Abe- think you hit your own nail right on the head. One of the perks of having your job is making friends with Realtors and getting business handed to you-- if you have to sift out some bad customers to get to the good ones; so be it. People who contact us think they CAN buy a house- it's implied by speaking with a Realtor about buying a house....you are our fall-back- you're the one who lets us know if they REALLY can or cannot. Can you imagine the response if instead of asking, "Have you been in contact with a lender for a pre-approval?" we asked, "Do you REALLY think YOU can buy a house?"
Abe - Jim Ludes is right. When buyers come to us they do THINK they are in a position to buy a house. We are depending on you to confirm that. Jim Little is right about getting the pre-approval. We know it doesn't guarantee anything, but at least it weeds out the ones like you were talking about, who could definitely not get a loan.
We spend a of time and effort (not to mention gas) when finding the perfect home for a buyer. Without help from our mortgage friends we might be totally wasting our time. We really appreciate what you do.
As Elizabeth eluded and I mistakenly forgot: We DO APPRECIATE all that our preferred lenders do for us...
Abe:
I've had the same thing happen to me. The buyer had no credit score and no rental history - living with mom & dad.
I think the solution is more eduction to the real estate agents however, with so many real estate companies aligning themselves with in house mortgage lenders it's becoming virtually impossible to receive invitations from brokers to speak to their agents. And when they do agree it's not unusual for them to want something from you. I had one broker that wanted to charge me $500.00 monthly for the privilege! One can only imagine the limited information his agents receive from the lending community under such circumstances.
As it always has, restraint of trade & monopolies never help the consumer (or individual real estate agents) for that matter. Just look what happened to the price of a gallon of gas after Amoco merged with BP & Exxon with Mobile. The state of IL is spending lots of time auditing mortgage companies these days. Perhaps they should be looking more closely at the arrangements between in house mortgage companies & real estate brokers? Then perhaps natural competition can be restored, agents & buyers will receive more information (education) from lenders anxious to earn their business.
Greg Zaccagni - Loan Originator
Abe-
I hate to say it, but it seems that it might be your task to discern who is capable of buying and who is not. If the buyer knew that they couldn't buy a house, don't you think they wouldn't even bother trying? Or are they trying to beat the system by sneaking around the rules. I think in some instance if an agent were to say "Are you in a position to buy a house," many would say "yes," because they don't know whether or not this is the case. However, it would be easy for an agent to ask a few questions and find out if the potential buyer is really a viable client. But sometimes, the answer might not be found without a ilttle digging from the mortgage broker.
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