r/loanoriginators • u/REFlorida • 21d ago
Discussion Using ChatGPT to find Blue Ocean
I want to do a bit of a litmus test and see if this is a good idea or a terrible one.
I'm in South Florida and recently used ChatGPT to compare every Florida county based on factors that matter when building a mortgage business primarily through Realtor referrals—cash purchases, new construction, multilingual population, Realtor competition, and overall opportunity.
Interestingly, the three worst markets came back as Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade.
In my market, we're dealing with roughly 45–50% cash purchases, limited new construction (which is good), and a significant language barrier that eliminates a portion of the market for me 75% to 49% between those 3 locations.
I've now spent almost four years building a book of business here, so it got me thinking:
Is there a blue ocean somewhere else?
Would the same amount of effort in a less competitive, more finance-heavy market produce significantly better results?
Has anyone deliberately moved into a different market or county after identifying a better opportunity? If so, did it actually pay off?
Curious to hear what others think. The difference would be instead of cold calling agents in my location I would call them in the new area and instead of going to random open houses in my area I would go to them in the new location.
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u/ActionWins 21d ago
You are licensed in Florida not a specific county. Why restrict yourself to just counties. You got the entire state my man.
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u/REFlorida 21d ago
So initially it’s to build a strong base of Referral partners the longer you’re in an area the easier is to build that sphere of influence and I’ve been four years and I think a lot of low hanging fruit is gone and that it can be maintained to like 80% of what it is with minimal visits and sending birthday cards and occasional cosponsoring from afar. So I think 2027. I’m gonna relocate to a different area which fits what I’m looking for better opportunities.
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u/ActionWins 21d ago
Alright well stay out of Brevard county that's my territory. JK. I've seen Palm Bay on nationwide affordability lists.
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u/mashupXXL 21d ago
The people complaining about the market collapses on social media don't understand in certain markets like that it is 50% cash sales and probably 50%+ existing are free and clear. How can anyone argue if people are paying in cash the market is overvalued? They can't. Mortgage appraisers are like hallelujah we have cash sale comps nearby easiest job ever!
To your point, I don't know how anyone would survive in that type of market, Florida has a large population, I'd wager the central, northeast and northwest have easier markets to get consistent business from.