I remember my parents telling me, "they need you more than you need them" about a particular episode in my younger life. Here is a little insight to my personality, business method and ideals based on that same factor. I love my loyal clients and they love me. Even my new clients are always referring business to me. My desire is to be the best provider of mortgage services with the highest possible integrity there is available. Sometimes something just doesn't fit - like a 
Tinker Toy and a Lincoln Log: they just are not made for each other.
This is transparency - not that fakey crud you hear people calling transparency. This may also be somewhat of a constructive vent ... a rant if you must. You may also file this under the topic of a lesson in "Intelligent Negotitating" or "Foolish Follies of the Free Mouthed Morons". Sure, some will say, "Ken, do you really want your prospective customers reading this in a public blog?"
A.B.S.O.L.U.T.E.L.Y. - in fact it may save some a lot of time and embarassment down the road. It will also tell them I am extremely confident that my pricing is better than the market. Then it will tell them not to be a jerk. But that's only 1 out of 1000.
Rates are very low right now. I mean very VERY low. There is an old customer of ours who has always been talked about around the office. He has done two or three loans with us and every one is like pulling teeth. Oddly the loan officer who used to handle his loans is no longer with us and between you and I he did pretty well in commissions on the guy. Let's call it "PITA costs".
So this particular person calls last week and asks for the LO. I explain he has left to go back to school but I will be happy to help him. I recognized his name as a repeat client and priced his loan extremely low. I mean much MUCH lower than he can get from any other lender without a lot of begging, pleading and maybe some lying. In fact I sent him a Good Faith Estimate with fees less than 1/2 of what they would normally be. Not only that but I quoted him a PAR interest rate at 4.375% on a fixed 15 loan. No discount points. Nothing rolled into the refi - just a straight up 4.375% rate.
I didn't hear from him for a few days and the rate went back up to 4.49% so I emailed him to let him know. His response? "Your fees are very high."
So I'm not worth 1/2 of my normal pay?
Negotiating is one thing. Being insulting is another. There are certain points in the negotiation when I stop communicating, withdraw any former offers and really don't care if the other party just goes away. This is one of those instances. Now what I am not telling you is something you really need to read - all 3 of you who actually do so. I also recently received a buy-back letter where this guy cost me $1460.57 for paying off a loan early. In Georgia we are not allowed to charge a prepayment penalty so we generally have other ways to work around it. The hiccup comes when the borrower either refinances or otherwise pays off a loan early either through selling or just paying off the loan with cash. Most people, 999 out of 1000, do not know brokers have to do this - we have to "buy back" the loan fees from the funding lender.
Needless to say I can only do business like that about once every ten years!
And now the point: The things we say have an impact and an effect. I have worked with real estate investors for years and years and years and ... you get the point. The old seasoned veterans are generally as cool as a cucumber and have realistic expectations as well. The new ones are generally maleable and interested in learning - it's the wise brains who have done 3 to 15 deals who are the most arrogant, stubborn and foolish of the lot. I love it when people say, "I've done 10 deals - I know what to expect!!!"
Really? I passed 3000 a few months back :)
In the end this guy missed his chance at a 4.375% no discount loan with closing costs about 1/2 of what they would normally be. No, I will not still honor this deal - instead I will refer him to someone else. Maybe you. I offered, he insulted, I am no longer offering. In fact, there is now a note in our system in the event another LO picks up a call or email from him to refer him back to me - although I know my staff. He lost his chance. Maybe I lost mine, too. Then again who needs disrespect and arrogance even in times like these?
Another BLAH BLAH BLAH from Ken Cook
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