by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
We received an inquiry today :
I am a Wholesale Lending Account Executive and work for a bank. After the subprime market plummeted, it has been hard for me to get loans from mortgage brokers. What do you think is the best route to re-pump loans back in the pipeline, not necessary the same volume as before, but at least a reliable broker source that keeps funding mortgage loans through me?
I don’t need to tell you that loan originators are a suspicious breed. Now, more than ever, we are hesitant about trying new capital sources.
Here are five tips I have for a Wholesale Lending Account Executive:
1- You MUST have a unique selling proposition. Price, service, or product niche. Define that USP in your first ten seconds very specifically.
EG: “I am Brian Brady with Gateway Bank and I offer the perfect 100% loan solution for teachers, police officers, or firefighters. You’ve heard about the collapse of 100% loans but this loan program has been around for 9 years and I know exactly how to get these loans approved with my bank.”
Don’t worry about limiting yourself. Start with the niche and let the conversation develop.
2- Don’t focus your efforts on a few brokers; market to many originators. If an originator is worth one $200,000 loan a month and you want to fund $10 million a month, you’ll need 50 good originators considering you. You should have four times that amount in your “prospect file”. Spread it out over at least twenty accounts.
3- Write a web log. You can get a free web log at Active Rain Real Estate Network (click the link). There are 2000 loan originators registered there. Point a domain name at the web log and make it catchy (www.placeyourloan.com is available). That will cost ten bucks a year. You can start by posting programs that go out on your e-mail. Try to accompany the loan program with a story about how you funded the loans. Instruct your originators to read it.
4- Visit the originators at least once a week. If you visit five offices a day, you’ll have one day to work on “office stuff” and work the phones. Forget lunches and presentations. Brokers will try to get you to buy the office lunch; it’s a shakedown. Win the war belly-to-belly with the originators at their desk. Start early and visit the folks who are in the office at 8AM; they’re successful.
5- Never, never, never lie. An originator is a skeptical animal. We understand that loan programs change and underwriters get “hawkish”. However, if docs didn’t go out, don’t say that they did. More importantly, train your inside staff to avoid the temptation to lie.
One last thing. Don’t bring those silly “stress balls” to us. They are useful objects to throw at the unsuspecting AE who walks in after a stated-income submission gets declined by your underwriter.
Start hustling. It seems bleak today but the sun does rise tomorrow. THAT, I will guarantee you.
Rhonda Porter says:
Brian,
I have two little sisters (yep, I’m the oldest) who are AEs for Flagstar and Mortgage It. I’m going to forward this post to them. They’re established reps, however, this information is excellent. In fact…maybe I’ll print it off and post it on my office door!
With #4, do you require appointments or do AEs pop in on you?
March 24, 2007 — 7:23 am
Todd Carpenter says:
Why Account Executive don’t have blogs is beyond me. Lenderama started as a personal website for my marketing efforts as an account executive for Commonwealth United (National City Mortgage). At the time, it was just a simple collection of pages with shortcut links to pages on my corporate site and some other useful connections like title companies and local appraisers. My clients loved it. I wish I had thought to include a blog, although blogging was super nerdy at the time.
Now I look at it think, “what a perfect tool”. Underwriting turn around times, new guidelines, seminars, or anything you’d fax to a broker could be included in the blog.
March 24, 2007 — 7:23 am
JeffX says:
Great topic Brian…
Heres my short list:
1) Dont stop in unannounced and stand in my doorway staring at me while im on the phone. Always make an appointment.
2) Take the time to understand the file before saying ‘I can do it’. Too many AE’s ‘troll’ the waters for anything with a name and SS#, then do nothing more than cost me or my borrower time with a list of stips 5 pages long.
3) Communicate in a timely fashion. There is nothing worse than the silent treatment when your borrower is beating on you for answers…
4) Keep the donuts (stress balls, pens, paper, and other doo-dads) and give me your best pricing. Is the stress-ball gift an ominous sign of things to come?
5) Tell me your niche! KNOW YOUR COMPANY!!! What is your best product, your bread and butter, the program(s) that you’re ‘strong’ in. If you tell me anything between a 560 and a 640, you’re gonna get the shiv!
March 24, 2007 — 8:54 am
Brian Brady says:
I don’t require appointments because I like the idea of being able to cut a meeting short. That’s something that is difficult to do with scheduled appointments. I do understand why Jeff or Rhonda would want them.
Jeff’s second tip should be my sixth. Nothing is more annoying then the 5 page stip sheet.
Todd, maybe you and Dan Green could start a cottage business in wholesale weblogs. Maybe a smart wholesale lender will “bring the blog” for its AEs and encourage a sense of community within its brokerage community.
Mortgage Grapevine and weirdloans.com try this concept but are very hard to follow because of their size.
March 24, 2007 — 10:53 am
Russ says:
Great topic Brian.
