Selecting the Right Mortgage Employer

When selecting a mortgage employer, here are some points to consider -

• People
• Processes
• Products
• Pay
• Pricing

I've shared the Five Ps with loan officers literally hundreds of times over the past 16 years. The first time was when I was interviewing mortgage companies myself, other times while recruiting loan officers and still others just sharing.

While there isn't anything magical about the order, I do believe, depending upon your goals and purpose, you need to consider certain aspects over another. For instance, if the pay and pricing of a potential employer is highly competitive and the "process" of one lender means you have to totally keep your loans in-house and yet the "process" of underwriting is such that you can't get loans closed and funded in a timely manner, then the competitive pay and pricing don't mean much.

Or, the pay, pricing, and processes could be fantastic and the products lend themselves completely with your goals, yet the people...do they align with your purpose and mission?

I've added other Ps to the list over the years based upon the situation, but in one way or another, the Five Ps are good benchmarks to consider in other areas of life, but particularly when selecting the right mortgage employer. And which ones are most important to me? The People and one of those other Ps I've added - the PURPOSE.

To that end....

(note - this is a reposting from 5/18/2010)