On several occasions I have had this dialogue with clients:
Client: I’d like to grow my purchase business by developing more worthwhile Realtor relationships.
Coach: Great goal! What are you willing to do to make this happen?
Client: I’m willing to do anything! I’m just not sure what I should do.
Coach : Ok, are you open to some suggestions?
Client: Yes.
Coach: How about looking up listings of top producing Realtors in your area and popping in on their open houses to introduce yourself?
Client:Hmmm, I don’t know. It didn’t work for me in the past and I really don’t want to spend a Sunday going into open houses when the Realtors don’t want me there, anyway.
Coach:Ok. How about scheduling yourself to attend some Realtor Association events or Chamber mixers?
Client: No, because there are always other loan officers around trying to get the attention of the Realtors. Too much competition.
Coach: Well, what if you partnered up with your Title Rep. and put together a presentation on recent changes in the industry and resources that Realtors should be aware of to help them stay abreast of these changes?
Client: I just don’t think that will work. Every loan officer out there is trying to get into Realtor offices and most of them aren’t even interested in what’s going on. All they care about is whether you can give them a referral or not.
Notice any patterns here?
Now if you’re wondering, if I, as a Coach, would simply force them to do these things anyway, the answer is HECK NO!
Regardless if something has worked for others, and that could be hundreds of others, asking someone to do something that they have a negative attitude about, will NOT bring about the desired results. In fact, it will create a self-fulfilling prophecy, i.e. “It won’t work.” “They won’t talk to me.” “Nobody will care.”
The good news is that after some attitude re-tooling (yes, attitude is a tool) ANYONE can create new opportunities and successes for themselves, even out of what once was seen as a bag of old tricks.
Brian Tracy, entrepreneur, sales guru and motivational coach says this about attitude:
This attitude of looking for the good in every situation, of looking for the advantage or benefit in any problem or difficulty, is the way that the most successful people think most of the time. Superior people, leaders in all areas, face the inevitable ups and downs of daily life on the way to their destinations by taking complete control of their thinking and their emotions. They do this by choosing the words they use to describe a situation, their tone of voice, and their behavior in dealing with problems.
So what’s YOUR attitude about getting out there and creating new business for yourself?
Tips to Re-tooling Your Attitude
Here are 3 re-tooling techniques that you can help your attitude to help you to succeed!
A Morning Dose of Positivity How long has it been since you listened to a motivational CD series on the drive into work? Pick up the latest CD by your favorite positivity guru and use your commute, whether it’s 10min. or an hour, to accelerate your attitude.
Check Your Attitude at the Door Every day, before going home from work, take 2 minutes to complete the following sentence in your journal or notebook: “Because of my positive and willing attitude, today I was able to………”
Partner-up with a Positivity Pal Ask a teammate or peer to engage in 30 consecutive days of positivity with you. Agree to send each other one email each day where you communicate one positive experience from your day and one, specific wish of positivity to your partner. It could look something like this:
Dear Daniel: Today I made it a point to get out of my office. I had a very productive lunch with a Realtor partner of mine. It was well worth my time and effort and so much more pleasant than I thought it was going to be. I wish that you have a surprise encounter with someone tomorrow that leaves you feeling GREAT!
Remember, everything starts from the inside – out. Giving yourself the gift of a positive attitude today will directly influence whether opportunity knocks once, twice, three times or ever knocks at all.
Victoria is Founder of I Can Coaching Company and I CAN Plan. She is a full-time Business Coach, working exclusively with Mortgage and Real Estate professionals, helping them to define and implement winning, business-growth strategies, systems, and habits.
Hi, My name is Mark, and I’m a dysfunctional blogger….
Well, not all of the time, but there are days that I’ll spend 8 hours looking at a computer with nothing to show for it.
Sure, lots of emails and phone calls get addressed asap, todo lists are cleaned up, back links to my new blog posts are spread throughout social network and blog comment land, and I’ll skim 25,000 words in a day on relevant news and education that pertains to my various business niches….
However, sometimes I fail to accomplish the single most important task that drives my business – Producing Content.
Since, I’ve already clearly defined my purpose on the web, there really is no excuse for any distractions.
I bumped all over the place when I was in my social media discovery phase, but now I know what I know, what I don’t know, where to turn for the answers, and more specifically, what questions to ask.
Yet, unless I guard the time that I spend in all of my online and other business related activities, I’ll find myself exhausted at the end of a busy day without having something of true substance out there working for me in the search engines and actually building perpetual equity in my online presence.
So, while I was doing a little research today on building a content calendar for the new Top of Mind Mortgage Marketing Show that Mark Green and I are launching shortly, I ran across this encouraging video from Darren Rowse on ProBlogger:
Whether you’re a full-time blogger, originator, direct mail marketer or radio host, it is essential to spend your time and energy doing what you do.
