O DECEMBER 2010
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Idaho Association of Mortgage Professionals P.O. Box 7981 Boise, ID 83707 Phone #: (208) 321-9309 Fax #: (208) 321-4819 Web site: www.idahomortgagebrokers.org
OFFICERS Nichole Browning President Tyler Porter Vice President Alison Gillespie Treasurer/Secretary Steve Cox Immediate Past President
Phone # (208) 385-2323 (208) 389-4709 (208) 378-1013 (208) 514-3978
E-mail nichole@idahomortgagebrokers.org tyler@idahomortgagebrokers.org allison@idahomortgagebrokers.org steve@idahomortgagebrokers.org
DIRECTORS Chuck Anderson Tom Birch Bryan Booth Travis Dyson Melinda Kim Mark Rodeghiero Kathy Smith Scott Stingley Shanna Wroten-Tucker
(208) 667-0707 (208) 859-0260 (208) 378-1013 (208) 608-0059 (208) 333-8150 (208) 939-2228 (208) 230-5284 (208) 387-7414 (208) 388-0500
chuck@idahomortgagebrokers.org tom@idahomortgagebrokers.org bryan@idahomortgagebrokers.org travis@idahomortgagebrokers.org melinda@idahomortgagebrokers.org mark@idahomortgagebrokers.org kathy@idahomortgagebrokers.org scotts@idahomortgagebrokers.org shanna@idahomortgagebrokers.org
Idaho Department of Finance Receives Certificate of Accreditation
PROGRAM The Idaho Association of Mortgage Professionals Industry Partners Program provides the opportunity for companies to become an annual sponsor of IAMP activities. The benefits of each sponsorship level are shown below. Industry Partners opportunities are also available on a per-activity basis, including the Annual Conference, Golf Tournament and other scheduled activities. Contact the IAMP office or the Activities Committee chairperson for more information. Platinum Partner ..........................$3,000 annually The benefits of an IAMP Platinum Partnership include: Three IAMP Memberships Conference booth, with priority space Three conference full registrations Signage at monthly events Four golf registrations One golf hole Three holiday party registrations Signage at IAMP Holiday Party Gold Partner ..................................$2,000 annually The benefits of an IAMP Gold Partnership include: Two IAMP Memberships Conference booth Two conference full registrations Signage at monthly events One golf hole Two holiday party registrations Silver Partner ................................$1,000 annually The benefits of an IAMP Silver Partnership include: One IAMP Membership Signage at monthly events One conference full registration One holiday party registration One golf registration
Thank you for supporting IAMP!
DECEMBER 2010
For more information on the IAMP Industry Partners Program, contact the IAMP state office at (208) 321-9309 or visit www.idahomortgagebrokers.org.
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For more information, visit www.csbs.org.
Industry Partners
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The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has announced that the Idaho Department of Finance has received a certificate of accreditation, certifying that the Department maintains the standards and practices in state banking supervision set by the organization’s Accreditation Program. The Idaho Department of Finance was first accredited by CSBS in January of 1990 and has maintained its accreditation for more than 20 years. The Department was originally created by the Idaho State Legislature in 1905, and its mission is to aggressively promote access to vigorous, healthy and comprehensive financial services for Idaho citizens. This is accomplished through prudent and efficient oversight of financial institutions, investment opportunities, and credit transactions. Gavin Gee is the Director of the Department, and was first appointed as Director in March 1996, after serving a brief stint as Acting Director. Gee joined the Department in 1977 as a Securities Examiner and has held an array of positions, including Securities Bureau Chief and Bureau Chief of the Department’s Financial Institutions Bureau. Director Gee is a past-Chairman of CSBS and currently serves on the CSBS Board of Directors. He is also Chairman of the State Regulatory Registry, the wholly-owned subsidiary of CSBS that operates the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry on behalf of state mortgage regulators. Gee holds a law degree from the University of Idaho College of Law and an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University. The Department regulates banks, bank holding companies, credit unions, trust companies, savings banks, collection agencies, finance companies, money transmitters, mortgage brokers, lenders and individual loan originators, business and industrial development corporations, escrow companies, and securities issuers, broker dealers, salesmen and investment advisors, and endowed care cemeteries. All total, the Department regulates and licenses over 156,470 individuals and businesses operating in Idaho. “Director Gee continues to serve as a leader among state financial regulators,” said CSBS President and CEO Neil Milner. “Gavin, Financial Institutions Bureau Chief Mary Hughes and their staff have created a regulatory agency that consistently maintains the highest levels of regulatory oversight and consumer protection.” CSBS accreditation seeks to strengthen state banking departments and to demonstrate the high quality of state banking departments to the general public, the federal banking agencies, Congress, and other state banking departments. The accreditation process begins with completion of an extensive self-evaluation questionnaire on all department operations: administration and finance, personnel, training, examination, supervision, and legislative powers. Next, an external review team comprised of veteran state and federal regulators performs an onsite review and presents its findings to an audit team and to the Performance Standards Committee, the members of which vote on the reports of the review team and the audit team.
IAMP
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
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National Mortgage Professional Magazine
TABLE OF CONTENTS RTGAGE PRO
SSIONAL
NATIONAL
NMP
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December 2010
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MAG
AZIN
Volume 2, Number 12
COMPANY
WEB SITE
PAGE
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Special Focus on “Building Relationships”
48 Hour Network ............................................ www.48hn.com ....................................................33
The Seven Keys to Building Successful Relationships
BankFinancial.................................................. www.bankfinancial.com ......................................19
By Louis Tesoriero
Abacus Mortgage Training and Education .......... www.getyoured.com ....................................13 & 23 ACC Mortgage .................................................. www.weapproveloans.com ....................................39
32
CallFurst Conferencing...................................... www.callfurst.com ..............................................38 Comergence Compliance Monitoring, LLC .......... www.comergencetrustedmember.com ..................40
FHA Insider: Build Relationships Through FHA Updates By Jeff Mifsud
BlueRoof360.................................................... www.blueroof360.com ........................................17
33
Compensation Master ...................................... www.compensationmaster.com ............................25 Elliott and Company Appraisers, Inc................... www.elliottco.com ..............................................34
Strengthen Relationships With Social Media By John Seroka
34 35
Frost Mortgage Lending Group .......................... www.frostmortgage.com/nmp ..............................41 GSF Mortgage Corporation ................................ www.gsfprobranch.com ................Inside Front Cover GSF Funding .................................................... www.gsfsales.com ..................................................9
Relationship Speaking: The New Secret Ingredient By Laura Lynn Burke, EA
Flagstar Wholesale Lending .............................. www.wholesale.flagstar.com ....................Back Cover Freedom Mortgage .......................................... www.fmbranch.com ......................Inside Back Cover
What Could be Better Than Zero-Cost Marketing? By Adam P. Smith
Envision Direct ................................................ www.envisiondirect.net/catalog/mortgage.htm ......30
36
Guaranteed Home Mortgage.............................. www.joinguaranteed.com ....................................43 HVCC Appraisal Ordering .................................. www.hvccappraisalordering.com ..........................31
Building Borrower Relationships Through Industry Designations By Lance Cassell
MBA-NJ/NJAMB ................................................ www.mbanj.com ..................................................42
37
Mortgage Concepts .......................................... www.mortgageconcepts.com ..................................5 Mortgage Investors Corporation ........................ hr@mortgageinvestors.com ....................................6 NAPMW .......................................................... www.napmw.org ..................................................29
Features
Nationwide Equities Corp. ................................ www.nwecorp.com ..............................................10
Value Nation: The Field Appraisal Review is the Trump Card
Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Inc....... jobs@prmg.net ....................................................25
By Charlie W. Elliott, MAI, SRA, ASA
NMLF, Inc. ...................................................... www.nmlf.us ......................................................30
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ProClose.......................................................... www.proclose.com ..............................................28 Quality Mortgage Services ................................ www.qcmortgage.com ..................................21 & 35
The Secondary Market Overview: From Bonds to Production … Plan for the Year Ahead By Dave Hershman
PB Financial Group Corp. .................................. pbfinancialgrp.com ..............................................37
REMN (Real Estate Mortgage Network)................ www.remnwholesale.com ......................................7
13
StreetLinks National Appraisal Services .............. www.streetlinks.com/SCORe ..................................11 Terrace Mortgage Company .............................. www.terracemortgage.com ....................................4
SAFE Smart: Coming to a SAFE Place
13
United Northern Mortgage Bankers Ltd. ............ www.unitednorthern.jobs .............................. 8 & 33
By Paul Donohue, CRMS
The NAMB Perspective
14
Windvest Corporation ...................................... www.windvestcorp.com ........................................27
United Wholesale Mortgage .............................. www.uwmco.com ................................................26 Xetus Mortgage Corporation.............................. www.xetus.com ....................................................6
By Atare E. Agbamu
NationalMortgageProfessional.com IDAHO
Forward on Reverse: FIT for Mortgage Lenders (Part IV) … Funds Usage Matters
17
NMP Mortgage Professional of the Month: Greg Schroeder, 18 President, Comergence Compliance Monitoring TrendSpotter: Three Ways to Simplify Your Relationships in 2011 By Gibran Nicholas
20
Ask Tommy: Your QC Expert
A View From the “C” Suite: Are You Reliable? By Dave Lykken
The U.S. Mortgage Crisis: What the Models Missed By Joseph Breeden
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
By Tommy A. Duncan, CMT
21 22 24
Columns NMP News Flash
4 17
New to Market
29
NMP Calendar of Events
48
Visit NationalMortgageProfessional.com.
DECEMBER 2010
Heard on the Street
December 2010 Volume 2 • Number 12
Mortgage PROFESSIONAL N A T I O N A L
MAGAZINE
Your source for the latest on originations, settlement, and servicing
1220 Wantagh Avenue • Wantagh, NY 11793-2202 Phone: (516) 409-5555 / (888) 409-9770 Fax: (516) 409-4600 Web site: www.nationalmortgageprofessional.com STAFF Eric C. Peck Editor-in-Chief (516) 409-5555, ext. 312 ericp@nmpmediacorp.com Andrew T. Berman Executive Vice President (516) 409-5555, ext. 333 andrew@nmpmediacorp.com Domenica Trafficanda Art Director domenicat@nmpmediacorp.com Karen Krizman Senior National Account Executive (516) 409-5555, ext. 326 karenk@nmpmediacorp.com
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Jon Blake Advertising Coordinator (516) 409-5555, ext. 301 jonb@nmpmediacorp.com Jennifer Moeller Billing Coordinator (516) 409-5555, ext. 324 jenniferm@nmpmediacorp.com
ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS/PRESS RELEASES To submit any material, including articles and press releases, please contact Editor-in-Chief Eric C. Peck at (516) 409-5555, ext. 312 or e-mail ericp@nmpmediacorp.com. The deadline for submissions is the first of the month prior to the target issue.
As 2010 wraps up and we look forward to 2011, let us stop and take a minute to review the past year. We have seen a lot of changes on the regulatory and legislative front that have adversely impacted the industry (i.e. the impacts of LO compensation—see the bottom of the page for some insights), yet we still stand. Kudos to you all. And as we segue into another year, this month we hope to provide you with some tool and ideas that could take your business to the next level in our “Special Focus on Building Relationships.” We have assembled a group of authors who will share with you, their messages on how to grow your referral base and attract new clientele through simple everyday methods. In our “get it done in under 140 characters world,” we sometimes lose sight of the simplicity involved in building up these relationships. This section starts off with a piece from Louis Tesoiero revealing his “Seven Keys to Building Successful Relationships,” where he breaks down how to better construct your relationships and how to apply them to the mortgage industry. This is followed by Jeff Mifsud guiding you on how to build relationships through sharing your knowledge in his article “Build Relationships Through FHA Updates.” Personally, I feel that the growth of some of my most valued relationships have been fostered and nurtured by various forms of social media. Along those lines, you’ll want to check out John Seroka’s piece, “Strengthen Relationships With Social Media.” The nice thing about having friends send you business is that you help their contacts and you never have to pay for leads. Adam P. Smith discusses having systems in place to develop those relationships to ensure that your clients are all handled like good friends in his piece, “What Could be Better Than Zero-Cost Marketing.” Followed by that is an article from Laura Lynn Burke encouraging you to go outside of your comfort zone to build new relationships in “Relationship Speaking: The New Secret Ingredient.” Our focus concludes with a contribution from Lance Cassell on the importance of industry designations to build relationships with borrowers on a firm foundation of authority in his piece, “Building Borrower Relationships Through Industry Designations.” Thank you all for a great year. As we enter our third year of publishing National Mortgage Professional Magazine, we will be looking to build our relationship with you! I want to hear from you on how we can continue to make our publication the choice read of the complete mortgage professional. You can always e-mail me at andrew@nmpmediacorp.com or call (516) 409-5555, ext. 333 to provide feedback. Sincerely,
Andrew T. Berman, Executive Vice President NMP Media Corp.
New LinkedIn Group Created by David Lykken on Loan Originator Compensation Changes & New Rules NMP editorial contributor and mortgage banking consultant, David Lykken has started a heated conversation about loan originator compensation. Here's just a sample of some of the posts by the group members. “One common thread I see is that the majority, if not all, who support the delayed commission idea are from those paid on salary. If you would pay the loan officers a higher split, you may get them to do the delayed comp program, but honestly, what is in it for the originator? Nothing I can see, and since mortgage company management performance is less than stellar (based upon my 29 years of experience), I do not trust anyone with my money.”
SUBSCRIPTIONS To receive subscription information, please call (516) 409-5555, ext. 301; e-mail orders@nmpmediacorp.com or visit www.nationalmortgageprofessional.com. Any subscription changes may be made to the attention of “Circulation” via fax to (516) 409-4600. Statements, articles and opinions in National Mortgage Professional Magazine are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply the opinion or endorsement of NMP Media Corp., or the officers or members of National Association of Mortgage Brokers and its State Affiliates (NAMB), National Association of Professional Mortgage Women (NAPMW), National Credit Reporting Association (NCRA) and/or other state mortgage trade associations. Participation in NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA, and/or other state mortgage trade associations events, activities and/or publications is available on a non-discriminatory basis and does not reflect the endorsement of the product and/or services by NMP Media Corp., NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA, and other state mortgage trade associations. National Mortgage Professional Magazine, NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA, and/or other state mortgage trade associations do not make any misrepresentations or warranties concerning the regulatory and/or compliance aspects of advertisers, products or services and/or the editorial content contained in NMP Media Corp. publications. National Mortgage Professional Magazine and NMP Media Corp. reserve the right to edit, reject and/or postpone the publication of any articles, information or data. MO
“Has anyone thought about how they are going to compensate branch managers? In all of the readings and meetings I have attended, I am hearing that branch managers who also produce loans themselves will either have to be compensated one of two ways: Commission paid on loans they produce, or on profits of the branches, but they cannot be compensated on both. In our group, a manager typically gets paid a small salary, override on branch production, and profits splits. It is my understanding this will have to change, especially if they produce loans as well.”
—Robert W. Gerrard, CEO, One Mortgage LLC
“As a producing branch manager you will need to create a compensation plan for loan origination with yourself. In other words, you will have a split that makes sense for your branch and just like the other loan officers in your office, those terms need to remain intact, regardless of the profitability of the branch.”
RTGAGE PRO
NMP
SSIONAL
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—A Senior Loan Officer, SWBC Mortgage
FE
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
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ADVERTISING To receive any information regarding advertising rates, deadlines and requirements, please contact Senior National Account Executive Karen Krizman at (516) 409-5555, ext. 326 or e-mail karenk@nmpmediacorp.com.
A Message From NMP Media Corp. Executive Vice President Andrew T. Berman
MAG
AZIN
—Ryan Morrow, Loan Officer, Frost Mortgage Lending Group
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National Mortgage Professional Magazine is published monthly by NMP Media Corp. Copyright © 2010 NMP Media Corp.
