How to become a mortgage broker as a new career

It takes a mortgage industry village

Take Toshia Drummond (pictured left), of Approved Mortgage Solutions in Plantation, Fla., who was a schoolteacher for 20 years before entering the industry.

“Many, many years ago, I was an English teacher and a literacy coach and ultimately thought that eventually I would be a principal and possibly the superintendent of schools,” she told Mortgage Professional America in a recent interview. “I did everything I needed to do – I had a master’s in leadership, a bachelor’s in English and a doctorate in education, believe it or not.

“But there was a shift,” she added. “Because Florida is so expensive, I was, like, OK what else can I do?” Her father suggested she get a real estate license. “So I’m looking at him saying: Are you kidding?” But she did take dad’s advice, securing her real estate license and later her mortgage broker license.

She attributed a sense of empathy to her teaching career, a trait that has served her well in her second act. To illustrate, she told MPA of having waived her commission fee after a technical glitch prevented a homeowner from receiving down payment assistance via a state program, instead working with United Wholesale Mortgage to make sure the borrower achieved homeownership.

She invoked the proverb “it takes a village” – usually associated with children brought up in a safe and healthy environment thanks to an entire community’s efforts – as still applicable to her mortgage broker role. “As a mortgage broker and lender, we play such important roles in that village,” she said. “It’s super rewarding and reinforces belief in my values that good comes from helping others.”