Mortgage Broker Secrets Revealed: How to Become a Superstar Mortgage Broker

If you've been feeling unsure about how to build a mortgage brokerage and become a superstar in the broker space, or if you haven't pulled the trigger yet on becoming your own boss as a mortgage Loan Officer, this article is going to help paint the picture for you of how to get from A to Z and where to find the resources you need to have a breakthrough and get more comfortable with the move that most loan officers say was the....

“Best move I made in my career. I wish I would have done this sooner”

Opening up your own mortgage brokerage business can be a rewarding and lucrative career move. However, being a successful mortgage broker requires more than just a knowledge of mortgage products- it also requires great management skills, a little bit of tech know how and the ability to navigate the ups and downs of the market. But if you feel like originating mortgages is your key success factor and don’t know much about the other areas I mentioned, that is ok, as long as you have taken the steps below with the people on your team.

If we like to admit it or not, the reason why we work so hard in the real estate and mortgage industry, is to pursue a life of financial Independence that comes through learning about money, running and growing a business, a smart business. It has nothing to do with originating loans.

Therefore, not spending time to reach a certain level of understanding of such important business & life skills, that we aren’t taught in school, you're essentially just holding yourself back. You have to have a level of business & financial literacy to level up and actually build a business and break out of a cycle that most people get stuck in, active income, where you have to bring in business and work that business to receive a paycheck.

After opening and running three different mortgage brokerages, there are some key components if you want to crush it as a mortgage broker.

#1 Become an Expert Strategist: I recently read “Your Next 5 Moves by David Betz. In it he says, “Take the time every quarter to sit down for a day and plan out your next quarter. What are your goals, what strategies will you use to achieve those goals and what steps and actions do you need to take to start seeing results.”

One of my favorite business books of all time is The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, who also talks about being a master strategist.

I just did this with our mortgage processing company, mortgage franchise company, and it is something you need to do with any company you decide to open and grow. When we are just originating loans, we can sometimes get away with only being transactional and thinking about how our loans are moving through the pipeline, but as soon as you are running a business, you need to think next level about all the things that need to be running smoothly.

▪ Where is business going to come from?

▪ Who is responsible for what tasks and areas of the business?

▪ How will you get more customers if you want to grow?

▪ Should you pick a niche?

#2- Invest in Building Business Systems, and not just originating system - one of the biggest mistakes I made the first 10 years of my career as a loan officer and even mortgage broker owner, was that I didn’t take the time to document the systems and training I would need over and over again as my team grew. This meant that every time I brought someone new on, any time someone moved positions, someone had to sit there and show them every single click of a button and every single link to a website.

As a mortgage broker, you will face hundreds of tasks every day that range from loan origination, submissions, approvals, documentation, and follow-ups, just to name a few. But, here’s the secret: create standardized systems and processes to deal with these tasks. By doing this, you'll streamline your daily activity, work more efficiently, retain employees, and reduce manual errors. A well-crafted process that works, means you will no longer have to reinvent and recreate your processes. Decisions will no longer be made or swayed by intuition, but rather by systems and guidelines set in place. Make use of technology to set up these systems and processes. Utilize software solutions that will streamline your back office to auto-updates, autopilot, notifications, reminders, appointments etc. Here is two examples of systems we use on our team at Co/LAB Lending that any new broker can use when becoming a Co/LAB Mortgage Broker Owner.

In addition, you can use tools such as the ones mentioned below to create your systems:

✓ Hippo Video. It is reasonably priced and has levels.

✓ Start. Me - This is a free one that I use every single day for bookmarks and to do’s.

And for those of you who “aren’t paperwork or video people, neither was I. I didn’t even log into the NMLS company account for the first 5 years of our brokerage being open. I hired someone to do those things for me. What I didn’t do was have them document what they were doing. Big- Huge- Massive mistake!

Set the standard and the expectation with anyone who works for you.

#3 Diversification of Products & Income Streams: To with stand economic uncertainties, diversify income streams, ensuring resilience against any one thing & specific downturns is critical. If 95% of your business is Conv, FHA, VA, USDA, make a point to begin learning NON QM products and signing up with different NON QM lenders.

The next step is to think about adding another revenue stream to your business. We did this in 2019 when we began offering commercial loan products. Yes you will need to do some training and yes it is a little different, but you don’t need a license and you already have been building a database of people. You could also consider title or insurance, something that is connected to what we do when we originate mortgages.

#4 Build a Team: It can be scary to hire people and invest in your business when times are like they are right now, but even the smallest hires can make a big impact.

When I opened my first brokerage and began getting coaching, I hired my first virtual assistant from the Philippines for $375/month to post on social media for me. He wasn’t even posting the best material, but the fact that it was consistent and around the topic groups that I gave him, it worked and my business started growing that year. You can go to websites like Upwork.com or in our group, we share VA companies that train specifically virtuals that learn mortgage support skills.

#5 Surround Yourself with Mentors & Experts: There is nothing more powerful and effective as listening to the right advisors. Do not listen to people who have never done the thing you are considering doing. There perspective has no weight!

Remember that mentors & experts can come in all shapes and sizes, from:

→ Podcasts

→ Books

→ Coaches

→ Business Systems You plug into

Monitoring Performance and Adjusting as Needed:

To be an effective mortgage broker business owner, monitoring performance is critical. This involves setting up Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure and track staff and overall business performance. KPI’s can range from leads, conversion rates, closing rates, work-in-progress (pipeline), revenue growth, customer satisfaction reports, quality, and so on. Having these visible on week-to-week or monthly scorecards will allow for more informed decision making, improve accountability, and guide adjustments.

Example Dashboard we built for our Mortgage Brokers:

As a mortgage broker/business owner, many responsibilities will fall on your plate. However, with the right strategy, systems, and processes in place, you can run and manage your brokerage business efficiently. By doing this, you will achieve long term financial success. Consider starting with creating a business plan and identifying long term and short term objectives, developing a consistent pipeline of leads and customers, hiring and training employees, implementing systems, and monitoring performance regularly. By utilizing these key elements, you'll be well on your way to operating a successful and thriving mortgage brokerage business.

If you know you are ready to build or grow your mortgage brokerage and are just looking for guidance and a mentor, we put the link to our paid community, The Lab, where we have our signature Mortgage Broker FastTrack Course where you get Bi weekly strategy calls with me and others who are already mortgage brokers. We give templates assignments workbooks and a bunch of other goodies, as well as all the lessons I have learned from the 20 years as a mortgage broker and owner.

If you want help opening & getting systems in place, schedule a call with our team to discuss our “Done with you” and “Done for you” mortgage broker model.