President of GSF mortgage on getting through rough times
At a time when many mortgage companies are hunkering down and hedging their bets, GSF Mortgage Corporation has kept the focus on the fundamentals.
The market has changed fairly quickly, and a lot of mortgage companies have found themselves caught on the back foot. Getting through tough times requires a hard look at what you have, how you’re spending money, and refining your systems. Chad Jampedro, president of GSF, urges originators to consider finding a niche product that you may not have considered in the past.
“Many of our folks are coming around to renovation-style lending, or the single close construction—we do that in a big way— and the VA renovation loan, I know a lot of folks are focused on that. Because simply, inventory is not creating itself right away, you’ve got to find alternative ways to get folks into homes,” Jampedro said.
He knows what he’s talking about, as GSF has been going through a period of continued growth. This summer, GSF Mortgage appeared on the Inc. 5000 list, a ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. This is GSF’s 4th consecutive appearance on Inc. magazine’s list, and GSF’s three-year revenue growth was 145%.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say we were surprised because we’d won it in the past, but certainly honored and happy to be included on the list. When we look at that list, it’s humbling in a way because we see some of those huge companies, and they’re on that list and they’re doing great things, so to be included in that list is pretty cool stuff,” said Jampedro.
Staying true to the fundamentals is one thing that’s helped keep GSF on track. It’s a pretty simple formula that boils down to looking at originator growth on a month-by-month basis, and ensuring that their originators are making money.
If salespeople aren’t closing loans, then it begs the question of whether or not an adjustment is needed, and whether or not the company is doing all it can to enable originators to produce. Does the company have product available to them? Is the pricing suitable? Is there enough marketing support?
When originators aren’t increasing, or at the very least, maintaining their income levels, it also sparks conversations on changing focus and ways to get that income up. And, Jampedro says, when you want to talk with originators about increasing their income, you have their attention in a big way, and there’s almost no strategy they won’t employ in order to do that.
Success trickles up.
“Originators making money, that helps the branch make money, that helps their region make money, that helps the company make money, and we stay focused on those fundamentals no matter what the landscape of the industry is, because you could look at this as difficult times, or some would look at it as great times. The competition is getting less, or it’s forcing companies to innovate more from the technology side to become more efficient.”
Another fundamental that may need to be refined is your value proposition, and that can involve sitting down with your partners to decide whether or not you are truly offering something unique. How do we do this differently than any other team? How can we make this a better experience for the borrower? How do we get them information faster? You can also discuss ways to pick up new business by being very specific and targeted about who you’re going after.
It may also be a good time to take a hard look at the quality of your partners and whether or not they’re helping you. Just because you have a referral partner doesn’t mean that they deserve to be one forever. Maybe they’re not as successful or are slow to make adjustments in a changing market, and you’re spending money or resources on something that isn’t serving you anymore.
“Obviously you want your referral partners to do well and make sure you have a good partnership, but sometimes you have to look at allies and say, is this business relationship still serving me? It did in previous years, maybe there have been adjustments made but it’s still not coming back around. You have to ask yourself, is it worth the time, the money, and the effort to put into a relationship that’s no longer serving you.”
Focusing on the fundamentals can not only get your through a slow time, but it can also alert you to small tweaks that will ultimately strengthen your business for years to come.
