NMP National Mortgage Professional November 2020

NOVEMBER 2020

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Volume 12, Issue 11

BIG BANK THEORY How A Boston-Based LO Broke The Billion Dollar Barrier > SPECIAL SECTION

BEST MILITARY LENDERS

SPLASH DOWN

Mortgage lenders facing rising risk from big flood events

NEWBIES NEED A LITTLE TLC NAME DROPPING

The unique challenge married mortgage women face

BACK COVER

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NOVEMBER 2020

FRONT COVER

Volume 12, Issue 11

BIG BANK THEORY How A Boston-Based LO Broke The Billion Dollar Barrier > SPECIAL SECTION

BEST MILITARY LENDERS

SPLASH DOWN

Mortgage lenders facing rising risk from big flood events

NEWBIES NEED A LITTLE TLC NAME DROPPING

The unique challenge married mortgage women face

Experience The Difference MORE Expertise MORE Service MORE Technology Experience the Biggest and Best Originator of Non-QM1 Visit AngelOakMS.com | 855.631.9943 Š Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions LLC NMLS #1160240, Corporate office, 980 Hammond Drive, Suite 850, Atlanta, GA, 30328. This communication is sent only by Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions LLC and is not intended to imply that any of our loan products will be offered by or in conjunction with HUD, FHA, VA, the U.S. government or any federal, state or local governmental body. This is a business-to-business communication and is intended for licensed mortgage professionals only and is not intended to be distributed to the consumer or the general public. Each application is reviewed independently for approval and not all applicants will qualify for the program. Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions LLC is an Equal Opportunity Lender and does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, gender, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, other classifications protected under Fair Housing Act of 1968. 1Inside Nonconforming Markets, August 30, 2019. Based on Google reviews of comparable lenders. MS_A052_0520

2

The Leader in Non-QM

| NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

NOVEMBER 2020

Volume 12 Number 11

CONTENTS

nationalmortgageprofessional.com

4 At The Table The return of live mortgage events – just a little spaced out.

>

PAGE 42

6 Raising The Rent(er) Why it’s a good idea to report rent payments to credit agencies.

The Billion Dollar Man

How A Boston Based Broker Broke The Billion Dollar Barrier

8 New Guys At The Door You can overcome the problem of training novice loan originators.

10 What’s In A Name?

Mortgage women face a personal brand challenge when they marry.

12 Be Supportive For More Sales Don’t bog down sales people with non-sales duties.

14 Trying To Fix The Fix A Fannie Mae credit score workaround may need another big change.

COVER STORY

15 People On The Move See who the movers and shakers are in the mortgage industry.

16 Build-A-Broker: Keeping The Books: Best Software For Brokers Easy, intuitive bookkeeping systems for mortgage brokerages.

18 Engagement Lessons From Covid Training your staff takes special attention when everyone wants to just zoom out.

20 Class Act How to get more Realtor business by showing them a Google magic trick.

22 Harnessing The Hunger Within What do great salespeople have? Fire in the belly.

24 Rising Risk As sea levels go up, mortgage lending risk rises with it.

29 Special Advertising Section: Best Military Lenders 34 New To Market The new products impacting your dayto-day work.

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PAGE 28 The 2020 National Mortgage Professional’s Best Military Lenders

37 Failing First-Time Buyers The home buying market is on fire, but first-timers are working with wet kindling.

39 Heard on NMP Words to remember from our broadcasts and website.

42 The Big Money Man How Shant Banosian originated more than a billion dollars in just under one year.

51 My Best Deal: A Close Shave Getting a barber the home of his dreams just as a financing deadline was closing.

53 NMP Calendar of Events 74 Facebook Thoughts: Moving forward, measure for measure.

nationalmortgageprofessional.com

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

3

NOVEMBER 2020

NOVEMBER 2020

nmp

Volume 12, Issue 11

BIG BANK THEORY How A Boston-Based LO Broke The Billion Dollar Barrier > SPECIAL SECTION

BEST MILITARY LENDERS

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

So, We Meet Again….

S

ince the start of September, we here at the Originator Connect Network have restarted our in-person conferences.

They are, to be sure, different than they were at the start of the year.

But they are, in many ways, also more inspiring.

On Sept. 2, we held the nation’s first live mortgage conference since Covid lockdowns began. This was at the Wild Horse Pass Casino just outside Phoenix, Ariz. We wondered just

how rowdy this group might get. Would they fight us over our requirement that everyone wear a mask? Would they be upset that we needed to impose food and drink restrictions? What about keeping everyone socially distanced? Loan originators, after all, are a pretty independent bunch.

But what we found was a network of colleagues anxious to be together again.

We found a group of true mortgage professionals who understand that we’re all working together to keep everyone safe. No one likes to wear a face mask for hours at a time. But no one likes the idea of getting this coronavirus, either – or spreading it to others in the room.

The attendees at our Arizona Mortgage Expo were as committed to having a safe and successful event as we were. And then we found the same thing repeated a week later at the Dallas edition of the Texas Mortgage Roundup, and again in early October at the Colorado Mortgage Summit and then in Tampa at the Suncoast Mortgage Expo.

SPLASH DOWN

Mortgage lenders facing rising risk from big flood events

NEWBIES NEED A LITTLE TLC NAME DROPPING

The unique challenge married mortgage women face

Volume 12, Number 11

STAFF CEO, PUBLISHER & EDITOR Vincent M. Valvo ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Beverly Bolnick SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Keith Griffin CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lew Sichelman, Erica LaCentra, Ralph LoVuolo, Harvey Mackay, Pam Marron, Nick Roberson, Mary Kay Scully GRAPHIC DESIGN MANAGER Stacy Murray INTERACTIVE DESIGN DIRECTOR Alison Valvo USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER Billy Valvo ONLINE CONTENT DIRECTOR Navindra Persaud MARKETING & EVENT ASSOCIATE Melissa Pianin HEAD OF ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH Andrew Berman FOUNDING PUBLISHER Joel Berman

A SMALL CHANGE Admittedly, calling these “expos” at this time is a bit of a misnomer. The attendee count is smaller than before. And many exhibitors can’t attend because of travel restrictions, so the exhibitor roster is much more limited than usual. But the vendors who’ve attended tell the same story: they’re making deeper connections, and growing their business, with the attendees who are invested in the event.

Because sometimes it’s about the quality and not just the quantity.

By the end of the year, we will have held seven live regional mortgage events since Covid crashed the party. We’re seeing great mortgage pros who are looking out for their future, and who understand that sometimes the best connections aren’t the ones you make over high-speed WiFi, but the ones you make even though you’re six feet apart. We’re learning that live events aren’t just sales opportunities, they’re a chance to build better bonds with some of the best in the business.

Not everyone is ready to be part of a live mortgage conference, yet. That’s OK. We all need to feel safe and secure. But with each mortgage event we produce now, we find more ways to connect originators with the story of their success. We’ll be there for you when you’re ready, face mask on and elbow bump at the ready.

VIN CE N T M. VALVO Publisher, Editor & CEO 4

| NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

Submit your news to editorial@ambizmedia.com If you would like additional copies of National Mortage Professional Call (860) 719-1991 or email info@ambizmedia.com

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© 2020 American Business Media LLC All rights reserved. National Mortgage Professional magazine is a trademark of American Business Media LLC. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Advertising, editorial and production inquiries should be directed to: American Business Media LLC 345 North Main St., Suite 313 West Hartford, CT 06117 Phone: (860) 719-1991 info@ambizmedia.com

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

5

LEW SICHELMAN

THE MORTGAGE SCENE

Creating Better Renters ...

And Buyers Reporting rent payments to credit agencies is a good way to build future mortgage borrowers.

BY LEW SICHELMAN | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

T

he vast majority of Mom and Pop landlords are the backbone of the rental market. Yet most don’t report their tenants’ on-time rents to one or more of the three major credit bureaus. Chances are they don’t even spill the beans on folks when they miss a month or two.

Based on a quick canvas of Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, it’s safe to say most big-time apartment owners, property management companies and landlords don’t report the good or the bad about their occupants, either.

But it says here that all of them should, for a couple or reasons.

First, recall, if you will, the old computer science axiom, “garbage in, garbage out.” Or, in this case, the more rental information the business puts into the system, the better historic information everyone will have on which to base their rental decisions and, later perhaps,

a decision on whether a prospect is mortgage-worthy.

And two, reporting on-time rent payments could be a good marketing slant because it could help occupants improve their credit scores. Imagine a tag line such as this: “Live here and we will help you better your financial life and eventually move out of here into a home of your own.”

More on marketing in a moment.

First, let’s discuss reporting in general.

WHICH LANDLORDS ARE IN? None of the three national credit repositories are willing to say how many owners and operators report on-time rental payments. They won’t even say who some of their clients might be. “We do not disclose information about our customers,” Maitri Johnson, vice president of multi-family at Trans Union, told me in an e-mail response to several questions But they all believe such reporting should be universal. “Ideally,” said Johnson, “all landlords should participate in a rent payment reporting program.”

The reason is pretty straight forward. “More data leads to better credit decisions,” Chris Hobday, vice president of USIS programs at Equifax, said in response to the same questions. Johnson at TU put it like this: It “encourages residents to continue paying on time and allows property managers to see delinquencies in real time as they screen applicants ...

The availability of data can

strengthen the industry overall; it’s good for the ecosystem.”

Indeed, a 2019 survey by TransUnion found that seven out of 10 renters are more likely to make on-time payments if payments, ontime or otherwise, were reported.

Moreover, when choosing between two identical apartments, twothirds said they’d pick the one that reports their payments.

Unfortunately, according to Hobday, most property managers “choose not to report.” Perhaps it’s too costly, though the repositories are loathe to discuss pricing. Or perhaps, as Hobday said, “it’s just too hard.”

THERE’S AN APP …

To make it easier, the three credit repositories all work with thirdparty processors – the likes of RentReporters, Rent Track, Rent Dynamics and Datalinx – to help facilitate rental payment reporting.

Just recently, Equifax unveiled a new direct-to-consumer partnership with Esusu, Zingo and Mobility Capital Finance, or MoCaFi, that allow tenants to opt-in to include their payments as part of their respective credit reports.

Esusu, for example, partners with public and private sector developers to help them reduce turnover and missed payments. In the process, it also helps tenants build their all-important credit scores, those snapshots in time which show how well a consumer uses credit.

Landlords aren’t the only ones who hold credit reports dear, of course.

So do lenders.

All three Equifax partners also will give participating tenants a free weekly or monthly credit score from VantageScore, a consumer creditscoring model created through a joint venture of the three bureaus. And therein lies the marketing angle.

Rents payments are likely the largest monthly checks tenants write, something on the order of 30 percent of their disposable income, says Hobday. And research has shown that if rent payments are included in someone’s credit files, not only they be more likely to pay on time, their credit scores would rise, sometimes substantially. And perhaps sometime down the road, they will want to become home owners.

Most recently, a study by the Department of Housing and Urban Development of some 9,000 government-assisted households found that more than half their scores rose to a mortgage- acceptable 620 when rental payment data was included in the calculation. And an earlier report from New York City concluded that when rent payments are part of someone’s credit score, “renters benefit dramatically.”

POWERFUL TOOL Currently, the average score for the sample of city residents paying under $2,000 a month –considered lowincome in the Big Apple – is 630. But some of these folks don’t even have a score. These people are known as “invisible” or “unscorable” because their files lack enough financial information to create a score. But one in four of them would have a “prime” score of 700 if their rental histories were reported, NYC reported.

Reporting rent “can be a powerful

Photo credit: iStockphoto / Name Here

Mortgage companies and property managers aren’t the only ones who use credit scores as a key determinate in whether or not to clear applicants. way to reduce credit invisibility,” Seth Appleton, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, said in a statement. Added Michael Turner, a co-author of the HUD report and President of the Policy and Economic Research Council, the Durham-based non-partisan group which partnered with HUD in its research: “This study shows a path to mainstream credit for many HUDassisted tenants.”

Of course, we’re not talking just low-income renters here but market rate tenants as well. As Turner at HUD also noted, “tenants of all types” can be aided by leveraging rental payment data. Better yet, they are “open to it,” says Equifax’s Hobday, who points to last year’s Credit Builders Alliance survey that found that 97 percent would look favorably to rental payment reporting as a way to build their credit.

At this point, the landlords among you are probably asking, “Why should you be helping your tenants build credit? Wouldn’t that just help them move out and move on, possibly to a bigger, better apartment, or perhaps to a home of their own?” Those are good questions and only you can answer them.

But consider this. Not everyone yearns to own, and not every owner wants to remain so. A new study by LendingTree of 1,500 renters found that one in four – 25 percent – never, ever expect to buy a house, and 28 percent expect to return to renting sometime this decade. Furthermore, 16 percent won’t even start looking at houses for another five years or so.

HELPING HAND As for the rest, yes, you may be helping them move out, perhaps

sooner rather than later, by reporting their rental histories. But they probably are going to leave anyway.

It’s just a matter of time. So why not be known as the landlord who helps people continue up the ladder to home ownership?

Moreover, you can help your residents improve their entire financial picture, because mortgage companies and property managers aren’t the only ones who use credit scores as a key determinate in whether or not to clear applicants. Employers use them too, as do insurance companies, finance companies and auto lenders. Even utilities take scores into account.

Take auto loans as an example.

According to Experian, car buyers with the highest credit scores pay an average of 3.7 percent for their financing, while those with the lowest scores pay as much as 14 percent. If a low-score tenant could lower that latter rate because you reported his on-time payments, he’d have more cash at the end of the month to pay his rent or make his house payment.

And maybe, just maybe, you would have helped him or her improve their scores to a point where they’d lead entirely better lives, at least financially.

Lew Sichelman has been covering the housing and mortgage sectors for 52 years.

