Stripped Bare - Beneath the Feel Good Veneer of Subprime Lending

Chapter 2 - Make a Pile of Cash

Two years after I purchased and financed my first home, I was presented with an opportunity to be employed in the mortgage industry.  I was presented with the opportunity by the very same individual who assisted me through my first mortgage application.  Because my knowledge of mortgage lending had not greatly increased since I purchased my home, I was a bit hesitant to explore the opportunity.  But, since I was offered a free dinner, and whispered promises of earning two to three times what I was currently earning, I went and listened attentively to the opportunity mortgage lending had in store for me.

The dinner I had that evening was excellent, but I was somewhat surprised that the entire conversation regarding the opportunity to pursue employment in the mortgage industry seemed to be dominated by how much money I could make, rather than the mechanics of how the business worked.  Each answer I received to my questions about the mechanics of the industry seemed to rotate around the money to be made, rather than the service to be provided.  There was no conversation regarding the “American Dream” of homeownership, or the mortgage industry’s role in fulfilling the dream.  There was no conversation regarding how one develops the necessary contacts to become successful in the mortgage industry.  There was no conversation about how to deal with borrowers, or their apprehensions, when in need of financing for a home purchase or refinance.  The entire conversation was dominated by the money to be made.

Do not get me wrong.  Making money at your job is a good thing.  The income we earn allows us to purchase the necessities we require, and the luxuries we desire, in life.  More importantly, it can allow us to take that step of fulfilling the “American Dream” of homeownership.  And, isn’t earning good money also a large part of the “American Dream?”

Earning good money is, without a doubt, part and parcel of the “American Dream,” and I also desired to realize this part of the dream.  Little did I realize, at that time, how easy it would become to focus only on the money to be made, rather than the service I was providing, to those in need of mortgage financing.

About two weeks after the above mentioned dinner, I accepted a position as a loan originator with the mortgage banker who had arranged my first home mortgage.  I approached this new opportunity with zeal, and naïveté.  Even though the carrot held before me was the money to be made in the mortgage industry, at the time I first began working in the industry, I was more inclined to think of the position I accepted as a chance to help people realize their dream, the homeownership dream, rather than simply a chance to make a pile of cash.

Posted by on 03/28 at 04:50 AM

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