He left a successful career in health fitness at the peak of pandemic
After a successful career in the health fitness field, loan officer Corey Anderson (pictured) is now exercising his mortgage muscles.
“I was a strength conditioning coach,” he told Mortgage Professional America during a telephone interview. “I worked for a local healthcare system for about eight years. I really enjoyed it but, towards the end of it, the hours were pretty brutal – first thing in the morning, late at night. And the turnover was pretty rough.”
Achieving a consistent sleep pattern was elusive, he recalled. “I kind of thrive on my routine and consistency and when you’re sleeping four hours one night, 10 hours the next, it kind of cascades from there and it wore me down after a while.”
Coaxed into making a career change
His close friend, Daniel Solis – vice president of sales at Virginia-based VA Wholesale Mortgage Inc. – had long tried to coax Anderson to join him. “I’ve known him for years,” Anderson noted. “I was at his wedding.”
But even such strong friendship ties weren’t enough to convince him to start a new career in the mortgage industry. “He kept trying to push me to get into mortgages,” Anderson said. “It was scary because I knew where my paycheck was coming from, and I had that comfort. He told me about the potential there is in mortgage.”
And then came coronavirus. “COVID played a big role in it, being that I worked for a healthcare system. When COVID happened, there were a lot of layoffs, and employees were deployed to other areas. I viewed my position as being highly disposable at that time, so I made a point to get ahead of it and learn the ins and outs of the mortgage business.”
So, with a measure of anxiety at the peak of a global pandemic, he finally took the leap of faith – not a full leap, but a wading of sorts. “I got licensed and brought on board in August 2020, and that was more or less the time I used to really learn the ins and outs of the business and figure out what I needed to do,” he said. “I was still working full time at my previous job while doing mortgages a little on the side, getting my feet wet a little bit.”
Taking a leap of faith at last
He soon realized he needed to go in fully: “I slowly realized that mortgages are hard to do part time because of the nature of the business,” he said. “November 2020 is when I officially jumped in, and I haven’t looked back,” he said.
To be sure, there was a bit of a learning curve initially. But he credits Solis and Eric Tan, the producing branch manager at VA Wholesale Mortgage, with supporting him along the way. Tan had opened the shop the previous February, Anderson noted.
“It boiled down to the support system I had,” Anderson said of his initial, tentative steps into the industry. “They [Solis and Tan] played a big role in making me feel comfortable when I started out. Mind you, I’ve got student loans, I had rent, bills that I needed to make sure I could pay. I’ll never forget Eric asking ‘how much do you need to bring in every month?’ I gave him a figure, and he said ‘don’t worry about it; we’ll make sure you make that much.”
The support gave him the confidence he needed. “My first year I want to say I did around $7 million in volume, and it was a huge learning curve for me,” he recalled. “I missed the opportunity to really capitalize on that refi boom because I jumped in late in 2020. So, I really had to build those relationships with referral partners and navigate the best way to go about doing that. I would say half of that volume was organically generated by me alone and the other half I would say came from Eric and Daniel just making sure that I was being taken care of, that I wasn’t going to fall behind on these bills and just to make sure they were giving me the resources to gain more experience.”
Aside from that work support, Anderson also credits the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) for providing him with additional resources that have benefited his new career.
“They have so many social platforms that I take advantage of weekly,” he said. He noted there are times he needs guidance on a particular regulation, and needn’t stray far for an answer: “You can always present the questions on these forums, and there are brokers with a lot more years of experience that I have who will, without hesitation, jump in to provide some clarity and ultimately help me get the answers I need so I can better advise the clients I’m currently working with.”
It’s no cake walk, but he told MPA he has regrets about entering into the mortgage industry. “It’s definitely challenging at times,” he acknowledged. “I look back sometimes and say ‘holy cow I can’t believe I’ve signed up for this’.”
In such moments, he assesses his surroundings and his gratitude is replenished: “I look around – I bought a house, my dream truck, I’ve got two dogs I’ve wanted forever,” he said, referencing a Rottweiler and Catahoula Leopard Dog/Chocolate Labrador mix he got with his earnings. “I have no regrets. It’s opened up a lot of opportunities for me. I truly feel I’m just now gaining momentum and hitting my stride.”
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