I'm going to do a little loan sales for my brother's loan office as a part time gig to supplement my IT income.

What kind of things will I need to know that are not taught in the instructional manuals?

Any interesting anecdotes that I can learn from would be very helpful.

I will be doing this in Southern California if that makes any difference.

Thanks for any advice or stories,
Tom

Shorty,

It makes a HUGE difference doing loans in California!

I have only heard horror stories from brokers who had left vowing never to return.

Get ready to have a buttload of bureaucratic 0versight to the point of needing a licsense just to do business as a loan officer. There is whole different section of forms needed for a California loan on most loan origination software!

Sorry.

Thanks for the info.

Since this is where I am I guess I'll just have to deal with it. Knowing some of the bullshit coming out of Sacramento it's not really that much of a surprise.

I have a few friends who broker in SoCal and I broker Mortgages and sell some Real Estate here in Texas.  

California has to be the most competitive place to do this kind of business in.  It is not at all unusual for people to refinance 2 or even 3 times in a 12-18 month period so the average person is fairly savvy when it comes to doing loans in that state.  

Having said that, if you are able to stick it out, you could do REALLY well because property values are extremely high in California.  

Good luck to you...........

You are basically going to be a SALESMAN.  You are selling mortgage products/services, so learn as much as you can about the products, programs, guidelines as you can.  Also, Wiggy762 is correct.  CA has strict lending regulations.  Make sure you know what you are doing when you tell the customer something about locking a loan, disclosing fees, etc.  If you make a mistake, there could be a lawsuit.  If you fudge any documents, you could go to jail for fraud.  

Good luck!  You can probably make more money here, than doing IT.

Comming from a technical line of work you are probably not accustomed to people lying to you because there is little point in it. Did a person log on at a certain time? The logon file will have the record, so no point to lie.

I came from a highly technical field (semiconductors) to the loan business. Sure I had subordinates lie about being out sick because they were hung over or went fishing, but as far as work went there was no BS, first because it could be dangerous (arsine gas and hydrofluoric acid are unforgiving) and there was no point in lying as it would be obvious that the instrument was calibrated, or serviced, or the test run was done, or not.

PEOPLE LIE!!! Don't take it personal.

I can remember when the dawn came and I realised that the man and woman sitting in front of my desk were lying out their collective ass. My first reaction was shock. Did they think we would not require documentation of their finances? Why would they tell lies that could be refuted in five minutes with a short form credit report?

Here are some tips:

Park your trust at the door. Require documentation for everything. You're going to need it for the loan package anyway.

Learn to quickly sort the wheat from the chaff. Some loans are doable some aren't. You aren't doing yourself or the potential borrower any favors by stringing things out.

Tune up your BS detector. Alarm bells should go off when: The story changes with each telling. A critical supporting document (source of funds for a down payment or the like) is promised but not delivered on time. Their story has more plot twists than a made for TV movie.

You'll hear a lot of sad stories about bad credit. Some of them will be true. Frequently episodes of bad credit attend personal difficuties or outright tragedies in life. The true stories are usually short and not very sweet; My kid had a brain tumor, and my health insurance didn't have a catastrophic illness clause. My spouse died with no insurance. I was a drunk, but I've been clean and sober for six years now. I just didn't know how to handle credit and I got stupid with my credit cards.

I have personally heard all of the above, and they were true, and the loans were doable. It meant more paper and explanations and they didn't always get the best rate.

If the story is convoluted and changes, it's probably BS. Shine 'em on.

Having said all that cynical stuff, it's a pretty cool feeling when you help some nice people get the home of their dreams.

Vic out.

Shorty,

My next piece of advice will have you cussing me in the short term if you decide to take my advice. Only work for a broker that has FHA/VA capability. These types of government loans are harder on the lender, broker, loan officer and realestate agent, BUT they are often the absolute best thing for your customer.

In a nutshell, you have one buyer with less than perfect credit and has no cash to close. With this customer you need to go sub-prime to get an approval AND get the seller to do a second mortgage for the required down and closing costs (can be tricky) as the LTV's in the sub-prime market can be pretty low, like 80% or so. If you are working for a broker that does notr have FHA, then this is your only avenue versus taking that same customer to FHA and getting the deal done at competitive rates. More work and hassle but a much better loan for your customer. It makes it difficult to shop against your numbers.

Thanks for all the info. Keep 'em coming.

Maybe I should see about specializing in FHA/VA loans. I don't mind doing more work if it makes me more competitive in the long run.