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Ask the Experts
CP Loan Expert
Get on the Road to Building Referrals
By Joel Pate
 Regardless
of the market you find yourself in, and maybe you need to change markets by the way, real estate agents manage
to sell roughly 80% of all properties and 70% of the time that they recommend a mortgage originator to their buyer,
the customer uses that originator. Now, that is control.
If you have followed my column over the years, you know that I recommend that every originator
build a business based on real estate agent referrals. Now, while you are doing that, you should also concentrate
on building business from your past clients. The more current clients you have, that you do an excellent job with,
the more past clients you will have to help in the future. Since the average loan last, historically, for only
five to seven years, after awhile, you should be enjoying a blend of new business and repeat business.
So how do you enter and sustain a business with referral partners, especially, real estate agents?
Well, first, you must know what you are doing. You must be an expert at lending. Second, you must raise your persona
in the marketplace. Over the years, I have developed a Road Map To Success with Agents that I will be happy to
provide to you.
There is a road to doing business with agents. It is littered with originators that started off
with ill-fated plans or with no plan at all. The biggest mistake originators make when pursuing agents business
is to fail to realize that the agent has a commission riding on their selection of a mortgage company and if the
mortgage originator does a poor job, they may not eat for the next month or two.
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Legal Corner
 Prominent
attorney Herman Thordsen gives his advice and opinions on issues of law in the mortgage world.
A HUD/FHA REMINDER ABOUT BRANCH OFFICES
FACTS
Some of you have a mistaken opinion that there is some sort of "national HUD approval" that allows
you to take in FHA loans from any FHA approved branch for any property located anywhere in the United States. As
far as this attorney is aware: THAT IS NOT CORRECT.
If a mortgagee (YOU) is approved to originate single-family FHA mortgages, it (YOU) may take loan applications
for properties located in the branch's single-family origination ending area. A complete listing of lending
areas is the Table of Lending Areas for Single Family Origination. All other origination functions can be
performed in any registered branch without regard to where the property is located. (4060.1Rev2,5-3
MORAL
You must originate within the branch lending area but you can process at any approved branch. This is not a
right to originate anywhere in the United States.
VA LOAN LIMITS TO REMAIN AT $725,500
FACTS
The maximum loan limit on Department of Veterans Affairs guaranteed loans will remain at $729,750 for three
more years under a bill passed by Congress.
The maximum limit on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Housing Administration loans is scheduled to drop
down from $729,750 on Dec. 31 to $625,500 on Jan.1, 2009.
The Veterans Benefits Improvement Act will allow veterans in the highest-cost areas of the U.S. to get zero-down
loans of up to $729,750 until Dec. 31, 2011. Until then, the VA loan limit will be the greater of $417,000 or 125%
of area medium house prices up to $729,750. (S. 3023)
MORAL
You can also use the benefits on more than one home, like when the military transfers you to California from
Arizona. You used $25,000 of benefit in Arizona. Buy new house in California as OO and can use remainder of benefit.
Now you have investment property.
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Success with Subprime
untitled
Brian Sacks, mortgage expert, branch manager, trainer, and speaker gives advice on how to increase sales and
improve your business. This week's article: Monitoring your Progress
You'll probably feel a lot better about the time you take off from your "regular" work to devote
to marketing if you adopt the attitude that: marketing opportunities are just applications waiting to happen. It
helps to keep this bigger perspective and acknowledge all the things you do that are important pieces in the "success
puzzle." It's really all one big continuous process, and you have to value each step along the way.
Monitoring Progress
Let's go back to the analogy of traveling to Kalamazoo to win a million dollars. Wouldn't it be a good idea
to monitor your progress along the way just to make sure you were staying on track? If you monitor frequently and
regularly, and make adjustments as necessary, you'll stand a good chance of reaching your destination on time.
Otherwise, you run the risk of looking up and seeing a sign that says "San Diego City Limits" and realizing
that your goal is out of reach - you have failed.
I use an Originations Log and a Progress Tracking Log to help me keep track of whether my target client groups
are providing the amount of business I projected and also whether the loan amounts and revenue per loan averages
are in line with my expectations. This chart will help you pinpoint problems quickly and identify when and where
you need to modify your goals and/or your plan.
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