Like many in the mortgage industry, I entered the business through chance – a friend’s father convinced me to come work with him in his mortgage business. 20 years later, I made it from that room on the top floor of a small office in San Luis Obispo to a branch manager and the #7 Top Producer of 2024.

Back when I started out in my career, I learned a lot just from listening. I was that annoying kid asking questions of the more experienced loan officers, soaking up the knowledge. After 20 years in the mortgage business, here are 3 lessons of my own that helped me find success in my career.

Lesson 1: Be ready to pivot when the market pivots.

When I got into the mortgage business in 2005, only a few years later the market crashed. So, when other originators’ volumes were dropping off, I was still used to living on a relatively small income. My business actually improved throughout the downturn because I was out hustling and meeting real estate agents when a lot of high-producing loan officers focused on refis for past clients and ignored the real estate agent community.

That taught me to avoid being complacent. I moved into flip properties, then pre-approvals for big agents doing a lot of foreclosures, then builders. I was always shifting into the next area of opportunity, pivoting whenever I needed to, continuing to grow.

I took that approach when it came to adding branches as well. I continued to enter new communities, becoming a part of those communities and growing my footprint. I found those communities appreciated our brick-and-mortar presence and were receptive to the message of using a local lender.

Lesson 2: Be a problem-solver for your referral partners.

Most of my business is based on real estate agent referrals. In the early days of my career, I used to go around to agent offices and meet as many people as possible to see who I’d click with. That’s a little more difficult for new loan officers in the current market. But the key principle of earning referrals remains the same: If you solve problems for agents, you’ll earn their loyalty. As I built my career, I would do the hardest loan that others couldn’t get done. I would fix problems created by other lenders. 

"If you solve problems for agents, you’ll earn their loyalty."

If you earn their loyalty, those real estate agents will introduce you to other agents and to other parts of their referral network, which is huge. 

In fact, one of my best agent referral partners introduced me to a builder who had been working with another lender. In a sales meeting that agent told the builder: “We would love to sell your homes, but we use Jeremy Engle.” At the time I was fixing 2 loans for that agent that the other lender couldn’t do. That referral to the builder ended up being a big opportunity for my business.

Lesson 3: When it comes to service, details matter. 

Whether it’s a customer or a referral partner, understanding where they’re coming from can help you provide an answer before they even ask the question.

Whenever I receive a question, I create a system to address it. I want agents to know the answer before they ever get to the point of asking. That’s part of providing the kind of service that builds loyalty.

For example, we’d often have agents calling up to ask whether we’d ordered the appraisal for a specific transaction. So now we use our CRM to trigger an email to both agents in a transaction with the information about the appraiser and the appraisal due date. Everyone is on the same page with the same information.

When it comes to consumers, remember that we are steeped in mortgages every day – they are not. Often, they may not even know what the heck we’re talking about when we ask for an LOE, a VOE, etc. You need to break it down for the consumer and explain what you need and why you need it – and if you can do that before they even need to ask the question, you’ll earn their loyalty – and hopefully, a great review. 

The opinions and insights expressed in this blog are solely those of its author, Jeremy Engle, and do not necessarily represent the views of either Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation or any of its parent, affiliates, or subsidiaries (collectively, “MGIC”). Neither MGIC nor any of its officers, directors, employees or agents makes any representations or warranties of any kind regarding the soundness, reliability, accuracy or completeness of any opinion, insight, recommendation, data, or other information contained in this blog, or its suitability for any intended purpose.