Wordless Wednesday ~ Daredevil Mac on Lake Norman

100 Monument Ct, Mooresville, NC 28115

Super Funny Pics on Monday - Doggy Styles

Tennis Compass Draw Tournament in Lake Norman

Heritage Green - Cornelius (Lake Norman area) - Homes under 200K

Why is it taking my loan so freaking long to close?

Before I attempt to answer that question, interested readers should know something.  I am a loan officer by trade.  That's what they call us.  I don't particularly like that title, but what's in a name?

I don't get paid an hourly wage or a salary.  If I don't close loans, I don't make a dime.  If I don't make a dime, that means I can't eat, drink, or even sleep if I can't afford to make my mortgage payments.  That's not a sales pitch, that's a reality.  It's in my best interests to close every loan that comes under my wing.  While there are ethics involved to ensure you are doing your client right, if I can offer and do a loan for you that puts you in a better financial situation, I want to close your loan as fast as possible.  It's not only in your best interest, but mine as well.

So why is it taking so freaking long?  Good question.  Here's a few observations on my behalf:

• More volume with less 'able and willing' people to deal with it.  Let's be honest here (I love that line:), the mortgage industry isn't exactly the most attractive line of work to get into now.  To boot, a whole lot have left it.  I'm still here because I'm stubborn and good at what I do.  Plus, I believe you have to go through hell to get to heaven.  Call me selfish, but I think my time here will work out very well in the end.  Even if it doesn't, Economics 101 has us dishing out the phrase, "Too much demand and little in the way of Supply." 
• Front-end incompetence.  If you are searching for a pre-approval from a lender, get the appropriate documents in order before you ever even fill out an application.  If they don't ask you for such documents, they may have more ties than me.  Either that, or the final result won't be what they promised.  Do yourself a favor, get your W-2's, pay-stubs, bank statements, etc, in order.  If your loan officer doesn't ask for it immediately, ask them why they don't need them.  That will put a spark up their ass.
• Changes.  This is a tough one.  It's hard to tell someone who is a completely competent borrower, why the area they are in or the house they chose isn't on the "I love to lend in" realm.  The only real advice I have on this one is if you are dealing with someone you trust, they will get you through the current bullshit that is going on.
• They just don't like you.  Well, we live in a society where that is not acceptable.  Folks actually look at your loan, but you aren't nearly as personal to them as you would like.  I work for a relatively small company and see that.  I can only imagine what working for a large one would entail.  Work with an individual that you trust, that you can reach out to and at least communicate with.  There is a common thing with that, you both share the same self-interests.  He/She gets paid only if your loan closes.  You only get what you desired after paying for an appraisal, maybe an inspection or two, and actually being able to be comfortable within the confines of a few walls that aren't labeled as "Prison".
• The Government.  Now, I really don't want to wax political or get involved in any sort of debate about policy, parties, or general ideology.  But I already have since mentioning this.  We don't need the Government in this Private Sector.  We didn't need them back then; we don't need them now.  Those of us (I include myself because frankly, this is my business) who know the Real Estate Industry also know how it is to be corrected.  Let's demonstrate how we will make sure such an extreme reaction to market won't happen again.  It's a cycle, learn to ride.

We'll reach those Golden Years, but it takes work and patience.  Why is it taking so long for your loan to close?  Because this ain't a pay-day loan, this is a roof over your head.  Maybe this is the opposite extreme of giving everyone with a pulse a mortgage, yet you know what they I say about extremes... "They are to be avoided."

 

 

 

Wild Jet Ski Jump - Wordless Wednesday

Mooresville Starter Home - 103 Peterborough Drive - Lake Norman area

Are REALTOR.COM Enhancements Worth the Money?

• Are REALTOR.com enhancements worth the money?

Hell Heck no.  At least that is my observation.

I drove 2 hours one way to go to a seminar put on by REALTOR.com.  It was being billed as valuable information to show the agent how to:

 

Leverage the changes in your local market

Target expired listings with a proved marketing plan

Make your current listings be seen first and more often

Make your local expertise more relevant to sellers

Leverage multiple photos and new video listing tours to generate more showings

I had received several emails over the course of 3 weeks each building up the seminar.  One of the first emails had, "Important seminar on Social Networking," in the subject line. 
 
