Gurtler recently told Scotsman Guide that her wild growth was due to a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Her first two years, she had to hit the gas and learn as much as she could without falling behind. It was difficult, but she thrived in the high-pressure environment.

Now she’s hit her stride and is intimately familiar with the loan process in New York — which she calls “very long and unique” — as well as the other states she originates in. She studies constantly, keeping up with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules along with special guidelines for self-employed borrowers. And Gurtler is organized and proactive, with spreadsheets full of borrowers who locked in at higher rates and a calendar packed with reminders to follow up.

She spends her working hours in Manhattan’s Financial District, in an office she calls “inspiring” because of co-workers who are team players (even if they’re technically competing for loans). After hours, you can find her at a comedy show in the city or at home cuddling her dog, Jax.

As a loan consultant for Ally, which partners with Better Mortgage Corp. on its digital platform, Gurtler has one of the largest marketing forces in the industry behind her. She also has a built-in client base in Ally’s banking and auto loan customers. While business slowed a bit in 2023, she still faces a unique problem in the current market: a full pipeline and more loans than she can close by herself.

“There is a lot of volume, so being able to get to everyone can be a challenge,” Gurtler said. “That requires a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, to sit down and make those phone calls, answer those emails and be available as much as I can.”

She said she had to learn to be a leader and delegate when she needs assistance. She mentions her team often and affectionately, attributing much of her success to their support. Gurtler’s team of loan officer assistants keep in touch with borrowers early in the home purchase process and provide round-the-clock customer service.

This frees her up to focus on more immediate matters like borrowers with accepted offers, closing dates within 90 days and refinance applications. The market slowdown has allowed her more time to interface with each client and to chat with people who are still shopping. She’s earned one of the top accolades among Ally originators for spending so much time on the phone.

“I’m enjoying (the job) more because I feel like I’m giving that personal attention to my clients,” Gurtler said. “I’m building better connections, and I feel happier when they get their offer accepted or they get out of a high adjustable rate, because I know them more personally.”

The slowdown has also offered her a chance to regroup and “get off the hamster wheel.” Her company, she said, is focused on launching new services, including fully underwritten preapproval letters and a 24-hour turnaround on commitment letters.

“Having that in our back pocket is all the rage,” Gurtler said. “The Realtors love hearing that.”

She also has more time to travel and pursue her favorite hobby, snowboarding. Gurtler has made a point to travel to cities that are seeing a lot of in-migration, like Charlotte. When she talks to borrowers buying homes in these cities, it’s easier to build rapport because she understands the area and its way of life.

“I might be the only loan officer that feels this way, but I enjoyed 2023. Maybe not volume-wise, but I’m not in this industry to just make money,” Gurtler said.

Her biggest reward comes from helping people, especially first-time buyers, get into their dream homes. “My favorite thing in the world is when we go over their monthly payment and they tell me that it’s cheaper than rent. Best feeling,” she said. ●

Tips of the Trade

Work with your team if you’re lucky enough to have one. It’s impossible to do everything on your own. You need to work well with others and delegate. Those qualities can really help you reach more clients. Remember how important this is for the client — they’re buying a house or saving money on a refi. This is a big deal, so don’t lose sight of how you’re helping others. Make sure you follow up as much as possible. Stay on top of the borrower so they feel important, because they are.

The post Featured Top Originator: Marissa Gurtler, Ally powered by Better appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

Goss said she wanted a strong pedigree to be a professional mortgage banker. She served in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years, earning a degree in finance during her service, and then went to grad school at Boston University. She had to leave the Marines due to an injury but spoke highly of her experience, calling it one of her “greatest accomplishments.” In fact, Goss was only a few hours away from attending a Marine Corps ball when she recently spoke to Scotsman Guide.

She started her career at Navy Federal Credit Union as a member service representative and transitioned into mortgages after managing a bank branch at BB&T. There, she attended the “retail academy,” which taught her from the ground up how to do all kinds of loans, from conventional to home equity and business loans.

“I was able to break into cold calling people and learned to build relationships. Making calls and having day-to-day banking experience before I got into actual mortgage banking gave me a lot of context,” Goss said. “Being in the finance world made my foundation when I came into mortgage funding really, really strong. … I feel empowered to be able to help (my clients) because of that knowledge.”

