Becoming a loan officer?? Just a thought I'm looking into

[Travis L.]

I've started down this rabbit hole, looking into becoming a loan officer.  Found lots of different ideas of how this job looks just not sure what is realistic.  Was listening to a podcast that suggested it and liked the idea and sounds like it could be a good fit.  I have a few rentals and enjoy the real estate, like dealing with numbers and am finding I have a decent knowledge of how credit works.

What I really want to know is this something that can be done in tandem with my normal income source?  I tend to have a good amount of down time(but always "on"), which is mostly spent looking for real estate.  Even when I'm busy I can always make time for emails phone calls etc.  I could easily put 40+hrs a week in just not 9-5 everyday.

[Alex Bekeza]

It can be an extremely rewarding career from many perspectives.  Personal time management, high income potential, scalability, insights into real estate investing that are unmatched, etc and I've enjoyed all of that.  However, it's also very grueling in the sense that you're going to be spinning a ton of plates if you're trying to produce at a high level and most people really aren't cut out for it.  The spinning plates are often the biggest financial transactions that those clients will ever encounter so stress can run high.  But if can operate well under pressure and you like building systems to optimize efficiency then you can mitigate a lot of the stress that would otherwise be involved. If you're like @Erik Estrada and work you butt off everyday, never stop learning, and never stop prospecting then you'll survive this more challenging time in the market and reap some serious rewards when things loosen back up! 

I can say without a doubt that I would not own 15 cash flowing units and have as much upside for my kids future if I didn't become a loan officer 5 years ago so despite my cautious warnings that it can be a savage time to begin such an endeavor so are many great opportunities. I'd agree whole heartedly with Erik though that a broker environment is the best way to go.  Brokers are generally in a much better position to survive huge market shifts since they can just adjust to stay in front of wherever the capital is flowing most efficiently. 

Just like @Dave Skow expressed, the industry is going through a considerable thinning of the herd.  Many people will leave the industry this year voluntarily as too many people chase too few deals and the deals become increasingly difficult to originate.  Many people are also being laid off creating hyper competition for those positions.  

If you already own a few rentals then you're honestly starting off 1000s of paces ahead of the average LO in terms of experience with the terminology and concepts!  Find a rock star broker in your area that you can shadow and start processing their deals for them.  That's how I got my start.