His syndicated column appears in major newspapers throughout the country. He also has been the real estate editor at two major Washington, D.C., dailies and spent 30 years on the staff of National Mortgage News, formerly National Thrift News.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

7

DAVE HERSHMAN

RECRUITING, TRAINING AND MENTORING CORNER

How To Add Novice Loan Officers Don’t bail on up-and-comers because you’re lacking a good training program.

BY DAVE HERSHMAN | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

M

ost every sales manager recruiting is looking for the proverbial “pot of gold.”

Someone who is a good producer, high quality, easy to work with and a team player. The problem is, a low percentage of loan officers fit this description and most of them are fairly stable, which means they are hard to dislodge from their present situations.

You open the possibilities to an even larger pool of candidates when you consider those who are not experienced. Though most companies would love to attract the top producer, in reality many times the choice is between – • A high quality novice; • A lower quality experienced producer – typically one with bad habits.

In other words, many times the choice will be between someone we have to train, and someone with bad habits we will have to “un-train.”

Too many times in the recruitment process, the sales manager makes the choice of the latter because

we do not have the necessary training resources, nor the time to attract higher quality experienced producers.

Keeping in mind that a candidate without mortgage experience does not necessarily mean that that candidate does not have relevant experience. This is a concept that we will discuss further in a future article addressing the assessment of candidates. In other words, not all novice candidates are the same.

Here are some examples: • Do they have sales experience?

• Do they have financial services experience?

• Do they own a home and/or have other real estate experience?

• What is their technology quotient?

The goal for your recruitment plan should really be choices between quality with experience or quality without experience. In reality, good recruitment plans usually have a mix of experienced and novice originators. A plan that is too heavy on either side will typically produce less than ideal results.

I would like to add one final point about novices. Knowing that there is a chance that a novice will not survive even if we do a great job of selection, it makes sense to add these candidates in groups. For one thing, it is much more time efficient to train more than one person at one time. If you have a basic training curriculum—it does not matter if there are two people in a recruiting class or five people. Again, you do not have to accomplish the basic training yourself—there are curriculums such as OriginationPro which deliver basic and advanced

training on-line. Though every company should have training which is specific to their company. For example, covering their LOS systems and mortgage programs.

Coaching sessions can also be accomplished in a group. In addition, these novices can be paired up with one-another for support.

You might invoke a rule—they are not to approach you with a question before they have consulted with their “buddy” first. That way they become self-reliant more quickly.

Remember, each new hire should come with skills that may help the others grow. If they don’t, you have made a poor hiring choice. Just because they don’t have mortgage experience does not mean that they are not an expert in sales, technology, marketing, financial investments or other areas.

If you hire rookies one at a time, the process of growth can be slow and inefficient. By the time you finish the process with one and go through another selection process, you may be adding one each year.

Senior Vice-President of Sales for Weichert Financial Services, Dave Hershman is the top author in this industry with seven books published as well as the founder of the OriginationPro Marketing System and the OriginationPro Mortgage School – the online choice for mortgage learning and marketing content. His site is www.

OriginationPro.com and he can be reached at dave@hershmangroup. com.

Dave Hershman, senior vice-president of sales for Weichert Financial Services, has published seven books.

WILDFIRES DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR RACE. BUT WHEN WE TRIED TO RENT A NEW PLACE TO LIVE, WE LEARNED THAT SOME LANDLORDS DO. When the fire came, we had to run from our home. Fortunately, we found temporary shelter. But as we started looking for a place to live, we ran into housing discrimination, which isn’t just unfair – it’s illegal. If you feel that a landlord or broker has denied you the sale, rental or financing of a home based on your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or because you have children, report it to HUD or your local fair housing center.

Go to hud.gov/fairhousing or call 1-800-669-9777 Federal Relay Service 1-800-877-8339

FAIR HOUSING: THE LAW IS ON YOUR SIDE. A public service message from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in cooperation with the National Fair Housing Alliance.

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

9

Branding Hits And Mrs.

For women, building a name in the mortgage industry gets complicated when marriage happens.

BY ERICA LACENTRA | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

O

n the Monday immediately following my wedding, the well wishes from my co-workers at RCN Capital poured in shortly after I had logged in for the day. After the initial congratulations, the question I had dreaded followed almost immediately after, would I be taking my husband’s last name?

Now this question didn’t bother me because I didn’t want to take my husband’s name. In fact, we had talked about this at length before getting married. No, I dreaded the thought of having to explain to co-workers and industry peers over and over again that while I was taking his name, I would continue to use my last name professionally. In my head, it made perfect sense, but from an outside perspective it probably seemed silly, egotistical, or even that I had ulterior motives to want to use my maiden name in the industry.

So, if I was indeed changing my last name, why did I have a problem using it

Photo credit: iStockphoto / vm

RICA LACENTRA

THE XX FACTOR

professionally?

As a marketing professional who has been in the mortgage industry for almost eight years, I know as well as anyone that a company’s brand is everything.

You can have the best products or services but if you don’t have a strong, easily recognizable brand, you are invisible to your customers.

Branding is the key to a company being successful in this industry and any industry for that matter.

Now, while that may be marketing 101 for most, what many people

often fail to acknowledge is that the notion of branding is not limited to companies.

PERSONAL BRAND Every person has their own unique brand that they portray to the world and whatever audiences they want to appeal to, and this is especially true in our space. The most prevalent faces in the mortgage industry have taken great care to develop their personal brand.

They have created an outward facing persona that is supported

“Call me selfish, but I want to be able to focus on my career and career goals without having to get into awkward conversations with peers about my marriage.”

by consistent messaging and content

I am constantly trying to improve

up their names just to shake things

that not only promotes the company

upon. And it is precisely why I will

up and keep people on their toes.

they represent but also positions

continue to use my maiden name

them as they want you to see them:

professionally. Because for me, it is

maiden name professionally is how I

trustworthy, knowledgeable, relatable,

so much more than just a name, it is

am choosing to manage my personal

someone you would want to connect

everything I have built my personal

brand, control my messaging, and not

with.

brand and my career on for the last

allow focus to shift away from what I

7+ years.

have worked so hard to build. So, to

It is no accident that you not only know the biggest names in the

For me, continuing to use my

my co-workers and peers, if I visibly

mortgage industry and who they work

MESSAGE CONTROL

for, but you probably feel like you

Call me selfish, but I want to be able

this question or worse yet, call me by

connect with them on a more personal

to focus on my career and career goals

my married name in a professional

level based on what you have seen

without having to get into awkward

setting, I’m happy to share wedding

through social media, articles they

conversations with peers about my

photos with you and discuss all the

have written, presentations they have

marriage, being mistaken for someone

details of one of the happiest days

given and numerous other forms of

else, or not recognized as the same

of my life once the work day has

content. This is simply the sign of

person because of a change to my last

wrapped up.

an incredible marketer with a strong

name. I’ve seen other women inside

personal brand.

of the industry go through it, and in

While I may not have the same

cringe (sorry hubby!) if you ask me

But as long as there is work to be done, I’d prefer to get down to

my opinion changing my name would

business.

level of recognition as the big names

create an unnecessary stumbling

in the mortgage industry (yet), my

block for my brand, which I’d prefer

personal brand is something that I am

to avoid all together. You don’t exactly

very cognizant of and it is something

see any men in the industry changing

Erica LaCentra is director of marketing for RCN Capital.

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11

ALPH LOVUOLO

THE MORTGAGE GODFATHER

File This: Get Sales Stars More Support Mortgage Loan Officers are sales people. Let them sell!

BY RALPH LOVUOLO, SR. | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

F

unny, just today I was coaching one of my clients when totally unexpectedly, almost in the middle of a sentence, she raised the issue of maybe making a move to another company. It was obvious when I called her that she was upset, almost exasperated to a fault. When I asked her what was on her mind, she passed it off to something simple. I knew there was more to it, after all, we’ve been working together for quite some time and picking up signals is part of my skillset.

Yet, even with that said, I hate this discussion. It is imperative to never want a client to think there are any negative thoughts or feelings about their employer. Nor do I ever give any clues of favoring one company over another. That’s always my first thought and general attitude when this conversation is broached. My job is to listen, probe, intentionally inquire, with the goal to understand enough to help my client see all the possibilities.

Until it is certain to me that the

company is making so many mistakes, and just don’t have the imagination, skill, experience or intention to correct the issues that prevent my client from achieving the success they are capable of, my job is to suggest everything I can think of. Having conversations about their frustrations, systems, procrastination, goals, marketing initiatives and more are always my first choice. My job is to help a client hone their mind and skills to a sharp edge, getting the most out of them that they are capable of. These are things I learned very early on in my coaching career.

Personal coaching, one-on-one, allows that to happen.

This missive however is not directed to the outcome of what my client and I discussed. We’ll figure out what steps to take, first holding her accountable.

MEETING EXPECTATIONS So, yes, I had a really important exchange with a client today. She’s terrific, follows my suggestions and finds most of them beneficial.

She’s faced fears and was able with some serious self- examinations to overcome them. Right now, after two years in the field, with no previous experience in the mortgage space, taking every advantage of this market, is looking to close a couple of dozen loans in the next couple of months.

Money, of course, more than she had expected at this stage based on what more

experienced people told her she would do. They even chimed in at sales meetings and let her know how she should be really proud of herself.

Those sales meetings, I really like the format. The sales manager doesn’t let any complaints come up.

Why? Because he’s on top of what’s going on and tries his best to solve issues long before they become a serious issue.

But…she’s been talking to other LOs at competitor companies.

They tell her stories that need to be explained. They point out what they all wish were true. She listens and thinks: Is the grass greener over there? Is what she hears an exaggeration? My own beliefs have left us at the point where she wants to know what I think. Lots of questions made her satisfied. She’s staying. Why, because now is not the time to be making any major decisions about her life. There is enough turmoil in her personal life.

No need to add to it. I told her as much as I could without criticizing her shop.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY The conversation I had with my client just happened to coincide with the need to write this article.

I’m almost at the deadline to submit the article and thought what is better than to face what happened today and the fallout that I felt.

So, here in all of the grit I can muster is what I’m seeing and what I’m about here is to offer

advice to the leadership of mortgage companies, branch managers, division leaders everywhere as to the systems they employ, the lack of accountability that exists and my perspective on the developments of what I’m seeing, almost everywhere. It is imperative that I give some perspective from decades of in-depth involvement in the mortgage process or system if you want to use that label.

expected. For salespeople, their job description was to originate loans, mostly from Realtors. My father was one of the first mortgage brokers in the country. I was ordering credit reports when I was in high school.

When I got my driver’s license, I drove bankers around to see the properties my father was asking them to lend on. I’ve started mortgage departments at banks, mortgage

about 7 years at a mortgage company in Brooklyn. About 25 salespeople at the main office specifically assigned to their own processor. We had about 12 processors. Salespeople sold, originated loans, didn’t process loans-were asked, rarely, to stop and pick up docs. Processors processed.

Can’t be done? That’s just not true.

Loan officers are salespeople who need a connection to someone that

“My coaching clients are burdened by all the work that is piled on them”

It seems that there needs to be a shakeup in the relationship between the salespeople I meet and coach, both present and past, together with their processing, underwriting and closing departments. Many of you are not going to like my POV. Many of you will first think “What does he know?

He doesn’t live in my shoes. He’s only interested in making things easy for himself.” I cannot stop you from what you think or will think after you read this article. But be aware I have a perspective on your company that is so different and in-depth. There are very few of us anywhere in the U.S. who have seen what I and my peers see today.

Perspective. Ah! There I said it.

Let’s review, just a bit of my background, just so you don’t think that what I’m writing is based on opinions formed from conversations.

I started most operation units from scratch. Salespeople belonged “in the field” originating business.

Salespeople were to keep their fingers out of files. Processors processed. Daily early meetings with processors via phone were

banks, brokerage shops, and had my own very successful mortgage brokerage firm. One of my most proud accomplishments is that I went to Washington D.C. to pick up the first GNMA MBS ever issued. Long fun story for another time. Coaching and consulting since 1990 in at least 4 companies.

When I first became a Loan Solicitor in 1971, I had my own processor. This was the norm in our office. Janet and I went over every deal I had in process every day! After my meeting with Janet, I met with Realtors, attorneys and anyone else who could advance my career to be a top producer. When I took applications in person, I turned the paperwork I had collected over to Janet. I was a salesperson. One of six covering much of southern New Jersey and Delaware.

DON’T MESS WITH SUCCESS When I set up my own company in the mid-eighties, I followed this pattern.

Didn’t mess with success. That had been my pattern at two separate banks in the early eighties. It worked, why mess with it. There was a stint of

works for the company for a salary.

My coaching clients are burdened by all the work that is piled on them because most of the leadership grew up in the last 20-25 years and don’t know the simple tasks that should be performed by processors, assistants, and other people on salary, that now take so much time away from the MLO’s main function. The people I coach all tell me how much time they have to spend following up documentation to satisfy an underwriter or processor.

When are we going to see systems simplified and accountable? Soon, I hope. Because what I see out there is not good.

Please folks, just as an article I read today points out, the computer, internet and all the systems that have been created to make things more simplified are meant to make it easier for the salesperson to originate.

Salespeople sell. Let them. MLO= Mortgage loan ORIGINATOR.

Ralph LoVuolo creates a daily video @ www.oneideaaday.com

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

13

CLIENT SOLUTIONS

Code Red On Mortgage Credit Foreclosure code on past short sale credit may be an issue again. This time we know what to look for.

BY PAMELA M. MARRON | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

PAM MARRON

T

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he onset of the 2008 housing crisis presented unique credit issues that mortgage professionals had never dealt with in the past.

One of those issues was that past short sale credit was inaccurately coded as a foreclosure that resulted in a seven year wait for a new conventional Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage, instead of the fouryear wait required after a short sale.

