The mortgage professional's approach can make or break a deal, argues Calgary-based brokerage owner
For Renée Huse of the Calgary-based Spire Mortgage Team at MMG, the mortgage professional’s approach to a transaction plays a large part in making or breaking the deal.
“Set appropriate expectations and stay in control of the deal,” Huse stressed in an interview with Canadian Mortgage Professional.
Hard experience was the greatest teacher in this regard, the brokerage owner said.
“I think as a new agent, I used to get wrapped up in stories and pushed back and forth between what clients want, what realtors want, what financial planners want, and so on,” Huse recounted. “What everyone ‘wants’ is very important, but we know our timelines, our lender turnaround times, our lender guidelines better than anyone.”
This is a delicate balancing act that mortgage professionals should take the trouble of mastering, Huse argued.
“Now, I listen to the huge list of wants and needs from my clients, take it away, and then go back with a realistic action plan and specific timelines,” she said. “I never over-promise and under-deliver.”
Huse said that she swears by the unmatched value of an established and trustworthy network, which would be ideally placed to provide the necessary support in these areas.
“Align yourself with a team or brokerage that offers experienced brokers, training and underwriting support,” Huse said. “When I joined MMG, I was powered by a massive knowledge base with experienced brokers and underwriters that knew the industry inside-out. It takes about 200 mortgages before you’re going to really know where every deal should land, and, even then, there are some serious conundrums some days.”
For Huse, the pandemic era was the truest gut check of what a network – along with some good old-fashioned grit – could bring for her business.
“MMG has been the catalyst for the massive growth I’ve seen in my business over the last few years,” Huse said. “To manage [the pandemic], my time management skills had to be 11/10 at all times. I gave up any extracurricular activities for myself and focused solely on home schooling and my business.
“Was that the perfect solution? Nope, but I believe that nothing lasts forever, so sometimes balance needs to go out the window and perseverance has to take over.”
Huse said that she also believes in the adage, “Many hands make good work.”
“I wasn’t afraid to hire staff or consultants where needed,” Huse said. “I gave up running my own social media and doing my own compliance, and I hired a second underwriter. I believe in delegating and hiring where you can to focus on what you’re best at or where you’re most needed. In those months between March 2020 and March 2021, I needed to be speaking with clients to help take the stress off their plate and focusing on home schooling my children.”
“I’m super proud of my team, the training we’re doing, and the awesome collaboration and relationships that are being built between them.”
Knowing and leveraging one’s unique strengths as a mortgage professional makes a brokerage much more efficient – and for Huse, this was the sales and technology aspects of the mortgage space.
“When it comes to sales, I’m ultra-passionate about efficient scripting, and I’m constantly tailoring and evaluating my scripting and language to increase my lead to fund ratios,” Huse said. “I think the reason I’ve had so much success is that I’m incredibly intentional about sales. I evaluate nearly every call to sort out how I could have been more effective in moving the deal forward.
“I’m also very passionate about technology. I believe that if you’re writing the same email more than three times, it can be automated. I believe that our client databases are gold mines, which is why farming them and tracking them is the best way to grow your portfolio. Technology can help to automate all of this for us.”
All of this has been built on one core concept: getting to the heart of what the client needs the most.
“Over my years of purchasing real estate, I fell in love with figuring out mortgage puzzles and decided I’d like to use my extensive experience in real estate to help others try to differentiate their retirement portfolios,” Huse said.
