Despite the challenges from an upcoming wave of regulations, a plurality of mortgage loan originators expect their business to improve this year, according to a survey of loan officers.
This year’s mortgage originations are expected to be better than 2012’s, based on 44 percent of loan originators. The rest were fairly evenly split about whether 2013 business would be the same or slow from last year.
The biggest challenge that loan originators face this year is the next phase of regulation being implemented, according to half of originators.
The findings were discussed in the 3rd Annual Survey of Originator Opinions from Hammerhouse LLC. More than 350 active originators reportedly participated in the survey.
Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said that they use “structured email or direct mail marketing to past customers/referral partners” to market their business, and 46 percent said they utilize co-marketing campaigns and events with referral partners. Social media is used by 37 percent.
More than 80 percent of survey participants have been in the mortgage business for more than a decade.
“The sheer size of the mortgage originator responders with more than 10 years of experience suggests a need for lenders to seek younger origination talent by developing talent in-house or through recruitment from outside,” Hammerhouse Managing Director Drew Waterhouse said in an accompanying statement.
When asked, “Who, other than yourself, has contributed most to the development of your career in the mortgage industry?,” 48 percent indicated that it was a colleague or mentor, and 41 percent identified their manager.
“Independent/correspondent mortgage banker” is the type of company structure that will best support an originator with “self-sourced” referrals from business partners based on 63 percent of the respondents.
More than half of the originators see a regional mortgage banker as the ideal sized organization for them, while more than a quarter identified a large national mortgage banker as the best fit. Just 12 percent selected banks.
Nearly a third indicated that operational service standards are the primary factor for staying with their current employers, and a similar share chose financial strength and stability.
