Back
Showing 1-10 of 42 results
Debra Killian

What New Mortgage Loan Originators Need to Know That Nobody Ever Tells You

August 26, 2024

The mortgage origination field can seem quite appealing, offering the potential for high earnings, autonomy, and the satisfaction of assisting others with their home financing. However, this allure often leads to unrealistic expectations and, ultimately, disillusionment and failure. True success in the mortgage industry requires setting realistic goals and taking full ownership of your career. Many companies tend to over-promise and under-deliver, advertising top-tier rates, extensive support, and lucrative compensation plans to attract newly licensed …

Read More
Debra Killian

When Starting a Mortgage Broker Business…Hope is Not a Strategy!

August 1, 2024

I have been receiving many inquiries about what it takes to start a mortgage broker business and how to get started.  I recently spoke to a gentleman who thought he wanted to start his own business, but after our lengthy conversation, he came to the conclusion “I just want to originate.”  How much time and money did a conversation possibly save him? In 1994, I became an originator.  I was being recruited by a local …

Read More
Debra Killian

The Top 10 Reasons to Teach Real Estate Continuing Education!

July 16, 2024

For the past 20 years, I have been teaching real estate classes. Initially, I began teaching as a way to build and maintain professional relationships and gain referrals. Unlike sponsoring open houses or arranging casual coffee meet-ups, I found that educating was a more effective and respectable approach. The courses I taught were not just general marketing or time management workshops. They were state-approved continuing education (CE) courses, allowing agents and brokers to earn credits …

Read More
Debra Killian

MLO Licensing to Mastery – Your 1st Year

February 15, 2024

The definition of insanity: doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. Welcome to the mortgage business! Mortgage company owners and recruiters often entice new Mortgage Loan Originators (MLOs) into the industry with the allure of minimal entry requirements. However, this approach frequently leads to a puzzling outcome: these new entrants struggle to succeed. The critical question arises: where is the emphasis on truly understanding the mortgage business? Beyond the basics of …

Read More
Debra Killian

Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

December 20, 2022

On October 13, 2022 the Federal Department of Labor published findings in Vol. 87, No. 197 of the Federal Register. The W-2/1099 controversary hits many businesses.  As stated in previous posts, there is no special 1099 consideration for mortgage loan originators.   Regardless of which state you work in or which type of employer your work for,  Mortgage Loan Originators are required to have their income reported on IRS Form W-2. There are many companies that …

Read More
Debra Killian

UDAAP-ECOA-TILA Are You Ready for Examiners?

May 27, 2022

The overlap between federal and state laws and regulations becomes very apparent once there is an examination and/or an enforcement action. With COVID dominating our work environment over the past two years, not many audits or exams were scheduled by state regulators.  That is all about to change.  They are way behind and will begin the process of catching up sooner than you may be ready for. In many cases where mortgage companies get caught …

Read More
Debra Killian

Changes to the Appraisal Form and Data Coming!

March 16, 2022

With the new URLA behind us…along comes the next major change in residential lending. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (aka the GSEs) have provided an update on the new URAR.  Yes, the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report is undergoing some major changes.  Here are just a few highlights: Input was gathered from 107 stakeholders across the industry in designing the new form.  The key benefits of the new form are: Dynamic output with commentary placed within each …

Read More
Debra Killian

The Feds Beef Up Employment Enforcement on Independent Contractors

February 14, 2022

With rates going up, refinance volume quickly heading south and originators looking for the next shiny thing, we are bound to see movement in the industry.  That means mergers, buyouts and some companies closing.  Migrating originators can be a tricky challenge for the next employer.  There are two issues that may surface; who owns the customer and how were the originators compensated?  I’ll save the former for another time.  Last week I received a call …

Read More
Debra Killian

CLOES.online – On Demand BSA/AML Training

October 13, 2021

Real estate transactions are the easiest way to launder money due to the size of the transactions and the amount of money that can be “cleaned”.  All financial institutions are required to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act. Money laundering may also involve tax fraud as well as other potential crimes. All “financial institutions” must comply. According to the Bank Secrecy Act, a  “financial institution” includes an exhaustive list of entities, including but not limited to: …

Read More
Debra Killian

Are Customers “Cleaning” Their Money In Your Transaction?

October 28, 2020

Money laundering is a huge problem for financial institutions and monitoring compliance and reporting is a challenge.  As I read through FinCEN’s recent announcement, it became clear…the law is not really clear!  Because real estate transactions are large in dollars, they are one of the easiest places to “clean up the money.” If you think Anti-Money Laundering regulations are vague or too complicated, now is your chance to help clarify how current regulations may be …

Read More

Powered by CLOES.online.