After working in the real estate industry for several years, working firsthand with dozens of loan officers and mortgage brokers, and talking with many in the industry, I thought I'd take a stab at asking the question on every loan officer's mind: how can I get more Realtors to work with me and trust me with their clients?
I would say the most important thing is Trust! Realtors want to be able to do a great job for their clients. Top agents know that referrals are the way to survive in this industry. Realtors want a loan officer they can trust to treat their clients well, as your service (or lack of) reflects on them.
But building trust takes time: you need repeated positive interactions with a Realtor to build trust. It's a chicken and egg issue. You won't get referrals until you've earned trust, but how do you create repetitive positive interactions to earn that trust?
Joint marketing is one solution. By clearly showing your value, and working together with a Realtor, you create opportunities to earn trust. Think about it: if you were a realtor looking for a new loan officer to refer clients to (and all realtors really do want a solid loan officer they can trust), or even a second loan officer for when your first is unavailable, how would you decide? Would you base it off a rate sheet and a 5 minute conversation at an open house, or off half a dozen positive marketing interactions?
By taking the time work together with realtors to co-market properties, you'll not only be getting your name in front of more prospective buyers, you'll be building trust with real estate agents. You'll kill two birds with one stone: loan officer marketing and realtor networking.
In my book, trust is the most important thing, but what do other agents out there think?
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