How these top producers crushed it in a tough market

Maintaining a back-to-basics philosophy in turbulent times is what helped set these leading mortgage originators ahead of the crowd during 2025.

The No. 1 producer, Shant Banosian, added to his responsibilities in 2025, becoming the president of Rate.

Still, he stuck to the basics, working with his Realtor referral partners, helping them navigate what proved to be a challenging market, with inventory remaining low and mortgage rates staying elevated.

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Banosian's office is located in the Boston suburb of Waltham, Massachusetts.

"In a low inventory market, it's extremely difficult to get your offer accepted," Banosian said. "We helped our agent partners and our clients figure out ways for their offer to stand out [while] offering certainty and speed."

He and his team also spent time coaching clients to help them understand their best financing solutions to get the most out of their budgets.

Being prepared for the opportunities

But this is not the end of it. The fourth quarter last year provided a brief refinance window. "Whenever rates do come down, it's really, really important that you stay in communication with your database and show them what the opportunities in the market," Banosian said.

Being both president of a large originator like Rate as well as maintaining his own production required him to stay disciplined and committed to both and understanding where his highest and best use was.

He noted his "world-class team" which has contributed to his success as an originator over the years, and Banosian relied on them more than ever. On the corporate side, he used the term "world-class" again for the people and technology he works with.

"Being able to teach, coach and mentor the loan officers here in terms of what I built, and work alongside them to help them came naturally, because I was speaking from something that I lived and breathed for the last 15 years," Banosian said.

Sticking with the tried and true

Mark Cohen, CEO and founder at Cohen Financial of Beverly Hills, California, second on this year's listing, noted his longevity in the business and sticking with the tried and true.

"Just the consistency, following through, knowledge, being available, being straightforward, and delivering the best execution and products for my clients," Cohen said.

It's been a turbulent economy, but the market has heavy demand for housing, and many of those borrowers are in the non-qualified mortgage part of the business. Those loans have well received by Wall Street, and as a result, rates have come down, Cohen noted. His primary market is Southern California, which has some of the highest home prices in the nation.

"The market is very attractive, and there's lots of opportunities out there," Cohen said. To take advantage, he has become more aggressive in his business development efforts.

Also adopting the back to basics philosophy is Amanda Sessa, vice president and senior loan officer in the Boulder, Colorado office of SWBC Mortgage.

"That's what a lot of us old school lenders, loan officers, are having to do, is in the last few years, is really go back to reforming relationships," Sessa said. For example, she has done continuing education courses or mortgage updates.

Those efforts have been well received and helped brand her as an expert in the field, said Sessa, whose husband John is the branch manager and senior loan officer in the office.

The competition level is also rising, Sessa noted. "There's a lot of loan officers that have picked up their game that have had us stay on our toes too," she said, contending for real estate agent business.

"That was a little bit of a wake-up call to me," she said. "I was like, we've got to keep marketing our current Realtors and keep in touch and taking care of them, and not fall asleep at the wheel."

Sessa did $70.7 million last year in dollar volume, with 112 units.

Marketing plans for 2026

For 2026 the Sessas will continue to market themselves as consultants to their consumers, much in the same way as a certified public accountant or financial planner. "We're there to help with the market changes," she said.

All producers need to deal with the unexpected, but the key to success is how originators handle those events.

"You're going to have your forecasts every single year, and the forecasts are always almost going to be wrong every single time," Banosian said. "I don't know that we've ever gone into a year and all the predictions and forecasts have come true."

Right now, it is the middle of the spring home purchase season, and he pointed out mortgage rates are much better today than they were at this time in 2025.

Rates are going to rise and fall. Those remain out of originators' control.

"What we can control is the strategy that we're going to implement, the basic fundamentals, the actions, the activities that we do every single day to help us take advantage of whatever the market presents us and do it better for our clients and partners than anybody else is doing it," Banosian said.

In fact, given where rates are today, even though they are higher versus late February, it is creating a refinance opportunity in the market. His job as president of Rate is to make sure the loan officers are able to capitalize on current market conditions.

"The cool part is, there's never been a better time to be a loan officer ever in the history of the mortgage business," Banosian said. "We've got more tools and technology at our disposal than ever, we can do things faster and communicate faster and we've got less competition" as the number of mortgage loan officers is dropping. This opportunity to build market share is one of the things that keeps him excited for the business.

Finding a niche to focus on

Find a market niche and focus on it, Cohen said. For him this is offering the various non-qualified mortgage products, including debt service coverage ratio loans.

Originators "have to adapt to the market, and be able to do everything effectively," he said.

Sessa has been very good with keeping up with her database, and doing things like client appreciation parties. It's not forgetting about the group of people who already believe in you.

"That's our raving fans, and that's grown to be a quite sizable and pretty amazing group," she said. "One of the goals I have for 26 is really to up my game on that and keep in front of them, whether it's through a BombBomb (a video engagement platform) or a note, or some sort of anniversary reach out, or another client appreciation extravaganza."

Sessa said she does not need to be everything to everybody, but looks to be the one who borrowers think of in the Boulder marketplace.