No specific short sale credit code was ever made. However, Fannie Mae created a workaround “fix” in 2013.

There may now be an issue with the workaround.

After the housing crisis, I worked with past short sellers who were eligible for a new mortgage two years after their short sale with 20% downpayment. The inaccurate foreclosure code was not visible on the tri-merged credit report.

But when the loan was run through Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting system (AUS), a Refer/ Caution denial resulted with an explanation “it appears there is a foreclosure on the credit…” along with the inclusion of the account, borrower name and 4 digits of the account number.

Affected client credit reports and AUS findings were analyzed with Acranet Credit who brought this problem to the attention of the National Consumer Reporting Association (NCRAinc.org). The NCRA Executive Director, Acranet and I took this issue to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB. gov). By analyzing the credit reports of affected consumers, it was determined that the foreclosure code did not show up if the mortgage

| NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

was 120 days delinquent or less, noted as a “4” on the credit payment history.

Mortgage payments over 120 days delinquent and coded as a “5 through 9” in the payment history resulted in the foreclosure code.

EARLY QUESTIONS Finding a method to individually look at each credit bureau’s data to be able to visually target which bureau was negatively affecting a client’s credit became a priority.

When large numbers of past short sellers being turned down for a new mortgage started coming forward, one of my clients went public in a Wall Street Journal article. In addition to stating that he was getting denied for a new conventional loan even though eligible to be approved, the client stated that their bank told them they had to be delinquent on the mortgage first in order to get help for a short sale. (This was a common requirement of lenders that I’ve heard often when on recorded calls with past short sellers and their lenders.) After the WSJ article, I was contacted by the CEO of that large bank to ask what was needed to help the client. I asked that the credit be downgraded from a foreclosure. This was done, new credit was pulled, and the client received an Accept/Eligible approval through the Fannie Mae AUS. This is when it was discovered that banks can change the credit code on their end.

It was decided that Fannie Mae

would do a “workaround” or “fix” when the inaccurate foreclosure code showed up on past short seller credit in the Fannie Mae Desktop AUS in 2013. I was excited about the workaround, had clients ready to input and told mortgage colleagues across the nation about the “fix”.

But the initial rollout of the fix did not work well. Out of desperation, I submitted the files of clients where the workaround didn’t work to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an option that enables the CFPB to contact the lender. Within 15 days of contacting lenders, credit was changed, and a Refer/Caution was able to be changed to Accept/Eligible.

THE FIX IS IN The Fannie Mae workaround was finally fixed and working in 2014.

Also at this time, approved short seller credit showed a row of “4”s in the payment history.

For the first time in years, I have had an experience where the Fannie Mae workaround for past short sale credit where foreclosure code is applied… and it did not work.

There is no credit code for a short sale. We now have credit tools that allow us to see exactly which bureau is most likely the cause for the foreclosure code. Our credit bureaus are capable of making new credit code. We need to get a specific short sale credit code now.

Stay tuned.

Pamela M. Marron is a senior loan originator with Innovative Mortgage Services Inc.

HOW NMP’S MONTHLY SECTION OF HANDS-ON PRACTICAL ADVICE

BUILD-A-BROKER How To Choose The Best Accounting Package For Your Brokerage Get Your Staff More Engaged In Training

Photo credit: iStockphoto / kupicoo

YOUR FIRST MILLION DOLLARS A Quick Trick To Fast Funding In 60 Days CAREER TICKER: People On The Move

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE //

> First

Community Mortgage named Tracey Retzer vice president of its wholesale and correspondent divisions.

> Avanze

Group named Auvese Pasha as president and CEO of its technology unite, Avanze Tech labs.

> Hamilton

Zanze Real Estate Investments named Aaron Wessner as its new managing director.

> Equity Prime

Mortgage named Leora Ruzin as its senior vice president of wholesale operations.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

15

BUILD-A-BROKER

How To Hit The Books

Brokers have good options in choosing the right small business accounting software

M

anaging a business’s financial accounts is uncharted territory for many small business owners. Many potential mortgage brokers and entrepreneurs see handling their own accounting needs as too difficult or even downright scary.

Today, more than ever, there are a number of easy, intuitive accounting software options that allow businesses to successfully manage their finances— no accounting degree required.

ACCOUNTING 101: WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY Before you start down the path of researching accounting software platforms, take the time to brush up on the basics. The list below is a good place to start as you work to gain an understanding of the key accounting functions you’ll likely need when running your business.

Accounts Receivable and Invoices Track incoming revenue, generate invoices, print shipping labels and track shipments Accounts Payable Track payments due, create checks, pay vendors and generate purchase orders Payroll and Timekeeping Track employee hours, create checks, process direct deposits

Project Tracking Track project timelines, deliverables and budgets Inventory Management Monitor inventory levels, track stock volumes, forecast product reorders Reports Automatically generate a variety of standard and custom reports to track company financials Beyond these basics, many accounting software solutions offer additional features such as: • Time Tracking and Billing • Banking and Reconciliation • Credit Card Processing • 24/7 Mobile Access • Tax Services and Support • Remote Back-up • and more As you sift through accounting software options looking for the right one for your business, know that there’s no single, perfect solution. Just as every startup, brokerage or small business is unique, so too are accounting software platforms. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. The question then becomes which features do you absolutely need to run your business and which are less critical to your success.

As you start your search, here are a few important questions to ask: Which accounting features are ‘musthaves’?

Determine which accounting features are the most critical for your business.

This is the simplest way to quickly weed out inadequate solutions. If you employ a staff, payroll services with direct deposit that also save you from calculating timecards may belong on the list. If you’re a retailer, having features like inventory management and credit card processing could save you significant time and money.

Do you need industry-specific software or accounting capabilities?

Different industries have different requirements when it comes to reporting financials. You can find accounting software solutions tailored to the specific needs of construction companies, healthcare organizations, manufacturers, and many others.

Knowing your industry’s requirements and best practices should help you determine which accounting functions are ‘must-haves’. If you’re not sure, this is an area worth researching.

Industry trade associations and talking with colleagues are great places to start.

Another helpful resource is Accounting Software 411, which provides information about niche software options developed for industries with specialized accounting needs.

What type of user interface is the best fit for how you work?

If the sight of a spreadsheet makes you break out into a nervous sweat, steer clear of software that relies on Excel

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE //

> Home Point

Financial appointed Kristin Supancich the newly introduced role of chief people officer.

16

| NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

> LRES

Corporation hired Molly Skipper as the national director of commercial valuation strategy.

> Eastern Union promoted Estie Rotstein to director of recruitment.

> Mortgage

Connect named Kevin McCrea as vice president of PR and Marketing.

If the sight of a spreadsheet makes you break out into a nervous sweat, steer clear of software that relies on Excel and CSV file reports.

you need to manage your financials successfully, it’s time to dive in and determine which software solution is the right fit.

Here are some of the most popular software options out there, though there are certainly others.

• QuickBooks

and CSV file reports or other overlystructured user interface formats.

You can find accounting software platforms that operate payroll and invoicing with simple visual reports created specifically for the untrained accounting eye. However, if nothing makes you happier than colorcoded pivot charts, then there’s an accounting software solution out there with your name on it, too.

Either way, look for an accounting software solution that works the way you do.

How important are features like data security, customer support and scalability?

What non-accounting-specific

requirements do you have for the software you choose? For instance: • How important is security and safeguarding your and your customers’ information?

• Do you need 24/7 customer support?

• Can the software scale to meet your needs as your business grows?

• Knowing your needs ahead of time will alleviate buyer’s remorse later.

• Zoho Books • Wave Many of these solutions offer a free trial so you can try before you buy. Whichever accounting software you choose, make sure it checks as many of your ‘must-have’ boxes as possible and is a good fit overall for how you do business. Never be afraid to ask questions and get guidance from a professional accountant. And, once you’ve selected your accounting software, keep learning! Managing

Armed with a knowledge of the types of accounting features available and an understanding of which features

easier as you continue to learn

As a trusted local wholesale lender, we’re committed to providing great service for you and great results for your clients – each and every time.

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your business’ finances will become the ins and outs of small business accounting.

“I cannot express how grateful I am to have a broker relationship with Ridgewood. Time and time again, you’re the lender I count on for personal attention and unparalleled service.”

Mary Ann Scaggs Sr. Mortgage Loan Originator Purchase, NY

www.ridgewoodbank.com

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

17

MARY KAY SCULLY

BENCHMARKS & BEST PRACTICES

Better Learning Through Science Exploring training opportunities and development post-COVID

BY MARY KAY SCULLY | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

O

nly seven months ago, I was dealing with cancelled flights, crowded airports and shuttle buses, lost or cancelled hotel reservations and rubber chicken at conferences.

And now all I can say is, “I miss it!”

I miss the energy of a full conference room with the physical and mental interaction with peers across the industry. While everyone would love to pick back up where we left off in training opportunities, we have to adjust to the opportunities and restrictions that we face.

No one knows exactly when things will turn back to “normal,” or what normal will look like in the next year.

What is clear is that lenders still need to make the time for professional development, which includes staying up to date on underwriting guidelines and strategies for originations after the refi boom. For trainers, work looks a little different these days and now it’s more important than ever to enhance training methods.

Guidelines from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are continuously changing, and it’s up to trainers to

stay abreast of these changes and ensure they’re in the know. In fact, STRATMOR Group stated in their MortgageSAT Borrower Satisfaction Program, 2020, that three out of five loans experience at least one critical error in the loan process that jeopardizes the likelihood for a referral.

This begs us to question, what can we be doing better? How can employees be better learners, and how can trainers be better teachers?

HOW TO BE MORE ENGAGED AS A STUDENT In a work from home environment it can be challenging to stay focused.

Distractions abound – the phone buzzing, spouse or kids trying to complete their work down the hall, or the dog barking to go outside. For training, it’s important to stay focused and immerse yourself in the teaching.

It’s not just about checking a box and completing a task, but absorbing the information to ensure you fully understand and retain the rules and guidelines presented.

The information you’re required to learn is not only important for your specific role, but also critical to the success of the company. Multiple errors can be damaging to a company and play a part in the number of referrals, quality of customer service and the overall reputation of the entire organization. It is your duty and responsibility to obtain the knowledge and stay engaged to perform at your absolute best.

it sticks. Trainers need to be up on the latest guidelines to ensure the information they’re sharing is not outdated and new methods are being taught. Trainees turn to you for the answers and guidance on these issues, so it is a must that you are ahead of the curve.

Because of this, now is the time to look inward on your training methods.

Working from home has been a challenge for many trainers, and while we’re unsure of how long this particular work environment will last, we must adjust and get comfortable doing so. This is the time to up your game by checking out podcasts, webinars, relevant books and other types of professional development tools to help you grow as a trainer.

Understanding learning styles will help you engage all of your audience.

To be better students and better trainers, we must stay focused on the task at hand. Staying up to date on the industry’s latest rules and trends is first and foremost to help you help borrowers. Making yourself an expert helps cut down on critical errors that are so common today. During COVID-19, those errors may be related to temporary guidelines regarding income calculation, asset verification, mortgage payment validation or the request of a self-employed borrower’s profit and loss. Ultimately, you’ll have happier customers and likely receive more referrals, which benefits not only you, but your organization as well.

HOW TO BE MORE ENGAGING AS A TRAINER As the subject matter expert of the training and guidelines, it’s your responsibility to relay the message and make sure

Mary Kay Scully is the director of customer education at Genworth Mortgage Insurance.

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CALL US TODAY! (949) 900-6630 | sales@citadelservicing.com | citadelservicing.com Citadel Servicing Corporation NMLS ID# 144549, Licensed under Division of Business Oversight Under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act license #41DBO-74196, Finance Lenders License # 60DB094450, and CA-DRE #01799059. FOR MORTGAGE PROFESSIONALS ONLY. This information is intended for the exclusive use of licensed real estate and mortgage lending professionals in accordance with local laws and regulations. Distribution to the general public is prohibited. CSC is an equal opportunity lender. Rates, terms and programs subject to change without notice. Offer of credit subject to credit approval per applicable underwriting and program guidelines, applicant eligibility, and market conditions. Not all applicants may qualify. Not valid in the following states: AK, HI, IA, MA, MS, MO, NM, NY, ND, OH, RI, SD, and WV.

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19

YOUR FIRST MILLION DOLLARS

Two Months To A Million Bucks Show Realtors this Google trick and they’ll gladly be your referral partner

BY NICK CARPENTER, SPECIAL TO NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

T

oday the mortgage industry is more competitive than ever and you are going to need to be all-in or get out. I’m here to help you close your first $1 Million in home loans in the next 60 days using a plan anyone can follow.

1. Learn A Magic Trick We’re going to make a 30-60 second video using your cell phone. The goal of the video is to have it show up anytime someone Googles your phone number.

This will increase your call backs and answers later because people will know you are legit and local.

Hold your phone up against a window because the natural light will make you look great and use the following script “Hey did you just Google 555-4443333? That’s me, Nick Carpenter, a Loan Officer here in Denver, Colorado. If you’re Googling my number it probably means I just called you. It could have been from a Facebook ad or maybe you messaged us and we were following up.

Either way, feel free to call me now that you know who it is or answer next time I call. Talk soon.”

Now, take this video and make it accessible from your computer using Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, or send it to yourself in a Facebook message.

2. Do It and Get Results Login to the YouTube Studio at http://studio.youtube.com. We’re going to click on Create a Video and upload the video you shot.

There are three places you’ll need to edit to make the video show up on Google. Follow the templates here as closely as possible: Title: 555-444-3333 is Nick Carpenter, a Denver Mortgage Broker Description: Did you Google 555-4443333 or 5554443333? That’s me, Nick Carpenter a Mortgage Broker here in Denver. Feel free to call me back.

