Meet Hallie Johnson of Deals in Heels in Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hallie Johnson.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Hallie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Well, how to start here. First, I suppose I’ll tell you what I do – I am a residential new construction Loan Officer in the Los Angeles area. I operate both out of my home and from the new developments that I work on. I know that title sounds long, and might be a little confusing so I’ll start by explaining that and then I’ll get into how I got into this. When I say I am a residential new construction Loan Officer, I mean I am a Loan Officer whose primary business revolves around residential new construction development in the LA area. How I explain this to my family and friends (who 80% of the time think I am a real estate agent) is “you know when you see a huge high rise full of condos go up in LA – I do the financing for the people purchasing each individual condo.” So, after the real estate agent takes their buyer in to see one of those condos and they want to purchase one, the salesperson at the development gives them my card and tells them they have to get qualified through me. I review their assets, income, debt to income ratios, business returns, credit, etc. and tell them if they qualify for the beautiful condo they love so much. Just to note – this is not exclusive to condos, I also do single family homes, townhomes, etc. That is where a majority of my business comes from and the rest is from real estate agents I frequently work with, recurring clients, referrals, and follow ups. I work for a large bank in a specialized division doing this and have had much success at it at a young age – for that, I am blessed.

Now – I will get into how I got into this. I started in banking nine years ago this December. I was only 17 and fresh out of high school. My mom worked in banking a majority of my life so it was familiar to me. My mom actually worked at the bank I got my start at – SURPRISE – that’s how I got in. My mom worked in a sector of a bank during the time of the recession that would help people modify their home loan payments to payments they could actually afford during that time. I told her I wanted to get into this and she mentioned her team was hiring temp employees. I interviewed for an internal temp team at that bank and collected small documentation to get the modification process started – 3 months later, I was hired permanently. Once I was hired in, they announced that they needed people to travel and help modify home loans in every state – I jumped at the opportunity, I was 18. This was a time when people were losing their homes because they were in mortgage payments they really could never afford. We went on the road to help them adjust these payments down, which we did in our office, but that was a six months process, and we did it on the road in a day. I traveled for about 2 1/2 years, went everywhere, helped a lot of people save their homes, and honestly now made a vow that I would always originate loans responsibly because this was horrible, People would camp out for days just to meet with us so they could keep their homes. Well, after about 2 1/2 years, the market started to turn and stabilize again and so I began looked for a new position. I forgot to mention, I was born and raised in SoCal (Oceanside, CA) and moved to Arizona and that is where I got hired and began to travel. I decided after that position had slowed, I wanted to move back to California. I found a position at the same company and moved back to California for it (orange county). I worked in that position for 2 1/2 years (Executive Assistant) – I stepped back into an admin role to focus on school – I was going for law. I moved to a business bank for about a year and then decided I wanted back into mortgage. Funny enough, I was found for my current role on linkedin. I have been in this position for four years now and I love it. I hold “how to buy a home” seminars and really feel myself impacting the LA community in this role. As of late, I have started a side business called Deals in Heels.co that will set out to connect women in business and create mentorships for women in the LA area (coming soon!). The biggest lesson in my career has been to pivot, and pivot often. Explore things that really intrigue you. I am passionate about my career – I am one of few women in my position (although, I would love to change this), and I love to help people realize their dream in home buying

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It absolutely has not. I started my career very young, and although that was a blessing because I have a ton of experience, I went through a lot of things internally that I had to really work through. For example, I briefly mentioned that I went to college and I was going to be an attorney, but because of my positions, I had to do a lot of night and online school which was exhausting. I would get off of work while traveling and get into my hotel room, and get on my computer for school. I slept maybe 4 hours a night during those times, it was miserable to be quite honest. Once I was in this industry long enough, I realized that this was something I was passionate about and wanted to pursue as a career, so I ended my studies to focus on this – that was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. Looking back, it was the right one, but at the time, I really struggled.

The other thing is, I basically grew up in this industry so I was (and still am to be frank) judged for my age. Even now, when I tell people how old I am sometimes, it decreases their respect for my knowledge of what I do even though I have seen this industry crash and be lifted in my time in mortgage, and I have been doing it much longer than most people twice my age. It is an advantage to always be the youngest, but also a disadvantage.

ALSO – I am mixed race (black and white), female, in my 20’s in a male dominated, white, 40 years and over the industry. That in itself can be a challenge – but I’ve always enjoyed a challenge.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
This is kind of hard – I continue to have proud moments. I think now, whenever I work very hard to meet a big developer in LA and they end up using me for financing, those are always my proud moments.