u/Sorry_Juggernaut_281

First I feel the need to give a little back story on how I got here. I owned a business that has been consistently fizzling out YoY and back in late October I asked a friend of mine that has owned his own brokerage for the last 3-5 years if I could make a good living doing what he does and he said I could. I went to his office a few days afterwards just to see what that type of work looked like and ask a few questions and he offered to sponsor me once I had my license. So I got started on the licensing process and actually went into their office in case I had any questions in the days leading up to the test.

I got my license at the end of February and already had a rate term refi lined up for a buddy and I have my first purchase closing next week that’s with a guy I’ve known for years, but hadn’t talked to in probably 10 years that just happened to be in the process of buying a home when he came to work on my HVAC.

Outside of that the phone has rang once at the office, and I picked it up, but the deal looks to be falling through because of DTI requirements. It’s a 2 man operation plus me. Which from the get go was something I thought was a little odd. Our marketing/outreach consists of hosting breakfasts at some of the real estate offices maybe once a month (which is just something they started doing shortly before I got there) along with hosting maybe 1-2 brokers opens a month. And the co-owner/president posts AI generated photos on Facebook daily. The leads are also not very good. I’ve gotten 3 phone calls out of probably 50k texts sent out through our CRM and all had FICOs below 550. We’re licensed in our state plus one that has a border about 30 minutes away. I would never tell someone how to run a business I know very little about, but from what I’ve seen in the 2 months I’ve been there it’s just hard for me to see a path where I can learn the business. Especially in the current market. I’ve scheduled a few lunches with realtors and tag teamed them with the owner, and the company has yet to receive any business from any of them. I did have one deal sent to me from a realtor I met at an open house I went to, but the applicant needed a physicians loan. Which isn’t something we offer. My compensation is 125 bps, which is half of what the company makes.

I see people on here suggesting to work at call centers, but as far as I know we don’t have any of those around here, and the closest thing we have is a refi shop. I want to stick with them because they helped me along the way, but there’s no leads to help me get established or learn the business, and it’s hard to generate business when I can’t pitch realtors a valid reason to go with someone new when they already have established business relationships. I’ve even offered to process loans from applicants that come in on their cell phones via referrals with zero compensation just so I’ll be able to answer any questions I may be met with at a lunch or open house.

What are my options? Or better yet what are some things I can do or bring to the company that isn’t already being done so I can generate business? I see Facebook/IG ads that talk about homebuyer webinars, but I’m not sure exactly how that works. Do those companies doing those ads provide the leads to contact to schedule those, or do they just provide the platform to host them?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations

I’m 33M with no college degree in a town of about 110k people that is almost smack dab in between 2 of the 4 largest cities in my state, and I’m currently in the process of closing my business down that started fizzling out fast in the fall of last year. I have been licensed in my home state a little over 2 months and the company paid for my license in a border state this week. They’re a smaller brokerage that’s been in business for 4 years and it’s just him and his partner (had 2 quit on them a couple years ago when markets were bad), but they have about 40 years experience between the two of them, and I’ve been close friends with the owner since I was probably 5-6 years old. We do Conventional, FHA/VA/USDA, DSCR, rate term, and cash out refis. We don’t do HELOCs, Construction, HECM, or Dr Loans, and they have no interest in getting involved in DPA products. Our big selling point to realtors and buyers are 2 week closing times. I’m strictly commission and my comp is 1/2 of what the company makes (250 bps). I’ve closed a rate term refi for a friend since then and have a purchase that’s ready to close that is just awaiting appraisal. Luckily about 2 weeks ago I picked up the phone on the first ring on the 1 incoming call the office has received from a borrower in the time I have been there, and if I’m able to get the loan closed it’ll be the biggest one the company has done. Which will hopefully help me get some things thrown my way in the future if I can close it, granted they have had to help me with it, but one of them said there was no deal to be had when it first came through.

I’ve been putting in the work reaching out to realtors, going to open houses (5 and going to try to hit 2-3 more this week with some of the same realtors I’ve already seen), scheduling lunches (3), and working the leads they provided (USHUD, 35k names that were purchased for .01 each, and a client list they brought over from their previous employer with about 5k names). The closest thing I’ve gotten to getting any type of traction from all that was a realtor sending me an applicant that needed a Dr’s loan, which we couldn’t do, and 2 applications for cash out refis with FICOs below 550 from the client list from their previous employer. We host breakfasts at realtor offices as well as brokers opens, we’ve done 3 of each since I’ve been there, and unfortunately haven’t gotten any business from them. Our only advertising is AI generated pics on the company’s Facebook that I repost and add a caption and few sentences to. What really concerns me though is I spent a month setting up a lunch with a broker (who I had never met before and only knew of because I know his dad fairly well) that’s responsible for selling homes for a building company that has multiple developments at the moment as well as other listings outside of that company, and 30 minutes before the scheduled lunch the owner said he couldn’t go because he had a haircut. Which he actually did have but wasn’t really needed for him to look presentable, in short it wasn’t worth the potential millions we could get by knocking the first meeting out of the park. Needless to say I was fuming when it happened, because he knows how important it is to make a good first impression, and that I likely wouldn’t be able to answer some questions. I don’t care to go out on my own and give someone a sales pitch, but I consider someone like that a big fish that is deserving of a meeting with the owner and not someone that hasn’t even closed a loan at that point, especially since I told him the owner would be there, and I even told the owner that. I still showed up though and the guy was receptive and seems open to doing business with me. He actually started the conversation by saying he would like to help me out based on what his dad has told him about me.

I would never tell someone how to run their business and the two of them have forgotten more about the industry than I know, but I just don’t know if I’m in the right spot. I’ve offered to run pre-approvals and work loans they receive on their cells for free just so I can get familiar with the process, and was just kind of brushed off. I’m not asking for the world to be given to me by any means or for any special favors. I just want to learn the business and get reps. I don’t have a lot of quit in me, and I’m not just going to change this early on. Because they gave me the opportunity, and I wouldn’t think any other potential employer would respect that. I am open to getting a job as a processor on salary/hourly at a company that will provide support and tools for me to learn if I need to though. If I were to go that route what type of place would be best for me, or better yet what is something I can do to generate business that I’m not doing already? Or am I simply expecting too much this early on? His partner is very eager to grow the company though and is the one that sets up all the breakfasts and brokers opens, and he told me yesterday I will do well in this business as long as I can hang around long enough to get established. I feel like I need to be in a place where everyone is as eager to generate business as I am, and I just don’t know if I’m there right now