Surviving 2025: 6 Strategies the Top Loan Officers are Using Right Now

You don’t need anyone to tell you—this market is tough. You’re out there grinding every day through one of the hardest markets this industry has seen in decades.

“Everyone who is well qualified was either smart enough to buy in 2020/2021 or smart enough to know to stay put for the time being," lamented one LO in a June 2025 thread on r/loanoriginators.

But it won’t be this way forever. And, the strategies you put in place now—systems, processes, relationships—not only determine whether you’re still standing when the market inevitably turns but also will give you an advantage over everyone else. You don’t necessarily need to hustle harder; you need to work smarter, focusing on what actually helps you close loans.

Here are loan officer strategies that the top producers are using to close deals in 2025.

1. Loyalty Is the New Lead Gen

When volume is down, when every deal feels like a small miracle, it’s easy to get fixated on finding the next client. But here’s the truth: Your next deal is probably hiding inside your last one.

The best LOs in the business already know this. Shant Banosian, who tops the list on the Scotsman Guide 2025 Top Originator, says in a video he shared on Instagram, “Anyone can close a deal, but can you get your clients to come back? That kind of loyalty isn’t built with discounts or with gimmicks, it’s built with follow through, with service, with care.

Every client you close deserves to feel like they’re your only client. Because let’s be honest… right now, they might be your only client.

What does that look like in practice? It looks like:

• Proactive updates (don’t make them chase you for answers)

• Clear timelines (when things change, say so)

• Thoughtful check-ins long after the closing table (are they settled? are they happy?)

• Celebrating their wins (housewarming cards > drip emails)

Loyalty doesn’t come from discounts, gimmicks, or cheesy marketing. It comes from follow-through, service, and care.

The LOs who survive this market—and thrive in the next one—are the ones who treat every borrower like a future referral source, not just a file number.

If you want your clients to come back, start acting like you want them to stay.

Use a system that delivers reminders, prompts, and workflows built around best practices so no client falls through the cracks. Your tech should make it effortless to keep in touch, follow up, and show up—without relying on your memory or your mood. Great tech should turn great service into repeat business, because great service is scalable when you have the right infrastructure.

2. Stop Chasing the Wrong Deals

The temptation right now is to take anything that breathes: 3% down, marginal credit, buyers scraping together reserves. But these deals eat up time, increase fall-out, and make your pipeline look busier than it really is. The LOs who survive this cycle will be the ones who get laser-focused on quality, not volume.

Third Floor helps by giving LOs visibility into deal velocity and at-risk deals so they know where to focus. It also automates tasks around pre-quals, updates, and nurture, so you're not losing the deals you do have.

3. Nurture Relationships Like Your Career Depends on It (Because It Does)

A steady flow of refis probably isn’t coming back this year. Purchase business is the game, and Realtors control the flow. Most LOs think they “stay in touch” but their systems are haphazard at best. Now is the time to rebuild Realtor pipelines with discipline and consistency.

Organize every touchpoint with Realtors—calls, coffee meetings, follow-ups—into clear, trackable workflows in your CRM, ideally optimized to track which of those referral partners brought you the most business. That way, you can build accountability around your referral network, not just your client pipeline.

4. Sharpen Your Database Game

Your past clients are sitting on homes with golden handcuffs—they’re not moving unless they have to. But when they do, they’ll need guidance. LOs should be actively staying top-of-mind, offering value (market updates, strategies, financial planning angles) to future-proof relationships.

Automate smart, relationship-driven marketing to past clients. Keep all contacts organized, segmented, and easy to activate with one click—not scattered across sticky notes, spreadsheets, and old-school marketing platforms.

5. Lean in to Your Niche

Ranked as the number one female LO on the 2025 Scotsman Guide, Rachel Jiang of BMO Bank N.A. puts it simply: “You’ve got to know your position in the market and take advantage of it.”

Rachel didn’t start off with a clear path—she did just one loan her entire first year. But over time, she figured out where she could win. Her fluency in Mandarin and her ability to understand Cantonese allowed her to serve a community that was often overlooked or underserved in mortgage lending. She leaned into that advantage, and it’s now the foundation of her success:

“There are not many people around me in the Chinese community who are in this business.”

Your niche might not be cultural or language-based. It could be: first-time homebuyers

veterans, physicians, divorcees rebuilding after separation, real estate investors looking to scale, clients relocating for work, or an industry you worked in before coming to mortgage.

The key is clarity. Who do you serve better than anyone else? Who trusts you more because you’ve been in their shoes or solved their problem before? Who are you uniquely positioned to understand?

If you want to compete in this market, stop trying to be everything to everyone. Find your people—and become their go-to.

6. Invest in the Right Tech (Not Just More Tech)

The worst move LOs make is buying more tools, more apps, more platforms that don’t talk to each other. Replace disjoined point solutions and manual processes—a clunky old CRM, cumbersome reporting dashboards, and glorified graphic design tools that only spit out flyers—with one system designed specifically for mortgage pros. (We’re a little biased here, but may we recommend Third Floor?)

Similarly, tech shouldn’t replace human connection, it should make that connection easier. “I think that AI is incredibly useful in automating tedious tasks—I don’t think that AI should be calling your clients,” said Jennifer Beeston, Scotsman Guide 2025 Top Originator, in an interview with Zeb Lowe for HousingWire.

Now’s the time to consolidate, simplify, and run lean. Make AI work behind the scenes to improve human connection, not replace it.

Final Thought: This Market Won’t Break You — If You Build the Right Loan Officer Strategies into Your Workflow

This isn’t the market any of us wanted. But it is the one we’ve got. The LOs who make it through aren’t the ones chasing every shiny object or burning themselves out on bad leads. They’re the ones who stay disciplined. Who work smarter. Who build loyalty. Who treat their business like it’s worth protecting — because it is.

At Third Floor, we’re not here to sell you empty promises. We’re here to help you build the infrastructure that keeps you standing, keeps you sane, and keeps you closing — in any market.

If you’re ready to see how it works, let’s talk. Book a demo today.

*Any experts mentioned or quoted in this post are not affiliated with Third Floor and their inclusion should not be interpreted as an endorsement of our products or services.