Mortgage broker Mark Cohen, who did more than $1 billion in business last year,
has turned his real estate roots and relentless energy into a powerful force in the industry.

By DANIEL MILLER
Staff Reporter

MARK Cohen comes from a family of real estate industry entrepreneurs. From grandparents who owned a local hotel to a mother who started a local mortgage brokerage, Cohen has been surrounded by family members with a knack for the business. So, he says it wasn't a surprise to those who knew him when he left his mother's firm to start Cohen Financial Group.

Since founding the company in 1997, it has grown from seven employees to 30 and Cohen has gone on to become one of the top mortgage brokers in the country. And in 2006, he originated more loans and had the highest dollar volume of any broker in the country, according to an industry trade publication. Accolades like that keep Cohen at the office for marathon 11-hour days. Cohen, 47, rarely sits down in his corner office atop a Beverly Hills office building. Instead he conducts business standing, from a tall, custom-built desk. Cohen, who lives in Holmby Hills with his family, recently took a break from a hectic day to discuss his life, his business and the state of the mortgage industry, which is still reeling from this past winter's subprime meltdown.

Question: How has the mortgage industry changed in the last six months since the subprime meltdown?
Answer: The 100 percent loans without showing income verification have been virtually eliminated. That has taken away a pretty big segment of the starter home market. You have to be a fairly transparent buyer to banks; they want to know whom they are loaning money to. It might be O.K. on the Westside but in other parts of Los Angeles the market may not be as strong.

Q: So has business slowed down?
A: For myself, no. I have probably increased market share in the last six months. But there is less subprime. It has benefited me because a lot of mortgage companies that were focused primarily on subprime have gone out of business. We have benefited by what has happened in the market.

Q: Do you feel like you are helping people realize their dreams?
A: There is something to helping people get their dream home. I have a thick stack of thank you letters saying, Thank you for your help, and in some extreme cases, You changed my life. There is a lot of personal satisfaction and economically you can do well if you know what you are doing.

Q: Do you ever tell overextended buyers they shouldn't be buying a home?
A: I tell them that because I do have a conscience. Some people are making, for example, $10,000 a month and their mortgage is $7,000. I say, What are you trying to do to yourself? You are working as a slave to live in your house. If people are spending more than half of what their income is on the mortgage, they shouldn't have that size mortgage. When I see people that are really overextending themselves I can only imagine how hard it is going to be to maintain a normal lifestyle.

Q: What is your take on the local real estate market?
A: I think it's a mixed market right now in the sense that certain pockets of town like the Westside and coastal areas are significantly stronger than more inland areas. The market is going to be mixed through the end of the year. I've got a feeling there are going to be a lot of foreclosures coming on the market in more inland areas. I think that will tend to depress prices and I think it will have an impact on the Westside. The market is still in a state of shock. It is going to take time.

Q: Did you always plan to get into the mortgage business?
A: In 1981, my mother, Gloria Shulman, had started a mortgage company, Crestview Financial Group. It was really interesting to me and it was a brand new field. She took me by the hand so to speak. She is still in the business; she is sharp and very knowledgeable. I learned from her to a large degree. I went to USC and graduated in 1981 and got an M.B.A. from USC. After the M.B.A. I went to Loyola Law School and graduated from there in 1985. I never really wanted to practice law; I did it to pacify my parents and grandparents. Right after law school I got into the business in summer 1985.

Q: Did your time at university prepare you for this job?
A: It prepared me - studying business and even the law degree - it gives you instant credibility with people who research you. The discipline of studying and understanding concepts and being able to analyze things, I am a big proponent of education.

Q: Was the business different back in the mid-1980s?
A: The business was in its initial stage. People went to their banks for loans or they went to a home savings bank. There wasn't such a thing as mortgage bankers or brokers. My mother was the first female broker in L.A.

Q: Was it fun working with your mother?
A: It has got its pros and cons. Initially it was great because I learned from someone who knew what they were doing. It was nice to have financial support initially. She is creative with great marketing. She now has a new mortgage company, called CenTek Capital Group.

Q: Sounds like she was one of the most influential people in your life.Were there any others?
A: My late grandfather, Benjamin Shulman. He had one of the nicest general personalities you could have and was a very good businessman. He was in sales. He had the first dry goods store in Boyle Heights in the 1930s. He knew all of his clients. My grandparents used to have a hotel on Wilshire Boulevard, the Century Wilshire, which is now being developed as condos. I worked there and I learned how to deal with people and watched their interaction with people and how to have great customer service. He taught me how to be a sincere person and be available for people. I learned from his work ethic.

Q: When did you decide it was time to leave your mother's company?
A: I left in 1997 to form Cohen Financial. You realize there is a time in your life when it is time to make a change. I am very close with my mother - always have been, always will be - but sometimes there are family dynamics. At that point in time I was fortunate to associate with some good people. I didn't miss a beat. All the clients I previously had were all with me. Except for maybe a week it was business as usual. Cohen Financial was in Westwood for four years before moving to Beverly Hills.