Ten years into her career, Goss specializes in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) lending. There’s a lot that people don’t understand about VA loans, Goss said, so she aims to be a source of education — the first one people call when they have questions. She’s visible in her community of Jacksonville, North Carolina, and she’s a familiar face at nearby Camp Lejeune, where she runs classes and seminars for service members.

All of this is great for business, and military relationships are at the core of her business. Goss further expands her influence by serving on the military affairs committee of her local chamber of commerce, stays involved with organizations like Hope for the Warriors and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and is active in online groups for military women.

She’s worked hard to build relationships and is never afraid to “get her hands dirty” by doing the heavy lifting, but she credits a lot of her success to her team. “There’s no scenario that we really haven’t seen, collectively,” Goss said. “I feel like that makes us more powerful.”

Despite some challenges — including a difficult 2023 full of ups and downs for her business — Goss is grateful and loves the career she’s worked so hard to build. “I got to watch my mom do it, and she made a difference in so many people’s lives, so I just love making that difference and I feel like I do it for the right reasons,” she said. ●

Tips of the Trade

I tell people all the time in this industry — because everybody wants to be a loan officer — if you’re doing this for the money, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons, because you will eventually fail. And if you’re looking for something balanced, then you need to pick another career. This is very high stress and you take work with you everywhere you go, even on vacation. You have to be ready to work and you have to have thick skin.

The post Featured Top Originator: Amy Goss, Guild Mortgage Co. appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

“I loved Greece — I really did — and I didn’t see myself ever leaving. … The plan was go, start a career and transition back to Greece. But life has different plans sometimes,” Petritsis said. “This is where I met my wife and we made a home here.”

The couple had three daughters and settled down, but Petritsis and his wife Georgia are keeping their dream alive. They plan to return to Greece for half of each year when they retire.

Life also had plans to move him again, from Albuquerque to Houston, where Wells Fargo offered him a position as an area manager in 2010. He settled there with his family and worked in a nonproducing role for a few years, which gave him time to expand his Rolodex of referral partners and develop a system for building deep relationships with them.

Now he’s back to producing loans at Prosperity Bank, where he’s worked since 2018. He still uses the same building blocks to create mutually beneficial partnerships with Realtors and homebuilders. Making Realtors happy, he said, comes down to three simple things: no surprises, expedited service and a consistent loan process.

Builder relationships are especially important to Petritsis too, since one of the bank’s most popular products is its one-time-close construction loan. He’s eagerly pursued hundreds of these relationships.

“In the one-time-close space, you need to have a relationship with the builder. That was the main focus: ‘How do we become friends with the local builders?’” Petritsis said, adding that he and his team aggressively pursued builders, charmed them with sharp underwriting skills, delivered on promises and executed smoothly.

The construction product — along with other useful tools offered by Prosperity such as home equity lines of credit, lot loans and options for non-U.S. residents — even nets referrals for Petritsis from other mortgage originators. Among his friends and connections in the industry, the products he offers are well known, so when another lender doesn’t have what Petritsis has, the client is often referred to him.

Business has slowed this year in the Houston area, he said, but it hasn’t been as dramatic as some other markets. Houston is a “relocation sweet spot,” Petritsis said, and people are still moving there. He invests time in every client, having a long conversation with them at the beginning of the mortgage process. The 30 to 45 minutes he spends getting to know each client helps him to understand exactly what they need and works to prevent any possible hiccups down the road.

“I really believe that when you communicate with a customer that it’s not about rate, it’s not about terms, it’s about helping them understand the process — a predictable process, I would say, with no surprises,” he said. “That’s what customers are ultimately looking for, to do business with somebody that understands their wants and needs, and gets them to the finish line.” ●

Tips of the Trade

Learn the business. What I mean by that is, be the processor, be the underwriter, know how to analyze income. Know every aspect of the business, and that will really help you better level with the customers and with your internal partners. What I recommend to everybody is to make friends in the industry. Don’t build a transactional relationship; make long-lasting relationships in the marketplace. Your Realtors or builders, everybody’s going through the same obstacles, so it’s OK to be human. Go deep on your relationships.