Tags: 5554443333, 555-444-3333, Nick Carpenter Click through to save the video as Public so it can be found online. Wait about 15 minutes and Google your number to see if the video shows up.

Congratulations you just learned your first magic trick!

3. Share Your Results Now we have something to go get Realtors excited about. You have your own results and that’s important because you don’t want to have full confidence that you can walk it like you talk it.

Facebook and Instagram are the easiest places to tease your newfound magic trick assuming you have Realtors on your friends list. This post will create some conversations and also frame you as a great marketer too.

Here’s a post example “Wow this is so cool! I’ve tried to figure this out for a really long time and finally got my first video to rank on Google page one. I can’t wait to share this with my Realtor partners. Message me and I’ll help you.”

Make sure your post communicates excitement and almost a child like giddiness and doesn’t come across too cocky.

4. Invite Like a Mad Man Your posts were chum in the waters for our next step. We’re going to invite agents to a live class where you will help them get their first video to rank on Google, oftentimes while the class is still happening.

You’ll need to decide a date, time and location to host the class and then create the Facebook event from your business page. We use the business page in case you want to run ads. You can’t run ads to personal profile events.

Bryan Carpenter from The Adsmiths marketing agency says “one key is using technology in your business.” For me that includes tools like Facebook events and paid ads.

Once you have the logistics in place it’s time to start promoting. Remember, you have to be your biggest fan so promote the event every day on your personal profiles. Ask your vendors and affiliates to share the event and invite their Realtors too.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE //

> Freddie

Mac named Daniel Din as its new vice president of specialty underwriting.

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> Guaranteed

Rate named Shaleen Mahtani senior vice president of mortgage lending in Parsippany, NJ.

> Valutrust

Solutions selected Brandon Melanese as its first-ever vice president of sales and marketing.

> NewRez hired Stacy Blair as its manager for the Greater Jacksonville, Florida region.

Getting new blood, meaning agents you don’t work with, is critical to get partners on the backend. Focus hard on getting RSVPs and expect a 50% show rate.

Joanna Perry from Loan Lady Club in California says “Fortune is in the follow up because 85% of sales are made on the 9th to 12th touch” so remember that if you feel repetitive talking about your class.

5. Host The Class Classes are the #1 way to leverage your time into referral partners. Imagine the old school calls for coffee and how many hours you’d have to waste meeting 10-20 agents. You can get the same facetime with a group in one hour. Also, starting with a group versus the old school coffees helps to establish your authority. They’ll already know your value and you can learn about them during 1-2-1s instead of competing to make sure they know you.

To start class, have the agents Google their phone numbers and see what shows up. There are usually some funny results like a criminal record site everyone can laugh about.

Next, have them Google your number and have a conversation around the benefits of the video and how you are going to help them do it right now.

Then literally walk them through all the same steps you did to shoot the video and get it live publicly on YouTube.

In person classes have the benefit to shoot in pairs or if you’re online then they can do it selfie style. Make sure everyone gets the video live publicly with the title, description and tags complete the same way you did for your own video.

Usually videos will start ranking within a few minutes and someone will inevitably holler out “My video is already on Google!”. That will spark everyone else to search and people will be lighting up as they see their first video to ever rank on Google page one.

You will have demonstrated a magic trick no different than David Copperfield or Penn & Teller.

Some of them won’t be able to wait and will want to talk immediately after class. You can’t be shy about your goals here. Let them know you love helping your partners with this in exchange for their referrals to also help grow your

mortgage business. Would they like to chat about that?

6. Follow Up and Create Referral Partners The fortune is in the follow up as they say. Some agents will come talk to you publicly and others will need to be followed up and invited to a 1-2-1 meeting. Be willing to walk away from Realtors to find the good ones that you vibe with.

This class process creates 2-4 new referral partners every month between the teaser posts, the invitations, the class and the follow up meetings.

You only need 4 deals at the national average of $252,000 to close your first $1 Million in home loans. Following this process, and even offering people from your first class to teach it privately for their brokerage, will get you those deals within the next 30-60 days.

Louis Schornstein from Prime Time Mortgage Corporation in New Jersey always says persistence and consistency are rewarded.

Are you all in? If you implement this, email me at nick@legionofloanofficers. com and I’ll send you a bonus gift.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

21

LEADERSHIP LESSONS

Great Sales Take Gusto Nothing truly great ever happens without enthusiasm.

BY HARVEY MACKAY | SPECIAL TO NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

I

am often asked to name the single most important quality of a great salesperson. I usually say it’s three things: 1. Hungry fighter.

2. Hungry fighter.

3. Hungry fighter.

Bottom line: all great salespeople must have enthusiasm. It’s the one critical trait that you cannot teach.

You can learn sales skills, product knowledge, how to plan, networking and pretty much everything else.

Enthusiasm is about passion, gusto, excitement, and infectious energy to light up any sales call. But it’s hardly limited to sales. Even though I like to remind people that all of life is sales – as in, you are always selling something, whether it’s a product, a project, an idea or yourself – unless you project enthusiasm, you might as well give up and take a nap.

Enthusiasm is crucial in every profession. Major League Baseball star Pete Rose once was asked which goes first on a baseball player – his eyes, legs or arm. He said: “None of these things. It’s when his enthusiasm goes that he’s through as a player.”

That theme resonates through the attitudes of so many successful people.

Here are a few worth noting.

Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said: “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm (to play for the Green Bay Packers), you will be fired with

enthusiasm.”

Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inns, said, “If you don’t have enthusiasm, you don’t have anything.”

Motivational author Tom Peters said, “Nothing good or great can be done in the absence of enthusiasm.”

Walter Chrysler, the founder of the automotive chain that bears his name, said, “The real secret of success is enthusiasm.”

Mark Twain was once asked the secret to his success. He said, “I was born excited.”

UNCOMMON TRAIT Enthusiasm is a commodity more important than all other commodities.

It will find solutions where there appear to be none, and it will achieve success when success was thought impossible.

Enthusiastic people never give up.

They understand that the hardest sale they’ll ever make is to themselves. But once they’re convinced they can do it, they get the job done.

Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet many people don’t

believe in themselves as they should, and they find it difficult to become successful. Confidence enables you to perform to the best of your abilities, without the fear of failure holding you back. It starts with believing in yourself, even when no one else does.

That attitude is absolutely essential.

A positive mental attitude in every aspect of life. Stay upbeat no matter what happens. A can-do attitude is the mind’s paintbrush. Enthusiasm can color any situation.

What can you do to boost your enthusiasm? It all depends on how much you want to succeed. Take control of your own destiny. Success comes from knowing what you want, not wanting what you know.

It helps to have a little bulldog in you to achieve your dreams. The pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart said, “The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity.”

Find something that makes you happy. If you love what you do, you will work harder to make it work. Having a purpose is the best motivation, better than money or fame. To me, happiness is the key to success. Only you can draw the map of the road to your happiness.

Here’s the best part: You can take any detour on your roadmap where your enthusiasm leads you.

Therein lies the beauty of living an

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE //

> Sagent

appointed Uday Devalla as its chief technology officer in hopes to accelerate the consumer-first modernization of mortgage servicing.

22

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> Homespire

Mortgage hired Jose Fuentes as its East Orlando branch manager.

> Total Expert

hired Allison Netzer as its new chief marketing officer.

> MGIC

Investment Corporation brought on Annette M. Adams to serve as the company›s senior vice president and chief human resources officer.

Stay upbeat no matter what happens.

A can-do attitude is the mind’s paintbrush. enthusiastic life, that you can see possibilities beyond your original plan. There are many paths to achieve your ultimate happiness and success. Don’t let your fear of following them get in the way.

Consider the story of a 94-year-old woman in Arizona. Her friends always described her as charming, delightful and always positive. When asked her secret of living, she responded: “It’s my enthusiasm for life.

Because I think positive, I am positive.”

Pausing for a moment, she continued: “Even at 94, I have four boyfriends. I begin each day with Will Power. Then I go for a walk with Arthur Ritis. I usually return home with Charlie Horse, and spend the evening with Ben Gay. Need I say any more?”

If she can have that kind of enthusiasm at 94, there’s no excuse for you not to have it at 24, 44 or 74. The choice is yours: Are you living with enthusiasm?

Mackay’s Moral: The world’s work is done every day by people who could have stayed in bed …. but didn’t.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

23

THE COST OF THE COAST

A FLOOD OF

HOME LOAN Mortgage lenders face increasing risks from sea-level rise

BY JAN ELLEN SPIEGEL, SPECIAL TO NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

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I N RISK

t was an eye-popping headline in the New York Times earlier this summer – “Rising Seas Threaten an American Institution: The 30-Year Mortgage.”

The somewhat less-explosive point was that in an effort to avoid risks of climate change-caused defaults on mortgages – especially involving homes facing sealevel rise and increased flooding – banks have been selling off those mortgages.

And they’ve been selling them off to you and me.

More specifically, they’ve been selling them to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big government-backed private lenders that handle more than half the U.S. mortgage market. But it’s taxpayers who pick up the tab for Fannie and Freddie’s debts – like defaults if sea-level rise makes a home unlivable and the owner stops paying the mortgage.

This mortgage offloading has been chronicled over the past year or so in a few academic and think tank reports, largely noted by the wonk crowd and the New York Times, which also wrote a story about it last September based on an earlier, but similar report. That piece carried a more subdued headline – “Climate Risk in the Housing Market Has Echoes of Subprime Crisis, Study Finds.”

SPREADING THE MISERY But the interesting thing is that economists aware of what’s been happening typically are saying: good move by those small banks. They’re getting rid of the risk and getting it into the hands of big financial institutions that can absorb it by spreading it around their pool of mortgages. In that way, the good ones can balance out the bad.

“The problem with smaller banks is that all of their customers are geographically concentrated,” says Gary Yohe, an environmental economist, recently retired from Wesleyan University. “A storm comes and all of those properties are going to be problematic.”

“It’s a good thing for banks.

They’re being smarter about it.”

Gary Yohe It comes down to this: A lot of entities involved in the housing and mortgage markets are doing risk management for themselves in the face of climate change, says Carolyn Kousky, executive director of the Wharton Risk Management Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “That’s good for the lender, but that doesn’t mean it’s sending the right signals down at the household level.”

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Of course, if Frannie and Freddie get enough bad mortgages, the pain will start to be apparent to the taxpayers left holding the bag. That begs the enormous question of what can be done with the mortgage system so it reflects climate change risk.

Stand warned: as soon as things reach for that simplest of answers – higher mortgage rates, shorter terms, and/or more cash up front for atrisk properties – a gazillion red flags go up, most of them with “equity” written on them.

“If you put more of the cost of risk on the individual landowner, which would help them make better decisions and presumably discourage development in the riskiest areas and encourage safer development,” Kousky says, “you’re also contributing to a big inequality problem at the coast.”

Lower-income people will be pushed out, and then the shoreline increasingly becomes something only the very affluent can afford.

A lot of entities involved in the housing and mortgage markets are doing risk management for themselves in the face of climate change. these potentially exposed communities for a very long time,” Keys explains.

“You need a broader approach to deal with this set of challenges. I think this is really where the market can start to unravel.”

SOLVING THE PROBLEM?

EQUITY VERSUS EFFICIENCY That’s how Benjamin Keys states the fundamental problem in figuring out how to re-imagine a mortgage system that accounts for climate change, especially along the coasts. He is an associate professor of real estate and finance, also at Wharton, and a faculty fellow at the Risk Center that Kousky directs.

His research involves how households make financial decisions especially related to mortgages, and he also focuses on risk-based pricing.

“The market signals that we’re getting about coastal property markets, those are telling us something really important,” he says.

Keys points out that the risks are known and modeled very carefully to show which places are riskier than others. The issue, he says, is whether prices of mortgages should reflect those differences in risk.

“I think from a finance standpoint, you would say absolutely,” he says.

“But I think there’s a couple of other dimensions related to politics and related to equity that make that more complicated.”

“The downside to that is access and affordability for lower-income families, many of whom have lived in

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a house where the people stopped paying because the house was flooded, then the value of the house has fallen as well,” Keys says.

All of this becomes more urgent given an already highly active hurricane season. The annual High Tide Flooding report by NOAA, for instance, shows the problem getting worse with sea-level rise, and a new tool by First Street Foundation shows far more properties at risk for flooding than previously thought.

Benjamin Keys

FLOOD INSURANCE LESSONS If all this sounds familiar, it should.

We’ve seen these concerns play out with flood insurance, with an array of less-than-satisfying results. Efforts to increase flood insurance to reflect genuine risk have been fought by the real estate industry and coastal public officials from both sides of the aisle.

The trend has been towards shoreline properties being scooped up by uberwealthy owners who don’t need flood insurance and are willing and able to pay to rebuild after flooding.

But there’s an added wrinkle with the mortgage market’s trying to align prices with risk: A property could become a total loss, with no resale value for the owner, whether that’s the person living in it or the bank that foreclosed on it.

“If you foreclose on a house where the person just couldn’t pay, the house is still just fine. If you foreclose on

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Rhode Island is one place attempting to take on the issue – and then only obliquely. It has the advantages of being a small – make that tiny – state.

It has a ton of coastline, much of which comes under state jurisdiction through the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council.

CRMC is not telling banks they can’t give mortgages to at-risk properties.

But it has figured out a way to warn people about coastal risk potential without flat-out prohibiting them from buying, financing, or altering those properties.

The state has a couple of tools for communities and individuals to use: STORMTOOLS, which can be used to see storm and sea-level rise risks into the future; and a new Coastal Hazard Application (CHA) guidance form that will assess risk for a minimum of 30 years – deliberately chosen because it’s the length of a typical mortgage.

