In a business where building your personal brand is equally as important as building a company brand, David Pressel has been able to do both. |
Even though he changed companies in 2011, his personal production remains high and continues to grow, in no small part to being a loan officer servicing the children of past clients.
“People are doing business with me, whether it is with West Town or any other company I’ve worked for in the last 20 years. The fact of the matter is that they are relying on my information, my credibility, my ethics and my knowledge in order to get from Point A, which is the application, to Point B, which is a closed loan,” he said.
Prior to starting in the mortgage industry, Pressel was a rock musician whose group played with some well-known bands including Spin Doctors, Blues Traveler and Little Feat. He enjoyed playing, but he also saw the problems associated with the lifestyle.
“On a whim, I answered an ad for a mortgage loan officer trainee” 23 years ago. Pressel started as a loan officer as worked his way up the ladder.
Last year, Pressel and his partner, Thomas Annunziata, opened two branches, one in Manalapan, N.J., and the other in West Chester, Pa. for West Town Saving Bank, Cicero, Ill.; the company’s mortgage platform is headquartered in Frederick, Md. Pressel was working at First Choice Bank in New Jersey when Annunziata approached him with the opportunity to “start up a division for an up and coming bank.”
This took place back in early 2011, when the real estate market was still in decline. So in the face of this adversity, Pressel took the plunge and “and it ended up being one of the best things I’ve ever done.” Starting at a relatively young company is good because of the lack of legacy issues, but at the same time, he noted the company does not have a track record with investors.
But Pressel was able to leverage his own personal reputation with secondary market investors. “So I knew what they wouldn’t and I also knew what they would do.”
He has mostly spent his career in the metro New York-New Jersey market. Previous positions included helping to start up the third-party division of MortgageIT.com.
Reputation is important these days, he notes, as originators find themselves no longer doing business with certain lenders because of a mortgage that was originated years before. West Town provides his offices with a clean slate for both good and bad—“we have full ownership of any successes as well as issues moving forward,” Pressel said.
Even in start up mode for West Town, Pressel’s personal production was $60 million in 2011. The first quarter of that year he was still at First Choice; the previous two years at First Choice he did $80 million for 2010 and $100 million in 2009.
After leaving First Choice, it took time to get things up and running at West Town, including procuring investor approvals. Life in the new mortgage world has stretched the time to receive those from two to three weeks to two to three months.
Another issue that impacted production, both good and bad, is the low interest rate environment. More people sought loans, but this led to increased turn times at already overburdened investors.
“It was a nice feather in my cap to be able to do that number last year. I’m probably on par to exceed that rather dramatically this year, probably in the $80 million to $90 million area. Plus we have our loan officers here that are doing a very good chunk of business as well.
“It is really nice to see the scales tipping to where, even though we’re in a very good refinance market, we’re really starting to pick up on the purchase business,” he said.
Given that he has over 20 years experience in the mortgage industry, much of his new business is sourced from those customers who he worked with in the past.
Recently he was contacted by a couple which got one of the first loans he closed after entering the business. They emailed Pressel about a loan for their son who is getting married. “It’s kind of nice to have those people stick with you regardless of which company you are with.
“Most of my business comes through referral. I find if you do a good job, two or three people hear about you. If you do not such a good job, a thousand people could hear about you. The Web has really has been both blessing and a curse, depending on the individual and the job that they do,” Pressel said.
“But I truly do feel that if you do a good job and lead by example in this industry, nothing but good things could happen for you.”
One of the things he speaks to his staff about is Realtors being a great source of referral business. Purchases provide all sorts of touch points get referrals out of—the buying broker, the selling broker, the listing broker, various attorneys, he added.
“I never ask for referral business until after the loan has closed,” Pressel said, bucking what some sales trainers preach about asking for referrals at the start. He compared the situation to that of hiring someone to remodel a house. If the job doesn’t go as planned, what is the value of that referral when the consumer calls his or her friend and tells them not to use that service provider.
“I’d rather earn the referral after the services are done. If I do my job properly, it becomes so much less of a hurdle and that person can unequivocally say, ‘Dave’s the man, he did such a good job. His staff was fully available. They were responsive. They told me the truth.’ And I find that works for itself,” Pressel said.
The Internet used to be a larger percentage of his business, but issues with aggregators and what should and should not be disclosed on those websites.
Pressel uses social media marketing. He will post on Facebook such messages as if your interest rate is X%, you might want to call even if you refinanced three to six months ago. “I did that about six weeks ago and I got 10 loans out of it. I am not one to blast every day or every other day.
“There are plenty of other people out there that go that route and are successful and God bless them. The fact of the matter is, I’m busy enough fortunately with my referral business and my other aggregator business that posting on Facebook or Twitter or any other social media—it is a good alternative outlet for generating business but it is not what I rely on.
“But I do see the inherent value in social media and think it is going to increase, not decrease, as we move forward and it becomes more common place.”
He also uses email marketing, looking to get his client’s personal (as opposed to business) address. Those rarely change. He will send a message after the loan closes, two to three months later checking in and then six months and a year.
Originators shouldn’t assume that just because rates are low,
The “beauty of this marriage with West Town” is being able to work with his business partner Annunziata and the division of their duties. Annunziata, he said, knows Pressel’s value proposition is in origination—he is there to handle pricing and scenario questions for loan officers.
Annunziata knows how to structure deals and make sure they close on time.
It is “balance of obligations and a balance of responsibilities” that matches their respective skill sets, said Pressel.
He has never done a subprime loan and only one option adjustable rate mortgage (and that was reluctantly, he said). “I like to sleep very well at night knowing that I am not adding to someone’s financial instability by putting them into a loan that they may regret,” he said.
Pressel declared that his company’s success is predicated on its staff. He compared them to the character of Radar on “M*A*S*H,” saying “they know what we’re thinking before I even ask them. Really it comes down to the staff making me look a lot better than I am sometimes.”
Companywide, West Town has 30 back office staffers; in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania offices there are 34 loan officers.
“The reputation of the company is going to make you incredibly successful or you are going to crash and burn,” he said.
