“When I was young, I was poor. But after decades of hard work, I am no longer young.” The quip about “The greatest cause of death is birth” aside, we’re all going to die. The question is, “How?” It takes a while for statistics to catch up, but in 2019 the biggest killers of Americans were heart disease, cancer, and being poor. “There were at least 180,000 poverty-related deaths in 2019, new research estimates, surpassing deaths from causes like homicide and drug overdoses.” Unclean air, water, lack of access to good health care are listed. But we, in the residential lending industry, are in a good place to help better people’s housing situation… every day! Loan officers are in a very good position to do so, and today is the last day for them to comment on NMLS Modernization. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized
If I had a dollar for every time someone called me a boring nerd, I'd have a mean daily income of $5.64 with a standard deviation of $1.25. Turning “boring” into “interesting” is something to be proud of. How about a hand-held miniature chainsaw or a shopping cart with a magnifying glass attached for reading labels? For loan originators, new and old, who think creativity has vanished from residential lending, maybe they should focus on the basics. This eBook has been recommended to me: “The Ultimate Borrower Communications Strategy for Mortgage Lenders.” I recently received this note from a successful loan officer. “Rob, my commissions in 2020 and 2021 were over $500k each year. In 2022 they dropped about 50 percent to about $250k. 2023 promises to be even lower, and I’ll be lucky to make $200k. Are you seeing this everywhere?” Yes, I am. But keep things in perspective. In the U.S., and certainly in the world, $200k