Midwest Top Producers see first-time home buyers as key to success

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

Mortgage originators expect first time home buyers to be a big source of business for mortgage originators this year. But a larger share of Midwestern loan officers compared with their counterparts nationwide said working with that group was extremely important for their personal success this year, the 2019 Top Producers Survey found.

Since many first-time buyers have problems saving for a 20% down payment, Midwestern loan officers placed a higher emphasis on the ability to offer high loan-to-value ratio products as the key to their prosperity this year.

Of the Top Producers that work in the Midwest, 91% said it was extremely important for them to meet their origination goals in 2019 by working with first-time home buyers, while another 7% ascribed a lesser degree of importance.

For the national sample, 83% said it was extremely important to work with first-time buyers to meet their production aims.

Many among this cohort of potential borrowers lack the savings for a down payment.

The biggest misconception about the mortgage process that consumers had, said Jeff Dulla of United Home Loans, is that they need to put 20% down and that private mortgage insurance "is for certain an awful thing.

"To correct this, I model out different down payment and loan program offerings that fit the client's down payment and monthly payment needs," said Dulla, a vice president in the company's Westchester, Ill. office. "Often clients are shocked that a 10% down option with PMI is well within their budget parameters."

So being able to offer low down payment mortgages was extremely important to 70% of Midwest loan officer plus slightly or somewhat important to another 23%; for all loan officers, 56% called it extremely important, while 29% said it was slightly or somewhat important.

When it comes to drumming up new business, a higher percentage of Midwest originators, 59% said social media marketing was important for their job satisfaction, versus 44% of all respondents.

"I have adapted by branding myself personally within Guaranteed Rate," said Christin Luckman, a senior vice president in one of the company's Chicago offices. "My puppy is my mascot and he is present in all of my ad campaigns for social media, billboards, email marketing, postcard marketing and digital."

Here are the top 20 mortgage originators based in the Midwest: