Episode summary
Shant Banosian on the tactics that keep him a top originator
HousingWire Daily
· · 26 min · Hosts: Sarah Wheeler · Guests: Shant Banosian
Summary
HousingWire’s new mortgage rankings, powered by Ingenious Data and based on recorded mortgage transactions rather than submissions, put Shant Banosian’s production in a different light: he said his team still did more than $1 billion in 2025, even if the new methodology did not fully capture every deal attributed to him. He framed the gap as a reflection of how his shop operates, with teammates often listed as the loan officer on transactions they run as point people.
Banosian argued that the real driver of top-originator growth is service, not rates. His playbook centers on being useful to borrowers and referral partners: fast responses, education, clear guidance, and a consistent message that he wants to be a mortgage advisor for life. He said the best loan officers avoid commoditization by turning every touchpoint into a reason clients remember them.
He also described retention as a disciplined system built on phone calls, relevant emails, social media, life-event tracking, annual reviews, and proactive campaigns. He said the gold standard is 80% retention of prior clients on their next mortgage, and he expects AI, app-based communication, and a wider suite of products such as home insurance, car loans, title services, and HELOCs to help them keep clients engaged between mortgage transactions.
Key takeaways
- Banosian said his team still did more than $1 billion in 2025, even though HousingWire’s transaction-based ranking methodology didn’t capture every deal the same way.
- He said service level, not mortgage rates, is the main differentiator for originators competing in crowded local markets.
- Banosian said the gold standard for retention is 80% of past clients returning for their next mortgage, while most good loan officers are in the 20% to 30% range.
- He said the biggest untapped asset for loan officers is their database, because trusted clients are easier to keep than to replace.
- He expects AI, Rate App, and expanded products like insurance, auto loans, title, and HELOCs to keep clients engaged between mortgage transactions.
Notable quotes
“I think the best loan officers that that have success they do a bunch of things really consistently”
“the gold standard right now, in my opinion, is like 80% retention of your previous clients like when they go to get another mortgage”
“My mission is to capture 10, 11 or 12 of those. Like I truly want to be somebody's loan officer for life, but it takes a lot of work”
“I personally believe if you want to be a successful loan officer, you got to be good at three things”
How the episode opens
Welcome everyone. My guest today is Shawn Van Dyken, president of rate and one of the top originators in the country for 6 years running, including on the newly launched HousingWire mortgage rankings. Before we get started, I want to thank our sponsor Total Expert for making this episode possible. Shawn, welcome back to the podcast.
Sarah, great to see you. Always good to be back. It's been a bunch of years now. I know. I feel like we I remember the very first time I interviewed you after you hit your production of $1 billion. That was just such an a crazy amount. And we were so impressed and then you went on to do more than that. So, um pretty pretty crazy.
It's been a really good run. It's been a great run. And you know, so today we launched the HousingWire mortgage rankings.
A new product for us. We're pretty excited about it. And so thank you.
Just a little bit of background here. So, it's powered by Ingenious Data. Um and it's it's providing a comprehensive standardized view of origination activity across the country.
A little bit different than the way other people do rankings and that's one of the reasons I wanted to have you on here, right? Talk about that and your rank on here. So, we're using recorded mortgage transactions rather than submissions.
So, really interesting way to do it and still you come out in the in the top of producers by volume, by all sorts of measurements. But this year, you didn't hit the billion mark according to our rankings. I I want to talk about that because it's really the way that we do it versus other people, but it doesn't mean that you've lost any business or actually you're it seems like you're doing more business than ever.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- mortgage originations
- mortgage rankings
- sales tactics
- housing industry media
- lending performance
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Rate
- HousingWire
Watch the episode
Watch “Shant Banosian on the tactics that keep him a top originator” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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