Solano Real Estate Scene: Commission income life includes big swings

Solano Real Estate Scene: Jim Porter

Article By: Jim Porter – February 3, 2023

Stocks, insurance, mortgages, pharmaceuticals, enterprise software, technology, real estate, HVAC, solar, automobiles, plumbing, construction, title and escrow, travel, and food truck street tacos are just a few of the products and services where salespeople are required to produce income.

Some of these sales jobs pay a salary plus commission, but 100% of these career opportunities are based on sales and 100% of the income comes from the person’s results.

Google, Microsoft and Amazon laid off 70,000 people last year because of slower sales growth. The mortgage industry has been crushed in the past nine months because of sales dropping off by 75% nationwide.

Salespeople at national and regional banks, brick-and-mortar mortgage companies, internet fintech lenders and the small independent contractor mortgage brokers made 50% to 80% less in personal income in 2022 than they did in 2021, and many are looking for new jobs.

Remember what I mentioned in a recent column about demand for mortgage refinances? In January 2022, 7 million homeowners could benefit from a refi but in January 2023 that number was only 270,000. Highly paid senior executives are not immune from declines in sales. I would be willing to bet you $50 that 10% of the big-tech layoffs were employees that had W-2s in excess of $1 million in 2021.

Mortgage company owners, CEOs, senior executives and national sales managers may have a salary, but every type of company in America pays their people based on profits. Hundreds of mortgage executives that made more than $1 million per year in 2020 and 2021 in America are looking for jobs or making ends meet on incomes 50% to 75% less today.

Us older salespeople can handle the ups and downs, but I will share with you that no matter how many of these swings I have seen, I still find myself staring at the ceiling, trying to sleep, last month wondering if any of my past clients, friends and family would ever call me again for a loan.

I am trying to be funny but at the same time, my awesome daughter, Lisa Porter, Sara Blanton, my loan officer partner, and I work together as a loan officer team and although all three of us survived the 2008 crash, the fourth quarter of 2022 was scary and stressful.

Thankfully, in the past two weeks, the phone has been ringing off the hook with first-time homebuyers, and we received a couple of calls from move-up buyers, too.

Now, all we need is for more homeowners to list their homes for sale to increase inventory for first-time homebuyers and move up to their forever home.

Selling homes and loans is like milk: Everybody needs milk and everybody needs a home, and most people need a loan.

Jim Porter, NMLS No. 276412, is the branch manager of Solano Mortgage, NMLS No. 1515497, a division of American Pacific Mortgage Corporation, NMLS No. 1850, licensed in California by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the CRMLA / Equal Housing Opportunity. Jim can be reached at 707-449-4777.