Last month I had a business partner refer me a customer that was denied by a big bank for home financing. This client was not buying the biggest of homes but just wanted to have the dream of homeownership afforded to her. Like every client, her situation was unique. She had her doubts that I would not be able to help and to be honest, so did I; she was turned down by a big bank with lots of options.  What I forgot to realize is how much we forget that this business is about the individual and not necessarily about the company. As I met with this new customer, the puzzle started to come together. 

In my talks, interviews and initial application with the client, it dawned on me that I had a loan I felt confident in.  The client was sincere and just had the wrong person at another bank not work hard enough to make her loan come together.  I am sure the other bank collected the same paperwork I did.  I am sure they pulled her credit and reviewed the file, but I feel our attitudes of help were very different. 

I was confident and knew my perseverance was going to get this loan done for my customer.  In the end, I achieved the goal and made a difference to a special person who deserved to be in a home.  I did not try to find a reason to not approve her loan, but instead I searched all avenues to make the loan work.  Was it a challenge? Absolutely, but this business is exactly that right now. 

I love when you can make a difference in someone's life when others did not even want to try. 

Cherry Creek Mortgage Company presents:

Todd Duncan as he addresses High Trust Selling in a Low Trust World. 

When: Wednesday, October 28th from 8:30 am - 11:30 am (Continental Breakfast at 8:30)

Where: Mesa Hilton; 1011 W. Holmes Ave, Mesa, AZ 85201 (Alma School & US 60)

     In today's challenging market, successful realtors must understand 6 governing principles that will drive business in the new economy.  While mastery of business planning, prospecting, relationship development, presentation and client retention are still needed, there are new requirements to sustain success. 

Todd Duncan will:

• Teach you the 6 principles you must master for success.
• Show you how top producers redefine success and compete effectively.

The class is FREE, but seating is limited.  Call or email me to reserve your seat, 480.214.2818 or gmiljour@ccmclending.com

About Todd Duncan:

Todd has more than 2 decades as a speaker and sales trainer, he is a NY Times best-selling author and has successfully taught thousands of sales professionals to serve their clients with excellence. 

Join Cherry Creek Mortgage as we host Tom Ward of Majestic Consulting.  Tom has over 25 years of Real Estate Broker and Mortgage Co. Owner experience. Here's what you will learn:

1. How to get the first time home buyer off the sidelines.

2. Learn the 3 step process to get the consumer motivated.

3. How to address the top 2 issues confusing the first time home buyer.

4. Build a strategy together for success in today's challenging market.

And so much more!

Join us October 7th, 2009 from 9:00 am to 2:30 pm at the Hilton Phoenix Mesa/ East, 1022 W. Holmes Avenue, Mesa AZ 85210 in the Kachina AB Meeting Room.  Continental breakfast will be at 8:30 am and lunch is served at noon.

The seminar is FREE but space is limited.  Call or email me to reserve a seat! gmiljour@ccmclending.com or 480.214.2818

Normally, I would not be so negative about short sales, but I have experienced many problems in the last
30 days with short sales that we do not encounter with bank forclosures.

Situation #1.  Buyer,seller and lender all agree to short sale.  The file is opened up, appraisal and inspections are ordered, the loan file is processed, underwritten and approved.  Then the docs are being drawn and the file does not close. Why?

The bank who agreed to short sale decided to foreclose on the property and does not inform anyone including the sellers and buyer. For all parties involved, valuable time, money and energy was wasted. 

Short sales are not guaranteed!

Siuation #2.  The buyer, seller and lender on 1st and 2nd all agree to the short sale.  Lender #1 agrees to coe of 10/8/2009 and lender #2 agrees to coe of 10/8/2009.  The file is opened up, appraisal and inspections are ordered, loan file is processed and ready for underwriting.  Lender (myself) gets a call yesterday that lender #2 is going to now sell their 2nd to another lender on 10/1/2009.  If the loan does not close by 9/30/2009 then the new lender approval for lender#2 will need to come from the new owner.  The new lender usually takes 4 weeks to approve a short sale and now lender #1 will not extend coe further.  Now if I cannot get the loan done in 19 days, my buyer will lose this house and seller will be foreclosed upon.  Talk about a pressure cooker.

Moral of the (true) story:  Short sales are not guaranteed!

Both situations are real war stories from real people put in bad situations.  It is making me re-think a buyer's decision to buy a short sale.

What is your feedback?

