Keep it Basic
Fair warning: I’m going to brag a little, but there’s a point to it – I’m not just taking this moment to crow while I have a captive audience. (Come to think of it, you’re not a captive audience at all. You can leave anytime you like. Are you still there?)
When I started my career in the mortgage world over four years ago with Priority Lending, I made a point to meet with as many real estate agents and escrow professionals as possible (to this day, I STILL do). You’re my partners in this, so it made sense to talk with you and find out as much as I could with respect to how you viewed mortgage folks. I was regaled with a lot of stories, both good and bad as you can imagine, but one of the most common themes I experienced was that they noticed how loan originators hop from one company to the next every 18-24 months. To a newbie, that was odd and, I’ll admit, a little troubling. Troubling, of course, because I was wondering what I got myself into.
The reason I found this so odd, though, was that as I looked at the other loan originators working at Priority Lending, that timeframe didn’t apply. One of the loan originators had been with the company for over eight years, and another had been there for five. Fast forward to now, and those folks are still with us, and we’ve brought on more loan originators who have made Priority Lending their home. Buckle up, kids. This is where I’m going to brag a bit.
What creates an environment at Priority Lending that makes it so we want to stay and keep this our home? ABC. Assortment & Breadth of product offerings: other lenders have 10-15 core products (with some, that number is high) that they offer, and if the borrower doesn’t fit into one of those products, they’re told “thanks, but we can’t help you”, and they’re shuffled out the door. We have over 80 different products so we’re NEVER the “thanks, but” guys (I have to admit, though, that “The Thanks, But Guys” would be a good name for a band). In other words, we have no reason to leave because if we did, we wouldn’t be able to help you close those transactions that don’t exactly fall under the “standard” category – and we all know, the population of that category is dwindling. Consistency: as you know, this industry isn’t for someone who expects things to stay the same; at times, we see things change on almost a daily basis. However, amidst all the change and upheaval (that’s a great word that just doesn’t get used enough) in this industry, we know that our operations remain consistent. That doesn’t mean they don’t change – of course, they do – but the approach and the attitude remain the same so we know what’s coming.
Whether other loan originators are hopping from one company to another is due to the company changing the game plan midseason on them or because they’re just restless souls who are always looking for the greener grass (I used two wholly unrelated metaphors in the same sentence – sorry), I can’t say. What I CAN say, though, is that because we have an ASSORTMENT & BREADTH of products found nowhere else and we’re CONSISTENT, it doesn’t make much sense to follow an LO from company to company because you never know where her hands are going to be tied or when he’ll have to come back to you and say, “thanks, but . . .”
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