Fast track to successAnthony M. Gramzasuccess, tips and tools, commercial loan brokering
Success begins with a person's will, for it's all in the state
of mind. According to Webster's Dictionary of the English Language,
success is a favorable result that one has tried or hoped for. It
may be the attainment of wealth or fame, and it could mean that you
are a successful person.
You may be asking, "What does this have to do with commercial
loan brokering?" Well, to tell you the truth, it has everything to
do with it. My intent will be to provide you with a comparison for
further consideration as you try to maintain a successful track of
business for yourself and your company. Furthermore, I hope that I
can persuade you to consider the other side of our industry -
commercial loan brokering. It can provide very favorable results as
an adjunct to your residential business.
Part of the success team is education. You can't do it alone,
although you can try. Educating oneself through designed courses,
such as those taught through the education program of the National
Association of Mortgage Brokers, will begin the formal process of
preparing you for dealing in the commercial arena. Don't embarrass
or frustrate yourself with a client if you do not have some type of
formal training. Commercial clients usually can tell within a
matter of a few minutes whether you know what you are talking about
or are playing the bluff game. And remember your reputation, for it
will follow you. Therefore, as a member of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers,
ask for these courses to be taught in your area or state. Request
your state representatives to encourage the offering of these
courses both on a state and national level. Whenever there is a
state or national conference, educational courses, including
commercial ones, should be offered, and member attendance should be
encouraged. Make the effort to take as many recognized courses,
through NAMB or the National
Association of Realtors if commercial loans entice you. Whether
you continue in the commercial field or not, you can always say
that you tried.
Another part of the team is commitment and perseverance. It may
not be easy and you will certainly run into obstacles. But
regardless of where they come from, you usually can overcome those
obstacles by working diligently with other professionals. Start
with some small transactions, get your feet wet and remember that
you don't always have to do it by yourself. Ask for help. Work with
other professional brokers and let one or two of them be your
mentor(s). If you feel good and trust that person, let him be the
angel looking over your shoulder. We normally recommend starting
off with a small loan request, but it can happen that a
multi-million dollar deal lands on your desk. Relax. Don't get
frustrated. Ask for help, co-broker the deal with another
professional and keep your fingers and toes crossed that the deal
not only gets approved, but actually gets funded as well. Lastly,
remember the theory of reality. You cannot always be successful in
every project you are working on. I always use the 20/2 rule; if
twenty deals come into our office, two may make it to closing.
Don't get alarmed when you make a few mistakes (I guarantee that
you will). Don't let those mistakes or failures discourage you.
Without mistakes or failures, you cannot have successes. I
guarantee that successes will come. They will be in the form of a
genuine feeling of accomplishment in assisting your clients in
achieving their goals and, at the same time, the reality of life -
getting paid and receiving your commission for a job well done.
When you are marketing yourself, remember not only the potential
clients, but the multitude of lenders as well. Clients seek your
help in packaging their transactions and lenders need you so that
they can approve and fund those deals. Over the past few years, we
in the brokerage community have been blessed with an abundance of
mortgage funds (not only residential, but also commercial). Not
only do we do business with the local and statewide lenders in our
area, but also in the Wall Street conduit market - the big source
of funding. When I say big, I mean big. For the year 2005, the
commercial mortgage-backed security market garnered $169.2 billion
in loan production, and that was only one segment of the
marketplace. If this sounds exciting to you, then grab on and take
a piece of that pie for your business.
Whether you seek fame or not, it will come to you. It may be in
the form of one client talking to another about how you, as his
commercial mortgage broker, helped in obtaining the financing for
his commercial project. It may be in the form of a newspaper
announcement indicating your firm as the successful broker of
record. It may just be the congratulations from your peers. As
humans, we all look to some form of recognition, and it certainly
enhances our ego. Therefore, as you obtain success, relish the
accolades showered upon you. Never feel that you are outclassed and
that you will not succeed. Always feel that you are a successful
businessperson. Think highly of yourself, because not everyone will
do so. Success begins in your mind. If you think you will succeed,
you will, my friends, for "It's all in the state of mind."
Anthony M. Gramza is president of Rochester, N.Y.-based AMG
Commercial Mortgage Group Inc. He may be reached at (585) 264?9540
or e-mail
[email protected].
