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?
- They would learn that Realtors don’t get weekly paychecks, they only get paid when they sell a house.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- They would realize that there is a lot more that goes into determining what price to list a house at than the Read more