The post Featured Top Originator: Spiro Petritsis, Prosperity Bank appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

“Those clients that we really achieved something with … those are the ones that really make our job worthwhile.”

He loves educating clients, strategizing with them on a path to their goals and eventually seeing them reach their dream of homeownership. “I think (my favorite part) is really just working with clients, and that satisfaction you get out of educating someone and getting them to the point of being able to own their own home when they never thought it possible,” Marquis said.

Much of his business is in conventional and jumbo loans, given the high home prices in his local market. But he said his client base is wide — from first-time buyers trying to avoid high rents to investors seeking to snap up new properties. He sees a lot of clients in biotechnology, a huge industry in Boston, and does U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans regularly as well.

Because of his focus on education, Marquis and his team are deeply knowledgeable about guidelines and are more strict upfront so there are no surprise denials later. “We get a lot of business from other lenders, where they fail to structure the loan correctly from the get-go,” he said. “So, for example, they don’t poke holes in the loan the right way and figure out what could go wrong with it. … (They) are unable to close, the customer will come to us and we can help.”

Over the thousands of loans he’s closed in his career, Marquis said that the transactions that stick out the most are the ones where he has helped the client out of a tough spot in their life. “It could be a situation of a client that’s getting divorced and has to refinance to keep their home, or it could be a client that we had to work with on their credit, or they had to save for a downpayment,” Marquis said. “Those clients that we really achieved something with — that they did not think they could achieve, or we got them out of a really challenging spot — those are the ones that really make our job worthwhile.”

Marquis and his team also donate $25 from every transaction to the Friends of Boston’s Homeless housing startup fund. In three years, the team has donated more than $100,000 to the fund, which helps Bostonians experiencing homelessness to overcome the financial barriers to housing and get connected to vital support services.

“You know, we’re all on the earth, we’re all going to end up in the same place at some point,” Marquis said. “And you realize you’ve got to allow others to succeed in this world in the way that we have, right? (It takes) a lot of hard work, but not everyone’s been as fortunate and had the opportunities that we’ve been fortunate to have.”

Marquis is riding out the tough market and positioning himself to capitalize on the next up cycle. His team is active on social media to connect with borrowers and Realtors, and he’s always expanding his referral network through events and one-on-ones. Since joining CrossCountry two years ago, he said he’s had support and freedom to design his own processes that work best for his team and his market.

“I think there’s opportunity in the market for the right situation, but our industry is always challenging. … This cycle is very unique,” he said. “The market’s always developing. Now we have to be forward thinking. What’s our next step? Where do we go next?” ●

Tips of the Trade

When you pursue a certain angle, you’re ultimately going to achieve that if you have a focused and dedicated approach. Figure out what direction you want to go — first-time homebuyers, FHA loans, VA loans — and then be very dedicated to that. If you want to go after purchase business, you have to build that one by one. Realtors want a financing solution that’s going to work. Work as a partner who can help them do more business. Work with up-and-coming agents and build business with them. It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you know your guidelines, you do right by your referral partner and your borrower, you provide excellent communication and you follow up, you can really build a great business in this industry.

The post Featured Top Originator: Andrew Marquis, CrossCountry Mortgage appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

To learn more about Marquis, read the full Featured Top Originator article here.

The post Featured Top Originator: Andrew Marquis, CrossCountry Mortgage appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

“Don’t pander to the client just to get a deal. If a deal’s not good for a client, I tell them.”

Specializing in jumbo mortgages for high net worth individuals, Nourafchan regularly closes multimillion-dollar loans. Last year, his average loan volume was more than $3.2 million, making him No. 1 on Scotsman Guide’s newest ranking, Top Jumbo Originators. He’s been carving out his niche in jumbos for years.

“My career started in 1990. For seven or eight years, I worked as a broker, then went into banking and worked for big banks and a few smaller banks,” Nourafchan said. “Over this time, my strategy has always been to go after jumbo loans … and continually build my business on higher dollar amounts.”

Now working at boutique brokerage Insignia Mortgage, Nourafchan uses a variety of lenders to meet each of his clients’ unique needs. Regional banks, credit unions, private funds and the private arms of larger banks are all within his arsenal — and he said he’s always expanding his lender repertoire. With smaller banks running low on deposits and pausing loan programs, he has been spending more time recently with sourcing.