Arizona Media insider Catherine Reagor at The Arizona Republic recently wrote an article claiming the mortgage industry has been deceiving the average consumer.  Blame has been placed on loan officers for being unlicensed, collecting higher fees and forcing consumers into the worst loan products possible.  So I guess until our industry is fully licensed next year, no one will be able to get a "fair mortgage."  The problem with this information is the mortgage professionals left in our industry today are the ones that played by the rules to begin with.  Now we have to face the music for the flaws of others who were looking at the mighty dollar and not what was best for their customers. 

When mortgage professionals are required to have a license, I see two types of mortgage originators surviving this market.  Type 1 is going to work for a big bank and you will have to call a 1-800 number to get your loan.  You will probably talk with 2-5 people throughout the process, but can feel confident that you will get the product you seek based on the company's reputation.  Type 2 is a category I feel that I fit well into; a loan officer with a reputation of providing exceptional mortgage advice on a local level.  This means being involved personally with the customer and mortgage transaction from the beginning to the very end.  I also see a huge gap level surfacing between the folks that know how to do a mortgage loan correctly, and someone who is going to make mistakes.

At the end of the day, consumers will still buy homes and homeowners will need a mortgage.  You will need a mortgage lender to provide this service.  A piece of paper saying I can pass a test does not make me a reputable loan officer; having a reputation that is backed up from prior clients and business partners does.

Business Referral Network would like to invite you to our next event.  This is a great way to connect with new clients and expand your business.  Business Referral Network is dedicated to small businesses wanting to grow using referral marketing.

The networking groups primary goal is to explore deeper business relationships while simultaneously building our businesses through the passing of referrals.

Guests are welcome to attend Business Referral Network meetings to determine if they would be interested in joining the network. 

We invite you! 

When: Wednesday, September 30th at 5:30 p.m.

Where: Monti's La Casa Vieja,  100 South Mill Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85281

For more information:  http://businessreferralnetwork.org/

Attention Real Estate Professionals:  I have something important to share with you that is happening in the real estate world; and you need to know!

Your hard earned money is getting thrown out the door.  Commissions are getting lost, your valuable time is being wasted and complaining isn't fixing the problem. 

The good news?  You have control of your business! It's time to take the lead and get rid of the garbage.  You run your business!

There I said it.  Again:  You run your business!  Oh that felt good.

I am sure by now, you want to choke me and just get to my point.  Point taken.

You need to take control of your business and that starts by not letting others, including clients, make decisions for your industry that will affect YOUR money, time and livelihood.  It's your business and the buck stops with you.  Our services can no longer be traded like a commodities market.  We have knowledge, information and a vast head of education that separates us as individuals.

I am tired of hearing about how a deal went south because a buyer used their uncle Billy Bob to do the loan and he is an idiot.  You now find out 2 days before closing that uncle Bob can't get the loan done and you are not going to earn a comission.  This shouldn't be happening!

Be proactive, this can be prevented!  Demand that your lenders provide the best service possible and if you know they can't, it is time to find someone else.  Lenders are not all made the same; it's the ones like Billy Bob that give us all a bad name.  Do your research, ask your friends and ask potential lenders those tough questions that are vital to the success of YOUR business.

I'll be honest; the entire process of purchasing a home is not fun.  Having your teeth pulled by a dentist may be more comfortable than getting a mortgage approval these days.  When I am asked about my system, I make it clear the more that is accomplished early on will make for a smoother closing.  The system from the beginning to the end is time intensive.   I will walk through some of these steps:

 1.  You hire a "team," meaning the right players that will help make the outcome a positive.  First, you hire a lender and see how much you can get approved for.  Then you hire a real estate agent to help you find a dream home.  This is just the beginning. By the time the process is done you have hired many others including an appraiser, home inspector, termite guy and title company. 

 2.  Get a plan (with your lender and agent). In my experience, I have found that having a plan upfront will make the last days of closing run smoother.  Preparing early helps reduce stress levels on all parties involved with the transaction.

 3.  Get a pre-approved loan.  This process can range from a couple hours to days and weeks depending on your specific challenges.  If a real estate agent tells you he can have a pre-approval by a lender in minutes, that is not the case in this market.  A pre-approval in my book is determined when;

• I have a complete and fully reviewed mortgage application on file.
• An automated approval process has been run and has come back approved.
• I have received all supporting documentation to meet loan guidelines. 

