Taking a gamble in life

[Mansavage]

I have been a loan officer for the last four years, and if I could give you any advice it is this: Now is the wrong time to get into the mortgage business.

Rates will eventually go back up, and the loan officers who will make it either love to pick up the phone and telemarket for themselves, or have an established base of business. I live in a state that will continue to have a booming housing market, have a pretty established base, and I still worry every day about whether or not I am in the right position.

I do make a fair amount of money, but I also work very long hours. I often find myself wishing I could take a job like yours.

[lastsamurai]

Its tough working on your own...as much as you like the freedom you have to be on the hustle. When i first became a stock broker/financial advisor this was in the year 1999..where you could pretty much throw darts at the wall street journal and your clients accounts would be up 300% in a few short months...

When the market got crappy it was tough...when i was calling new prospects the last thing they wanted to talk about was the stock market and how they bought JDSU on margin at 100 a share...

My advice to you is this... tighen up your belt... Once you become an independent contractor its really hard to go back to the real working world and work for somebody in a 9-5 job. If you are marriend w/ kids i would reconsider and talk to your wife...

[samjjones]

I stopped reading after "guaranteed draw".

[Mike Gallo]

[ QUOTE ]
I have been a loan officer for the last four years, and if I could give you any advice it is this: Now is the wrong time to get into the mortgage business.

Rates will eventually go back up, and the loan officers who will make it either love to pick up the phone and telemarket for themselves, or have an established base of business. I live in a state that will continue to have a booming housing market, have a pretty established base, and I still worry every day about whether or not I am in the right position.

I do make a fair amount of money, but I also work very long hours. I often find myself wishing I could take a job like yours.

[/ QUOTE ]

This company specialized in home equity loans. They very rarely sell "straight" mortgages.

They have fallen into debt and want to find a way out. They want to remodel their home but dont have the money. The borrowers take out an equity loan to pay off their debts or make purchases. New cars, tuition, the people who can't get certain loans come to us.

[Rhone]

[ QUOTE ]


The gamble comes from the fact that I know absolutely nothing about the mortgage industry. According to the way I interviewed and the computer personality test I took my skills sets and personality fit this position very well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mike, I work for a company that relies very heavily on the work of its sales group. I'm not in that group (thank God, I would be horrible at it), but I interact with them. That group also has very high turnover, and lots of monetary incentives built in to their salaries.

Anyway, my impression is that what makes for success there is not knowledge of the product (that can be learned) but rather it's just "salesmanship." If you can sell lemonade or widgets or whatever, you can probably sell mortgages. You'll learn the details of the industry in time and be just fine. If you can't sell, no amount of content learning is going to help you.

Good luck.

[SamIAm]

I'm going to try to use the phrase "subprime" at least twice today.
-Sam

[MikeSmith]

id say do it, my dad was a physics major out of college and is now the top dog of a company dealing with 401K's.

[eviljeff]

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id say do it, my dad was a physics major out of college and is now the top dog of a company dealing with 401K's.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was going to recommend not taking the new job based on previous posts, but then I read this one. you should definitely take it.

[ QUOTE ]
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id say do it, my dad was a physics major out of college and is now the top dog of a company dealing with 401K's.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was going to recommend not taking the new job based on previous posts, but then I read this one. you should definitely take it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. If his dad can be a "top dog," anyone can.

[eviljeff]

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Yep. If his dad can be a "top dog," anyone can.

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also, not sure if you noticed, but his dad was a physics major out of college. you don't have to be a loan major.