Definitely know your niche. Brokers tend to group lenders into categories. Who do I go to for my vanilla deals? Who do I got to for Stated? Who do I got to for 100%? Who do I got to for construction loans? If your company doesn’t have one area that you are #1 or #2 in then find another company.
Where I find most AE fall down is that they don’t have the right support from their companies. No matter how good you are, if your company’s operations are messed up, I will not use you. Word travels fast in this business and all it takes is one screw up by some crazed u/w, closer, to ruin your reputation.
I will not use an AE if I don’t like their company’s operations. I don’t care how much I like you as an AE or how good your pricing is. If your underwriters, closers, or someone in your back office does something that makes me look like an ass to my clients and business partners, you get scratched off the list. Make sure the rest of your company is on the same page when it comes to service.
I don’t want underwriters who ask my A paper clients for DNA samples. I want closers who get packages out on time. I don’t want people twiddling their thumbs at my closing waiting on your freaking wire. I want an online pricing engine that is accurate so I don’t misquote my borrowers. I want clear and easily accessible underwriting guidelines.
All I want is to know my deal is going to get done at a decent price with no hassles so I look good to my clients. I regularly give up .25-.375% in pricing to have a stress free deal so I can continue originating instead of wasting time going after ridiculous stips or explaining guidelines to your underwriters.
March 24, 2007 — 11:03 am
Terry Penn says:
#6 which should be number 1, Answer your phone.
March 27, 2007 — 8:18 am
Peter Schwartz says:
Is there a blog or website out there that anyone knows of that helps Wholesale Account Executives get better at their jobs? Please point me there.
April 26, 2007 — 5:10 pm
Brian Brady says:
Lenderama isn’t bad; Todd used to be a wholesale AE.
Honestly, just start participating in the discussions here, Peter or on Active Rain. Te more you know is the more value you can bring the loan originators you service. Are you A paper or Subprime?
April 26, 2007 — 6:32 pm
Jeff Chasin says:
Great post.
“3- Write a web log. …You can start by posting programs that go out on your e-mail. Try to accompany the loan program with a story about how you funded the loans. Instruct your originators to read it.”
Todd & Brian – unfortunately, many of the major lenders have specific policies forbidding the use of personal web sites, personal email, blogs, etc. for programs, rates, product flyers, etc. I’ve heard of some places where you’ll get fired if they catch you posting on the grapevine or broker outpost type sites. Blogging, Social Networking and Social Media are still touchy subjects – definitely not everyday tools yet.
I started a blog for my customers, but I can’t discuss programs or my company at all. Since most lenders these days are large and often public corporations, the ClueTrain definitely stops there, but nobody’s taking delivery…
It’s really too bad. RSS is perfect for this kind of information. Loan officers could subscribe to the “product feed” and the “ratesheet feed”, processors could subscribe to the “docs & forms feed”. Customers – like you and your staff – could actually get the specific, relevant, timely information you need, when you need it. Sure would be better than the old school email blast where everybody gets everything – need it or not.
The “AE Advice Column” should be a regular feature, I know I’d learn a lot. You folks talking about originators working with lenders – there’s got to be a TON to howl about 🙂
April 30, 2007 — 3:38 pm
Dave Berlinger says:
I just found this page and it looks great for what Im doing. Ive been a retail loan officer for 10+ years and my broker is aggressively branching out into wholesale. So now Im a wholesale acct exec, and appreciate all the input I already see regarding doing business as an AE.
We’re both just starting up, but I know we have a few niches that might be good door openers ie 90% to 1.5M 640 score / bank stmts as full doc.
Ive had a lot of the same experiences as you guys talked about…Ive sometimes waited a whole day til the next day to get a question answered in order to submit a loan to a lender, so I know how frustrating it can be to wait for replies…and the whole, yeah we can do it if they can get these 27 things we need, story is laaame….
So there wont be any of that. I want to be able to look myself in the mirror after all….
It seems to be pretty basic. The points you touched on have to be the most important…what else is there?
– Efficient and normal underwriting and processing, etc.
– Answer questions quick – know what you’re talking about
– Look at the deal – nobody appreciates the ‘let’s see if it’ll stick’ approach. In my experience about 1 in 15 of those would ever get approved AND FUNDED. Plus who wants to spend their time returning packages and calling loan officers to tell them you cant help with this one. I know I didnt call that guy back all too soon, if ever.
– Skip the bagels, lunch, mouse pad or plastic coffee mug and save me an 1/8th. (Though I myself always do appreciate a new flat desk calender from the title company once a year).
Feel free to go on. Im soaking it all in…
A couple of points Id add while thinking out loud…
– I wonder how open some of those RE offices and agents who do their own loans are to new lenders.
– I still have the ability to originate and could still broker or submit a loan to my own company. BUT…I dont know if I want to be competing with LO’s that Im trying to get business from. Ill have to think about that one. Any opinions?
Thanks
June 6, 2007 — 6:41 pm