How a top originator handles a turbulent housing market

CS: I spent my first few years in the business, learning guidelines and figuring out ways to make deals work that many originators do not know about. There is no better feeling than closing a deal that a buyer or realtor did not think was possible because they had been told ‘no’ at another place. If I have a question on a guideline, I will make sure I know the answer before I put that loan in front of an underwriter. I also try to find niches that are underserved in my market and become a top resource for that niche. Early in my career, that involved educating over 1,000 realtors across the state on Iowa’s state bond loan program. At a time when many lenders were not promoting it, I took the lead in educating buyers and realtors. That helped me recruit top loan officers and introduced me to leaders in my market that are still an influential part of my business today. Years later, I was with a lender who specialized in condo financing. I became a subject matter expert on condos and became a resource nationally for that company. And just a few years ago, I left the correspondent side of the business and returned to my roots on the broker side. Brokers are a very small percentage of my market, so highlighting the advantages I can provide as a broker has been a nice contrast from what my competition can offer.

MPA: What is your favorite technological advancement in the lending space?

CS: When I started in the business, we used to have to wait for rates sheets to be faxed to us from all our investors, so seeing where we are at now is amazing. I think automated verifications are the best advancement. What used to take days, and sometimes weeks, to complete can now be done in minutes or hours. This has created efficiencies in our business that were previously unimaginable. Companies tried to have these types of efficiencies without this technology in the early 2000s, and anyone who was in the business back then lived through the disastrous results. Now that the technology has caught up, the risk has been mitigated, and we can make sure not to repeat the same mistakes that caused the market crash. In addition, I am excited to see the advancements in remote online notarization. The industry has not fully adopted this technology yet, but every day I am seeing more acceptance that this will have a larger role in the final signing process.

MPA: Have you relied on any mentors throughout your career?

CS: Definitely. Early on, I had a manager who really helped shape my career. He saw something in me that I had not yet seen in myself. He knew the right things to say to keep me motivated and gave me the space I needed to become successful. One of my biggest successes came when he and I were working to become the preferred lender for one of the top real estate companies in Des Moines around 2005. He had a tremendous experience with these types of relationships, and I was still pretty new to the business and had no clue what I was doing. He took a back seat, to the point where I was questioning his desire to win this relationship. I felt I had to take the lead to make it happen. Shortly after we became the preferred lender, he announced his retirement. That was when I realized his lack of involvement was by design. Since I took the lead and gained the relationship on my merits and not on his, I built a strong bond with that company. The leader of that real estate company became another mentor of mine. She and I built a strong working relationship and friendship that helped guide my success and career trajectory.