While most people might close on a mortgage a handful of times over the course of their lifetime, Jarret Coleman regularly closes a handful of mortgages in a single day.

“We close multiple loans every day,” said Coleman, a mortgage loan officer based in Glastonbury, Connecticut, who joined U.S. Bank in 2018.

The numbers add up quickly – and set him apart. Coleman is on pace to close more than 700 mortgages totaling more than $1 billion this year. This makes him not only the top mortgage producer in the country for U.S. Bank but, according to industry news service HousingWire, the top producer for any bank.

“He’s on another level,” said Coleman’s manager, sales supervisor Joe Antonios. “Jarret has built an extensive network that generates over 10 referrals a day.”

The majority of those referrals come from the 1,600 Realtors Coleman has built relationships with, Coleman said.

“We don’t win every deal, but we get an enormous amount of leads,” said Coleman, who is quick to credit the team he works with and the support from U.S. Bank overall for helping drive his success.

The loans he closes are for homes across Connecticut, New York and beyond.

“We provide a high level of service to everyone, whether they’re a private wealth client or a first-time homebuyer,” Coleman said. “We give them as much attention and hand-holding as they want or need.”

It’s that approach to service that keeps the referrals coming, Antonios said.

“Jarret and his team have an unprecedented response rate with clients,” Antonios said. “A customer can reach out for a tax statement from five years ago and Jarret is right on it. I’ve never seen anything like it and it’s what I admire most about them.”

A would-be meteorologist – if not for a windfall

Working in the mortgage industry was not Coleman’s original goal. When he started college, he planned to become a meteorologist.

“I always loved the weather,” he said. “I still do and I have a weather station at home.”

But during his sophomore year, Coleman took a job assisting a highly successful mortgage officer. After one particularly strong production week, the officer gave Coleman a $5,000 bonus as a thank-you.

“As a college kid, $5,000 was like all the money in the world,” Coleman said. “I immediately started looking into finance, and aspects of it fit my brain better than meteorology. I liked that finance is more finite and there isn’t so much guessing.”

It meant staying in college an extra semester, but Coleman changed his major and graduated with a financial accounting degree, he said.

Coleman learned from that original mortgage manager the importance of building a network of people who will refer opportunities, and he began presenting at real estate industry events whenever he could – even if public speaking was difficult at first.

“I would get so many butterflies speaking in front of people at first. I think I kept Pepto-Bismol in business for a couple years,” he said. “Now it’s completely natural for me to speak in front of 50 or 100 people.”

Having worked in the mortgage industry for more than 16 years, Coleman now has a system focused on responding to clients as quickly as possible and ensuring all active loans stay on track, he said.

“It gives me a lot of pride when we help people with homeownership,” he said. “The American Dream is alive and well; I see it every day. A home is the biggest purchase people make and while it can be stressful, it gives me a lot of joy.”