One broker's advice for growing a business without losing everything else
Brokers have a reputation for grinding long hours to build their businesses. For those who work in a one-person shop, that grind can be very extensive.
At a time when the mortgage market is slumping, solo brokers can often feel like they’re burning the candle at both ends.
Scaling a mortgage business fast enough to hit those numbers usually means saying yes to every call and every file, on the theory that slowing down means falling behind.
One originator who hit $300 million in a single year says that number came at a cost he did not see coming until it nearly cost him everything. The warning signs that there was a problem can often creep up on an originator.
Artin Babayan (pictured top), founder and CEO of Premier Plus Lending, spent roughly 12 years building an origination business before starting his own brokerage, growing from an intern in his late 20s to a $100 million producer, and eventually to a $300 million year in his mid-30s. He did not hire an assistant until he was nearly 30.
"I lived it. It almost ruined my life," Babayan told Mortgage Professional America. "I was working like 24/7. I developed a drinking problem. That's how I would blow off steam, and it worked for a little bit, and then it just got really bad. My wife moved out of the house. It was pretty rough."
Paying a heavy cost
Babayan said that period forced him to confront two separate problems at once.
"That was around the time that I saw that not just personally I needed help, but professionally I needed help," he said. "And so I sought both out, and so I hired my first junior loan officer."
Recognizing the need for a change, he said, often comes down to a simple gut check.
"I think it's just when there's a level of stagnation and a level of dissatisfaction with this business," he said. "If you feel like you're stuck in it and you're not happy coming to work, that will usually tell you that there needs to be a change, because that can only sustain so long, and then you get burnt out.
“I think there's a ton of people in the business that are in that place, especially with what's been going on in the rate environment. When you don't have as much money to show for it, it's a little bit harder to justify the pain of this business."
He said neither loan officer he built up had any mortgage background before he brought them on.
"The first one that started with me is on pace to do about $130 million. The second guy that came with me is on pace to do about $80 million," he said. "They both started with no industry background. The first one was a BMW service person, and the second one was working in Chase Bank on a commercial mortgage team. I did their loans, I did a really bad job of them, and they were like, if this guy can make this kind of money doing this, I could probably make more."
Delegating and training simultaneously
For solo originators looking to build out their team to take some of the pressure off, Babayan said it’s important to understand that the long-term benefits are worth the short-term headwinds.
"If they're a high-producing loan officer and they're passing off files to a junior loan officer, there's a dip in income, because you've got to pay this other person," he said. "Now where it gets interesting is there's an inflection point, and if you keep doing the right things, you can make more money and have a better quality of life. It's removing yourself from the instant gratification. That's a tough mindset to adjust, but it can be done."
He said retaining a strong producer once they arrive comes down to whether the business can support their own ambitions.
"Your dream has to be big enough to fit their dream," he said. "If you want that person that's going to be a $50 million golden goose that helps you grow your business, your comp structure and your setup have to be big enough that person can achieve their goals. You have to start with their dream and then make sure it fits into your dream."
One training method Babayan developed came out of necessity rather than design, and required some ingenuity and some construction skills.
"I was in a much smaller office space, and there was a small office next to mine. I put him in that office, and then I cut a hole in the wall and put a sliding glass window in it," he said. "I took all of my phone calls on speakerphone, and this poor guy had to sit there for six months and just listen to me talk. Then he'd ask questions between phone calls, like ‘Why did you say that?’ or ‘How did you do that?’ It was the most efficient way to use my time to train while originating at the same time."
Babayan said this will be his first time attending AIME Fuse, after spending most of his career in the independent mortgage bank space before starting his own brokerage in 2023.
"I really respect the organization," he said. "I'm very excited to show up in these kinds of spaces and be able to speak with loan officers and share what I've learned the hard way with business, so hopefully they don't have to."
He said one thing that impressed him about the broker community is the willingness to share information, even with direct competitors.
"If you show up and you're a good person, and people see you as having a good reputation, they're very willing to share information with you," he said. "It's kind of amazing to be able to sit with someone who's technically a competitor and just share notes and try to help each other get better, as long as you're coming from a place of abundance."
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