Career Change to Banking/Lending?

Question

Hi BP,

I've mentioned in earlier posts that I'm considering a career change. I've always been interested in the lending side of real estate - specifically on the commercial side for local community type banks.

If anyone in a similar role can provide some insight, I would be very grateful. A few of my questions:

1. What is your day-to-day like? How often are you, say, at your computer versus out of the office?

2. What is the most stressful aspect of your job?

3. How did you get into commercial lending? I.e. did you start in residential lending?

4. What professional certifications do you have?

5. How much work do you "take home" with you?

6. Is your work mostly on an individual basis or within internal teams?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but these are a start. Let me know if this post belongs elsewhere.

Thanks!

-Lane

Vincent Matulewich · Answer

Hi, I am a commercial loan officer for a major commercial bank here on the east coast.

Day to day- I would say that 50% of the time I am at my desk working on administrative items, deal memo's, etc. the other 50% I am meeting customers or prospecting.

Stress- high since you need to meet/exceed goal. plus, the customer demands and credit risk demands generally do not meet in the same area!

How I got into the business- I actually landed an internship on the underwriting side when I was in college. From there, I basically held every underwriting position in the Bank, including running my own credit team in one of the geographic regions (which means that any deal that got done there went through me). This allowed me to learn how to structure different deals, etc. and then ultimately requested to move over to the sales side which is what I do now.

No professional certifications.

Take home work- depends on how you look at it. There are a lot of functions and networking things that I attend. So, it is not a typical 8-5 job.

Work is individual when it comes to the customer facing aspect. But, once you have a prospect, it is very much team-based. Dealing with underwriters to structure and write-up the deal, and then dealing with the Bank's risk partners, closers, attorneys, etc.

Hope this helps. It can be a very rewarding job, so hopefully the above doesnt sound negative because that is not my intention.

Lawrence Monyei · Answer

Hi Lane,

I am also very interested at changing my career into a commercial mortgage/loan broker. You don't need to have worked before as a residential loan officer or originator for you to start working in the commercial loans. Presently, and to my knowledge, it is only California that requires the minimum of CA. state Mortgage Loan Officer license before someone can broker commercial loans. To do residential loans, you MUST have a license in your state, but it is not a must to have a license before someone can broker commercial loans in most  states in the country, but banks will ask for your license #; this may be a business delay for new Commercial loan brokers. If you can start by getting your state Residential LO license, you can use this license to look for trainee or entry level position jobs with commercial mortgage/loan companies close to you. RE Brokers nationwide uses only one license to do both or either residential or commercial RE, so does mortgage brokers uses only one license for both residential and commercial mortgage loans nationwide.