Consider:

• Active Rain was not mentioned once the entire 4 hours
• Twitter was mentioned in passing
• We were given 10 minutes of instruction on Facebook
• The rest of the seminar was nothing more than the speaker selling REALTOR.com enhancement systems

I have one of REALTOR.coms enhancement systems, which gives me more photos, increased description space, my photo on the listing, a virtual tour link and a few more items, which are designed to sell my listings.  Do I find these enhancements worth the money?  Absolutely not.  I can not attribute one sale to these enhancements.  I rarely get a lead from realtor.com, less than one a month, and only one click through a week to my website.  For this lack of ROI (return on my investment) I pay more for these "enhancements" than for any other form of marketing (other than my website, which more than pays for itself).

Am I being too hard on REALTOR.com?  Nope. Actually, I'm not being hard enough.  I talked with an agent who pays $3000 a year for REALTOR.com enhancements.  She strongly felt that they were not increasing her business, but that enhancing listings on REALTOR.com is one of the necessary evils of being an agent. Everyone is doing it, so you need to also to "be in the game." 

Did I mention REALTOR.com is owned by the N.A.R., the trade association every REALTOR belongs to (pays dues to). One of the major perks of belonging to the N.A.R. is our listings are on REALTOR.com (well, actually all MLS listings are on REALTOR.com). Our listings do not have our name, any extra photos above what is in the MLS listing, or any other information that will lead the consumer to the agent, UNLESS WE PAY TO ENHANCE (what a great trade association, that has no qualms about taking it's members money to do what it should be doing because we PAY DUES).  Well, we at least have the great N.A.R. T.V. commercials letting everyone in the U.S. know that the housing market is really much rosier than Americans think (puhh-leaze).

Consider:

• Year to date, I have sold more listings in number and volume than any other agent in my market
• I can not attribute any of these sales to REALTOR.com and believe me, I track this stuff
• 8/10 of a % or 1 out of 116 hits on my website is from REALTOR.com
• 43% of the hits to my website are from my participation on Active Rain
• I CAN DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTE 2 OF MY LARGEST CLOSINGS THIS YEAR TO MY ACTIVITIES ON ACTIVE RAIN.
• Joe Sesso, the speaker at the "Social Networking" seminar did not once mention the largest real estate social networking site on the internet (Active Rain).  Why? Could it be because it is free and not linked financially (as far as I know) to REALTOR.com?

Do I seem cynical? Yes I do.  About one quarter of the people in that seminar got up and ran to purchase enhancements being sold at exorbitant rates. Only a handful of agents in the room had their own website (Joe asked for a show of hands). If the agents purchasing REALTOR.com products put the money they spent that day into a website and blogging, they would realize a much better return on their investment. We all know the staggering statistics on how many consumers visit realtor.com each month (as told by realtor.com), yaddah, yaddah.  I've talked with enough agents (and have my own experience) to know that those stats do not a sale make. 

I was extremely disappointed that I drove 4 hours round trip for a bait and switch seminar that was billed as social networking and was nothing more than REALTOR.com selling their wares (that do not in my opinion, work). 

I would love to hear from anyone out there that feels their ROI on realtor.com is worth it.  Please mention which enhancements you pay for, if you can attribute sales to these enhancements and, if you don't mind, how much you pay annually for these enhancements.

My success so far this year is linked to my free activities on Active Rain, Twitter, Trulia, Zillow, Google Base, my website and my blog, my blog, my blog, along with giving really outstanding customer service and working full-time. 

Joe Sesso mentioned, "If you aren't blogging, you should." That was the extent of talking about blogging at a social networking seminar.  You tell me?  Was that seminar a waste of time or what?

        

Brought to you by Fran Gatti at  No one works harder for you!  Bus: 707-464-5400, Cell: 707-218-8162 Email: fgatti@charter.net Website: FranGattiHomes.com My Blog: Fran's Blog

The best way to see Lake Norman Real Estate - By Jet Ski