For Jeff Bell, the mortgage sales business is “easier than people make it. I think it is easy to know the market, the products and the competition. And you need to stay in touch with people and be honest with people.
“When you look at somebody's loan and it doesn't make sense to refinance, don't refi them so you can make a buck. Tell them not to refinance; be honest with them. Turn business away when it is the right thing for the customer.
“I believe people build reputations based on the way they run their business. Over time you create a name for either being the person people want to call or being the person people don't want to call.”
It is important to take the long-term view of what you want to do in the business when you make your day-to-day decisions, Bell said.
He works out of the Kirkland, Wash., office of Cobalt Mortgage. The company is a mortgage banker/broker, but most of what it originates is as a mortgage banker. His production numbers for the Origination News 2010 Top Producers Survey ranked him 61st, with volume of $58 million. His 2011 production increased slightly to $62 million.
He uses three assistants—a loan coordinator and two production partners.
Bell had a real estate background before moving into the financing side 10 years ago, deciding he would rather work with numbers instead.
He brings to the table a workman's-like attitude that is one of the primary reasons he is a successful loan originator.
“Consistently doing the things that other people don't want to do. Basically it is every day doing the disciplines that aren't exciting things to do, that are not flashy, they are just the things you need to do in order to do well,” he said.
For example, he does annual past client loan reviews. And he stays in constant touch with his referral sources.
Bell also keeps up to date on what is happening in the mortgage business in order to position himself as the expert in his marketplace.
Besides being an originator, he is also an area manager for Cobalt Mortgage. That gives him a perspective on what other loan officers are doing.
“I see some people don't want to take the time to learn the business, or to really understand what is going on” by studying the available products as well as the competition. “I think taking the time to do that is an important thing,” Bell said.
There are certain niche products that his company offers which Bell chooses not to originate himself, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture products. These niche products require a particular knowledge set and expertise, he said, noting he does do conforming, jumbo and Federal Housing Administration loans.
Virtually all of his business comes from Realtor referrals and past client referrals. He sends his clients a card once a year as well as the loan reviews.
Those loan reviews, because of the personal nature of them, are a particularly effective tool. They are not generic, Bell pointed out.
The borrower's mortgage is looked at and analyzed. Bell then sends the customer an email where he says he looked at the loan and here is the current situation.
For the B2B referral partners, “I just stay in touch with them. It is typically a phone call. I don't send out any marketing materials. I don't send out interest rates.”
Instead, Bell picks their brains for information. “I like to know what they're seeing going on in the marketplace. I like to share what I see going on in the marketplace and let them know I am a resource for them.
“I never ask them for referrals. I mainly just try to touch base and be there for them with information if they need it,” he said.
Bell puts in a full day at his task, including eating lunch in his office. He prefers to meet with his referral sources after working hours, “because it takes too much time out of the workday to get away from the office.”
Kirkland is a suburb of Seattle and Bell said the King County market has been “pretty steady, pretty consistent” in recent months. There has not been a big spike or a big lag in either home purchase or refinance business. Almost 95% of his business comes from this area.
It did see enough of a decline in home values where it has created difficulties for some people who would like to refi. But King County did not crater like other markets where it wiped out the opportunity for people to refi.
Consistency, Bell reiterated, is what has contributed to his success as an originator. “If you don't want to do it, and you're supposed to do it, you should probably do it and you will do better,” he said, not just by putting in the hard work, but by not procrastinating about the difficult tasks that come along with being a mortgage originator.
“When a value comes in low for a customer, call them up and tell them (right away), instead of waiting four days and trying to put it off. When a loan isn't going to close on time, or there is an issue with an inspection or whatever it might be, make the call to the Realtor. Or, when the appraisal comes in, send people notifications and let them know it came it,” Bell said.
This includes telling the borrower why their deal does not make sense because what their finances are and the value of the property. Instead, some loan officers try to cram them into the transaction. It is better, he explained, to advise them on the right thing to do.
It is important to update people during the entire loan process. Even when the underwriter approves the loan, originators should call their customer and let them know it got approved; there are those that just keep working on the file and don't communicate with their customer, he stated.
There are ways for originators to communicate with the various parties in the transaction, including the borrower, the Realtor and the other parties in the transaction “that help you create a reputation and reasons why people want to work with you in the future,” Bell said.
