Central-North Louisiana branch owner Louise Thaxton is one of the top originators at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., Sun Prairie, Wis., and to hear her tell it, she could not have done it alone or without the many people who both depend on her and support her. She describes her job as a mutual responsibility she takes seriously due to its importance not only to her but to others, such as the many military and other local borrowers she helps finance homes, as well as to her family and her staff.
“I am the rainmaker,” said Thaxton, who said she has been the top producer at the company in terms of the number of loans originated as well as among its top five producers in terms of dollar volume. She ranked 64th in terms of dollar volume in the 2010 top originator rankings published in the June issue.
Thaxton's ability to be competitive in terms of dollar volume as well as units is particularly impressive, given that the region of Louisiana she works in has been through economic challenges and has relatively small average loan sizes that range from $175,000 in one area to $195,000 in another.
She sees her team as a key part of her ability to originate notable volumes in challenging markets both now and in the past.
“No way can I do it alone. I can't physically do it,” said Thaxton in a recent interview, noting that there is a 120-mile span between the offices in her area.
“I love to lead,” she said, noting that she also loves to teach, blog and write, as she has as a regular columnist for this publication. What is not so much in her wheelhouse are other skills such as processing and other “detail” work. That also is among the reasons why, she said, “I have a lot of people.”
While Thaxton cannot do it alone, she does a lot.
She describes herself as one of those people who has been able to get by on five to six hours of sleep as opposed to the usual eight commonly recommended. She also has a lot of willpower and a can-do attitude, but she also is a realist who calls the challenges of the current market like she sees them in a way that seems to resonate with people. For example, one of her recent blog stressing that the source of today's complex web of problems comes down simply to an economy out of whack generated an amazing amount of web traffic, she said.
Thaxton is an avid user and believer in social media. “Google juice really has worked,” she said, noting that among the topics she covers in her classes for Realtors are blogging and social media.
Although Thaxton knows individual accomplishment without support has its limits, she generally believes people can do more than they might initially think they can.
She encourages other loan officers to not limit what they think they can do professionally.
This was a lesson she said she herself learned in part due to a visit to another originator in another part of the country who served as a role model for her.
“If a 58-year-old grandmother can do this, you can do this,” she said, referring to herself as she recounted what she sometimes says to loan officers when they express doubts about what they can accomplish.
Thaxton stresses that she is not unsympathetic to today's challenges, which are often more than psychological, such as unemployment in the double digits in some areas, plants shutting down and extreme depreciation.
While she does not gloss over the fact that current times are challenging, Thaxton notes that in her experience, challenges can create needs that can drive professionals to accomplish more if they are willing to do difficult things and work hard.
When a hurricane in her past much stronger than those seen recently wiped out a family business that provided key income for an extended period of time (not to mention an entire town), it drove Thaxton to rise to the occasion with a dramatic professional change to a more productive strategy.
“I needed to recreate myself,” said Thaxton, and with a family counting on her, she felt there was no question about doing it.
“You've got to do whatever it takes,” she said.
Thaxton has found when she has embarked on new professional strategies in some cases it can be a real challenge, but she has not let that stop her. She said she has entered markets where no one knew her name and initially was told, “You're not wanted here.”
“But I am so determined, I told them, 'You don't know what you need,' and I just stuck it out,” she said.
In this way, Thaxton entered and learned about local military communities and found ways to help them with their housing finance needs.
“I fell in love with taking care of the military. I read war books. I have become a student of war and the military.” She said that although she had one family member who had been in the service, she really had not been familiar with military culture or terms prior to her professional interest, which ultimately became personal.
“I was clueless of the culture and I had to learn. I started with, 'I'll do whatever it takes for my family.' Then you move into, 'I'll do whatever it takes to take care of this soldier.'”
Today, Thaxton says, “Most of my business comes from Realtors who serve the military.”
The majority of the mortgages she originates in her region are government loans and only about 10% of her production is conventional.
Thaxton, who in addition to being a producing branch owner for her Louisiana region is part owner at Fairway, warns it is important “not to have all of your eggs in one basket” and to diversify one's business.
That is why she said almost half of her production consists of nonmilitary loans of various types, including, for example, rural and first-time homebuyer loans
Thaxton, who has done a lot of professional motivational speaking for the industry, enjoys her work as a role model for mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers.
“I speak to a lot of audiences about how you achieve 'success' in this business,” she said.
Today's definition of “success” increasingly includes loan quality as well as volume, and this creates a challenge that Thaxton said she has addressed by tying their compensation to loan quality.
The compensation determined by a weighted scoring system designed for her staff based on a model modified for her team, which she refers to as “Team Thaxton.” She said there is a scorecard for loan assistants, assistant processors and loan officers so that every member of her staff who is involved in the origination process is scored.
“There is even an incentive for the person who answers the phone,” Thaxton said, noting that this accuracy pays off in terms of efficiency, allowing loans to move through the system faster.
She said loan officers should take as two hours if they need to for a loan officer to take a loan application correctly and she stresses that they should be thorough. “You go back to their birth if you have to.”
