New Mortgage Loan Officer

Member since 2025 · 2 posts · 2 votes

I am a new licensed Mortgage Lender Officer in Washington and Oregon. I have had been investing in real estate since 2020 with House Hacks, BURRS, and traditional buy and hold investing. I love the mortgage side of real estate and wanted to get further into it so I got my MLO license.

How can I best start to build relationships with buyers and gain experience as a new MLO?

What lessons do other MLO's wish they knew as they were starting off?

What are Realtors looking for in an MLO to gain their trust and business?

What questions am I not asking because I don't know to ask yet?

Any help and recommendations would be greatly appreciated from this community!

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Erik EstradaBusiness Member
Lender · Member since 2022 · 6k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2mo
If I were to start all over again, I would be firm on my niche and expertise. As an MLO, there are many niches to choose from. You can focus on realtor business, investor business, commercial, or direct to consumer. At first many of your mortgage companies will tell you to focus on building as many realtor relationships as you possibly can. I have to disagree.
There are thousands of MLOs that originate FHA, Conventional, and Non-Qm. Very few are experts. Maybe the top 1% know the ins and outs of all programs. I'd argue that your main priority when starting out is to become an expert at 1 program and dominate that niche. It will set you apart and you will automatically get more business from realtors and referral partners.
When you find that niche and stick to it, market aggressively. Create Facebook posts, social media posts, flyers, cold-call, and get your name out there. You should not focus on the commission when you first start out. Your main priority is building your clientele, reviews, and a good sales process. Heck if you have to do a loan for free in return for a review or referral, do it. People only transact with people they trust. The harder way is convincing people that you are trustworthy.
I also would recommend building relationships with underwriters, staff, etc.. early on. You want to be the guy that gives everyone a smooth process and is nice to work with.
Lastly, you should have at least 6-12 months of monthly expenses at all times. The mortgage business is very market dependent. Be prepared for those rainy days...
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