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October 4, 2023 13 mins

Uncover vital mortgage industry insights with Loan Officer Hub Editor Liz Keuler as we dissect the findings from MGIC's 2023 Loan Originator Survey Report. Learn how loan officers are capitalizing on opportunities and tackling challenges in today's mortgage market. From factors that influence loan origination to current market activities and unexpected trends, we reveal insider strategies that can help you build your referral relationships and reach the next generation of homebuyers.

See the Loan Originator Survey Report results for yourself at LOHub.com!

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Mortgage Connects by MGIC, bringing you
the latest insights from topmortgage professionals around
the industry.
I'm your host, StephanieBudnick, and joining me today is
Liz Keuler.
She's the editor Loan OfficerOfficer Hub and MGIC's site that
is dedicated to insights andtools for loan officers.
Liz, thanks so much for joiningus today.
I'm so happy to be here.
I'm really excited for thetopic at hand.

(00:26):
You're going to provide withexclusive insights on the latest
Originator Survey conducted byMGIC and Loan Officer Hub.
I understand that this is thethird year that we've done this
and the loan officers that weresurveyed, that we talked to
their colleagues about theirchallenges, opportunities and
activities.
So let's talk about the surveyin general.
Can you tell me again who hasparticipated in this?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Sure.
So we conducted the survey inJune.
That's the usual time of yearwhere we do this and it always
takes us a couple months totabulate those results and
really dig in.
We had about a thousandoriginators this year, which is
down from last year, probablybecause there are fewer loan
officers in the market, I think.
So we mostly had loan officersor a few branch managers or
sales managers in there.

(01:10):
We're always looking foranybody who does any kind of
origination to just kind of seewhat they're thinking about the
market and their activities.
So we had like pretty goodtenure.
63 percent have been loanofficers for at least 16 years.
This is not surprising, butit's a slightly older group.
66 percent are over age 50.

(01:31):
About a third of them aremortgage bankers, 22 percent
work for banks, 15 percentbrokers, 14 percent community
banks and then 10 percent creditunion.
And I just wanted to level setthere.
That doesn't mean necessarilythat those particular groups are
always representative of theaverage loan officer.
That's who we had take thesurvey.

(01:51):
And then we also asked thisyear about production.
28 percent said they do atleast 76 loans in an average
year, with an average annualproduction just over $16 million
.
But not surprising, maybe, forthis year.
72 percent said they expect toend the year significantly or
slightly lower than theiraverage.

(02:11):
So we asked about their average.
But we also asked them well, doyou think you're going to hit
that this year?
And it seems like a prettyresounding not likely.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, there's been a lot of adversity in the market
this year for sure, so whatyou've shared so far doesn't
surprise me too much.
Now, we talked about this beingthe third year.
When you compare that year overyear to other results, is there
anything that really stood outor surprised you?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
You know, the answers generally are not too
surprising.
They kind of meet with what youanecdotally hear from loan
officers in the business and inthis market.
The one thing I was surprisedis that we did ask, as I said,
about production and annualnumber of loans this year, which
was new.
And the reason we asked aboutthat is we were hoping to kind
of slice and dice thatinformation and see if there was

(02:58):
any difference in the answersfor those that you could
consider top producers versusmaybe average producers, because
that would really might yieldsome interesting insights.
But for the most part we didn'tsee a lot of differences in the
answers and I think that speaksto the fact that there's no
like secret to the business orsilver bullet that just you know

(03:18):
if you do these activitiesyou're going to become a top
producer.
It's just putting in the work.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Sure, showing up everyday.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
That's okay.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, so you know that might be a slightly
disappointing answer for loanofficers to hear that they're
not going to get the secret.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
But although it surprised me then when I thought
about it a little more, it doesmake sense.
It's just you know, those folksare being successful just
putting in the work.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
So those loan officers that are putting in the
work, where were they targetingtheir outreach?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
As usual, top focus was purchase business for the
first time home buyers and moveup buyers.
So there's not a big surprisethere.
That's, you know, bread andbutter for the business.
Where we really saw the marketcome into play was that it was a
very sharp dip in a refinancefocus compared to last year's
survey.
Refinances for existing and newclients.
They both dropped like 20percentage points compared to

(04:06):
the 2022 survey.
So people were really focusingmore on the purchase business.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
That dip surprises me just a little bit, just because
it was already going down in2022.
So that catastrophically, yearover year, I mean that's a
little surprising.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Sure, I think it has something to do with when we
surveyed the loan officers, youknow.
June last year is right Sure itwasn't quite then.
Yet, right, it's good to talkabout yeah, so I think that's
why.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
So when you're looking at marketing medians
because we were talking aboutyou know where they're targeting
their outreach.
What medians were the mostsuccessful for them to reach
their borrowers?

