One of my colleagues recently observed that mortgage bankers are facing difficult decisions regarding the fundamentals of their business. Caught between a rock and a hard place, these firms are trying to implement critical fixes while generating volume and revenues to fund the necessary changes — not an easy task! According to my colleague, the […]
Why Mortgage Banking Should Be \”Open While Renovating\” Read More »
There is no question that an aging sales workforce is a top concern for many in the mortgage industry. The numbers are frightening when you consider that the average age of mortgage sales professionals is from the late 40s to early 50s. At this point, it is clear that experienced mortgage bankers (25+ years) far
Why Rookie Training Programs Driven by Producing Branch Managers Don’t Work Read More »
As science fans know, the Drake equation is a formula for predicting the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. This math-based equation is a generally accepted tool used by the scientific community to identify specific factors thought to play a role in estimating the number of technological civilizations that may
The Seven Deadly Sins of Sales Groups Read More »
While watching the annual Macy’s Day Parade, a yearly tradition for many families including mine, I thought about a recent New York Times article that noted Macy’s real estate ($16 billion) is worth more than the company’s market value ($6 billion). It is no secret that Macy’s has been battered by e-commerce competition. Its sales have
The Signs of a Troubled Lender: When to Make a Change Read More »
At its annual conference, the MBA released more distressing stats for mortgage retail origination. Last week, I discussed the fact that 60% of originators are not productive. This week, I am discussing data concerning profitability. According to the MBA, the retail business line is generating only 8.5 bps in profitability per loan. Other business lines did
Retail Apocalypse Part 2: The Grim Reality of 8.5 BPS Per Retail Loan Read More »
At the MBA conference in Denver this year, Stratmor and the MBA released their most recent performance data on originators: 40% of the industry’s originators generate 80% of the volume and the remaining 60% are once again unproductive. While this may or may not be surprising to some people (I certainly see it first hand
Retail Apocalypse: 60% of LOs are Not Productive! Read More »
In my experience, mortgage lenders fall into two categories when it comes to hiring originators. For one group, hiring is all about enticing producers to join their company without setting any criteria beyond a W-2 and loan reports that show the individual can self-source loans. These lenders view the sales force as hired hands
The $1 Million Decision Read More »
Last week, I wrote about the alarming performance of today’s originators in mortgage banking. The post hit home for many managers who admitted that 2.5 units per month per originator is not enough for their companies to make a profit. In fact, some even lamented that they have originators who are not even producing at this
The Death of Sacred Cows in Sales Read More »
Recent numbers from the MBA and Stratmor show that the average production per originator has fallen dramatically from the refinance era to a new low of 2.5 units a month. Bank originators have a slightly higher average primarily because they receive leads from the company. These numbers are a wake-up call to lenders that improvements
Wake-Up Call: Why are Retail Originators at 2.5 units per month? Read More »
Last week, during an MBA webinar series I conducted on recruiting, I asked attendees about the Number One problem hampering their company’s growth. Across the board, participants said that high turnover and the constant need to replace originators was one of their toughest challenges. They also said that finding good originators has become harder and
Is Turnover Contagious? Read More »
