u/REFlorida

I’m always trying to figure out how people scale.

One thing I do pretty regularly is go through the Scotsman’s Guide and look up random mortgage loan officers and agents in Florida. Not to compare myself, but to see if there’s something I can learn from people who are outperforming me.

What I’ve noticed is that 9 times out of 10, the people who make the list early in their careers have a niche that’s difficult to replicate. They’re former military and built a huge VA business, or they speak Vietnamese, Portuguese, Chinese, Ukrainian, etc., and have referral partners within those communities. Those are incredible businesses, but they’re not really models I can copy

Every now and then, though, I come across someone who doesn’t seem to fit any of those categories and is absolutely crushing it.

I recently found a Florida agent (not naming them) who started in 2023. Their production was roughly:

Year 1: $20–30M
Year 2: Around $60M
Year 3: Nearly $100M

That’s an incredible trajectory, and I’m genuinely curious how they built it.

I actually tried calling them from my personal number so it wouldn’t show up as a spam call, but they didn’t answer. Honestly, I was surprised. At that level, I’d expect some kind of system for handling inbound calls. Nope

They dont have a huge social media following, maybe posting once a day on Facebook and occasionally on instagram

They have 200-250 5 star google reviews so great but nothing crazy

Have a couple of young kids so they cant be cold calling / working 2000 hours a day which is even more impressive.

From what I can see, they aren’t an in-house agent at a brokerage. They do appear to have chunk [20-25%]of unlisted new construction transactions, so my guess is they have a strong relationship with a builder. If that’s the case, I’d love to know how those relationships are actually formed.

For those of you doing a lot of builder business:

How did you get in?

Did you start by taking the deals the builder’s preferred lender couldn’t do?

Was it networking, persistence, or just being in the right place at the right time?

I’m always looking for ways to keep scaling. Right now, a lot of my business comes from open houses, networking, referrals, and the occasional cold calling. It’s worked well, but I’m interested in hearing from people who’ve built to $50M+ annually within their first six years.

If you’ve done it—or you’ve worked closely with someone who has—I’d genuinely appreciate hearing what moved the needle.

Hi - wondering if anyone uses a VA or an assistant to post on Facebook marketplace / craigslist through their(mine) personal account for lead generation off of listings. Wanted to see if I can outsource that aspect of lead generation.

What your experience has been etc etc

Thank you

Anyone used Linkedin to prospect either for referral sources or direct to consumer?? If so what have the results been like??

I’m coming up on four years in the mortgage industry this November and should do somewhere between $400K–$500K this year (i’m 1099.)

My business is almost entirely referral-based, mostly from Realtors, with some repeat and past-client business. I work seven days a week and it’s a stressful job, as most of us know.

For those consistently making $1M, $2M, or even $3M+ per year in today’s market (not during the 2% COVID-rate years), how did you get there?

More importantly, did you build a true business or just a bigger job? One thing I struggle with is that mortgage is very much key-man syndrome. Unless you build a team and step out of production, there’s not much to sell at the end of it.

I’d love to hear from people who have genuinely scaled beyond themselves and are earning seven figures annually—not gross revenue before massive lead-spend costs, but actual income.

What did that path look like?

The stress I feel of this job making this amount of money may still be because I’m relatively new and don’t have an in Office spot where Deal’s come to me, but if I’m gonna feel this level of stress, I feel like I might make way more money in another industry

Thoughts??

Hey everyone, I’d appreciate any advice.

I’m 44 and grew up around the original Pokémon craze. I’d love to get my niece and nephew into the hobby, but buying Pokémon cards these days seems like a complete mess. Everything sells out instantly, prices online are crazy, and even stores seem expensive.

Does anyone have any good beginner resources, guides, or threads for getting into Pokémon collecting in 2026 without paying scalpers? I’d rather the kids not get into the hobby at all than support bots and resellers.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks, and good luck out there!

Has anyone priced against Veterans United recently and can share what you're seeing?

A buyer of mine went online, clicked a few buttons, and somehow got entered into a $100k sweepstakes if he uses them. Now I'm curious what their pricing actually looks like.

