After 4 years of being a successful wholesale account executive I found myself at a career crossroads in February 2009 when my employer Equifirst mortgage Corp. abruptly shut its doors. I had a decision to make, do I push forward in wholesale and fear for my job every day or do I return to my retail roots where I can control my own fate. Clearly I chose the latter. I do not regret that decision at all.
I did need to choose which company I was going to originate for. Over the previous years I had developed strong relationships with dozens of mortgage brokers in the DC metro area. I chose to work for Choice Finance for a variety of reasons:
The management and culture are both first class without being stuffy. This is not a jeans/t-shirt shop. This is a professional environment that I can proudly bring my clients. That was very important to me.
The marketing vision was very different than most everyone else out there. Brokers fall into two categories 1. 100% self generated business (eat what you kill) 2. Companies that buy leads and send out FHA postcards (sweatshops that do not pay very well) . Neither one is very attractive to me. Having been in wholesale, I did not have a book of clients. I also did not want to make only 15% of gross fees on a loan that I put a lot of time and work into. Choice Finance had the vision several years ago to develop a strong internet presence that would bring clients to our doorstep. These are not cold calls, these are educated consumers, ready to purchase or refi that have done homework on our company and want to do business with us. You cannot get a more qualified lead. Choice was not asking for 75% of my commission for these leads, they were simply asking that I help the team get stronger as whole and develop my own website. This site quickly was indexed by Google and within 60 days of it’s inception I had closed a self generated loan through my website. I had found a way to make the team stronger, earn more leads and generate my own business while giving my clients a tool that they can actually use.
The management likes to compliment each individual’s strength. Some loan officers are better at purchases, some are better with internet leads, some with VA, etc….My specialty is FHA. Recognizing this, they develop individual websites for each loan officer to highlight their strengths. Try Googling “VA loan officer”; the fourth link is for Brent Mendelson in our office. He is our resident VA specialist, it is not uncommon for his phone to ring and he hears “I found your website; I would like you to help me with your loan.” Or you can Google “Spanish speaking loan office in Maryland”, Alex Echeandia’s site will be the #1 site in Google .
Don’t get me wrong, this is not easy. You do not slap together a website and expect your phone to ring. It takes work. I maintain my site and post quality content every day. It takes 20 minutes a day and has made me thousands of dollars. Now that I am established online, it will only continue to grow and allow me to thrive in any rate environment.
We do realize that you cannot grow just by the internet alone. At our core we are local mortgage lender that values our client relationships. Those relationships often start with realtors. Choice Real Estate is one of the fastest growing real estate firms in the DC metro area. www.choicerealestate.net is in my humble opinion the best MLS listing site for Maryland, Virginia and DC. This site generates business both for our professional realtors and our full time loan officers.
I decided that I wanted to work for a company that is focused on growing and finding new ways and avenues to develop business. In this economic environment; if you are not constantly looking for new ways to thrive, you WILL fail. Choice Finance is committed to customer service, providing a positive work environment and growing in a tough economy. If you want to cold call lists, or wait for your phone to ring when you mail out postcards, this is not the right place for you. If you want to work hard and GROW your business, it is. I would be happy to show you what has been successful for me.
www.choicefinance.net301.881.8900 x125
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