That momentum, he said, may be tied as much to psychology as it is to economics. After a long period of uncertainty surrounding elections and national leadership, Bitter said it seemed like the fear of the unknown had started to lift. “Even though there’s a lot of chaos in the administration, it feels like things are getting back on track for houses.”
According to recent data from NMLS, there are approximately 30,000 fewer originators than the year before. With reduced brokers, many are preparing for an increased volume of clients. For Bitter, this could be an opportunity – but only if originators are ready to step up.
“You’ve got more volume, fewer people. How do we get into the 30% range?” he said.
The answer, at least for his team at UMortgage, is simplicity. “We’re focusing our salespeople on sales activities,” Bitter said. “Whatever it is, whatever your niche is… we don’t care. Just work the sales activities.”
Bitter said that a negative attitude in the wake of the recent downturn can unnecessarily slow many brokers down. “A lot of originators came through the last year being very deflated,” he said. “They got into a comfort zone of making excuses for why they weren’t doing the business they were doing before.”