It could be that you are bored, or like all human nature you are not satisfied and feel the gaping hole in your soul begging for more completeness in your life. It could be an excuse for your short comings as a loan originator this year. It could also be that there is a better suited company for you to operate your business.  

You analyze the opportunity vs cost. What will I gain vs what do I give up. Is it worth it? I have been here for many years. I have only been here a short period of time, it wouldn’t matter if I made a change. Who will pay me the most? Who has the best marketing? Will they give me leads? So many questions. However, when you go to search the internet you will find little to no resource on how to make this decision. Until now! Here you will not only find support on how to make the decision but also a useful tool that lists 100 questions you should ask your future employer before committing to do business with them. 

How to make the decision? 

I have been in the mortgage industry for 17 years. I have essentially worked with the same group of mortgage professionals my entire 17 years. Let me explain. I was hired as an assistant to a successful mortgage broker, we then converted from a mortgage broker to a branch of a mortgage bank. That bank went out of business because we were funding Alt A Loans during the 2007-2008 (The Big Short Movie) glory days. The next mortgage bank went out of business due to fraud. The next one was terrible and we quit in 3 months. Finally, our home. Strength, Stability, Leadership, Accountability, Reliability, Predictability, and most importantly Consistency. All attributes that are important for a great platform for you to build your business.  

It is my belief and core conviction that to be successful in any business you have to be consistent in as many aspects of your business dealings as possible. Same phone number, location, web site, email, process, hours of operations, turn times for a response, customer interaction with your staff, marketing, messaging, performance, you get the picture. So changing companies is counter intuitive to a successful business. Unless you can keep as many of these items consistent, before, during or after the transition is made.  

Timing is crucial. When do you make a transition? The answer is between Jan 1st and Feb 28th (unless it is a leap year). It is the slowest part of the year and allows you time to get up to speed before March 1st which is the beginning of the money making season. You will always leave loans or miss opportunities if you make a transition. That’s okay, everybody does.  

Is it me or is it the company? If you have shown up to the office at least 40 hours per week (no covid excuses please, that is applicable only in 2020), if you have asked for help and not received it, if you have turned in great files with supporting financial documentation, if you have been professional and treated your co-workers in a respectful manner, if you have followed up politely with processing for status on your loan, if you have represented your company well and aggressively marketed yourself to the realtor and builder community, if you have spent at least 3 hours of your day making outbound phone calls, if you have clung to and asked a top producer in your company for help growing your business, if you have reached out to management and asked to be groomed for better opportunities and more production, and if you have managed and invested your own money into marketing and you are still not getting the results you desire, then it is mostly likely time to look for a different mortgagee company. However, if you have not done ALL, and I mean ALL of these things then you have not given your company a fair opportunity and the issue is YOU. You need to change and do some things differently. 

Of course you must be asking yourself, have you ever changed companies? The answer is Yes. However, not in a very long time (consistency). Production and income have been great. I do everything I have mentioned in this article. The cycle never stops. It is continuous as we seek a path to over-achievement. At a certain point of success you go from I want to get to the top to now where do we go from here? At the pinnacle we look over the the road blocks and ceilings you broke through to get there, the team you built, the leadership skills you acquired, the amazing business you have built and the I wish statements turn into what if statements.  

I wish you well my friends and colleagues. As promised here is the list of top 100 questions to ask a future employer when considering transitioning your mortgage business from one company to another.  

Alex Varela - National Mortgage Banker

1.  If you have a benefits package please send it to me, otherwise see below

2. Do you have health insurance? 

      a. If so, how long after we start will it be effective?

      b. What type of coverage is it? 

      c. Does the company pay any portion of the cost of healthcare? 

3. Do you have a 401k plan? 

      a. if not, would you be open to me helping get one started with my Edward Jones advisor? 

      b. Would you be open to matching employee contributions? 

4. Does the company offer PTO? 

     a. If so, how is it accrued? 

5. Is the payroll department set up to handle child support deductions from payroll? 

6. When are sales persons paid? 

7. When are all other employees paid? 

8. Holiday Schedule, do you follow the normal schedule of federal holidays? 

9. Do you have an expense reimbursement program? 

10. Are you set up with an office depot for branches to order supplies? 

11. Do you have the ability to have several different ways of compensating employees? 

     a. Example: paying a team LO fixed bps on all production for a certain LO

     b. Paying an associate LO or junior lo fixed bps on only loans they are marked on? 

     c. Or if you have an easier way please describe? 

12. will the lease for an office be in company's name or the branch manager's name? 

13. Will the company provide all technology to get us up and running? 

     a. Laptops monitors keyboards, mice etc

     b. Servers 

     c. Furniture 

14. How will the initial start up costs be reconciled? 

15. In the future are. you open to leasing from a property owned by the branch manager? 

16. Do you have a set budget for office space for a new branch? 

17. What type of phone system do you use? 

   a. Do we need actual hardware or internet based and a headset? 

