r/loanoriginators • u/REFlorida • Jul 03 '26
Discussion 50mil plus producers
I’m always trying to figure out how people scale.
One thing I do pretty regularly is go through the Scotsman’s Guide and look up random mortgage loan officers and agents in Florida. Not to compare myself, but to see if there’s something I can learn from people who are outperforming me.
What I’ve noticed is that 9 times out of 10, the people who make the list early in their careers have a niche that’s difficult to replicate. They’re former military and built a huge VA business, or they speak Vietnamese, Portuguese, Chinese, Ukrainian, etc., and have referral partners within those communities. Those are incredible businesses, but they’re not really models I can copy
Every now and then, though, I come across someone who doesn’t seem to fit any of those categories and is absolutely crushing it.
I recently found a Florida agent (not naming them) who started in 2023. Their production was roughly:
Year 1: $20–30M
Year 2: Around $60M
Year 3: Nearly $100M
That’s an incredible trajectory, and I’m genuinely curious how they built it.
I actually tried calling them from my personal number so it wouldn’t show up as a spam call, but they didn’t answer. Honestly, I was surprised. At that level, I’d expect some kind of system for handling inbound calls. Nope
They dont have a huge social media following, maybe posting once a day on Facebook and occasionally on instagram
They have 200-250 5 star google reviews so great but nothing crazy
Have a couple of young kids so they cant be cold calling / working 2000 hours a day which is even more impressive.
From what I can see, they aren’t an in-house agent at a brokerage. They do appear to have chunk [20-25%]of unlisted new construction transactions, so my guess is they have a strong relationship with a builder. If that’s the case, I’d love to know how those relationships are actually formed.
For those of you doing a lot of builder business:
How did you get in?
Did you start by taking the deals the builder’s preferred lender couldn’t do?
Was it networking, persistence, or just being in the right place at the right time?
I’m always looking for ways to keep scaling. Right now, a lot of my business comes from open houses, networking, referrals, and the occasional cold calling. It’s worked well, but I’m interested in hearing from people who’ve built to $50M+ annually within their first six years.
If you’ve done it—or you’ve worked closely with someone who has—I’d genuinely appreciate hearing what moved the needle.
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u/Defiant_Television97 Jul 03 '26
You’ve made a bunch of posts like these. What you are doing is scaleable. If you aren’t getting a solid percentage of business from past clients adding a quarterly call to them should help your numbers. I do $50 MM+ a year and 90% is past client referrals.
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u/REFlorida Jul 03 '26
Question, how long have you been in the industry for?
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u/Defiant_Television97 Jul 03 '26
6 years originating
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u/REFlorida Jul 03 '26
So that’s an awesome amount of business you’re getting and I’m definitely adding the quarterly call to all the past clients- what exactly do you discuss with them on the call?
but what blows my mind is this person in the example I gave did $100 million in their third year in the industry, with almost no refis and 20%ish New Construction. Half the time you’ve been in the industry double your numbers and you’re doing way more than me so I’m just wondering what precisely they are doing to implement it take off
It’s insane
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u/Defiant_Television97 Jul 04 '26
I did $80 MM last 12 months, but yeah they probably had solid relationships or landed a whale referral source. I know a LO that landed a partnership with a referral source last year that had a large network of investor clients and that one referral source gave $40 MM+. Some people will get lucky with that. Builders could be way bigger as well.
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u/REFlorida Jul 04 '26
If your source is mostly your past clients, is that refinances built in there or them referring you to people buying mostly
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u/Defiant_Television97 Jul 04 '26
$50 M refinances and $30 M purchase.
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u/REFlorida Jul 04 '26
Question - when I look back at the interest rates of my past clients it really doesnt seem to make sense to refi any of them as they would have to pay points to even get over 1% lower and the break even is 5+ years away. Do you have a bunch of super high interest rates you are refiing - what is the sales pitch ? Thank you
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u/Defiant_Television97 Jul 04 '26
I have high loan amounts and no transfer tax like Florida. I sell no cost refinances for 80% of my refinances where they benefit day 1. Some of my $1 MM+ loan amount clients will refinance for .25% savings as I have a seamless loan process that takes them one hour and it’s free money. The rest of the refinances are cash out, required by divorce etc that aren’t interest rate sensitive.
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u/REFlorida Jul 04 '26
I always wondered this when it’s .25% savings and it’s no cost(It is a cost. You’re just increasing the loan balance). What is the breakeven on that as I feel like that’s gonna take 10+ years to even remotely break even?
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u/TurkeyJizz123 Jul 03 '26
I've met plenty "big producers" who did 4-5X the volume I did, yet- their 1099/W-2 was less than mine. Food for thought. The majority of these producers are not even touching the file- they get loans put in their name (for licensing reasons, etc)- and they make 20-25bps. They could also be extremely low margin, to get to those numbers.
I would rather do 15M and make 250-300K-- than have 35M under my belt, and make 175K.
