What Realtors Want (And Don't Want) From Loan Officers...
This a great article about the dynamic between lenders and realtors! Check it out!
Like a huge cargo ship the Realtor is covered in barnacles. Only our barnacles include a wide variety of vendors. One in particular is the lender. The average loan officer spends their marketing dollars on getting Realtors to give them their business. Some of the more successful companies and owners will actually spend their marketing dollars on finding buyers and refi-customers themselves, but not enough of them do.
Why should a Realtor just "give business" to a lender? How do we decide who to refer our business to? What do Realtors want and not want out of a loan officer?
What We (I) Want:
1. A loan officer who is available 7 days a week, including nights, holidays and early mornings. This isn't a job, it's a career. It's feast or famine. I respect family time, church time and the big holidays, but turning your phone completely off for an entire week because The Masters is on television and you have the sniffles is not the type of person I want to work with. I expect people to answer their phones because that's how I operate my business. There's always time "to make a quick call" for a few minutes. Being self-employed is a sacrifice. There's a slew of half-ass loan officers out there and I don't want to work with them.
2. I expect any lender I'm working with to know what's coming down the pipeline (with regulations) frontwards and backwards. The loan officers duty is to be the MOST informed when it comes to lender guidelines.
3. Loan officers deserve to get paid. Good work is worth every penny, but charging $100.00 for a credit report is absurd.
4. Every lender is expected to communicate effectively. Answering your phone and returning calls is just the beginning. It's paramount that a loan officer communicate ALL issues (both good and bad) as quickly as possible. Loan officers need to pay attention to the 3rd party financing condition addendum (Texas document) that outlines just how long the buyer has to get their financing inline before they lose their earnest money. Losing the buyer's earnest money because "we found out too late" is never an option.
5. We want the loan officer to be very knowledgeable about the file. Some lenders take on a relationship with a new Realtor and then toss the file (buyer) completely to a processor. It's as if they think their job is to find business and then let someone else deal with it. Bad idea! I once had a loan officer tell me, "I don't really know, you'll have to call my processor for an update." If you're too big to touch your files you're too busy for me. I need my files paid attention to by the loan officer. Every loan officer hands a file over to their processor, but not every one of them drops it off like a letter in the mail-box.
What we (I) DON'T need or want:
1. Marketing.
- I can and want to do my own open houses.
- I don't need you advertising to my past clients on my behalf.
- I don't want your sign riders on my listings promoting teaser phrases like "Buy This Home With No Money Down."
- I'm not interested in you printing my flyers. I can make and print my own with "my" information on them. Mine will be better tailored for the seller rather than what's best for the agent and loan officer.
2. Coaching.
I don't know everything about this business, but I despise the concept of calling into some 800-hundred number to listen to some coach in Canada yell and scream about how to make a million dollars a week in commissions... all while sailing the seven seas and drinking champagne. I've got better things to do. I don't care for motivational speakers and I refuse to listen to life coaches. None of this interests me. And please don't ask me to attend a seminar 'that's paid for.' I love family, business, friends, football, cooking, golf, entertaining and having fun. None of this includes infomercial activity.
Greg Nino, Houston area Realtor®.
Helping residential buyers, sellers and tenants 7 days a week.
Available @ 832-298-8555RE/MAX Compass (Formerly RE/MAX WHP)
The information contained in this blog is believed to be reliable and while every effort is made to assure that the information is as accurate as possible, the author of this blog, and its comments disclaim any implied warranty or representation about it's accuracy, completeness or appropriateness for any particular purpose. All information is copywritten and the property of Greg Nino.
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