[New] Look The Other Way

It’s a tumultuous year. Refinances have dried up like the Great Salt Lake. Purchase mortgages look like they’re hovering at the same level as Lake Mead. So loan originators are all wondering how to stay afloat, how to expand their market base, how to diversify their business offerings.

Perhaps the answer isn’t so much in paying attention to new products, but in new people. Specifically, tapping into diverse markets that have been previously overlooked.

It’s not hard to see that ours is an industry that often reaches for low-hanging fruit. That means well-qualified borrowers, easily underwritten, who check off all the conforming boxes. Push those apps through processing and underwriting, and move on to the next deal. But the next deal may not be out there waiting where most LOs are looking.

Patty Arviello at New American Funding built her entire company on the truism that few mortgage lenders were giving more than lip service to the Hispanic community. She looked at culture, community and competition, and decided that she could be the best lender serving all three. That’s the kind of ranking that’s hard to objectively affirm, but the shelves of awards from those communities speak loudly about the appreciation for her approach, and the high volume of business New American does in minority neighborhoods speaks to the value of her business acumen.

It’s hard, though, to be a lending force in a community where you don’t have any real connection. An all-White brokerage team, for instance, may not be wildly successful in a predominantly Black city. That’s why even the smallest brokerages should be looking at the demographics around them, and then take a good hard look at their staff. If your market has been traditional middle-class borrowers, mostly caucasian, and you can see that there are a lot of Asian residents in or near your market, building a staff that understands those borrowers is in everyone’s best interest.

In this issue, we have some great tips for social media marketing. And we’ve got expert advice on non-traditional loan products that originators should be offering. That’s all good information. But execution is the proof, and success there will be built by people who know how to connect with audiences that you may not yet be reaching — or understanding. Don’t ignore or underestimate a great business base that may be in front of you just because that opportunity doesn’t look the way you expect it to.

STAFF

Vincent M. Valvo

CEO, PUBLISHER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Beverly Bolnick

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Christine Stuart

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

David Krechevsky

EDITOR

Keith Griffin

SENIOR EDITOR

Gary Rogo

SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

Mike Savino

HEAD OF MULTIMEDIA

Katie Jensen, Steven Goode, Douglas Page, Sarah Wolak

STAFF WRITERS

Rob Chrisman, Dave Hershman, Erica LaCentra, Nick Roberson, Lew Sichelman, Mary Kay Scully

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Nicole Coughlin, Nichole Cakirca

ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES

Alison Valvo

DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC GROWTH

Steven Winokur

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

Julie Carmichael

PROJECT MANAGER

Meghan Hogan DESIGN MANAGER

Stacy Murray, Christopher Wallace

GRAPHIC DESIGN MANAGERS

Navindra Persaud

DIRECTOR OF EVENTS

William Valvo

UX DESIGN DIRECTOR

Andrew Berman

HEAD OF CUSTOMER OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT

Tigi Kuttamperoor, Matthew Mullins, Angelo Scalise

MULTIMEDIA SPECIALISTS

Melissa Pianin

MARKETING & EVENTS ASSOCIATE Kristie Woods-Lindig

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST

Joel Berman

FOUNDING PUBLISHER

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VINCENT M. VALVO Publisher, Editor-in-Chief

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