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Tag: lenders (page 1 of 1)

August 4, 2009

Should Realtors “Interview” Lenders?

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

I got what I thought was a very interesting and thoughtful e-mail last week from Jessica Horton, a Realtor down in Georgia, who I’ve gotten to know.   She and I have chatted a bit both online and over the phone about the markets, the dynamics of today’s lending rules and the ins and outs of structuring deals.   Oh, and we are both authors on the Bloodhound Blog.

I’ve taken Jessica’s e-mail and my response and turned them into a post.    I’ve eliminated a few minor conversational tidbits but I’ve left the majority of our e-mail conversation intact.

Why am I reposting this?

For three main reasons:

  1. I’ve been in the mortgage business for 21 years now and I have never seen as challenging of an environment as we have now.   Yeah, we’ve had ups and downs and economic slow times, but a combination of falling property values, rising unemployment and tightening underwriting guidelines have made this the most challenging market I’ve ever been in.
  2. The days of assuming that any lender can get a loan done and that anyone can get a mortgage are over and they aren’t coming back any time soon.
  3. I found it very refreshing that a Realtor is taking a good hard look at who they want to recommend to their clients and not looking at it only from the standpoint of “who’s going to buy me lunch.”

I found it very refreshing that Jessica was talking to a number (I don’t know how many) lenders and was attempting to understand better how they work and what their processes and procedures are for making sure that things go smoothly.    With the HVCC and the new MDIA and the pending changes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the rate a lender offers will always be important, but their ability to get things done is more important than it has ever been.

Take a few minutes and read through the exchange.   Jessica’s questions are in “normal” print and my answers are in bold and italics.

Tom

Jessica,

See below.   Thanks for giving me this opportunity.

Tom Vanderwell

From: Jessica Wynn Horton [mailto:jessicahorton30292@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 1:58 PM
To: Tom Vanderwell at Straight Read more

February 26, 2009

The Twitter Experiment: SWRake Seeks Companion for Possible LTR

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

Alright.  I talked about posting my results on this post.

Today’s pay pal of $575.00 allowed me to cross the finish line, early.   I have blogs to build, SEO to SEO, copy to write, PHP to PHP and more work than I can possibly do.  And way more than that, to channel Yogi.   Lawyers, a local News Station…Realtors®…and others have contracted with me to do everything from setting up social networking profiles (boring), to trying to aggregate information on their competitors (fun).  I have a pile of work to do.  From Twitter.  It’s an efficient clearing house when you’re ready to pick up the phone and be a catalyst and when you see phrases and words you dig at http://search.twitter.com.

I’m not highly skilled as a cold caller compared to many.   But I make the calls.  That’s most of it.  And, I had one shitty response.  Only one.  But I pick up the phone, I say I’m enjoying your tweets.  And, I now have money to pay 2008’s extortion taxes.   I’ll probably have $14,000 after I pay my subs out. There’s money in twitter.  Just lying around.   If  I’m a mortgage lender, EVERY Realtor® would get a phone call in EVERY state I could lend in.  Why?  Because being ON twitter is instant credibility & rapport.

I didn’t spend hours doing this, really.   I spent probably about 70-75 minutes a day initially calling, and then I did follow up, scheduled through ACT 6.0 now that I have my PC working on my MAC.   (Act 6.0 was the pinnacle of single user CRMs) .  I also asked the Twitterers for referrals that WEREN’T on Twitter.  That was $8,000 of my $25,150.    I have probably another $4,000-8,000 in business I could extract if I’d follow up with zeal and vigor.

And there’s the rub.   See, I need someone to manage and do the work.  I’ve sold it, gotten project requirements, I’ve found people with real needs to be helped.   And I’m looking for someone to help grind out the work so I can honor my clients, and keep the pace up.  I want someone that Read more

August 13, 2008

A Proposal to Improve Mortgage Lending….

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

Since there are a variety of licensing, regulation, education, criminal background check proposals bouncing around in an effort to clean up the mortgage world, I thought I’d throw out my own proposal on how to improve mortgage lending.

I’m proposing that as part of the training for becoming a mortgage lender, all originators be required to spend a minimum of 6 weeks working with a Realtor full time.  They would be required to essentially job shadow the Realtor in every aspect of the business.   What would they learn during their time?

  1. They would learn that Realtors don’t get weekly paychecks, they only get paid when they sell a house.
  2. They would learn that Realtors have many people putting pressure on them to “get the house closed.”   The seller wants to close so they don’t have to make another payment on it.  The buyer wants to close so that they don’t have to move twice.   The Realtor’s wife wants them to close so she has the money to buy groceries.   The Realtor’s daughter wants them to close so that Dad can buy her the stuff that she needs to “look good” going back to school.    The Realtor’s bank wants them to close so that he can make the payments that need to be made on the _______ (fill in the blank – car loan, lease, house payment, home equity payment).
  3. They would learn that there is a lot more to marketing a house that is for sale than a sign in the yard and a listing in the MLS.
  4. They would learn the intricacies of negotiating a purchase agreement and have a much better handle on the dynamics of the relationship between buyer and seller and the ways that a lender can avoid disturbing those relationships.
  5. They would realize that many Realtors care deeply that their buyers and sellers make wise decisions when they are buying or selling and aren’t just focusing on “how much can I make.”  Unfortunately, not all of them are focused that way.
  6. They would realize that there is a lot more that goes into determining what price to list a house at than the Read more
April 11, 2008

A Sign of the Times

by

Real Estate Renaissance Man

Author website

Dear Sis,

Thought I would catch you up while you are away at college.

You know how I LOVE FAMILY GATHERINGS, especially the BloodhoundBlog family.  Well it has been an interesting couple of days lately.  That crazy cousin Barry showed up; remember him?  He’s the one that tries to agitate everyone over the dinner table.   This got Uncle Russell going.  You know sis, he has become so successful that we all look to him for approval.  Anyway, he doesn’t talk much but when he does he brings the thunder and – you can probably see it coming – he thundered all over cousin Barry.  Finally, Dad had to give everyone a time out.  We never even got to have dessert.

In the past I have found there is no better way to bring the family back together than by uniting them in a common enemy.  So I suggested we direct our vitriol where it belongs… AT THESE TWO GUYS! 

Think of the efficiency:  Everyone you love to hate – under one roof!

Lenders and Dentists

That’s it from the home front.  I enjoyed the text book you sent me:  The Rise and Fall of Real Estate: A Case Study in the Application of Discriminate Disintermediation.  The funniest text book I have ever read.  Keep up the studies.

See you in the funny papers,

Your loving older brother.

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