How to Choose the Right Mortgage Brokerage to Work For?
So you had finally taken the steps to sign up for the Mortgage Exam, study real hard and finally you passed the exam. Now what? You have to choose a Mortgage Brokerage to join and get licensed. But… Which Brokerage is Right for me? How to Choose the Right Mortgage Brokerage?
What to Look for?
“Joining a right mortgage brokerage can catapult your career to a high ground very fast, while joining the wrong one can leave you scratching your head for the first few months with no real progress whatsoever.”
The above question is probably one of the most asked question (along with “How do I get my client?”) and it is also one of the most important question you should ask when you are starting off as a New Mortgage Agent. Joining a right mortgage brokerage can catapult your career to a high ground very fast, while joining the wrong one can leave you scratching your head for the first few months with no real progress whatsoever. So I had compiled a few of the most important factors you should look out for, when choosing which brokerage to join.
Office Culture
This is one of the most important factor when choosing which brokerage to work for. Office culture including but not limited to, whether the team like to work in the office often? or they are only in the office to drop off documents, rarely show up and is working from home?
Or, do they run a mentor program where you have a go-to guy to ask question? or you have to ask whoever you just bump into that day? What about communication, phone call or email? These are all very important because if it doesn’t fit your style, then you might feel very awkward when work in this brokerage.
Varieties of Lenders they work with
“You would think most lenders would love to work with new agents because after all, we are the one bringing in clients and deals for them to process. However, that cannot be further from the truth.”
This is probably the most misunderstood concept when I join a brokerage. When I start off as a mortgage agent, I would think most lenders (like Hometrust or Equitable Bank) would love to work with new agents because after all, we are the one bringing in clients and deals for them to process. However, that cannot be further from the truth.
Quite often, if your mortgage brokerage doesn’t deal with certain lenders and you want to send a deal in to those lenders, you have to sign up yourself. You have to fill in the application form, which ask you which lenders you dealt with before, how many volumes you can bring in, what kind of clients you usually deal with etc. It sometimes feels like jump through hoops in order to bring them business. So if your brokerage already deal with a large pool of lenders, then you don’t have to go through the application process and it is better in that sense.
Technology
Well, technology can be divided into hardware and software. In terms of hardware, does your brokerage provided “commercial grade” scanners, photocopies, printers, presentation equipment, free wi-fi, office space for hosting small seminar, or meeting rooms to meet client comfortably? Even better if they have a fridge, snack bar, microwave etc so you enjoy your office as much as your home. (After all, you might spend more time in your office than your home).
In terms of software, do they have template for Features Sheet? CRM? Marketing Material? Funding Statistic? Upcoming Closing Reminder? All these helps improve productivities.
We will continue in the next article for more “How to Choose the Right Mortgage Brokerage to work for”…. (part 1 end)
