Four Positive Reasons To Help Clients Through Challenges

Four Positive Reasons To Help Clients Through Challenges

BY PAMELA M. MARRON | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

There are two common ways that loan originators usually deal with issues that can stop a client from purchasing a home. One way is that the loan originator tells the client to go get the problem fixed and to return when the problem is resolved. The second way is that the loan originator fixes an issue as best as they know how … until the problem blows up during the mortgage process.

Challenging client issues are increasing. Clients are coming out of forbearance with income that may have been reduced, so there are questions about declining income and job continuance to address. Some clients are selling homes to downsize but have had recent late payments due to income loss from jobs, loss of a spouse, divorce and other reasons that must be explained to underwriters who want to be assured that the client is on firm ground to purchase again.

All this is happening while home prices in general continue to increase in most areas, though pockets across the US are starting to see a decrease in home values. Short sales and foreclosures are starting to appear in the marketplace again.

I get that some loan originators don’t want to deal with client issues. Frankly, that’s not a loan originators job. And dealing with clients that have challenges is not easy, can be time-consuming, and sometimes results in less compensation. However, there are multiple positive reasons to deal with challenged clients.

1. When our country goes through a national crisis, the negative outcome for those affected is often similar. It is common to hear that most people wait too long and wipe themselves out financially before asking for help. Knowing of solutions and having referral partners ready to work with clients to get through these issues can be a lifeline for many. Knowing HUD housing and credit counselors to recommend becomes a benefit to you as well as a service to your client.

2. Working through challenges can result in a niche for yourself that can provide business during rougher times. Clients I’ve worked with through the housing crisis who had a foreclosure code placed on past short sale credit, that then caused a new mortgage denial even when the client was eligible to purchase again, were the majority of my business when there was none for many loan originators.

3. Challenged clients that you can help are by far the most loyal clients you will ever have. They often know of others who need the same help and refer them. When challenged clients successfully get a loan, they will hunt you down the next time they or someone they know needs a mortgage. And you know that client retention is something we all work hard on.

4. Personally, assisting clients that need to overcome a challenge is rewarding to the soul. Understanding what people went through, realizing hardship that you may have never seen or experienced before gives you a different perspective on the value to others of being approved for a mortgage.

Currently I am working with clients that have had a forbearance, sometimes on multiple accounts. Thanks to the National Emergency Proclamation made on March 13, 2020 due to COVID-19, negative credit seems to have been suppressed for forbearance accounts, so getting an automated approval is possible. I am also helping a client who had a short sale four years ago and his lender did not know how to do the Fannie Mae workaround in the desktop automated system. (There is no workaround in Freddie Mac.) Being aware of existing solutions and finding new ones while referring clients who need extra help to HUD approved counselors to get them “mortgage ready” is how I will make it through an uncertain mortgage future.

The Clients2Homeowners.com website was set up to provide help for the most prevalent client issues including credit help, downpayment assistance, budgeting and referring to the right HUD housing or credit counselor to fit your client’s needs. And if you have a consistent problem and a solution is needed, contact me.

Professionals that worked on problems during the past housing crisis are still on the forefront and are aware of new problems coming out of these unusual times. The goal is to provide solutions, or a referral to a HUD housing or credit counselor, for clients who are willing to do the work to purchase a home.

Stay tuned.

Pamela M. Marron is a senior loan originator with Innovative Mortgage Services Inc.