Mortgage veterans offer advice amid turmoil

“Have consistency in what you do,” he said. Other tips: “Following through on promises you make. Keeping the main objective. Keeping people in homes. Getting creative. We’re involved in everything – commercial, non-QM, SBA. Definitely, demand is increasing and the need for our services. You need to look at alternative avenues.”

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Both men credited AIME with helping them re-acclimate into the industry after the challenges of the past and the exigencies of the present. Kunisawa ticked off the immediate impact his AIME membership had on his business. “Once I joined AIME in early 2018, and started connecting with people and other loan officers across the county – seeing what they were doing to be successful, how they structured their businesses, how they marketed to realtors, how they used social media – it was a big impact,” he said. “Getting to know some of the top producers, getting to meet them and talk to them was big.”

Avila concurred: “What it’s done for me is putting me in line with a lot of people who think like me, act like me, walk and talk like me, who know exactly what it takes to take care of the consumer.”

The mission of AIME closely mirrors a mantra of sorts he inculcates among his staff: “Service before self,” he said. “If you don’t put the client or consumer before your own needs and wants, you’re not going to be successful. The people we’re involved with at AIME have always geared into that. They’re an extension of my family now.”