The key now is just not to wallow in the present slowdown but to look ahead, he added: “We are specializing in the long run,” he said. “We know our models will work, they usually do now. We know that our way of doing business is the long run. We are coping with the pain that everyone seems to be feeling without delay, but we’re also focused on the long run, constructing this business for the long run. That’s what we’re really specializing in.”
For now, though, mortgage originators may feel a bit like Sisyphus attempting to push a boulder down a hill. Fain had the presence of mind to go to the shopping market just because the refi wave subsided – fully aware that the party was coming to an end. This timely turnaround also helped him avoid probably the most devastating effects of the economic downturn.
“One of the things I’ve learned from this experience is that it could possibly all come to an end,” he said of the recent wave of refinancing that has now dissipated. “I knew that when rates of interest were this low, they might go up – what went up needed to go down, and what went down needed to go up when it got here to mortgage rates.”
He noticed that while he was using the low-hanging refi fruit, he quickly focused on the unique mission. “I gained as much as I could in these few years,” he admitted. “I saw it as a capital injection – it’s phenomenal, but I’m not going to let it take me away from the mission I used to be on before the stakes went down. When I look back, I’m going back to my 2019 ways, but I’m doing it in a 2023 way with the abilities I’ve developed within the last 4 years.”
