Business has been the slowest in my career since 2023. Loans now more than ever are harder to come by, affordability at an all time low and most loans aren’t even guaranteed to fund. Been living off my emergency funds for the last 3 months and by the end of October I’ll be belly up financially. (Excluding my retirement account which I can’t touch). Am I being cynical or is this the norm now for most loan officers?

I have somebody wanting to do a 10M purchase. Biggest loan amount i can find is 5m. Do any investors go higher?

Was in tech sales for a bit now wondering if I should become a LO. Would love to hear others experiences.

Edit: would love to hear what you sold in tech before and if it was easier or harder compared to what your doing now and compensation differences

Rant....

I get a call about 6 months ago from this guy who just started at my company (I'm a broker). He says he looked up my numbers and I'm one of the top producers at said company in our area so he wanted to hear about what works for me. I tell him I'm by no means a top producer but I have started to have some moderate success this year and I would be happy to tell him whats worked for me. Over the next several months I help the guy out with tips and many phone calls and you could say mentoring him. I even meet up with him in person a few times for coffee.

Shortly after I start seeing signs that this guy is doing the opposite of everything I tell him to do. Literally the opposite. Trying to chase the most niche/ unique deals and products we have, not connecting with realtors or making daily calls, not going to enough open houses, going down the reverse mortgage path, talking about how AI is the answer to all his problems....just on and on and on. Guy literally doesn't do one deal in over 6 months but every time we talk he acts like an expert on every topic, so embarrassing.

I finally heard the most un-surprising news that he left the company for greener pastures at a new broker where I am sure all his problems will be solved lol. Anyway just venting. I love helping new people and collaborating, this is such a hard business, but I will be cutting people off much quicker next time when I see signs like this early on.

A note to new people, its really simple. If you want help just ask and be humble and try to follow the advice people are giving you. I dont think the basic fundamentals of prospecting have changed for 100 years, its not some huge secret, most people crushing it are willing to talk, but why even bother reaching out if you want to do your own thing anyway!

I have a borrower looking at a property that has two separate structures on the same lot: one quadplex and one duplex, for a total of 6 units.

Has anyone successfully financed a setup like this as a 6-unit DSCR loan rather than treating the quadplex and duplex separately? Could we even set them up separately if they aren't parceld out?

The borrower has a 740+ FICO and we expect the property to be over a 1.10 DSCR.

Ideally looking for a lender that is comfortable with:

• 6 total residential units on one parcel
• Quadplex + duplex configuration
• Business-purpose DSCR financing
• Purchase transaction
• Both structures included under one loan
• 80% LTV if possible

I’d also be interested to know what maximum LTV lenders are offering on something like this. The borrower would ideally like to be at 80% LTV, but I’m curious whether most 5–9 unit DSCR programs are going to cap this at 75%, 70%, etc.

If anyone has a wholesale/non-QM lender that will take this, I’d appreciate the recommendation. Also curious how they underwrite and appraise the property since it is technically two structures but six total units on the same parcel.

Any info greatly appreciated, guys and gals!

Typical August is pretty good even 2023 was good. But it’s like the faucets were turned off and we’re starving like fall of 2022 again. Are you guys feeling the same?

I (36F) am considering working in this field for a while. I plan to obtain the proper license (NMSL?) and then start applying for entry level jobs. I'm hoping to find a job that pays at least $48K per year total and provides leads. Do you guys think that's realistic? Thanks.

I really can’t stand greedy realtors.

This file has honestly irritated me because the loan was CTC almost two weeks ago. Everything on our end was done, the borrower was ready to close, and closing is Friday. Then at the very end, we find out the realtor is getting 2.5% from the seller and also charging the borrower another .5%.

That extra .5% completely changes the borrower’s cash to close, and somehow now she’s trying to make it seem like the lender is the problem.

What really has me thinking is how hard she was pushing the lender credit from the beginning. Every time anything came up, it was always, “What about the lender credit?” She kept putting it in the borrower’s head that we were going to give him this credit like it was just free money sitting there.

I explained to the borrower from the beginning that lender credits don’t work like that. If you want us to give more credit, normally you’re going to have to accept a higher interest rate. The borrower didn’t want that. He wanted the better interest rate and the lower monthly payment, which is completely understandable.

He already had around $6,500 in seller credits, and we used those toward title, closing costs and buying down points. We structured the loan around getting him the better payment and rate he wanted.

Then the ICD comes out. The borrower shows it to the realtor, and suddenly she has all these things to say. Now apparently we didn’t explain things correctly, we didn’t disclose things, “we look bad,” etc.

Mind you, I barely heard from this realtor the entire transaction.

But now, at the finish line, suddenly she’s involved in everything.

Then she starts bringing up the builder. “Well, the builder was offering this,” “the builder was giving that,” basically insinuating that the borrower could’ve just gone with the builder instead.

And that’s when the whole thing started making sense to me.

Apparently the builder was offering her 3% commission. On our transaction, the seller is paying her 2.5%, and she’s charging the borrower the other .5%.

So now I’m thinking she was pushing that lender credit the entire time because in her head she was already counting on us to cover that .5%.

Almost like, “Well, if they’re not going with the builder and I’m only getting 2.5% from the seller, I’m still getting my 3%. I’ll charge the borrower the other .5%, and the lender can just give them a credit so they don’t feel it at closing.”
Obviously I can’t say for a fact that was her plan, but looking at everything now, it sure feels that way.
Because why were you so worried about our lender credit the entire transaction?

Why was that such a big concern to you?

And why does your compensation just happen to be short exactly .5% compared to what the builder was going to pay you?

The funniest part is they basically wanted everything. They wanted the incentives they could’ve gotten from the builder, they wanted our better interest rate, they wanted the lower monthly payment, and they wanted a lender credit on top of it.

You can’t have everything.
If the builder is giving a bunch of credits, there’s usually a reason they can offer those incentives. If you want us to increase our lender credit, there’s a pricing tradeoff. I’m not going to jack up the borrower’s interest rate just so somebody else can protect their commission.

And after all of this, my branch manager actually took the cut and paid out the lender credit anyway to help the borrower and keep the deal together.

So think about that.

We’re the ones who ended up giving up money on our side.
Meanwhile, the realtor still gets her 2.5% from the seller plus the additional .5% from the borrower, getting her right back to the 3% she would’ve made with the builder.

Yet somehow we’re the ones who “look bad.”

And her additional .5% isn’t even showing on the ICD yet. So the number the borrower showed her isn’t even the final problem. Once her fee gets added, the borrower’s cash to close goes up because of her fee, not because of something the lender suddenly decided to charge.

That’s what pisses me off.

You’re already getting paid thousands of dollars from the seller. If you negotiated another .5% with your buyer, fine. That’s your agreement with your client.

But don’t expect the lender to give up their compensation so the borrower doesn’t notice what you’re charging them.
And definitely don’t wait until the week of closing, after the loan has been CTC for almost two weeks, and then start telling the borrower that the lender didn’t disclose things properly and that we somehow look bad.

Especially when we’re the ones who ended up taking the hit to make sure your client can still close.

Some people want everybody in the transaction to give up money except themselves.

I’m in the metro ATL area and I’ve probably lost 30 loans this year to credit unions offering 15/15ARMs (15 years fixed and then only one adjustment at the end of year 15). Credit unions are offering them for 5% right now. No points. It’s totally untouchable and a lot of my agents have caught on and are sending clients there. I don’t necessarily blame them... the deal is truly a game changer. Does anyone have any Intel on how long a credit union can actually offer this program? Surely this is a program that will only be here for a temporary period of time.

I’m looking for some advice from other MLOs who have been in a similar situation.

I got licensed in 2019 after working as a loan processor for about a year. I started doing self-gen and was consistently closing a couple of loans a month. Eventually, I left the business because I needed a better family/work-life balance.

I’ve been out of the business for a while, but I still have enough experience to handle and get probably 90% of the loans I work with to the closing table.

A few weeks ago, I decided to get back into mortgages and joined a call center because I currently can’t afford to spend money generating my own leads. I figured having leads provided would allow me to focus on selling instead of prospecting.

I’m currently making 300+ calls a day to internet leads. The problem is that a large percentage of these people either never wanted a loan in the first place or aren’t interested anymore. I’ve been averaging around 3 applications a day, while the expectation is 5+. The comp is 100 bps, increasing to 150 bps after $2M funded.

I’ve also received an offer for an ACES position at LoanDepot, which has me wondering if that would be a better route.

Long term, I really want to go back to self-gen. I know I can generate business, but I don’t have enough money saved right now to comfortably go months without consistent income while rebuilding my pipeline.

For those who have experience with both self-gen and call-center/lead-provided mortgage sales:

Would you stick with the call center for a while, take the LoanDepot ACES position, or try to find a way back into self-gen?

I’m mainly trying to figure out the best way to get back to where I was without putting myself in a financial hole. Any advice from experienced MLOs would be appreciated.

Since August 3rd, we’ve been dealing with mandatory full condo reviews, which makes getting complete and accurate HOA documentation upfront even more important.

I just spent 10 business days waiting on a self managed HOA to piece mail documents to us. We finally get enough information to complete the review and discover…

Only 2% of the HOA budget is going toward reserves.

Now here’s my question:

Why isn’t this information being reviewed BEFORE a condo is listed for sale?

A buyer can have great credit, sufficient income, a solid down payment and a full preapproval, but if the condo project itself doesn’t meet lending requirements, we have a problem.

And waiting until the buyer is under contract, has paid for inspections, started the mortgage process and is emotionally invested in the property is way too late to discover it.

Realtors, lenders, attorneys and HOA/property managers: what are you seeing out there?

Should listing agents be asking for the budget, reserve information and other key condo documents before putting the unit on the market?

I’d genuinely like to hear how other markets and professionals are handling this.

Got a client that wants to buy a 4 unit in Boston, Mass.

Tried to go with Kiavi but they called at 80% on LTC.

Non experienced 680 mid.

