Well, as time goes on it is becoming more obvious that the mortgage industry is becoming more online and one place based!  The mortgage industry are beginning to offer all service at a one stop pop!  Which is great!  I love it, it helps the clients to be able to go to one place and be able to complete a entire transaction and save time and money!  After all, this is what it is all about. The clients!  They are getting ready to offer a one stop shopping for their real estate industry clientele!  Offering property assessments, flood, title, closing products, ect.....online!  

                       I am excited on how this will increase the client services!  Now you must remember that I am a loan officer so this will effect my business!  Well that is unless I find a different niche!  I have heard over and over that referrals are everything!  If you are getting referrals then you have no competition!  On top of making sure I ask for referrals, I need to find a new way to market myself and stand out to the mortgage clientele!  I know it is a easy way of getting to be able to do all of their shopping online, after all it saves time!  Everyone knows that time is money!  Now why would they spend their time, which in return is their money to come and see me?  Well, it is because I am a professional!  I am the professional in this industry not a computer!

                       Yeah it may show them all the options and everything they need to do step by step to get approved and get processed!  But it will not explain in terms that they will understand in order to make a rational judgement that will save them money in the long run!    It also will not give them the re-assurance of making the right choice and that they are in the right loan for them!  Which with out that re-assurance they will feel regret, fear, stress, and worry whether they made the right choice!  All of these things are just as important as the loan itself!  So personalizing  will be my niche! 

                      I can't stress enough how important it is to have that human contact!  I don't even like to do loans over the phone or by fax!  I want to meet my clients! Shake their hand, and look into their eyes!  Reassure them that they have made the right decision!  It is really important to me that my clients are at ease, comfortable and above all, trust me!  Those kind of bonds can only be built by contactual human interaction!  I do have  a lot of clients that prefer to work over the phone and through fax to save them time or to work around their schedule!  Which is fine, that is what I am here for!  To provide a service that is useful, convenient  and helpful, however I really would prefer to meet them at least once in the process!

                            You will find this information very helpful whether you are a home owner or thinking about buying one!  Researchers at Freddie Mac have put together a list for us of life expectancies of various home systems and major appliances and published it on The Old House Web at http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/detailed/267.shtml     This will help to give you time to save towards replacements or repairs that can be costly!  On the list they have provided, heating and air-conditioning, downspouts and gutters, plumbing, appliances, roofs, ect......

                            I am always glad to help out and provide  you with information!  If you have any further questions or need help in finding out a answer please feel free to email me or give me a call at (949)910-2956!   I also hope you have a chance to visit my profile!  I am always looking to create a business relationship with realtors and agents!  To help them help me to help them!  IF that is not a mouth twister!  

                           Since I am totally immersed in my profession, I can often find you information that you may not normally be able to find otherwise!  I study the market daily.  I know what makes a home sell quickly and I know what clients want in a loan!  I know how to close loans quickly and get things done!  It is a matter of knowledge!  Knowledge that I am willing to share with you all! 

                                  I recently had a credit report done and found all kinds of transactions that do not belong to me!  They are now in dispute with the credit agencies!  I just want to make sure that each of you check your credit periodically!  In this day and age of identity theft, on top of human error it is important to check frequently!  I had no idea those things were on mine and as time passed they were rapidly eating away at my score!  The worst thing is that they are not my transactions!  Never thought I would be one suffering from identity theft, but some one is finding it rather simple to use my credit as well as destroy it! 

                                 Glad I caught it though!  Now they will be able to track and cease their activity and save my credit!  And I am sure you all know that in these days, credit is everything!  You can be a millionaire but with bad credit you have no more power over financing then anyone else!  Do your self a favor and have it checked out!   You can get free reports from    www.annualcreditreport.com!  This will give you one free report from all three agencies!  So you will have three total!  I suggest using one at a time over a period of 12 months!  One from each company!  Or you can go to www.experian.com,  www.equafax.com, and www.transunion.com, but at these sites you will have to pay a small fee, but here you have the option to click which items you want to dispute! 

                                They will send off a letter to each place to verify the account!  If they do not get a response back from the account holder in 30 days it is automatically removed!  If the account information is incorrect, it will be removed!  There are actually a lot of things that can get negative marks removed!  Go to Fair Credit Report Act @ www.ftc.govos/statutes/fcra.htm!  Here you will find all the information you need to fix up your credit!

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                            I was reading a article recently that caught my attention pretty quickly!  After all, I cant pass up an opportunity to learn more about how to increase my business right?  Ok , so the article talked about different advertising techniques!  There is PUSH and there is PULL!  I was really confused by the terms but I will explain it all in a minute!  First I want to tell a story to help better understand the meanings of these terms using examples! 

                            The article went on about taking a trip to another state or country!  You are ready to hit the streets and try and find a really great place to eat!  You have no idea where or what is good, so you have to base it on their advertising approach!   You narrow it down to two places that just happen to look really nice! 

