stevek173
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Be advised to read at your own risk. This is mainly to give an accurate description of events to those whom have been giving advice which I very much appreciate. For those of you not interested in this kind of thing, I know it will be long winded and will only drain on you, so please move on.
That being said, Ok I am going to tell the full, naked story here. You might think I am pathetic, or this and that and that is totally Ok. It's just that a few of you have taken the time to give very valuable advice and I figure the best bet is to give you the full scenario so you can judge things for yourself based on the entire truth, no matter how embarrassing or humbling that truth is.
Alright of note and so I don't forget proceeding any of this is that it starts with my leaving New Jersey under extreme circumstances - I worked in a sales position for a great company and was going to community college when I got a DWI that derailed everything. The area was so rural that I could not take a taxi, etc. for 6 months, so I left the job and school to go out to State College, PA to move in with a buddy of mine and his friend in an area where I wouldn't need to drive and to eventually go to PSU.
So picking up there I pretty much came out there with nothing. Got a job at a convenience store immediately to pay the bills, and was waiting until I would be a Pennsylvania resident to hopefully afford PSU (the tuition there is crazy as it is and flat out absurd if you are not a PA resident).
Bounced around some, ended up as a manager at a telemarketing firm for awhile, then in my mid 20's. Pretty fun gig for a couple years. I was very good at it, and yes, I did some regrettable things - hooked up with some younger girls (nothing illegal though
), some other shady situations, but compared to others there I was pretty much a saint. Anyway, I met Nikki there, and eventually we hit it off. I have always loved outdoor volleyball, and she would hit up the courts with me on campus. We liked the same music, pretty much all the same interests. We started out as friends for about 6 months and then started hooking up.
Eventually she moved home (rural area about 2.5 hours away) and we broke it off for awhile. I hung out with some other girls, and there was some confusion as at one point she thought we were still together, and she found out I was hooking up with another girl named Nikki. Coincidentally my roommate at the time was also hooking up with a girl named Nikki, AKA this time we and my long time friend and roommate at the time will always refer to as "Attack of the Nikkis". Yes I know, total douchebaggery on my part, but part of the story.
Nikki and I still talked and didn't see each other for awhile, and eventually the telemarketing firm went out of business because there was a guy there dealing heroin to the younger kids and one of them died from it. I knew nothing about any of this until the kid (whom I had just fired a week earlier for not showing up for work the prior week) died. About 2 weeks later corporate came down and shut the office down. Just like that. The guy who was dealing the heroin I think is getting out soon, only got a bunch of corruption of minor charges and some dealing charges but no homicide. Anyway.
I rode the UC train for awhile. Went through a rough time. Dad had a stroke. I wasn't in a position to be there with him in New Jersey or help and that is probably the deepest hurt that this world has shown me to date.
Eventually, a guy who worked for me at the telemarketing firm said he had a good job paying hi about $45k a year. This was unheard of for me. He said he thought he could get me in and that he would schedule an interview for me. I told him Ok.
Thus began my start in the mortgage industry.
I have always been relentless in the sales industry. It is a numbers game to me. You have people who need to cheat or lie to people in order to sell, and I have never believed in that. I have always believed that if you put in enough work, even though it may seem absurd or that you will kill yourself doing it sometimes, you will find enough people that you can give a straight up deal to (assuming you have a decent product of course). This leads to referrals, etc. Based on this, my start with this Mortgage Company I will leave nameless went very well, and continued to be a kind of love affair for about 4 years. Things went good even though the environment was pretty crazy - cocaine addicts, crack addicts, some people with degrees in non related fields just there for the money. I blocked it all out, made a couple friends (not the coke or crack addicts, hate to disappoint) and made decent money, great money at times.
Then the market changed. Suddenly the rates we could offer go from 4.5% to 7% and we no longer have a serviceable product with exception to the ideal scenario. Money got tight. Unfortunately this caused crazy stress in our home life, not knowing how to pay the bills. This lead to stress with Nikki and me treating her ways at times that I fully regret. The bottom line was that I thought she should be out there working at this point and contributing and she wasn't, but she eventually did.
Eventually I got recruited hard by another mortgage company by my best friend at the prior company. Things had gotten so bad at the first place because I couldn't close anything for the longest time, that I picked up my things and left one night and left a note, be it a very nice one and was very careful not to even take one of their pencils with me nevermind any files.
