One quirky thing about the mortgage profession is this: we have no bloody idea what our official title is, so most of us we just make one up. We don't have that all encompassing term "Realtor", and I wish we did.
Everyone understands immediately that Realtors sell houses. So simple. So why can't we come up with a single title that tells people"I do real estate loans"?
I personally like to call myself a "mortgage hack" when someone asks. The words "mortgage banker" (my official title) have an extremely hard time forming on my lips.
I can't help it. I try not to take this whole idea of having a "title" so seriously.
Results you have to prove. Titles you don't.
Doesn't the word "mortgage" come from the Latin word for "dead" anyway? As in "mortuary"? Or "mortally wounded"? Oh great, like everyone wants to associate "dead" with applying for a loan.
Besides that, everyone knows a banker is some big round guy in stiff clothes who sits behind a desk and stamps "DECLINE" on your paperwork, right? It also can't help that everybody is MAD at bankers these days.
The industry likes to call us "originators". Part of the reason I joined the mortgage business was I just LOVED the term "originator". I still do! Hey, 2-4-6-8, what can I originate?
Isn't originate sort of like being original? Doesn't that mean you started something? That you made it happen? Even the National Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) wants to call us MLO's (Mortgage Loan Originators) but the average guy getting a loan from me has no idea what "originator" means.
Here's a problem: It sounds pretty close to "terminator", don't you think?
I tried saying"originator" once to a guy at an open house. He looked at me and said "Yeah, but I want someone to do a real estate loan for me." Then he turned around and walked out the door.
Our company likes to call us "loan agents" as a way of differentiating us from "loan processors". But of course no one would ever put "loan agent" on their business card. That sounds too much like "rental car agent" or "ticket agent". Not nearly impressive enough.
Among ourselves, we use the slang term "L.O." (short for "loan officer"). But "officer" (to most of us) means "police officer". I'm thinking I don't want to be thought of as the "mortgage police" (although undoubtedly some of my clients would call this an appropriate description).
And finally I am wondering this: Why don't Realtors ever put this on their card: "Senior Realtor"? Because you have more sense than us, that's why! When I was first in the business all I could do is throw my head back and laugh when a guy in my office who had been in the business 10 months, aged 25, gave himself the title of "Senior Loan Consultant". I think he only started shaving the month before.
Let's just say"Senior" (for most mortgage offices) is a loose term sort of like being a "senior" citizen. At some point, you just decide you are a senior depending on the benefits of calling yourself a senior.
Now for all of the"strategists", "specialists", "consultants" "planners" and other assorted mortgage geniuses (yes even those that have risen to the level of senior), here is something to consider:
One of the most impressive guys I have ever met in the mortgage business was my former boss. He always took the smallest, least prestigious office even in the boom years. He drove an inconspicuous gray truck. I teased him and called him a REVERSE SNOB.
But there were 2 things about him that stood out:
- On his card was NO TITLE, no reference to the fact he owned the company. Just these 3 words: REAL ESTATE LOANS
- He had far more business than anyone else in the office.
Do titles matter? Those of us who have survived (and thrived) through the madness have gotten to this point for one reason:
We do real estate loans.
Yes, it is that simple.
Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Banker for RPM Mortgage in the San Francisco Bay Area
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