It's wonderful to be in the position to site around both campfires. I mean be in on meetings for both loan originators and real estate agents. There is a good deal of enlightenment from this opportunity.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the lack of realization that this is much more a 50/50 team work opportunity than either "side" would like to concede. At times agents feel that the loan originator just takes the application and says "yes" or "no" failing to have the slightest bit of understanding that the loan originator may spend as many as 10 hours or more just looking for the right home for a specific borrower. Obviously the better qualified the borrower AND property the less investment of time needed.
Most folks don't realize that on the lender side as many as 8 or more people will spend several hours each getting the file to closing.
Likewise there are times when loan originators have no clue that the real estate agent spent $37 in gas, two lunches, 1 missed child's sporting event and more just to find the right property for the borrower AFTER they spent 4 hours digging through listings and talking to seller's reps about the properties.
WE ALL WORK HARD
I recently wrote that we all see the world from our own perspective. In teamwork we must forego our shortsightedness and see the world through our teammate’s eyes. It doesn’t matter that the last loan originator you worked with was a terrible service provider or that the last agent with whom you shared a client was an overbearing dictator. That doesn’t mean the next one is.
I’ve heard it, you’ve heard it, we joke about it. “Well I’ve been doing this for ______ years and I NEVER ... “ or “Well MY lender would … “ . Agents if you want to alienate a loan professional that’s the best way to do it. I’ve also heard “Well, I’m the lender’s rep and without me you’re not getting this deal closed.”
NOBODY GETS PAID
Come on people. We’re all under stress. Nobody gets paid until the docs are signed and the mortgage is funded. Period. Agents aren’t allowed, by federal law, to have the specifics of the borrower’s finances. Sometimes they’re pretty bad and the loan originator has to take it to the wire to get the deal closed.
Originators have no idea what ridiculous demands the buyer is placing on the agent. Maybe the agent spent 100 hours showing homes before they got an offer accepted. The originator doesn’t know this.
Where everyone can work together is by opening their eyes and closing their mouths to listen to their deal partner and work together to achieve a SMOOTH closing. This industry can be stressful enough without having two sides of the table when it comes to the agent and the mortgage professional.
WE ALL LIKE TO THINK WE’RE IN CHARGE
In our industry there is a great excess of ego. Firstly we all have to be great sales people otherwise we’re not going to last very long. One way to achieve a great level of sales performance is by looking good to prospects. Here’s how this recently backfired.
A client of a mortgage company who had been working with that mortgage company for several months decided to use a new agent as a buyer’s representative at the recommendation of a friend. The buyer uses a specific type of real estate investment loan and looks for a specific type of real estate investment property for which that loan can be used.
The agent presented dozens, maybe hundreds of properties to the client none of which matched his specific requirements. The agent decided to take matters into her own hands and call the loan originator and get some things straight. Her opening statement was “Why are you blocking my client from bidding on these properties?”
It actually would have been a good question had it any validity. The originator asked for clarification and the agent provided it by explaining how many properties she had presented and how many hours she had wasted looking for properties that meet the buyer’s criteria. Then she threw the spear: “We’ll just use MY lender because MY lender can get these deals closed.”
YOU COULD NOT HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP
We call it The Screamer Factor. I heard the shouting through the walls. “YOUR lender? Do you own a mortgage company? Did you approve this client for the loan HE asked for?”
Shhhhh. I say that sometimes. Put them on hold and tell me the story.
I got an earful. My response wasn’t what the originator wanted. “Be the professional. You’re response is based on anger and feeling threatened. Once you feel threatened you’ve lost hope for a peaceful resolution between team mates. Quiet education is the path to success.”
They were seeing the situation from their own little world. In the end the buyer decided to take a break from looking for properties and hasn’t done anything since. Who lost?
Topics include the real estate market in general, interest rates, short sales, declining markets, buyer trends and much more!
Hopefully I'll see each of you there and I want to get around to each of you as a guest speaker as soon as we get the bugs ironed out.
(You'll have to follow one more link from that site for now. Hope to have that cured very soon!)
Copyright©2006 Ken Cook. Georgia and Florida real estate investment loans, FHASecure and FHA Home Loans, nationwide commercial hard money and small business loans, non-recourse loans for real estate investors
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