Building Business Through Wealth

That message was conveyed at recent seminar featuring Barry Habib, who reportedly has over 20 years experience in the mortgage industry and has been recognized as one of the nation’s top originators — averaging nearly $100 million in production per year with only one assistant and by referral only.

Originators are in the position to grow their business and secure that into the mortgage industry’s next boom, Habib said. The current mortgage market environment is slow only for those who don’t know that the secret to success is finding the need in individuals’ lives. This can be done by focusing on helping people identify their financial goals and telling them how they can use their mortgage to create and preserve wealth.

“There is plenty of business,” Habib said. “It is too easy to be successful.”

Millionaires have “made their money when the times slowed down — that was the opportunity,” he added.

Habib believes any originator can earn at least 500,000 in income per year by following a few “simple” steps to being a mortgage planner who helps people achieve their financial goals through maximizing cash flow and minimizing taxes, for example, rather than focusing on selling mortgages with a good rate.

“That’s what we need to aspire to be — a better resource, the mortgage planner,” because people don’t have their financial health in order and need someone to help them in this aspect, he said. “There is such a need for people like you and me to step up and assume” the role of being a mortgage planner or trusted financial advisor.

Statistics indicated about 97 percent of families do not have a college savings plan in place, three-fourths of workers ages 55 to 64 have less than $56,000 saved for retirement, 65 percent of Americans live on a “paycheck-to-paycheck” basis to cover living expenses, 20 percent of the population has credit cards that are maxed out and 94 percent of families do not have a will or trust in place to protect their families, according to Habib.

To help people with their financial needs, Habib suggested to first “create wealth for yourself because if you do that it’s easy to help others and easy to show and teach others how to create wealth for themselves.”

Originators should start by being their own mortgage planners. In analyzing their own situation, originators should ask themselves what their financial goals are, whether their own mortgage and debt are structured correctly, if a college savings plan is needed, when they want to retire, whether they have enough life insurance, if they are protected from estate taxes and, most importantly, if their families are protected through trusts and wills, according to Habib.

The process helps in another step to becoming a mortgage planner — building a “wealth creation team” by developing relationships with certified public accountants, estate tax attorneys, insurance agents, financial planners and others who can help in advising how to achieve financial goals. In building a team from scratch, Habib suggested originators talk to their top 10 customers to see who they can recommend for an “all-star” team that can help people build financial plans. Wealth creation team members should help each other by being accessible for constant expert advice and creating referrals.

For example, “if you develop a relationship with an estate planning attorney, they’re not going to send you 100 transactions a month, but the one or two that they send you, its always high loan amounts from people who get it. They don’t shop you around,” Habib explained.

In identifying loan prospects’ financial goals, Habib noted, “if you want to be interesting, be interested.”

Originators can start by telling tell their own story about what they’ve always wanted to do in life and then ask prospects what it is they’d like to do. In knowing such, originators can then present their loan recommendation by using the “BH technique” or the “because you told me this, here’s what I’m going to recommend.” Originators should then be able to demonstrate how prospects will achieve their financial goals through the loan recommendation.

To reach the $500,000 per year goal, originators should take at least two hours a day to talk to 10 mortgage borrowers, preferably past customers of their own, to analyze their financial situation and see how a new mortgage investment would change it. Habib suggested doing this through an online calculator and having borrowers input numbers during the conversation so they get a visual of the savings that would be created through, for example, consolidating certain debt or getting a tax-deductible $100,000 home equity loan.

Asking borrowers if they have prepared for the unexpected and the survival of their family through life insurance and trusts, when they plan to retire or how they are preparing for their children’s college education, and then showing them the benefits of making an investment in a mortgage now versus the penalties of starting to save for these things later are ways that can increase business, according to Habib.

Habib emphasized for originators to continually invest in themselves to build a more genuine, credible and authorative mortgage planning and wealth creation practice. Originators should not get caught not knowing and thereby should read and educate themselves to be financial market savvy and up to date. Originators should know about inflation and where the federal funds rate is and incorporate this in their talks with clients. They should be able to tell borrowers what tax bracket they are in, how estate taxes work, and always be prepared to show how a home asset can be restructured to help borrowers achieve their financial goals.

“If you don’t invest in yourself — why should your clients invest in you?” Habib asked.

“If you know, but you don’t act, then you don’t know,” Habib said. As a mortgage planner “you get to touch people’s life every day and make a difference.”