Christopher Vincent Hussain, the No. 1 producer on our list, says he benefited from the changing landscape in the business. This is because much of the competition on the residential side exited the business. This enabled his 2010 residential loan production to grow by over $100 million over 2009 to $195 million today. The entire list of the Top 150 Loan Officers for 2010 will appear in the June issue of Origination News.
But that was not the only shift. He also was originating commercial loans and added another $153 million to his volume bringing his total up to $348 million. (Editor’s Note: ON’s survey includes both residential and commercial loan officers.) Hussain is the president of WeFit2U Inc., Napa, Calif. He offers a wide product menu and originates in all 50 states.
Some of those who exited the industry who had worked with Hussain previously (his company also has a contract processing business) referred a large number of their clients to him. Being featured in industry publications (including this one) helps as well, he said. It allowed him to show people he was an expert and they should be working with him. It doesn’t hurt, he added, being one of the young guns in this business, and therefore familiar with all the technology being used today.
Every day there are changes from wholesalers and being on top of those and getting those out ahead of the competition to the Realtors he works with is another reason why his business boomed.
As for the commercial business, it was not something Hussain had emphasized in the past. “But similar to anything, the more you do it, the more you know about it.
“I basically applied all of the things that made me successful over the years in residential towards commercial to ensure I’ve got access to the best rates. When it comes to commercial, you need to be able to concentrate being able to close,” he said.
A lot of those who call him with commercial deals have deals that won’t move forward because they are not “serious.” They still think it is the free money environment, but “it is not the old days,” Hussain declared.
But those who have a viable deal use him “because, A, I close; B, I close fast; and C, I get the best rates.” He shows clients what can and can’t be done and doesn’t waste a lot of their time, which is important for the commercial client. There are still those originators that see the money to be made in commercial but lack the knowledge to get the deal done, he said.
Commercial customers would prefer to hear from the start why the loan won’t work and what can be done to fix it. And just because the laws on dealing with a customer are not as strict as they are on the residential side, Hussain said that doesn’t mean the originator should not follow similar guidelines.
And some of those clients straddle both sides of his business. He was dealing with a gas station property owner on a residential loan and that person did not realize until he saw it on Hussain’s website that he also did commercial. The client was unhappy with the commercial originator he was working with and asked Hussain if he could help. The upshot is that he has added a referral source to his customer base.
Creativity is important for success today, especially in dealing with all of the curve balls in both residential and commercial. “It is like Bruce Lee said, ‘Be like water. Water can flow or it can crash.’ And that is what you have to do, you have to go with the flow,” Hussain said.
