How to Close More Loans When Rates Are Working Against You

By DJ Christofferson

After being downsized in 2007, DJ shifted from corporate America into real estate and ultimately found his true lane in mortgages. He built his production on one core principle: be the kind of partner to Realtors he wished loan officers had been for him. Be valuable.

If you’re a loan officer who’s struggling to close deals in this market, or you just want to close more of them, I want to give you three things you can start doing right now.

And why do I say “in this market”? Because a lot of loan officers are freaking out. Rates were going down, and now they’re going back up. But the good news is that none of these tips depend on where rates are headed. They work regardless.

Go After Orphaned Realtors

Right now, loan officers across the country are spending their time complaining about the market. They’ve been doing it for years. And while they’re complaining, they’re not doing the one thing that actually matters: developing and maintaining relationships with the Realtors who were sending them business.

That means those Realtors are sitting there without a reliable lending partner. They need somebody they can count on. Somebody who’s not constantly complaining about rates. Somebody who shows up as a steady force. You can be that person.

The easiest way to find orphaned Realtors is to reconnect with ones you’ve already spoken to in the past. You have name familiarity with them, so you’re not starting from zero. Reintroduce yourself and rekindle that relationship. You’ll find that a large percentage of them no longer have a go-to loan officer because that person either got out of the business or is spending all their time complaining on Facebook.

Focus on What Actually Works

A lot of loan officers try to do seven or ten different things to generate business. But when you actually analyze where your deals are coming from, 80% of your production comes from about 20% of the things you’re doing.

So the fastest way to get more business is to cut out everything that isn’t generating results and pour that time and energy into the 20% that is. If you put more effort into the activities that are already working, your business is going to grow exponentially. It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing more of what works.

Get Better Pricing and More Products

I’ll be honest, this one is a little bit of a selfish tip. But it’s real. A lot of loan officers are at companies where they don’t control their margin and they don’t control their product mix. The company makes those decisions for them.

At NEXA Lending, it’s different. Our loan officers have better interest rates and they have control over those rates. If you want to do a skinnier deal, you can do it without begging for a pricing exception. And in most cases, you don’t even have to because the pricing is already better. On top of that, we have more loan programs than any other lender in the country. Loan officers who come over to us are converting more of their leads into deals simply because we have more options for the borrower.

If you want an easier way to get more business without actually doing more work, better pricing and better products will do that for you.

Bonus: Fix Your Number One Bottleneck

I said three tips, but here’s a fourth. Look at your business and identify the single biggest thing holding you back. Not five things. Not ten. The one thing that if you fixed it right now, everything else would start moving.

Maybe it’s lead generation. If that’s the case, go back to tip two. You probably don’t have a lead problem. You have a focus problem. You’re doing too many activities that don’t generate leads.

Maybe it’s operations. You’ve got leads coming in but your file flow is a mess and deals are falling apart before they close. If that’s the constraint, put your attention there.

Whatever it is, find it, fix it, and your business will grow.

Those are three tips plus one bonus that will help you grow your production right now. If you want to talk about how I can help you scale your business, or if you want to learn more about what NEXA Lending offers in terms of pricing, products, and support, there’s a link in the description to request a time to speak. Click it, fill it out, and my team will get in touch to schedule a one-on-one Zoom with me. You can also reach me directly at (262) 751-3415 or email me at DJ@NEXAmortgage.com.