                           So there is marketing technique number one!  Appearance!  Ok, so the appearance of the two restaurants grabbed your attention in making them the two to choose from!  Now which one will be your final choice!  The one on the left side of the street has open doors, chicken and duck turning in the window, their menu posted out side has low prices!  As you are looking at the menu, a women comes up to you from the other restaurant, from across the street!  She hands you a coupon for a free appetizer, and states that it is the restaurants 25th anniversary! 

                          Well if they have been open for that long they must be really good!  RIGHT?      Then she literally guides you across the street to her restaurant!  You look at the menu and notice, the prices are double what they are across the street!  You then decide to go across the street because her pushing technique was to intimidating for you!  And they had cheaper prices.   Well, you end up getting food poison any ways, but the main thing I want you to look at is the difference in there marketing technique!  The one on the left used the pull technique!  They opened the doors, and had low prices and just waited for customers to come along and come in!  The other restaurant used the pull technique and literally pulled you over, by directly marketing to you, as well as offering you something! Then  showing you how long they have been in business!   

                         If the woman did not literally guide us across the street and was not as pushy we would have eaten at her restaurant despite the double in price!  We would have known it was good for the amount of time they have been open, and we would have gotten something for free!   Now relate this story to your business! Which style do you use?  Do you simply advertise and wait for people to come in, or do you have a way to push them to you?  I suggest using both! 

                         If a prospect can not tell the difference between you and the competition then you need to make your self stand out(PUSH). When they come to you , they need to feel that you are knowledgeable(pull).   You should have people referring you to others(push). You should offer everything they need(pull).  You should take care of all their needs(pull).  If you are having trouble generating prospects, you need to do a whole lot more pushing!  If you have the prospects but having trouble with the closing, then you need to work on your pulling!  

                         You can use these two styles together to get people to you and to convince them that you are the one they need to work with!   Just food for thought!  I want to thank you all again for joining me in my daily news blog!  I hope you find it entertaining, educational, and most of all useful

                              We all do it!  Write up a  this really great sales letter to send out to our leads or cold mailing!  And we all have the same question.  How do I improve the response to my direct mail?  There are so many ways to improve response and most of them you already know!  Improve the copy, improve the call to action, offer something with no risk, personalize the message, improve the mailing list, and sequenced mailing!   What the heck is sequenced mailing your asking?  Well, that is where you will send the same letter, or mail piece to the same person a number of times!  

                              In other words you will mail the same letter that they did not respond to the first time!  You will do this sometimes more than once maybe 2 more times!  You see the purpose of this method is, because the first time you sent the letter, they might not have ever seen it!  They could have had a bad day, they could have thought they did not need your services, the wife could have thrown it away, ect....  There are a number of reasons on why it could have been passed! 

                               But guess what?  Things change in peoples lives very quickly!  Say for instance, if you sent out a letter to cash out on equity on their house!  The first time you got no response!  Then a few days later, their father is in the hospital and they need money! Now they are in  need of your service but will not think of you, do to the pass of the first letter!  Well now a couple days later your second letter arrives, and BAM, you get a call! 

                              Now this process works best with people who have already asked you for information!  These would be leads!  Then there are the cold mailings!  It will work on cold mailing as well, now how many times you want to resend your letter to cold mailings is up to you, experiment!

                                How do home buyers choose their Mortgage Lender?  Interesting question.  And the answer will surprise you!  But before I give you the answer, what do you think the main reason people choose a mortgage lender?  Come on, think a little!  My top three reasons are lowest rate/fees, referred, and advertising!  What are your top three? 

                                In April 2003, The national Association of Realtors mailed out an eight-page questionnaire to 35,000 recent home buyers.  The survey resulted in 2,703 usable responses with an adjusted response rate of 7.7 percent.  Customers names and addresses were obtained from Experian, a firm that maintains and extensive database of recent home buyers derived from county records.  If you want to get a copy of the results you may purchase them at www.nar.com      

                                Now here are the results:   75% of all buyers bought their house through a realtor.  14% bought directly from a builder.  76% of all buyers, used only one agent to help them search for a home.  Buyers are showing a lot of loyalty to agents.   69% of buyers received a recommendation from their agent about where to get their mortgage.  the majority of first time buyers asked the agent for help in finding a lender.   36% of buyers, said the most important reason they choose a lender, was the agent's recommendation.  And to keep in mind that most realtors are not trained properly in how to send business to the lender.   And 41% of them got their information about mortgage lenders from their agent.   14% of buyers chose their lender on price,  16% of buyers chose their lender on reputation,  14% of buyers used the lender they had before, and 13% used the lender they were recommended to by a friend or relative.  

