Customarily “First Time Homebuyer Seminars” are conducted by a group of Real Estate professionals, Realtors, Loan Officer, Attorneys, and Home Inspectors. Each one makes a presentation for about 15 to 20 minute on their area of expertise. These Seminars are advertised by everyone involved in the presentation, to their clients, and attendance is usually between 4 to 30+ people. These Seminars are advertised as educational, and usually held at a neutral location, like a hotel, library, Town Hall, Communities Center, Church, or restaurant. I have been a participant in many of these Seminars and have been successful doing them.
However, in September of 2006, the mortgage company that I work for, McCue Mortgage, decided to try to do these Seminars on our own, and to just cover the process that the “Homebuyer” will go through to determine the loan amount that they qualify for, the steps involved in obtaining a loan, and the Closing. We advertise the Seminars on the radio, our website, and at the bottom of all our e-mails. The advertisement instructs those who want to attend the Seminar to pre-register for the Seminar on our website or by calling our 800 number. This lets us know how many people are coming ahead of time, but more importantly, this provides us with their contact information so that we can follow up with them if they do not attend. Our Loan Officers conduct the Seminars every month on the same day of the week, same time, and same locations throughout the state. Since we started this program in September we have had over 200 perspective buyers register for these seminars, and have pre-qualified many of them who are now out looking for homes.
While I will continue to do “First Time Homebuyer Seminars” with other Real Estate professionals when I am asked to participate in one, I see advantages in doing these Seminars by myself. It enables me to do a few things that I was not able to do when I did them with other Real Estate professionals.
- Because they are held at several locations at the same time, each one is attended by a smaller number of people, which enables me to focus more attention on each one that attends.
- By presenting the whole presentation myself, I have more time to cover each point in more detail, and at the same time keep the Seminar shorter.
- Since I am conducting the whole Seminar by myself, I am able to keep it simple and informal.
- Because a smaller number of people attend, it allows more time for questions, and those in attendance feel less threatened to ask questions.
- Once I pre-qualify a prospective Buyer that wants to start looking for a home right away, I am able to refer them to the Realtors, Attorneys, Appraisers, and Home Inspectors the I work with.
- Realtors in particularly love this, because they are getting a qualified Buyer, and not wasting their time.
This Post is the introduction to the Posts that I will be writing throughout the week, covering each of the topics that we cover at these Seminars. My hope in presenting this series of Posts on “First Time Homebuyer Seminars”, is to give “First Time Homebuyers” an idea of what to expect when they attend one, and to also provide information for anyone else who would like to establish, and conduct similar Seminars.
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Info about the author:
George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com
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