The owner of any property under CRMC jurisdiction for purchase or renovation fills out the application, which then goes on file in the land evidence records as permanent future reference. That approach won’t force applicants to stop, but it’s designed to educate them, says Laura Dwyer, public educator and information coordinator for CRMC. “They can visualize what happens if they have to leave home behind because they can’t live in it anymore,”

she says. “Anecdotally, staff are using it with potential applicants, and some people have decided to go back to the drawing board once they see the results.”

In a June 1 report, “Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk: A call to action for U.S. financial regulators,” Ceres, a nonprofit that tackles sustainability through economic and financial solutions, called on the Federal Housing Finance Authority to consider climate change as part of its regulatory oversight of Fannie and Freddie.

That report’s key recommendations were: · Recognize the impacts of climate risk on the housing market. · Engage with Fannie and Freddie to analyze mortgages they hold with respect to their exposure to climate change. · Develop strategies to address that climate risk, with a particular focus on the vulnerable communities disproportionately threatened by climate change. · Veena Ramani, senior program director for capital market systems at Ceres, says the impact will extend to commercial and residential markets. And she notes that the chief economist of Freddie Mac had referenced the potential risk as far back as 2001.

But what to do about it? “I don’t have a solution to that, and I think it is an incredibly complex problem,” Ramani says. “Any sort of solution that goes beyond what’s going in this report requires a much broader multistakeholder perspective.”

RISK REWARD Kousky and Keys at the Wharton Risk Center have some thoughts on solutions. Both advocate targeting resources at the lower-income people facing the most shoreline risk. And they both point out that those individuals are at risk of losing both their homes and their jobs if they are employed within a shoreline community and economy.

Kousky’s suggestions include a halt to insuring of repetitive loss properties; rethinking local property tax and land use regulations; reinstating the Obama administration policy that mandated federal dollars used for disaster recovery had to include more resilient construction; expanding the Coastal Barrier Resource system, which prohibits use of federal dollars in certain high-risk areas; and changing mortgage terms in the highest risk areas, not just those on the coast.

But given strict discrimination prohibitions in lending laws, she says lenders on their own are unlikely

Individuals are at risk of losing both their homes and their jobs if they are employed within a shoreline community and economy.

to act in ways that could have an outsized impact on those with lower incomes. “I think there needs to be a little bit of a forcing function there,” she says.

The challenge, she adds, is that sealevel rise plus more and bigger storms means there’s a growing coastal risk.

“The question in my mind is, Can we address that in a preemptive and more orderly fashion in order to prevent the post-disaster suffering that happens when we fail to do that?” she asks.

“It’s really hard to motivate any sort of change until the crisis finally hits.”

For Keys, things come down to designing a system that can steer people away from risky coastal areas, discourage new development, and encourage mitigation efforts to promote aggressive adaptation.

The big question then, he says, involves how to subsidize mortgages and insurance on the low end so more can stay on the coast. “If the FHFA tomorrow said properties within a half-mile of the coast have to pay 1% higher interest rates, they could do that,” Keys says. Those are the much harder equity questions.

“Who ends up bearing the risk and who ends up paying for the adjustments that need to be made?” he asks. “That’s where things get really challenging and that’s where we have to think really carefully about the folks who can easily adjust and the people who can’t.”

Jan Ellen Spiegel is a writer for Yale Climate Connections, where this article first appeared.

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION: 2020 BEST MILITARY ORIGINATORS

ANDREW VIERRA

ANDY ENLOE

BALENDA HETZEL

BILL ANDERSON

Andrew travels California speaking and educating exclusively on the VA home loan benefit. As a Subject Matter Expert, Andrew has briefed to the Retirement Seminars of the 144th Fighter Wing of the California Air National Guard, Army National Guard and Army Reserves; to the California Association of County Veteran Service Officers, as well as to real estate offices and various companies. Andrew educates on the VA home loan as an exhibitor to the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association National Conference, various law enforcement conferences, the California Peace Officers Association, and trade shows throughout California.

As a prior military serviceman and disabled veteran, Andy understands the unique responsibilities and goals of service members, as well as their specific mortgage loan needs.

Andy is committed to helping “turn their dreams into addresses.” Andy and his team regularly conduct classes and seminars for the Fort Bragg units and service members, covering everything related to VA loans. He has also put in place a no-fee VA loan program as a small way to show appreciation for their service. Andy also actively recruits veterans and members of the service community to his team, helping to grow and support their careers in the mortgage industry.

Many of my immediate family are Veterans, and I serve Vets because of their selfless sacrifice to serve us. I am a part of Homes for Heroes, former president for the local spouses’ group at Hurlburt Field, serve on military affairs committees, volunteer at events throughout the year and support the Water Warriors. We often have local military with us at the holidays who do not have family locally.

Bill Anderson is a Veteran and that is why he continues to serve the ones that serve to protect us all. As a Veteran himself, Bill Anderson knows what it means to take care of our Veterans.

Knows the feelings, the core values and the brotherhood veterans trust in their everyday lives.

CLAY MURRAY

DAVE HARTMAN

Clay has narrowed the focus of his career to giving back to our men and women in arms. It started out for Clay as a great loan, and has grown into a passion, a focus, a career and a company!

Clay concentrates his efforts, as well as the emphasis and core values of Military Home Loans, on EXTRAordinary service. Clay's focus is to "do the right thing, always."

With that value at the core of the company's direction and mission, supporting Veterans becomes an organic result.

I annually participate in the Irish Waters PTSD golf outing and I would say that I have a genuine appreciation for our country's military veterans, past and present.

Veterans have a fantastic opportunity with the VA home loan, oftentimes obtaining better terms than a traditional conventional loan. This past year I made it a priority to contact every past VA home loan client in my database. My team and I were very successful in providing terms to lower their interest rate, and/or cash out to consolidate debt and overall improve their financial situation.

Branch Manager WealthWise Mortgage Planning Folsom, CA

BRIAN EMBRY

CHARADIE FINKLE

Brian appreciates and enjoys the opportunity to help our veterans with their mortgage and often thinks our freedom would not be possible without them. Brian is honored to do his part and work with the military community by fostering homeownership. He takes pride in having the opportunity to thank service members for their service - ensuring they get the best rates and easiest experience with their mortgage. Brian has contributed greatly to charitable initiatives for the military through the USO, Homes for our Troops, and Habitat for Humanity. He has taken great joy in understanding the needs of the military community.

As the daughter of an Army veteran and spouse of an Air Force veteran, Charadie has firsthand knowledge and experience with how overwhelming it can be when a service member is ordered to a new location. Charadie serves her military community by hosting banking/financial education and credit courses for service members and veterans. By educating veterans on their VA loan benefits, they are better equipped to make financial decisions that help them achieve their goals. She has volunteered and sponsored events to support military families, movie nights on Fort Carson, golf tournaments benefiting the Airman’s Attic, and a shoe drive to help a military family pay for an overseas adoption.

Loan Advisor, Executive Circle Freedom Mortgage Mount Laurel, NJ

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Area Manager Homespire Mortgage Fayetteville, NC

Branch Manager Academy Mortgage Corporation Colorado Springs, CO

Regional Production Manager Inlanta Mortgage Destin, FL

Senior Loan Officer Sales Manager Military Home Loans San Diego, CA

Broker Golden State Mortgage Lodi, CA

Branch Manager Inlanta Mortgage Pewaukee, WI

GIBRAN SUFFY

IZZ SHAHDIN

JAMES NESBIT

JAMES STEWART

When working with a military member, Izz strives to go the extra mile because he believes our vets simply deserve it. He feels that we should honor American Veterans who protect our freedoms because we can often take those freedoms for granted. He strives to honor and uphold the principles and laws that govern us and make our nation unique. He enjoys serving our VA customers because they take on a job that most people would never dream of accepting and they should receive the utmost care because of that.

James Nesbit is committed to helping active military service members and veterans because he believes they hold or have held one of the most difficult and noble jobs in the world. Service members make the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom of everyone in our country.

The endless number of challenges they face, along with their families, for the benefit of others makes it nothing short of an honor to assist them with their home financing needs. James and his team are actively involved with Homes for Heroes and have hosted and sponsored events for the Wounded Warrior Project.

To help service members purchase their first home is the best feeling in the world – especially those who’ve retired and thought they would always have to be renters. I’m willing to spend the time and effort it takes to help military members with credit dings and other challenges use their VA benefits to purchase a home. I go above and beyond to serve those who serve this great country.

JASON WOOD

JENNIFER FRANKLIN

BRIAN GRISHAM

Jason Wood is an Air Force Veteran who understands the active duty military member. He takes great passion in providing an educational experience, teaching them how the VA loan can be used to help create wealth. Jason provides a high level of service and communication for the military community. Jason has been nationally ranked in the Scotsman Guide for VA Loan Production. He is a member of DAV, NCOA, the American Legion, ADPI, and a certified instructor with Military Mortgage Boot Camp.

He has been lending since 2001 and has helped over 1,100 families.

I served in the Navy for 24 years and in 1999 became a mortgage banker while serving in the reserves. Today, I focus on helping veterans and service members use their VA home loan benefits to achieve the American dream of homeownership. I specialize in serving first-time homebuyers, I'm a trainer for first-time homebuying courses at military bases.

I have family members and friends in the Army. Watching their sacrifices gave me tremendous respect for what they do for all of us. It’s my honor and privilege to ensure they receive the full benefits of the VA home loan program. Before I was a home loan originator, I worked as a credit counselor and got a first-hand look at the financial challenges faced by those who serve in our military. Today, I use that knowledge to help active duty service members, veterans,

Branch Manager Planet Home Lending, LLC Chula Vista, CA

Branch Manager Academy Mortgage Corporation Tumwater, WA

Mortgage Loan Originator Planet Home Lending Round Rock, TX

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For more than 20 years, I’ve worked with military borrowers who serve at those locations. My extensive experience has given me insights into the VA home loan program as well as great technical expertise.

It’s my privilege to help them take advantage of the benefits they’ve earned through personal sacrifice.

Loan Advisor Executive Circle Freedom Mortgage Mount Laurel, NJ

VA Loan Specialist American Mortgage Network San Marcos, CA

Sales Manager Planet Home Lending, LLC Virginia Beach, VA

Mortgage Loan Originator Planet Home Lending, LLC Round Rock, TX

reservists, and spouses buy homes and get great rates when they refinance.

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION: 2020 BEST MILITARY ORIGINATORS

JIM SNYDER

KASEY HAMPTON

KIP WARZON

LARRY GONZALES

I believe it’s important to give back those who have the courage to step forward and serve in our military.

These men and women sacrifice their own lives to keep all of us safe, and helping them buy the home of their dreams is a simple way I can use my expertise to give back to them. I proactively work to be sure our Vets receive the benefits due to them through this program, ensuring they are able to achieve their dream of homeownership.

Serving active duty service members is what I did during my 24 years in the Navy. My greatest joys were seeing my sailors not only survive but thrive in the military and in life. As a loan officer, I get to continue to serve all our active duty military and veteran community who sacrificed so much. It is my greatest satisfaction to make dreams come true, through education using the tools ( VA home loan benefit, BAH) that the military provides to help service members own a piece of the land they swore to defend and become homeowners.

Mortgage Loan Originator DHI Mortgage San Antonio, TX

Branch Manager Inlanta Mortgage Greenfield, WI

Kasey serves those that serve to protect because she honors the freedom afforded every American by our military. The best way to show her gratitude is to help our veterans achieve the dream of homeownership. Kasey is best at supporting the military because of her vast knowledge of what financing is best for them. She is an expert at what she does and has helped thousands of Veterans find the perfect option for them.

Between helping my family and friends that have served and assisting the wonderful people that I have met via Homes for Heroes; I can say with pride that helping military personnel utilize their VA benefit is one of the most rewarding parts of my career. They fight for the American dream, so being part of the team that helps them claim their piece of that dream is nothing short of amazing.

MIGUEL PARRA

NATHAN BERNIER

NICK FOLEY

Miguel treats every USAA member with respect and care by looking for the best possible loan to secure each USAA member’s financial future. He’s not afraid to ask tough questions when trying to find the best mortgage solution for his members. Miguel is consistently a top producer at USAA although he’s not driven by volume. Despite his success as a loan officer, he remains humble. He lives by the motto “take care of our members and everything else will fall in place.”

My goal is for all of my clients to end their homebuying process feeling educated and confident in their decision. I truly enjoy getting to know each and every one of them and their unique situations.

My favorite part of the experience is to be able to stop calling them “clients” and start calling them “friends.” Buying a home in Hawaii may seem a bit daunting at first, but if you are armed with the right tools, up-to-date information, you’re sure to have an exceptional experience.

I have been in the business of serving people my whole career but none of it has been as fulfilling as giving back to our service men and women. It is such an honor to give back to our active duty and veteran military community by guiding them through the journey of homeownership. They have sacrificed so much for our country so to me there is no better way to show my appreciation than assisting them in owning a piece of the land they’ve defended!

Branch Manager Inalanta Mortgage Pewaukee, WI

Loan Officer USAA Federal Savings Bank San Antonio, TX

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Senior Loan Officer Aligned Mortgage Waipio, HI

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Senior Loan Office, Aligned Mortgage Waipio, HI

Sales Manager/Senior Loan Officer, Aligned Mortgage Waipio, HI

RYAN FORBECK

Loan Advisor Executive Winners Circle Freedom Mortgage Marlton, NJ

Ryan is proud that our nation’s Veterans can begin their mortgage experience with him. When a Veteran reaches out to Freedom Mortgage, he’s the first person that they look to for help and guidance and he’s determined to help each Veteran as best as possible using all the energy and resources available to assist them. Not just on the loan, but their experience and understanding that Freedom Mortgage is more than just their lender. They deserve our service to them as they so willingly serve our country and its freedoms.

