Dave: That is a question I get from loan officers and from "inside" lenders from time-to-time. My short answer is "yes, you can make a living from within any sized office." Obviously, I need to expand upon this point. Let's start with this issue. So many times loan officers move into a real estate office and forget about their present production. That is a big mistake. Yes, it will take additional resources from your time and energy banks to service the office, but to ignore your previous book of business would be akin to saying goodbye to everything you have done up until this point. Your focus would be to build upon your present business, not to replace it.

Another reason you don't want to ignore your present book is that you can help the new real estate office grow its business by leveraging yours. If you want to be successful breaking into the new office, you need to help the office increase its production. This will include everything from recruiting to helping each agent become better at what they do. If you have a big sphere of influence that you market using a CRM, perhaps you can teach the agents to grow theirs the way you have grown your own. Here is an example of leveraging your database: sending a list of the office listings to your database on a monthly basis.

There are other aspects of the "too small an office" issue that you need to consider and you also need to consider the question of whether you want to sell in this type of team atmosphere. For example, we spoke about not giving up your present book of business but adding this office to your business. This helps not only your numbers, but also the office's numbers. Speaking of helping the office, I do believe that this is one important consideration with regard to accepting this position. As an "in-house" loan officer, you are becoming part of a team. Many loan officers are very independent, especially in the way they go about soliciting business. When you become an inside loan officer, you will have more success "breaking into" that office if you become a part of the team.

What do I mean by that? It means being there during regular office hours agreed upon with the agents and brokers. It also means being part of all activities, including sales meetings, trainings and even birthday parties. It is important, not to be just another lender that is there to service them but be part of the team. That is what the term "inside" means.

This fits the personality and sales profile of many loan officers. But it does not fit the profile of others. You need to ask yourself: can you work in a team environment, or do you like to be a lone wolf? Being part of a team means that you also can't pick and choose the agents you want to service. If you are part of the team, you are helping everyone, within reason, of course. This is an important consideration and also will lead us to the next point. How the immersion into the office will bring you closer to the deeply rooted sphere of the office. More on that in a future segment.

Dave Hershman is Senior VP of Sales of Weichert Financial and the top author in the mortgage industry. Dave has published seven books, as well as hundreds of articles and is the founder of the OriginationPro Marketing System and Mortgage School – the online choice for expert mortgage learning and marketing content. His site is www.OriginationPro.com and he can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..