Ameer Katifi wasn’t content to be a top loan officer for an established mortgage provider.
He wanted to strike out on his own, to start a new company and “build a legacy for myself.”
And he wanted his business to be like a family, where everyone gets treated how they want to be treated, with state-of-the-art technology in a supportive environment.
So in January, the 31-year-old Irvine native launched Trusted Mortgage Capital, a mortgage brokerage and loan origination business in Laguna Hills.
Depending on how you look at it, he either had lousy timing or is getting in on the ground floor of the next boom.
On the one hand, soaring interest rates throttled the mortgage business, causing home loan volume to plunge 71% in the first half of 2023 from the 2021 peak. But on the other hand, a wave of mortgage layoffs created a large pool of unemployed talent for Trusted Mortgage to tap.
“It’s all about the mindset you have going on. Even though the business went down by 70%, there’s still a lot of business out there,” said Katifi, Trusted Mortgage’s chief executive.
“In this type of environment, it’s really you building out your engine and sharpening your skill to be the best you’ve ever been,” he said. “And the best time to grow is when it’s slow. Once it’s busy, once the rates are low again, then it will be really hard to capture good talent.”
Trusted Mortgage Capital already scored big in one arena. Even though it’s just a year old, it ranked No. 1 in the small business category of the Orange County Register’s Top Workplaces program.
The selection is based on employee survey responses rating the company.
In one response, an anonymous employee said he or she loves the job because “of the potential to grow.”
The 40-employee company already is licensed to work in 17 states. As of October, license applications were pending in five others.
The firm is both a lender — originating its own home loans to borrowers — and a…
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