How can mortgage professionals flourish in a down market?
The approach to business that worked for mortgage brokers during the pandemic-era housing market boom of 2020 to 2022 will no longer suffice – and Corrina Carter (pictured), chief executive officer at CMS Mortgage Solutions, has relished the tougher business environment.
The Virginia-based broker told Mortgage Professional America that she had adopted a new mantra for 2024, setting out her stall to “dominate consistently” and keep business coming in during a time of fewer transactions than the red-hot pandemic market.
With the number of loan officers across the US unsurprisingly ticking downwards since the onset of the market cooldown, Carter’s enthusiasm for putting in the hard yards has helped her – and her team – flourish in a challenging climate.
Central to that shift has been focusing on their own “BS”: what others may dismiss as the unappealing side of the job, but what Carter has come to understand as denoting something entirely different.
“I feel some loan officers, some real estate agents are falling out [of the profession] – when you have three different markets that you may be used to working, and now you can only possibly work one because your bandwidth of what you’re teaching and coaching only goes so far,” she said. “Then you’re stumped.
“Nail in whatever one market you want to focus in: your net is 100 times as big, and that gets exhausting for people that are not used to doing it. But I did 300 meet and greets last year to expand our business. There’s not a lot of people that would do that BS – and when I say BS, it’s business strategy for me, it’s BS for them.”
According to Open Door senior loan officer Kristin O’Neil, 2024 holds promise with better buying conditions and growing awareness of suitable products.https://t.co/3sRar3Uq2q#mortgagenews #housingmarket #wholesale #homeownership
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) March 8, 2024
How loan officers have been flourishing against the odds
Carter said seasoned and newer loan officers at her company have been carving out more business than they might have anticipated, with that proactive approach to the profession – a far cry from the days of the pandemic when volume surged and transactions skyrocketed – set to remain a prominent theme in the years to come.
“I have brand-new loan officers, never been in the business, that are closing loans,” she said. “If you’re being seen and heard, you’re going to get picked. They have trained, they have changed their BS. They’ve changed their business strategies all the way around what they’re doing.
“And they have to be seen and heard. If you don’t have the drive to get up and own your day and do that, I really feel like yes, that’s when you’re going to exit [the profession].”
While the number of loan officers across the US has dipped during the downturn, their value has never been clearer, according to Carter – particularly with the profile of many buyers, notably those entering the market for the first time, having shifted in recent years.
“I think the first-time homebuyer is going to look different,” she said, “maybe more on career path, structuring their finances differently to get into a home because they may be more part of the gig economy. They may be self-employed, or more of a freelancer.
“I think it’s a poll of people that will be structured way differently than what we were used to, the 1st and 15th homebuyer who could afford to buy the $300,000 house. It’s just going to be a different buyer whether they’re a first-time homebuyer or not.”
Is a market uptick on the way?
While homebuying and mortgage activity may increase in 2024 over the previous two years, there’s little chance of a sizeable jump, according to Carter, with interest rates set to remain well above their pandemic-era levels.
“I don’t think we’re going to get people out of houses that are going to change our inventory levels drastically anytime soon in the next three years via income, career, family size,” she said. “[They’re] not going to move out of a house or even downsize, because nobody else is in there in a 1.99% interest rate.
“Whether they have $100,000 in equity or $500,000 in equity, it doesn’t matter – they’re not leaving it. So I feel like the consumer who is buying is either going to be the savviest or the first-time homebuyer, really not a lot of ‘middle of the road’ because the middle of the road, I feel like it’s the people who are going to sit still because it’s affordable.”
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