Blog Post #2 How I got into the Mortgage Business.

In 1997, I was unhappy with how i was doing financially. I was making $22,000 a year and felt like a failure. I knew that I had to do something. I was a big fan of the movie Wall Street, so I decided I wanted to be a stockbroker like Charlie Sheen's character to hopefully someday become a Gordon Gekko who was played by Michael Douglas.

During my workday, I studied the Stockbroker Training Book to get my Series 7. I did this for the next 6 months till I was passing all of the practice exams. I was motivated and visualized a great future.

After about 6 months, I liquidated my retirement account and took off to Arizona to be a stock broker. Yes Arizona. Who goes to Arizona to be a stock broker???

When I got to Arizona, I went to my 1st interview with Dean Witter, all fired up for the "Big Interview".  When I got there, it was nothing like I expected. There were 20 of us in a room looking at eachother wondering "What is going on?" After about 15 minutes, a speaker came in to give a talk on Why you do not want to be a stock broker.

T make a long story short, it scared the crap out of me. I immediately made the decision that I was out of the Stockbroker Business. Now I'm in Arizona, with no job, no car, and running out of money and options.

Needless to say, a little bit of panic set in, but I was still motivated to become a success. I stayed up for the next 48 hours and sent out 73 resumes to jobs that I found in the Help Wanted section. The result, I received 2 responses. One from Motorola confirming that they received my resume, and one from a Pyramid scheme, which actually seemed interesting until they wanted me to contribute a lot money up front to get started.

Running out of options I reached out for some help to my cousin Donna and her husband Russell, who were living in Tucson, Arizona . Russell asked me "What did I want to do?" Trusting him 100% I told him exactly what I was looking for. "I want a job, where if I work hard and do well, then the sky is the limit for my income."

Russell who is in the mortgage business responded immediately "Oh, then you want to be a loan officer"

I had no idea what a loan officer was. All I could picture was me standing in front of a bank, in a security guard uniform, with a gun and a badge, guarding the bank.

He then explained to me what a loan officer did, and I thought it was a great idea. Right away I started training with Russell and going to seminars and workshops at The Arizona School Of Real Estate on how to be a good Mortgage Originator. Russell also got me my 1st start at North American Mortgage Company in Mesa Arizona. I received a $1,500 a month forgivable draw and was more excited than when I thought I'd be Stockbroker. I was also extremely grateful.

While learning the details of the Mortgage Business and attending these seminars and workshops, I realized something very clearly. I could do really well in this business if I went back home to Newton, Massachusetts, where I have many contacts and friends. I was also missing my family and my roots. After only 5 months in Arizona, I flew home to Boston Massachusetts, and transferred to North American Mortgage Companies Waltham, Massachusetts branch.