New To Forum

[karynsolo]

Hello all,

I am new to the forum and a new loan officer. What a great tool for learning, I really am going to enjoy my time here.

[The Wizard]

Welcome!

If you have any questions regarding processing or operations please let me know.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

[karynsolo]

Thank-You May you all have a Very Merry Christmas and for those who are Jewish a Happy Hunnukah.

[carlo@CreditReportAtlas]

Hello Karyn,

Welcome to MBL! You are now a MortgageBrokerLandian!

Thanks,
Carlo

[Erik]

Hi Karyn. Welcome to the site and to the business! I don't imagine you had a white Christmas in Florida... but I hope you had a merry one and/or a Happy Hanukah as well!

[karynsolo]

Had a nice quiet sun shiny Christmas, I hope you had a happy holiday as well. I am new to the Loan Officer position so any suggestions anyone has would be very warmly welcomed. I have the confidence in the position but have to get over the hump of knowing how to properly prospect for new clients. I am on such a seriously pathetic budget buying a lot of leads is not going to happen for a little while or at least until I get a couple of good loans under my belt.

[Erik]

Getting the motor running, so to speak, is the hardest part, IMHO. What sorts of things are you already doing in terms of marketing? Perhaps some suggestions can be given based on your existing plan of attack.

[karynsolo]

I have business cards made and have been sneaking them into the free Real estate magazines at the grocery stores, and placing them wherever I have a chance to do so. I have fliers that I have distributed around town. That is as far as I have gotten. Unfortunately the good stuff all costs money that I currently do not have.

My employer supplies phone lists to call from and have had some good luck with those in getting quotes out to people but that route takes a heck of a lot of calls to get even 1 person willing to listen to you. I average about 300 calls a day right now trying to pull at least 2-4 apps a day.

[Erik]

Sounds like you are doing some good things to get yourself going.

What industry/job do you come from prior to becoming a loan officer? I ask because perhaps there is a way you can capitalize on existing relationships you have within your previous work environment.

A couple of my favorite ideas that I've heard around and tried myself (in my originating days) basically entail getting your information distributed by other people.

Here's one: Small to Mid-size companies are usually a little short on benefits for employees. As such, you can put together a "benefit program" for company employees that gives them a discount on fees if they buy/refi through you. All you do is contact the company HR (human resources) director (or President, if there is no HR director) and pitch them about your mortgage benefit for employees, which doesn't cost the company anything. Easy sell. Then take your flyer (folder, etc) to the company and push to get it included in the company HR booklet which is given to every new employee at the time of hire.

Another one that is similar in nature is to contact local roofers, landscapers, home improvement specialists, etc and tell them you can get money for their would-be clients who don't have enough cash at the moment for the improvements. These people usually have many referrals to give you and are generally underserved.

You'll also have to ask Greg about the advocate program he does, which is awesome.

Anyway, those are a couple inexpensive things you can do, which I believe to be fairly effective.

[karynsolo]

Thank-you for the insight , it is so wonderful to have the response and welcome that I have gotten. To answer your question, I have in the last 2 years worked in the fields of Credit Repair, and I actually sold leads for a company until they began messing up my customers accounts and I decided to seperate myself from them. While i was selling leads I was encoraged by many brokers to get an LO position as a stepping stone to later becoming a broker. I believe this is the best way to go about things as it gets my feet in the door and its a great learning process to go through. My bosses are wonderful teachers and very patient.

I have several alliances within different industries, even know a builder that I can make use of. I have already struck a relationship with a friend who is a realtor. I realize with any position networking is your best resource for information and referrals. TG I only deal with one state at this point and networking shouldnt be too awfully hard.

I have found in the past that placing business cards in books related to the industry in book stores works. I think I will go and slip some cards in the do it yourself house hunting, and mortgages for dummies books etc this week, see what kind of response I get. Another trick that I have found works well and when I get a larger stock of cards will do this... take the little pill bags that you can get at Walgreens or CVS and put about 6-8 cards in it and use dbl backed sticky tape to hold it up, slip the baggies with cards on phone booths, in Laundry rooms, wherever you can sneak one in where people that would possibly want your item or service could see it. If anyone here is into anything MLM on the side this works wonderful for those markets.

There are things I do know of that work for other industries, I guess it will be an experiment that will either flop or work, and what flops I replace with a new idea, what works I stick with.

Again thank you all for the warm welcome