Why new originators struggle to learn the business and how to fix the problem
“It’s kind of like that dog that finally catches the bird it’s been chasing, or the rabbit or the squirrel,” he said. “What do I do with it?”
Even when a lead does convert, he said, no two files behave the same way.
“Every deal in the business, when I get in front of it, is a snowflake,” he said. “There isn’t one that’s realistically the same.”
He described a scenario where a borrower looks solid on paper, with strong credit, a sizable down payment and a stable job history. Then an undisclosed divorce and a $10,000 alimony obligation surface a week before closing. Surprises like that are common, he said. An originator only learns to catch them by seeing enough files to recognize the pattern.
“If you don’t have enough touches, you’re not going to gain enough experience on a deal-by-deal basis,” he said. “Your learning curve is so much more.”