For example, as a blogger / Social Media Marketing guy, I need to produce valuable content on a consistent basis that drives targeted traffic, as well as increases the equity in my web properties.
Here is a quick outline of how I manage my daily social media flow:
Google Reader: Find out what’s happening, drill down specific research
Posterous: Organize research in tabs and different targeted blogs
Hootsuite: Share stuff through various twitter accts w/ links back to posterous
Mark works as Communications Director for a Las Vegas Mortgage Company, which basically means he spends all day playing on Mortgage Blogs writing content, networking and reading about the market.
Mary’s True Confessions: Under Estimate and Over Deliver!
Would you like to get paid quicker?
Increase your pull-through knowing you’ve sold a deal that is going to close?
Structure your deals once and not have to make changes to loan amount once appraisal comes in?
You already know that the government has committed tons of money this year to lower mortgage rates. Furthermore, through HARP the government has put together special lending programs to help more people qualify. So have you figured out how to use the system to help you?
If this sounds interesting, get out your pencil and start taking notes! Here is one way to make it work for you. When you run a credit report, take note if it is a Fannie Mae loan and if so, have your processor run the file thru DU to see if you can get an Appraisal Waiver with DU Refi Plus findings.
Since the middle part of the summer we are hearing that processors have been getting appraisal waivers for their brokers thus eliminating the fingernail pulling pain HVCC imparted back in May. My customers each have their own processor or at least a lead processor that they work with daily. When taking applications, we are now encouraging them to run findings up front in order to see if we can gain waivers eliminating the need for an appraisal altogether!
Here are some of the tricks of the trade: Under estimate the value BELOW the original purchase price…..lower it to the minimum possible LTV without obtaining a price hit. Here are two actual examples:
Borrower A bought a house in 2008 for $380K putting down 76K or 20% down. The loan officer told the processor that the loan was going to a particular lender that had no pricing hit for 95%LTV on their DU Refi Plus program. The processor ran the file with an expected value of $321K, slightly under the 95%LTV. Bam! Findings came back with an appraisal waiver! That is the way to get a file going!! No HERA disclosures were needed! No HVCC appraisal to wait on! Full file was processed the next day and sent to the lender… the loan closed two weeks later and everyone got paid…quicker! Again, under estimate and over deliver on quick turn times!
Feeling skeptical?? Check out borrower B:
Borrower bought house on the coast of South Carolina for 88OK six years ago. He told the LO his house was worth a million plus. The homeowner had a busy schedule traveling out of town routinely and didn’t know when he could accommodate the appraisal process. The purpose of the loan was to pull cash out! Seriously, his loan amount was $298,000 and he was pulling cash out to $365,000 and subordinating a $190,000 HELOC. The processor ran the estimated value at $610,000 (just slightly under 60% LTV giving the broker extra compensation) and got an appraisal waiver! If you’re not reading closely here are the variables: Cash out; subordinating a 2nd of $190K. Oh, and by the way, the 2nd lender gave no grief on not having an appraisal for the subordination. File closed quickly with no expensive, slow appraisal needed!
So work closely with your processor up front and have more success. Keep your fingers crossed and try it! You could get paid quicker and move solid deals forward!
Processor Clue of the Week:
This is not going to work for every deal and who knows what the “secret” criteria are, but it saves lot’s of time for everyone if it comes back with a waiver…..Worth a Shot! processor/atlanta, ga.
Penny for Your Thoughts (Send us your question and we’ll give you our two cents!):
Chris in Norcross asks: when do originators in Georgia have to have completed their 20 hour licensing hours and pass the Federal and State test?
This is a very common question and here are the facts: To become or remain an originator in the state of Georgia, you must register with and provide to NMLS your proof of completion of the required 20 hour pre-licensing course as well as pass both the state and federal test by March 31st. It is important to note that this is the drop dead date. If you submit on time as an existing MLO, the state of Georgia will allow you to continue originating until approval is either issued or denied. If you DO NOT submit by the March 31st deadline, you cannot originate during the wait period. If you are a new MLO entering the industry, you may not originate until approval is issued.
Got any success stories or processing tips?? Send them my way, I would love to share with our readers!!
Mary is the owner of Quick Close Processing based in Atlanta, GA. She specializes in FHA, VA and Government loans, and is quick to share her knowledge with her counterparts in the industry. Mary is married to hubby Bart and is expecting her third child in August.
While I am on the topic of LendingTree, I might as well mention that they removed their closed loan fee from their fixed filter leads. No more will lenders need to pay their hefty fee for every closed loan, but that does not mean the leads just got cheaper or your ROI is going up. Instead the up front fees went up to compensate for the change. Prices are now range from $20 to $100 per lead. Now let us not forget that you are paying for a long form lead, so with the premium prices you are getting additional data and hopefully a consumer with strong intent to borrow. This puts LT in a the same boat as their competitors with regards to upfront risk of buying a lead. Prior to this change a lender would have no problem paying a fee for a loan they profited on, but now to pay a premium with out the guarantee of closing the lead makes LT look a whole lot riskier for the new lenders coming aboard their network.
