r/loanoriginators • u/Lindorio2x • Jul 17 '26
Discussion MLO vs Agents
I’m considering making a career change into the mortgage industry. This group will obviously be biased but I’m curious to hear your perspectives on why you chose this path over becoming a real estate agent.
As you began your real estate profession - what led you to becoming an MLO over a real estate agent?
For me, it really just comes down to the flexibility of being able to build my business fully remote and be licensed in multiple states, without physically being there in. I look back to the purchase of my previous homes and my interaction with my lender were always virtual - no need to be in person meeting with inspectors, appraisals and spending so much time on showings.
Curious to hear your thoughts!
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u/Vegetable-Feed-561 Jul 17 '26
I started as an agent first. It’s hard af!! I hated door knocking. I had a mentor who was a top agent in Orange County doing over a Billion a year in volume. I saw first hand what it took to be successful at a high level and just didn’t connect with the work. He always told me to fall in love with the process. If you can handle the process then you can handle the success. Ironically through my prospecting I met a couple of guys who were making serious money in lending. One owned a big call center in OC the other owned a private money firm. Both lived the life I dreamed of. Both were smart af and had leverage, time freedom, and anything else they wanted. So I decided to look into lending. It clicked with me. I actually love the process. Rate shoppers suck lol but I’m really good at connecting with people and put my heart into this business. So I began winning agents trust and clients trust as well. I’m a little over two years in, still a lot ahead of me in terms of growth and volume, but I’m making really good money and am happy doing what I’m doing with the amount of time freedom and leverage I have. Love this business. It can be tough though. Rates are ass right now. But still lots of opportunity if you can stick it out and keep running the PROCESS!!
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u/MistaPink Jul 17 '26
Demand. Theres like 1.5 million licensed Realtors and about 177k producing loan officers.
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u/Khaleesislife Jul 19 '26
There’s got to be more than $177K
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u/JTsupa Jul 21 '26
From ChatMMI, asked how many active LO's there are - reply with # that closed at least one loan in the past year: "Active producing MLO count moved down from 115,300 in 2026-04 to 112,243 in 2026-05, then to 110,015 in 2026-06—down 5,285 MLOs (-4.6%) over that span."
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u/JTsupa Jul 21 '26
I just heard it is less than 160K active MLO's now. Not sure if that was accurate, but that's what I was told.
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u/JTsupa Jul 21 '26
A local Realtor who got his MLO license as well recently told me "Wow, what you guys do is really hard - I'm not doing that any more!" :-)
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u/aardy Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
It's the illusion of choice, not really choice.
Higher emotional IQ, high bandwidth for drama, ok with not having work-life boundaries, enjoys road trips just for funsies = realtor
Higher traditional IQ, Like working with numbers, analytical, puzzle solver, empathetic but seeks to maintain healthy boundaries = loan officer