Apply to join the LinkedIn group by way of this URL short-cut: http://goo.gl/2zGNp
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers
National Association of Professional Mortgage Women
11325 Random Hills Road, Suite 360 Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone #: (703) 342-5900 Fax #: (703) 342-5905
P.O. Box 451718 Garland, TX 75042 Phone #: (800) 827-3034 Fax #: (469) 524-5121 Web site: www.napmw.org
NAMB Board of Directors Officers President—Michael D’Alonzo, CMC Creative Mortgage Group 1126 Horsham Road, Suite D Maple Glen, PA 19002 (215) 657-9600 mjdalonzo@hotmail.com Vice President—Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS Amtrust Mortgage Funding Inc. 200 Medical Drive, Suite D Carmel, IN 46032 (317) 575-4355 dfrommeyer@amtrust.net Secretary—Virginia Ferguson, CMC Heritage Valley Mortgage Inc. 5700 Stoneridge Mall Road, Suite 225 Pleasanton, CA 94588 (925) 469-0100 hvm1@msn.com Treasurer—John Councilman, CMC,CRMS AMC Mortgage Corporation 2613 Fallston Road Fallston, MD 21047 (410) 557-6400 jlc@amcmortgage.com Immediate Past President—Jim Pair, CMC Mortgage Associates Corpus Christi 6262 Weber Road, Suite 208 Corpus Christi, TX 78413 (361) 853-9987 jlpair@aol.com
Directors Michael Anderson, CRMS Essential Mortgage 3029 S. Sherwood Forest Boulevard, Suite 200 Baton Rouge, LA 70816 (225) 297-7704 mikea@essentialmtg.com
Deb Killian, CRMS Charter Oak Lending Group LLC 3 Corporate Drive, P.O. Box 3196 Danbury, CT 06813-3196 (203) 778-9999, ext. 103 debkillian@snet.net
Walter Scott Excalibur Financial Inc. 175 Strafford Avenue, Suite 1 Wayne, PA 19087 (215) 669-3273 wscott.afcs@gmail.com
Vice President—Central Region Lisa Puckett (405) 741-5485 lpuckett@ameagletitle.com
President-Elect Laurie Abshier, GML, CMI (661) 283-1262 E-Mail: lauriea@gemcorp.com
Vice President—Eastern Region Christine Pollard (646) 584-8332 cpollard1046@gmail.com
Senior Vice President Candace Smith, CMI, CME (512) 329-9040 csmith@wrstarkey.com
Secretary Murielle Barnes, CME (806) 373-6641 napmw123@yahoo.com
Vice President—Northwestern Region Jill M. Kinsman (206) 344-7827 jill.kinsman@usbank.com
Treasurer Hulene Bridgman-Works (972) 494-2788 hulene137@yahoo.com
Vice President—Western Region Tim Courtney (760) 792-5620 desertranchrealty@hotmail.com
Parliamentarian Dawn Adams, GML, CMI (607) 737-2584 dawnvadams@live.com
National Credit Reporting Association Inc. 125 East Lake Street, Suite 200 Bloomingdale, IL 60108 Phone #: (630) 539-1525 Fax #: (630) 539-1526 Web site: www.ncrainc.org
3
2011 Board of Directors & Staff Tom Conwell President (248) 473-7400 tconwell@credittechnologies.com Donald J. Unger Vice President (303) 670-7993, ext. 222 don@advcredit.com Daphne Large Treasurer (901) 259-5105 daphnel@datafacts.com Marty Flynn Ex-Officio (925) 831-3520, ext. 224 marty@ccireports.com William Bower Director—Tenant Screening Chair (800) 288-4757 wbower@confinfo.com Mike Brown Director—Technology Chair (800) 285-6691 mike.brown@ncogroup.com
Janet Curtis Director—New Membership & Elections Co-Chair (212) 224-6121 jcurtis@sarma.com Renee Erickson Director—Tenant Screening Co-Chair (800) 311-1585, ext. 2101 renee@zipreports.com Nancy Fedich Director—Conference Chair (908) 813-8555, ext. 3010 nancy@cisinfo.net Judy Ryan Director—New Membership & Elections Chair (800) 929-3400, ext. 201 jryan@kroll.com Tom Swider Director—Legislative Co-Chair (856) 787-9005, ext. 1201 tswider@creditlenders.com Terry Clemans Executive Director (630) 539-1525 tclemans@ncrainc.org
DECEMBER 2010
Susan Cataldo DirectorEducation & Compliance Chair Jan Gerber (404) 303-8656, ext. 204 Office Manager/Membership Services susancds@cdsusa.net (630) 539-1525 jgerber@ncrainc.org
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Olga Kucerak, CRMS Crown Lending 222 East Houston, Suite 1600 San Antonio, TX 78205 (210) 828-3384 olga@crownlending.com
President Gary Tumbiolo, CMI (919) 452-1529 garytumbiolo@aol.com
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Donald Fader, CRMS SMC Home Finance P.O. Box 1376 Kinston, NC 28503-1376 (252) 523-5800 dfader@smchf.com
National Board of Directors
FHA reports to Congress: Capital reserve ratio holds steady
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
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The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has released its annual report to Congress on the financial status of its Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund, FHA’s principal insurance account that includes all single-family and reverse mortgage activity. FHA’s study finds that since last year, the capital reserve ratio held steady, insurance claims declined significantly, and the economic value of FHA’s singlefamily insurance program grew by more than $1 billion, from $3.6 billion in 2009 to $4.7 billion in 2010. Similar to last year’s report to Congress, this accounting shows that FHA is sustaining significant losses from loans insured prior to 2009 and its capital reserve ratio remains below the congressionally-mandated threshold of two percent of all insurance-in-force. However, the report concludes that under conservative assumptions of future growth of home prices, and without any new policy actions, FHA’s capital ratio is expected to approach two percent in 2014 and exceed the statutory requirement in 2015. “It’s clear that FHA is in a stronger position today than we were just one year ago,� said FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens. “While we are not yet completely out of the woods, based on the evidence we’re seeing, FHA is weathering the economic storm while helping to create a firm foundation for our nation’s recovery.� FHA’s capital reserve ratio measures reserves in excess of those needed to cover projected losses over the next 30 years. The independent actuarial reviews of the MMI Fund estimate FHA’s capital reserve ratio to be 0.50 percent of total insurance-in-force this year, falling fractionally from 0.53 percent in 2009. The difference is primarily attributed to the use of much more conservative assumptions regarding future house price growth than were used last year, which also resulted in an $8.5 billion decrease in economic value. However, that decrease was offset by a variety of factors, including an $8.7 billion increase in value due to better credit quality, loan performance, and
the premium increase implemented earlier this year. Due in large part to the performance of recently originated loans, FHA’s total capital resources increased by $1.5 billion since last year, to $33.3 billion, and are at their highest level ever—$5.5 billion greater than predicted last year. If the economy were to suffer a further significant downturn, recovery of the capital ratio could be delayed beyond the projected timeframe. However, even in the actuaries’ worst-case stress test scenario, FHA’s capital resources remain sufficient to cover projected claim losses and FHA would not require a taxpayer subsidy, an improvement over last year’s assessment and due to new loans having higher credit quality than had been anticipated. Due in large part to the performance of recently originated loans, FHA’s total capital resources increased by $1.5 billion since last year, to $33.3 billion, and are at their highest level ever—$5.5 billion greater than predicted last year. If the economy were to suffer a further significant downturn, recovery of the capital ratio could be delayed beyond the projected timeframe. However, even in the actuaries’ worst-case stress test scenario, FHA’s capital resources remain sufficient to cover projected claim losses and FHA would not require a taxpayer subsidy, an improvement over last year’s assessment and due to new loans having higher credit quality than had been anticipated. Loans insured before 2009 are responsible for 70 percent of the expected single family loan losses. Though they are now prohibited, so-called “sellerfinanced down payment assistance loans� produced $6.6 billion in claims to-date and may ultimately cost FHA $13.6 billion. Without these sellerfinanced loans, FHA’s capital ratio would be above the congressionally mandated two percent threshold. Conversely, loans insured since 2009 earned $4.8 billion in economic value to the MMI Fund and are estimated to generate $28.3 billion in economic value by 2016. Expected economic value of FY 2010 and FY 2011 loans alone are estimated to reach $11 billion. Insurance claim expenses in FY 2010 were 21 percent lower than predicted continued on page 6
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last year. Even before last year’s actuarial study, FHA management began instituting sweeping reforms to strengthen the MMI Fund. These policies have improved loan quality, strengthened lender enforcement, and helped to protect future performance. As a result, the FY 2010 and future books-of-business are expected to generate significant amounts of net capital resources that will help pay losses on earlier books and rebuild the capital position of the MMI Fund. In addition, FHA eliminated approval for loan correspondents and increased net worth requirements for lenders. FHA introduced a new premium structure that is more in line with private mortgage insurers’ pricing, and is estimated to provide approximately $300 million per month of additional capital to the MMI Fund. Furthermore, FHA has changed its credit score and down payment requirements to ensure that FHA provides access to borrowers who have historically performed well. Specifically, a minimum downpayment of 10 percent is now required of borrowers with credit scores below 580 and applicants with credit scores below 500 are no longer eligible for FHA insurance. For more information, visit www.hud.gov.
CSBS makes available all unique state test components for MLOs
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DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
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The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), which operates the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry (NMLS) on behalf of state mortgage regulators, has announced unique state test components are now available for all 50 states and two territories—the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE Act) requires mortgage loan originators to pass a written qualified test to become licensed through NMLS. The SAFE Mortgage Loan Originator Test, which has been developed by NMLS, consists of two components: a National Component and a Unique State Component. Mortgage loan originators must take and pass the National Component and a Unique State Component for each state in which they are seeking a license. “This announcement marks the successful completion of another requirement assigned to NMLS by the SAFE Act,� said Bill Matthews, CSBS senior vice president and president of the State Regulatory Registry, the whollyowned subsidiary of CSBS that operates NMLS on behalf of state mortgage regulators. “This is one more illustration of how state regulators are committed to providing enhanced and efficient supervision of the regulatory mortgage industry by their full commitment to
implement the many provisions of the SAFE Act.� The National Test Component and the first 11 Unique State Test Components were launched by NMLS on July 30, 2009. Since that date, NMLS has administered over 332,000 tests across the nation. For more information on how to enroll for the SAFE Mortgage Loan Originator Test, please visit the Testing Page of the NMLS Resource Center. For more information, visit www.csbs.org.
Freddie Mac finds fixed-rate is the predominant choice for refis Freddie Mac has announced the results of its quarterly Product Transition Report that concludes in the third quarter of 2010, refinancing borrowers overwhelmingly chose fixed-rate loans, regardless of whether their original loan was an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) or a fixed-rate. While 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are still the most preferred product chosen for the new loan among borrowers who previously had that product or an ARM, borrowers who previously held shorter-term fixed-rate mortgages showed a stronger preference for staying with a 15-year or 20year fixed-rate loan than they have in recent quarters. Overall, fixed-rate loans accounted for more than 95 percent of refinance loans. “Fixed mortgage rates fell throughout the third quarter in Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, with 30-year fixed rates dropping to levels we hadn’t seen since the early 1950s,� said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “We ended the second quarter excited that borrowers could lock in a rate of 4.75 percent for 30 years, and we ended the third quarter with rates at just a touch over 4.25 percent. It’s no wonder borrowers are attracted to fixed-rate loans.� These estimates come from a sample of properties on which Freddie Mac has funded at least two successive loans and the latest loan is for refinance rather than for home purchase. Some loan products, such as one-year ARMs and balloons, are based on a small number of transactions. Year-to-date through September, the ARM share of applications was six percent in Freddie Mac’s monthly ARM survey, which includes purchase-money as well as refinance applications. “The share of borrowers shortening their amortization terms remains high,� said Nothaft. “There is always a discount for shorter terms but the payments are often about 50 percent higher than a 30-year amortizing payment and thus are unaffordable to many homeowners. What we’re seeing now is
that the level of the 15-year payment is becoming more affordable to more borrowers.” For more information, visit www.freddiemac.com.
J.D. Power study finds Quicken Loans is tops in primary mortgage origination customer satisfaction
WE
ARE
nel,” said Lo. “Online lenders such as Quicken Loans do a very good job of keeping their customers informed of the process every step of the way by providing periodic status updates and information pertaining to their loan.” For more information, visit www.quickenloans.com or www.jdpower.com.
MBA requests more resources for FHA and the authority to strengthen the program According to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner David H. Stevens should be granted the resources
REMN
to better manage the agency through the current housing market crisis and to allow the agency to continue to thrive when the market recovers. Increasing resources for staffing and technology are among the 12 recommendations to improve the FHA and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) by the MBA’s Council on the Future of FHA and Ginnie Mae. Convened in November 2009, the Council consists of senior executives from 27 companies, representing both large national lenders and small independent mortgage bankers. “FHA and Ginnie Mae are cornerstones of the U.S. housing market as they provide access to mortgage loans for milcontinued on page 9
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Driven by an increase in length of time from application to approval, the average timeline of the mortgage origination process has increased for a third consecutive year, while customer satisfaction has declined, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study. The study, based on the voice of the customer, measures customer satisfaction in four key factors of the mortgage origination experience: The application and approval process, satisfaction of the loan officer and/or mortgage broker, the closing experience and contact. Quicken Loans ranks highest among primary mortgage lenders with a score of 826, and performs well in all four factors. MetLife Home Loans (808) and PNC/National City Mortgage (776) follow Quicken Loans in the rankings. The 2010 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 3,401 consumers who originated new mortgages. The study was fielded between July and August 2010. The study finds that the time from application to approval has increased to 27.5 days in 2010 from 20 days in 2009. As a result, the time frame for the entire origination process has increased to 52.1 days in 2010 from 46.9 days in 2009. Consequently, overall satisfaction has decreased to 734 (on a 1,000-point scale) in 2010 from 739 in 2009. “While the revised Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) guidelines appear to have streamlined and shortened the time from approval to closing, the unintended consequence is that the application to approval time frame has lengthened and become more complicated,” said David Lo, director of financial services at J.D. Power and Associates. “Ultimately, this longer timeline has a negative impact on overall satisfaction, although there are specific best practices that may mitigate the negative perceptions.” The study finds that the most important best practices, which are most closely associated with high levels of satisfaction, are: Providing proactive updates on the status of the loan Providing a welcome acknowledgment after an application is submitted Avoiding asking for the same information more than once Closing on the promised date Clearly explaining loan options and ensuring that the customer understands
Clearly explaining the entire process from application to approval The study also finds that usage of the online application channel continues to increase. Nearly 20 percent of customers now go online to start the mortgage application process, up from 14 percent in 2009. In comparison, only 29 percent of customers start the mortgage application process in person, while 33 percent did so in 2009. In addition, fewer customers this year say that they met with their loan officer or mortgage broker in person during the mortgage origination process—50 percent, compared with 57 percent in 2009. “Customer preference and, more importantly, perceptions, continue to increase with the online direct chan-
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lions of first-time, and low- and moderate-income homebuyers,” said MBA Immediate Past Chairman Robert E. Story Jr., CMB. “MBA members support both of these institutions. MBA has long advocated for changes that will help guarantee a strong FHA and Ginnie Mae.” For FHA, the report recommends that: Congress give FHA and Ginnie Mae appropriations to hire and train new staff. Congress provide FHA with appropriations to develop and implement modern information technology (IT) systems and processes, including anti-fraud tools. FHA should also refine its TOTAL Scorecard. FHA’s mission be updated and redefined, including a re-examination of the current FHA loan limits. FHA strengthen its reverse mortgage product (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)). Congress provide FHA with the expanded authority to increase premiums. Congress give the FHA Commissioner the authority, with the concurrence of the HUD Secretary, General Counsel and Ginnie Mae president, to temporarily suspend problem lenders. FHA balance its proposed multifamily risk management protocol against the backdrop of rising affordable
housing needs, declining incomes and the ongoing credit crisis. FHA should examine the existing Homeownership Center and Hub structure. The paper also recommends that Ginnie Mae: Examine appropriate staff levels. Maintain its exemption from the Credit Reform Act of 1990. Modify its policy regarding advance funding facilities. Clarify its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage MBS issuer criteria. The paper, “The Future of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae),” also offers observations on the recent past and future of FHA (including the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage [HECM] and multifamily programs), and Ginnie Mae products and programs. For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.
HOPE NOW reports: 120,000 proprietary loan mods closed in September HOPE NOW, the private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers
and non-profit counselors released its September 2010 survey data, which estimates the industry completed close to 150,000 permanent loan modifications for the month. The reported data for September shows that mortgage servicers completed approximately 120,000 proprietary loan modifications for homeowners and 27,840 Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) modifications (as reported by U.S. Department of the Treasury), for an estimated total of 147,000. The total number of loan modifications with principal and interest payment reductions declined slightly for the month of September (93,000 compared to 105,000 in August), but 78 percent of the total proprietary modifications completed in September provide a reduced monthly payment for homeowners. HOPE NOW is currently reporting additional metrics on types of proprietary modifications being offered to distressed homeowners in order to better assess sustainability. Since June 2010, HOPE Now estimates that loan modifications that provide homeowners with reduced principal and interest payments of 10 percent or more have accounted for 53 percent (255,000) of proprietary loan modifications in 2010. Additionally, it is estimated that loan modifications with a fixed rate period of five or more years account for 80 percent (381,000) of all proprietary modifications done this year by mort-
gage servicers. This is significant when assessing the affordability and viability of loan modifications currently being provided by the mortgage industry. According to these latest estimates, mortgage servicers have completed 1.4 million loan modifications in 2010. “The most important take away from HOPE NOW’s September data is that we now have good metrics on the sustainability of proprietary loan modifications being done by our servicer members,” said Faith Schwartz, senior adviser for HOPE NOW. “While HAMP has provided a road map for other solutions, and is still the first line of defense for a delinquent homeowner, if the borrower is not eligible for a HAMP modification, a proprietary modification is able to fill the gap and offer a viable and sustainable solution to avoid foreclosure, enabling the borrower to stay in their home.” For more information, visit www.hopenow.com.
