Blog Post #1 Interview

Home Mortgage Consultant- Rachel Alcaraz

By Arianna Sandoval

When you think of buying your own home you always associate it with banks as lenders, agents and so on but a very important person when someone is trying to buy a house is the mortgage originator. As an originator Rachel Alcaraz is the original mortgage lender and she works with a borrower to complete a mortgage transaction.  Rachel has been working for Wells Fargo for about seven years as a Home Mortgage Consultant.

Rachel started working at the bank as a teller with the experienced she received in this position she was promoted to a Personal Banker Sales Position. After one year of sales experience she was transferred to the mortgage department and she started off doing mortgage refinancing only and later her responsibilities grew as she gained more experience. Now as a Mortgage Consultant her major responsibilities include creating new business by originating home loans of purchases and refinances.

Rachel says that what she loves more about her job is being able to help individuals and families accomplish the ownership of their first home. She also likes being able to help clients meet their financial goals by helping them refinance their home. But like any job there is stress involved which is what Rachel dislikes about being in this field, stress involved with constantly having to produce new business. One of the main factors in a typical day is communication. With each loan transactions she has to communicate constantly with the borrowers or clients, real estate agents, title and insurance companies, loan processors and underwriters. As well as making sure that each loan is closed on time. Not only does she have to do work in the office but she also has to constantly be networking for new business with real estate agents, bank retail partners and family and friends.

To get to the position she is at right now Rachel received her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fresno State. For entry level positions in this field it is very important to have strong verbal, written, communication skills, customer service skills and computer and data entry skills. But the number one skill that is essential when hiring is having sales experience. Some entry level positions in this field include loan processor, loan packagers, and mortgage consultant assistant. The salary ranges form $25-35k annually and they include medical and dental benefits as long with 401k. Although all this sounds great as entry level positions the only drawbacks would be the lack of knowledge and motivation, and especially for Home Mortgage Consultants which are paid strictly on commission.

      Rachel was a great person to interview I learned a lot of new great information about a career that most people don’t think about. And like most real estate jobs communication is a big part of it you need be networking with businesses and clients constantly. That is one of the great points that I learned through doing this interview.