Our guest on this podcast episode was Drew Anlas.  Drew works for NJ Lenders, a mortgage banking company here in New Jersey.  Drew has been a mortgage banker for 34 years now, and has a keen eye for the way things should be in the business.  Drew is most definitely a people-person, and loves interacting with people.  As you may have gathered from this episode’s title, if there are people involved, count Drew in.  This was a truly fun interview, and we hope you enjoy it as well.  To learn even more about Drew, follow this link here to his LinkedIn page!

 

Tom: Welcome to the podcast. Today my guest is Drew Anlas. Drew is with NJ Lenders and this is episode number 182, 182. Drew, welcome to the podcast.

Drew Anlas: Thank you Tom, and thank you for having me today. I appreciate it.

Tom: Let’s start out and tell us what you do and then we’ll get into a little bit of history.

Drew Anlas: Yes Tom I’ve been a mortgage banker for 34 years now. I started on Valentine’s Day in 1984 for a now defunct bank called Shadow Lawn Savings and Loan where I learned the trade and moved out onto my own in 1987, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

Tom: Wow. So you started working in a bank and now you’re with NJ Lenders which is a mortgage broker.

Drew Anlas: Mortgage banker.

Tom: Okay. So explain so we can understand a little better, because you’ll find mortgage people that work in a bank and then you’ll find mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers. Can you shed a little light on the differences?

Drew Anlas: Yeah, and that’s a very important question. I get asked that a lot, the difference especially between a mortgage broker and a mortgage banker. The difference between a banker and a broker is a broker cannot issue their own commitments, they do not lend their own funds, they’re brokering to a third party source to do basically all of the hard stuff. They do the processing, but then they rely on outside bank underwriters, other banks to supply funds, et cetera. As a full fledged mortgage banker you can originate, approve, close all of your own loans, which is what we do using bank warehousing lines. So when we close a loan and then we sell the loan we’ll replenish our warehousing lines so we can lend again, and again, and again. So a bank is just whoever they are, they’re a lending source for whatever loan products they have. As a banker we can sell to 45 to 50 different lending sources around the country, therefore giving the customer the ultimate opportunity for product rate, et cetera.

Tom: So that also gives you a lot of flexibility if you’re trying to help someone get a mortgage and it doesn’t go through what you would think a traditional channel you can go elsewhere.

Drew Anlas: Yes, and it’s important. Our underwriters and our loan officers have to know the guidelines and the rates every day of over 45 to 50 different lending sources. So it is challenging because you do not only have to know one product line, you have to know 45 or 50 product lines. But as I’m sure you in the financial world and insurance it’s similar to that where you have access to a lot of different avenues to go. So an advantage is being able to help a customer if they’re not fitting inside the box 100%.

Tom: Right. Well that’s a lot of moving parts there.

Drew Anlas: Yeah. I relate getting mortgage to putting a jigsaw puzzle, and the jigsaw puzzle you’re missing that one piece and you’re sitting there fighting trying to get a loan approved or closed and you got to find that missing piece. So when you go to a one dimensional source if you’re missing that one piece and you can’t find it you’re done where we can maneuver and try to figure out...