                                As you can see above that 49% of home buyers chose their lender through referral either by realtor, agent, friends, or family.  Only 14% of those were based on price, and you know that most of the referred ones were not the cheapest!  One last stat you need to know is that 48% of home buyers got a quote from only ONE mortgage company when getting their loan and 28% got a quote through two companies!  Since 49% of buyers were referrals and 48% didn't shop the loan at all, it is not an off the wall guess to say that people who are referred  do not even bother to shop the rate they are quoted.  They have such confidence in the lender, because someone ( a third party) told them that the lender was good.  Based on that information they put total faith in that lender! 

                               If you want to be in that situation were people are being referred to you and you can charge what ever you want as long as it is reasonable and competitive, then you need to work on your referral system!  If you are not getting referrals then you are not getting loan from half of all borrowers.  On the other hand if you are getting referrals then you essentially have no competition!  You should also think about partnering up with realtors since they are the other half of referrals!  It is not as hard as you think, and to make a business relationship with them to help them grow will help you grow, and the both of you will be on your way!  

                               I would like to thank you again for joining me in another one of my blogs!  I update adn blog daily, so be sure to come back and get a little more info that will help you grow as a professional in this great career!

                        I found that the fastest way to generate leads when starting out is the close circle method!  If you take a list of everyone you know!  I mean everyone, pretend it is a list for your wedding if need be!  Think hard and deep, you know more people then you think you do!  Now make this list and gather their contact info!  You can use phone books, directories, google, ect....  There is a way to find everyone! 

                        Ok, now that you have the information, go ahead and make sure to send them all a letter, either by mail, email, txt, fax, or even call!  Tell everyone on your list that you are now doing loans!  Ask them is they know any one who is looking to get a loan, either for buying or refinancing or looking to do some home repairs!  You may get some leads now just from these calls! If not you will at least get more names and contact info for your database!  Extended family friends, ect.....   Now, you will want to follow up with all the names on your data base a minimum of once a month! 

                         The purpose for that is, to stay on their mind!  I have had experience where family members or friends got a loan from some one else mainly because I was not fresh on their mind as some one who does loans, so they went and found some one!  Stay on their mind!  That way if they are looking or come accross some one who is they will refer you!  When you follow up with them ask them if they know any one new that you can add to your database!  Also, remember with every loan you do to make sure and get a testimonial and referrals!  Testimonials are important in showing you are a professional and you can be trusted!  People trust others people opinions over your own!

                          Well all like to offer our clients 100's of different loans, which is great!  How ever the more you offer them and the more overwhelmed they become the more likely they will do nothing!  You are the professional, so be that and guide them!  Listen to what they want and utilize it to give it to them!  Take the information that you got from them and you find the best loans for them!  That way you can then offer them three loans to choose from but they still utilized your 100 loan options!  It will also help you grow stronger as a loan officer. 

                         You see, when you offer to many options the decision become to hard and then their develops buyers remorse!  They do not want to make a mistake and regret it later on!  So they do not do anything at all!  It is not just with loans, it goes down to even smaller decisions and compared you can see what I mean!  In the grocery store there has been studies showing that when there are dozens of jams to choose from only 3% of consumers buy jam!  When there is 6 to choose from 30% buy!  Same with toothpaste, shampoos, ect...... The same studies have even been shown on 401k plans! 

                       The one with the most options had very few people sign up, where as the one with just a couple options had the highest sign up!  Now if people get overwhelmed with to many jams to choose from, imagine a much higher investment!  Take that fear away, and I guarantee you will close more loans!  Be the professional you are meant to be and do the research, find what loan meets all your clients needs, and take those and then offer it to them. 

                       Describe to them the pros and cons of each loan you offer and they will be able to choose much easier.  THen you will also appear to your client as what you are!  A trusted professional advisor offering multiple options as well as offering crucial expertise and advice!  This will reduce buyers remorse because now they are informed of the pros and cons!  One loan is not enough and more then three lead to confusion and stalling!  Stick with the 3 option technique and you will close more prospects!

Join an association.  People join associations for three reasons: 1-social, they want to build or maintain friendships and influence that may have taken years to build. 2-Promotional, they want  to offer their own products or services to others in a cost effective and positive way. 3-Educational, they want to see what their competition is up to, and find out about the latest developments within their industry.   Grown your network and your database by joining groups of already established people.  By socializing with people who have something in common with, it makes it easier to generate business.  People like to do business with people they trust.  Most people like others who have the same interest as they do!  Another great Idea is to join a Local Real Estate Investment Group.  Every major city has one.  And they are full of people buying and selling houses.  They need money to buy houses, and they need money to to help others buy their houses.  On eof the easiest would be to host a Realtors Open House!  Stop by at a realtor open house on the weekends.  Offer to leave some financing materials.  When you get to know a realtor, you can offer to do open houses for them, where you sit in the house instead of them.  It is not a fun way to spend an afternoon, butyou might get some great leads out of it!  Another tip is to meet the neighbors of the home you are holding open.  See if they know anyone wanting to move or buy.  Chances are soemone will know of a family wanting to move into the neighborhood!