Top originators reveal where they went wrong along their career paths, and why making those mistakes and missteps didn’t always have a negative outcome
Some people will say that they don’t make mistakes; they’ve just had a lot of “learning opportunities.” However you spin it, anyone who gets to the upper echelon of anything has made a ton of mistakes getting there. They will happens when you’re first getting your feet wet, and they can also happen when trying your hand at a new-to-them particular technique or strategy. It makes no sense, however, to fall into the same traps as who have come before you. Instead, save yourself the time and money and avoid the pitfalls that other originators have made.
On staffing
“One of the things I always used the mindset myself was 'God, I can't pay an assistant! I'm losing five or six grand (or whatever you're paying an assistant per month), I'm losing that money.' But my mindset was wrong. And my mindset should have been, 'I'm losing 20 to 30 grand a month by not having an assistant to do all this work for me, regardless if it takes me a couple of months to get to that point.' So me personally, I wish that I had hired an assistant earlier in my career, somebody to be able to help me even get my stuff going sooner.” –Matthew Cole, United Wholesale Lending
“Don't hire against a DISC test: because the DISC test says if they don't work, don't hire them, no matter how much you like them and you think they're okay. It's because their DISC is like you and that's why you like them; they're not gonna be on the right seat on the bus.” —Debbie Maggert, Guild Mortgage
“I think that a lot of people make mistakes because they want to hire their friends or they're just looking for a body in a chair. Or they're hiring out of desperation, rather than really focused on what they're looking for. And then of course, when you do hire somebody, I had to learn that you can't just start giving them stuff to do; you actually have to give them a plan of attack and daily, weekly, monthly quarterly task metrics from which they need to follow. We will go over what those metrics are, so they know what's to be expected. I think a lot of times people throw people in and then they get upset because that person is not doing what they're supposed to be doing but they don't have any expectations.” —Brad L’Engle, Guild Mortgage
On business
“When I was first, first starting, there was a broker of mine who said, ‘it’s not the deals which you say yes to, it’s the ones which you say no to.’ Sometimes I take deals which can be really, really rough, and I think now as I’ve actually matured, it’s better if I have those borrowers wait a little bit. Wait a month, two months, get everything packaged, get everything prepared and them buy your house. They’ll be thankful also.” —Andrew Quezada, Prime Equity Mortgage
“Not being 100% clear on a guideline could really hurt your reputation. You need to know what you’re talking about when you’re speaking to realtors and when you’re speaking to people who are about to make the biggest purchase of their lives.” —Mike Sanchez, Guaranteed Rate
On leadership
“I don't think I handled a conflict in a healthy way. I would deal with things passive aggressively. I'm a very positive, optimistic person, and instead directly addressing a team member and saying, ‘Hey, I noticed this is going on, can we talk about that?’, I would scoot around the bush and hope that would work out or maybe, mention it from the side, versus just having just transparent conversations.” —Heather Bomar, Cornerstone Lending
“Never make the same mistake twice. This is not a job where you can learn as you go, because if you burn a relationship, you’re not only burning that one bridge, but you are burning your reputation. Everyone makes small mistakes along the way, but try your best to never repeat them.” —Christian Babcock, loanDepot