18. What is the name of the LOS? 

19. Which CRM do you use? 

20. Do you have support to help us integrate and get trained on all technology? 

21. I assume you do all Freddie/Fannie FHA VA and USDA? 

22. Do you have DPA products? TSAHC, TDHCA, SETH? 

23. Do you have any renovation products? 

24. Are you delegated to underwriting jumbo loans? 

      a. Which investors do you have available for jumbo products? 

25. What is the min fico score for FHA & VA? 

26. Do you manually UW FHA, VA, USDA? 

27. Do you manually UW bonds? 

28. Do you manually UW Fannie/Freddie? 

29. Do you allow escrow advances on refinances? 

30. Do you allow 100% diabled veterans to qualify without property taxes? 311. What formula do you use for new construction property taxes? 

       a. Example Sales Price X .9 X tax rate 

31. Do you allow consumers to close on unimproved property taxes? 

32. Do you offer any construction loans? 

33. Lot loans? 

34. Do you allow refinancing of owelty liens? 

35. Any issues with gift of equity? 

36. Is the company licensed in any other states? 

     a. Are you open to getting licensed in other states? 

37. Do you have a Dcp program? 

38. Do you have a scenario help desk? or all product guidelines accessible on a company intranet? 

39. Please describe the loan process in great detail from processing to Funding.

     a. example, who discloses the loan 

     b. at which point in the process does the initial closing disclosure go out? 

     c. who creates and generates the initial closing disclosure? 

    d. When can we order docs? 

     e. are you open to ordering and releasing docs upon initial approval? 

    f. How exactly does funding work? 

    g. Is everything done via e-signing? 

    h. Do you guys have a set up person/department or is it an unnecessary position? 

40. Do you offer long term locks for new builds? 

41. Not that you need it but do you have a float down option? 

42. Is there a queue swap available for underwriting? 

43. If we cancel a lock or let it expire how long do we have to wait to re-lock with current pricing? 

44. How much cash reserves does the company have that is not being used for daily operating expenses? 

45. How much in dollars is available on the warehouse lines? 

    a. Are you already approved for more or can you get more? 

46. What is the max capacity in dollar volume you can handle growing in 2021 to keep turn times 48 hours on purchases and 4 days for refinances? 

47. How many loans would you have to completely repurchase (not scratch and dent) to put the company out of business? 

48. Do you have a secondary market department? 

     a. If so, who runs it and what is their background? 

     b. How many employees does it have? 

49. I/We will bring X many more units per month, do you need to hire any new underwriters to keep turn times as they are today? 

50. Are loan officers responsible for loan buybacks? 

51. Are loan officers responsible for early payoff defaults? 

52. Are loan officers responsible for appraisal fees? 

53. Do you have a specific marketing plan that you roll out for all of your loan officers? 

54. What CRM do you use? 

55. Do you have automated email campaigns for leads?

56. Do you have automated email campaigns for qualified buyers?

57. Do you have automated email campaigns for clients in process?

58. Do you have automated email campaigns for mile stones post closing?

59. Do you have automated email campaigns for past client marketing? 

60. Do you have the ability to mail past clients on a regular basis? 

61. Do you have the ability to send gift realtors on a regular basis? 

62. How many units per month are required to hire a new member to support my business? 

63. How does the new hire get compensated? From the loan officer or the company? 

64. Is there a minimum production standard to start my own branch? 

65. Is it a net branch model or a retail revenue model? 

66. What is your LO comp plan? 

67. Are you willing to add incentives if I reach different production levels? 

68. Is there a per loan commission cap? 

69. May I have a login for your pricing engine? 

70. What are the margins for conv loans?

71. What are the margins for fha loans?

72. What are the margins for USDA loans? 

73. What are the margins for VA loans?

74. What are the margins for bond loans? 

75. What type of website will I get with your company? 

76. May I use my own website? 

77. May I use my own logo in addition to the company's logo? 

78. Does the company pay for business cards? 

79. Does the company pay for marketing flyers? 

80. Will I have a marketing budget to use at my discretion? 

81. Who is head of underwriting? The ultimate decision maker on underwriting? 

82. Will I have the ability to communicate with that person directly? 

83. Will I be able to communicate directly with underwriters? 

84. How long are your turn times for closing documents in the busiest time of the year? 

85. How long are your turn times for funding? 

86. Do you wet fund, dry fund, or table fund? 

87. Is there different compensation for different loan products? 

88. What is the average closing time for a purchase transaction from application to funding? 

89. What is the average closing time for a refinance transaction from application to funding? 

90. Who is the top producer at your company?

91. What is their volume and units per year? 

92. How long have they been with your company? 

93. Would they be willing to help/coach me? 

94. How was the company started? 

95. What are the company's core convictions? What does it stand for? 

96. Has any of your leadership actually originated loans? 

97. What is the CEO's vision for the company?

98. Do you have any loan officers that have built their business at your company that I can speak to? 

99. Why do loan officers leave your company? 

100. Why do loan officers stay?