UlTImATE SUccESS GUIdEBrokerages like mine were struggling and was heavily pursuing me to
manage one of their branches. My options limited, I accepted their of-
fer. I accepted an offer that would drastically change the lifestyle I had
grown accustomed to. A single father at the time, I knew I was going to
have to sell my beautiful home and cars, and unfortunately, the stability
my kids were used to was about to be drastically interrupted (School,
Friends, etc.).
Optimistically, I began working at Countrywide Home Loans with the
task of turning around a struggling branch. It was in a great location,
newly-built office, and they currently had 17 Loan Officers. I came in
the door, introduced myself, and began immediately re-interviewing ev-
eryone to see if I thought they had the ability and burning desire to suc-
ceed or let them go. After this uncomfortable, but necessary beginning,
I had a team of only four (4) Loan Officers that I kept from the original
team. I also had four (4) Loan Officers that I brought with me from my
previous Mortgage Brokerage Company to join me on this new journey.
Now, the recruiting began as I had a Countrywide Branch to rebuild.
Being that my Mortgage Brokerage Firm was not the only one going
through a transition, I had the opportunity to recruit and build a solid
team of high producing Loan Officers that were in limbo. I quickly built
a sound team of producers. My struggling Countrywide Branch went
from the weakest in the region to one of the top three (3) producing
Branches. Then, a few months later, we began getting word that Bank
of America was interested in buying Countrywide. At this time, Coun-
trywide and Bank of America took turns in the #1 and #2 spot in the
country as the BEST mortgage originator of home loans.
The rumors became a reality. Bank of America was actually buying Coun-
trywide. My new team feared how these changes would impact their pro-
duction. Weeks went by as everyone was anticipating the merger of the
two companies and whose programs we would use. Are we going to use
Bank of America’s FHA Guidelines or Countrywide’s FHA Guidelines?
The concern was the same for all of our other loan programs. Due to
the turbulent uncertainties, I began one at a time losing my new All-Star
TEAM. Most of the guys/gals I recruited at this time were exhausted with
the mortgage industry and had enough with change and how drastically
our lives were spinning out of control with all the adjustments. The size
of my team immediately became anorexic, and I now only had seven (7)