Switching careers was the ace Atlanta broker had long sought
You might say Ben Bell (pictured) scored an ace – a hole in one, as it were – when he joined the mortgage industry.
And how appropriate given his past career in golf, including a stint as head golf professional at the Stanford Country Club in California. But after a while, his satisfaction levels became subpar as he longed to spend more time with his family – a wife and two children aged two and six. His brother-in-law, a mortgage broker, suggested he enter the industry, Bell said.
“I started out in the commercial banking side, and then moved my way into a retail platform,” Bell told Mortgage Professional America during a telephone interview. “A year and a half ago, I joined the wholesale channel.”
Indeed, Bell is part of a growing number of people making the switch from retail to wholesale. After securing the community bank job in 2011, he went on to work for a nonbank lender in 2017 before joining the broker channel last year as producing manager with UMortgage in Atlanta.
Flexibility and fulfillment rolled into one
In his case, the switch had the desired effect. “I like the freedom of the broker channel,” he said. “I work a lot now, but at least I can do it from anywhere. Even when I’m working weekends, I can do it from my cell phone, from my house, while on vacation. I don’t have to be tied to a physical location. And I really like the idea that there’s not a cap on income – the harder you work, the more you make.”
But he noted the job offers more than just financial rewards. More intangible fulfillment comes from being able to help people secure the dream of homeownership, he said.
“I would say that’s the number one driver in my business,” with pun presumably not intended. “Yes, the money’s great but it’s not every day you get to educate potential homeowners on the benefit of owning a home and also just increasing their financial literacy through education and how you provide insight on their financial structure and how you can make it better. There’s nothing more rewarding than helping a family out with the homebuying process.”
Tackling those tougher loan applications
To that end, he’s not averse to working on those tougher deals – the type that need a bit more handholding with the borrower to gain loan approval.
“I’m not scared to take on a challenging deal if it’s going to benefit the buyer,” Bell said. “I don’t care if I’m doing an $80,000 loan or an $800,000 loan – a home is a home. Some people get so stuck on ‘I’m only going to do loans that are $400,000-plus.’ I’m the exact opposite; I want to provide such great customer care that an $80,000 deal might turn into a $400,000 or a $800,000 deal loan down the road. I’m all about providing the best service – no matter what the price point is – for future business.”
He provided an example from last month that illustrates his work ethic. It involved a borrower who was selling his home, ready to go under guidance from a lender – before Bell stepped in and helped structure the transaction for greater financial benefit.
“This person was selling a home and had $200,000 worth of equity,” Bell said. “He planned on putting the $200,000 of equity on the new purchase and they were running into issues with this other lender because the lender didn’t dive into it and dissect what installment and revolving debt they had on their credit report. In this guy’s situation, it made more sense for him to put $100,000 on the home and pay off $100,000 worth of debt.”
Having dived in for a forensic look, he presented his findings to the borrower: “I showed him on paper and sent him a detailed analysis on how this would benefit him in the long term, with how interest rates are and revolving accounts and even paying off a car it put him in a better position monthly.”
For Bell, it’s all in a day’s work: “It’s just taking that extra step and extra time to provide financial literacy to these people,” he said. Bell said he knows his approach helps yield referrals as borrowers experience his work ethic.
But for Bell, just doing the right thing by the borrower is par for the course.
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