By Brian Sacks

We all want to close more loans, make more money and still have time to enjoy life, right?

So, I want to share a very quick way for you to do exactly that.

What I am about to share with you will sound very simple and that is probably why very few originators ever actually do this.

If you want to earn more money there are only three ways to achieve that goal

1. Ask Your company to raise the basis points you earn on each loan
   This is not likely to happen given the compression going on in our industry. Truthfully, during this time of the year, when many originators are being recruited actively, you need to make sure that, if you do make a switch, the company you are switching to has the ability to stay in business long term. You know the old saying, if its sounds too good to be true ... it probably is.

2. Work harder

This might be a solution for a small minority of originators, but only you know who you are right? The truth of course is that most of us probably work too hard already. But let's remember what we wanted as I laid it out in the beginning of the article.

We all want to close more loans, make more money, and enjoy life.

Many originators could not work any harder than they currently do so that is not a long term solution. Plus, working harder is in conflict with enjoying life, right?

One quick lesson here before we go any further.

Be careful what you wish for. 

3. Close the same amount of loans but make more money

Yeah, I know what you are thinking, and we could still get overage too but that isn't our reality and it is not the strategy I want to share with you.

First, an Exercise OK?

Go Back to all of the loans you closed in 2018
Write down the total number of loans you closed____________
Write down the total dollar volume______________________
Write down who you referred the deals to you or the tactic that generated it______________

Ready?
Seriously, stop reading right now, and do the exercise or the advice is useless! Print it out if you have to.

If you did the exercise than you now have some vital information you can use to quickly make more money, work less and enjoy life.

The quickest way to immediately earn more income is to increase your average loan amount so you can close the same amount of loans and work fewer hours:

--You now know how many loans you closed.
--You know who gave you those loans.
--You know what your average loan size was because we are going to increase it.

I just did this for 2018, and my average was much higher than in 2017 because I made the effort to do this exercise. The result was that I made more money closing the same amount of loans.

The other thing you will find doing this exercise is that certain agents doing larger purchases while others focus on grants and other lower first-time buyers. Now that you know this you should of course put more effort into cultivating more relationships with those agents and others like them.

Please don't misunderstand this. If you have a great relationship with an agent who occasionally does a smaller grant or first-time buyer loan that is fine. I am talking about agents who solely focus on smaller purchases.

So there you have it, and I would love your thoughts and feedback.

About the Author
Brian Sacks, a recognized mortgage expert with Homebridge Financial Services Inc., has closed more than $1 billion in loans and 5, 890 mortgage transactions. He is the author of " 48 Proven Ways to Close More Loans In Next 30 Days ... Regardless of Rates and the Real-Estate Market." You can learn more at http://48waysbook.com.

The number of homes for sale nationwide tumbled 4.6 percent year-over-year in the last three months of 2018 across all price categories, according to the latest Inventory and Price Watch Report from Trulia. This marks the ninth consecutive quarter of declining inventory; the last time inventory rose was in Q3 2016. However, there are signs of progress with the nation's most expensive housing markets seeing large inventory gains.

Buyers Face Tighter Inventory and Worsening Affordability Heading Into 2019
The inventory drop is driven by the premium home segment where the number of for-sale homes fell 7.8 percent year-over-year, followed by modest declines across starter (2.2 percent) and trade-up homes (1.5 percent). Meanwhile, affordability has worsened across all housing segments as tight inventory and slow wage growth continues to put upward pressure on home prices. Nationally, starter home prices rose the most, up 13.9 percent from the last year. As a result, a typical starter-home buyer must now spend 41 percent of their income on a monthly mortgage payment, up from 34.2 percent a year ago.

"After promising signs of slowing inventory declines last quarter, the news is mixed as we close out 2018," said Cheryl Young, senior economist, Trulia. "While more sellers are listing homes in expensive West Coast markets, most homebuyers must still contend with tight inventory that's down 24 percent from five years ago. Coupled with slow wage growth, prices continue to inch higher, worsening affordability within the starter home market and possibly putting homeownership out of reach for many first-time buyers."

Starter and Trade-Up Home Inventory Surges in Pricey California Markets
Housing markets in the West experienced the nation's largest inventory gains despite the large dip in supply. Among the 100 largest U.S. metros, six of the markets with the biggest surge in inventory from last year were in California, most notably in San Jose (66.6 percent), San Francisco (36.5 percent) and Oakland (29.2 percent). This surge in every market except New York was driven by growth in starter and trade-up homes. In fact, the number of starter and trade-up homes in San Jose almost doubled from a year ago.

Starter Home Affordability Continues to Worsen
Despite inventory gains in the most expensive housing markets, prices continue to rise and outpace wage growth, especially in the starter home category. This has further put homeownership out of reach for many first-time buyers. For example, a typical starter-home buyer in San Francisco where the median starter home lists for nearly $900,000, would need to spend an unrealistic 146.9 percent of their income to afford a home.

President Trump has appointed Joseph Otting the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a position that will begin after current Director Mel Watt leaves in early January. Otting will remain at the FHFS until a replacement is confirmed. He serves as the current Comptroller of the Currency, a role he will continue to hold--even after he replaces Watt.

"I am honored that President Trump has named me Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency,” said Otting. “I look forward to serving in this additional role until a permanent Director is confirmed and appointed to this important position. I want to thank outgoing Director Mel Watt for his long service to the country.”

“I congratulate Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting on being named Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency as my successor, effective Jan. 7, 2019,” said Watt. “I have served with Comptroller Otting as a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and both the OCC and FHFA have offices in the same building. The highly professional staff at FHFA, and I look forward to working with him to ensure a seamless transition.”

Otting made clear he plans to continue the work of the OCC to ensure the federal banking system operates in a safe, sound, and fair manner, and he looks forward to leading the FHFA in its important roles overseeing the Federal Home Loan Bank System and as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In 2018, the OCC made great progress promoting the federal banking system’s ability to encourage economic growth and create jobs. In 2019, Otting plans to modernize the regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act, making Bank Secrecy Act compliance more efficient and effective, encouraging banks to provide customers more short-term small dollar credit options, and supporting responsible innovation in the federal banking system by beginning to accept national bank charter applications from fintech companies engaged in the business of banking.