Dear Mortgage Broker…
I trusted you. Please help me regain confidence in you and your industry…
A buyer is faced with so many decisions when buying a home that they HAVE to trust the professionals around them, even when it does not feel natural to them. I realize that I do not speak to all of you, and I’m pretty sure that the ones who should be reading this are not. In fact, they may no longer be selling loans. But I have to say it anyway. For the part that the mortgage industry played in our current crisis, you let us down. I don’t have any control over mortgage-backed securities, interest rates, federal fund rates, loan packages, or the like. But I do have control over who I refer my clients to for a loan. It is up to them to act on referrals from me or not.
When I work with a buyer to find a home, sometimes I can make a referral and sometimes they come to me pre-approved with the lender or mortgage broker of their choice. Some of you I know and the rest of you I have to hope will make the right choices for my client through the process of getting them approved and their loan funded. I am constantly looking for the most trusted financial resources for my clients, as I’m sure most Realtors do. So don’t think this is a one-shot deal with me when you do a loan for a client of mine. I’m continually evaluating you, just as the world (at least my little world) is continually evaluating me.
This is what I want. I want you to keep me educated, especially if I know you – because I already trust you. Tell me what’s going on in your industry that will have a direct impact on my clients. I want to know that. I want you to help me create solutions for them. While I’m focusing on MY work. . .helping my clients choose the best community/neighborhood/home for them, previewing homes that they find on the web, contacting agents to understand what’s going on with a property, writing offers that will hopefully get accepted and then ratified, understanding disclosure packages, etc., etc., I can’t keep up with your industry also beyond the few articles I have time to read. I want you to put financial industry changes into perspective for me utilizing your experience and expertise.
I don’t like the email blasts that you send to me as I know you’re sending them to your entire real estate agent database. I get too many of those and I don’t read them. If you have something special to share, call me and explain it to me. Or send a short email explaining the type of client your program is best for – then I can turn your valuable information into something that may help a client instead of just deleting it with the other (tons of) emails I get from people I don’t know. I want you to keep me up to date on what’s going on so that I can be a valuable resource to my clients on several fronts. I educate my contacts and those that ask me questions freely. I hope you do too. As an aside, those who already provide this kind of service to me and my clients, thank you.
Let’s help our clients navigate these choppy economic waters together so they can feel guided and informed about their decision to purchase a new home. Because now is the time that many buyers – some who are entering the market for the first time, and others who have not been in the market for years – are ready, willing and able.
I welcome your feedback. My readers pay attention even if they don’t comment (yet). I know because they tell me.
Sincerely,
Marian Bennett
Living and helping people on the San Mateo County Coastside
p.s. Here’s just a few sites that I try to read regularly to keep up to date on the mortgage industry: