Loan Officers, please respond!! - Posted by Steve (OH)

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Financing
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Posted by Dwayne on December 02, 1999 at 21:07:27:

AS a loan officer seeking the investor title. I am glad I decided to get in the game. I am not able to just up and quit my just over broke job yet, but believe me I will. I now understand the financing side and it’s great. I have been able to really understand flips, and the paperwork involved to get it done. I work in the subprime , non-conforming market, profit is much better, and there is no lack of problem customers looking for my help. I work a full time job. I begin my day at 7:30 AM loan officer till 2:30 PM , head to my job from 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM. I have been in this business for 5 months and have made only $3500.00 but I have gained $100,000.00 worth of education.

I had a deal that was due to close monday. A 100% deal. Buyers got a no money down deal. Seller handling all closing cost. The lender called 3 hours before closing stated they screwed up on the figures and we could not close unless my seller carried a second. They were ticked because the seller was making a cool 28,000.00 profit. Purchased the home at a foreclosure sale, and is selling the property. Held property for 5 months. That ticked us off but we did not give up. In less than 12 hours we had another lender giving me a commitment. I 've been working 20 a day since Monday and we will be closing on monday coming up. I could not ask for a better situation to learn the financing side and what a investor goes through and how to solve the problem to get the deal closed. What will happen when I become a full investor and have these problems? Knowledge on how to solve them.

Hell man go for it. Find a broker you can work with. Get into the non-conforming side so you get down and dirty. FHA/ VA are good but only what one or two points. Non-conforming 5 points. Bigger commission.
I am learning how to use hard money to get the deal done. 55 LTV’s and buying low to still have cash for fix up and then flip to a qualified 90 percent buyer with 5 % down with the investor holding a 5%. Strucuring the deal and closing it. Will I learn that just writing deals up for one point/ then to spit it with a broker. Find the right small company, where you have to take the application/ process the app./ and close the deal. MAKE MONEY and EDUCATE yourself. Find a company that will help you achieve your goals. GET IN THE GAME. Don’t look back. Go part-time on your other job or get your hours structured so you can get in the game, or be like me work your full time job and originate until you make more money originating, and putting your commissions in assets that make you money like lonnie deals or something so you can leave that job.

Get in the Game

Dwayne

P.S. READ RICH DAD POOR DAD and choose who you want to be

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Loan Officers, please respond!! - Posted by Steve (OH)

Posted by Steve (OH) on December 02, 1999 at 17:34:15:

I am currently “wrestling” with a decision that needs to be made. I am contemplating making a carreer change to be a loan officer. I work for a large midwest insurance company (been with them 5 years) as an operational auditor and am investing in real estate on the side. Only been actually doing it for about a year, but have read about it/been interested in it longer than that. I know it is what I want to spend 100% of my working carreer doing in the future. I make decent money (at my full time job), but there are a few drawbacks to my job: I am required to travel approximately 35% of the time which makes it hard to research/rehab, etc. after work hours (while on the road). Also, the job is not taking me in the direction (industry-real estate) that I want to go.

At any rate, I have interviewed with a mortgage company for a loan officer position (Heartland mortgage. Been in business since 1987 and are the largest writer of brokerage mortgages in OH…I live in Columbus). I have talked with the manager a few times since the interview and he has offered me the job. I am putting him off telling him I want to think about it…I do.

Heartland has their own bank that they can write business for, however, they end up using approximately 22 other banks primarily. The loan officers can write firsts, seconds, refinances, and nonconforming business. This to me, seems to make it more appealing. The minimum to close per month (goal) is approximately 4 which would put my salary at approximately 40-45k. Commission range is 38-42% (I think) and average loan fees are 2,500. No car allowance, health insurance is approximately 60/month, 401k available. Car and other expenses are written off instead of reimbursed. There are loan officers making from the minimum to up over 100k. The position is 100% commission which I assume is standard. The company has their own telemarketing department and supposedly the loan officers get 3-4 “good” leads per day.

A few concerns I have: Obviously the switch from a guaranteed salary job to 100% commission would be an eye-opener. I will be 29 years old in about 20 days and am single. After I graduated from college, I worked for a rental car company for about 2 years and have worked for the insurance company for about 5 years. If this doesn’t work out, will people see me as a “job-hopper?” This is a minimal concern because I only plan on doing the loan officer job for a few years until I have enough rental properties, am comfortable with flips, options, etc. to go on my own.

I am convinced that working for myself in real estate investing can be done and figure that this job would be a nice “segway” to it. Also, the freedom of working your own hours appeals to me.

Attention all of you loan officers that linger on this site: Please give positive/negative impact to the job. Anyone from the Columbus area that knows of a good mortgage broker/bank that is hiring for these positions? How does the commission structure compare to yours? Any horror stories regarding Heartland? Their site is: www.heartlandfinance.com if you would like to review it.

Any input is appreciated and anyone willing to talk with me via phone, please include your number. Changing carreers is scary and I would be leaving a lot of good solid contacts where I work. I do, however, feel that most companies would respect the fact that I want to work for myself in the future…Thank you.

