Would a mortgage Underwriter position be worth pursuing?

The position is a VA (Veterans Affairs) Mortgage Lender near DC/Baltimore.. I'd probably live closer to DC. Pays $60k base plus $1-5k bonus. Gets me certified with the Mortgage Banking Association as an underwriter in 18 months.

Could this be decent enough experience to eventually get a top 20 MBA school? And could possible exit opps include Credit Research, or even a Credit Analyst at a HF, of course with a lot more education?

I have no real dead set plan for a career path (clearly) but I do find fixed income & real estate pretty interesting and would just like to have a decent trajectory to land something legitimate, as I grow and learn more about the industry.. what do you think?

 
Best Response

hey bud, I don't know much about being a credit analyst or credit research...but I am a mortgage banker who works with underwriters everyday. What you are suggesting may work, but in large, is not the "norm". The reason I say that, is most people in the mortgage industry, tend to stay here--for many reasons. Some...complacent....some...Because the pay is above average, and you don't "need" a college degree...others like the ability to work from home...some like it because you don't deal with clients, only other employees (at our company they dress in pajamas at times) etc. But I will say as an underwriter you will (probably) learn skills needed for those positions, or at least you'll start to understand the thinking and logic that takes place behind the scenes when underwriting a file. I would say go for it--you never know... you might like residential mortgage underwriting, become a BEAST underwriter making 100k per year working from home...

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Thanks so much, man. Had no idea you could underwrite from home haha.. sounds totally dope and I think at some point in my life working remotely would be AWESOME..

I think this may have been an impulsive lash though, and I may get back to my original plan of pursuing an ER gig.. Definitely glad you responded though. At this point, just learning about different paths is nice

 

Unless there’s a product out there I don’t know about, VA loans are residential. Given your goals, I would advise against and look for a job in commercial lending.

Top 20 mba and hedge fund.... You have high aspirations. Unless your gpa is above a 3.6, it won’t be a huge help on mba applications and hedge funds definitely won’t look at you. If you want to be a credit analyst at the hedge fund level these days, you’ll need to be well versed in computer programming and coding. Commercial lending will open many more doors for you and will be more highly regarded on mba apps.

 

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