We're at 200 bps total comp on VA loans (including company margin), so I'm trying to gauge whether their rates and fees are competitive or if it's something I can easily beat.

Would appreciate any recent experiences or comparisons. Thanks in advance!

I’m thinking about adding this potentially to my marketing to bring leads directly to me.

Does anyone here/has anyone here utilized this and had success and is willing to share some of the things they experienced and pro tips

Thank you

Mortgage brokers/LOs — how are you handling the “What rate are you getting me?” question right out of the gate before even having an application?

I run into this more then I would think for mostly purchase transactions.

Someone calls, and before I know anything about them — credit score, DTI, loan-to-value, property type etc. — they immediately want a rate, fees, APR, closing costs, the whole thing.

My usual response is something along the lines of:
“Rates depend on a combination of factors like credit, down payment, property type, loan type, debt-to-income ratio, etc., so I really need a completed application before I can accurately quote you.”

But a lot of people still keep pushing for a number anyway. Then if you give a rough ballpark, it turns into:
“Another lender said lower.”
“Your rate seems high.”
“What are your fees?”
Etc.

The thing is, I run super lean and I’m not scared of competing on pricing. I just feel like it derails the process immediately before we’ve even established whether they’re qualified or what loan scenario we’re talking about.

So I’m curious:

• How do you guys handle this conversation?
• Do you give a rough range upfront or refuse until you have an app?
• What’s your best rebuttal when someone says “your rate seems high”?
• And realistically… are these just tire-kicker shoppers that you invest minimal time into?

Would genuinely appreciate some insight from people who’ve been doing this longer than me.

thanks for reading his far

What are you quoting for the following

Single-family home (Miami fl)

First timeHome Buyer

803 credit score

855k purchase price

29% DTI

LTV 59% ($500,000 loan amount)

Conventional loan - 5.99% borrower paid with a $1400 cost (delta from box A to box J lender credit)

And $1000 underwriting fee

I’m pricing this at 100 basis points and I’m told I’m too expensive. Is there anyone here even remotely close to this?

So, after talking to a bunch of my account executives—some of them in the top 10, one even in the top 5—why the hell am I out here working seven days a week chasing real estate agents and kissing ass for referrals, when most of them have their weekends off? On the non-QM side they’re making well over a million, and even the govy loan guys in the top 10 are pulling in like $500K to $700K a year.

Why am I wasting my time as a loan officer when I could be fully remote, W-2, making the same or way more, and actually have my weekends back? What am I doing?

Someone please tell me I’m being stupid and that this isn’t the move, because I’m really close to saying screw it and going AE. I know my products as well as—if not better than—them.
(and I made over $300,000 last year so it’s not like I’m not making money but goddamn I don’t want need to be a martyr of sacrifice)

I’m looking for input from people generating solid numbers, not theory.

Right now I hit 5–10 open houses every Saturday and Sunday. Quick drop-ins (i pull numbers from MMI etc. so I make sure the people I’m seeing do a little volume normally 1 to 4 buyside transactions a year which tells me they don’t have a go to person or if they’re using Cross Country Mortgage in my area because they are disgustingly expensive I hit them up hard), short conversations, small gift, think pen/snacks etc. Then I add on social, follow up with a text, and try to set a lunch. Lunch set ups have not been going well.

I’ve been consistent with this for a couple years. It’s built some long-term relationships, but not a ton of fast results. YTD I’m probably somewhere around 30 to 40 loans and the majority of them this year have actually come from people I met at open houses. But some of these people I met three years ago and only sent me a deal in the last six months.

On the flip side, I’ve also sat a bunch of open houses myself (probably ~30 last year), and from a lead gen standpoint it was completely pointless. Mostly for agents who i already know and it Felt more like “if I don’t sit it, someone else will” vs actual opportunity.

I recently saw someone say they call agents during the week, co-host opens with them, then take them to lunch after. Curious if that’s actually working, how do you select who to call and what the follow up is like

For those of you putting up real numbers — what’s your actual open house game plan?

How are you using them (or not using them) to generate business?

What’s your follow-up process that’s actually converting?

Insight greatly appreciated and thank you for reading this far