Committed to making your mortgage approval process stress free and efficient for over 25 years, Sunlite Mortgage is one of Toronto, Canada’s leading mortgage brokerages.
If you are looking at joining a mortgage brokerage, you must do your due diligence. Your questioning should go far beyond asking about commissions and monthly fees. There are many brokerages to choose from. A visit to the FSRA website will provide you with an extensive list of mortgage brokerages looking to hire mortgage agents, whether you are a REMIC or Mortgage Professionals Canada graduate.
People get into the mortgage business for different reasons. The main one is to earn extra income, and many people succeed doing just that. If that is all you are looking for, you are selling yourself short. The mortgage business is one that you can earn a six-figure income in your second year, but that will take some commitment. If you are looking at being a mortgage agent part-time, you will need to work at least thirty hours a week. Anything less, and it’s just a hobby.
Joining the right brokerage is the key to succeeding, as less than 50% of new agents quit the industry in their first year. Going into an interview, those aren’t the questions that agents ask. Some companies are great at hiring but poor at retaining mortgage agents. One popular company has a turnover rate of 85%. That means that only fifteen of one hundred agents hired in a year remain with them in their second year; worse most leave after three months.
There are quite a few brokerages like that, and to make sure you can leave, you will need to sign a term contract.
Any agent should ask how many agents hired in the previous year are still with the brokerage and what their total hires were the years before if the company has a one-year contract? If they have a two-year contract, ask how many people they signed up two years ago, and how many of those agents they have now.
If the answer is unclear, ask for a copy list of the current year hires, ask for a list of the agents they have from the previous year. Does the number of agents from the previous year reflect a high or low ratio based on the current year’s hiring? Are agents bolting from the brokerage the first chance they get?
You should always ask if you are allowed to talk to an agent to get the agent’s perspective on the brokerage. However, that might not be a good barometer of the brokerage performance as now you may be judging the brokerage on the performance or lack thereof of the agent you speak to.
Brokerages offer high commissions and no fees to lure agents in. Still, there is no incentive to provide new training if your split is too high for the brokerage to be profitable or you are demanding time (training and support).
Answers to those questions should be the starting point in discovering who to trust in this new phase of your life.
You aren’t thinking about it yet as you think this is a small business. Do you want to earn a six-figure income in the mortgage business? Someone who isn’t earning that cannot show you how to.