“We actually have a good amount of deal flow and we get a lot of referrals, even from other banks,” Nourafchan said. “Our challenge is to continually add new lenders … new private investors, new banks, spending a lot of time on that. Thankfully for us, we know how to do it and how to get them. But that’s challenging.”

Nourafchan said that this year, most of the deals coming through are between $1 million and $3 million. There’s a low inventory of homes in this price range and anything coming onto the market is still getting multiple offers. Homebuyers who can afford these homes would prefer to buy rather than rent, so they’re willing to pay higher interest rates.

Homes from $3 million to $7 million are less in demand but still doing OK, he said, with similar inventory challenges. The high end, however, which involves loans of $10 million or more, has slowed significantly. Inventory is plentiful at this price point, but most buyers just aren’t interested right now. Jumbo loans at any price point often involve complex borrower finances, as high net worth individuals tend to store wealth in assets rather than liquidities. Thankfully, Nourafchan said, he has “the best team in the country” at Insignia to help him process loans.

“When we submit a file to a lender, it’s pristine,” Nourafchan said. “And you know, it’s a flipside too. We know upfront if a loan’s not going to work, which is an even bigger deal. … If we review a file and know it isn’t going to work, we give our honest opinion.”

This honest communication has been key to gaining client trust and referrals. “I don’t overpromise. I’m fair and honest with them,” he said. If a client says they were promised more by another broker, Nourafchan says he tells them to give it a try, but these clients often come back when it doesn’t work out. “Don’t pander to the client just to get a deal,” he said. “If a deal’s not good for a client, I tell them.” ●

Tips of the Trade

Learn how to underwrite a file. Know what an underwriter looks for and understand how the loan works. Be very good at analyzing loans, because that’s the key. You have to be able to understand if the loan will work or not, and why. Continually expand your referral sources — go out there, meet Realtors, join a networking group. It’s work, but it’ll pay off, and it can be fun meeting new people. Deliver what you say you’ll deliver and everything will take care of itself. You’ll soon get a lot of referrals from places you’d never expect.

The post Featured Top Originator: Romy Nourafchan, Insignia Mortgage appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

The post Featured Top Originator: Romy Nourafchan, Insignia Mortgage appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

A friend invited Argall out to meet her boss, and she left that lunch with a job as a wholesale account executive for home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). “I knew nothing about commissioned sales; I didn’t know anything about mortgages except that I had one,” Argall said.

“You just have to be willing and open-minded and savvy enough to be able to pivot for whatever the market trends are, and go chase after that business.”

But she took the leap of faith anyway, left her teaching job and dove into the world of mortgage lending. She stayed in her wholesale position until the housing crash in 2008, then remained in sales until the HELOC market reopened. In 2015, she joined TruWest Credit Union in Arizona as a HELOC specialist, this time as an originator, and has grown her business to become the second most-prolific HELOC originator in the country, according to Scotsman Guide’s rankings. Last year, $50.7 million of her $67.6 million in volume was tied to HELOC originations.

One major perk of working for a credit union, she said, is the warmth and trust she feels from other mortgage and real estate professionals, as well as her clients, thanks to the clout that credit unions have developed as members of their communities.

“There’s just this real feel-good about working with a credit union,” Argall said. “Even with clients that I speak with on the phone, when I say I’m with a credit union, you hear them sigh because they know it’s going to be a really warm relationship.”

Argall loves originating HELOCs because they offer homeowners an affordable way to consolidate debt, do home improvements and more without refinancing their existing mortgage at a higher rate. These second-position loans are particularly attractive in the current market to homeowners who financed their homes at sub-3% rates in 2020 and 2021, and Argall said they’ve been good for business.

There are some challenges, however, to HELOC originations. Argall said that homeowners sometimes come to her to consolidate credit card debt, but the debt has reduced their credit scores to the point she can’t get them qualified. “It’s a really tough call to make and it’s probably the most challenging part of my job,” Argall said. But there are plenty of positive moments too. She cited the “really outstanding professional relationships” with her referral partners as a part of the job she loves.

“And when I get to see the homeowners, they’re always so nice,” Argall said. “It’s great to be a solution for them and be part of their financial puzzle, to help them out.”

