Loan Officer / Realtor Relationship 101

Relationships are the key in just about any business, forming those relationships and making them rock solid is not only professionally rewarding but personally rewarding.  The relationships that I have formed with realtors for the ten years I have been doing this have been such a huge blessing to me and to my family. 

When I bought my first house it was a good friend of mine who I chose as a realtor he had just started in the business but also had a mentor who had been in the business for a long time coaching him through his first sale.  He did an excellent job and was very transparent to us and honest and John continues to be a friend today.  Interestingly enough he now is a loan originator. 

A year following buying my first house, I became an originator, and began forming business partnerships with realtors and at the same time forming friendships that I believe will last a lifetime.  Many of the realtors I work with I have known for the entire time I have been in the business, like me a few have changed employers over the last couple of decades but through it all we have congratulated, prayed, high fived and celebrated successes together.

Having said all this, during my meeting with a customer I can share a bit of history and take the opportunity to endorse my friend to the client I am meeting with. Many times I have sent my pre-approved clients to my friends in the business knowing full well they will be taken care of.

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of doing our jobs its easy to slip into having tunnel vision and focus only on getting to closing for the client, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the next time you have a client that you send to someone or the next time you get that call and they say I got your name from so and so, before you get going on that pre-approval letter or take them out to see a house, take the time to acknowledge, or endorse that person, the client will be comforted and assured that this is a team effort with the same set of goals in making sure that their home is acquired, this will help you achieve your goals but even more importantly, those clients become friends to you both as well.