Keeping the personal and professional sides healthy is crucial to a broker's long-term success
With nearly a decade in the mortgage industry, Torrey Jacoby, sales manager and loan officer at Network Funding, expressed pride at finding his work/life equilibrium in an industry that often asks so much from its professionals.
“This business has me dreaming about loans when I sleep. It’s been a challenge to ‘shut off’ work while I am at home,” Jacoby said. “Being married for 1.5 years with an eight-month-old child at home, I’ve realized that family needs to come first and is far more important than replying to clients in the evening. I have started to stop working at 6 pm every day so I can hang out with my family. Some nights, of course, I hop back on the computer once everyone is in bed if anything is urgent, but once 6 pm hits, I am a full family man.”
This commitment to authenticity is reflected in Jacoby’s approach to his work.
“In my business, I revolve everything around customer service and relationships,” Jacoby said. “People like doing business with genuine people. Many people have lost the customer service touch, but that’s what keep the referrals coming. Simple things like updating realtors along the process, sending cookies to closings, taking them to lunch, etc. Ninety percent of my referral base are realtors that I can now call actual friends of mine. Who doesn’t like doing business with friends? It makes everything a little less stressful and more fun.”
Jacoby, who started out in November 2012 as a loan officer assistant for Benchmark Mortgage, said that he went into the industry “without honestly knowing what a mortgage was.”
“My dad’s friend was the owner of the prior company I worked for and said there is a great opportunity in real estate in Texas,” Jacoby said. “Before mortgages, I went to Pepperdine University in California and played baseball there. I graduated and was a financial analyst at Jones Lang LaSalle in California for about a year.”
Eventually, Jacoby became aware of what he really wanted out of the financial services sector.
“I realized that working in Excel spreadsheets all day wasn’t what I wanted to do, although I use Excel regularly to track loans,” Jacoby said. “After talking with my dad’s friend in Houston, I decided to pursue the opportunity. It has been one of the best decisions of my life. I’m very thankful that the company gave me the opportunity without having any mortgage experience. Being in the mortgage industry allows you to build your own life/family while creating the American dream for thousands of families along the way.”