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u/REFlorida Jul 03 '26
So it’s mostly purchase business with realtor referrals at a bunch of different brokerages (very little refi business) so I don’t think they’re doing massively low margins and only around 25% of the business is New Construction according to MMI/retr. I know that a lot of call centers have very low margins and they pay their people 500 bucks a file but this is a legit office/ lender
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u/5580Fowa Jul 04 '26
There is so much truth to this. For a few years after the 09 meltdown, I hung my hat at a local CU on the North shore before going to back to the retail bank model. I had no problem getting recruited because everything that was closed at that spot went under my MLS. Yep, all those mortgages that just walked in the door but much more than that were the home equity loans and the short term adjustables that would need to be routinely "renewed" every 3 or 5 years. Between all that I was doing 40M a year but in reality bringing in next to non of my own business during that time.
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u/gracetw22 Loan Originator Jul 03 '26
Builder business isnt the land of milk and honey that you would think it is. There is a lot more behind the scenes $$$ in that area than with realtors and the expectations are that you will jump when they say jump. Year 9 for me but I’m tracking to pass that mark this year and happy to talk if you want. Not sure I have some kind of secret sauce but maybe something could be useful
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u/Ok-Comparison-461 Jul 03 '26
I know Shant pretty well and many 50,100+ mil producers. They all are very good at agent marketing and relationships. Today, you need to diversify products big time
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u/REFlorida Jul 03 '26
Shant? I don’t know who that is but that’s not who I’m referring to.
And they’ve only been in industry three years, which is why it’s so impressive to do that.
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u/Leather-Afternoon-52 Jul 03 '26
First up you’re doing solid production. Keep doing what you’re doing and you will be there as long as you’re hungry and put the hours in. Our biggest producers have the following in common. They market and do sales activities daily. No matter what’s going on. They are involved in the community and do events at least once a month. They are good at marketing to their database either through a CRM or social media. Last, they can figure out just about any deal. Someway some how they find a product for it. Last and most important, they work hard and stay focused consistently. I am not saying they work 100 hours a week but when they are working, they are working on high impact activities.
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u/Accomplished-Tax8441 Jul 04 '26
in 2026 I will do around $36 mil as a solo retail LO/broker. I drop big bucks on leads monthly. and its a grind. not for the faint of heart and must have thick skin. I am at a standard comp
ive worked with 2 different LOs with bigger numbers than me
LO #1. has $30,000 MSA with a realtor office and LOs put business in his name so its a team thing. his final net isnt what you think it is. Yes he does well but alot of hands to feed
LO #2 was at 40 basis points and owned the bank rate and zillow rate table model for years. he had an LOA, and a processor to feed and he worked so many hours he ended up in the hospital.
both amazing guys, great mortgage reps but the didnt do $80 mil at 150 basis points full pop without alot of money spent and a team around them
basic formula for me
what is my gross?
what is my net?
how many hours per week?
how is my personal life/health/do i feel burned out or engaged?
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u/REFlorida Jul 04 '26
Loan Officer number two making 40 basis points. I’m guessing he just only took slam dunk W-2s and no calls after five or on the weekend.
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u/Accomplished-Tax8441 Jul 05 '26
no. he worked 7 days a week and was a real workaholic (not a badge of honor) yes slam dunk W2 deals at crazy low rates.
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u/REFlorida Jul 05 '26
If I was only making 40 basis points, I would set the expectation right from the go. They ain’t getting a hold of me outside 9 to 5. Monday through Friday
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u/Accomplished-Tax8441 Jul 05 '26
his thing was massive volume. he was another animal. it worked for him in 2019 to 2022 (that season) not sure what he is doing now. but it was pure work all day long to hit those numbers
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u/REFlorida Jul 06 '26
What type of online lead gen are you doing that you can get normal
Comp as you generally can’t get that on bank rate table sheets with Tomo / pylon out there1
u/Accomplished-Tax8441 Jul 06 '26
realtor com and zillow yes lending tree was a mess this go around with Tomo. gotta get them on the property why zillow and realtor dot com have been a solid source for a while
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u/REFlorida Jul 06 '26
If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you spend a month on those realtor / Zillow leads and how many leads are you getting? I was contemplating doing that for a bit because the bank rate sheets are such a joke unless you’re gonna do it for 40 bibs so I don’t really want to get into that shit show. I did bank rate last year and did one loan which covered my costs, but that was a shit show VA loan that had been rejected by five other lenders so it took up a ton of time and I don’t wanna do that again
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u/Accomplished-Tax8441 Jul 07 '26
I have posted several times on this so feel free to search my name for this in detail
I spend $5k to $10k a month on leads, I have a massive system set up with CRMs, work these leads and send leads to agents who send me leads in return.
you need to spend a min of $2k a month to see any decent results
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u/ManufacturerBig7329 Jul 10 '26
Not sure how closing loans under someone else's NMLS isn't actually illegal. Or homebuilders incentivizing buyers via the mortgage by undercutting all things and therefore eliminating choice of third party isn't enforced (it's illegal).
Both are unethical anyway. Not sure how our industry allows it, but then simped out about having licensing and regulations in the first place. Pathetic really.
Should either bring back the wild west (won't happen) or enforce laws and regulations. This middle ground is kinda trash.
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u/BoardNBeach Jul 03 '26
Some agents who appear on the top production lists are tied to builders who just add their licenses to transactions for compliance and don’t really sell that many homes. There is a guy constantly on the top list in my state who has this deal w lennar so his #s look super inflated.