Imagine you've been given $400,000 a month from now. Your 8-year career is getting off to a good start, and you've bought a house in 2015 for $150,000. Fast forward five years, and that home is worth $600,000. Your coworker with whom you share lunch has the same experience, and you invite him or her to dinner. Virtually overnight, you got access to $400,000 in the capital all the country is embarking on one of the most transformative times in recent history. Your coworker sees the opportunity, and both of you are able to pool two others into your newly formed investor group. Focusing your sights away from your city in Southern California, the search starts for opportunities in the eastern states. Pockets in Texas and Florida have become prime targets as prospective property prices haven't grown much since the minimum wage has increased enough to create a demand for new home buyers.

You're not the only one looking; millions of others have the same ideas to invest in real estate as they are catching a boom in its infancy. Then, interest rates took a downward trending position, and the first wave of the equity tsunami broke. Lenders scramble to recruit staff to train new hires as they are being brought into the industry on highly incentivized terms. 

Lenders are somewhat hesitant to act due to the fluctuation and cyclical nature of the mortgage industry. Training new loan officers to handle increasing demand also takes time. They are already six months behind in this process. Mortgage transactions are getting backed up in underweighting, processing, and holding patterns for five and six months at a time. With document resubmission processes surrounding recent laws integrated by the CFPB and under TRID laws, getting a mortgage was frustrating; it was a nightmare. Every agency involved in the process was inundated by approvable transactions and toxic whims that had hoped to get approved in the confusion.

Appraisers, title agents, inspectors, Engineers, loan officers, processors, contact centers, production staff, Underwriters, real estate attorneys, notaries, closing agents and many more were not suited technologically nor properly staffed to handle this influx in volume. 

This gave birth to many Innovative technological advances that we use in today's business framework. As homeowners, home buyers and investment groups were frantic to jump on every opportunity for fear of missing out, the industry struggled to keep up. This created a terrible experience for these clients as they had little to no representation at the venue to provide an astute voice for their transactions.

It became commonplace for lenders to merely process the transactions at volume, thus sacrificing client experience. Due to mismanaged production accountability, many files would fall victim to the lack of communication, explanation, or merely time out. In this model, layers and layers of supervision and management staff were necessary in an environment where eight out of 10 loan officers who have never originated a loan needed direction on best practices. Coupled with a sharp demand and badgering volume acquisition, this proved faculty to the demise of customer service; so goes it for many Industries during this time. Those qualified to handle and perform the task at hand were thrust into management roles at a high incentive, leaving a void for experience in this space.

The mortgage broker business model thrives off low overheads. Instead of incredibly saturated layers of management, each with a stop and a drop in the bucket, mortgage brokers have direct access to multiple lenders and carry their clients to the underwriting, cutting out three layers of middlemen overrides. The result is a more direct, streamlined experience with more client care, engagement, and flexibility. Not to mention, pricing can be greatly improved due to minimized overhead. Brokerages don't take much to run either and can be run individually. This highly efficient business model can be scaled or contracted very easily, given market demand.

Another challenge can be sourcing clients. There are many schools of thought regarding how a lead is generated, and the market is made. The biggest challenge a broker faces entering the industry is doing multiple things all at once:

• networking events are crucial to success

• identify industry Trends in your market firsthand,

• engage in Meaningful conversations about products, and

• position oneself as a viable resource.

• Taking the application:

• accurately recording taxes on the property,

• helping to find the best homeowner insurance quote and

• navigating the various challenges that occur in every mortgage transaction.

Mortgage brokers find that changing gears from being admin-oriented, parking at a desk navigating these challenges, and attending events or social networking gatherings where charisma is a main function is particularly difficult. The result of having to do these things alone is inconsistency in growth and monthly loan submissions. We often encounter loan officers who will commit to two files over three months to help see them through the process, while two of those months are not spent bringing in new business. Brokers in this current landscape need to be a part of a team to be consistently effective in their market. Being part of a team helps solidify a unified effort and focuses on outward Optics to potential clients in the immediate market, providing the public with a centralized source they can trust.

Brokers also must have customer management. While mortgage brokers do seek products for CRM, most are underused and just serve as a placeholder for clients /leads to be forgotten. Utilizing CRM software properly can keep you engaged, generate referrals, and repeat business. Utilizing CRM software improperly can be a constant reminder of a failed engagement.

Things to consider when navigating your CRM:

• set up tasks to call contacts

• regularly reach out via text or emails with Comprehensive data specific to their market.

• Properly dispositioning client leads based on their interest can help a mortgage broker delineate between those browsing and those needing more information now.