Skip to main content

Get to the Point (Posted February 29, 2016)



As you may have already noticed, there’s some amateur art included in this week’s newsletter.  While it’s certainly better than a crayon drawing that might grace a refrigerator that’s supposed to be “mommy” but looks more like a B-movie creature, we all acknowledge there’s a reason the guy in our office who drew this . . . is still working in our office rather than making a living elsewhere.  Be that as it may, there’s a point to the picture: is this how you’re allowing your client to choose their mortgage company?  In many cases, it’s probably not too far off. 

Agreed, it’s wise to stay on the right side of the law and be sure you’re never accused of “steering”.  With that in mind, many agents tell their clients that it’s completely their decision as to what mortgage company they use (and it is, of course) and effectively step back from the entire conversation – using the illustration to the left, they’re putting the blindfold on the buyer and getting as far away as possible so they don’t take a dart to the eye or another sensitive region.  Others give the same advice about this being the buyer’s choice and go on to give three or four recommendations of different lenders – this is still giving them the darts but not the blindfold. 

“Steering”, of course, means you’ve symbolically taken the client by the shoulders and marched them into a lender’s office and said, “You HAVE TO use this lender if you want to work with me.”  There’s a reason that’s not just frowned upon but illegal.  It’s a good law designed to protect everyone in the transaction! 

Clients come to you, ultimately, so you’ll hand them the keys to their new home.  (Thanks, Captain Obvious!)  This means that they rely on you to give them good advice and sound counsel.  When you see a particular buyer has a unique set of circumstances or know the transaction has some funky factors that don’t pop up every day, you’re performing a value-added (and legal) service by saying, “Choosing a mortgage company is ALWAYS up to you.  With your situation, I would strongly suggest you consider _______ when choosing.  I’ve seen them tackle issues like these before, and they do it very well – other companies haven’t been up to the challenge.” 

KNOW what your individual lenders do well and better than anybody else and counsel your clients accordingly – a large part of our business comes from agents referring other agents because they’ve seen how well we’ve handled the tough situations.  The smoother the transaction, the happier the client will be.  Happy clients equal more referrals.  Smoother transactions equal faster paychecks. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An Age-Old Concept Reaping Future Rewards

W hy are social media like Facebook and Instagram so darn popular among real estate and mortgage folks?   Hint: the top reason might be an endless supply of memes, cat videos, and the chance to be snarky, but the other reason runs a VERY CLOSE second.   Give up?   Answer:   They’re free – and they really help even the playing field by enabling a one-person shop look and market like an organization who employs an army of wordsmiths and graphic artists. This new century is glorious, right?   With that in mind, let me re-introduce you to a centuries-old concept that is equally glorious – and can help IMPROVE the playing field for you, regardless of the size of your team: karma.   On the subject of “free”, I’m not suggesting that you work for free, but when you freely give of yourself and your knowledge, you’ll see a greater payoff, I promise! Recently, an agent came to us with a question: she has a client who is looking to sell his condo.   It...

KNOWING is Half the . . . Problem

If you’ve learned one thing from reading these columns, it’s this: I don’t read a ton of books by or about the French philosopher Descartes or spend large amounts of money traveling the world to view the Masters’ paintings in far-flung museums – my entertainment and sources of knowledge run to the more . . . mundane, if you will.   Well, I’m not about to disappoint.   In the movie Men in Black , the two main characters J & K (played by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, respectively) have recently met and K is trying to recruit J to join the clandestine government agency that monitors aliens on planet Earth.   Agent K has just shown J a lot of things that are hard to believe/explain and urges J to keep them secret.   At this point, J interrupts him, and this piece of dialogue ensues: J: Why the big secret?   People are smart.   They can handle it.   K: A person is smart.   People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you...

Control Your Money, Not Vice Versa

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post very similar to this - in fact, some aspects are identical - but I'm putting a slightly different twist on it to alter the perspective by a tad.   Whenever I meet a real estate investor who likes to take the fix-n-flip approach, I always ask why they go that route rather than subscribe to a buy-n-hold approach.  There are different answers to that question, but they all seem to have a common thread running through all of them: "I need the money to go out and buy another house to flip."  Sure, most people have a limited supply of cash on hand, so that makes sense.  With that said, there are three options EVERY real estate investor should know about - but, usually, they only know about the first one.  Let me set this up: Real-life example: the property in question costs $77,000 to acquire and $18,000 to rehab (total cash put out equals $95,000).  The property then can sell for $135,000.  Ready? Traditional...