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A different answer for you - Posted by Tyler

Posted by Tyler on December 06, 1999 at 24:59:52:

Steve,

Let me give you another perspective before you make your decision.

One year ago this month, I sat at my corporate job…miserable as could be. I knew, as you do, that RE is where I wanted to be. It is the business that would be a catalyst to my dreams.

After spending several months trying to balance the job and work on my business on the side, I made the decision that I was going to take the “full time plunge”.

It was risky. Some may call it crazy.

But I’ll tell one thing: in this business, if you want it bad enough, and work hard at it YOU WILL SUCCEED.

I saved 3 mos (or 2, can’t remember) living expenses, held my breath, and jumped. I quit the week before the 98 CRE convention in Dallas.

After spending a good month studying and getting my system and team in place, I hit it.

First month in business, I made more than I had in 6 months at my corporate job the previous year.

I’m telling you my story, to hopefully give you some motivation to see that you too can do it.

I had thoughts of doing something similar to what you’re talking about…but the bottom line was, my business needed focus for me to be successful. I knew it could be done. There are hundreds (thousands) of successful people on this site sharing ideas every day. I knew if they could do it, I could too.

If you REALLY want your RE business to be successful, you need to give it nothing less than 100% focus. This site has all the tools you will need. Find your niche, buy a course or two, and follow it.

I promise you, my friend, you’ll be glad you did.

Nate “Tyler”

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You have to know what makes you differn’t - Posted by Paulc

Posted by Paulc on December 05, 1999 at 12:29:42:

I have been is the business for about a year and a half. I started on a whim, a why not try approach. I was single, going to college and just quit my computer networking job. I administered the computer network for a mortgage company and when I quit, they asked me if I wanted to try my hand at mortgages. If I knew what I was getting into, I would not have done it. Because I was taking 15 credits at school , I did not have the time to make it really work for me. Now I am married, in my last semester and finally making money.

Here is what I learned.

  1. You must ask ?who and I am why would some one work with me? What make me different than the 100 other people doing the same thing??

This is the key, find a market that is underserved and go after them. This took me awhile to figure out, but now that I know what to do, the deal are coming my way.

  1. Have some back up. There will be months that you will close not deals, find a why to make it through.

  2. Find a mentor. Some one who is very good at this that you can bounce problems around with.

  3. Make as many contacts as you can. They will be the life blood of you system. Learn to talk to anybody, anywhere. You never know where a deal might come from.

Good luck and I do not mean to scare you off. I had no plan, and that is what made it slow for me. Make a plan, find a market ( this might take some time, as you learn, you will see whole market you never knew where there,) and then think positively. You will make it.

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Re: Loan Officers, please respond!! - Posted by Paul Macdonald

Posted by Paul Macdonald on December 03, 1999 at 23:00:22:

Lots of good advice on both sides of the fence. But having been in the business a long time I suggest you think before you leap. As a rookie you WILL NOT make good money WORKING PART TIME!!

… that being said I love my job. I love what I do and I make pretty good money at it. And if you do choose to run this way go with a shop that does A - D credit. Conforming and nonconforming and portfolio and jumbo and all govie paper also. If you’re going to learn it learn it all! Cause you’ll need every piece of knowledge you can get to help some of these people and earn that paycheck.

Good luck.

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Re: Loan Officers, please respond!! - Posted by Pat

Posted by Pat on December 03, 1999 at 08:46:06:

Hi Steve,
Good to hear SOMETHING from the Columbus area. I too live in Columbus and we are just beginning our real estate investment career…have a rental in Sarasota, FLA.
I have a good feeling about Heartland from a purely customer service view point. Don’t know about them from an employer view point, though. Email me your number and we can talk about which bank in Cowlumbus NOT to work for…my wife works there!
Pat

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Try this site for mtg brokers - Posted by Bob H

Posted by Bob H on December 02, 1999 at 20:29:38:

Steve,

Try posting your questions on this site.

Go to discussion groups, then The Grapevive. It’s a site specifically oriented for people in the mortgage business. I’m sure you can get good solid answers to your questions from people in the biz.

Good luck - hope this helps!

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Re: Loan Officers, please respond!! - Posted by DB_ATL

Posted by DB_ATL on December 02, 1999 at 18:58:06:

Steve, I am not a loan officer, but I am in the exact
same position as you, and have been contemplating the exact same move to a mortgage company. I used to be a real estate agent, and now work for a major corporation, which leaves me very little time for investment activity. After discussing it with a loan officer who wants to hire me, and thinking about it a lot, I decided against it for the following reason:
investing and loan origination are two separate businesses that require lots of effort to build and maintain. and most importantly, they both depend entirely on your efforts in order to get paid. the are essentially both commission oriented, in that you don’t get paid just to show up. Having worked a commission job before, I knew I did not have time to build two businesses at once. I decided to get a regular job with flexible work hours,so that I can get a guaranteed income, and FOCUS on building my investment business. Any commission based job requires much effort and time to build.