Founder/CEO of brokerage urges others to ask questions of their competitors
Amid uncertain times altered by rising rates and inflation, California-based E Mortgage Capital Inc. has somehow managed to hire additional workers - 600 in the last six months, according to the CEO - as other companies resort to layoffs to stay afloat.
How is this possible? “We would argue we have the best platform in the nation in the independent channel right now just because of the value proposition we have,” Joseph N. Shalaby, founder and CEO, told Mortgage Professional America. He spoke to MPA while attending the fifth annual Fuse Convention staged by the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts last week in Las Vegas.
“We give a lot of folks really high compensation, marketing, technology, infrastructure, support, coaching, resources, technology, HR support and then access – access to me, our president, our leadership team. Anyone who reaches out to me always gets a response back. I’m very hands on as a CEO.”
But it’s his perspective – one he never lost – that he points to as key: “More importantly, I understand the originator because I am an originator. I’m still an originator to this very day. I have 600 loan officers and still. I don’t produce full time – I provide very part time, I do a couple of deals a month – but my boots are to the ground when it comes to understanding the originator mentality, the originator philosophy.”
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The Orange County firm is licensed to operate in 28 states, with plans to add even more loan officers, processors, administrative and marketing staff. The company also has retained a respectable 4.8-star rating based on some 15,000 reviews. “We have the most reviews on the independent channel,” Shalaby noted. “I’m hands on with the reviews. If we get a bad review, I’m all over it. Reviews to me are everything. It’s our reputation and the loan officers’ reputation. Reviews are who you are. It’s part of your identity and imperative for your growth.”
With the interest rate at 7.5% at last check, Shalaby was asked what he does to stay in front of current clients in a meaningful way while securing new prospects. It’s all about consistent communication, he said.
“There’s everything from social media, to automation, to text messaging campaigns, to birthday reminders to reaching out on specific holidays – reaching out on Christmas, reaching out on New Year, when fall starts, when July fourth hits. Touchpoints, after touchpoints, after touchpoints. Obviously, you can’t manually do that, so you have to automate a lot of these processes. Automation is key.”
He also provides a newsletter each month and market updates to clients. If a client’s kid did well at a baseball game, the company sends out a note of congratulations. “People have lost sight this is a people business,” he said. “This is a business where we serve.”
Learn the reasons why mortgage rates are going up in this article.
He acknowledges, however, that the coming weeks and months won’t be easy: “We don’t control the rates, we don’t control the economic climate,” he said. “When the Fed raises the rates – which we know is coming Nov. 2 – I’m going to get sad that day. It’s going to impact me - not just the rates going higher, my stock portfolio is going to get hit. These market movements impact the LOs. I feel for them. I’m thinking about them. How do I make them more money? My biggest struggle right now as a leader within a 600 person team is getting them to show up, to put in the work, because it’s going to take more work right now.”
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Shalaby credits AIME with helping him along the way. He placed a premium on the connections made possible through an AIME membership. “AIME has really enabled me to embrace a mortgage community,” he said. “Begore AIME, there was no sense of mortgage collaboration with other professionals. Mortgage professionals looked at what they were doing like a trade secret. Now, more professionals look at their collaboration with others not as a trade secret but building a community, fostering relationships, creating friendships. Before, we didn’t have that.”
The importance of such collaboration is heightened given market uncertainties, he added: “Now more than ever, we need each other. We need collaboration. We need to dive deep into someone’s head and ask: ‘What are you doing? What’s working for you? Share your successes, share your wins. Share how you’re killing it in this market or failing in it. What’s your playbook?’”
