How hard is it really for a mortgage broker just starting out in their early 20s? Not being put on a team, but being a female, and working for a top 10 firms (Berkadia, Greystone, etc). Multifamily agency lending focus.
Thanks in advance!
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Age, gender, and company brand aren't really much of a factor in your ultimate success in CRE brokerage. Company in some cases, but it's not nearly as important as some in the "preftige" crowd here would make you think. Being a great young broker is truly about about being trustworthy, adding value at every turn, and knowing how to avoid/minimize the innumerable mistakes and fuck-ups that we inevitably make starting out. In that vein, get a mentor, business partner, or on a team ASAP. The learning curve is so steep that most can't hang on, and is especially difficult if you are on your own.
Good/great brokers are artisans in managing the myriad of issues, personalities, emotions, and expectations of everyone involved in the deal, and there isn't a person alive in their early 20s that has the knowledge, experience, and capabilities to be a top level broker. It's really one of the last true mentor/apprenticeship type professions, and is truly a craft. You could literally watch every brokerage training video ever made before starting, and you would likely still be a shitty broker starting out. There are extremely subtle and nuanced aspects of this business that can't be learned outside of making mistakes. It's a constant process of situational errors and behavioral revisions for the first 5 years in the business, and if you don't have an someone with that experience guiding you, you are very likely to fail. A mentor helps smooth over the mistakes you will make until you are competent.
Sure, there are some brokers out there who can hack it and carve out a niche for themselves on their own, but by and large, those folks tend to be of the sales-first and deal-chasing mentality, which doesn't generally lend to being a thoughtful sales consultant like most of the top brokers are. The best in the business have a highly unique blend of charisma, strategic analysis/insight, hustle, personability, business intuition, genuineness, and tactfulness. Find someone with those traits and work/learn from them.
Very well said. I like that the first word you used to describe a great young broker is being "trustworthy". I think that trustworthiness is the most important word that separates a successful broker/banker. In the mortgage banking world, you will find people that run the gamut in terms of personality traits. Many people would assume that the incredibly charismatic brokers are most likely to be successful. If you attend CREF, you will find folks who look like Abercrombie models in their past lives, know how to work a room, appear very well put together and are incredibly personable. You will also find people that are the exact opposite. They look like flounders, are shy and don't come off as particularly friendly or put-together. What you will typically find is that both archetypes can be successful in their own way and almost always the success can be attributed to their ability to earn trust.
It is important to consider that trust can take many forms and people establish trust in many different ways. One way that someone can gain trust is through friendship. Clients trust brokers they know well and consider friends and assume that the broker would work especially hard on the deal and would treat it (and them) with utmost integrity. Another way that people can earn trust is by displaying competence which can be a combination of reputation, experience and knowledge/intelligence.
A debate that I've frequently encountered in the brokerage/banking space is: If you were a client, would you prefer to work with a broker who you enjoy personally, or with a broker who you may not particularly enjoy but you deem them more hardworking/competent? In other words, what's more important, relationship or ability?
Wow. Thanks Bobias!!
Is this hypothetical or do you have an actual offer? The reason I ask is that my understanding is that those "top" generally do not like to let a new/junior person just go out on their own into production unless they have real experience and understand the process/offerings (this is different from cold calling/prospecting for a team/senior person). I suppose some may have strong training/mentorship to allow for a new producer to be successful, but it's not how I usually see it.
The reason is the "top" firms tend to be very protective of their brand/reputation, and thus do not like to risk someone going out and saying stuff that makes them look bad. There are plenty of "less than top" firms that operate this way, and they have the reputations they do for a reason.
Personal advice, the best sales jobs in the world do not let you sell at first, they force you to watch and learn. The ones that say, "here you go, good luck!" suck. You could be successful, very successful even, but the odds are not good. MF agency lending is technical, and knowing the process/product takes time. I highly recommend new people starting in brokerage, D/E placement, and other sales based jobs only accept when they get real training/mentorship, this often takes the form of being a "junior" to a senior or on a team. At the best firms (like Eastdil Secured, CBRE, JLL), you usually have to be an analyst first to even get the right to do production.
The above comments are spot on. I'll add two things...1. You said multifamily agency lending. Fannie and Freddie don't just let you start slinging their loan products around town. You have to apply with them to be a supplier and they have certain qualifications to become one. I'm not sure how hard the process is but it's another hurdle to consider.
2. Do you have any family, friends or close acquaintances who already own/invest in CRE directly? if so than you have a leg up on building a client base. If not then it will be a real grind to find clients on your own. Be prepared to have a second job on the side to make ends meet for a few years while you build your book of business. And remember that you're not guaranteed success, so you could waste 3-5 years of your career trying to play broker. This is why getting on a team with a great mentor is sooooo important in the broker game.
@redever I’m currently an underwriting analyst and want to ask my department/ am originator that I’ve gotten close with over time to transition into production/ his team after spending 2 years in underwriting. So yes, it’s all hypothetical rn 🙂
This is a lot of added detail/context. First, you have/will have 2 years in underwriting, thus you understand the mechanics of the deal and the offerings (hopefully at a high level as a result), and second, you are seeking an internal transfer to originations. (the context of your post made it sound like you would be jumping into this from a cold start)
In sum, that is a very good basis for potential success in originations, you have less to really learn up front about the product and process and actually have the credibility of doing underwriting and being somewhat "on the other side of the table". Everyone is young first, many woman succeed in this field, so neither makes you that unique IMHO. Is sales difficult, stressful, and painful at the start? YES, but everyone has to start somewhere. If you can be added to a good team, in a quasi-analyst, quasi-production role, that may be the smoothest transition.
You have to know your personality and desires, "deal making" and "sales" takes a tough mentality as you will get shit on a lot, especially in the beginning. So if you like the lifestyle, thrill of the deal, and want to be on that "other side", I wouldn't hesitate. I doubt your firm would support you in this shift if they didn't think you can be successful. If they say no, then you can venture to other firms (honestly, be prepared for this).
SBPref12 In an ideal world, I would join a team and be able to build my book while simultaneously having that stability
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