Q: Do you compete with her now?
A: It's friendly competition. We share a lot of clients. There are never issues with things. I do deals they can't place and so forth.

Q:Was there a moment when you realized you had picked the right career?
A: One of the key moments in my life was a really defining moment in my business career. In December 1986, right before there were major tax law changes set to take place in January I got a call from a business manager who was buying a house in Santa Monica. It was a $600,000 sale - a nice-sized deal - and he said, "If you can close this deal in 21 days you'll be very happy and I'll introduce you to people who'll give you a lot of business." He wanted it closed before the law change.

Q: Was his an extraordinary request?
A: In those days the market wasn't nearly as efficient as it is now; there were no fax machines and no easy-qualify loans. In hindsight, now it's nothing, but in those days escrows were 45 days. Everything had to be typed by hand and sent in the mail. It was a slower process. So, 21 days was the equivalent of eight or 10 days.

Q: So what happened?
A: The deal closed and I got married in January. I called the business manager at the end of January, and he said I should call up an executive at City National Bank, which at that time didn't do real estate loans. So I met with her and we immediately had a great rapport for one another and she introduced me to 40 or 50 business managers who I still work with today. I became the guy at City National Bank because they didn't do real estate loans. The whole bank said, "Use Mark Cohen for your loans."

Q: According to the Mortgage Originator trade magazine, in 2006, you originated more loans (1,606) and had the highest dollar volume ($1.1 billion) of any broker in the country. How is that possible?
A: I am a creature of habit. I get up at 5:30 a.m., check any e-mails sent overnight because I have some clients on the East Coast and I see what is going on in the financial markets. I leave the house around 7:10 a.m. and I am here at the office everyday at 7:30 a.m., until about 6.30 p.m. I am on the phone all day long. I probably make a couple hundred phone calls a day. I am on the phone all day with escrow companies, clients and banks. I try to get to the gym at least twice a week for an hour after work. I take work home. I do about two hours of work at night and I'm in bed at midnight.

Q: Do you ever stop during the day for a breather?
A: There is one thing I've done religiously for the last 15 years: I got out for 45 minutes to an hour everyday for lunch at 1 p.m. - my mind has to be cleared. When the New York markets close I am done for an hour.

Q: Why do you stand and not sit?
A: I've got my files in four different rooms here and I have to navigate and see what is going on in every single deal. I think better when I am standing up. I am standing up typically six or seven hours a day. It's a custom built 5-foot tall desk. I like standing it helps me remember what I have to do.

Q: Do you have any plans to slow down?
A: I am a Type A personality, so probably in 20 years. I really like what I do. I really do. It's a great passion for me in life; I wake up everyday looking forward to my work. It is strange 22 years later, but I do.

Q: Why do you think it is so rewarding?
A: I like the challenges; it isn't the same every day. There are new opportunities. Some days are better than others obviously. But I like the contact I have with people. Some of my closest friends were once clients of mine. I've met a lot of great people in the business.

Q: How has Cohen Financial Group grown?
A: In the last 18 months we've opened an escrow company, Camden Escrow, which is doing well. We can do outside purchase transactions for people. And we are mortgage bankers so we can fund our own loans. We started that about nine months ago. We are looking at potentially expanding but it has got to work. I'd rather keep it small and efficient.

Q: Could you ever relinquish some control at Cohen Financial? There are seven other mortgage brokers here.
A: People come to me for loans and I am the kind of person that wants to deal with people, because I am still young enough, hungry enough and energetic enough.

Q: With all of that work,how do you maintain a family life?
A: I have dinner with the family every night. On weekends I am with them. I have a hangout with the kids at 11 p.m. for a half hour every night. We convene in the kitchen, have a little snack and joke and talk about sports.

Q: What's the most unique deal you've done?
A: When I was in Africa three summers ago with my family I had a mortgage deal that had to be done in 2 and 1/2 weeks. I was in Botswana on a satellite phone for 2 and 1/2 hours, probably costing $5 a minute. To use the phone I had to walk to an office, away from our camp. It was done early in the morning when it's not entirely recommended you walk around by yourself because of the wildlife.

Q: Did you get it done?
A: Is there a choice?

Mark Cohen

Title: President

Company: Cohen Financial Group

Born: Los Angeles, 1959

Education: B.A., finance, M.B.A., USC; J.D., Loyola Law School

Career Turning Point: Meeting the head of the entertainment division of a prominent Westside bank, who introduced Cohen to about 50 business managers who brought him business.

Most Influential People: Cohen's mother and mentor, Gloria Shulman, one of the first prominent women in the mortgage business in Los Angeles; his late grandfather, Benjamin Shulman, who taught Cohen how to "deal with people on a personal and business level."

Personal: Lives in Holmby Hills with his wife, Laurie, and three children, Seth, Evan and Sophie.

Hobbies: USC sports, travel, skiing and tennis

back