Started at the new place. The whole thing was a load of crap they had nothing "ready to close" and wanted me to hammer the phone like I had at my old job and to basically get them launched as a mortgage company. One day, I went to lunch. I came back and there was a message for me - "Keith from _____ Mortgage".
This was the President of the prior firm. This was followed by a 40 page letter from their attorneys threatening to sure me for $50,000 if I didn't immediately resign from my current position with the new company. The money I had made them as well as the fact that unlike others I made a point to not take any files with me meant nothing. They were set on making an example out of me. Nikki opened this letter as I was at work and wept.
I kept working there anyway; I won't go into exact detail but let's just say that their high priced lawyer got a supposed "letter of resignation" from me for the other job, and they were happy as pigs in shit showing that to their employees. I worked there for a few months, and struggled because the company was dysfunctional and they couldn't process my work or get it done. It again got ugly when I found out that they were turning down some of my loans and bringing them to a bank the President of this small company has worked at prior, a serious crime. They ended up paying me UC for awhile.
I decided to lay low for awhile with Nikki and get ourselves together as a couple. Despite any of the past, we were both on UC at this point (LOL I know) and I got myself back into awesome shape and we enjoyed some good times. Eventually, it was time to get back to work, and wouldn't you know it, the office manager at the original company had started his own company and was recruiting me.
Again promised the world. Rates had come back some. Somewhat of a startup company, so things went well for awhile but again it didn't work. Ended after about 2 months abruptly.
Well wouldn't you know it Company #1, the guys who tried to sue me, were recruiting me. The past is the past they said, we still know what you can do, let's give it a shot. Being in a desperate situation where UC was running out and I didn't know where rent was coming from, I accepted.
It went well for a long time. I crushed it, having some huge months, and for a long time was #2 on the food chain among more than 20 (#1 was a guy who has an endless hookup from the biggest realtor in the town, impossible to compete with). We shared a lot of good times. Eventually, the market changed again, and we ended up parting ways to make a long story short.
Again rode the UC train for awhile, and at this point Nikki had moved back home to go back to college and finish up her degree. We stayed together. I ended up being recruited to be a Notary Closing Agent from a guy I had met at a poker game. Thus, the new career began.
We are talking hardcore, how much driving can you physically do for about 4 years. Laptop, inverter, printer, mobile internet in car driving from city to city on Pennsylvania and closing loan after loan after loan. No time for anything else. Made some good money for a long time. Got engaged to Nikki. Became a drinking and gambling nut (you can find my screen name "60nlchump" sitting with over $2500 on some past internet hands). I won't lie I had a lot of fun, but I was rarely really "there" mentally during this time.
At the beginning of 2009 the title company I did this job for abruptly went out of business. The owner is in Jail for embezzling millions of dollars and IRS crimes. Some others are in trouble too. I heard about some of the things they did that I didn't know about - I was never even asked to do anything illegal for them so I don't know; all that I know was that they never approached me with any of it, only legit deals (as far as I know, right?). The massive amounts of business they had got spewed all over the state with different title companies, some of whom I closed for here and there for people who insisted I close their deals regardless of anything else.
Just before this my lease was running out on the house I was renting. It came time where Nikki thought it was good that I come live at this house her Dad was kind of giving us for awhile, as long as we help with renovations, etc. I said Ok, that's fine. When I was officially ready to move up she said we could live with her parents for month max while broken pipes were fixed; she had been living there for a long time and they said that it was no problem, her brother and his fiancee lived there for a long time. I said that's fine, as it was this or sign a lease somewhere for a year, and I was focused on getting more serious with Nikki, getting back in school and getting a real job that would stay good.
I moved up, the closings sputtered out as I was now almost on the other side of the state. Thing after thing came up wrong with the house. A month turned into 6 months. 6 Months turned into a year. 1 Year turned into 2.
I did get enrolled into school roughly a year ago and have been doing well despite the other circumstances - at my low I was delivering pizzas (no disrespected to delivery drivers, I respect what you do). I commuted 2.5 every day to a mortgage company I was closing for in Pittsburgh who promised me the world then downgraded me to minimum wage "pending business picking up" and then I would go deliver pizzas at nights and on the weekends. Would be driving thinking I might pass out and nothing I can do.
