"Repetition breeds perfection" for Chong Yi, and the system he has put in place has helped him nearly double his production volume. Yi, who is a senior mortgage banker at Apex Home Loans in Rockville, Md., only wishes that he'd known sooner the impact that implementing a standardized method would have on his long-term success.
Working with a coach, and drawing on his prior experience in another line of business, Yi formed a strategy with a twist. The willingness to pivot and think outside of the box serves him in building his database in addition to solving challenging puzzles for his clients.
This is Yi's first appearance on the Top Producers list. Last year, he originated 153 loans for a combined dollar volume of approximately $57 million, ranking him No. 177 on the
Tell us about your most creative or successful marketing strategy. How did you come up with the idea? What were the results?
I have a weekly regimen and schedule: 40 real estate agent calls on Monday, along with three face-to-face appointments, two "break bread" appointments (lunch or Happy Hour) and 20 calls per day the rest of the week. This took me from five to seven loans per month to 13 to 15 per month and from $30 million in production to roughly $60 million.
The single biggest idea I had was to try and schedule my appointments during Happy Hour. The secret is get deeper with relationships and what better time than at cocktails? This came as a result of 20 years in the restaurant/bar industry prior to getting into the mortgage industry. This gives me the home field advantage!
What's unique about the local market that you serve and what do you do to address those needs?
We are in a super diverse market with a wide range of sales prices. I'm not really sure if it is unlike others as much as I believe it to be, but there is a language barrier that somewhat prohibits getting into the market. We are trying to address this by bringing members onto the team who can speak different languages, which also provides a value-add to referral relationships.
Tell us about an unusual or difficult loan scenario and what you did to ensure a successful closing.
We were given a loan scenario where a borrower wanted to purchase their retirement home while holding onto their primary home, which had about eight years left on the mortgage. They carried a total monthly debt obligation of $4,500, which included their current mortgage. They did not want to sell their current home because it was to be given to a son upon graduating from college.
Since they had plenty of equity in their home, they could have sold it and had some left to pay off all of their credit card debt, as well as cover a down payment for their new home. They also wanted to have the home paid for free and clear so that they could give it to their son mortgage-free.
I suggested that we take cash out of their current home to pay off the credit cards and enough cash to have both homes paid off by the time they were to retire. The problem was that they could only see that they had eight years left on the current home and did not want to refinance. But, I showed them how we would structure the loan and have it paid off so that we accomplished their goal. I suggested that they do a cash-out refinance and take out enough cash to pay off the cards and buy the retirement home with cash.
This would give them a new mortgage payment of $1,200 which was slightly higher than their current mortgage. The caveat was that they would not have a new 30-year mortgage. I showed them a shortened amortization and pointed out to them that by making the same $4,500 payment on their monthly debt, they would pay off their current loan in fewer than four years.
This would allow them to be credit card-debt free, to own their retirement home debt-free when they retired and have a mortgage-free home for their son when he graduated college in four years.
What do you know about the mortgage business now that you wished you knew when you started out?
I would work on creating the "perfect loan process." Being coached by mortgage industry legend Tim Braheem has shown me that the secret to creating long-term business is to create a system for all loans to be processed in the same way. Repetition breeds perfection.
Who is someone in your life, either personally or professionally, who helps contribute to your success?
Lorraine, my partner in life, would be the first person. She understands me and how I operate. She is there for me and allows me to be me. Professionally: my team, my company and my coaches/mentors, Tim Braheem and Julie Weix of Leadership 360.
