Top Originator Spotlight: Motto Mortgage’s Allison Rizzo

“I would be given the keys to run the company the way I see fit, which meant worrying less about numbers and more about my clients. It was stressful, especially since I had my third son right in the middle of building this company, Motto Mortgage Success, but those are the moments that define who we are,” she said. “My husband nicknamed me ‘Mortgage Mommy’ during all this, and I guess it rings true. Somehow, with his help and a lot of great family members, I am running a company, producing more loans for more happy clients than ever, and teaching some new loan originators how to do this job the right way.”

Rizzo, top originator and co-owner of Motto Mortgage Success, shares more of her story in this interview.

MPA: Allison, tell us about your mortgage journey. How did you come into the industry?

Allison Rizzo: In 2007, I took an internship with Bank of America while in college. I was hired to learn and manage their new marketing system for their loan originators in the mortgage department. I had a really good manager who liked how I worked and wanted to keep me after the internship was over. There was an opening for a processor for a successful loan officer with Bank of America, and my manager hired me for it. I ended up working full-time at Bank of America while at Rutgers University full-time, finishing up my degree. At this time, there was so much going on because we had just started the housing crash, and everything was changing in the mortgage industry so rapidly. I think this was a great start for me for my industry because I learned how to navigate through when guidelines were changing daily. It really made me take my time and make sure I was doing everything correctly – especially because I was a processor, so I was working hand in hand with the clients, underwriters, and closers. It gave me great insight into how to cleanly submit a loan with everything needed to get us to close quickly and efficiently.

MPA: What is your business philosophy, and where does it come from?

AR: I would say that my business philosophy would be growing through honesty and integrity. I truly care about each client and each transaction. This is a very personal business. You are guiding someone through, most likely, the biggest purchase they will ever make. As a loan originator, you are looking at the numbers for them. The debt-to-income ratio and their interest rates, but the clients are looking at the home they are going to spend holidays in and build memories. I keep that in mind and make sure I am very detailed and give them every scenario from the start. We go through income and assets so that when they get a pre-approval from me, I know it’s much more than an estimate. I really take my time with each client, which in the beginning made it hard to grow quickly. I always hit my goals, but I was more concerned about my client’s well-being than my own numbers. Over time, making each client my number one priority has given me so much success in this industry, but it also makes me love what I do.