I then rolled over to delivering pharmaceuticals (legal ones) to group homes in Pittsburgh (yes, commuting 2.5 hours to get there) on a daily basis. Not that bad of a non-degree job if you are a grinder AND live in the area, they are a good company. The commute obviously got very draining and at the lowest point my alternator cut out on a main bridge in Pittsburgh in 95 degree heat during rush hour, right on the merge area. You can't make this shit up I know. I have AAA, but it was the first really hot day of the year, so I kept calling while some good semaritans tried to help me jump start my car, which failed (God Bless those guys though). A police officer came and told me no time for AAA the car had to be towed by the township now. Well when they do this, it ain't for free. They take you to the impound yard where you pay hundreds to get your car back. Money was so bad at this point that Nikki had to drive up from State College, where she was visiting a cousin, to help me pay to get my car back. We were at the impound yard over 5 hours. You meet some awesome people at the impound yard, I will admit.
Just before this the company I work for now had been recruiting me. I know this sounds like BS but I want you to try not to prejudge - I closed loans for the for my entire closing career, over 4 years and they were awesome every time. Husband and wife team, sharp as you will find. They recruited me to take over their processing.
The wife, who had been doing the processing, said that she did the occasional loan as an LO and that if I wanted to I could to supplement my income. She said she didn't even use leads, they were just referrals, and I knew she was telling the truth.
Well, be it that I was so thankful for the opportunity given my circumstances, I said if anyone is calling leads give them to me. They did, and I have crushed it. Same as I ever did - ton of apps which are being processed correctly even though the quantity of my efforts is nothing they have ever seen before. Getting ready for some huge months, just closed my first deal the other day which was very good for the company and great for the client too (they save over $230 a month and hundreds of thousands over the long term
). Everyone affiliated with it is so excited about the future.
Than there's Nikki. Rightfully dramatized by my roller coaster LO past, scared of the whole thing. I have the processing income to fall back on I keep telling her, but she doesn't buy it because I am on the phone from 8am-9pm almost every day, like I do when I am an LO.
Meanwhile through all of this she has been working on the house with her parents here and there during my working hours, and I have been there with them during my non working hours without fail.
This continues for awhile, and she raises zero concerns, nor do her parents. The job continues going well, as does school.
Then, the event that, as absurd as it even is to me, is apparently the straw that broke the camels back. It seems so silly, but apparently it is the deal breaker.
That being said, Ok I am going to tell the full, naked story here. You might think I am pathetic, or this and that and that is totally Ok. It's just that a few of you have taken the time to give very valuable advice and I figure the best bet is to give you the full scenario so you can judge things for yourself based on the entire truth, no matter how embarrassing or humbling that truth is.
Alright of note and so I don't forget proceeding any of this is that it starts with my leaving New Jersey under extreme circumstances - I worked in a sales position for a great company and was going to community college when I got a DWI that derailed everything. The area was so rural that I could not take a taxi, etc. for 6 months, so I left the job and school to go out to State College, PA to move in with a buddy of mine and his friend in an area where I wouldn't need to drive and to eventually go to PSU.
So picking up there I pretty much came out there with nothing. Got a job at a convenience store immediately to pay the bills, and was waiting until I would be a Pennsylvania resident to hopefully afford PSU (the tuition there is crazy as it is and flat out absurd if you are not a PA resident).
Bounced around some, ended up as a manager at a telemarketing firm for awhile, then in my mid 20's. Pretty fun gig for a couple years. I was very good at it, and yes, I did some regrettable things - hooked up with some younger girls (nothing illegal though
), some other shady situations, but compared to others there I was pretty much a saint. Anyway, I met Nikki there, and eventually we hit it off. I have always loved outdoor volleyball, and she would hit up the courts with me on campus. We liked the same music, pretty much all the same interests. We started out as friends for about 6 months and then started hooking up.Eventually she moved home (rural area about 2.5 hours away) and we broke it off for awhile. I hung out with some other girls, and there was some confusion as at one point she thought we were still together, and she found out I was hooking up with another girl named Nikki. Coincidentally my roommate at the time was also hooking up with a girl named Nikki, AKA this time we and my long time friend and roommate at the time will always refer to as "Attack of the Nikkis". Yes I know, total douchebaggery on my part, but part of the story.