SHAWN SUTTON

SONYA PITT

STEVEN BRAND

I am committed to helping active duty service members and veterans because I see the importance of homeownership in America. Military families are amongst the most resilient people you’ll ever meet. The sacrifices made by them and their families can’t be ignored, they deserve to own a piece of the land they defended. Many of our active duty service members endure multiple PCS moves throughout their careers and sometimes miss out on real estate opportunities. We have veterans that are homeowners and overpaid for homes, and others that are unaware of the VA Home Loan Benefit awarded to them. As a current service member, I feel obligated to educate fellow service members.

Daughter of a Retired Navy Veteran and the wife of an Army Veteran, I have been a local VA expert in our area for 23 years. I work daily with military members to make sure that I make this process as smooth and efficient as possible. They are out there everyday protecting our country and I want to protect them during the home buying process.

I love attending EVERY closing and sharing in the excitement of closing on their new home.

Our team has sent care packages, and collected letters from local schools to send to those overseas and we have served the local VA community.

Steve is involved with numerous local Veteran charities (VAREP, VAV, MN Military Family Foundation etc) and supports local Veterans' fund-raisers. He is a founding member and instructor with MMBC (Military Mortgage Boot Camp) and hosts classes for realtors to learn how to better serve our Veteran home-buyers by educating them about the benefits of the VA home loan.

Steve is also an advocate of Homes For Heros, a non-profit that gives rebates and discounts to Veterans with their Real Estate and Mortgage transactions.

TRACY MOCK

WES KET

YVETTE CLERMONT

I serve those who serve to protect because I respect our military and hold them to the highest honor. I have 5 members of my family who have served in The United States Military. We understand that the military has sacrificed their lives to protect us and to insure that our county remains the home of the brave and free. It is an honor to work for a company who donates $5 of every transaction closed to the Folds of Honor who provides scholarships for children of fallen heroes.

Wes serves those that serve to protect because he honors the freedom afforded every American by our military. The best way to show his gratitude is to help our veterans achieve the dream of homeownership.

Wes is best at supporting the military because not only is he an expert at providing financing for veterans, he is a Veteran himself.

He fully understands the needs of his borrowers and has assisted thousands of Veterans find the financing that’s right for them.

As a daughter of a US Marine, I was brought up in a military family. I was taught to stand up and serve however possible. I take these lessons seriously, continuing to serve the Military, helping our Veterans purchase their new home!

I work closely with each of my Veteran clients, helping them to leverage benefits through the VA Home Loans program to obtain their dreams of home ownership.

I remain close to my Marine ties, actively supporting my local Marine Corps League, and attending and supporting the annual Marine Corps Ball, one of my favorite events each year!

Branch Manager/RMLO Premier Nationwide Lending Goose Creek, SC

Branch Manager / VA Loan Specialist, Hancock Mortgage Woodbury, MN

TIM MOORE

Senior Loan Officer Cardinal Financial - HMG Home Loans Irvine, CA

Tim Moore has worked in the mortgage industry since 2003. He enjoys helping clients achieve their goals, as well as educating new home buyers. As the son of an Air Force veteran, Tim has a deeply rooted respect for the service and has spent most of his career becoming a VA professional. His retail branch Cardinal Financial HMG Home Loans gives credence to Tim in his endeavor and actively supports Operation Help a Hero who's programs support military units and families as they prepare for separation, endure the challenges of deployment, and transition back to the US.

2020

Senior Loan Officer Aligned Mortgage Waipio, HI

Loan Originator Gateway Mortgage San Antonio, TX

Mortgage Loan Originator DHI Mortgage Temple City, CA

Branch Manager Inlanta Mortgage Lakewood Ranch, FL

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2020

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION: 2020 BEST MILITARY LENDERS

ACADEMY MORTGAGE CORPORATION Draper, UT Academy Mortgage is proud to serve our nation’s military personnel and veterans by providing affordable mortgage solutions and supporting military-related organizations.

It is our privilege to deliver the dream of homeownership to these individuals and families who have sacrificed so much to protect our country and our freedoms.

Academy is a featured provider with Homes for Heroes, Heroes Home Advantage, and other state housing programs. One company promotion donated $100 for every veteran who applied for a loan in November to Homes for Our Troops.

AMERICAN MORTGAGE NETWORK Chula Vista, CA At American Mortgage Network 50%+ of our loan officers are retired military. They understand the specific needs and wants of veterans.

With our partnership with Active Duty Passive Income (ADPI), AmNet encourages veterans to learn investing strategies that produce passive real estate income. AmNet helps to create an incredible ecosystem of military family support.

AmNet and ADPI are fostering a community of individuals who want to better their lives by educating, mentoring and empowering veterans to become financially independent. In addition, a new blog series has been launched called "Save One Life" that encourages the military, both past and present, to share their experiences, struggles and successes as a therapeutic outlet.

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AMERICAN PACIFIC MORTGAGE Roseville, CA

GATEWAY FIRST BANK Jenks, OK

American Pacific Mortgage regularly gives to VA charitable organizations through our APMCares Foundation. APMCares was founded to advance the company’s social responsibility initiative by organizing and providing the means for our employees and partners to serve our communities through financial and time donations. Our mission is to serve the needs of individuals, families, and communities where we live and work, strengthening our core belief that people matter.

We are proud to give back to our military families and strengthen our communities through homeownership. We believe our success and accomplishments go handin-hand with the underlying responsibility to give back to those who need it most.

In addition to ensuring our mortgage services provide equal housing opportunity in low-to-moderate income communities, Gateway believes in supporting community development issues like education, affordable housing, financial literacy, adoption and foster care, veterans support and disaster recovery in communities around the country. Gateway donates $5 to The Folds of Honor organization for every mortgage loan closed, Gateway has contributed over $270,540 since our partnership began.

Aligned Mortgage is closely tied to the military community and has created an extensive network of partnerships to jointly collaborate and provide the services veterans need including resources for HealthCare, Employment, Education and Career Counseling.

Serve

RESIDENTIAL LENDING

FREEDOM MORTGAGE Marlton, NJ It’s important to Freedom Mortgage to support those who protect our Freedoms.

From origination through servicing of each VA loan, Freedom Mortgage ensures servicemembers and Veterans are treated with respect and service for their home loan needs. Through the Eagle Eye Promise, servicemembers and Veterans can stay focused on their mission while Freedom Mortgage focuses on theirs – helping lower customers’ interest rates and helping them access cash from their home’s equity.

Freedom Mortgage thinks beyond the business and supports military in their everyday lives. Employees write thank you letters in the winter, build homes in the spring, donate backpacks and school supplies in the summer, and run fundraisers for Veteran’s Day in the fall. The company and its employees generously donates to organizations serving the military.

ISERVE RESIDENTIAL LENDING, LLC San Diego, CA At iServe we pride ourselves on assisting the Military community. Every December one of our branches participates in a local Christmas drive, Operation Camo Christmas, hosted by VAREP, in Nevada. This event provides the children of Service members an opportunity to enjoy a true Christmas experience.

We have multiple branches hosting seminars to educate both active and Veteran Military personnel, on the benefits of a VA loan and how it benefits our Veterans.

Each year we donate a portion of our total VA loan volume to a VA charity. We have been involved with Warrior Foundation-Freedom Station in San Diego, CA. Assembling ammo boxes for disabled Veterans.

MORTGAGE EQUITY PARTNERS Lynnfield, MA

PLANET HOME LENDING Meriden, CT

Mortgage Equity Partners is a supporter of "There and Back Again", a non-profit that provides resiliency and reintegration wellness services to ens need better than other veterans and we listened to them when we developed our VA programs.

They serve our nation, so we serve them: Active duty, veterans, military spouses, and reservists. Planet Home Lending, LLC, is proud to offer VA purchase home loans with no money down and refinance mortgages with great rates. Like they keep their commitments, we keep the majority of the loans we make. Our Mortgage Servicing Team truly understands the unique needs of customers who protect us around the nation and around the globe.

We support our veteran's in the communities we serve, by reducing or eliminating out origination fee for qualifying veterans.

As we have grown, we provided our Loan Originators with specialized training providing the best transaction for veterans, including different loan options, competitive interest rates, efficiently gathering required documentation. Our goal is to make the loan process as streamlined as possible for veterans.

Many of our loan officers have served in the military from Vietnam to recent times. No one understands what veterampower veterans to manage combat stress.

USAA San Antonio, TX USAA was founded in 1922 by a group of Army officers in San Antonio looking to insure each other’s cars when no one else would.

Today, USAA is among the leading providers of insurance, banking and investment and retirement solutions to nearly 13 million members of the U.S. military, veterans. In addition, USAA consistently supports the mortgage needs of our military members and their families by offering $0 origination fees on our VA loans, an industry leading VA IRRRL program. USAA announced on August 20, 2020 its commitment of $30 million to benefit 24 organizations assisting military families during these challenging economic times.

SILVERTON MORTGAGE Atlanta, GA

PENNYMAC Westlake village, CA PennyMac is honored to be a designated Military Friendly® employer and for creating civilian opportunities for veterans. Proudly serving the military men and women who have served our country, PennyMac is ranked

by IMF as one of the Top 10 Lenders in the United States for VA loans, having serviced more than 367,000 loans for veterans and their families. During the first quarter of 2020 alone, PennyMac funded almost $8 Billion in new home loans for more than 28,000 households under the VA Home Loan Program. As of March 31, 2020, VA Loans comprised approximately 20% of the 1.8 million home loans in the PennyMac servicing portfolio.

Plus, PennyMac serviced almost 1,100 VA home loans for service members with active duty start dates of March-May 2020. Serving those who serve aligns to PennyMac values.

Founded in 1998, Silverton Mortgage is an independent mortgage banker that takes giving back to the community and our country’s active servicemembers and veterans very seriously. Most notable is that Silverton eliminates origination fees on VA loans as a way of saying: Thank You for Serving Our Country. This speaks volumes. Put simply, our military services us, so we service them!

Service is literally critical to Silverton. Our military people are busy and committed to guarding the country. Silverton’s goal when working with them is to make their lending experience next-level easy.

Silverton looks at working with those who serve as a privilege, and it’s an honor to give back to their service with best-in-class service.

PERIOD.

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New To Market column: E-mail: | editorial@ambizmedia.com

NEW TO MARKET NOVEMBER 2020

Rocket Companies and Intuit’s Mint have joined forces for a first-of-its-kind partnership, integrating Rocket Mortgage’s fully digital mortgage experience into the Mint app via API. StreamLoan and Progressive Insurance have joined forces to integrate homeowner insurance quotes into the digital mortgage process. Progressive will use information that homeowners have already entered to create the quotes.

SimpleNexus’ recently launched hybrid eClosing feature has been made available on Ellie Mae’s Digital Lending Platform.

FirstClose, Inc. is partnering with Fiserv to provide mortgage services to Mortgage Director users. FirstClose will integrate its FirstClose ONE platform into the loan origination system, giving

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customers the ability to instantly order bundled reports on flood, valuation. tax and title.

Home Diversification Corp., a startup fintech financial product provider created Home Diversification Mortgage, a first-of-its-kind product that will give non-conforming homeowners the benefit of a low-downpayment/no PMI mortgage.

REPAY, a provider of verticallyintegrated payment solutions is partnering with Ellie Mae to integrate REPAY’s Ventanex payment and messaging solution, with Ellie Mae›s Digital Lending Platform. With the integration, Ventanex’s LIFT platform will give originators using Ellie Mae’s Digital Lending Platform the ability to receive one-time electronic loan payments through ACH or card, across multiple channels.

DocMagic Inc. and VirPack’s API integration, electronically signed documents can be automatically accessed and retrieved from DocMagic’s eSign platform and delivered to the appropriate recipient.

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Intercap Lending signed an agreement with Black Knight, Inc. to use the company’s suite of servicing solutions including the MSP servicing system, in hopes to improve operational efficiency, reduce risk and enhance its customer service.

Santander Bank is partnering with Roostify on its digital home lending platform to provide a more convenient way for customers to apply for the Bank’s home lending services. The digital solution enables Santander to process and close loans more efficiently with fewer manual touches.

Arcus Lending and Uneeq joined forces to introduce Rachel, the mortgage industry›s first digital human. Rachel is powered by artificial intelligence and is trained to answer questions that borrowers may have about the mortgage process.

Plaza Home Mortgage launched its new loan acquisition system LINQ, to accelerate loan purchases and make it even easier to do business with its correspondent clients.

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Four Headwinds Facing First-Time Buyers

BY HOLDEN LEWIS | SPECIAL TO NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

T

he COVID-19 pandemic has touched all phases of the homebuying journey. Today’s first-time home buyers find themselves flailing in cross-currents: • Fearing health risks, homeowners have delayed putting their homes up for sale, limiting supply.

• All-time low mortgage rates have encouraged even more buyers to leap into a fiercely competitive market.

• Meanwhile, tighter mortgage standards make it a bit harder for even well-prepared buyers to get loans.

• Average home prices rise higher, faster — beyond the affordable range for first-timers.

These public health and market forces are amplifying affordability issues for first-time home buyers, threatening to delay their dreams of homeownership. To find success, prospective buyers must be persistent, patient and preapproved.

SELLERS SLAM DOORS Just as the spring homebuying season was gearing up, word came that the novel coronavirus could spread from person to person. Rather than risk exposure, would-be sellers withheld their homes from the market. “People pulled back because they didn’t want people in their homes,” says Terri Robinson, a Realtor with RE/MAX Select Properties in Ashburn, Virginia.

As sellers sidelined themselves, the inventory of homes for sale stayed relatively flat instead of zooming upward. In

June, 1.54 million existing homes were for sale, a 20% drop from the housing inventory a year before, according to the National Association of Realtors.

