How LOs Can Crush The Chaos

Below is an excerpt adapted from our podcast conversation with 40 Under 40 honoree Adam Dellemonico of Movement Mortgage. It has been edited for brevity and clarity but retains Adam’s insights on mentorship, team-building, and the “four pillars” that shape his success.

From College Athlete To Mortgage Professional

“This is the only job I’ve ever done,” Adam says. “I graduated from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island in May 2017, and my first day as a loan officer was June 1, 2017. Right out of college, right into the business.”

Adam started at a bank in Jacksonville, Florida, learning the ropes. “That was huge,” he recalls. “They taught me the acronyms, the debt-to-income calculations — it’s a totally different language when you first begin. Then, I realized I wanted the flexibility of working for an independent mortgage company. I joined Movement six months in and haven’t looked back.”

Despite being relatively new to the field, Adam’s business grew rapidly. “I attribute that growth partly to having good mentors and partly to the timing,” he explains. “Rates were in a decent place, and then things went wild during COVID. But it also came down to really solid training and coaching from day one.”

Coaching & The Athlete Mindset

A recurring theme among top mortgage pros is coaching. Adam is no exception — he credits his baseball background for shaping how he views practice and mentorship. “I played baseball at Roger Williams,” he says. “Baseball is a sport of failure: batting .300 is considered successful, which means you fail seven out of ten times. Lending isn’t so different. Most loan officers close about 30% of the applications they pull credit for.”

Just two months into the job, Adam invested in a coach named Scott Groves. “I didn’t have the money for it, but I knew if I had a roadmap and just did what I was told — if they said 10 calls, I’d do 20 — I’d see results. That first coach took me from zero closings a month to about 15 by focusing on consistency and day-to-day basics.”

Adam emphasizes that coaching evolves: “I still have a coach, but now it’s more business-focused. We talk [about] managing people, hiring processes, time management, and scaling. If you’re a brand-new loan officer, though? Coaching should be your first move.”

Building a Solid Team

Competition fueled by numbers is a strong motivator, but it goes hand in hand with teamwork. “Baseball might be an individual sport when you’re at bat, but you’re part of a collective,” Adam says. “Same goes for mortgages: you alone can’t handle every aspect of multiple loans every single month without a supportive team.”

Today, Adam leads a robust operation. What does he look for when assembling a winning roster?

Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly

“My team has almost no turnover,” Adam explains. “I’m very cautious about bringing on someone new because one bad apple can ruin the bunch. The flip side is, if they’re not a fit, you can’t wait too long to address it. But I’m lucky; we haven’t really experienced that.”

Culture of “We Over Me”

“Everyone on the team is equal. I don’t look at it like someone’s above or below. We treat each other with respect, jump in where needed, and keep positivity high. Mortgage lending can be stressful; that culture helps keep people motivated.”

Identify Bottlenecks & Hire Ahead of Demand

“Any time I’ve brought on someone new, it’s because I saw a bottleneck in our process,” Adam says. “I ask: if we doubled our volume, where would quality slip? Because I won’t sacrifice quality for quantity. I’d rather do fewer loans perfectly than grow too quickly and deliver a poor experience. If I notice we’re nearing that point, that’s when I hire. But I do it carefully and deliberately.”

Systems That Scale

How did Adam go from a brand-new LO to a multi-person team closing dozens of loans a month? He points to the power of systems — and a refusal to repeat mistakes.

“Every time we had a stressed-out teammate or a frustrated client, we did a post-mortem. Why did this happen, and how do we prevent it in the future? We wrote out what the perfect process looks like from the moment we first hear from someone to post-closing. If there’s a gap, we fix it. That’s how you eliminate the chaos — by ensuring every person knows exactly what to do and when, and that they’re communicating with the right stakeholders at the right time.”

He continues, “The mortgage process itself is fairly consistent, even though every client’s situation is unique. If you can handle the standard flow perfectly, you’ve freed up brain space to solve the tricky problems when they arise. That’s how we hardly ever deny loans. There’s no scenario where something ‘pops up’ last minute. If it does, it means someone didn’t ask the right questions or review the right documents early on.”

The Four Pillars

Central to Adam’s success are his “four pillars.” He shares them like a personal mantra for every member of his team:

Set Proper Expectations

“If you don’t set expectations at every step, something will blindside the client — or the agent — or you,” Adam says. “When a client qualifies for a $500,000 purchase, I don’t just say ‘Here’s your pre-approval letter, have a great day.’ I go deeper: ‘You’re approved for up to $3,500 a month. Here’s how taxes can affect that; if taxes are X amount, you can only go to X purchase price. If it’s in a flood zone, that’s going to change. Rates could rise.’ We do the same with agents. If it’s a rush deal and I haven’t verified all documents, they need to know it’s conditional. Surprises are what lead to frustration.”

Be Available When Others Aren’t

Early in his career, Adam made a bold choice to replicate a voicemail greeting that another loan officer used: “It says, ‘Leave your name, number, and brief message, and I’ll call you back in 10 minutes or less.’ I can’t always do it literally, but people notice. They’re like, ‘Wow, I’ve never heard that from a loan officer before.’ The point is to reassure them that they matter enough for a quick response — even if I only text them first. In the beginning, I was doing double open houses every weekend, answering calls at 10 p.m. I can’t maintain that personally forever, so now my team splits that burden. But the philosophy remains: we’re available.”

Over-Communicate

“We have a rule: close the loop,” he says. “That means no one should ever have to call or email us asking, ‘Where do we stand?’ We proactively send updates so the client, the agent, and the title company know exactly what’s happening. If someone else — like an attorney or an insurance rep — is slow in sending us a document, we let everyone know we’re waiting on it. Then we bring in the agent to assist if necessary. We apply the same principle from first contact to post-closing. No gaps. If you leave gaps, you invite anxiety. That’s where the guesswork and worry creep in.”

Never Lie

“It sounds obvious, but I see it all the time in this industry,” Adam stresses. “I’ll do ‘rescue loans’ where someone got denied elsewhere, and the story their previous LO told them doesn’t add up. If a client truly isn’t approved, I’ll tell them directly, then spend more time explaining how they can get approved in the future than I spend on some ready-to-close files. Maybe they need to fix credit or lower debt. That’s fine. It’s a huge purchase, so the best thing we can do is tell the truth — no sugarcoating or stringing them along. The minute you stretch the truth is the minute you start losing sleep, losing trust, and jeopardizing a transaction that involves people’s biggest investment. Also, especially in a small market like Rhode Island, your reputation is everything. If you’re known for being unreliable, good luck.”

Final Thoughts

Adam’s journey from rookie LO to leading a high-volume team in under five years is a testament to the power of mentorship, thoughtful hiring, and a playbook of proven systems. His four pillars — setting expectations, being available, over-communicating, and always telling the truth — are deceptively simple but critically effective.

“I may not always give the answer people want to hear,” Adam says, “but it’ll be the right one 100% of the time. That’s how we ensure no one’s blindsided weeks into the process with a moving truck outside their door.”

For Adam, that blend of competitive drive, empathetic communication, and precise execution has set him apart in a crowded industry. Of course, there’s much more to his story — plenty of behind-the-scenes tactics on managing a larger team, hitting higher volumes without sacrificing quality, and sustaining a customer-first approach.

Want to hear more from Adam about his coaching philosophy, how he structures his day-to-day, and the surprising ways baseball parallels the mortgage business? Check out our podcast to hear the full interview.