Nikki and I still talked and didn't see each other for awhile, and eventually the telemarketing firm went out of business because there was a guy there dealing heroin to the younger kids and one of them died from it. I knew nothing about any of this until the kid (whom I had just fired a week earlier for not showing up for work the prior week) died. About 2 weeks later corporate came down and shut the office down. Just like that. The guy who was dealing the heroin I think is getting out soon, only got a bunch of corruption of minor charges and some dealing charges but no homicide. Anyway.
I rode the UC train for awhile. Went through a rough time. Dad had a stroke. I wasn't in a position to be there with him in New Jersey or help and that is probably the deepest hurt that this world has shown me to date.
Eventually, a guy who worked for me at the telemarketing firm said he had a good job paying hi about $45k a year. This was unheard of for me. He said he thought he could get me in and that he would schedule an interview for me. I told him Ok.
Thus began my start in the mortgage industry.
I have always been relentless in the sales industry. It is a numbers game to me. You have people who need to cheat or lie to people in order to sell, and I have never believed in that. I have always believed that if you put in enough work, even though it may seem absurd or that you will kill yourself doing it sometimes, you will find enough people that you can give a straight up deal to (assuming you have a decent product of course). This leads to referrals, etc. Based on this, my start with this Mortgage Company I will leave nameless went very well, and continued to be a kind of love affair for about 4 years. Things went good even though the environment was pretty crazy - cocaine addicts, crack addicts, some people with degrees in non related fields just there for the money. I blocked it all out, made a couple friends (not the coke or crack addicts, hate to disappoint) and made decent money, great money at times.
Then the market changed. Suddenly the rates we could offer go from 4.5% to 7% and we no longer have a serviceable product with exception to the ideal scenario. Money got tight. Unfortunately this caused crazy stress in our home life, not knowing how to pay the bills. This lead to stress with Nikki and me treating her ways at times that I fully regret. The bottom line was that I thought she should be out there working at this point and contributing and she wasn't, but she eventually did.
Eventually I got recruited hard by another mortgage company by my best friend at the prior company. Things had gotten so bad at the first place because I couldn't close anything for the longest time, that I picked up my things and left one night and left a note, be it a very nice one and was very careful not to even take one of their pencils with me nevermind any files.
Started at the new place. The whole thing was a load of crap they had nothing "ready to close" and wanted me to hammer the phone like I had at my old job and to basically get them launched as a mortgage company. One day, I went to lunch. I came back and there was a message for me - "Keith from _____ Mortgage".
This was the President of the prior firm. This was followed by a 40 page letter from their attorneys threatening to sure me for $50,000 if I didn't immediately resign from my current position with the new company. The money I had made them as well as the fact that unlike others I made a point to not take any files with me meant nothing. They were set on making an example out of me. Nikki opened this letter as I was at work and wept.
I kept working there anyway; I won't go into exact detail but let's just say that their high priced lawyer got a supposed "letter of resignation" from me for the other job, and they were happy as pigs in shit showing that to their employees. I worked there for a few months, and struggled because the company was dysfunctional and they couldn't process my work or get it done. It again got ugly when I found out that they were turning down some of my loans and bringing them to a bank the President of this small company has worked at prior, a serious crime. They ended up paying me UC for awhile.
I decided to lay low for awhile with Nikki and get ourselves together as a couple. Despite any of the past, we were both on UC at this point (LOL I know) and I got myself back into awesome shape and we enjoyed some good times. Eventually, it was time to get back to work, and wouldn't you know it, the office manager at the original company had started his own company and was recruiting me.
Again promised the world. Rates had come back some. Somewhat of a startup company, so things went well for awhile but again it didn't work. Ended after about 2 months abruptly.
Well wouldn't you know it Company #1, the guys who tried to sue me, were recruiting me. The past is the past they said, we still know what you can do, let's give it a shot. Being in a desperate situation where UC was running out and I didn't know where rent was coming from, I accepted.
It went well for a long time. I crushed it, having some huge months, and for a long time was #2 on the food chain among more than 20 (#1 was a guy who has an endless hookup from the biggest realtor in the town, impossible to compete with). We shared a lot of good times. Eventually, the market changed again, and we ended up parting ways to make a long story short.
Again rode the UC train for awhile, and at this point Nikki had moved back home to go back to college and finish up her degree. We stayed together. I ended up being recruited to be a Notary Closing Agent from a guy I had met at a poker game. Thus, the new career began.