Hawaii becomes the final state to join the NMLS Less than 34 months after its official launch, all 50 states have joined the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry (NMLS). Hawaii became the last state to join the NMLS, thereby ensuring improved supervision of non-depository mortgage lenders, brocontinued on page 10
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news flash
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kers, and mortgage loan originators maintaining licensure through a single system shared by all state mortgage regulators. “NMLS was built to be the foundation of a coordinated and transparent system of mortgage supervision implemented by state regulators,” said Neil Milner, CSBS president and chief executive officer. “Having all 50 states on the System provides greater transparency within the mortgage industry and makes information available to consumers as they obtain mortgages from state-licensed entities.” “This milestone is a testament to the hard work and commitment of state mort-
gage regulators,” said Gavin Gee, Director of the Idaho Department of Finance and Chairman of the State Regulatory Registry LLC (SRR). A limited liability company established by CSBS and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (AARMR), SRR operates NMLS on behalf of state regulators. “State regulators have demonstrated their ability to coordinate on an unprecedented level to enhance supervision of the residential mortgage industry and protect consumers.” Launched in January 2008 with seven states (Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, New York and Rhode Island),
NMLS now includes 58 state agencies from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NMLS currently tracks nearly 16,000 mortgage companies holding over 30,000 licenses and over 126,000 mortgage loan originators holding over 207,000 licenses. For more information, visit www.mortgage.nationwidelicensingsystem.org.
TransUnion study finds mortgage delinquency “roll rates” peaked in summer of 2009 The number of consumers “rolling” their delinquency status on mortgage payments from 30- to
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60 and 60- to 90 days past due peaked in July 2009, according to a new study from TransUnion. Approximately 24.4 percent of consumers who were 30 days past due on their mortgage payments in June 2009 became 60 days past due in July 2009, and nearly 37.6 percent of consumers 60 days delinquent on their mortgage payments became 90 days late in that same time. “Consumers who are past due on their mortgages are always susceptible to going into more severe stages of delinquency. We found that this vulnerability was exacerbated during the recession as housing prices declined and unemployment increased,” said FJ Guarrera, vice president in TransUnion’s financial services business unit and one of the authors of the study. “Coincidentally, we noted that roll rates observed in the study reached their apex one month after the end of the recession as officially determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. This timing is a clear illustration of how credit dynamics can lag economic dynamics: although we may have left the worst of the recession behind as we entered recovery economically, from a credit perspective we were just hitting the toughest period for consumer default.” One of the interesting insights gained from the TransUnion study was the relationship between consumers with home equity loans or lines of credit and increased mortgage delinquency through the recession. The study indicated that, under certain circumstances, the presence of one of these loans may contribute to higher roll rates during trying economic times. In March 2006, the national 30-60 mortgage roll rate was 12.56 percent for borrowers with home equity loans/lines and 17.16 percent for those without. However, by March 2009 the 30-60 roll rate had skyrocketed to 26.55 percent for borrowers with home equity loans/lines, while increasing to only 22.66 percent for those borrowers without. Not surprisingly, the effect of home equity loans or lines of credit on roll rates was more pronounced in states with the most severe recessionary effects. In California during that same time period, 30-60 mortgage roll rates for borrowers with home equity loans jumped from 12.99 percent to 39.42 percent. California borrowers without home equity loans/lines experienced a smaller increase from 17.00 percent to 32.24 percent. “This is yet another example of the dynamic nature of the lending markets, and how consumers react to different economic, financial and social forces. The presence of a home equity line used to be an indicator that a consumer had ‘deeper pockets,’ i.e. more equity and greater financial resources. Now it has become a red flag for higher risk due to over-leveraging,” Guarrera said. The study confirmed previous findings that mortgage delinquency roll rates were correlated to falling housing prices and rising unemployment over continued on page 12
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the course of the recession. Median existing home prices decreased 18.1 percent (from $207,700 to $170,200) from 12/2007 through 06/2009, while 30-60 and 60-90 mortgage roll rates increased 42.4 percent and 29.6 percent, respectively. The national 30-60 mortgage roll rate had been 17.12 percent in December 2007 and moved up to 24.38 percent by June 2009. The 60-90 mortgage roll rate increased from 29.00 percent to 37.59 percent in that same timeframe. For more information, visit www.transunion.com/business. By Charlie W. Elliott Jr., MAI, SRA, ASA
The Field Appraisal Review is the Trump Card This is the third of three columns that I am writing to bring attention to and extol the virtues of the three most commonly used appraisal review reports as quality control tools. These tools are:
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
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While the Field Review will typically be reported on a standard review form, it is much more like preparing a completely new appraisal. The reviewer not only has seen the subject property, usually from the curb, but he or she most The Electronic Appraisal Review; likely has inspected the comparable sales The Desk Review; and used in the appraisal, as well as other The Field Review. competing comparable sales. He is more likely to have in-depth knowledge of the They are listed in the subject neighborhood, as order of the least comwell as a feel for the overprehensive to the most all market in which the comprehensive, and the subject is located. column is designed to The Field Review, like assist the reader in makthe Desk Review, is coving the proper decision ered in Uniform Standards as to which review tool is of Professional Practice best for a given situation. (USPAP) and the reviewer Of all of the appraisal is required to meet certain review products available standards. Under USPAP, to the lender, the Field when the reviewer proReview is the trump card. vides a reviewer value “… where there is It is the method of opinion he or she must reviewing an appraisal reason to question the state and/or identify the that will typically yield client, the users, the purappraisal from the the most accurate and pose of the review, the onset, a Field Review credible analysis of the may be ordered upfront work under review, the appraisal that is under date of the work under to save time and review. It consumes review, the effective date money and to get a more resources than of the opinions and coneither of its less-compre- comprehensive review.” clusions, the name of the hensive cousins, because appraiser performing the it is more time-consuming, requires appraisal, the effective date of the more research, requires travel, includes appraisal review, all extraordinary a property inspection of the subject assumptions and hypothetical condiproperty at a minimum, and in many tions and how these assumptions and cases, requires an inspection of the conditions affect the results, scope of comparable sales used in the analysis. the work, reviewer opinions and concluTherefore, it costs more. The appraiser, sions. The appraiser must also include a through this additional effort, has signed certification, state the reviewer’s much more information from which to opinion of value, state information, base his or her opinion and to render analysis and opinions accepted as credthe most creditable results. itable, and summarize any additional The Field Review, unlike some of the information relied upon in the reviewother reports, will typically provide a ers value opinion. review appraiser’s opinion, which Even though it is the granddaddy of agrees with that of the original apprais- the Appraisal Reviews, the Field Review er or offers a dissenting opinion, com- does have its shortcomings. First, it plete with additional comparable sales continued on page 16 and a different final opinion of value.
Report finds sharp spike in mortgages 90-plus days delinquent The Center for Housing Policy, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the Urban Institute have compiled and released the first data on seriously delinquent mortgages for all 366 U.S. metro areas. “Seriously delinquent” mortgages are those that are delinquent 90 days or more or are in the foreclosure process. An analysis of these data for the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas reveals a 32 percent increase over a one-year period in the share of mortgages that are seriously delinquent. In March 2010, more than one in 10 mortgages (10.2 percent) in the 100 largest metropolitan areas was seriously delinquent— up from one in 13 mortgages (7.7 percent) in March 2009. “These new delinquency data confirm that the number of foreclosures is likely to continue to rise,” said Jeffrey Lubell, executive director of the Center for Housing Policy, the research affiliate of the National Housing Conference. “By providing the first available information on foreclosure and delinquency rates for all 366 U.S. metropolitan areas, the ForeclosureResponse.org team hopes to raise awareness of the continuing challenge of mortgage foreclosures and encourage policymakers and practitioners to use both time-tested and innovative solutions to help address this challenge.” The study ranks metropolitan areas by foreclosure and delinquency rates. The severity and the trajectory of the problem vary dramatically across the nation. Among the 100 largest metropolitan areas, the Austin metro area had the lowest share of seriously delinquent mortgages in March 2010 (4.4 percent) while, at the other extreme, 26 percent of mortgages in the Miami metro area were seriously delinquent. Over the preceding year, the share of mortgages that were seriously delinquent in the Austin metro area increased by just 1.3 percentage points, as compared to an increase of 6.6 percentage points in the Miami metro area. “The most rapid increases in mortgage delinquency occurred in metro areas where home prices are much higher than local incomes can afford,” said Tom Kingsley, senior fellow at the
Urban Institute. “The other factors associated with rising delinquencies were declining employment, plunging home prices and higher densities of sub-prime lending in the peak period from 2004 to 2006.” According to a background paper prepared by Kingsley and Chris Walker of LISC, when the foreclosure crisis began, metro areas in California were the hardest hit, with Florida, Arizona and Nevada close behind. Now, five of the six metro areas with the highest serious delinquency rates are in Florida (Miami, Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa and Bradenton). On average, more than one in five mortgages was seriously delinquent (21.2 percent) in these five Florida metro areas in March 2010, up five percentage points from the previous year. The top five California metro areas (Riverside, Stockton, Modesto, Bakersfield and Fresno) have an average delinquency rate of 16.6 percent, but their rate of increase has slowed considerably, up only 2.3 points over the year. The paper focuses on serious delinquencies in the 100 largest metropolitan areas. Among the 100 largest metro areas, eight of the 10 metro areas with the lowest rates of serious delinquency in March 2010 were in the nation’s midsection—Austin, Madison, Omaha, Des Moines, San Antonio, Colorado Springs, Wichita and Tulsa; the other two were Raleigh and Lancaster. Rates for these 10 ranged from 4.4 to 6.5 percent and annual increases were also much smaller, ranging from 1.3 to 1.9 points. “It is worth noting that even these levels are seriously problematic when considered in relation to decades of much lower delinquency rates prior to the start of the mortgage crisis in 2007,” said Kingsley. “The data show the full extent of the foreclosure problem in metro areas nationwide,” said Chris Walker, research director of LISC, which calculated the information made public on the ForeclosureResponse.org Web site. “This study ranks metropolitan areas by the overall rate of seriously delinquent mortgages, providing a better indicator of housing market stress since it looks at the full extent of the problem rather than just the number of foreclosures entering the pipeline,” said Walker. For more information, visit www.foreclosure-response.org.
Your turn National Mortgage Professional Magazine invites you to submit any information on regulatory changes, legislative updates, human interest stories or any other newsworthy items pertaining to the mortgage industry to the attention of:
NMP News Flash column Phone #: (516) 409-5555 E-mail: newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are preferred. The deadline for submissions is the 1st of the month prior to the target issue.
Plan for the Year Ahead It has never been more important for originators to plan for an upcoming year as we approach 2011. That is why the focus of this month’s edition of National Mortgage Professional Magazine is of utmost importance as we look at building relationships. We have been subjected to more changes in the past three years than the industry has seen in the previous two decades, and no part of the industry has been untouched:
Program changes; The tightening of credit; Record low rates; Falling home prices; Changes in laws and regulations; The demise of the sub-prime industry; The rebirth of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA); The government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; Skyrocketing foreclosures; and A documentation crisis …
So, what does it take to plan ahead in such a variable environment? I hope reading through this edition of National Mortgage Professional Magazine will provide you with some ideas; however, I would like to offer my own perspective on this … planning should be a systematic process. This process should lead to definitive actions that will help us meet our objectives. In other words, we don’t plan for the sake of planning. We plan in order to change our actions. We should start by outlining our short-term, intermediate-term and long-term objectives:
continued on page 16
The intent of Congress in passing the SAFE Act was to lay a new foundation for our industry that protects consumers, stabilizes the credit markets and provides for better oversight. 1) Consumer Safety is primary. The SAFE Act requires MLOs to act in the best interest of the borrower and provides consumers free access to the employment status and disciplinary actions against an originator.
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2) Capital Safety is the objective. By requiring minimum competency standards and forcing responsible lending practices into the non-bank lending channel, we will again demonstrate to the capital markets our ability to produce investment grade product. 3) Accountability and Oversight is the methodology. The Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry (NMLS&R) database provides for uniform reporting, improves the flow of information amongst regulators and tracks MLO activity across state lines. It’s our industry that was at the epicenter of the nation’s financial crisis. It is our responsibility to restore the lost confidence and credibility. The SAFE Act has elevated the playing field. It will be up to us to play by the rules. Competency, responsible lending and accountability comprise the new stadium where we will compete.
Profit Profit is good. Profit builds the roads, the schools and it secures our family and measures our value. Profit inspires excellence, improves service and motivates us to be our best. The free market is brutally honest. Every day you compete for your share, and each month, your profits validate your work. Profit is good. On the new professional field, a higher level of competition has been set. The good news is that you’ll no longer be playing against shortsighted opportunists with no commitment to professionalism. Those days are gone forever. It’s a better time; you’ll look back five years from now and see that we’ve built a safer place for borrowers to come to you.
Prosperity As you close the books on this year, as you draw your friends and family near, celebrate all the good things you have done. To you and yours, I wish good health, peace and prosperity in the New Year.
Paul Donohue, CRMS is a 23-year industry professional and founder of Abacus Mortgage Training and Education. Paul served on two NMLS working groups, establishing the new national education protocols. Go to AbacusMortgageTraining.com to find out more about your obligations for testing, education and licensure, or call (888) 341-7767.
DECEMBER 2010
Long-term objectives tell us where we are heading. What do you want to accomplish in your career and beyond? Intermediate-term objectives. What can you do in order to meet your goals in the next year that will help you move towards your loan-term objectives? It is here that we decide what we would like our income to be next year, as well as a host of other factors. Short-term objectives include our everyday actions that will help us achieve what we want to accomplish
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Sales training will tell you that you should not be selling “rates.” I agree with the point that we should
You will be called upon to have a discernable pricing policy within the new compensation regulations. This policy must be adhered to, regardless of the changes in the secondary markets. This will be a challenge for many loan officers, especially if the markets continue to be volatile.
We are standing on a new playing field, two years from the credit crisis of 2008 and the SAFE Act. The old stadium has been replaced. We are charging out of new locker rooms, with new rules, brighter lines and tougher officiating. It’s a whole new game. A new league of mortgage professionals is emerging across the industry. In the wake of the unprecedented financial crisis, it is reasonable to expect a period of unprecedented reaction. We are in a time of legislative mania. Regulatory activism and economic realities are driving a top to bottom reformation of the mortgage industry. The old safety and soundness lending principles that were once solely the domain of the depository institutions are being pushed down into the non-bank channel, right onto the shoulders of the licensed loan originator. Mortgage loan originator (MLO) licensure is meant to create a family friendly environment where consumers and investors alike can come to a SAFE place to enter a mortgage contract.
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Need I continue? So, how could next year become even more interesting? Those who have survived the carnage of the past few years could face a whole new series of challenges. For one, we have compensation requirements changing effective April 1 of next year. Secondly, we all know that these record low rates will not last forever. At some point, we must convert to a more balanced industry comprised of purchases and refinances. Finally, financial services legislation will bring another level of regulation beyond the focus upon compensation. Many of your competitors have left the industry. However, new competitors will appear just as quickly, especially as the purchase market recovers. Though the broker industry has been decimated as far as numbers are concerned, don’t count this segment out. As banks have left the wholesale business, there will be many players waiting to take their place. So … where do we go from here? This column, though secondary-based, is not about predicting the future. Yet, there is no doubt that the secondary markets will play an important part in the near-term future.
be focusing upon value and differentiating ourselves from those who are selling rates. On the other hand, keep in mind the direction of rates will determine what direction the markets will take next year. If rates stay low, refinances will continue. If rates begin creeping up, this could indicate that the purchase market is awakening. Either way, there will be an opportunity. However, you will have to implement a marketing plan that can take advantage of either scenario. It is too late to make changes in your plan after the turn has occurred.
Coming to a SAFE Place
For more information on the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, visit www.namb.org.
Scenes From NAMB/WEST 2010 December 4-6, 2010 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas
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New NAMB President Mike D’Alonzo receives the NAMB Presidential Pin from Past President Jim Pair during NAMB/WEST 2010
NAMB Government Affairs Committee Chair Mike Anderson discusses the latest happenings in Washington, D.C. with attendees
April Slizewski and Greg Tracy of BlueRoof360 were on hand in Las Vegas to discuss their Web site offerings Greg Frost delivers his session on the “Principles of Ethical Influence” to a packed house
John Myler, Raymond Bartreau and Cody Bennett from Best Rate Referrals pause for a photo on the exhibit hall floor of the MGM Grand
Attendees take part in the “Speed Dating: Mortgage Style” session matching mortgage professionals with a wide variety of vendors in a “speed dating” environment Cindy Broaddus, Terri Duncan, Eric Weisbrod, Joe Spangenberg and Diana Bryson-Dikes from Paramount Residential Mortgage Group Inc. (PRMG) were on hand to explain their product offerings
NAMB Vice President Donald J. Frommeyer discusses NAMB’s accomplishments over the past year
Mike Gulitz from MortgagePlannerCRM shares his business management strategies during the session, “DARTS: Five Strategies to Get a Zero Inbox”
Steve Richman from Genworth Mortgage Insurance discusses diversifying your approach to marketing in his discussion, “The Market Has Changed and the Borrowers Have Changed … Have You?”
