Should mortgage professionals be on call 24/7?
By its very nature, the job of a mortgage broker can be life-consuming. Like any job where you work for yourself, being a broker can feel like a job that you can never turn off. It’s a career full of late-night and weekend phone calls and emails.
But what if it didn’t have to be that way? One mortgage broker is challenging the grind lifestyle that many brokers see as normal.
Dave Krueger (pictured top), a mortgage broker at Montana Family Mortgage, said this grind can lead to rapid burnout, causing good brokers to leave the profession.
“One thing with this industry that I find very interesting is how it is a badge of honor for a lot of people to work 24/7, and I think it is just going to lead to burnout of a lot of good people,” Krueger told Mortgage Professional America. “You work as a vehicle to be able to do the rest of your life and the things you want to do.”
He notes that brokers work with lenders and underwriters with very fixed boundaries of when they’re on the job.
“We're not bankers,” Krueger said. “We work with bankers and underwriters who work essentially Monday through Friday, 8 to 5. So do you really, truly need to take that call at 11 p.m. on a Saturday or at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday when you're sitting down to dinner with your family? And the answer is no, almost never. Maybe one call a year.”
Taking care of yourself
Krueger set his boundaries from his first day at his brokerage. And people were quick to tell him that his boundaries weren’t going to work out for him.
“From day one, when I came into the industry, my voicemail said the same thing,” he said. The voicemail says, ‘This is Dave Krueger, Montana Family Mortgage. If this is Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., I'm on a different line or with a client, so please leave a message. If it is after those hours or on the weekend, that is my designated family time, and I will call you back during the next business day. If this is urgent in nature, please text me.’
“Day one, that was my message, and I had every realtor out there wanting to tell me how I'm going to fail in this industry. And I cannot tell you how many clients and realtors now make comments about how much they love that message.”
Because he set his framework from the very beginning, clients know when they can get a hold of him, and have adjusted their mindset to match his.
“I probably take maybe one after-hours call every two weeks now, because I've set the expectations,” Krueger said. “I've set the boundaries for people.”
He knows that the grind mindset is a way of life for so many brokers. And while he recognizes that some may never change their ways, he wants to make sure people know that it’s not the only way to conduct business. Some brokers simply won’t last, burning the candle at both ends.
“If you really want to be the desk jockey who is working 24/7, and that's your mindset, that is what you like, and that is what you thrive on, rock on,” he said. “But there's not a lot of us that can do that for an extended amount of time.”
Krueger has seen other good mortgage brokers run themselves into the ground. If they can find that work-life balance, the odds of burnout are significantly less.
“So, when it makes sense to take care of yourself and not get burned out—to protect yourself and your family, the things that are important, and to have a longer career and a job that you love, and are good at—it’s better than going hell-bent for two years, burning out, and then changing industry,” he said. “I think we're starting to see some of that burnout with people.”
Connecting with colleagues
Another thing that has helped Krueger during his time as a broker is the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME).
“I think one of the best things is it's kind of a gathering place for good people,” he said. “One of the best advantages of AIME is being able to connect with good people who are doing it for the right reason. And we're all facing similar challenges, no matter what state we're in. I think AIME has a great platform to be able to bring us all together.”
Mortgage broker Matt Gouge says high prices and rates are causing buyer hesitation, especially in California, but underlying demand remains strong.https://t.co/8rvCRZ2LYt
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) July 30, 2025
Not only does AIME bring brokers together, but it helps take the brokers’ fight to Washington to support legislation to improve the mortgage business.
“I think AIME is great with going to Capitol Hill and fighting for bills and fighting to stop trigger leads,” Krueger said. “Overall, as an organization, I think AIME is something that every single mortgage broker should be a part of, because of how much benefit they provide.”
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