referral partnerships: The Coming Shortage of Loan Officers and Realtors Behaving Badly - 01/15/11 04:00 AM
I am trying to decide: Is there is a shortage of loan officers or an over abundance of lender-orphaned Realtors?
If loan officers used to be a dime a dozen, then today there are only four of the dozen still left.  Maybe you could still buy one with a dime, but that guy will probably be gone by the end of this year, anyway.
There is a coming shortage of loan officers and they will not be nearly as tolerant of REALTORS BEHAVING BADLY.
Go ahead and laugh.  But there is another BIG CHANGE coming down the pike this year regarding loan officer … (68 comments)

referral partnerships: Think You Were Overcharged? Celebrate It. - 12/30/10 04:33 AM
You are a Realtor who closed 2 loans this month. You notice that one loan is at a rate of 4.25% and one is at a rate of 5%.  Do you believe the loan officer who charged the higher rate:
Has OVERCHARGED? Is guilty of EXTORTION? Got lucky with a pristine borrower and took advantage of the situation? Needs to disclose how much money he is making to "protect" the buyer? Took advantage of the fact the buyer didn't "shop" enough for their loan? This is a point of view  featured (and supported by some) this week here on ActiveRain.
So … (67 comments)

referral partnerships: 5 Things Realtors Can Do RIGHT NOW for MORE Business in 2011 - 11/05/10 08:29 AM
Who calls a mortgage office out of the blue?
Lots of people do. Call it a sign of the times. Call it an epidemic of finance phobia. Whatever it is, the clues they leave behind could help you find more buyers in 2011.
So let's get the basic premise of this post out of the way right now by agreeing on these 3 things which I believe to be true:
People might call a mortgage person BEFORE they ever contact a Realtor. This trend is going to continue because lending is so challenging and credit is so tarnished. Knowing who these people … (14 comments)

referral partnerships: Using Those "Nasty Little Tricks" to "Test" a Potential Mortgage Person - 09/14/09 05:56 AM
This comment, which appeared over the weekend on a featured post made me extremely uncomfortable:
"One of my nasty little tricks is to coach Realtors to ask my competition to explain APR as a knowledge test." 
Okay, everyone, let's not use hidden agendas when we connect. Why not? Because "nasty little tricks" are  not the foundation for great relationships.
Trust is.
We owe it to our mutual clients to bring trust to the table when we handle the most important transaction of their lives.
If you are a Realtor who would like to connect with a great mortgage person, just say … (17 comments)

referral partnerships: Why Recommending A DIRECT LENDER Could Make You Choke on Your Coffee - 08/21/09 07:27 AM
Why do Realtors like to recommend DIRECT LENDERS?
Could it be that somehow the lenders who are dumping foreclosures have brainwashed Realtors by insisting that anyone making an offer must be approved with a DIRECT LENDER?
Or is it because you believe that an approval from one of those BIG BOX banks is somehow safer, better, more familiar? 
Now, please don't get me wrong. I work for a company that is a bank, and a bank is a direct lender. I can also BROKER a loan out to one of the BIG BOX banks.
But every time I do that, I … (54 comments)

referral partnerships: If Closing a Real Estate Transaction is Like "The Bachelor" Who Gets the ROSE? - 08/04/09 06:10 AM
While aimlessly cruising through the blogosphere the other day, I came across a post written on an outside blog discussing ActiveRain mortgage people.
Naturally, I was more than a little interested.
It was this comment that got me thinking about the uneasy relationship that exists between Realtors and Mortgage people:
"I have found AR increasingly mortgage officer “un-friendly” over the last few months."
"The AR website (in my view) greatly favors the views and cause of the Realtors vs mortgage industry. I have found it to be more and more biased and weighted on the realtor’s behalf."
(I am … (82 comments)

