Leif Thomsen first came to the United States from Denmark in 1987, where he owned four restaurants. When he arrived, his first foray into American business was managing three Au Bon Pain locations in Boston. It didn’t take long for him to realize that wasn’t going to work.
Shortly after leaving Au Bon Pain, he saw an ad in the newspaper looking for people to help "sell money." Intrigued, he was hired at a mortgage company in Norwood doing just that: selling loans as an originator.
A year later, he started his own business called Mortgage Master. Today, the company has 26 locations across the country.
"I always joke later that if I had known what I was supposed to know when I started, then I would have never started," Thomsen said. "But we haven’t really changed that much since we started. My philosophy was always treat the customer right, give him a good deal, return their phone calls, show up on time, tell them the truth. It’s literally the same today, I just know a little more about the business, I think."
Leif Thomsen
Title: Chairman & CEO, Mortgage Master
Experience: 21 Years
Age: 48
Q: There are a lot of mortgage companies that were in the business in 1988 that aren’t in business now, aren’t there?
A: Three years ago we were the approximately 67th largest lender in the country, including everybody. Now we’re in the top 15. Yeah, we’ve grown, but it’s mostly through attrition. There were so many of those companies that were living through those stated loans, and no-money-down loans, and all kinds of weird loans that we just never did.
Q: When you saw those loans come into the marketplace, what was your reaction?
A: There are two people that deserve credit here. A little to myself, but most of it goes to Patricia Raymo who runs underwriting. We were both thinking: How can you buy a house with no money down, without verifying income and assets and have bad credit? That’s going to go bad. It was just so obvious.
The sad thing was we were struggling for a few years. Maybe not struggling, but making less than a lot other people for two, three, four years, and definitely questioning if we were making the right decisions. But we never really wavered.
Q: So you were able to stay alive, and you’re now here to pick up the pieces?
A: We did better than stay alive. We’ve never had a bad year. I think Warren Buffet’s No. 1 rule is: don’t lose money. And rule No. 2 for him is: don’t lose money. And rule No. 3 is: repeat one and two. We’ve never not made money in any year, for 22 years now. And this is going to be the best year, by miles. I think we have an opportunity to be one of the absolute leaders as a lender in this country. Our platform is unbeatable for what we can see.
Q: What makes it unbeatable?
A: We give the sales people what we need to succeed, which is a broad selection of product priced well, so that they really never lose a deal to price. So I guess what we’re doing is selling for less but still finding a way to make money, which is why we’re in downtown Walpole instead of on the waterfront. The difference in cost per square foot is probably $35 a foot. Would I like to be overlooking the harbor and sit in a fancy high rise? Yeah, but it’s not important. And it’s easier finding parking here.
And also labor is cheaper here. The person who we can pay $42,000 would probably cost $55,000 downtown, because they have to live there.
Q: You said earlier you have very little turnover. Have you added jobs this year?
A: We’ve added 102 people since Jan. 1. We’re at about 400 people, now.
Q: So what’s next?
A: Well, just continue the growth, really. We have a platform that works, and I think it’s easy to expand on us. We have a backlog of at least 100 salespeople who want to join us when we’re ready for them to join us.
Thomsen’s Five Favorite Vacation Spots:
1. Monaco: I love the location, and the lifestyle, the night clubs, the tennis, and the color of the water.
2. South Africa: It’s a completely different culture, and the people are so friendly.
3. Belize: They literally have two paved roads, one that goes north/south, and one that goes east/west. It’s a jungle paradise.
4. Denmark: It’s actually where I call home, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone to go there who hasn’t just fallen in love with it.
5. Paris: It’s just unlike anywhere else in the world.
