About the Author
Diane is a wholesale account executive from NJ. She has worked in the industry for twenty years. You can visit her professional profile on LinkedIn. You can also follow her on twitter Follow @AExplode
Nobody can deny that the mortgage industry has been shrinking, and continues to do so. But where are people going? Which industries have absorbed the tens of thousands of loan officers, processors, closers, underwriters, funders and ops managers? Not to mention all of the wholesale account executives and their myriad levels of sales managers? I surveyed my updated contact list and came up with the top ten career paths for former mortgage professionals.
1. Energy – Solar, traditional, you name it. Energy consultants, solar panel salespeople, all ex-mortgage people.
2. Credit Repair — makes sense right? Who knows more about what people do to wreck their credit than a former loan officer?
3. Loan Modification — See above.
4. Insurance — Health, life, etc. (no more offers to review my policies!!)
5. Telecommunication — Pretty tough gig. But mortgage people are tough.
6. Business equipment sales and leasing — Another “not easy” sales job.
7. Social media consultant — Who has had more time to learn about social media than an umemployed mortgage person? (LOL)
8. MLM sales — Have you noticed how many MLM companies sprung up during the mortgage crisis? Just saying.
9. Business coach/life coach — Wish I had a dollar for every invitation to connect that I’ve received from these folks in the past three years. Is somebody trying to tell me something?
10. Financial Advisor — Nine times out of ten, this leads right back to the mortgage industry. Full circle. My advice, skip the Series 7 exam. It is way hard, and alot of work for very little gain. Besides, you won’t remember half of it when you are taking apps from bank customers. Seriously.
Remember way back when the mortgage crisis began, and “they” said that the silver lining was that all of the unqualified people would be weeded out, leaving only the best and brightest? It sounded logical at the time, except nobody could have predicted that the industry would be down for such a long period. While some have weathered the storm and evolved, many of the most experienced people have left the industry, leaving a far less qualified labor pool to draw from. And no amount of licensing, education, continuing education or regulation can make up for that. There are still some old timers left, and I hope they remember to share their knowledge with the new crop of mortgage people around them. And I hope those newbies are smart enough to listen.
AWESOME ARTICLE!!!
I was always wondering what happened the the “mortgage army”.
Back in the heyday… everyone I knew was somehow involved in the RE mortgage myriad.
This is why UNEMPLOYMENT is soo high. These losers would never have been employed in the 1st place if uncle Ben & Greenspam didn’t artificially lower rates to zero!!
TY for the compliment. I don’t think that everybody who left the biz was a loser though….some people just couldn’t hang in until things got better, for one reason or another. Some brokers lost almost everything trying to keep their offices going. Thanks for the read! d
You didn’t mention the Information Technology field as some folks from mortgage took IT classes in the evening and now doing a good full time job.
I have been a Wholesale AE for over 20 years and the last few have been very bad, but I am lucky to have saved a lot so I dont need much to survive, but what I have noticed is that the broker enviroment has changed so much with many leaving the business and a lot becomming net branches, so there are very few traditional brokers left in the business. I think with the big banks having some much trouble that the broker business will be stronger again because customers need a competitive place to do business.
Lars, so glad you were wise enough to put a little bit aside, but sorry you are depleting your savings. I agree with your observations, and hope we are both right about the future.
21st Mortgage…I have not personally come across anybody who has gone in to IT…but I am not surprised. The very reason I love the business is the people…and mortgage people are tough, resilient and entreprenurial. They do what they have to in order to evolve and survive!
I am still in the business, 30 years and counting. I now work for a small local bank who just started to sell their loans. They love all my experience, former top producing AE and operations manager but the pay is low and the new regulations are awful. If I send out one more changed circumstance form I am going to vomit. It has not made it any easier or better for the consumer, we are just over documenting the full doc loans. Maybe it will calm down before I retire, one can old hope.
Maureen
Dear Maureen,
Hang in girl!!!
DM
Amazing to me that only a few of my hundreds of contacts pre-crisis are all gone. I kept all he biz cards and some rate sheets from the Argents of the world. Someday I’ll put it all together in a huge collage to hang in my office! What a ride and for me who is still fighting the fight is doing great in the market. My only
Competition are the big banks and they can’t do what the small broker can do. Change of circumstance forms too funny! Cheers
It’s really going to be crazy as soon as MetLife starts it layoffs in their forward mortgage division. And if they can not find a buyer soon then their will be a lot of people looking for work in an already difficult market.
Ryan, keep doing whatever you are doing! God Bless!
Andy, had not heard about MetLife…so sorry for those impacted. Keep watching here for new opportunities.
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The mention of some on your contact list becoming Financial Advisors has me wondering if any are still in it or if they haven’t been chewed up and spit out already by an industry known to be the inspiration for movies such as ‘Wall Street’ and ‘Boiler Room.’
I actually toyed with the idea of becoming a Financial Advisor, applied to one with the initials EJ and they pursued me immediately and for months afterwards.
The reason I did not pursue the opportunity? Even though they were willing to provide training, a base salary and an office after an initial ‘break in’ period requiring old fashioned ‘door knocking’ I knew that being economically ‘tapped out’ in the ‘current crisis economy’ or ‘Greater World Depression’ that I had no way of doing what I normally did as a former top producer: provide the necessary ‘out of pocket’ marketing dollars to ‘meet and beat the numbers’ (give 110% + in addition to company provided marketing to stay in the top 10% of producers) which is precisely what forced the closure of my company of some 200 reps.
I knew that it would not take 3 years to ‘lay the base’ for success as a Financial Advisor at EJ but more like 5 to 10 since their business success model was or is clearly based on prior better market behavior-no way was I going to be chewed up and spit out as a result of a well intentioned career change and I’m so glad there are sites with forums on them where those within industries can share the reality! Registeredrep.com was where I found alot of horror stories that helped give me a healthy ‘reality check.’
What am I doing now? It’s not the easiest, but right now I’m being considered for a property management position while surviving off of prior long term savings.
In closing, thanks for sharing the findings of your contact list!
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