Speaker 2 (04:41):
So top answer and this is always true word of
mouth, which could also beconsidered referrals 88% of
respondents selected that.
And then emails and socialmedia came in like lagging
second and third 35% for emailsand 33% for social media.
So you know vast majority ofloan officers.
They're really they're talkingto the referral partners,

(05:02):
they're talking to past clients.
You know that there aredifferent tactics that loan
officers use to reach pastcustomers and referral partners.
It was interesting to see whatpeople would answer.
You know, when we leave an openfield like they'll maybe select
a few different things, butwhen they'll get to the other,
we heard the importance ofbusiness networking,
international chapters or othernetworking opportunities as

(05:24):
places where loan officers arefinding those referral partners.
And then we also asked themspecifically about reaching the
next generation of buyers, soyounger, millennials and Gen Z,
and social media of course cameup often for that group, but
also some creative ideas Ihadn't really seen before, like
attending all-ages functions andspecifically targeting Gen Z

(05:45):
and millennial real estateagents as referral options,
which I think makes a ton ofsense because Gen Z real estate
agents are probably working withGen Z clients a lot of the time
, because that's where theirnetwork is.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Right, work with people that are more like you,
because of the comfort sometimes.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Sure your network.
You know who's in your network.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Right.
And I like that you brought upnetworking.
It's just.
It's bringing home just theimportance of being in front of
people and making connections,and that's how it grows through
your word of mouth.
So that makes sense.
You brought up referrals.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout that.
Who are those individuals thatthe loan officers are working so
closely with to generatereferrals?

Speaker 2 (06:24):
So we did ask LOs about their best referral
sources.
Past clients and real estateagents were neck and neck.
That was about 85 percent ofloan officers selected that.
Friends and family was also apopular answer.
So it's clear loan officers areleaning on like any network
they can.
Builders, cpas and lawyers wereless popular overall, but it

(06:44):
seems that more seasoned LOs sothose who have been in the
business longer have morediverse referral sources.
They're just more likely toselect three or more of those
options instead of just leaningon the past clients and the real
estate agents.
So that might be a tip for someloan officers who are thinking
about how to diversify.
Is diversification can reallyhelp if you're looking to

(07:05):
different sources and see if youcan develop those?

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, there's always unique windows that people don't
always think about.
Referrals are obviouslycontinue to stay on top for
multitudes of reasons, butexpanding their networks could
be worthwhile.
Did you learn anything aboutthe survey from the survey on
how LOs are connecting with realestate agents specifically?

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Mm-hmm.
So 40 percent of loan officerssay they attend closings at
least once a week.
And interesting there, that'sone of the only places where we
did see a significant differencein the answers from LOs who did
76 or more loans so it could beconsidered top producers is
that a greater percentage ofthem 55 percent of those loan
officers say they attendclosings once a week.

(07:48):
So maybe there is a little bitof a tip in there.
If you're talking about toploan officers is closings.
It seems to be important.
As I mentioned, networkingevents, along with community
events, continue to be popularways to connect lunches, happy
hours, any of those places wherepeople can connect not just on
a business level but person toperson, and then hopefully
develop that relationship andturn it into a relationship

(08:09):
where you can get that referral.
And then, as far as what's mostimportant to those real estate
agents, 91 percent of loanofficers say that service and
availability are the mostimportant thing when you're
working with those referralpartners.
One loan officer, in his or hercomments, put it perfectly,
said you have to keep yourpromises.
So that seems to be a theme ingeneral.

