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With almost 20 years of mortgage experience, Scott Valins hasn’t just learned how to run a successful brokerage, he knows how to scale across the country. Moving, but maintaining his brokerage after the market crash, Scott now holds offices in both California and New York.

Scott is calling his next wholesale endeavor “Go Rascal.” The new brokerage is Scott’s way of scaling his existing business. With a team of almost 40 processors, loan officer assistants, and loan officers, Go Rascal is primed for a fast start. But for Scott, scaling is not only about increasing profits, but also about challenging himself to take on the role of CEO. While his brokerage brought in $240 million in loans last year and is on track to do $300 million in business this year, Scott served as the primary loan originator. Switching positions and delegating responsibilities that used to be his will bring its own challenges but is also necessary to scale. 

To continue to scale his business, Scott first had to hire the right people. That started with an operations expert and a sales manager, both of who lacked mortgage experience, but they each brought their own unique and valuable expertise to the table. Once those individuals were locked in, Scott had to adjust his mindset. At that point, his brokerage was running like a well-oiled machine while he was focused primarily on origination. To scale, he had to come to terms with pulling back on his origination so he could spend more time focusing on scaling. It also required Scott to take a step back and determine what he does well and what areas he needed to hire people who could fill those gaps. 

Scott is also a vice-chair on AIME’S Community Committee, which is focused on promoting business development that serves the entire wholesale channel. He sees the group as the formal voice of the Brokers Are Better community with a commitment to supporting both new LOs and seasoned loan officers. For Scott, the group served as a major resource that he and countless other brokers used to navigate the chaos of the 2020 pandemic and refi-boom. That sort of education is a major area Scott wants to continue growing as part of the committee. “Education is the backbone of the community,” he said.

Scott’s parting advice: Network, but know there is more than one way to network. You need to find what works for you and do it. Scott networks less by engaging with public posts in the Brokers Are Better Facebook group, instead opting to private message brokers to offer advice or answer their questions. For in-person networking, like at AIME Fuse 2021, he suggests finding a local broker and connecting over issues in your local market. 

Notes:

Scott’s Journey into the Broker Channel (1:14)
Community Committee (6:21)
Helping Your Local Community (15:18)
Scaling Your Brokerage (17:25)
Parting Advice (32:31)

This episode is sponsored by Guaranty Home Mortgage