Loan Think

At the 2010 Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention I attended in Atlanta, some saw an attitude in the participants that had been absent in the past few years—confidence about the industry’s future.

On Friday the government will release its new employment numbers for December and we'll see first hand if all this glowing economic optimism we've been hearing about is for real. Meanwhile the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury has fallen to a less frightful level (3.3%) and mortgage bankers are hoping (now cross your fingers) that come spring consumers will step up their home buying.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has now proposed a requirement that NONBANK RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LENDERS AND ORIGINATORS, LIKE OTHER TYPES OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, ESTABLISH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING PROGRAMS AND COMPLY WITH SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTS REGULATIONS.

Who is your competitor? There are three types of competitors (in the mortgage industry)—those within your company because you compare yourself to dollar amounts and closed deals.

Now before you start going ahead and thinking we are crazy let me explain a few things that are critical to your success.First – This deal was referred to us by another loan officer.

There is much truth to the cliché, "it's not what you say, but how you say it." And that is very important in the sales profession, where not only your words, but also your actions while you say them can convince a prospect to become a client.

On Dec. 8, Maria Quijada Ramirez of Bakersfield, Calif., was arrested at the home of a relative joining her husband and real estate agent daughter who already are in custody and awaiting trial. She was wanted on a $1 million arrest warrant in connection with an alleged $4.1 million mortgage fraud scheme.

It's all about making a profit and not worrying about the customer because if the customer doesn't like it, he can go across the street where there's no longer a mortgage lender to compete against. Anyway, that's the kind of attitude some mega lenders are supposedly taking these days, and that's why it's taking them 90 to 120 days to close loans, or so I've been told.

As we move into the fun and chaos of the Christmas holiday week, things are really busy here at Reverse Mortgage Success while we prepare for our launch of RMS 2.0 as well as on the origination side. Last week I had the opportunity to conduct one of my favorite (and most productive) reverse mortgage marketing strategies. Many of you already know where I'm going with this—you guessed it, I taught a group of Realtors a course on reverse mortgages. And better yet, they got continuing education credit. And even better than that, it cost me zero.

National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report recently finalized their 3Q rankings and the evidence remains clear: the dollar amount of outstanding mortgages in the U.S. is continuing to shrink, not by a lot mind you, but the trend (for now) is downward. At the end of September, Americans owed $9.807 trillion on their loans, down from $9.894 trillion at mid-year. Housing debt peaked at $10.138 trillion at the end of 2009. Why is mortgage debt falling? The answer appears simple: consumers are defaulting on loans and entering foreclosure, taking those mortgages out of the equation. But there also appears to be a growing number of home owners who are paying down their debts. If only the Federal government would emulate consumers…