Mortgage broker on achieving good karma

Broker/owner basks in the afterglow of having done the right thing

In these competitive times for the mortgage industry – marked by fewer brokers chasing deals amid a housing shortage against a backdrop of inflation – referrals have become something of a prized commodity. In some cases, they’re akin to some sort of industry karma.

Michael Rankin (pictured), founder and owner of ClearPath Mortgage Solutions in upstate New York, recently witnessed this firsthand. He previously spoke to Mortgage Professional America about his recent trip to the New York Stock Exchange trading floor under the auspices of United Wholesale Mortgage to celebrate National Mortgage Brokers Day.

He was one of 100 brokers picked by UWM largely on the strength of him conveying the most impactful deal in which he participated. He was able to assist a Guyanese mother and daughter in securing a home after other brokers had declined to help them.

“When the other brokers told them they didn’t have a chance, I told my team: Hell, just watch us take care of them,” he told MPA. Escaping a bad marriage, the Guyanese woman was able to secure a stable home for her and her daughter thanks to the assistance of Rankin’s firm.

During the course of conversation with MPA, Rankin underscored the importance of knowing the demographics of one’s location and acting accordingly. Where other brokers found it too challenging to assist someone from as far-flung a country as Guyana – a country on South America’s North Atlantic coast – Rankin was up to the challenge.

As it happens, upstate New York has an abundant Guyanese population – a burgeoning population arguably most visible in Schenectady in eastern New York. According to the Daily Gazette, the upsurge in Guyanese residents can be traced to a policy by former Mayor Al Jurczynski, who in 2001 invited Guyanese immigrants and their America-born descendants to live there in an effort to address neighborhood blight.

As an enticement, the city sold rundown homes for as little as $1 to those able to prove they had the skills and resources to revitalize them. An influx of Guyanese residents resulted, with the population exploding seemingly overnight. The Daily Gazette reports that more than 5,600 city residents – around 10% of the city’s total population of 64,000 – were born in Guyana. The number has increased each year, the publication reported.

His story of the mother-daughter house hunters earned Rankin a trip to Wall Street with colleagues at the invitation of UWM, which afforded him the opportunity to be around colleagues he admires. “I’m pumped,” he said at the time. “I’ve never been to the trading room floor before, and I’m excited to being around the leadership team of UWM.”

He turned to a proverb to complement his point: “I’m a big fan of old proverbs, and there’s one that says: ‘Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble’.”

Rankin suggested that helping the mother-daughter team achieve homeownership wasn’t necessarily illustrative of the world of high finance. But the intangible rewards, he suggested, are great in their own way. He noted the mother sent him a referral recently based on his considerable assistance to her.

He invoked lessons from his father in buttressing the point: “My dad always said ‘when money is primary, you’ll never have enough. When money is secondary, you’ll always have ample’.”

He said the philosophy is part of the culture at ClearPath Mortgage Solutions, a brokerage shop with a staff of 17. As such, he credited the entire team with helping the Guyanese client and her daughter. “We believe it’s people first, money second,” he said. “I couldn’t have taken care of that family alone. We always say we win together; we lose together. Everybody – every person on my team, every role, allowed us to do that. They are the ones that ultimately made me look good in that situation.”

The mother-daughter duo also took time off from their respective jobs to offer Rankin a humble token of their appreciation – a gift box containing shampoo and cologne. “They didn’t know what to get me,” Rankin said. “I haven’t used it, but I still have it.”

Want to make your inbox flourish with mortgage-focused news content? Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, industry events in your inbox, and always be the first to know by subscribing to our FREE daily newsletter.