We are talking hardcore, how much driving can you physically do for about 4 years. Laptop, inverter, printer, mobile internet in car driving from city to city on Pennsylvania and closing loan after loan after loan. No time for anything else. Made some good money for a long time. Got engaged to Nikki. Became a drinking and gambling nut (you can find my screen name "60nlchump" sitting with over $2500 on some past internet hands). I won't lie I had a lot of fun, but I was rarely really "there" mentally during this time.
At the beginning of 2009 the title company I did this job for abruptly went out of business. The owner is in Jail for embezzling millions of dollars and IRS crimes. Some others are in trouble too. I heard about some of the things they did that I didn't know about - I was never even asked to do anything illegal for them so I don't know; all that I know was that they never approached me with any of it, only legit deals (as far as I know, right?). The massive amounts of business they had got spewed all over the state with different title companies, some of whom I closed for here and there for people who insisted I close their deals regardless of anything else.
Just before this my lease was running out on the house I was renting. It came time where Nikki thought it was good that I come live at this house her Dad was kind of giving us for awhile, as long as we help with renovations, etc. I said Ok, that's fine. When I was officially ready to move up she said we could live with her parents for month max while broken pipes were fixed; she had been living there for a long time and they said that it was no problem, her brother and his fiancee lived there for a long time. I said that's fine, as it was this or sign a lease somewhere for a year, and I was focused on getting more serious with Nikki, getting back in school and getting a real job that would stay good.
I moved up, the closings sputtered out as I was now almost on the other side of the state. Thing after thing came up wrong with the house. A month turned into 6 months. 6 Months turned into a year. 1 Year turned into 2.
I did get enrolled into school roughly a year ago and have been doing well despite the other circumstances - at my low I was delivering pizzas (no disrespected to delivery drivers, I respect what you do). I commuted 2.5 every day to a mortgage company I was closing for in Pittsburgh who promised me the world then downgraded me to minimum wage "pending business picking up" and then I would go deliver pizzas at nights and on the weekends. Would be driving thinking I might pass out and nothing I can do.
I then rolled over to delivering pharmaceuticals (legal ones) to group homes in Pittsburgh (yes, commuting 2.5 hours to get there) on a daily basis. Not that bad of a non-degree job if you are a grinder AND live in the area, they are a good company. The commute obviously got very draining and at the lowest point my alternator cut out on a main bridge in Pittsburgh in 95 degree heat during rush hour, right on the merge area. You can't make this shit up I know. I have AAA, but it was the first really hot day of the year, so I kept calling while some good semaritans tried to help me jump start my car, which failed (God Bless those guys though). A police officer came and told me no time for AAA the car had to be towed by the township now. Well when they do this, it ain't for free. They take you to the impound yard where you pay hundreds to get your car back. Money was so bad at this point that Nikki had to drive up from State College, where she was visiting a cousin, to help me pay to get my car back. We were at the impound yard over 5 hours. You meet some awesome people at the impound yard, I will admit.
Just before this the company I work for now had been recruiting me. I know this sounds like BS but I want you to try not to prejudge - I closed loans for the for my entire closing career, over 4 years and they were awesome every time. Husband and wife team, sharp as you will find. They recruited me to take over their processing.
The wife, who had been doing the processing, said that she did the occasional loan as an LO and that if I wanted to I could to supplement my income. She said she didn't even use leads, they were just referrals, and I knew she was telling the truth.
Well, be it that I was so thankful for the opportunity given my circumstances, I said if anyone is calling leads give them to me. They did, and I have crushed it. Same as I ever did - ton of apps which are being processed correctly even though the quantity of my efforts is nothing they have ever seen before. Getting ready for some huge months, just closed my first deal the other day which was very good for the company and great for the client too (they save over $230 a month and hundreds of thousands over the long term
). Everyone affiliated with it is so excited about the future.Than there's Nikki. Rightfully dramatized by my roller coaster LO past, scared of the whole thing. I have the processing income to fall back on I keep telling her, but she doesn't buy it because I am on the phone from 8am-9pm almost every day, like I do when I am an LO.
Meanwhile through all of this she has been working on the house with her parents here and there during my working hours, and I have been there with them during my non working hours without fail.
This continues for awhile, and she raises zero concerns, nor do her parents. The job continues going well, as does school.
Then, the event that, as absurd as it even is to me, is apparently the straw that broke the camels back. It seems so silly, but apparently it is the deal breaker.
be well Gamelive.
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