1) Lending Tree is abandoning the fee their clients pay when they close a loan (I’ve heard this fee can range from $700 to more than $1,000!).
2) Instead, they are increasing their fees on the front end. LeadCritic reports a range from $20 to $100. My guess is that for any type of quality, you’ll pay closer to $100 than $20, and that lead is STILL being sold to your competitors at the exact same time.
So let’s analyze the motivation behind this change, shall we? Do you think Lending Tree’s pricing change was created to benefit them or their clients? I’ll go out on a limb here and postulate that this pricing change will ultimately benefit Lending Tree. With the prospect of higher mortgage rates in 2010, it stands to reason that a) refinance activity will drop off a cliff and b) their volume of quality leads will decrease. The question becomes: how will Lending Tree adjust for this lost revenue? Better product or higher prices?
If you’re dependent on Lending Tree to fill your pipeline every month, and you haven’t been reinvesting into those relationships, you’ll be feeling the pain in your stomach that kept you up at night only 12 short months ago. Who is Lending Tree looking out for anyways – you or them?
I think we have our answer to that question. Again, if you are a lead gen shop and you’re doing a poor job deepening relationships on the back end and you think you’ve got things figured out – chances are good that you’ll struggle mightily in 2010 and beyond. Call us at Top of Mind and begin the shift from purchased leads to organic business. It won’t happen right away, but if you make minor changes in your marketing investments and behaviors today, you’ll look like a genius in 2011 and beyond.
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
Short and sweet. Here’s a 3-minute video I created that shows how you can bring Linked In Network Updates into your Google Reader. Below the video, I’ve provided a few other helpful articles about Google Reader, just in case you aren’t on board yet. Sorry for the poor video quality when you maximize – still can’t seem to get this right!
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
I wrote an article over the weekend at my favorite real estate blog: Bloodhound Blog. In Gary Keller’s masterpiece, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, he recommends a “33 Touch” per year frequency for database follow-up.
Back in 2004, when the book was published, the idea of 33 quality touches seemed aggressive to me. But with the advent of social media, it’s become a very achievable goal. I’d be flattered if you’d head over to BHB and read my article, and browse around their site a little while you’re at it. I guarantee you, the deeper you dig into Bloodhound Blog, the more you’ll laugh & learn.
By the way, I always thought it was funny how Keller named his book The Millionaire Real Estate Agent but prefaced the book title with: “It’s Not About the Money…”. When people say “it’s not about the money”, rest assured… it’s all about the money!
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
Having played Division One football myself and been in the mortgage corporate world for over twenty years, I can honestly state the foundational principles of being a great coach and recruiter long term are the same as being a successful career mortgage originator.
Subsequently, I came across an excellent article articulating the do’s and don’ts of football college recruiting. As I read, it became evident the same principals applied to our industry. While the tactical approaches described differ, the principal transfers efficiently.
I’m not going to break each step down, because frankly, if after reading the article and it does not pop out immediately, you probably should not be a sales person in any field.
Cicerone - cic•e•ro•ni (-nē) - A guide or person eloquent in sharing knowledge and inspiring impactful action.
After 22 years of building, leading and managing large scale enterprise FHA/VA production entities, most recently as Vice-President and National Retail Government Production Risk Manager at the nations #1 government lender, Tony Gallegos aka The Mortgage Cicerone, followed his bliss and joined Mortgage U as Managing Director of Consulting and Marketing...the largest and best Mortgage Training organization in the nation. Subsequently, Mortgage U has constructed a better way for mortgage bankers to train their staff quickly, effectively and affordably. This in turn allows mortgage bankers the ability to “increase and capture additional Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) mortgage market share!"
I am chilling out at a local Starbucks and started thinking about how the rapid advances in technology and web 2.0 has impacted my life – both on a personal and professional level. For example:
1) Just a few years ago, I’d have rented the Garmin GPS unit for $15 a day. Lots of people I know own one of these gadgets and paid $600+. But today, all I needed to do was whip out my crackberry and start up the Google Maps app… and boom I have turn-by-turn directions for free. Google has an uncanny way of investing resources into technology we actually use – their investment into their mapping technology confused me at first. Now I am starting to get it. They can basically snap their fingers and put Garmin out of business tomorrow morning if they so choose.
2) Thanks to Facebook, I recently reconnected with a friend I literally grew up with – our parents used to put us in the same crib when we were babies. It has been many years since I have talked to her. Because of Facebook, I learned that she is married with 2 kids and is living in Ohio. Without Facebook, I doubt we’d have ever spoken again. Instead, I’m holding out some hope that I can meet her and her family for dinner tonight.