A skimpy inventory isn’t a problem when demand for homes is low. But even in the pandemic’s early days, home buyers outnumbered sellers — and the Federal Reserve was about to motivate more people to go house shopping.

RATES INCITE COMPETITION The spread of the coronavirus triggered stay-at-home orders, which spiked unemployment, which begat a recession. Congress and the Federal Reserve firehosed money at the economic downturn to extinguish it. In March, the Fed began buying billions of dollars’ worth of mortgage-backed securities to force mortgage rates lower.

The central bank succeeded. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.86% in January, according to NerdWallet’s daily survey. By August, it averaged 3.08%, and has remained low since. The dramatic decline gave borrowers more buying power. The prospect of bagging a bargain inspired would-be home buyers to dip their toes into the market.

But these eager buyers discovered that a lot of other people had the same idea. There weren’t enough homes for sale to accommodate them. When buyers toured homes and made offers, they discovered they were pitted against one another.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 39

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FOUR HEADWINDS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

“The competition for those homes becomes much greater,” Robinson says. “That’s where the struggle is.” She recently closed a sale on a condo that attracted 12 offers in four days. It sold for $15,000 more than the asking price. It’s the type of home frequently bought by a first-time home buyer — and the competition for those homes is intimidating.

CHOOSIER LENDERS Spooked by coronavirus-related unemployment, mortgage lenders adopted stricter lending standards. Some lenders now require mortgage borrowers to fill out a COVID-19 certification in which they attest that they expect to make the monthly payments.

In another sign of tighter lending requirements, the average credit score on a closed mortgage was 750 in July, compared to 738 in January. That’s a sizable jump in just six months.

Lenders have become more conservative with mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration as well. Some lenders won’t approve FHA loans for borrowers with credit scores below 620, says Jim Sahnger, a mortgage loan officer for C2 Financial Corp. in South Florida. Such a policy disproportionately affects first-time home buyers, who benefit from the FHA’s more relaxed qualification requirements.

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SALVAGING AFFORDABILITY Combine a small selection of homes, a rate-induced influx of home shoppers and stricter lending requirements. The result? Home prices that rise faster than incomes.

Home affordability for first-time buyers has fallen this year, according to NerdWallet’s most recent Metro Affordability Report.

A home is generally considered affordable if it costs no more than three times annual income. But most first-timers have to stretch well past that budgetary ideal, according to the report. House prices rose nationally from 4.5 times typical first-time home buyer income in the first quarter to 4.7 times in the second quarter.

First-time buyers tend to make smaller down payments than repeat home buyers, so they often borrow a higher percentage of the home’s price. That results in larger monthly mortgage payments, further reducing affordability.

First-time home buyers should keep these tips in mind as they navigate the unexpectedly hot housing market: Be persistent. Robinson stresses to her clients that they might have to make offers on a few homes before they succeed. As clients internalize this message, they’re more resilient in the face of disappointment.

Identify the bottom line. Robinson asks buyers she represents, “If you were to lose this house over $500, would you be upset?” If they answer yes, she asks if they want to raise the offer by $500. Then she asks again, until she finds how much the client is willing to pay.

That amount might not be the initial offer, but by establishing an upper limit upfront, the client is better prepared to walk away from a bidding war.

Get preapproved to gain a competitive advantage. When home sellers weigh multiple offers, they favor deals that are likely to close.

That’s why they favor buyers with mortgage preapprovals, Sahnger says.

Consider waiting out this weird housing market. Some buyers might conclude that it’s prudent to hold off until the recession ends and their employment is more predictable. That gives them time to bundle up a bigger down payment — and maybe snag a more expensive house.

Holden Lewis is NerdWallet’s authority on mortgages and real estate.

He has reported on mortgages since 2001, winning multiple awards.

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heard on

National Mortgage Professional hosts a regular Mortgage Leadership Outlook series live on Facebook and YouTube. The industry’s best share their views. Here are some of their observations from the past few weeks, as well as quotables from NationalMortgageProfessional.com. To see these full interviews and more, just go to to www.nmptv.com.

“After much consideration and heart-to-heart conversations with family and friends, I have decided to officially hand the reigns [of AIME] over to the extremely capable hands of Katie Sweeney and Marc Summers.”

—Anthony Casa, former chairman, AIME

“If we do see rates go up, then you better make sure you’re focusing on your purchase business and you better make sure that you’re really being an advisor, to not only combat your competitors out there but also the fintech companies and to really make sure you bulletproof your business into 2021.”

—Dan Habib, executive vice president, MBS Highway

“While Latinx households have made recent gains, longstanding inequities in intergenerational wealth and other systemic barriers continue to impede Latinx Americans from reaching [homeownership] parity with the U.S. population as a whole.”

—Manny Garcia, population scientist, Zillow

“Being successful means not just doing great in business but spreading a wealth of ideas and kindness to truly empower ourselves and the community for the meaningful and measurable change we want to be.”

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“A lot of the times individuals look at ‘how can I mitigate expense to maximize my profits?’ I think that’s looking at it wrong. I think that you need to invest and spend so that you can make yourself sustainable 5-10 years down the road.”

—John Gibson, senior vice president, Flagstar

“There is growing concern that, absent a slowdown in the number of coronavirus cases and another round of much-needed federal aid, millions of households in the coming months face the prospect of falling further behind.”

—Gary V. Engelhardt, professor of economics in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

“In 2008 we had a market problem; this is more like the 1930s. It’s bad particularly for people with low income who are vulnerable and it is terrible for small business.”

—R. Christopher Whalen, chairman, Whalen Global Advisors LLC

Dan Habib

Patty Arvielo

Anthony Casa John Gibson

nmp

COVER STORY

THE BILLION DOLLAR MAN Shant Banosian moves the goal posts with over $1 Billion in originations

BY KEITH GRIFFIN | NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

G

reg Frost is an industry legend. He’s the first originator to hit $1 billion in total mortgage production. Over the years, he’s been joined by a few other top brokers who’ve also topped that number.

But no one’s ever jumped the billion dollar benchmark in just one year.

Until now.

Shant Banosian is the man who broke the billion-dollar barrier. He set the historical mark in mid-September when he became the first loan originator to hit the $1 billion mark. In the not too-distant past, hitting $100 million was a significant milestone.

But no longer. It’s 10 figures or go home.

Yet somehow Banosian manages to go home. His billion-dollar success doesn’t come as the result of 80-hour weeks. He can clock out at 6 p.m. on a Friday night and roll into work Monday morning at 8 a.m.

THE NUMBERS Through the end of September, according to Guaranteed Rate, Banosian closed 2,378 units for $1,121,195,087 in funded volume.

That’s an average of 8.7 closed units per day. (In September alone, he did 323 units and $162,395,002.) It’s not unexpected that he could hit $1.4 42

billion by the end of 2020.

He is Guaranteed Rate’s number one loan officer nationwide five years running with 1,907 closed units and $915 million in funded loans in 2019 alone. In 2018, it was 1,215 closed units for $536,294,703; 2017 was 1,125 units for $457,664,391; and, 2016 was 1,131 units for $432,301,353.

Banosian was ranked as the number one loan originator in the United States for 2017, 2018 and 2019 by Scotsman Guide. He was also ranked the number one loan originator (total volume + units) in America by Mortgage Executive Magazine for 2017, 2018, and 2019. He has been the #1 volume loan originator in Massachusetts consistently since 2013 according to industry tracker The Warren Group.

He has also been featured on Mortgage Professional of America’s Young Guns list of mortgage professionals under 35 for the last three years: an accolade he could no longer achieve as he recently turned 40. After several years as a Guaranteed Rate President’s Club member, he was named to the Chairman’s Circle, an exclusive club for top producers who exceed $100 million in annual loan volume, in 2015.

David Luna, president of Mortgage Educators and Compliance, in Salt Lake City, Utah, speaks to thousands of loan originators as he crisscrosses the

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country training them. “This year top producer teams that traditionally do $100 million a year are looking to do $200 to $300 million in 2020 and this will continue in 2021,” he said.

For perspective, appearing on NMP TV’s Mortgage Leadership Outlook, MobilityRE founder and CEO Ben Teerlink said as of Oct. 7, 4,112 loan originators completed over 250 transactions. He says it is not quite double the number of last year; however, it is significantly higher. The dollar volume associated with these transactions is tremendous with 1,700 loan originators having closed over $100 million in volume. Additionally, 41 loan originators have broken 1,000 units.

Those numbers, though, were just not as tremendous as what Banosian had achieved.

PURCHASE VS. REFINANCING As of late September, Banosian said his business was trending more towards purchases than refinances. In August, he said, bucking the industry trend, 65% of his business was purchases. By the end of 2020, he thinks it will be closer to 50/50.

“Our business historically was always purchase driven,” he said.

“We took advantage of the refinance environment, but frankly the purchase market remained hot except in April

and May. Purchases applications were at a 12-year high. We’re still rocking and rolling there.”

Plus, Banosian said, he intentionally let some refinance business get away. He’s at $1.2 billion and that’s with turning business away. It’s an issue caused by staffing and customer service. With the former, like other loan originators, he’s not been able to ramp up his hiring to meet demands.

Purchase mortgages had to take priority, he said. “There are risks in terms of losing money (for the client) if something goes wrong and a deadline isn’t met,” Banosian explained. “Other parties involved. Much more ramifications if it doesn’t go well. We have to stay true to the commitments we made as we built the business no matter what the rate environment was.”

That could explain why Guaranteed Rate says Banosian has a 95% satisfaction rate with his customers who would use him again.

ALL ORIGINATIONS ARE HIS

Banosian moved from a top producer to a mega producer when he stepped back and started planning for his business.

One of the first things Banosian wants to clarify about his billiondollar business is the originations are his. Sure, he has a team but he’s not combining the results.

“That’s not the way it’s done at Guaranteed Rate. I’m not taking credit for anybody else’s production,” he emphasized.

Banosian sits atop a 42-person team based in the Waltham, Mass., office of Guaranteed Rate.

The team includes sales support who work with clients. Others work on operations support, business development, marketing and administrative. There are other loan originators in his office, but they’re not padding his numbers. “Their production has nothing to do with mine,” he said, adding no loan originator income rolls up into his.

WHY NOT GO IT ALONE? Banosian said he has little incentive to become his own mortgage company, in spite of origination numbers that would CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

Shant Banosian and colleagues from Guaranteed Rate.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 43

suggest he could make a go of it. “There are lots of things Guaranteed Rate provides that I would have zero interest in doing. I would be responsible for everything. Now, everything is plug and play: the technology, human resources, investor relations, compliance. I don’t have to spend money on that or invest it. I have two responsibilities: growing my business and doing a great job for my clients.”

Opening his own company would slow down his rate of originations, which he projects will total $1.4 billion when Dec. 31 rolls around. “We’re just getting to where I envisioned where we would be. I want to finish what we set out to accomplish here. I spend no time thinking about it. It is not where my time is well spent.”

TEAMWORK Banosian freely admits he would not be successful without his large team.

His work week isn’t excessive -- in the range of 50 to 55 hours. “I’m not doing 80 hours a week any more. I can’t.” He said there are weekends when he clocks out at 6 p.m. on Friday and doesn’t work again until Monday morning.

“I’ve been there doing 80-hour weeks. It was just me. I realized pretty early on that’s not what I wanted. Every year I get more balance.”

Mortgage Educators’ Luna said a team 44

is necessary for both success and a life.

It’s difficult to move ahead without some help. “I see the top originators all have teams. Those that have been doing this for years and are still making approximately the same year after year are usually alone, or worse they even process their own loans. They hide behind, ‘Well, I just don’t want to lose quality.’ I understand, but they will only be able to handle a limited amount. Top producers all have teams.

In terms of having a life, Luna added, “Why are we working this hard if it is not to have time to relax, have fun and be with our loved ones? I believe we need to be balanced. When we work, let’s work hard. When you aren’t working, relax, have fun and be with your family.”

“Top producers and great businessmen like Shant build a team that can take care of the customer service delivery equation, leaving them free to market,” said Dave Hershmann, a columnist for National Mortgage Professional who has written seven books in the areas of finance, management, sales and marketing. “But for the average loan officer, they do not have resources to hire a team and they must grow their production first. It is a Catch-22.

“Thus, the question is, how do you make this transition? I recommend

| NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

two steps. Be an underwriter up-front.

In my advanced originations course, I introduce the concept of being a backward investigator who prevents problems that could happen. You can’t prevent all problems such as a title issue, but if you can prevent 98% of the problems by underwriting the file up front, managing your pipeline for great customer service will be easier.

“Also, take advantage of the rainmaking opportunities within your pipeline. I teach synergy. Loan officers think that marketing and delivering service are two different activities, which take them in two different directions. You just need to open your eyes and see the opportunities.

What is great about this is that these opportunities use less resources – including time, energy and money.

“If you master these two steps, you will reach the point of transition more quickly. You will soon be able to support an assistant and you can start growing your team from there.”

50-STATE APPROACH Banosian’s business used to focus on Greater Boston, Southern New Hampshire, Cape Cod and west across most of Massachusetts. Then, he noticed his clients moving out of New England.

He didn’t want to lose them, so he’s now licensed in 49 states with only Utah left to fill in the map.

“Our goal is once we do a loan … we want to be able to service them,” he said, acknowledging being part of a national operation makes that easier. He can find the right partners in each state.

“Conventional loans are the same across the country. Little nuances you have to learn, but it’s very easy and there are people in each state who can help.”

Hershmann counsels that a 50-state approach may not be effective for most brokers.

His perspective is part of what he calls sphere marketing. “Top producers get their business by referral,” he said.

“Referrals come from your sphere. The larger your sphere and the more value you deliver to your sphere, the more referrals you will receive.”

Offering nationwide service falls under a geographic sphere, he explained.