Geoff Ninno, David Exner, Suzanne Perez and Richard Theiss from Kinecta Federal Credit Union smile for a photo
Lori Viera, Lisa Schrieber and Mark Karanovich from NetMore America were on hand to assist NAMB/WEST 2010 attendees
NAMB Lobbyist Roy DeLoach fields questions during the Government Affairs Panel Discussion
Graham Montigny from Hondros Learning discusses pre- and post-licensure requirements for mortgage professionals
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Greg Frost Jr. and Greg Frost from Frost Mortgage Lending Group on the exhibit hall floor of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas
Denise Leonard sits in on the NAMB Government Affairs Panel Discussion in Las Vegas
Greg Tracy of BlueRoof360 discusses Web site development with NAMB Treasurer John Councilman during the “Speed Dating: Mortgage Style” session
DECEMBER 2010
Steve Smith and Lance Siegal from HVCC Appraisal Ordering on the exhibit hall floor during NAMB/WEST 2010
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Dave Luna, president of Mortgage Educators, discusses SAFE Act education during his session
Doug Change and Tate Kesner from Calyx Software were on hand to demonstrate the latest version of the company’s Point software solution
Brian Stevens from Think Big Work Small discusses video marketing with NAMB/WEST 2010 attendees
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Orawin Velz from Fannie Mae presents her economic outlook for 2011 during her session, “Are We Out of the Woods Yet?”
value nation
costs much more than the other review products available to the lender. While Electronic Reviews may cost less than $50 each and Desk Reviews are normally priced between $100-$200, a recent survey indicated that the Field Review costs about the same as an appraisal and, if things get complicated, it can cost more. The estimated cost of a Field Review, for most properties in most localities, ranges from $300-$400. The Field Review also takes more time than most competing appraisal review tools. While Electronic Reviews are available at warp speed or usually in less than 30 min. and Desk Reviews can be performed usually within one day, Field Reviews, like appraisals, can take four or five days to complete, sometimes more. One last drawback to the Field Review is that not all appraisers are competent to perform them and many do not like to do them. Therefore, finding an appraiser interested in performing them can sometimes be a challenge. The decision to select the Field Review should be one of what is the best tool for the job. Most lenders do not order Field Reviews unless there is a reason to suspect that there are serious problems with an appraisal. This is usually the case, due to the additional cost associated with it, not to mention the additional time. Time is especially an issue with new originations, where closing dates are set and there is often little additional time to spend on evaluations, requiring up top a week to complete. In order to conserve resources, I recommend a triage-type method of determining the review tool to use. This method begins with an Electronic Review of the appraisal. Upon getting the results and having them evaluated by a quality control officer, the lender decides whether to accept the appraisal or to order a
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more comprehensive appraisal. If a more comprehensive evaluation is needed, usually a Desk Review is ordered. If the Desk Review indicates that an inspection of the property is necessary or that some other issue requires a closer look, a Field Review is ordered. In other cases, where there is reason to question the appraisal from the onset, a Field Review may be ordered upfront to save time and money and to get a comprehensive review. In summary, the Field Review is the most comprehensive and thorough appraisal review tool available to the lender in evaluating an appraisal. It is also the most expensive and time-consuming. Due to the resources consumed by the Field Review, sometimes lesser products can do the job quicker and cheaper, while providing adequate quality control. The decision as to what level of review to order should not be taken lightly. It should be made based upon the evidence at hand, some of which may have been gleaned from other appraisal review tools. Lenders not having qualified quality control officers on staff may consider hiring someone in this capacity to make decisions as to which review tool best serves a particular need. Outsourcing of quality control and appraisal review supervision may be an option for some institutions. Whatever tool is chosen, if there is a question about which tool should be used, the Field Review is the best review tool in the toolbox given the resources to acquire it. Charlie W. Elliott Jr., MAI, SRA, is president of Elliott & Company Appraisers, a national real estate appraisal company. He can be reached at (800) 854-5889, e-mail charlie@elliottco.com or visit his company’s Web site, www.appraisalsanywhere.com.
Headlines and breaking news from NationalMortgageProfessional.com.
the secondary market overview Headlines and blogs from around the web.
“Many of your competitors have left the industry. However, new competitors will appear just as quickly, especially as the purchase market recovers.” tomorrow, next week and next month. If you want to make $100,000 next year, what must you do to develop the referrals sources you need? Of course, the development of your goals is only the first step. We must also go through an “evaluation phase” of planning. This phase will help us look at the effectiveness of our present activi-
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ties. We don’t want to eliminate those activities that are effective. However, we must minimize, change or eliminate those that are ineffective. If we don’t do that, there is no way of implementing new activities. Dave Hershman is a leading author for the mortgage industry with eight books and several hundred articles to his credit. He is also head of OriginationPro Mortgage School and a top industry speaker. Dave’s NewsletterPro Marketing System can be found at www.webinars.originationpro.com. If you would like to stay ahead of what is happening in the markets, visit ratelink.originationpro.com for a free trial or e-mail success@hershmangroup.com.
StreetLinks completes its acquisition of Corvisa
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“Not all that can be counted counts” wrote the physicist Albert Einstein, “and not all that counts can be counted.” Reverse mortgage funds-usage counts in judging whether a senior can live at home and benefit from loan funds. The first “yellow flag” of the Financial Interview Tool (FIT) looks at funds-usage. Home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) counselors must ask whether seniors plan to buy financial or insurance products with cash from their reverse mortgage loan. Then, they are to bring up realitytesting issues, such as double costs, the risk of running out of cash to pay older folks’ higher premiums, the risk of burning through cash they need to live on, and the risk of losing their home should they fail to meet home maintenance, taxes and home insurance obligations.
“In the ‘numbers-driven’ world of lending, asking more questions and talking a little longer with customers to better understand all their needs may not be ‘efficient.’” To do their own funds-usage risk assessment, lenders must find ways to discuss this issue with seniors at the loan interview. How they do this without invit-
ing nasty “none-of-your-business” looks and offending seniors will test their people skills. It comes down to one strong question to begin the conversation. Your typical “yes-no” questions about annuities and insurance in loan application disclosures will not suffice as they are too narrow, too close-ended and too cold-blooded. Originators need to compose artfullyframed questions to spark a warm conversation inn order to obtain the information and insights they need without displeasing their customers and starting their relationships off on the wrong footing. How to frame the questions will depend on an originator’s question-asking abilities and the dynamics of their interaction with seniors during the loan interview. For illustration, I suggest the following: “Mrs. Akuna, if your loan application goes through and you get all of the cash you need and more, what other financial, investment or insurance products would you like to have?* Then, listen. Listen and ask, “Why?” Then, listen more. continued on page 19
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DECEMBER 2010
Ellie Mae and NetMore America have jointly announced that NetMore has been added to Ellie Mae’s Encompass360 Select program, which is accessible to preferred customers of Encompass360. As part of the Encompass360 Select program, NetMore America will be seamlessly integrated
MDA DataQuick, a division of MDA Lending Solutions and an independent provider of property data to real estate and mortgage professionals, has announced that Corona, Calif.-based Paramount Residential Mortgage Group (PRMG) has selected MDA DataQuick’s PropertyFinder 2G for property information verification. According
Funds Usage Matters
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NetMore America joins Ellie Mae’s Encompass360 Select program
PRMG taps MDA DataQuick for quality control and underwriting solutions
FIT for Reverse Mortgage Lenders: Part IV
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StreetLinks National Appraisal Services has announced that it has acquired majority ownership in Corvisa LLC, a mortgage software and appraisal management technology firm. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. “StreetLinks is continuing to experience tremendous growth having developed a reputation for the best service, quality and technology in the full appraisal management space. Corvisa brings industry-leading self-management technology to the mix. Together, we can address the appraisal fulfillment needs of any lender’s business model,” said Corvisa President Matt Lautz. “The synergy between StreetLinks and Corvisa positions us as a ‘one stop’ appraisal management provider,” said StreetLinks Chief Executive Officer Steve Haslam. “Lenders can choose from a comprehensive and full-service appraisal management solution, a self-managed software solution, or a hybrid solution tailored to match any lender’s specific business and compliance needs. In addition to appraisal management solutions, StreetLinks and Corvisa are already in the process of developing a full suite of new and innovative valuation products that will be released throughout 2011.” Tony Ebeyer, StreetLinks’ chief operating officer, said, “The combination of our talents, experience and outstanding technical teams will allow us to accelerate our product diversification strategies. Our objective is to bring to market a host of pre and post origination products and services that greatly elevate what is currently available to mortgage professionals.” For more information, visit www.corvisa.com or www.streetlinks.com.
into Encompass360. This integration enables NetMore America to engage in a two-way communication providing real-time pricing information to preferred Encompass360 users who are approved to do business with NetMore. Once the borrower’s information is input into the Encompass360 system, it is matched against NetMore’s predetermined loan criteria and pricing results are automatically presented on the user’s Encompass360 screen. Users are then presented with the options to learn more about NetMore’s loan programs and upload the borrower’s information directly from Encompass360 into NetMore’s loan origination system. Once a loan is in process with NetMore, users may also upload documents into NetMore’s system, directly from their Encompass360 eFolder. “It is invaluable to be able to communicate with loan originators while they’re actually originating loans,” says NetMore America Chief Strategy Officer Lisa Schreiber. “As part of Encompass360 Select, we can reach more originators regardless of geographic location. This is a great way to enhance our wholesale brokers’ businesses and help grow our business as well.” “Getting accurate pricing delivered instantaneously and automatically isn’t just convenient, it’s also a more compliant, more efficient way of doing business,” says Ellie Mae Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Corr. “Our customers appreciate the proactive way the Encompass360 Select program responds to information and helps them transact more and better quality loans. We’re happy to welcome them to the Encompass360 Select program.” For more information, visit www.netmoreamerica.com or www.elliemae.com.
Greg Schroeder, President Comergence Compliance Monitoring
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
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Each month, National Mortgage Professional Magazine will focus on one of the industry’s top players in our “Mortgage Professional of the Month” feature. Our readers are encouraged to contact us by e-mail at newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com for consideration in being featured in a future “Mortgage Professional of the Month” column. This month, we had a chance to chat with Greg Schroeder, president of Comergence Compliance Monitoring in Orange, Calif. A 23-year veteran of the mortgage industry, Greg has spent 15 years in executive management positions with large, national wholesale lenders. He has a strong foundation in operations, business development, sales management and marketing with an expertise in broker due diligence. Comergence Compliance Monitoring is a provider of third-party originator (TPO) risk management solutions and compliance surveillance. Comergence conducts a robust background check of brokers as they apply to do business with a lender. Their check includes a 50 state license status and derogatory reviews, industry sanctions reviews, Social Security Number verification for authorized principals, civil and criminal convictions, and more. How did you first get involved in the mortgage industry? I entered the business as a result of my brother. I’m sure this is common for most
people in any business. My brother was working as a wholesale account executive for a lender, Westates Mortgage in Santa Ana, Calif., and in talking to him, I was struck by the excitement in his voice at what he was doing. I asked him if they needed help as this sounded like something I was interested in. Six months later, he called and said they had an opening, so I moved my family to Southern California and started my journey in this business. My first day in the mortgage business was Black Monday in October of 1987. I had no foggy idea as to what was happening in the stock market that day which was probably a good thing! I didn’t even know what a mortgage was and couldn’t spell it even if you spotted me the two “g’s!” But I learned quickly, was honest with the people I worked with and they came to count on my word. Most of all, I showed up and called people back quickly—two traits that have served me well. One of the common statements amongst your former employees and co-workers is how much of a creative and visionary person you are. Given that your career spans multiple decades back to a time when advertising for financial products was bland at best, how were you able to work in this environment? Back in 1987, you didn’t have the luxury of a marketing department to help you. You had to create your own flyers and learn how to market yourself or your career was over. My co-workers liked the materials I was creating for my own use, and all of them asked me to make flyers for them. I guess you could say that started my career in marketing at the lenders I subsequently went to work for. I had a passion to support the sales departments with a strong marketing effort. Most lenders didn’t see the need to market or were reluctant to spend the money, and I believe this is why so many struggled or were never a
competitive factor. I was very fortunate that the owners of New Century Mortgage believed in me and my ability to pull a team together that ultimately became one of the most powerful marketing forces ever seen in this industry. The environment we are in today reminds me of 1987 when you were on your own to market yourself, as budgets today have squeezed or most marketing departments at lenders have been eliminated entirely.
“We are firmly committed that we have a duty to police ourselves as an industry and to not rely on the government to do it.”
Since you worked for some of the original sub-prime lenders, I wondered what your opinion was on where it all went wrong. Sub-prime wasn’t always a dirty word. In my opinion, there was a confluence of problems that culminated in the collapse of the sub-prime market. This was a very large industry that had many issues. I couldn’t possibly describe for you what happened from a secondary market’s perspective (see my second point). On the lender side, there were many issues too, but to me, there was always this one glaring problem in our industry that certainly contributed to the problem: First, the mortgage business has an incredibly low barrier to cross to get into this business. I’ll sum it up this way … if you wanted to sell a Roth IRA to a customer, you had to be licensed, pass a very difficult examination, be tracked, have any consumer complaints and industry sanctions reported publicly and regularly subject yourself to an invasive background check … just to earn a $25 commission! Our industry had no such requirements. In most states, wholesale
account executives and most loan officers were never subjected to these requirements and yet made six and seven figure incomes with little or no experience. It was indeed frightening. I believe this industry needs to mature and be regulated similar to the securities industry if we are to be taken seriously. That includes loan officers for any entity, including banks. Secondly, as for the Wall Street/investor side of the problem, read the book, The Big Short by Michael Lewis. He nailed it. It is a very scary read. In retrospect, is there anything that services like Comergence could have done to mitigate the collapse of the mortgage market? No, I don’t believe we could have stopped this from happening. However, as the industry goes through its inevitable cycle, what we can do is raise the bar of professionalism going forward by giving the relationship between lender and TPO review a much greater level of transparency. Yes, there were bad actors in this business and it is our singular focus to weed them out and to keep them out of this profession. We have successfully raised the bar in this area and lenders are taking notice. Lenders who do not care about who they are doing business with are playing with fire and ultimately hurting others, especially borrowers. We are firmly committed that we have a duty to police ourselves as an industry and to not rely on the government to do it. With the implementation of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE Act) to filter out the “bad actors,” does that diminish the value of industry certifications programs? Not at all. In my opinion, the National Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) does not go far enough. I applaud the testing,
forward on reverse
Another mentor was this one retail store manager who was my boss. He taught me an amazing work ethic— that the boss must be willing to work harder and longer than any employee. You simply couldn’t outwork this man! I have never forgotten his lessons—that you must lead by example … period. Reading business books or attending college didn’t mean a thing if you couldn’t, or didn’t, know how to put this knowledge to use. One of my current partners has also been a tremendous mentor to me, and he probably doesn’t even know it! I’ve never met anyone smarter than this man. He earned his bachelor’s degree at two different colleges, attending both Berkely and Stanford at the same time! He as taught me to challenge every thought, every idea and every process. “Cancer” is a word that got my attention two and a half years ago. Thankfully, with a miracle from God, it was caught at an early stage and I’m fine today. But it taught me the value of what little time I have here and how important relationships are to me. I’m sure you’ve heard all the clichés, but they’re true. Having a disease as serious as cancer causes you to slow down and take notice of the people and things you’ve ignored while climbing your way to the top. Don’t wait to hear those words from your doctor. Find something nice to do for someone less fortunate than you and pay it forward. God will be pleased.
What do you feel is the future of the mortgage broker? I believe this is the greatest time ever for mortgage brokers to enter or thrive in this business, but you have to change how you conduct your business and your expectations of an income. Gone are the loans falling from the sky. Gone are the irrational loan programs that allowed too many people access to borrowing. Gone
“Lenders who do not care about who they are doing business with are playing with fire and ultimately hurting others, especially borrowers.”
The budget analysis piece aside, FIT is about asking questions and talking with seniors to understand their near-term and long-term needs. As NCOA’s Barbara Stucki puts it, “FIT is a way of getting people, whose judgment may be clouded by immediate needs, to think long-term about how they plan on staying at home so that they can get the full value of this loan.” In the “numbers-driven” world of lending, asking more questions and talking a little longer with customers to better understand all their needs may not be “efficient.” It may not even be as neat as calculating maximum claim amounts and principal limits, but it matters because lenders will know sen-
iors better, and help them make more prudent decisions. *Note: Please give me your feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of this question as well as your suggestions for improvement. You may post your comments or send me an e-mail at atare@thinkreverse.com. Atare E. Agbamu is author of Think Reverse! and more than 140 articles on reverse mortgages. Since 2002, he writes the nationally-distributed column, “Forward on Reverse.” A former director of reverse mortgages at Minneapolisbased AdvisorNet Mortgage LLC, Agbamu has years of hands-on experience marketing and originating reverse mortgages. Through his advisory, ThinkReverse LLC, Agbamu advises financial professionals, institutions and regulators across the country. In a 2007 national report on reverse mortgages, AARP cited Agbamu’s work. He can be reached by phone at (612) 203-9434 and e-mail at atare@thinkreverse.com. Visit author Atare E. Agbamu’s blog at thinkreverse.com for his thoughts and insights on the reverse mortgage marketplace. 19
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DECEMBER 2010
Sure it’s nice to have a certification on your resume, however, how does a mortgage professional really leverage their certifications in terms of their relationships with lenders, referral partners and borrowers? The single most important change a mortgage broker can make is to weave any designation they have into every conversation with a client or prospect. Too often I simply see brokers simply display various logos. We know what they are, but the prospect/client has no idea what your designation logo means. Simply explain to the client that you are certified, what this means to them and why it’s important that you are. Ultimately, you are trying to convey to the borrower that you are a cut above, or better than another broker that they may be dealing with that doesn’t have your certification. You need to create confidence and doubt. Confidence that you can be trusted and doubt about anyone else they talk to that has no such designation. These designations and certifications can be a powerful tool if used regularly in your conversations.
