for the next one... they called me back.

OK, so there's millenial first time home-buyers, and REI. That became my dual niche.

If you want to copy that sort of model, go be someone's assistant for a while, with a base wage that'll keep you from starving. Let your niche come to you. You really have no idea what it will end up being. You're on this website so you may think it will be REI, but maybe what you are truly a wizard at is playing financial marriage counselor for newlyweds, and then you will start getting all the newlywed business. Who knows.