I recently left a really long comment on a post by fellow AR mortgage professional Paul McFadden titled Correspondent lending. Will it go the way of the mortgage broker? It was a good post about his view on the future of correspondent lending. I often enjoy reading mortgage related posts from fellow AR mortgage professionals because of the common interests and goals that we often share for the future of our industry.
Based on my "unrepentantly verbose" comment, Paul suggested I reblog. While I won't reblog the whole thing, I would like to share my thoughts on my personal experiences of working for different lenders during my mortgage career.
The topic about the future of the mortgage industry as I know it as well as my place in this industry is something that I have given considerable thought to lately.
Although I have only been in the mortgage business for nearly eight years, it's been the most incredibly exciting and educational time of my life. I've learned more about me, people, life, sales, marketing and business than I ever learned in my 17 years of formal institutional education.
I love what I do and I want to do it for as long as I can, which is not something I could say for my previous career that I spent more than 10 years doing or the career before that where I spent another five years working at. I absolutely adore many of my clients and so many have not only become friends over the years but they have become my biggest advocates.
During my mortgage career, I have worked for four different employers. My very first position in the industry was with a large, national, direct lender, which I absolutely hated so much that I knew if I didn't leave I wouldn't make it in this business; I spent about a year and a half there.
Next, I went to work for a large, CA mortgage banker, which I also didn't enjoy very much; way too much office politics. As a relative newbie still working on developing my skills and client database, I didn't like the way my clients and I were treated, like we were second class employees/clients. I spent about a year and a half working there too.
After that, I landed at a small, local correspondent lender where I spent more than four years at. I loved working there and working there was where I truly honed my mortgage skills and business. However, earlier this year, I began seeing some changes in the way that things were being done there and they didn't look good.
This market has taken a tremendous toll on many small and local lenders and so many have not survived and many more will fall. After much thought and consideration, I decided it was important for me to move onto a company that I felt was going to be able to survive the challenges of this market.
In April, I made the move to Cobalt Financial Corp. and have been very happy here but am concerned that Cobalt is a mortgage broker and the market is not treating mortgage brokers very well.
I have recently spoken with my broker about some of my concerns about the future of my business by being with a mortgage broker and about whether or not he has thought about becoming a correspondent lender/mortgage banker again (he used to be).
He indicated that he has given it some thought but that he simply prefers the broker role as opposed to the lender/banker role. However, he does understand how the market is changing in regards to the role of the mortgage broker and it does concern him too. He's been in this business far too long to give up and call it a day now. He will adapt as he always has.
I strongly suspect that Cobalt will be going through some changes in the near future especially if the big, national, retail banks have their way. They want to see all mortgage brokers, bankers and correspondent lenders (except their divisions, of course) forced out of the business so that they are the only option that buyers have for a home loan.
I hope that day never comes because so many of my clients have never been and never will be these big, national, retail banks preferred customers. The needs of my clients as well as my business are best served by either a mortgage broker or a correspondent lender and not by some big, national, retail bank.
As usual, I've already exceeded the 500 word limit for some of you ADD bloggers but I want to end my "unrepentantly verbose" post with the same message I ended my other two posts with. Blog on rainers! For my fellow "unrepentantly verbose" rainers: don't worry about how long your posts or comments are. If you've got something to say, just say it the best way you know how.
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