3) I still am blown away that I can take a photo with my blackberry, email it to a Flicker-appended email address, write the copy of my blog article in the email copy and post it right to the Top of Mind Blog. I learned this trick from Ryan Hartman at Bloodhound Blog Unchained. If you don’t know Ryan, you should take a look at his, hmmm how do I put this… unorthodox marketing style at www.retechulous.com.
We are living in an era of unprecedented innovation and it is really exciting! One minute, Garmin looks like a high flyer (remember that brief moment in time where we all had beepers?). The next minute, you wonder how Garmin survives the next 3 years.
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
I was surfing a message board that I frequent with high perfoming loan officers. One of them has an opportunity to present to a group of Realtors next week and he was told that he has a whole 3 minutes to do a presentation. Hmmm, 3 minutes. The post started by asking what would other loan officers do with this opportunity. It got me thinking about opportunities that I’ve had like this and how I approached them. Here was my response:
If I had 3 minutes to ‘talk’ to a group of Realtors, I would let them talk first. Ask them what their biggest frustrations are, ask them what they are not getting from their current lender relationships, ask them what they would like to see from a relationship.
I would spend 2 minutes finding out what their issues (’pain’) happen to be and then I would spend 1 minute explaining how you can help ease that pain or resolve some of their issues.
If you talk to them they won’t listen. If you listen to them and then address their concerns I think you would get a much higher interest level.
There are 2 important preparation points here:
1. Be prepared for no one to speak. I’m sure, in the current market, this won’t happen but you should be prepared with stories or pains that other Realtors have shared and then ask them if they are experiencing the same things. You will certainly get a response when you hit some hot buttons. Understand which of those the crowd seems to respond to and focus on those.
2. The reality is that you already know what they are going to say and what their issues are. This is not the point. Anyone can ’show up and throw up’ and ‘tell’ the Realtors what they can do for them. You really want to engage them and let them know that what they feel is important. Prepare your presentation and then mentally put each of your USP items or points that you want to make into categories that you can then use to help solve their pain.
This way you can get your points across and focus those points on what is most important to your audience.
Also remember that you can’t tell them everything so don’t try. Pick your top 3 key items that you want to convey – the things that will create the most business for your Realtor partners, the things that will save them the most time, make them the most money, releive the most frustration, help them build their business and get continued referrals, etc.
I would be surprised if you try this approach if the following doesn’t happen:
1. You get more than 3 minutes
2. You don’t get multiple questions
3. You don’t have the opportunity to set up appointments with individual agents to go into further detail with them in a more intimate setting
Touch on their concerns and offer to follow up with each of them if they wish. Get business cards and contact info (biz cards).
Maybe pick one or two products to highlight. Any more than that won’t fit in that timeframe.
Bring printed material with your contact info and logo on it. Make sure it is VERY valuable information.
Show them some other printed info you have (especially info on the tax credit extension – some FAQ’s, etc.) and whet their appetite. Offer to send it via email and even offer to personalize it with their information on it(next to yours of course ). I would bet that you would get a lot of takers.
Remember, it’s 3 minutes and that’s not a lot of time to get ANYTHING across let alone EVERYTHING – so don’t try.
My approach would be:
ASK
ANSWER
TEASE
That’s what I would do anyway. . . by the way, this IS what I do and it works!
I hope the presentation goes well and I’m looking forward to hearing from the LO about the results
Jason has been in the mortgage business for over 10 years and is the Branch Manager for Innovative Mortgage Concepts, A Division of Academy Mortgage Corporation located in Harleysville, PA. He has established his loan origination business through his dedication to building and nurturing referral relationships and creating 'raving fans' of his customers.
His approach is to provide education and assistance to help borrowers make informed decisions about one of the biggest financial decisions they will ever make.
Jason can be reached at (215) 513-1332 or jklaskin (at) in-mortgage.com.
We’re officially 60 days out from Mortgage Revolution and there’s a lot of buzz surrounding the event. Here’s a quick video I recorded if you’d like to learn more about who’s going to be there and what we’ll be sharing in Atlanta from Jan 10th thru 12th. I hope to see you there!
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
Victoria Del Frate's RSS Feed
Well, not all of the time, but there are days that I’ll spend 8 hours looking at a computer with nothing to show for it.
Back in 2004, when the book was published, the idea of 33 quality touches seemed aggressive to me. But with the advent of social media, it’s become a very achievable goal. I’d be flattered if you’d 
Having played Division One football myself and been in the mortgage corporate world for over twenty years, I can honestly state the foundational principles of being a great coach and recruiter long term are the same as being a successful career mortgage originator.