referral partnerships: Before You Bash Your Mortgage Broker: Take This Test - 06/05/09 12:27 PM
Test question: What do the following 3 situations have in common? Your answer can only be one word.
An increasing number of frustrated Realtors posting on ActiveRain about late closings and bashing complaining about mortgage people Frustrated customers at dealerships who cannot get the cars/trucks they want.  I have been waiting for 2 weeks for Home Depot to deliver wood to rebuild a deck (when they told us it would take 2 days) Mortgage people suck  (too many words)
Car dealers suck  (still too many words)
The service at Home Depot sucks (Nope)
The answer is CAPACITY, as in "so many people have been fired or … (119 comments)

referral partnerships: Why Don't Realtors Have FAITH in Preapproval Letters? 8 Questions Every Preapproval Should Answer - 03/16/09 05:36 AM
 
Why do Realtors think preapproval letters are about as worthless as a wet cocktail napkin? Has it become so bad that Realtors believe a do-it-yourself prequalification is better than one from the mortgage office?
I believe the time has come for preapproval letters to gain some respect. We can accomplish this by offering a much more detailed picture of where the borrower is in the process of becoming approved.
In this post I will tell you the 8 questions that every preapproval letter should answer.
THE COMMENTS THAT SHOCKED ME
Jennifer "SOI" Allan asked Realtors this: Should listing agents restrict … (132 comments)

referral partnerships: A Millionaire Buyer, A Low Appraisal and the Realtor Who Fell Apart: Can This Deal Be Saved? - 02/12/09 04:33 AM
THE MILLIONAIRE FINDS HIS DREAM HOUSE
When a 30-something California millionaire had his offer accepted on an exquisite lake view property, he was beyond thrilled.
The listing agent, who would be selling another home to the seller, was overjoyed. The selling agent, (more accustomed to selling $200k foreclosures to first time FHA buyers), could not believe her luck at being involved in a million dollar transaction.
Buyer had been pre-qualified by the preferred Mortgage Broker of the selling agent. Both Realtors were flush with confidence that the transaction would sail smoothly to a close in 30 days.
TROUBLE IN THE MORTGAGE OFFICE: THIS HOUSE WON'T APPRAISE!
… (30 comments)

referral partnerships: A Rare Tell-All On ActiveRain: 20 Secret Things That REALTORS Wish Mortgage Brokers Knew - 02/05/09 01:33 AM
When the following post was written, the title asked "Why Do Realtors Trash Marketing From Mortgage Brokers?" Somewhere in the discussion (97 comments at this point in time), our passionate Realtor community here on ActiveRain decided to drop 2 words from the title and engage in a rare tell all.
Those 2 words were "Marketing From".
So the truth is, I didn't write this post. You did, amazing readers. Thank you for your brilliance and your continued willingness to openly share ideas on these posts that you might NEVER say out loud to a mortgage person who wants to earn your business.
Almost everyone knows the 3 things Realtors would most like from … (74 comments)

referral partnerships: Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Why Do Realtors Trash Marketing from Mortgage Brokers? - 01/16/09 05:28 AM
As a Realtor, do you detest the marketing pieces you get from mortgage brokers? Do you cringe when a mortgage broker starts walking towards you?
Do you delete newsletters, crumple up rate sheets, and think this: "I already HAVE all the mortgage contacts I need, thank you very much."
I am working on my number one New Year's Resolution by reading posts written by our own SOI expert, Jennifer Allan.  
Here is my resolution: Get my database in order and my SOI churning out some new business.
 
Like most mortgage brokers, I created 2 SOI groups in my database:
… (99 comments)

referral partnerships: Never Say Never: How One Hopelessly Unqualified Buyer Won Me Over, And Got Her House - 12/30/08 02:20 AM
Sometimes in the real estate business, you don't work for money. Sometimes you know there is no  justification to keep going with a client. And for reasons that no one understands but you, you decide to help the one that appears to be hopeless.
You think that maybe this is the way a doctor must feel when he tries to save the life of the guy who has no health insurance. 
You do it because it is what you do.
THE WORST CLIENT
Last spring Deborah the Realtor sent me her "worst" potential buyer for a pre-approval.
"Worst" as defined by … (49 comments)