 Once I have all of this done, your loan is fully pre-approved and I can issue a pre-approval letter or loan status report.  I can then inform your real estate agent that he or she can take you out looking at homes in your pre-approved price range. 

 4.  Start house hunting.  This process could take hours, days, weeks or months depending on your specific needs, wants and requirements.  Once the real estate agent has an ACCEPTED CONTRACT is when the clock starts ticking.

 5.  Signed contract.  This means that the accepted contract is signed by all parties involved in the transaction.  All parties include the buyer, seller and agents.  If you have a verbal acceptance but it will take three additional weeks to receive from the bank, this doesn't count!  Your final approved loan starts with a FULLY ACCEPTED CONTRACT.

 6.  Process, underwrite and close your loan.  Right now my turn times for these steps is in 30 days or less on FHA, VA or conventional financing.  Sometimes we can speed up that process, but be prepared for it to take that long.

 Knowing and understanding the process of a mortgage approval can prepare you for your own experience.  It doesn't have to be as painful as a visit to the dentist, all it takes is a little (or a lot) of patience.  Good luck!

Imagine yourself in your dream home; you've got everything you wanted including the white picket fence. Now take a step back...how did you get there? I will tell you one way of never getting into your dream home; bad credit. Period. The end. If you have poor credit, you'll never be able to carry out your dream of homeownership. Some of you may be thinking that you have bad credit and you'll never own a home. Wrong. There are steps you can take to make homeownership a reality.

So you've been behind on payments, creditors are reporting wrong, I've heard them all. Whatever it may be, you think the dream of homeownership has passed you by. What you may not know is several companies exist to help repair your credit. Some have charges up front and some charge a monthly fee, it just depends on the company. You may think you cannot afford credit repair, but I say you can't afford NOT to use a credit repair company.

It's simple. If you don't have good credit, you can't get your own home. Why not take advantage of these companies and their expertise? If you don't know where to start, feel free to contact me with any questions or recommendations to get you closer to your dream home.

The days of choosing a mortgage professional based on a personality test and box of donuts in your real estate office is changing. Today with the tightening mortgage guidelines, having a mortgage professional who can review credit, employment, debt to income ratios, calculate assets, document the file and make sure that 2+2= 4 is the smart move for a business partner.

We just got word that in 2nd quarter of 2009, the big mortgage investors are still taking pretty significant losses on performance of their mortgage securities. These are not just the old loans that were originated 2 to 3 years ago with guidelines allowing anyone who could fog a mirror get a home loan, but these are the more recent loans requiring verification of credit and employment for approvals through underwriting. Based on the fact that mortgage backed securities are still not fully performing, investors will start to require stricter guidelines.

We are not too far along of seeing minimum requirements of 660 to 680 credit scores on conventional loans and 640-660 minimum credit scores for FHA and VA loans from the investor overlays.

With the lending environment getting tighter versus looser, it means more mortgage professionals will need to adhere to new guidelines. It will require a mortgage professional who has years of experience and a person dedicated to educating themselves of the new changes.

In recent months, I have heard a new set of complaints from our real estate community of loans denied the day or week of closing. When I speak to someone and hear this my head spins. Further into the conversation, I uncover that the mortgage lender did not master their craft. Some of these folks will not be able to adapt to the new mortgage market. In this particular situation, if the mortgage lender reviewed the file properly from the beginning, he would have discovered in 10 minutes that the borrower should never have received a pre-approval. Instead, the lender was going off old information and wasted not only his time but the clients and all persons involved. This is just another instance that makes our industry look bad.

I am hoping with the new mortgage licensing requirements coming down the peak that some of these lenders will get out of the market. Sub standard pre-approvals do not work today.

I am asking the Real Estate Community to be aware of our always changing market. Now is the time to make the right change in your mortgage business partners for a successful business. The "hand out 3" mortgage lender card rule given to clients in this credit tightening market, is setting your business up for disaster. Seek out a highly knowledgeable mortgage professional and interview them. Make sure they truly know the ins and outs of mortgage lending business. In the long run, this will make your business more profitable and your clients happy with the results.

Gary prides himself on being a professional through every step of the transaction.  He has made a choice of not trying to be a fit for all individuals, but instead choosing to work with those that he is best suited to help.  Having focused knowledge of his client's specific loan programs and products allows Gary to create better and stronger relationships with his customers. 

Gary Miljour has over 15 years of experience in the Real Estate and Mortgage Services Industry.