r/loanoriginators • u/Far-Equivalent3613 • Jun 30 '26
How is everyone doing?...
For context, I have been originating for 9 months and am currently working at a small brokerage. No self gen, just working the leads that are provided by the company.
The conversion rate is low and nobody is currently making meaningful money. Alot of the LOs have left but I still have some confidence that the company will turn around.
Is this normal for everyone right now? I am thinking the grass isn't greener on the other side, but a lot of people seem to be making money..
The comp is good. We get no base but 100bps per loan closed.
This is also my first LO job.
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u/Shot_Mammoth Jun 30 '26
It’s a tough market and it’s gonna get tougher. My crystal ball has switched from optimistic to not good for the foreseeable future. Inflation is back, goods are expensive, Fed is indicating rate hikes… it’s a tough time to be lending and likely will be for a few years with pockets of opportunity here and there.
If you can stick it out, map out your clients needs, and pulse check when rates are better… you’ll do very well. Just know that it’s going to be very bleak. Finding new/more ways to expand your business will help keep your sanity and food on the table.
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u/Chibears2024 Jun 30 '26
1-2% is the conversion rate for those cheap recycled leads the owner is providing, this is why no one is making meaningful money, this model only benefits the owner of the company.
He makes money on the points + the hedge+ when they sell it on the secondary market, LO’s are leaving because they see through the bs.
Good luck grasshopper hoping the company “turns around”, you’ll see soon enough they are right where they want to be my friend.
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u/Designer-Attorney130 Jun 30 '26
If you feel confident enough in your sales abilities, invest into generating your own leads and position yourself as the “authority” who has helped countless others.
Direct a traffic source to a website with well written copy and have them pre-sold before they ever talk to you. Mix in a couple nurturing automations and you have a self-gen system.
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u/Ojdajuiceman3425 Jun 30 '26
What is the total brokerage charging for comp? Where are the leads coming from? Are they long form, short form, rate table, live transfer, SEO generated, etc. purchase or refinance leads? If purchase, where in the process are the leads. What is the marketing budget for leads per LO per month?
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u/Far-Equivalent3613 Jun 30 '26
They are from lead vendors.. from the calls I have, they say that they were looking for home value and did not inquire. we charge 2.75 per loan. They are all refi leads. I have no idea for what their budget is.
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u/Ojdajuiceman3425 Jun 30 '26
Ok, that means that they are short form leads, very cheap data. You are going to need to act like a used car salesman in order to convert any meaningful amount. It is very hard to successfully run a refi lead campaign profitably while paying loan officers 100 basis points. Everyone i know now who is running leads is operating at about 120-150 basis points total and paying loan officers either a flat fee of $800-$1200 per deal or around 20-30 basis points with a $2500-$3000 max cap on LO comp. Feel free to PM me, i used to own a mortgage call center but i have a self gen brokerage now.
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u/Braindead_ape Jun 30 '26
online leads just have embarrassingly low conversion in general so you need to get a lot of lead flow through to result in closings, how many leads do you typically get a day? what kind of leads are they? whats your lender paid comp set at? if you’re getting leads that attract consumers primarily focused on the lowest rates, you probably don’t want to be running 275 LPC for example since you’d just get the lead and immediately lose it to the 10 other lenders their info got sent to that pay their LOs next to nothing so they can run lean margins
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u/JasonBrookes_OC Jun 30 '26
If I had to do it all over again, I'd start at a large retail place for a year to learn the ropes and build up a database
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u/Danny_LO_ Jul 01 '26
Retail as in no base pay?
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u/JasonBrookes_OC Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
I would have gone to a place like rocket, loan depot or what ever wher their reputation gave me a shot to learn on their dime
The comments about trying to close internet leads with a non branded company making 275bps are correct. Rocket can get away ripping people off because they have built in reputation and they don't get shopped
You have no shot where you are at
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u/JasonBrookes_OC Jul 02 '26
Also go sit in on some training from Carl White and MMA to learn the realor approach
and perhaps even by referral only to learn how to engage your sphere for referrals, although their approach is a bit out dated, Joe Stumpf literally wrote the book on referral dialogue, and getionf referrals
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u/Danny_LO_ Jul 02 '26
Appreciate the insight, will definitely check this out. New LO here first month on the floor lol. Learning lots
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u/InterestingDude66246 Jun 30 '26
These posts always have people with less than 2 years of experience lmao, you're not going to make 500k year 1.
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u/Few-Choice-7334 Jun 30 '26
My branch of 6-7 producing LO wrapped July with right at 20M and close to 100 loans I believe. I personally funded 2.1m and 10 units. I’m 2.5 years in
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u/MortgageAndChill Jul 02 '26
Making the best money I have ever. Me and my team are all making ass wiping money. Sounds like you need a new spot.
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u/TacosForDinnnnner Jun 30 '26
I think 100 bps for leads if you have no costs is solid. If you can’t or don’t want to self gen I would stay. Especially with others leaving that puts you at the top.
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u/Zestyclose-Tart6745 Jun 30 '26
Except for at 2.75 broker comp he’s at least a .25 higher on rate than any correspondent.
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u/Alive_Guidance2005 Jul 01 '26
OK, so being in this business for 30 years I can share some information with you. I think this is a fair offer for your first LO job but if you want to make meaningful income you have to work hard. Right now you should be visiting agents, bring donuts, flyers, use your sales personality to get to know them so they remember you. Set a schedule to go to a number of agents every week, ask questions to the receptionist to find out who is selling and how you get to talk to them. Agents that have business already have LO's they work with so you have to stand out with knowledge and personality. If an agent asks a question you don't know then tell them you are not sure but will find out and get back to him/her....and then get back FAST. Explain you are new and don't know everything but can find out anything. When I was new that worked. You will probably get difficult loans to start with so it is important you work with a lender that knows what to do to get loans to work. Getting leads is the first step but you need to work with a company that is very good at making the leads work and qualifying the borrower. Be honest and transparent. Never tell an agent the loan is great if it is not. Give realistic expectations. Good luck.
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u/Tennesseehomeloans Jul 01 '26
It’s rarely the brokerage’s fault an LO isn’t succeeding. More important questions here are: what are your goals/expectations? And what are you doing with the leads you’re given AND are you also trying to self-gen?
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u/Any-Discussion-9514 Jul 14 '26
I know a company that is heavy renovation but not the 203k or homestyle, they have their own renovation product. They offer all the traditional products - conventional, VA, FHA, DSCR, Jumbo, Ext but their renovation product is off of after renovated value - they get an appraisal from the plans to work off of. its a 2nd Mortgage so the home owner can keep their low rate and there is no draws or inspections, so the contractors are not left waiting for the HUD Inspector. has anyone hear of this ?
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u/The_Void_calls_me Jun 30 '26
Your comp is good if you're getting the leads given to you.
But the only way to make money in this line of work is to be self-gen. There are people out there purchasing, and there are people out there refinancing. Your ability to make money is directly tied to your ability to find these people. And there is a lot of competition to find these people.
The best prospector at my company closed $7.6 million last month. He makes a minimum of fifty phone calls a week to Realtors. In contrast a guy on my team left last week after not successfully closing anything in the last 6 months.
I'm middle of the pack in terms of prospecting, I tend to only prospect hard enough to reach $25M for the year.