What are your biggest influences or mentors? There have been several influences in my life. I have learned everything I know from various mentors, but the ones who stick out in my mind are my Pop Warner football coach. Coach had this drill we would do at the end of every practice called the “Five Minute Drill.” I won’t bore you with details, but suffice it to say that drill taught me how to muster up the strength and conviction you need to get the job done when you are exhausted and thinking of throwing in the towel.
Let’s say she says, “I’d like to have an annuity. My daughter, a teacher, says they are good.” Using a technique called “mirroring,” you might respond by restating her words: “You like annuities because your daughter, the teacher, says they are good?” Before long, you have a conversation about annuities (assuming you know what you are talking about), their advantages and disadvantages, and other fundsusage issues.
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are the easy six- or seven-figure incomes. The playing field is more level now than ever. For example, fees are going to be regulated, which means that if all things are equal now, you have to stand out in some other meaningful way. The best service providers, and those with the right training and industry designations or certifications, will be in a better position to profit from these changes.
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tracking and the transparency it provides for licensing and license applications, but that’s as far as it goes. The NMLS is nothing more than a clearing house for licensing which made it easier for the originator to apply to multiple states by eliminating redundancy. A test of knowledge is now required, but borrowers should assume you know what you are doing! It’s just the minimum threshold for every originator now. Certification programs, however, will take consumer confidence to the next level. Having a certification from one of the several associations or companies like ours relays much needed confidence to the consumer that you are a cut above, a mortgage professional. A valid certification, like Comergence’s Trusted Mortgage Professional (TMP) designation, cannot be bought. You must pass our rigid background check, agree to submit yourself to our surveillance and meet experience requirements. If I was an average consumer, that’s who I’d want working on my loan. Merely passing your license exam gets you entry into the game, but continuing your education and subjecting yourself to the scrutiny at the level of a licensed securities broker or our TMP certification is what’s needed now.
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BY GIBRAN NICHOLAS, CMPS
Three Ways to Simplify Your Relationships in 2011 Life is complex because relationships are complicated. Simplify relationships and you simplify your life. Here are three strategies to do just that.
#1. Simplify your message and create a solid foundation
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
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If you want to simplify your relationships, you need to first examine the way you bring clients and referral partners in the door. If your initial message is focused on the wrong thing(s), you will end up having the wrong types of conversations with the wrong types of prospects. For instance, if your marketing messages to borrowers and referral partners focus on how you offer great mortgage deals, then you will attract rate shoppers and people who are very focused on price. A borrower would be more likely to drop you or give you a hard time if the competition offers a lower price in the middle of the loan process, because the very reason the borrower is using you in the first place is no longer valid. This complicates the relationship. Remember, complicated relationships complicate your life. You don’t want that. On the other hand, what if you changed your initial message and built the relationship on a foundation that is not focused on price? For example, here are three unique messages that are not focused on price: Your unique message to Realtors: I am a housing and mortgage strategist, and I specialize in helping Realtors differentiate their listings, attract more buyers and sellers, and avoid buyer fallout. Your unique message to borrowers: I am a mortgage and cash flow strategist, and I specialize in helping borrowers like yourself improve cash flow, get out of debt sooner, and avoid the dangerous pitfalls of today’s mortgage market. Your unique message to CPAs and financial advisors: I am a financial strategist and I specialize in helping financial advisors finance Roth IRA conversions and other unique strate-
$200 per month by refinancing or using Loan Strategy A vs. Loan Strategy B, what does that $200 per month mean to their life? Are they struggling with starting a college fund for little Suzy and Johnny? If so, that $200 per month gies, and also solve the negative equi- could spell the difference between ty problem that many homeowners sending their kids to college and telling their kids that they cannot afford to are facing right now. help them with college expenses. What Your initial message needs to reach if the client is struggling with mom and into your target audience’s world, strike dad’s aging issues? Perhaps the $200 a chord, and set up the expectations per month can be used to help fund an upon which they can judge your per- assisted living arrangement. You will simplify the decision for formance and the relationship. If the initial message is about price, it will reach clients and simplify your relationship into the world of price-conscious shop- with them if you focus on these types pers, and they will judge the success of life issues during the client conversathe relationship based on your ability to tion. Some procrastinating borrowers deliver a low price. If your initial message might want to complicate your relationis about value, it will reach into the ship by talking about $100 in closing costs here or an eighth of world of value-conscious a point in interest rate individuals, and they will there. You, on the other judge the success of the hand, can simplify the relationship based on your relationship and make ability to deliver value. the mortgage decision Also, your message crystal clear and very easy shouldn’t be about you for the borrower by and what you can do for always taking the converpeople. It needs to be sation back to the root about people and what issue: How your unique they need from you. It mortgage strategy helps cannot be long, general the borrower live the life and all over the place. It needs to be short, specif- “If your initial message that they want to live. ic and focused on just is focused on the wrong #3. Systemize one or two areas. In order thing(s), you will end your follow-up to simplify your message, up having the wrong with an easy-toyou should find out the types of conversations follow process one unique value that you provide to your tar- with the wrong types of The importance of the sysprospects.” tematic follow-up can be get audience that no one illustrated by a recent else provides. Then, you event involving Warren Buffet. The world should communicate that one unique value in a way that sets up future con- was shocked when he announced recentversations and the future relationship ly that Todd Combs, an obscure money manager from Florida, won the job to be for success. next in line for leadership of Buffett’s $100 billion Berkshire Hathaway empire. #2. Discipline your Here are three lessons mortgage originaconversations and focus tors can learn from Mr. Combs: on the real issues Why do people want to save money on closing costs and get a low interest rate 1. Show up. Mr. Combs replied to a on their mortgage? Because they would “help wanted” request that Mr. Buffett rather do something else with that made in 2007. Most people would have money! Your mission is figure out what been too intimidated to apply for the else would they rather do, and then job to begin with. After all, Warren help them do it. You see, people are Buffett is one of the world’s wealthiest not motivated by dollars and cents. men. Why would he give the top job to They are motivated by what those dol- someone he’d never even met or heard of before? Yet, Mr. Combs showed up. lars and cents mean to their life. For example, if someone is saving 2. Follow up. Recently (three years
later), Mr. Combs followed up with Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger to schedule a meeting. Most people would have given up after three years of no results. Yet, Mr. Combs followed up. 3. Be unique. Mr. Combs evidently had something unique to offer the Berkshire Hathaway team. According to a Wall Street Journal interview, Mr. Munger said that he gets “hundreds” of meeting requests each year, but “something in [Mr. Combs’] request piqued my interest.” Mr. Combs became the successor and right hand man to America’s wealthiest individual by showing up, following up and being unique. As a mortgage originator, you can take inspiration from Mr. Combs and use his very simple three step system to do business with the topproducing Realtors and financial professionals in your market. All you need to do is show up, follow up and be unique. Be sure to offer some unique value with no strings attached whenever you follow up with borrowers and referral partners. Nobody wants to be hounded by a pest. That complicates relationships and turns people off. On the other hand, most people would welcome some type of value-added article or update that is relevant to their life and situation. This simplifies the prospect’s decision to like you and trust you because you are giving value without asking for anything in return. Remember, complicated relationships complicate your life. Simplify your relationships in 2011, and you will simplify your life. Gibran Nicholas is the founder and chairman of the CMPS Institute (CMPSInstitute.org—NMLS Provider ID# 1400384). The CMPS Institute administers the Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist (CMPS) designation and has enrolled more than 5,500 members since 2005. Through CMPS, Gibran empowers mortgage professionals with confidence, unique knowledge, and dynamic marketing resources to simplify compliance, increase their competitive advantage, and generate more business. Visit Gibran’s blog and Web site at http://gibrannicholas.com. Visit author Gibran Nicholas’s blog at http://gibrannicholas.com where he shares his insights on economics, real estate and financial issues, including the current mortgage and credit crises.
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The Collingwood Group announced that it has launched a new mortgage banking practice to be led by former Ginnie Mae President Joe Murin and former Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner Brian Montgomery. The practice will serve mortgage bankers by customizing strategies in business operations, regulatory compliance, capital planning and risk management. “The Collingwood Group’s new mortgage banking practice allows clients to leverage our experience in the private and government sectors,” Murin said. “Our team is uniquely qualified to help mortgage banking firms navigate the uncertainty that defines the current market environment.” Montgomery and Murin co-founded continued on page 23
How long does it take to perform a post-closing audit and what is analyzed? I get that question quite often, and I usually reply, “Your audit is based on what you are willing to invest in it.” Most lenders and brokers do not want to invest in a thorough audit and only want to hit on the minimum to show that they are doing something. If you had an employee who only did the minimum standards in tasks assigned, how long would that employee continue to work for you? I would say not for long because the perception from other employees of that worker and problems with oversight and gaps that are discovered along the way will create more work for someone else to correct. Then, that below-par employee will come up with a number of excuses or place blame for their oversights and flaws instead of taking ownership and responsibility. This is what I often see in post-closing quality control. The lender or broker only wants a lower quality audit, then something happens later and there is finger-pointing everywhere and the lender or broker is faced with the expense and headache of damage control. Is it worth it in the end? Why not eliminate any potential issues right at the beginning? For Quality Mortgage Services to perform a thorough post-closing review or audit, it takes at a minimum of four hours. If you want the quick and easy version, it may take 90 min. to two hours. Think about what it takes to originate, process, perform pre-funding quality control, underwrite and fund the loan. Well, basically you want me to validate information, analyze the creditworthiness and collateral, re-verify income, assets, funds, gift letters, occupancy, re-calculate annual percentage rates (APRs), validate that HUD-1 disbursements were done properly, make sure there were no federal laws violated and write up everything found wrong in a report. Basically, perform every function in the entire loan process and validating, certifying, and affirming that the actions in the loan process are correct. Just like when a city needs to cut spending … what department(s) are they going to cut? The police department, fire department, education department … I ask the same thing, what do you want me to cut? Appraisals, federal regulatory compliance, APRs, re-verifications, etc.? The “Quick and Easy” lenders and brokers … your time has arrived. Investors are pushing repurchase claims down to the lenders, and the lenders want to share the expense of the put back with the brokers and third-party originators (TPOs). Now is it worth it? Is Russian Roulette the game you want to play with your quality control program? The best thing to do is not to play the game at all. Quality Mortgage Services wants to help you be successful by indentifying gaps in your pre-funding QC process. The Mortgage Analysis Review Software post-closing quality control report empowers the QC manager with the tools to measure the effectiveness of pre-funding quality control and correct gaps left in the loan process. Tommy A. Duncan, CMT is executive vice president of Quality Mortgage Services LLC. For answers to your QC and FHA questions, please contact Tommy at (615) 591-2528 or e-mail taduncan@qcmortgage.com. You may also visit Quality Mortgage Services LLC on the Web at www.qualitymortgageservices.com.
Sponsored by
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DECEMBER 2010
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation has announced that it will start offering Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan origination
Former Ginnie Mae and FHA heads to lead Collingwood Group’s new mortgage banking division
By Tommy A. Duncan, CMT
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
Fairway enters the TPO marketplace
services and sponsor mortgage brokers and other third parties who initiate FHA-insured mortgages for borrowers. The step follows the company’s recent moves into the wholesale lending and fulfillment services markets, as well as the recent decisions by several large lenders to abandon or limit their business through third party originators. Fairway offers four fulfillment options depending on a specific originator’s needs, whether they need a source of funds or outsourcing loan fulfillment on a scalable basis: Fairway Traditional: A traditional broker/thirdparty originator relationship; Fairway Advantage: A scalable fulfillment offering; Fairway Direct: A referral program; and Fairway Correspondent: A closed loan purchase program “Although the mortgage brokerage industry has gone through unprecedented changes, we strongly believe in brokers and smaller correspondents as an origination channel and are looking forward to filling the void being created by larger institutions,” said Howard Hoyt, sales manager for Fairway Wholesale Lending, a division of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation. “Independent brokers continue to play an important role in our industry by providing competition and consumer choice. They need assistance to thrive, though. With Fairway’s infrastructure, FHA expertise, and capital resources, brokers can get the help many of them desperately need to keep their customer commitments and grow their business. We can also help them stay compliant with new regulations such as those under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.” For more information, visit www.fairwayindependentmc.com.
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to PRMG chief operating officer Robert Holliday, the mortgage group uses PropertyFinder 2G to support its thorough underwriting and quality control processes, including adherence to new Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) guidelines. The property information verification tool from MDA DataQuick also validates and determines ownership information and square footage. “With the new challenges we face in the current mortgage lending market, a tool like PropertyFinder 2G is a boon,” said Holliday. The software helps PRMG discover potential “buy and bail” homebuyers— borrowers who own a distressed home, which they are letting go into foreclosure, and are attempting to buy another home. Buy and bail loans cannot be sold to the secondary market or to investors, and lenders are often asked to repurchase them. Using PropertyFinder 2G, officials at PRMG can look up the loan history on a property, get an estimate of its value and look for distressed property flags, catching “buy and bail” threats before approving the loan. “Risk management is more important than ever, so we need to be able to review properties quickly and easily and see immediately if there is a problem,” said Holliday. “PropertyFinder 2G really improves and streamlines our quality control process.” MDA DataQuick’s PropertyFinder 2G gives real estate professionals access to a nationwide database of detailed and comprehensive property and ownership information, including property profiles, property history, documents, demographic information and nearby schools and businesses, verifying them on an interactive map. Within the interface, users search single or multiple properties using “find as you type” technology that presents a list of search options as the user begins to type. The software’s distressed property flag feature quickly identifies properties in a distressed state, such as recent short sales, foreclosures and real estate-owned (REO), in search results and reports. “PropertyFinder 2G meets the increasingly more diverse and complicated property search and reporting needs of real estate professionals today,” said John Walsh, president of MDA DataQuick. “We look forward to working with lenders’ quality assurance and underwriting departments in order to provide a sensible risk management solution that helps our customers become more successful.” For more information, visit www.prmg.net or www.dataquick.com.
By David Lykken
Are You Relatable? If I asked you, “How well do you think you relate to others?,” I would anticipate that most of you would say, “Well truthfully, I recognize that I relate to some better than others.” In reality, this is true of all of us. We just seem to “click” better with some people than we do with others. Why is that? The answer will be the subject of this month’s article. Let me set you up for where I am going with a couple of other questions: If I could show you how to develop skills to relate well or more effectively to a greater number of people, do you believe your chances for success would increase? Would more or less doors of opportunity open up for you?
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
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While those may seem like rhetorical questions as you sit there and logically read this article, how to be more relatable is not something that most people spend much time thinking about. So let me pose the question that frames this article again?: “How ‘relatable’ are you?” If there is ever an industry where having good interpersonal relationship skills is important, it is the mortgage industry! While I’m sure it can be said of other industries as well, it certainly could be said of the mortgage industry that it is a relationship-driven business. A person’s ability to relate well to others has a direct correlation to their ability to succeed in this industry. The reason why “being more relatable” is so important in the mortgage business is the very the nature of what our industry is about … financing the biggest transaction of most every individual’s life at least at that point in time. Whether you are For the purpose of dealing with a first-time homebuyer or an experibeing professionally enced homeowner, the transaction is the biggest financial transaction of their lives. Every Realtor and more relatable, it is builder I know want only to trust their business to important to identify those individuals who have the greatest relationship the type of person skills. Having strong relationship skills trumps all you are in your the other important skills needed to be successful in professional/public the mortgage industry. I’ve heard it said that being life when dealing successful in the mortgage industry is like being a sucwith others. cessful guillotine operator … keeping your head when all others about you are losing theirs. In a perverse way, stress is one of those “binding emotions” that keep many of us in this sometimes crazy, frenetic industry for years. We all have plenty of stories to share to give testimony to this fact. However, those of us who and have the greatest ability to relate to others are the ones who seem to prosper the most and for the longest time in the mortgage business. So, how can you beat more relatable … that is, what the rest of this article is about. It is important to point out (and may be already obvious) that I am not a behavioral scientist or even a psychology major … not even close. The authority and experience by which I write this article and present the following suggestions is only this … I have and continue to enjoy more than 37 years in the mortgage industry and have discovered important keys and practical tools that have helped me relate and connect with more people than I thought possible. And now I have the privilege of helping many industry professionals like yourself relate and connect with a greater number of people than they ever thought possible and therefore significantly increase their potential for success. Becoming more relatable goes well beyond behavioral “mirroring” where someone merely matches, imitates or mimics another person’s external nature while involved in some level of social interaction. I hesitate using phrases like “developing strong interpersonal skills” which involves heuristics, because I find people getting stuck in a cerebral ditch and missing the more simplistic truths that are at the core of the keys that most of us instinctively and intuitively experientially know.
