“Not all business is good business”

As her mortgage career took off, Saul found herself torn between pursuing her former legal profession and embracing the growing opportunities in the mortgage industry. The more she excelled in the mortgage field, the clearer it became that this was her true calling. One pivotal moment changed the course of Saul’s life. Eighteen (18) months after she started in the mortgage field, she turned to her boyfriend who worked alongside her.

“I said, we can do this on our own,” said Saul. “And that completely changed the trajectory of our lives. I couldn’t start my own company because I’d only just started in the sector, but he got the wheels turning. He got his broker’s license, left the company – I stayed on for the extra income – and we started off on our own.”

Through sheer perseverance and dedication, Saul’s business flourished. Today, Federal Hill Mortgage operates out of a $2.5 million commercial building they own, with a team of 20 employees. Saul’s hard work and commitment have earned her recognition as the number one producing loan officer in Maryland and one of the top individual mortgage brokers in the nation.

‘Not all business is good business’

But it hasn’t all been plain sailing –  for Saul there was one main obstacle that started to interfere with her mental wellbeing.

“Choosing the right people to work with and the right referral partners,” she said. “When I was new, I would accept business and work with any real estate agent who would send me a client because I needed that to survive. So if a real estate agent wasn’t treating me well, I would just brush it off – I didn’t complain. That really impacted my quality of life – going down that road of toxicity. It got to be so bad with certain people that I made a conscious decision for my mental health and for the health of my children, that it just wasn’t worth it.”