475k: Purchase price
50k: rehab

ARV: 800k

Anything out there where we can go higher than 80%?

Really big spread to work with.

Are recasting options available for jumbo loans? My AE mentioned they are typically restricted, but I want to confirm if retail banks allow them.

So I’m still new to the business, I have an uncle who is my branch manager on the west coast of Florida and I’m on the east coast. Part of the deal was I can’t leave my steady paying job especially in this market. I’ve been working on my network of people I’ve come to know. I hang out at a cigar lounge that has many successful people, and making good connections. I’ve gone to open houses and an occasional real estate office although I feel those avenues are not my favorite, I feel like I have to hope an RE remembers me to recommend me. Any suggestions ? Thanks

Mods, please delete if not approved.

I'm hoping to ask a question from lenders. How do you do due diligence around financial statements received from the borrower. Do you look up and contact the CPA? Search their credibility online? Do you go more indepth or less?

Essentially, how do you ensure:

1. The statements you're looking at came from the actual firm that they say they came from

2. This is a genuine CPA firm, registered to do this engagement (audit, review etc)

3. They haven't been tampered with after being issued by the CPA firm

So I've been reading about some new-to-me lenders that I haven't heard of before, whether it was on this sub or somewhere else. I want to get some opinions from the people here about their experiences with them, because I'm trying to have my brokerage expand out of just using UWM/Forward Lending (OCMBC)/AD Mortgage for about 90% of the loans.

The lenders in question that I've been looking into most are Champions Funding, Freedom Mortgage, NQM Funding, and Kind Lending. NQM I already sort of knew about since the old brokerage I used to work for would send loans there here and there (although I myself have no experience with them since I've never sent one there), but the other 3 I have little to no knowledge of. Also I'd appreciate any other recommendations for lenders I didn't already mention that are worth looking at.

As far as traditional full doc loans go, I'm trying to find a good substitute for UWM especially (that isn't Pennymac, did not have a great experience with them even after about 10 or so loans), since the biggest reason we still use them is just because of the speed that everything gets done. We are well aware how buns the pricing usually is unless there's some sort of pricing special going on. I've seen some crazy pricing from Freedom Mortgage in Arive's marketplace pricing thing, which raised an eyebrow to find out more. As for Kind, I've just heard a lot of good things from this sub. We also just need more options for NonQM lenders so that's the main reason why I'm looking into Champions, NQM and etc, and obviously because you can't put all your eggs into one or 2 baskets with NonQM since each loan is a lot more unique than the regular QM loans are.

I currently work in retail (just started) and want to know everyone's experience with retail vs wholesale?

A past client has approached me for a construction loan for a tiny house. She says, though, that it will be on a permanent foundation and 620 sf. Though this is a very small home, I don't think it is technically a tiny house. Right?

I'll ask my AE before proceeding but wanted some feedback. This seems more like one of those tough appraisal loans instead of a niche loan for a tiny house.

Was terminated by a call from HR, was told not for cause for a loan they claim they can’t sell even though it went through ops and 2 underwritings and was conditionally approved 3 times and CTC 2 times. Closing was delayed by client due to medical issue causing the additional CTC. Eventually closed and got call from HR 3 days later. Never heard from my managers or did they respond to any of my calls, text or emails trying to make sense of what happened.
Also never received any owed commissions for closings from loans closed that month. Also asked HR for recording of termination call which they refused.
Total money grab by this company. Also emailed all my clients and continued to market them.

I’m an MLO fairly early in my career, and I’m considering moving into a more behind the scenes mortgage role for a while before eventually returning to origination.

For context, I work for a brokerage where I’ve received very little formal training. I’m proud that I’ve managed to close four loans in my first four months, especially considering how much I’ve had to figure out on my own. But I also feel like I’m skating by rather than truly understanding the entire process.

I’ve learned that I need to understand the ins and outs and the “why” before I can confidently explain something to someone else. I can learn quickly and do hard things, but not knowing what’s happening behind the scenes causes me to constantly second guess myself.

One of my biggest concerns as an LO is not knowing what could cause a loan to fall apart. I want to understand what underwriting is looking for, what creates conditions or makes a loan ineligible, and what I could identify upfront to make the process smoother.

I’m considering roles such as junior underwriting, processing, disclosure, or another operations position so I can learn the technical side of the business firsthand. My hope is that understanding why loans get conditioned or denied and seeing how experienced people identify and mitigate issues would ultimately make me a much better LO.

Please don’t suggest that I simply stay an LO and “learn as I go.” I’ve pretty much made up my mind that, personally, I cannot effectively learn and operate at the same time when operating means presenting myself to borrowers as though I’m already an expert.

I don’t think I’m incapable of being an LO. I actually think I could eventually be very good at it. I just know that I need to build the technical foundation first so I can operate from a place of knowledge and confidence rather than uncertainty.

For those who have worked in both production and operations, which role would you recommend for someone wanting to build that foundation? Underwriting, processing, disclosure, closing, or something else?

And if you’ve made a similar transition, did working behind the scenes make you a better LO?

I’d really appreciate honest insight from anyone who has seen both sides of the business.