We’ve all heard the expression, “that person speaks my language.” Another way of saying that is, “I really relate to what that person said.” Is it “what” that person said or a combination of what and “how” they said what they did that made them more relatable to you? When we start plumbing the depths of this, we are beginning to gain insights and understanding into what makes some “tic” … understanding how they are wired so to speak. Speaking someone’s language goes way beyond “linguistics.” It is getting into something that is commonly referred to as “personality types” or “temperaments” and you don’t need to have a psychology degree to be skilled at reading and responding to the various personality types/temperaments of which there are four. Nor do you have to do an extensive study into “temperament theory” and it’s “four humours” with its possible ancient Egyptian roots or the better known writings of the Greek physician Hippocrates. All you have to do is accept the well-understood notion that there are four basic personality types, the labels of which were established by Hippocrates. They are choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic and sanguine. The following is a very basic description of each. The “choleric type” is goal-oriented, ambitious, very self-confident in what they believes the facts to be, wants info in bullets “short and to the point,” can be a control freak … has a very dominate personality. Think of an army drill sergeant. The “melancholic type” is someone who is a more selfless, kind, tender-hearted, quieter, sensitive, takes on the causes of others and is more concerned about right and wrong. Think of a bleeding heart social worker type of person. The “phlegmatic type” is a person who thinks things through, is calm, unemotional, consistent/even temperament, rational, curious and observant, making them good administrators and diplomats. Think of an analytical accounting type of person. The “sanguine type” is someone who generally is light-hearted, fun loving, a people person, loves to entertain, spontaneous, confident and can be more selfish. They can lack focus and be impulsive. Think of cheerleader type of person. Let me add some “color” to these personality types and some additional ways for you to relate to each “type.”
When I am teaching on this topic in my leadership seminars, I will play music in the background to help communicate my description for each of these personality types. When I use music, the attendees that are the Sanguine and Melancholic types find the music a creative and fun way to learn and generally continued on page 25
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The Collingwood Group in 2009 with three other partners who have extensive backgrounds in mortgage finance, capital markets, government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and the federal sector. The firm provides business investment and advisory services to clients in banking, housing and the mortgage industry. “What we now provide through this new practice is the opportunity for today’s mortgage banker to have a business advisor and partner in Washington,” said Montgomery. For more information, visit www.collingwoodllc.com.
Wells Fargo to begin offering Pick-A-Pay relief Wells Fargo has announced that beginning Dec. 18, 2010, through June 30, 2013, at-risk Wachovia Pick-a-Payment customers may be eligible to earn principal forgiveness by making on-time mortgage payments. The company also will contribute about $24 million to eight states to enlist help in customer outreach, and to prevent or mitigate the impacts of foreclosures in these communities. The terms of this agreement have been contemplated in the company’s financial projections, and are
expected to have no impact on thirdquarter financial results. The program is part of an agreement with attorneys general in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas and Washington who expressed concerns about the manner in which pay-option mortgages were originally marketed by World Savings Bank and Wachovia, who originated these loans prior to merging with Wells Fargo in late 2008. The agreement expands on Wells Fargo’s existing home preservation efforts. Through August 2010, at-risk Wachovia Pick-a-Payment customers already had been given almost $3.4 billion in principal forgiveness. “In light of the unprecedented changes in our economy, Wells Fargo will continue to work with leaders across the nation on steps to help stabilize communities,” said Mike Heid, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “We are pleased that Wells Fargo has stepped forward and agreed to work with us in avoiding another wave of foreclosures in our states,” said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, the attorney general who led the eightstate effort. “Their willingness to add to their existing principal forgiveness program is important to help consumers facing hardships who are deeply underwater in their homes.”
By Dec. 18, 2010, the company will contact customers likely to be eligible for the new program via letters, and will maintain a dedicated helpline— including Spanish-speaking specialists—to assist borrowers. Borrowers who already have received a modification will not be eligible for the new program. Wells Fargo customers who originally took out mortgages through Wachovia or Golden West who are looking for information about the loan modification program can call (888) 565-1422. For more information, visit www.wellsfargo.com.
a la mode’s Mercury Network hits 10,000 appraisal transactions per day mark a la mode inc. has announced that its Mercury Network cloud-based appraisal vendor management platform has reached its first major volume target of 10,000 transactions a day sustained over a full month. a la mode’s Mercury Network allows lenders and appraisal management companies (AMCs) to manage their entire appraisal workflow while being compliant with all appraisal independence standards and banking security regulations. Mercury combines a cloudbased SaaS core with a robust appraiser desktop plug-in architecture that automates the appraiser’s data flow to and from clients.
“Getting to a consistent level of 10,000 transactions a day would be an achievement under any circumstances, but doing it in such a slow overall mortgage market and during one of the worst seasonal periods is a reflection of the strength of the Mercury brand and the superiority of our technology platform,” said Dave Biggers, a la mode’s founder and chairman. “I’m very proud of the team here for creating such a high-growth product.” Mercury’s permission-based desktop software plug-ins work with appraisal files from a la mode’s WinTOTAL software, as well as the offerings from other software vendors, making it a one-stop shop for automating appraisal workflow. The plug-ins not only deliver order data and manage status updates and quality control rules, but also supply the appraiser’s original data file back to the client as “first-generation XML,” eliminating the common alternative of error-prone OCR extraction. Data is returned in both TOTAL XML and MISMO XML format along with the original appraiser-signed desktop PDF file. Providing MISMO XML straight from the appraiser allows lenders and AMCs to fully comply with Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA’s) newly mandated Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP), and to submit appraisal reports to the UMDP’s “front-end,” called the Uniform Collateral Data continued on page 24
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The U.S. Mortgage Crisis: What the Models Missed By Joseph Breeden
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
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We’re still experiencing the aftershocks sive growth targets, but it had an uninof the U.S. mortgage crisis. Conventional tended consequence. Many factors beyond wisdom tells us that we know how the credit score and loan-to-value can drive crisis happened: A fall in house prices credit risk. Because managers’ bonuses nationwide (step one) triggered a wave were often tied to growth targets, the of losses in the mortgage industry (step instructions could be translated as, “Grow two). The losses shut down the mort- 40 percent year-over-year by defeating our gage-backed securities (MBS) market credit scores.” All of this can be seen in the data. At the (step three) as traders lost confidence in their ability to value those assets. That onset of the crisis, portfolio managers commonly pointed to flat led to a liquidity crisis for origination scores as proof the banking industry (step that underwriting standards four) that triggered a genhad not been lowered. At eral recession (step five). the same time, volume That’s the quick and soared for sub-prime loans, simple explanation. But negative amortization how exactly does a drop loans, option arms, and in housing prices initiate adjustable-rate mortgages such a drastic economic (ARMs) with unsustainably meltdown? The ultimate low teaser rates. answer is: It does not. Here is where most disWhen housing prices flatcussions of the mortgage ten or show a modest drop, no increase should “… how exactly does a crisis end. However, we occur in the number of drop in housing prices have additional information that doesn’t fit this defaulted loans. Rather, initiate such a drastic simple pattern. Using banks face a severe probeconomic meltdown? sophisticated analytical lem in which foreclosed The ultimate answer methods, we can normalhomes cannot be sold to is: It does not.” ize the default rate data for recover the outstanding changes in the economy to loan balance. Only when the drop in home prices becomes measure the intrinsic credit risk of each severe would we expect to see an month’s originations. That analysis conincrease in the number of defaults, as firms that credit quality was deterioratsome consumers choose a “strategic ing, as described in step zero, but it also default” or walk away from their prop- shows that the problem began earlier. erty even though they have the ability Credit quality began to deteriorate in late 2003, before the dramatic increases in to continue paying their mortgage. Not until July 2008 did home prices fall sub-prime and unconventional mort20 percent below their 2006 peak—the gages in 2005 and 2006. Furthermore, level at which strategic default begins to when we studied auto loans, credit cards, make financial sense, according to the and student loans, all showed deterioraCase-Shiller Index. That drop was well into tion in credit quality with the same timthe crisis and certainly not an initial cause. ing as observed in the mortgage industry, Likewise, default severity would have only with less severe swings. Further analysis of long historical time caused problems for some lenders—but not a true crisis—if the number of default- series has led us to the conclusion that there ing loans had remained unchanged. The was actually another step (minus one), answer, which has also been pointed out, “macroeconomic adverse selection.” Normally, we think of adverse selection as was that the loans were not normal. We need to include an initial step (step arising from the competition between zero) in the sequence of events. Before a lenders. If a lender’s pricing is too high or too drop in housing prices, we experienced low relative to the marketplace, the applian extended period of time where mort- cants for its loans will not be what the modgage lenders were aggressively lowering els expect, because “normal” consumers will their lending standards in a “rush to the be shopping the middle market. Macroeconomic adverse selection bottom.” Because the loans could be securitized, less attention was given to applies a similar concept through time. underwriting. The focus, instead, was on Consumer appetite for new debt will vary volume growth. In 2005, the standard over time. When debt is cheaper, lowerplanning scenario by mortgage lenders risk consumers are drawn into the marfor 2006 was: We want to grow our mort- ket. Falling interest rates and low home gage originations by 40 percent year-over- prices appeal to the value shoppers in the population. Conversely, rising interyear, but not drop our cut-off scores. That last phrase is critical. Establishing est rates and rising home prices will minimum acceptable levels for credit interest only those who are forced into scores and loan-to-value ratios was the the market, are not financially savvy or standard in risk management for a decade. continued on page 26 The clause was meant to soften the aggres-
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Portal (UCDP), without fear of rejection due to OCR or data entry errors. For more information, visit www.mercuryvmp.com.
LPS’ ClosingStream becomes first market solution to e-Sign HAMP loan mod Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) has announced that its ClosingStream 2.0 eSigning technology has been used to complete the first eSigned loan modification under Fannie Mae’s Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP). Using LPS’ ClosingStream 2.0, a Webbased, consumer-friendly workflow application with eSignature capabilities, the servicer was able to electronically create and send the borrower modification documents for review. The borrower was then able to review, sign, and return the modified loan documents to the servicer in only four hours. The same process, administered manually, can take as long as two weeks. “We are very pleased that ClosingStream 2.0 is helping financial institutions successfully complete loan modifications and keep people in their homes,” said Al Verkuylen, senior vice president, LPS Title, Closing and Verification Solutions. “Not only does ClosingStream 2.0 enable an efficient, secure process for borrowers to review and sign their loan modification agreements, it also reduces the time and effort that is required since paper is eliminated from the process.” ClosingStream 2.0 complies with the U.S. Treasury’s business requirements for HAMP Electronic Signature Solutions (eHAMP). The system delivers the necessary functionality for eHAMP, including generating the documents necessary for the modification, electronically presenting those documents to the borrower and providing eSigning capabilities for final execution of the documents. By facilitating an end-to-end, easy-to-track approach for loan modifications, ClosingStream 2.0 users can significantly reduce document execution and delivery errors, lower postage and resource costs, and increase modification pull-through rates. ClosingStream has also been used for the past several years to facilitate eSigning of refinances and non-government loan modifications. According to an LPS report, 88 percent of all modification orders placed are eSigned and 77 percent of all orders are executed within two days, reducing cycle time from an average of 10 days for traditional paper processes. According to the company, ClosingStream 2.0 currently supports traditional and proprietary loan modification programs, the end-to-end HAMP loan modification process (pre-qualifi-
cation, trial plan notice and final modification agreement), FHA/VA loan modification programs and the HomeSaver Advance eNote. For more information, visit www.lpsvcs.com.
Kirchmeyer, Real Info and Valligent partner on appraisal product offering Credit: Creatas Images
Kirchmeyer & Associates, a national appraisal, database and real estate appraisal consulting company and Valligent, a provider of collateral valuation and risk management solutions have announced the release of ParcelView, a collateral valuation product for appraising vacant residential land across the country. The partnership between Kirchmeyer & Associates, Real Info and Valligent has enabled the companies to combine their valuation intelligence providing a single valuation resource for lenders, loan servicers, mortgage insurers and secondary market participants. As one of a variety of valuation products offered through the partnership, ParcelView was brought to market to contribute to a range of services that valuate residential parcels of land, which would replace or enhance a lender’s valuation tools for residential land collateral assessment. ParcelView is the first product of its kind to provide the most accurate valuation and analysis on vast areas of land versus a traditional land appraisal or broker price opinion (BPO), providing lenders with the most accurate data and resource information they require for residential lot assessments. ParcelView can save lenders up to 50 percent compared to traditional land appraisals. Lender interest has been focused on improving upon current “non-traditional” valuation products, and ParcelView offers lenders and servicers a replacement or enhancement to their existing collateral valuation options. ParcelView reports are produced by experienced and certified/licensed residential appraisers and inspections are completed by trained local analysts. Appraisers verify zoning, determine availability of utilities, and provide a preliminary evaluation of the feasibility of residential construction and marketability. Appraisers also pool resources from the technology platform to evaluate complex factors such as zoning, utilities, lot characteristics, utilizing often very limited comparable data. Comparable data is researched and displayed along with concise narrative support for the value conclusion. “Kirchmeyer & Associates and Valligent are dedicated to the commitment of providing the most up-to-date, accurate and efficient valuation techcontinued on page 26
a view from the “c” suite say it was helpful, humorous and entertaining, and overall positive experience. However, for the attendees who are the Choleric and Phlegmatic types, they may find the music somewhat helpful, but are more tuned into the facts and logic. A serious Choleric type may just find the music “superfluous fluff” and tolerate it for the sake of the more emotional types. With me being a pure unadulterated Sanguine type, “this really floats my boat” and helps me more effectively relate what I am teaching to the attendees. I bring that up because, as you read further down, it is important that you know who YOU are and identify with others from that perspective but do so in a way that relates to the greatest number of people. Just in case you are interested, here’s a sampling of the music I use. What I have found is that the songs that relate to the greatest ages range are those timeless “oldie but goodie” songs, some of which have been wonderfully redone. Here they are … For the drill sergeant “choleric type” songs like “Duke of Earl” by Gene Chandler usually drives home the point. For the social worker “melancholic type” songs like Percy Faith’s “Theme From a Summer Place” gently sets the mood to describe this type of person. Then for the more logical “phlegmatic type,” the song, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” by Frankie Lymon gets a good laugh. But then, for the party animal cheer leader “sanguine type,” songs like Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba” or Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” gets everyone up and dancing around … well, at least the sanguine types do.
1. First and foremost, identify which type of person best describes who you are. Discover and determine which of the four personality types best represents or describes you. Keep it simple. I am aware that to one degree or another, we all are “posers.” By that, I mean a fair percentage of the population “projects” a public persona that might be different from who they believe they really are privately. For the purpose of being professionally more relatable, it is important to identify the type of person you are in your professional/public life when dealing with others. If you struggle with this first step or if you find yourself confused because you identify with more than one personality type, then ask your family and/or friends for their input. Another method is to take a simple, sometimes free, online personality profile assessment. To select the one that’s best for you, I would recommend doing a Google search for “Online Temperament Assessment.” Personally, the assessment that I recommend to my clients is the Birkman assessment which can be found at www.birkman.com. However, it is not cheap, but highly effective. I’ve taken every other kind of assessment that seems to exist and have had the greatest insights into who I am with the Birkman Method.
David Lykken is president of mortgage strategies and managing partner with Mortgage Banking Solutions. He has more than 35 years of industry experience and has garnered a national reputation, and has become a fre-
quent guest on FOX Business News with Neil Cavuto, Stuart Varney, Liz Claman and Dave Asman with additional guest appearances on the CBS Evening News, Bloomberg TV and radio. He may be reached by phone at (512) 977-9900, ext. 101 or e-mail dlykken@mortgagebankingsolutions.com. To listen to author David Lykken’s online radio show, log on to www.blogtalkradio.com and type in “Lykken on Lending” in the “Search” box on the right-hand side of the page.
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2. While studying who you are, also start considering the other three personality types.
Begin to discipline yourself to follow those scripts while interacting with those of the various personality groups. Ask for feedback as you begin to try and relate. Identify key words that are “reactors” that stir people up in a negative way and may even cause for some toxic feelings to rise and cause them to retract from engaging in conversation with you.
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DECEMBER 2010
3. Begin to write scripts for yourself to follow when interacting with and relating to each of the other personality types.
