What Follows A Year Unlike Any Other

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

What Follows A Year Unlike Any Other

VINCENT M. VALVO Publisher, Editor & CEO

We are now wrapping up 2020. For the world at large, this has been a year of plague, wildfire, unemployment, contentious politics, civil protest, flooding and famine. For the mortgage industry, it’s been a year of extraordinary gains, record profit, unheard of commissions and round-the-clock work to process the sheer, mountainous, never-ending volume.

But that the public at large and our colleagues in the industry are both exhausted, it’s hard to see a more dichotomous landscape. Still, there’s probably a good lesson in this for both groups: Get ready for the next round, because what happened in the last wasn’t really up to you.

While climate change issues will take significant time to address, vaccine rollouts and economic stimulus could be very helpful to getting the world back on track. While politics, by its nature, is always pitting one idea against another, perhaps the conversation will at least be less venomous without an insulter-inchief in the mix. It’s even possible there might be constructive discussion toward addressing the problems underlying our civil unrest. At the very least, we can begin preparing as though those positive changes are possible.

THE SUCCESS SCENARIO

On the mortgage side, preparation is also warranted, but for the opposite reason. Interest rates may remain very low for a long time. But other economic forces (rising unemployment, mortgage defaults and the like) will, eventually, impact this industry, and the rushing pipeline will slow. Sales pros who get used to a year or two of extreme earnings will need to be more proactive in keeping that deal flow going. And those who’ve planned out not just a month or so into the future, but have mapped out a year or two of probabilities will be the ones most likely to capitalize on the coming upheavals.

There has never been a time when business has continually flowed, never ebbed. It will change, it will slow, or it will divert into different eddies, but it will not remain constant. It may be short time or it may be many months, but when it arrives those who have planned for it will be the ones who claim the prize.

At our website – nationalmortgageprofessional.com – as well as at our sister site – originatorconnectnetwork.com – you’ll find scores of stories and advice from top execs that will help you in that planning. And we have a dozen online events and more than 20 live events scheduled into 2021 to be a resource to you.

It is, after all, the end of the year. But it’s not the end of the story. The story of your success is still being written.