How to Become a Mortgage Broker – The Unwritten Rules

By Brandon Cornett | 2/11/10
© 2011, All rights reserved

There are plenty of articles online that cover the steps needed to get a mortgage broker’s license. So I’m not going to recreate the wheel by addressing those steps here. Instead, I’d like to cover some of the unwritten rules you should know about, if you want to become a mortgage broker in the United States.

How to Become a Mortgage Broker

1. First, you need to realize that you’ll undergo a dramatic transformation in character. In fact, you might not even recognize the person you’ve become after you receive your license. You will be willing to do or say anything to sell mortgages, even if it goes against your core beliefs and morals. But you can ease this transition just by understanding it will take place. It’s the unsuspecting souls who suffer the greatest shock during this process.
2. You need to disconnect yourself from the long-term financial success of your customers. What happens to them two, five or ten years down the road is simply not your concern. Your sole mission in life is to put them into a mortgage. After that, you collect your commission and sever all ties. No long-term risk, no messy concerns or connections. It’s the way of the mortgage broker, so you just need to accept it.
3. You need to understand the difference between affordability and approval. It doesn’t matter if your customers can afford their mortgage in the long term, as long as they can get approved for the loan. Remember, you are not concerned with their long-term success. You are concerned with selling another mortgage loan. This removes the burden of financial responsibility from your shoulders. It’s actually quite liberating. It’s another good reason to become a mortgage broker in the first place.
4. You must never develop any form of affection or empathy for your customers. Think of them as numbers, or as walking dollar signs. This will help you distance yourself from them. If you feel any kind of kinship with your customers, you will not be able to do your job properly. This is especially important when working with subprime borrowers, because you will likely put them into risky loans you would never give to a friend or family member. So stuff those feelings down deep, where they cannot influence your decisions. Remember, their long-term financial success is not your concern.
5. If you want to become a mortgage broker, you also need to distance yourself from the idea of “economic prudence.” If you want to sell a lot of loans, you will have to take certain steps that could actually weaken our economy in the long run. You can seek inspiration from the warriors of the mid to late 90s, who planted the seeds for a subprime mortgage crisis. These brokers were able to “turn off” their economic concerns and find loans for people who clearly were not qualified for them. As an aspiring mortgage broker, you would do well to model yourself after these trailblazers.

This article explains how to become a mortgage broker in the United States. It should be viewed as satire (though a realistic one at that). This article is a “celebration” of the reckless lending practices that have become all too common in the United States. We hope you found it both entertaining and informative.