"The local outlook right now on the mortgage industry is (that it's) one of the biggest employment areas there is," Gonsalves said. "Every year, people say, 'Oh, next year it's going to slow down,' and it hasn't yet. Our business is continuing to grow."
In fact, MILA expects to hire about 130 new employees — sales representatives, loan underwriters, processors and coordinators — by the end of the year, nearly doubling its staff of six months ago, Gonsalves said.
Loan officer positions generally require a bachelor's degree in finance, economics or a related field, but some firms place more importance on training and experience in sales.
Loan officers without college degrees usually have reached their positions by advancing through the ranks of an organization and acquiring several years of work experience in other occupations, such as bank teller or customer-service representative. Loan officers and counselors should be capable of cultivating working relationships with others, be confident and highly motivated.
"I would rather hire someone who doesn't know anything about mortgage broking and train them the way we think is best," said Stetler, whose employees include a buddy from high school, a guy he plays basketball with and his sister's ex-boyfriend.
"I don't require a college degree; they just have to have morals and ethics. And be numbers-smart — that helps, obviously."
Mortgage loan officers earned an average of $36,000 to $48,000 in 2000, according to the most recent figures available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but pay can be much higher because many are paid on commission based on the number of loans they handle. The field can be lucrative, but not all the time.
"A lot of people in our industry tend to lie about how much we make," Stetler said. "Some months, you might make a lot of money; other months, you might not make anything. It's important to establish a savings account because the money might not always be there."
Morgan Hammer, 26, was among the first employees of the Everett branch of Allied Home Mortgage, which recently became the independently owned Metropolitan Mortgage Group. Hammer, who has a business degree in marketing and management, became a loan consultant after working as a bank teller and learned the ropes by asking questions and doing research on the Internet.
"All of my business is referral-based," Hammer said. "The first loan I did was for my girlfriend's mom. Then she talked to her brother and her brother's friends, and it started trickling in that way."
The industry used to be populated mostly with real-estate professionals or people in banking who wanted a career shift, said MILA's Gonsalves, but in the past few years she's seen more people in it for the money.
"The good news is, because there are so many people in the industry now, lenders like us can really pick and choose who we want to work with," she said. "There are a lot more choices out there than there used to be, which is ultimately good for the borrower."
Meanwhile, some say that greedier mortgage brokers have given the industry — which is loosely regulated — a bad reputation by overcharging their clients.
"I think they give it a used-car salesman type of feel. The rates are good now, and people are jumping on the bandwagon," Stetler said. "The real key will be to see who's in the industry once rates start climbing. It'll kind of weed out the industry." |
