For one seasoned broker, the past is prologue

For Gusmus, the past is prologue: “We’ve seen this in recessions in the past,” she said. “We saw it in 2009 – so many people left the industry in droves. I think there were 40,000 people registered in Colorado but only 4,000 or so went through with the full licensing process. We’ll see that kind of shrinkage. You have to have more fortitude and more resilience and more persistence than the 90% — which is not to say that 90% will leave.”

MPA caught up with Gusmus at last week’s AIME on Tour stop in Denver, one in a series of regional networking events designed to connect the organization’s members, independent mortgage brokers and wholesale mortgage professionals. The tour stops provide those in the industry with opportunities to secure updates about important initiatives while learning how to get involved in advocating for the broker community.

MPA last featured Gusmus in May, when she described the various market iterations in which she’s performed. Her career began in the financial services industry from 1990 to 2001 when she worked for a veritable who’s who of the industry – Shearson Lehman Hutton, Smith Barney, and A.G. Edwards, to name a few.

By 2005, she was recruited by Countrywide, where she worked until 2008 – the year the wheels started falling apart in the industry in what would forever be known as the Great Recession. Inexplicably, Bank of America was making overtures to buy Countrywide and would eventually purchase it for $40 billion in what many view as arguably the worst financial transaction in history. Sensing choppy waters ahead, she got out before being struck by the consolidations wave.