If you were giving a home buyer seminar and planning to talk about everything consumers need to know when applying for a mortgage, it would probably be a two-day event. But, what I have found is that loan officers want to be thorough and leave no stone unturned, which could also bore the pants off of the people who would attend your seminar.
I believe that a one-hour event is enough time to talk about how the mortgage process works.
But the big question is, "What should you or do you need to cover within that 60 minute timeframe?"
So, what I did was post this question on Facebook: "What is the one topic that must be covered in a home buyer seminar presentation?"
Thank you for your suggestions, and we have listed 20 of them within this article.
I suggest you concentrate on only four or five topics that you think are important to your attendees and your area of the country.
Here's the list:
1)
2) Mortgage terminology and what it means
3) The difference between prepaid items and closing costs
4) The loan process and timelines for each phase of the process
5) Credit scoring do's and don'ts
6) How
7) Everyone's role in the home purchase process (i.e., appraiser, real estate broker(s), home inspector, title company, insurance agent, etc.)
8) Creating a housing budget and how it relates to the
9) Locking versus floating the interest rate
10) Things to ask other loan officers when
11) How monthly payments are figured (based on number of years, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance) and escrow accounts
12) Rent vs. Own comparison chart
13) Personal cash flow analysis versus qualifying ratios (they don't have to max out the ratios — review other personal expenses first)
14) How to read an appraisal (and why they may be getting multiple versions)
15) Documenting assets for down payment, closing costs and cash reserves
16) Ways to verify gift funds
17) Illustrate the payment difference between 15, 20, 25 and 30-year terms as well as the interest savings
18) Give them a blank copy of a loan application and talk about the info required and the documentation needed to back it up
19) Various loan programs
20) The difference between being pre-qualified, pre-approved and final approval.
I don't recommend a PowerPoint presentation for homebuyer seminars. However, I do recommend that for whatever topics you decide to discuss, you create a handout with space for your attendees to take notes, so they have something to refer back to — and of course so they remember that you were the loan officer who conducted the seminar.
I also recommend that you offer to provide a free copy of their credit report. Give them a mini-authorization form asking for basic info like name, address, social security number and employer. Add your standard credit report authorization wording, and during the event, ask someone to pull one in-file credit report and hand it to them at the end of the seminar, along with a cover letter that states you'll be calling them to explain what it means.
Those who allow you to pull a report are your next hot leads!