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I recommend that you find others who either already know their personality type or share an interest in discovering/determining what their personality type is. Ideally, they would be willing to work with you as you begin to explore how to relate to them. Once you have identified at least one or two individuals that find their identity in one of the other personality types, spend some time getting to know them and finding out what makes them tick. Make a list of the things that draws them to others and get specific. Even more importantly, find out what repels them from wanting to do business with someone. Begin to discover ways in which you can get beyond yourself to relate to this person without losing sight of who you are.
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I believe that a good number of you reading this article are saying to yourself, “There’s something to this … I believe it can help me.” And for others, you are saying to yourself, “You know what, I have heard this before, and I know I could increase my business by being more relatable.” I further believe that many reading this have a new or renewed desire to increase their ability to relate to more people. If that describes you, you will find yourself drawn back to this article. You will find yourself compelled to read and re-read it over and over. I believe you will find yourself studying, pondering and mulling it over in your mind how you can apply this knowledge and put it to practical use for yourself. So, let me help you get started. There is so much to learn about all this, and I would love to have the opportunity to teach it all to you, but for the sake of time and space, I would recommend you get started with the following actions steps.
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There are numerous examples I use in my seminars that I would love to share with you, but time and space simply do not allow. If you will begin to study the matrix shown previously in this article, albeit very basic, it will serve as a great starter to get you down the path to being more relatable and making more money in 2011.
PROFESSIONAL .TV
the u.s. mortgage crisis
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
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are betting on prices to continue rising such that they can refinance later. All are risk-taking behaviors that are not conducive to sound lending. An analysis of data back to 1990 shows three distinct reversals from good-creditrisk mortgage origination to poor-quality origination: 1994, 1999 and 2003. In each of those years, mortgage interest rates switched from falling to rising, and home prices began increasing rapidly. Macroeconomic adverse selection contributed significantly to the U.S. mortgage crisis, because the aggressive growth goals of 2005 and 2006 were based on the low industry delinquency rates observed up to that point. Even high-risk mortgages do not default immediately. The peak delinquency usually occurs two to four years after origination. Thus, in 2005, the weakening originations from 2004 were not yet apparent in simple reports, but the conservative, low-credit-risk consumers were rapidly pulling out of the market, leaving only risky consumers to meet the aggressive growth targets of lenders. The data makes it clear that mortgage delinquency shocks are cyclical: 1991, 1996, 2002 and 2006-2010. In an attempt to prevent future crises, underwriting standards, leverage ratios and securitization are experiencing many modifications. However, none of the changes address cyclicality in consumer appetite for credit. All of the mortgage lender models and policies assume that the same prospective borrowers will be available over time. In fact, the pool of available borrowers changes dramatically through time, and lenders and their models must adapt if we are to soften future cycles. In the modern age of retail lending, good decision-making starts with sound models and informative reports. Poor models and inadequate reporting can assume significant blame for the crisis. The workhorse models in retail lending have always been credit scores and roll rates. For trading mortgage-backed (MBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS), the focus has been on valuation models that take those model outputs as inputs or pure trading models that try to predict trends in market prices. Unfortunately, neither method can predict turning points in consumer appetite, underwriting standards or macroeconomic conditions that were key to the last crisis. The industry response to the problems has largely been to focus on loan-level models and include more factors.
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Certainly, refreshed house prices, combined loan-to-value ratio (CLTV), and refreshed credit scores can improve the performance of failed models. Using loanlevel models is beneficial if the goal is to trade individual loans. Even traders have begun to realize that market-based pricing models are only as smart as the market, and we have seen that the MBS/ABS market did not have access to or ignored many critical factors for efficient pricing. Even with these changes, the models will only be as good as the factors they include. At present, none of those factors can capture macroeconomic adverse selection or creative changes to underwriting standards. Nevertheless, properly structured non-linear decomposition models, such as dual-time dynamics and survival models, can analyze the early performance of loans to detect changes to credit quality. Dual-time dynamics successfully predicted the mortgage crisis as early as December of 2005. But even if we improve the models, we must ultimately fix the reporting and decision-making process. We often hear that the outputs of a model must be reduced to a simple roll-rate or score distribution report “for the executives” because executives are accustomed to those technologies. Unfortunately, rollrate and score distribution reports hide important information that explain why a crisis is imminent and can inform management on how to respond. As long as we keep producing the same outdated reports, we will continue making the same flawed decisions that led to the current crisis—and may create the next. As for where we go from here, we have seen that macroeconomic adverse selection leads every mortgage delinquency cycle. Although we’re only starting to quantify and predict this effect, we can be certain that when interest rates begin to rise and home prices increase again, we must look critically at the quality of the loans being booked. Who wants a loan when both the price of the home and the mortgage are expensive? Joseph Breeden is chief executive officer of Strategic Analytics, a provider of credit risk and capital management solutions to consumer and mortgage lenders. As part of the Interthinx business unit of Verisk Analytics, Strategic Analytics provides advanced solutions and professional services critical to loss forecasting and the stability of the U.S. residential mortgage market. For more information, call (505) 995-4755 or visit www.strategicanalytics.com.
Closing Both Purchases And Refinances
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nology tools to the mortgage industry,” said Jim Kirchmeyer, founder and chief executive officer of Kirchmeyer & Associates. “Our partnership with Valligent solidifies our commitment to the industry as we continue to create cost saving strategies to fit each client’s needs at each stage of the loan life cycle. Together, we are the total valuation solution.” End users have access to a wealth of solutions that are compliant with the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), FHA guidelines, Fannie Mae’s electronic appraisal delivery standards and other industry guidelines and standards. For more information, visit www.valligent.com or www.kirchmeyer.com.
Gleacher & Company to launch residential mortgage banking initiative Photo Credit: Digital Vision
Gleacher & Company Inc. has announced that it intends to launch a residential mortgage banking initiative. In connection with that initiative, it has agreed to acquire, through its newly formed subsidiary, Descap Mortgage Funding LLC, all of the shares of common stock of ClearPoint Funding Inc. from Greg O’Connor, the founder and chief executive officer of ClearPoint Funding. The acquisition is subject to various regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. ClearPoint Funding is a residential, non-depository mortgage lender based in Marlborough, Mass. and is currently licensed as an independent mortgage lender in 13 states and Washington, D.C. ClearPoint Funding is a U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Direct Endorsed Lender, and currently employs approximately 100 employees. Mark Pappas, who heads the mortgage finance initiative at Gleacher & Company and is president of the new subsidiary, will be responsible for overseeing Gleacher & Company’s interest in ClearPoint Funding after the acquisition is consummated. Prior to joining Gleacher & Company earlier this year, Pappas was one of the original founders of MortgageIT Inc., a whollyowned mortgage banking subsidiary of MortgageIT Holdings Inc., a public company that was purchased by Deutsche Bank in 2007. As president of MortgageIT, Pappas helped to build the company and was also a member of its board of directors from its inception. The acquisition of ClearPoint Funding will reunite Pappas with several senior professionals with whom he worked with at MortgageIT. O’Connor will remain with ClearPoint Funding after the consummation of the acquisition
by Gleacher & Company and will lead the overall operations effort of the mortgage lender. “Launching this new initiative is a meaningful step in our overall growth strategy and an important addition to our mortgage platform,” said Eric Gleacher, chief executive officer of Gleacher & Company. “I am pleased that someone of Mark’s experience and proven track record in the mortgage origination business will be leading our effort.” For more information, visit www.gleacher.com.
Emphasys Software acquires software assets from LSSI Emphasys Software has announced that it has completed the acquisition of all related assets from Lending Support Services Inc. (LSSI). Emphasys Software’s Servicer3D and Docs3D offer solutions for managing mortgage and loan servicing, as well as mortgage documentation preparation. LSSI is a provider of servicing and documentation tools for the mortgage industry. “Emphasys is excited to expand its integrated offerings into the mortgage industry with such a great collection of employees, clients and products” said Mike Byrne, Emphasys chief executive officer. “Our focus on products that bring together the combination of real estate, financial and compliance made the mortgage industry a natural next step for us as we look to offer our clients great solutions that help them drive their business.” “Although the lending industry has had its challenges, we have been resilient due to our superior technology and stellar levels of customer service as performed by our employees,” said Cary Burch, chairman and chief executive officer of LSSI. “I am confident that Emphasys is uniquely positioned to build upon our technology platform and continue to serve our loyal customer base well into the future.” For more information, visit www.emphasys-software.com.
UrbanAmerica Advisors and Green River Capital form new REO joint venture UrbanAmerica Advisors and Green River Capital (GRC) have announced that they have created a joint venture minority business enterprise (MBE) called UrbanAmerica Res Services. The new company combines UrbanAmerica Advisors’ national infrastructure and extensive local community development relationships with GRC’s industry-leading services for management of real estateowned (REO) properties and short sales nationwide.
barcode that acts as a portable database. The process offers increased security, redundancy and encryption capabilities throughout the course of the loan. Now, when documents are printed and signed by the borrower, they can be uploaded directly into BlitzDocs without manual classification or inserting cover pages. “DataGlyphs enable MRG’s customers to easily classify documents in BlitzDocs and benefit from technology that simple barcoding lacks—automating and accelerating the mortgage lending process,” said Todd Moncrief, vice president of business development at Xerox Mortgage Services. “With our customers delivering tens of thousands of loans into the secondary market using BlitzDocs, we are committed to enhancing our solution with advanced technology that streamlines document management processes and reduces costs.” Unlike most barcode systems, DataGlyphs can vary in size and shape and store significantly more data. Information can also be recovered if the DataGlyph is damaged. “MRG seeks to provide our customers with the latest technology, both in our own services and those we can provide through partnerships,” said Kathleen Mantych, senior marketing director with MRG. “Xerox’s DataGlyphs can cut the printing of barcoded cover sheets by up to 90 percent and improve on the document classification accuracy with the redundancy inherent in the technology.” MRG offers a browser-based system for the preparation and delivery of compliant document packages, electronic disclosures, loan modifications and other services for mortgage lenders, banks and credit unions nationwide. MRG guarantees that its products are in compliance with the most recent legislative and regulatory changes. For more information, visit www.mrgdocs.com.
Wipro Gallagher Solutions partners with ComplianceEase Wipro Gallagher Solutions (WGS), a provider of cost-effective, end-to-end loan origination technology and services for financial organizations, has announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with San Franciscobased ComplianceEase, an automated compliance and risk management provider to the financial services industry. The partnership creates a seamless integration of mortgage lending compliance audits from ComplianceEase into the WGS fully automated loan origination system (LOS), NetOxygen. The partnership enables customers to take advantage of NetOxygen’s robust functionality for lead management and workflow management while relying on ComplianceEase’s ComplianceAnalyzer for real-time compliance audits that immediately identify loans with potential compliance issues and allow users to review detailed analysis and explanations of failures. This partnership saves NetOxygen users time and helps them to reduce risk by enabling seamless predatory lending and license-based consumer credit compliance checks at any point in the lending process without the need to rely on manual processes that can be prone to human error. WGS’ Web-based NetOxygen system is fully automated and guides lenders through every step of the lending process. NetOxygen enables lenders to take advantage of a streamlined service to enter, monitor and maintain loans through a scalable platform hosted by WGS or set up at a location of choice. ComplianceAnalyzer provides hosted, enterprise mortgage compliance audits that run at multiple points in the mortgage process for comprehensive yet cost-effective compliance risk management.
MRG partners with Xerox Mortgage to offer DataGlyph technology
Sun West Mortgage and Capital Markets Cooperative form strategic alliance Capital Markets Cooperative (CMC), in partnership with WL Ross & Company LLC, has announced a new strategic alliance with Sun West Mortgage Company (SWMC) where CMC lenders will have access to Sun West’s full suite of mortgage products that include FHA 203(b) mortgages, 203(k) rehab and 203(k) streamline, conventional and home equity mortgages, VA and multifamily and the FHA HECM reverse mortgage product. Through this alliance, CMC patrons will enjoy premier pricing and services, as well as advanced training and marketing programs geared towards CMC’s member clients. “We’re very pleased to partner with Sun West Mortgage Company. The firm’s approach to offering additional mortgage solutions and longstanding Ginnie Mae direct issuer status brings new competitively priced options to our membership,” said Tom Millon, president and founder of CMC. “We are proud to partner with Capital Markets Cooperative and member firms,” said Pavan Agarwal, executive vice president of Sun West Mortgage Company. “CMC’s groundcontinued on page 28
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www.windvestcorp.com
DECEMBER 2010
MRG Document Technologies (MRG) has announced that it has partnered with Xerox Mortgage Services to provide their common customers with DataGlyphs technology, enabling the automatic classification of scanned and uploaded documents into the BlitzDocs collaboration suite. MRG is a provider of mortgage document preparation software and compliance technology to banks, credit unions and other lenders nationwide. With Xerox’s patented technology, MRG’s customers can embed mortgage loan information on a document using DataGlyphs, a sophisticated form of a
In addition, mortgage regulators across the United States use ComplianceAnalyzer to examine the lending operations of state-regulated lenders. This partnership allows NetOxygen clients to perform the same seamless predatory lending and consumer credit compliance checks as regulators, at any point in the lending process. For more information, visit www.complianceease.com or www.gogallagher.com.
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UrbanAmerica Res Services, headquartered in Dallas with offices in Salt Lake City, Atlanta and New York City, brings together a network of 7,000 deal sourcing, loss mitigation, asset management and valuation professionals. It also takes advantage of GRC’s existing scalable technology platform. Through the company’s affiliates, UrbanAmerica Res Services has offices in 22 locations throughout the U.S. “We’ve observed that there is insufficient participation throughout this services sector by minority owned companies and real estate brokers. These are the very people who can most effectively impart solutions in the communities disproportionately affected by the crisis,” said Richmond S. McCoy, co-founder and chairman of UrbanAmerica Res Services. McCoy is an industry veteran with 30 years of real estate experience. Seeing an opportunity for investors to provide services in the under-served urban core, McCoy, co-founded UrbanAmerica in 1998. Through McCoy’s deep and broad relationships in industry, government, local community development organizations, faith-based organizations and the institutional investment community, he has led equity-raising efforts totaling $520 million as well as the deployment of that capital into more than $2 billion of assets over the last 12 years. “We expect our partnership with UrbanAmerica to enhance and extend the value that both companies offer to the financial industry,” said Christopher West, president and chief executive officer of GRC. “UrbanAmerica Res Services is ideally positioned to maximize value for investors while providing a solution in situations where connecting with borrowers can be difficult, and to create outcomes that will aggregate the efforts towards neighborhood stabilization.” West has more than 22 years of experience in the REO and mortgage servicing industries and is a founding partner of UrbanAmerica Res Services. West provided the leadership that enabled the growth of GRC into a company of more than 200 employees. For more information, visit www.uaresservices.com.
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breaking approach to mortgage banking fits with Sun West’s philosophy of helping our clients increases CMC’s product offerings which, in turn, benefits local borrowers.” For more information, visit www.capmkts.org or www.swmc.com.
Walter Investment Management completes purchase of Marix Servicing Credit: Creatas Images
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Walter Investment Management Corporation has announced that it has completed the purchase of Marix Servicing LLC, a mortgage servicer. Marix, based in Phoenix, Ariz., is focused on default management, borrower outreach, loss mitigation, liquidation strategies and component and specialty servicing. “We are pleased to have finalized the purchase of Marix,” said Mark J. O’Brien, Walter Investment’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We believe Marix is uniquely positioned as a wellcapitalized, specialty servicer with available capacity, leading technology, experienced management and superior performance.” With the close of the transaction, Marix becomes a significant component of the Walter Investment hightouch asset management and servicing platform, allowing the company to expand its portfolio acquisition and revenue growth opportunities. For more information, visit www.marixservicing.com or www.walterinvestment.com.
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Mortgage Professionals to Watch Guaranteed Home Mortgage has announced the hiring of Russ Pfeffer as sales team manager and Matt Sharp as market manager. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has announced the election of the following as 2011 officers of the association: Michael D. Berman, CMB, chief executive officer of
CWCapital as chairman; Michael W. Young, chairman of the board for Cenlar FSB as chairman-elect; and Debra W. Still, CMB, president and chief executive officer of Pulte Mortgage LLC as vice chairman. The MBA has also announced the addition of Richard J. Hill as associate vice president of industry technology and Barbara Van Allen as senior vice president of communications and marketing. Bliss Sawyer has joined Fairway Independent Mortgage as a senior loan consultant.
Bruno as commercial real estate portfolio manager. ICBA Mortgage Solutions has named Scott Hall president and Elizabeth Deal as its new executive vice president of marketing. Tom Schilling has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS). XINNIX has announced the formation of a nine-person leadership advisory board consisting of: Rodney Anderson, executive director of Supreme Lending; Bill Bent, senior vice president of Academy Mortgage, Hank Cunningham, president of Cunningham and Company; Sterling Edmunds, president and chief executive officer of SunTrust Mortgage; Marty Garrity, senior vice president and director of Fifth Third Mortgage; Tom Gough, vice president and area manager of First Mariner Mortgage; Terry Mott, vice president of production at Republic Mortgage; Dan Slade, senior vice president of United Guaranty
Corporation; and Karyn Wilson, divisional sales executive at Bank of America. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) has appointed Debbie Bianucci, president and chief executive officer of BAI, as chair of the NFCC Advisory Council.