(08:32):
Whether it's working withborrowers or working with
referral partners, you know youhave to do what you say you're
gonna do, sure.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
Now we talked about the market a little bit in the
beginning and how.
That's maybe perhaps swayedsome of the answers from
inventory standpoint and otherchallenges that are going on.
What did you learn about howLOs are dealing with these
challenges?

Speaker 2 (08:52):
Well, as I said at the beginning, 82% of
originators expect to end thisyear at least somewhat below
their average production.
So there's plenty of concernabout staying in the business,
getting back on track.
To be clear, getting back ontrack seems to refer more to
pre-pandemic levels.
You know loan overs are notexpecting a return to the kind

(09:13):
of business that the mortgageindustry was doing in 2021, for
example, so they're just tryingto get back to maybe like their
normal.
One thing that did surprise meabout challenges in the market
is I really expected interestrates to be the main story on
all of those questions aboutchallenges, but the biggest
roadblock seems to be inventory.
83% of respondents said thatinventory is one of the greatest

(09:35):
challenges for their borrowersand 66% said it was the greatest
challenge for them.
So you know interest rates.
You hear so much about it, butwe also know the historic you
gotta put it in the historicrecord too is that they may seem
really high now and they are atkind of a historic high for a
certain period of time, but whenyou look back at the whole
housing market you know 7% isnot the top of where it's ever

(09:59):
been.
So that might be one of thereasons.
We are in a really tightinventory place right now and
that seems to be the biggestchallenge.
But, that being said, interestrates did rank almost as high on
the list of challenges toborrowers, at 72%, and we
included as an option this yearmortgage payment or
affordability, and that jumpedup 30 percentage points from
last year, coming in at 63%.

(10:20):
I think you can really relatethat to the interest rate
challenges as well.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
Sure.
So those two answers almostkind of go simultaneously
together.
It's easy to complain about aninterest rate, because when they
can't find a home they're likedo I wait, do I go?
But it's really that inventorythat's keeping people where they
are right now.
So MGIC is a mortgage insurancecompany and we couldn't miss an
opportunity to ask loanofficers how they feel about low

(10:45):
down payment options.
I'm sure so, with both of usworking here at MGIC, what kind
of things did we learn?

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, we had to ask them.
You know, come on, we can'tmiss the opportunity.
Well, no.
So I'm sure everyone here atMGIC will be gratified to learn
that 83% of loan officers saythat a conventional loan with
PMI is among the products theyuse most often with consumers
who need a low down paymentoption.
So you know, we kind of listedthe whole gamut of what they

(11:13):
might offer and conventionalloans with PMI did come in
number one at 83%.
Those other options, of course,included FHA, DPA, va, usda.
So we also asked loan officershow do you decide what to
recommend to your consumers ofthose options?
And we leave that as an openanswer because we just really
want to see the thought processfor loan officers and I love

(11:35):
reading these answers.
There's no big surprises, butthey just reinforce the
importance of the loan officer'srole as like a trusted advisor,
helping guide borrowers throughthe process, understand their
options.
So like, if you think about aword cloud which actually, you
know, the survey option allowedme to do so I can see that word
cloud.
I saw words like options,compare, needs.

(11:56):
Those were like the really bigwords.
So loan officers know there'sno one size fits all, so they're
taking that role as a trustedadvisor seriously and all of
those answers are like you know,I figure out what's best for
their individual situation.
They're not just trying to slapon you know, whatever loan they
do the most often and I thinkthat's really inspiring to see,
even in a difficult market likethis, that loan officers are

(12:18):
taking that opportunity toreally guide their borrowers.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, that's comforting for them to be able
to do what's best for theirborrower not necessarily just
for them, as an individual,because they know what a big
buying process this is, and theydon't do it every day.
That's right.
I really appreciate, Liz, yourtime today.
I love some of the insightsthat you were able to share with
us.
There's many more, I'm sure, inthe LO survey that will be

(12:42):
coming out.
The surveys have provided greatinsights to what originators
are doing, and so, foradditional information and a
copy of the survey, visitloanofficerhub.
com.
Thank you all so much forlistening.
For all the latest industryinsights, subscribe Mortgage
Connects Connects on AppleStitcher, google Podcasts,
Spotify, amazon Music or go tomortgageconnects.
com.
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