Did anyone else read the blurb in the FAR Early Bird news yesterday about agents feeling more comfortable with brokerages owned by their lenders as opposed to some of the larger well-known banks? I will repost part of it here:
"A survey done last month of more than 2,400 real estate agents by Campbell Communications shows that 40 percent of those polled have altered their lender recommendations in response to the troubled mortgage market. Most associates now recommend the lender owned by their brokerages, with Weichert Financial, Coldwell Banker Mortgage and ERA Mortgage ranking higher than such national lenders as Bank of America, Countrywide Home Loans and Washington Mutual. During the past few months, respondents noted that over 33 percent of home purchases were not finalized, with mortgage-related problems responsible in 13 percent of failed deals. Low credit scores and inadequate incomes or downpayments were the biggest problems, according to agents, some of whom complain that lenders take too much time seeking approvals on mortgages for which the borrower does not qualify."
Source: Originator Times (01/07/08)
I realize that Countrywide has been in the news recently and I have never cared much for their customer service (on the lending side), but I've generally had good experiences with BofA (wholesale) when I used them. WAMU had a bad reputation around 2003 when they expanded too rapidly, however I haven't heard anything negative recently. Does anyone have any ideas why agents would prefer the Weichert Financials and ERA's?
The article does not adequately answer the reasoning behind this. 13% of loans failing due to "mortgage-related" problems, further defined as low scores, inadequate incomes or downpayments does not tell us why agents are veering away from the big banks. The issues listed are not bank specific.......well, they are in terms of program availability......my point is that if the qualification process is adhered to properly, then these shouldn't happen. Thus there would have to be other reasons why the lender owned brokerages are performing better. I'm all ears!
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