For most of her mortgage career, Fif Ghabodian focused mostly on refinances. Then, she joined OriginPoint three years ago — the joint venture between mortgage company Rate and real estate brokerage Compass. 

Working with Compass’s real estate agents, Ghabodian shifted more to the purchase market. She said it couldn’t have come at a better time with the refinance business drying up with the rapid rise in interest rates.

“I’m very honest about the fact that had it not been for this relationship, I’d probably be driving Uber,” Ghabodian said.

She, in fact, has done very well for herself. Ghabodian produced $158.1 million in loan volume last year, with 85% purchases and 15% refinances. She saw a massive jump from the year before, moving from No. 155 in the Top Originator rankings with $110 million in loan volume to No. 95 in the nation. 

She landed at No. 21 on Scotsman Guide’s Top Women Originator rankings. Ghabodian also made a mark for herself in non-qualified (non-QM) lending. She came in at No. 14 in the rankings for Top Non-QM Volume. Non-QM mortgages are loans for people such as gig economy workers or other business owners — quality borrowers who often don’t qualify for conventional loans.

Ghabodian credits OriginPoint and its breadth of non-QM products — along with her first mentor in the business — for helping her achieve her success in the space.

“We have so many options — to not sell them would be crazy, right?” Ghabodian said.

Originally from Iran, Ghabodian fled with her family from the country when she was 11 during the Islamic Revolution. She and her family were related to the Shah and it was unsafe for them to stay. Her family first settled in England before moving to the U.S. when she was 17.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from Claremont McKenna College with a double major in economics/accounting and math. After graduating, she went to work in corporate America, starting at Levi’s in its internal audit division.

About 24 years ago, Ghabodian was working at a corporation called NextCard — an online credit card lender — when it had what she called a “mini-Enron,” with the company’s top executives making the company’s performance look stronger than it was actually doing while simultaneously dumping their stock. The Securities and Exchange Commission went after the company leadership for fraud.

Ghabodian was not involved in the scandal, but the company’s unraveling affected her. She was a single mother at the time with two young children. She was also in the middle of purchasing a home. Her original lender pulled her mortgage offer after finding out that her employer was being investigated.

Ghabodian lost the original home she was intending to buy. Someone referred her to another mortgage originator, Judi Smith. Watching Smith work, Ghabodian decided to make a mid-career change, going into the mortgage business.

“I was a single parent, so I thought this was the worst time to make a change but I was really intoxicated by the energy of this business,” Ghabodian said.

She spent several months serving in an apprenticeship for Smith to learn the business. One of the things that Smith taught her was to think outside the box on how to structure loans. Ghabodian believes that is part of the reason why she’s done so well with non-QM loans.

When she struck out on her own, Ghabodian went to work with Guarantee Mortgage for 16 years and then worked for RPM Mortgage for four years. She’s a runner and quickly made connections through her running club. She grew her business through refinances for people in her social circle and then word of mouth led her to even more clients.

Through her years in the business, Ghabodian believes that she’s the person who finds solutions, especially with her skill in originating non-QM loans. She also is forthright with referral partners and clients. She recently told an agent that their client shouldn’t buy a house. The agent ended up agreeing with her.

“If it doesn’t make sense, I let them know,” Ghabodian said. “Sometimes it’s not the right answer for everyone to buy. Why would we put them in a home and make their life uncomfortable?”