Questions for MLOs

[Tyler Robbert]

Hello there, friends - 

I'm interested in getting licensed as a Mortgage Loan Officer, but I'd love to run a few questions by someone (or multiple folks) who already have boots on the ground in the industry to get some firsthand perspective before I pull the trigger. Would anyone who identifies as an MLO be willing to chat with me to answer some basic questions? If anyone is willing/able to talk over a Zoom call for a more personable conversation, I'd love that; otherwise, my main questions are below, and you can feel free to simply answer them here. Thanks in advance for your wisdom and insight!

- Looking at a guide to becoming a MLO, I notice one of the final steps is to get "sponsored" by a mortgage company. What exactly does this mean/entail? Does this mean that that mortgage company would be my employer, or would I still be looking for a job after the process is complete?

- On average, what would you say the percentage of leads you have to track down vs. the number generated in-house by your employer is? Being new in the area where I live, I don't have many connections, so my preference would be to work at a company that primarily supplies leads to their MLOs. Is that realistic?

- What would you say is a realistic average annual salary to expect, especially starting out as a new MLO?

- Is there a lot of opportunity for hybrid or completely remote work as a MLO?

- Based on the certification requirements, it seems that becoming a MLO is fairly simple process even if you've never worked in the industry before. Would you say this is a true assessment? Are there any hidden hurdles to be aware of when considering making a career switch in this direction?

Thanks again for any input. I really appreciate it!

[Doug Smith]

Hi @Tyler Robbert, 

I didn’t see this pop up in my feed when you posted it, but I am happy to chat. The nice thing is that we’re not licensed in PA for residential loans (we do investor loans there, but not consumer), so you know I’ll give you straight answers with no agenda. I’ve been a lender (both with mortgage companies and banks) for 33+ years and I own Florida-based Castle Rock Capital Funding, an NMLS licensed mortgage company. I’m happy to schedule time to chat and answer any questions you might have.

Questions 1: “Being Sponsored”: Once you get your NMLS license, you’ll need to hang it with a licensed mortgage broker in your State or, if you have multiple state licenses, you’ll want to find one that covers those states. Technically, they are your employer, but they vary greatly in the amount of control they exert over you. Some provide leads, benefits, and bells and whistles, but they keep a bigger cut of the revenue. Some build more into pricing than others to make it harder to compete, but they may pay more. It’s a balancing act and you need to make sure your finding the right home for you. Don’t just go to someone offering higher payouts. Make sure the culture and structure make the most sense for you.

Question 2: “Annual Salary”: That’s somewhat of a tricky question. I was just speaking to an MLO that wanted a signing bonus because a big lender offered them one. Our company is set up to where we built in much, much less into our pricing than that big lender does and we pay out a lot more of the revenue to the MLO. That signing bonus has to come from somewhere and it’s certainly not paid from the goodness of the company’s heart. If you’re getting a salary, you can bet the payouts are going to be really, really bad and the goals are going to be tougher. More experienced and productive MLOs don’t look for salary…they look for products, pricing, and payouts.

Question 3: “Hybrid or Remote”: We used to have a really nice office, then COVID taught us that if we ditch the office and go 100% remote, we could use that saved overhead to lower our rates to make our MLOs more productive and pay out more to the MLO. Remote work is becoming more and more the norm. We’re now 100% remote and our team loves it.

Question 4: “Hidden Hurdles”: It seems easy and some of the large shops only tease the MLO with hope and not the hard work it takes to be successful. Think about it…the only reason a mortgage company, or any employer for that matter, would hire you is if you generate more revenue for them than you cost. I can’t tell you how many calls I get with newer loan officers wanting top payouts, hot leads, and not real work. Ask yourself this, would it make sense for me as the owner of a mortgage company to basically generate a customer for a loan officer and pay them out top-dollar when they were handed a lead or should I hand that deal to a loan officer assistant to get through the pipeline and keep the revenue? You have to find ways to generate more value to your mortgage company than you cost, meaning you need to be able to self-generate business. The vast, vast majority of MLOs that we speak to struggle with that concept. They seem to want to sit by the phone and wait for it to ring. They expect us to make it ring for them and then they want us to pay them top dollar for simply order taking. I think that’s the biggest hurdle I see and the difference between successful loan officers and those that fail.

I hope that helps. PM me if you want to schedule a call to pepper me with Qs. We’re not in PA, so you know we have no dog in the hunt. Let me know how I can help.

Doug Smith