Seeking Advice on Pursuing a Career in Home Loans

[Yen Yen To]

I'm seeking advice on pursuing a career relating to home loans. The titles of job positions in this area that appeal to me are: processor, auditor, underwriter, closing coordinator, closing facilitator, credit analyst, compliance specialist and operations assistant. Of course, what I would be trying for would be an entry level, assistant-type position. I would like to work on the back end, if that's the right term. I do not want to be a loan/mortgage officer/adviser/consultant or assistant to such, doing marketing and selling.

I worked for the last 15-plus years as a real estate assistant and office manager. My husband, who is older (I am in my late 40s), retired last year and closed the brokerage. In the course of my work in real estate, I learned a lot about home loans but I did not obtain a real estate license or any kind of certification for doing loans. I do not have a college degree. I attended high school in postwar Vietnam but the school, for ethnic Chinese, was not officially recognized by the Vietnamese government.

I am fluent in Chinese (the two major dialects, Cantonese and Mandarin) and Vietnamese. My English is not as good but I am able to communicate and read documents well. Here in San Jose there are of course large populations of people whose first languages are Chinese and Vietnamese and who are active in the real estate market. I was thinking that my language skills might be desirable. Ideally, I would like a career that involves at least a large component of remote work (working from home). I do not want to be involved in front-line sales (for example, fielding calls from people who are shopping for loans).

I believe I have many skills and personal qualities that are important to work in this area: I am detail-oriented, conscientious, patient and good with numbers, as well as able to carefully read documents and catch errors. I am skilled with Excel and able to quickly learn new programs and platforms. As mentioned, I have a background in real estate that gives me at least a basic understanding and appreciation of the home loan process (and various related considerations, including consumer credit).

The specific questions I have at this time are these:

1. What is the best way of exploring the different paths in this area (processor, auditor, underwriter, etc.)—and could I begin as an assistant of some sort and work my way up from processor to underwriter (if that would be a good objective)?

2. What sort of training program(s) would be most advantageous—and do such programs offer job placement?

3. Would my lack of educational credentials be an obstacle—and are there opportunities for working remotely in this area? In other words, is my desired goal realistic?

Any guidance would be most appreciated. Many thanks!