A lifelong lover of learning, Argall has two master’s degrees from Northern Arizona University. Her daughter is off to college this fall at Arizona State University. Outside of her busy work life, she enjoys yoga, travel and cooking classes. She’s poised to pivot frequently to embrace the market she’s in. While she says that market conditions will dictate her future growth, she’s always putting herself in front of the best possible connections.

“You just have to be willing and open-minded and savvy enough to be able to pivot for whatever the market trends are, and go chase after that business,” Argall said. “My market strategy is just to align myself with the utmost professionals in the industry … and just keep moving with the market. You can’t assume anything in this industry and you can’t sit idle.” ●

Tips of the Trade

Always stay humble and kind. Taking things back to the basics is never a bad idea. Be authentic, reliable and relatable. Be a good listener and an effective communicator. Those are some of the basics that I think are overlooked too often. Do all of those things and then align yourself with the best of the best in the industry.

The post Featured Top Originator: Kelly Argall, TruWest Credit Union appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

The post Featured Top Originator: Kelly Argall, TruWest Credit Union appeared first on Scotsman Guide.

The owner of the lot worked in mortgages, and at the end of the Christmas season in 2004, he asked if Sakhrani would join him as an assistant at Countrywide Financial. After a year there, he moved to a small broker shop, and after another year, he opened his own business. In 2006, Sakhrani became independent and he’s been growing his business ever since.

“If you communicate well, you’re always going to get business. You’re always going to get referrals.”

“I had no plans of going into the mortgage business. I was going to go work for my dad, take over his business,” Sakhrani said. “He said I had to go to school to take over the business, so I went to school and I worked as a mortgage originator. But it turned out I was really good at origination, so I never steered in the direction of my dad. I just stuck with it.”

Sakhrani carved out a niche in nonqualified (non-QM) mortgages. He now offers everything under the umbrella of non-QM: construction, fix-and-flip, debt-service-coverage ratio (DSCR) and bank-statement loans, among other products. Last year, he did $94 million in non-QM loans alone and more than $260 million in total originations.

His typical borrowers are self-employed, or people in high-earning careers — doctors, dentists, lawyers — who can’t get approved at a bank because they have too many write-offs or an otherwise complicated financial picture. He also does conventional loans and his extensive knowledge of loan programs means that every borrower has multiple options.

While Sakhrani runs an entire brokerage as its president, he works with a small team on his own originations — just himself, his right-hand man and one processor. He said he really enjoys being “in the dirt,” poring over each loan file and finding solutions on his own rather than delegating. His approach has made him a Scotsman Guide Top Originator for several years now, and his goal for the next several years is to grow his brokerage rather than his personal origination volume. Sakhrani has a comfortable work-life balance and invests most of his free time with his wife and three children. And he pushes his firm’s other originators to work hard and build a comfortable family life for themselves too.

“I’ve done my rounds; I’ve done my thing. I want to coach my originators, teach them and make sure they’re successful,” Sakhrani said. “I really want to focus on 10 to 15 people, build them and build their careers to a point where they can sustain this for a long time. … It’s going to take a lot of work and dedication to try to push them to get there.”

Sakhrani doesn’t really believe there are secrets to success in the mortgage industry, but if one thing has made him successful, he said it’s his communication style. He returns every call or email by the end of the day, and he believes the most important communication comes when there’s a glitch with a loan.

“Everyone can communicate really well when they’re saying, ‘Hey, your loan’s approved; we’re going to close in 14 days,’” Sakhrani said. “What really sets you apart is being able to say, ‘Hey, underwriting saw this and we’re having a challenge here. This is how we’re going to overcome it, but we need more time.’ If you communicate well, you’re always going to  get business. You’re always going to get referrals.” ●

Tips of the Trade

The key to success in this business is to be able to take rejection. You’re going to call 100 Realtors, or 100 clients, and 99 of them are going to say no. But keep plugging away, because if you can get through that, you can be really successful. When you hit one out of 100, that’s a great batting average in the mortgage business. Work long hours while you’re young to set yourself up for the future — not just 9 to 5 but the hours that no one sees. It sounds cliché, but hard work and dedication really do get you to the end goal.

The post Featured Top Originator: Amit Sakhrani, TransUnited Financial Services appeared first on Scotsman Guide.