Dealing In Joy

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

Dealing In Joy

VINCENT M. VALVO | Publisher, Editor & CEO

When you ask loan originators what they like best about being in the business, you probably won’t get just one answer. The pay’s pretty good, will be on just about everyone’s list. Some will say they get energized by figuring out answers to complex situations.

But just about every single originator will have this at or near the top of their list: they love knowing they’re helping people make their homeownership dreams come true.

Sure, real estate agents say the same thing. But let’s cut to the chase: Realtors help people find homes. But mortgage LOs get people into their homes. Finding a home, and being able to actually pay for the home, are two vastly different things. And the most important one of those is the one that focuses on the money.

Plus, mortgage brokers and LOs don’t just help people buy their houses. They also help them afford to stay in them. If there’s one thing this pandemic has made clear, it’s that loan originators have been indispensable in helping families facing financial issues lessen those burdens by refinancing their mortgages so that monthly cash flow doesn’t cripple a couple’s dream.

THE BEST DEALS

All of this is to say that, in editing this magazine, one of our joys is putting together the “My Best Deal” page. This is where originators across the nation tell us about the deal that resonated most with them.

That’s not usually the biggest mortgage they ever made. Instead, it’s more often a deal that – if not for their work – would have kept a veteran’s family of four from closing on their dream home, or kept an unwary buyer from losing an investment, or helping a formerly homeless and broken couple knit their life back together by achieving a real home of their own.

Or sometimes, like in this month’s column, it’s not so much about the end of thedeal, but about the unusual discoveries along the way.

We focus this magazine on the mortgage sales channel, on how to do more,profit more, be better. It’s all about hands-on information, and insider insight. Butsometimes, it’s really just about knowing that LOs really do make the world a betterplace. The best deals aren’t about the commissions, but about the comfort that comesfrom helping someone in need.

VINCENT M. VALVO Publisher, Editor & CEO