Warning: I will probably piss some people off (loan officers) in this post…but it needs to be said.
Back in 2010-ish after the “mortgage meltdown” started to subside and things normalized out a little, I used to be part of a much larger branch of mortgage peeps. We had a HUGE office on 1604 near Sigma Road…I think it was close to 4000 square feet….or at least it seemed that big! Our “leader” (I use the quotes to symbolize that he really wasn’t a leader), decided to start looking around for another place to work for the entire branch because he wasn’t happy with how things were going. I thought that they were going just fine. I didn’t want to go.
What I did not realize was that this moving around business was his SOP. He would stay somewhere for a few years, negotiate sign on bonuses for himself and his entire crew…and then stay there for a year…maybe two…and then do the same thing over again. And then over and over and over and over again. It still baffles me that companies hire this dude, but nevertheless they did and continue to do so. SMH. What even baffles me more are the loan officers (although the number has dwindled significantly) who continued to follow him. Unfortunately, this is super common in our industry (even though it is stupid and companies are even more ridiculous for continuing to pay it.)
Anyway, back to my story…
He negotiated for the entire branch, a very lucrative offer with a mortgage company to move over. They flew in to meet all of us…made all sorts of promises…blah blah blah. The hair stood up on the back of my neck when I met this guy. Ewwwww. I saw right through him. All of the other loan officers only saw $$$$$$.
They started transitioning to the new place very underhandedly and extremely unethically. I wanted nothing to do with it, so would not participate even though I was VERY pressured and shunned. Mary, who was my processor at the time and Nat, who was my assistant back then and I decided that we were not going to be part of what they were doing. Our underwriter, Linda also stayed (she worked from home). Talk about standing on an island. They got on the jiggity (not sure if this is really a word) raft….we decided to wait for the boat.
The fateful day came when he finally got busted for what he was doing and he and his crew came in the middle of the night and cleared out their offices. Mary, Nat and I came in the next morning to this huge-ass office with no one there but us. So, I took his office! LOL Might as well, right? Mary and Nat moved theirs too so that we were at least close to each other! They trusted me. We were a team. Nat has moved to Florida since then, but Mary is still with me!! I don’t know what I would do without this woman.
Being in that office was very funny at times. We would putt golf balls down the halls and we would pretend that everyone was on vacation or something when clients came in LOL. When I think back to those times, they were so scary and amazing…and hilarious. We didn’t want to follow everyone because we knew it wasn’t right. Difficult decision and definitely not the popular one, but we didn’t care.
Turns out we were right! Since then, that same group of people moved about 4-5 MORE times. I have lost count. Sign on bonuses. Stay for a little while. Leave. Do less and less loans each time they move.
In the mortgage industry, SOME people (ok…a LOT of people) move around a lot. Like once a year or more…chasing that almighty dollar and believing promises of a better future where they can get all of their loans done with no stress. Such bullshit! What they don’t realize is that there IS no magic place (except First United!!) where all of their loans get done, rates are low, comp is high. The magic place is YOU! If only you realized that money is NOT the most important thing. If only you realized that it is not really where you work as much as WHO you work with and for! If only you realized that you lose so much credibility when you hop from place to place just chasing sign-on bonuses and high compensation. Come on, guys!
What is even more silly to me are the mortgage companies and the banks that continue to pay these people! How can you NOT see through this? Do you think that they are going to change their ways and that since you are company #384234 that they have worked for this year, you are going to be different? NOT!! Pull your head out of your butt.
My fellow LO’s, if you are at a place that closes your loans on time and provides fair compensation, then stay there and maybe work on yourself and how you do things before you even think about leaving. Our jobs are to HELP PEOPLE…let us not forget that. It is not about the money. It is about the people. Don’t do what everyone else does. Work on yourself. Analyze where the true problem lies. Ever think it is something that you are doing? Do YOU. Be different. Care about people. Don’t think about how much commission you are going to make. Care about people, put together a good loan application and package, return calls, fight problems head-on, be responsible, be nice, know your guidelines…it is that simple.
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| Oh the fun we used to have back in 2010!!! Remember planking? |