What you’ll learn
- Model shared branch results carefully
- Assess operations and economics
- Coordinate a conditional transition
Who this course is for
Branch managers, growth executives and experienced recruiters
Experience behind the approach
Over approximately nine years across Sierra Pacific, Supreme and Yes Mortgage (a DBA of Lower), Nathan and two partners helped build a branch to approximately $400 million in annual production and 30–40 originators. That shared experience informs this course’s focus on operating capacity, team dependencies and coordinated execution.
Nathan’s professional track record ↗Before you start
No purchase or account is required. Use fictional information in exercises. Read the explanation, study the worked example, try the exercise before revealing the response, then revisit the idea in the course knowledge check. Practical assignments take longer than reading alone.
Course assignment
Assemble the lesson exercises into a practical plan. Identify assumptions, evidence still needed, an accountable owner, and a review date. Explain one decision you changed and why.
Assess a branch move before promising it
A fictional branch reports $80M including the producing manager’s $20M. Eight people are described as interested; individual discussions are incomplete. The receiving team can support five starts now. One proposed cost comparison omits support allocations.
- Map decision rights and individual permissions.
- Reconcile production without double-counting.
- Normalize cost definitions and show a slower-volume scenario.
- Prepare a phased readiness plan with explicit go/no-go conditions.
Review a model recommendation
A defensible recommendation reports $80M, distinguishes interest from individual decisions, normalizes economics and conditions the second wave on verified capacity.
Self-review rubric
- Evidence: distinguish confirmed facts, fictional assumptions and unresolved questions.
- Application: connect the proposed actions to the actual person, role and operating conditions.
- Accountability: identify owners, dependencies, stop conditions and review dates.
- Judgment: explain the trade-offs and why an alternative was rejected.
This is learning feedback, not a hiring assessment or credential.
Return and retrieve
After a few days, explain the main decision without reopening the worked response. Then compare your reasoning and revise one weak part of your plan.
Knowledge check
After the lessons, test your decisions on three scenarios. Feedback explains the reasoning; results are practice feedback, not certification.
Take the knowledge checkConnect this course to the complete process
Work through the connected case, practice the conversations and add this course’s work to your final project.
Sources & further reading
- CFPB: Regulation Z, section 1026.36 ↗
- NMLS: Consumer Access FAQs ↗
- MBA Career Center: Screening Mortgage Loan Officer Candidates ↗
Instruction, cases, exercises and worked responses are original academy material. External references support concepts; they do not endorse the academy.