“Serving the entire United States is an example of going wide, while I am CONTINUED ON PAGE 47

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www.MortgageEducators.com NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

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BILLION DOLLAR MAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 44

a proponent of going deep with your marketing. If you cast too wide of a net, you will miss opportunities right under your nose. For example, if your office is located in a large building, what other businesses are located in that building which could be potential referral sources? Are you ignoring this opportunity so you can do a few loans several states away from you?

“Yes, when someone moves out of state or purchases a home out of state you could serve them by being licensed in that state. But you could also refer them to someone who has the potential to refer you prospects who are moving into your state. These prospects could then be referred to local real estate agents. Now you are in a position to add the ultimate value to those agents.

“Remember, the end game is to provide the most value to your sphere.

You can only do that by going deep.”

While Banosian likes to promote the personal touch, he prominently promotes digital mortgages on his website. He says they allow more volume, work faster than conventional

mortgages and deliver a better client experience.

DIGITAL MORTGAGES Being able to use tech to make things that much easier benefits him and his clients. “You can collect so much information without speaking to clients,” Banosian said. “They want to be that way, too. You try to do what works best for each client. They are just as busy as we are.”

Clients can work on their mortgage applications on their phones when they want for a smoother process. Most clients want to provide information that way. Now he has 10- to 15-minute phone calls with clients and most of the work has been done digitally. “When we meet, I already know most of the answers. It takes what used to be an hour meeting down to 15-30 minutes. It makes every minute of the call useful.

There is less dead time and more time answering important questions.”

Technology isn’t going to replace loan officers, he says, but it could leave behind those who don’t use it.

“Every single industry goes through an evolution and that’s what ours is doing now. If they need a pre-approval on a Saturday they’re going to look for somebody who can deliver that. Allows us to be more available,” he said.

“I differentiate myself by getting clients ready. It still takes human interaction. That can add a lot of value.

Digital mortgages replaced parts that could be replaced. I feel like I’m doing all the impactful stuff,” Banosian said.

CEO VS. SALESMAN Banosian moved from a top producer to a mega producer when he stepped back and started planning for his business.

“All the best loan officers across the country would tell you two things they are better at. They are better at working on their business. They run it like a business and spend time on it: learning more about sales, marketing, tech, operations, etc. They also work on being rainmakers: bringing in relationships and deals.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 48

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

47

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 47

“If you can spend more time on those things, your business is going to grow,” he said. “You can be most technically proficient loan officer, but if you don’t run your business like a business and leads don’t come in, it doesn’t matter.

The phone needs to be ringing. You have to be well rounded.

We’ve been able to work on all those things.”

The challenge in a year like this is how to maintain service and execution in a time when you are fully remote, and the pandemic is distracting people. Next year it will be something else.

“We never prepared for a global pandemic that drove rates down, but we learned a lot of things,” he said.

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The Personal Side Shant Banosian is a married father of three daughters. He grew up in Watertown, Massachusetts, just west of Boston. It’s a small city of about 32,000 people and is home to the largest population of Armenian-Americans on the East Coast.

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Earning the CRMP* designation requires validating your experience, continuing your education annually, participating in our ethics workshop and passing an exam.

Banosian is humble. When asked if he’s splurged because of his success, he admits to buying a second home on Cape Cod three years ago but won’t describe it, not even to the point of saying if it’s on the waterfront. “At first I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to answer that question. I’m a pretty private person.

It’s just a summer house, a getaway. It was a blessing during the pandemic to be away from the city in a less densely populated area.”

For for more information, visit nrmlaonline.org *The CRMP designation is available to members and non-members of NRMLA.

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Both parents, who are Armenian, immigrated from the Middle East in the 1970s, met here, and raised a family with three boys. Banosian said the local Armenian community helped him get his start.

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NDILC’s Ten Women Leadership Principles NAWRB's Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Council (NDILC) Ten Women Leadership Principles, help women in the workforce become more effective leaders at any stage of their careers, and empower other women to reach their full potential. This is a universal guide for all levels of leadership, and any woman can benefit from applying them to her everyday life.

Acknowledge Trailblazers: Know and learn from the women who came before you.

We are all standing on the shoulders of giants.

Keep Achieving: Effective leaders always keep learning. There is always something to learn and improve upon.

Believe: Whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve.

Pass the Torch: Give opportunities to future generations of women. Your legacy will be the people you help along the journey.

Know Yourself: Be authentic and lead in a way that is true to you. Own your unique talents and strengths, and empower those around you.

Speak Out: Unconscious bias is present, but ignoring it only perpetuates it.

Take a stand and speak out.

Listen: Never assume anything about anyone. Everyone has their own story that makes them who they are.

Be Present: Sharing your time is one of the most valuable gifts you can give.

Do it with intention by truly being present.

Prepare for the Future: Women with advanced skills today will be ready for tomorrow’s challenges.

Lead by Example: Inclusion isn't enough. Press for parity & strive for excellence in everything.

www.NAWRB.com/NDILC/ 50

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MY BEST DEAL

First & Last: Helping A Barber Get Into & Stay In His Home |

Name: Jeff VanNote

Job Title: Loan officer

How much was your best deal for? $450,000 for a two-family house in The Bronx, New York, near Fordham University.

That’s where I played college football before getting cut my senior year as a redshirt! It made me refocus on my career seeing as the NFL was no longer an option.

What made it your best deal?

It was one of the first deals I ever did at the age 21 back in 2008. I spent three months trying to get the borrower, his wife and his brother to qualify. I still remember the brothers’ names: Juan and Gumercindo Cabral.

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Business: Deposit That

Another nice part of this deal is they contacted me again in 2010 because there was a foreclosure on their mortgage. It was one of the first loans I had with missed mortgage payments but I was able to help them avoid foreclosure.

What else?

It was the last deal to fund with the down payment assistance program in New York State in 2008 before the program ended for some time. It was literally the last day at the last hour.

This was back when everybody was getting pre-approved for mortgages. But when they went to the bank they were turned down, in spite of being pre-approved, for various reasons.

They spoke broken English and Juan was a barber. I got to the closing and the borrower had $15,000 in cash in a brown paper bag for his down payment and closing costs aka funds to close.

WIN a $100 Amazon gift card

Have a great story about your best deal? We’re not talking about your biggest deal. We want to hear about your best deal – the one that resonates with you personally, the one that became the story you’ve told again and again about why you’re in this business. Head over to bit.ly/MyBestDeal and tell us the details. You can win a $100 Amazon gift card if your story is selected for publication.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |

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NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

Calendar of Events

NOVEMBER 2020

Thursday, April 15 2020 Carolinas Connect Mortgage Expo Embassy Suites Hilton Charlotte 4800 South Tryon St. Charlotte, North Carolina CarolinasConnectMortgage.com

Wednesday, Nov. 11 2020 New York Mortgage Expo Crowne Plaza Suffern 63 Executive Blvd.

Suffern, New York NYMortgageExpo.com

Tuesday, April 20 Texas Mortgage Roundup – San Antonio Wyndham San Antonio Riverwalk, 111 E Pecan St San Antonio, TX txmortgageroundup.com

Thursday, Nov. 5 2020 Utah Mortgage Expo & Show Sheraton Park City 1895 Sidewinder Drive Park City, Utah UtahMortgageShow.com

DECEMBER 2020

Tuesday, Dec. 8 2020 Great Northwest Mortgage Expo—Portland Edition Holiday Inn Portland South 25425 SW 95th Ave. Wilsonville, Oregon GreatNorthwestExpo.com Monday-Friday, Dec. 7-11 Mid Atlantic Conference of Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Virtual MBANJ.com

APRIL 2021

Tuesday April 6 2021 California Mortgage Expo— San Diego Hyatt Regency La Jolla 3777 La Jolla Village Dr. San Diego, California CAMortgageExpo.com

Tuesday-Thursday, April 27-29 2021 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference MBA/MW + MMBBA MGM National Harbor 101 MGM National Ave. Oxon Hill, Maryland MARCMBA.org

MAY 2021

Tuesday, May 11 2021 Motor City Mortgage Expo DoubleTree by Hilton Detroit— Dearborn 5801 Southfield Expressway Dearborn, Michigan MotorCityMortgageExpo.com

JUNE 2021

Thursday, June 3 2021 California Mortgage Expo— Irvine Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport 18800 MacArthur Blvd.

Irvine, California CAMortgageExpo.com Thursday-Friday, June. 10-11 2021 New England Mortgage Expo Mohegan Sun Resort & Casino 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd.

Uncasville, Connecticut NEMortgageExpo.com Tuesday, June 22 2021 Chicago Mortgage Originators Expo Holiday Inn Chicago SW 6201 Jollet Road Countryside, Illinois ChicagoOriginators.com

JULY 2021

Tuesday, July 6 2021 Ultimate Mortgage Expo Hotel Monteleone 214 Royal St New Orleans, LA 70130 originatorconnectnetwork.com/ events/

Sunday-Thursday, April 11-15 2021 Regional Conference of Mortgage Banker Associations Hard Rock Hotel Casino 1000 Boardwalk Atlantic City, New Jersey mbanj.com

To submit your entry for inclusion in the National Mortgage Professional Calendar of Events, please e-mail the details of your event, along with contact information, to editorial@ambizmedia.com.

All events are as of September 1, 2020 and are subject to change.

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FACEBOOK THOUGHTS

NICK ROBERSON

Always Remember To Carry Your Own Ruler

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Nick Roberson

Nick Roberson is a long-time mortgage industry veteran and a board member of the California Association of Mortgage Professionals. He’s a forthcoming and giving guy, who shares his … unique … perspective on work and life on his Facebook account. Here are some of Nick’s FB thoughts this month:

Quarantine Lesson #87: While watching the news this morning, I suddenly came to the remarkable conclusion we truly have nothing to fear from a potential zombie apocalypse. Based on my research, I have determined we can just shelter in place and wait out any brain devouring Zombie Apocalypse. There is clearly an inadequate food source for the zombies, which will feed only a very small group of them for 3 or 4 days at best.

Last night I was picking up a few things for dinner at Safeway. There was a lady there looking pretty stressed out who happened to have 11 kids with her (not kidding, I counted). They ranged in age from infant to roughly 13. They attacked the store like an army but were pretty well behaved for the most part.

They were in the checkout line next to me and ended up walking in front of me as we headed for the exit.

All of a sudden, all the kids stopped and were looking at something on the ground asking their mom what it was. The older child was laughing hysterically, and the mom just stared at it. She told the children she didn’t know what it was and they all walked around it and moved on. As I approached the item I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It appeared to be a used condom right there on the floor (inside the store) a few feet from the exit doors. I waved down one of the people working there and pointed it out to them for cleanup.

Then I started laughing when I realized the mom told the kids she didn’t know what it was. With 11 children, that fact was abundantly clear.

Quarantine Lesson #86: Carry your own ruler. The lady making sandwiches at Subway today was clearly taught how to measure by her husband. I jokingly said; “I don’t care what your husband told you, that is not 6 inches.” She looked up at me all confused, and I said; “Never mind, that’s okay, it is a little cold in here.”

Her coworker started cracking up. As I was walking away the sandwich maker told her coworker; “I

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know, I know, the next time I will pick a bigger one.”

I laughed all the way back home.

Quarantine Lesson #85: To the cute hippie chic with serious b.o. in line in front of me at CVS last night; that Natural Crystal Rock “Deodorant” isn’t going to get it! I highly suggest a crystal boulder along with some soap and water.

I was at the Dollar Store last night, picking up some crafts supplies for my daughter. There was a lady next to me holding a pack of pens in her hand and looking confused. She leaned over to me and asked, “Do you know how much these are? There’s no tag on them.”

Me: “I am going to go out on a limb and say one dollar.

It’s just a wild guess though.”

Quarantine Lesson #84: I have determined working in the mortgage industry is a lot like a crazy carnival ride. It’s all shiny and pretty with blinking lights and you are begging to get on the ride. At first, it is fun and you are laughing as it spins this way and that, going faster and faster. The next thing you know people are screaming and crying around you. The ride is tossing you all about and you are hanging on for dear life, begging to get off of the ride before it kills you. When the ride slows to a stop, you stumble off out of breath, fighting back nausea and tears. You take a couple of deep breaths, look back at the ride, get a smile on your face, and run as fast as you can to get back on, yelling, Again! Again!

Quarantine Lesson #83: After a tough day, there is nothing wrong with sitting down and drinking a nice box of wine with a crazy straw.

Quarantine Lesson #82: If you answer my call via speakerphone, then that’s on you. You should know better by now. I hope you and the family had a great dinner out. Oh, and your grandmother seemed very nice.

Quarantine Lesson #79: The look on your daughter’s face when she opens a box and realizes you have saved all of her artwork, every note, every important piece of school work, and every gift she has ever made for you since the day she was born. Priceless.

To see more by Nick, just go to www.facebook. com/nickroberson.

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© 2020 Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Inc. NMLS ID # 75243; 1265 Corona Pointe Court, Corona, CA 92879; All Rights Reserved. Licensed by the California Department of Business Oversight, Finance Lenders Law License #603D903; the Residential Mortgage Lending Act, License #4131268; California Bureau of Real Estate License #1478294; AZ Mortgage Banker License #910387; Georgia Residential Mortgage Licensee #32087; IL Residential Mortgage License # MB.6760962; KS-Licensed Mortgage Company, #MC.0025196; Massachusetts Mortgage Lender License, #ML75243; MS Department of Bank and Consumer Finance; NV Mortgage Broker License #3693; NH Banking Department 17393-MB; Dept. of Banking in the Common Wealth of PA, #37894; RI Licensed Lender, #20112799LL; and is also approved to lend in the following states: AL, AK, AR, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, HI, ID, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MO, MT, NJ, NM, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, WA, WV, WI.