Your turn National Mortgage Professional Magazine invites its readers to submit any information, events, passages, promotions, personal or professional occurrences that seem appropriate and/or other pertinent data to the attention of:
Heard on the Street/Mortgage Professionals to Watch column Phone #: (516) 409-5555 E-mail: newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are preferred. The deadline for submissions is the 1st of the month prior to the target issue.
Bliss Sawyer
Landon V. Taylor has joined Dorado Corporation as senior vice president of business development.
National Mortgage Professional Magazine Landon Taylor
J.I. Kislak Mortgage LLC has appointed Thomas Wind managing director. Matt McLean has joined a la mode’s Mortgage Solutions Division as national sales director for the south central region. Julia Davey has joined Pro Teck Valuation Services as senior national sales director. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has announced the hiring of J. Phillip Hough Jr. as commercial real estate relationship manager and Carol A.
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recognizes the support of those Mortgage Professionals who have stepped up to pay tribute to the men and women who have fought to preserve freedom for our great country. We will be featuring these Mortgage Professionals in our Mortgage Heroes feature in National Mortgage Professional Magazine. We want to hear from you if you:
# Make significant donations to any veteran's organizations # Hosts or sponsors events recognizing and paying tribute to veterans
# Provides support for the families of veterans # Any other noteworthy assistance to help improve the lives of veterans and their loved ones
To be considered for Mortgage Heroes, visit
NMPMag.com/mortgageheroes.
SaM Solutions US unveils new LOS
announced the release of Point and PointCentral 7.3. Point combines continued on page 30
DECEMBER 2010
FICO has announced that its latest credit scoring product, the FICO 8 Mortgage Score, is now available from all three
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Calyx announces the FICO 8 Mortgage Score now releases of Point and PointCentral Version 7.3 available from top three Calyx Software has credit reporting agencies
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SaM Solutions US has released Engage, a loan origination and processing system designed for community banks, brokers, credit unions and midsized banks that they can deploy from the initial application to the funding stage of a mortgage. SaM Solutions has more than 15 years experience in building, releasing and maintaining software solutions for the mortgage and financial industries. “This system provides users with a technologically sophisticated, elegant, seamless, and intuitive loan origination system,” said Aaron Cope, director of business development for SaM Solutions. “We think this system represents the next generation, one that brings a level of sophistication that didn’t previously exist in the marketplace.” The LOS was designed to be customizable to fit the needs and workflows of clients. “We designed this system to be adaptable and that meant that we made it easy to customize and inexpensive to do so,” said Cope. Engage Loan Origination System is a solution for origination and processing mortgages, covering the origination process from the application to when the loan is approved and funded. Engage User and Client Management helps users manage the system, including creating new accounts, granting permission to view activity reports and establishing a permissions policy. In fact, administrators are able to define access levels through an application that walks them through each step of the process. Engage Business Rules Engine provides an intuitive, powerful method for setting up business practices such as origination and underwriting guidelines, price and rate adjustments, and default loan fees separately by client, state and product. Each product option can be setup in the rules engine. For more information, visit www.samsolutions.com.
major U.S. credit reporting agencies. Mortgage lenders now have access to more precise risk assessment tailored for the real estate market, which can help support market stability and reduce borrower, lender and investor risk. The FICO 8 Mortgage Score was built specifically to help mortgage lenders better predict mortgage performance and improve credit decisions for both current and prospective homeowners. The score analyzes the full credit history on file to deliver significantly sharper assessment of mortgage repayment risk, and aids servicers in earlier identification of borrowers at risk so they can mitigate the incidence and high cost of foreclosure. “The FICO 8 Mortgage Score’s broad availability means that all U.S. lenders and servicers can now easily access scores that are fine-tuned for mortgage performance,” said Jordan Graham, executive vice president of scores and president of consumer services at FICO. “Moreover, by combining this superior predictive performance with the FICO Economic Impact Service, lenders are able to adjust policies and strategies quickly based upon forward-looking economic modeling. This is what we mean by the FICO analytic advantage: the ability to use the most advanced predictive analytics to compete and win in this highly challenging environment.” The FICO 8 Mortgage Score retains the same 300-850 scoring range, minimum scoring criteria, authorized user and inquiry treatment as the generalrisk FICO 8 Score. To achieve its significant increase in predictive strength, FICO Mortgage Score assesses several additional data variables from consumer credit files to specifically predict mortgage repayment risk. Accordingly, FICO Mortgage Score includes additional score reason codes compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act that help lenders understand and explain the scores to applicants. For more information, visit www.myfico.com.
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the latest technology with the functionality that mortgage professionals require for loan marketing, prequalification, origination, and processing. PointCentral’s server platform unites Point with business rules, remote access, and consolidated data storage. Version 7.3 simplifies compliance for users with intuitive fees worksheets and synchronization of important data and includes support for users utilizing terminal services. Point 7.3 offers updated compliance requirements including improved Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and Truthin-Lending (TIL) screens along with a new HUD-1 screen and form. The GFE Provider List has been enhanced to print either with or without fees shown. Point 7.3 also allows users to copy fees from either the Fees Worksheet or the Fees & Impounds screen into initial or final disclosure forms, either as a group or individually. This feature gives Point users greater flexibility in a more functional, yet easier, disclosure process. Point has also been improved to facilitate document management throughout the loan process with document stacking and packaging capabilities. The enhancements to the serverbased PointCentral 7.3 are also dedicat-
ed to compliance and flexibility. With 14 pre-built and customizable compliance rules, PointCentral gives users the ability to implement compliance policies that best suit their company procedures. A new action-based rule for printing allows administrators to control printing by user or user group. “7.3 was developed out of a need to make compliance easier for our users with the functionality they need to manage their business processes” said Doug Chang, president of Calyx Software. “As regulations grow more numerous and complicated, we listen to our users and respond as quickly as possible with products that make a positive difference for them.” For more information, visit www.calyxsoftware.com.
Byte announces the release of BytePro Version 5.0 Byte Software, a provider of mortgage software for banks, credit unions, mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers has announced the release of BytePro Version 5.0. This new version focuses on back-office mortgage banking features with support for under-
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Learn from:
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NMLF, a non-profit educational foundation, provides licensing and continuing education training, was the first education provider to be approved by NMLS to teach SAFE-Act classes in Georgia. Our students’ high rate of success has resulted in mortgage companies outside Georgia inviting NMLF to travel and train. Frank “Paco” Torch, CRMS, CITRMS, of “Paco Speaks” Founder, NMLF • 12 Years of Experience as NAMB Certified Instructor
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Testimonial, John Parlante, Sr., VP of Capital Mortgage Services, Inc.: “Of the 15-20 employees of ours who have taken your pre-licensing classes, all of them passed the Federal and State tests on their first try.”
writing, secondary marketing, closing, funding and shipping. In addition, BytePro 5.0 contains new automation features, the revised Truth-in-Lending (TIL) disclosure, enhanced document management capabilities and new service providers. BytePro’s new mortgage banking features enable mortgage lenders to sell loans on the secondary market via mandatory or “best efforts” commitments. The new lock desk allows originators to request locks for approval by secondary marketing. All lock desk activity is automatically logged, providing a history of accepted locks, rejected locks, re-locks and lock extensions. The new secondary marketing screen tracks buy-side and sell-side pricing, net margins, and final pricing from the purchase advice. Additional screens are provided for funding, closing and shipping. “BytePro has always been a powerful tool for mortgage originators,” said Joe Herb, Byte’s general manager. “Our latest 5.0 release takes a significant step forward, enabling mortgage lenders to use BytePro as an end-toend mortgage lending solution for the entire process from origination through investor delivery. It manages the workflow of the back office allowing lenders to track, monitor, report and set business rules to meet their unique business requirements.” BytePro 5.0 also contains the revised Truth-in-Lending disclosure (TIL) that is federally-mandated for all loans originated on or after Jan. 30, 2011. BytePro 5.0 allows mortgage companies to continue to use the old TIL prior to Jan. 30, 2011 and roll out the new TIL when they are ready. Electronic document management in BytePro has been enhanced in version 5.0 with the ability to automatically store documents every time they are printed, saved as a PDF or e-mailed. This auditing feature allows management to determine not only which disclosures were provided to borrowers, but also the exact contents of those disclosures. In addition, two existing interfaces have been updated: The CBC Flood interface now imports HMDA census tract information, and the MRG document preparation interface now links to MRG’s compliance center for updates and state-specific regulatory changes. For more information, visit www.bytesoftware.com.
Lenders One develops lead deployment strategy for its members Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative, a national alliance of community mortgage bankers, correspondent lenders and suppliers of mortgage products and services, has announced that Altisource Portfolio Solutions, the parent of Lenders One’s management company, has developed a lead deployment strat-
egy to provide Lenders One members with viable pre-approved borrowers in their respective markets. “This strategy aligns with our company’s mission to help our members to maximize their revenues, minimize their expenses and expand their market share. We are very pleased that this new strategy will help our members to close more loans,” said Scott Stern, Lenders One chief executive officer. “Providing strong qualified leads through Altisource is an obvious dividend to our members, and the capability validates the power of being part of the Altisource family to the overall fulfillment of our mission.” “While Lenders One already provides its members with professional training, national marketing campaigns and many other products and services to meet the goals of its mission,” Stern said, “It was paramount to also offer a successful lead generation program to expand the services the company offers members. Not only will our lead generation activities benefit our members, who will close more loans and order more products, but our other partners, including our preferred investors and vendors, will benefit as well.” Through the lead generation strategy, Lenders One members pre-qualify or pre-approve potential homebuyers who apply through a Web site, GoHoming.com, owned by Altisource. Each potential homebuyer is directed to a specific Lenders One member with an office in the homebuyer’s local market. Working with GoHoming.com’s national presence, Lenders One, with more than 180 members across the U.S., can now refer a homebuyer to a local lender in every major and midmajor market in the country. This venture helps Altisource identify potential new homeowners as well as reach the goal of touching the span of the mortgage process. For more information, visit www.lendersone.com or www.altisource.com.
RATA announces the release of HMDA/CRA data analysis tool RATA Associates, a provider of Home Mortgage Disclosure (HMDA), Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and Fair Lending compliance software and geocoding services for financial institutions, announced availability of the 2009 HMDA/CRA Data for its Comply Peer-2Peer. Comply Peer-2-Peer is a Webbased tool designed to help institutions gauge how their lending activities compare and rank with competitive institutions. Built on the same .NET technology platform as the RATA Comply Suite, Comply Peer-2-Peer offers institutions the power and flexibility needed to analyze HMDA/CRA data released each year by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). With the recent release of the 2009 data, institutions using Peer-2Peer can now evaluate and compare
last year’s lending activity with other institutions’. “Each year, lenders spend an immense amount of time collecting and submitting HMDA and CRA data to maintain regulatory compliance,” said John A. Woloshen, executive vice president and chief operating officer for RATA. “Generally an arduous task, the data collected can significantly improve marketing efforts and business operations if used properly. Lenders that take advantage of this data are better positioned in the marketplace, but having the right tools in place can impact how quickly and efficiently strategic changes are made. With Comply Peer-2-Peer, institutions can easily analyze data to identify areas of weakness and potential growth. Knowing this information immediately is critical to successfully building or changing a marketing plan.” Using Comply Peer-2-Peer, institutions can analyze HMDA/CRA data using various criteria, including geographic location or loan volume. Lenders can also directly compare themselves with specific competitive institutions. Comply Peer-2-Peer can generate different types of reports based on the institution’s needs, including top peers, ranking, market share, pricing, spatial assessment, etc. Furthermore, because this product is web-based, it is a cost effective solution with no huge database to load or programs to constantly update. For more information, visit www.rataassociates.com.
ICBA and LenderLive announce the launch of ICBA Mortgage Solutions
LPS Property Tax Solutions unveils new non-escrow tax functionality
SigniaDocs announces eWarehouse lending solution to track mortgage notes SigniaDocs, a national eMortgage and document solutions provider, has announced that it has provided an automated system to address one of the biggest challenges in the eMortgage landscape—the warehouse lending process. SigniaDocs’ platform was recently utilized by one of the first nondepository mortgage lenders to close an eNote and have it funded by a warehouse lender. “Warehouse lending in the paper world has certainly been reduced due to the financial crisis of the past few years. Warehouse lenders are understandably risk-averse by nature, and the ‘wet funds’ advance required for closing under today’s slow paper process just adds to their concerns. Being able to shorten a 24-48 hour process down to seconds will certainly provide new comfort,” said Paul Anselmo, chief executive of SigniaDocs. SigniaDocs’ eVaulting and eClosing system for originating lenders solves the technical side of this business challenge with an open solution that can interface with any warehouse lender’s eVault, using MISMO standards and the MERS eRegistry and eDelivery systems. “During the closing process, as soon as the eNote is signed, our eVault automatically performs a series of steps: The eNote is registered on the MERS eRegistry on behalf of the lender, a copy of the eNote is delivered to the warehouse lender’s eVault, and the lender transfers Control and Location—the equivalent of ownership in the paper world—to the warehouse
lender,” said Harry Gardner, chief strategy officer of SigniaDocs. “All of this happens within seconds, under automated control. We worked closely with our partners at Cooper River Financial and CMG to provide them with an eWarehouse solution with maximum assurance and minimum risk.” The automated solution greatly increases the velocity of the warehouse lending process. Instead of waiting for the original paper note to be shipped to the warehouse lender after closing, and then shipping the note to the investor under bailee letter, the warehouse lender receives the eNote a few seconds after it’s signed and can immediately eDeliver it to the investor to examine for purchase. As soon as the investor is ready, the warehouse lender can transfer Control and Location to them. The entire warehouse lending process, from origination to investor purchase and replenish of the warehouse line, is complete within a couple of days. To cover all of the legal bases, the lender, warehouse lender and investor also typically create a “triparty” agreement among them. For more information, visit www.SigniaDocs.com.
Mortgage Builder announces LOS upgrade Mortgage Builder Software, a provider of loan origination systems (LOS) technology, has announced a major upgrade to the electronic document management (EDM) capabilities of its award-winning platform. The new, digital imaging and paperless functionality is completely integrated into Mortgage Builder’s renowned origination system, bringing new levels of efficiency and sophistication to the company’s users within lending institutions of all sizes. This new Mortgage Builder technology represents a complete and fully integrated digital alternative to using paper in the lending process. The benefits for lenders in having the capabilities seamlessly integrated into the LOS rather than as a third-party add-on are immediately evident. Users save time continued on page 38
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Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) has announced the release of Version 2.0 of the LPS Desktop Tax Management application. This release incorporates new nonescrow functionality that will enable servicers to electronically load and match non-escrowed tax search results, track delinquency letter cycles, pay delinquent taxes and build tax lines for escrow collection. Investors are increasingly concerned with ensuring that servicers are effectively managing their non-escrow portfolios to minimize losses and penalties related to delinquent taxes. In the past, these tasks not only involved a high level of manual work, but also required tax staff to access multiple systems to complete their non-escrow cycle processing. LPS Desktop Tax Management brings all of the non-escrowed tax tasks into a single system using customized business rules to automate a large portion of the processing. The system leverages integrations with LPS Desktop, tax vendor systems and the LPS MSP system to create a seamless flow of data between applications— resulting in higher efficiency, increased data accuracy, accelerated processing timelines and reduced risk of tax-related financial losses on the part of the lender/investor. “After our initial success with automating tax processing on escrowed loans with LPS Desktop Tax Management, we realized that by enabling servicers to use the same principles to automate the processing of non-escrowed taxes, lenders could achieve significant savings, reduce risk and attain a much broader understanding of the tax status on nonescrowed loans in their portfolios,” said Ray Ferrarin, managing director
of LPS Property Tax Solutions Inc. “We believe that by using LPS Desktop Tax Management, clients will increase efficiency when processing loans with delinquent taxes, which will help clients reduce tax-related losses and improve portfolio performance, both of which are critical to their future success.” For more information, visit www.lpsvcs.com.
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The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) and LenderLive Network Inc. have announced the launch of ICBA Mortgage Solutions, a multi-functional suite of mortgage services designed to help ICBA member community banks continue to originate, process, close, fund and sell residential loans. “Main Street community banks are relationship lenders that continue to serve the needs of their local customers nationwide by providing common-sense mortgage loans that they can afford and afford to keep,” said Ron Haynie, president and chief executive officer of ICBA Mortgage Corporation, the mortgage services subsidiary of ICBA. “ICBA Mortgage Solutions is a testament to our dedication to offering value-added services to our member community banks as it will provide them with greater access to high-quality mortgage products, easy-to-use technology and the necessary tools to manage risk.” To bring this platform to the market, ICBA Mortgage has partnered with LenderLive Network Inc., a provider of mortgage technology and loan fulfillment services. Based in Denver, LenderLive is the engine for ICBA Mortgage Solutions.
“As a community banker, I have no doubt that ICBA Mortgage Solutions will heighten the ability of community banks across the nation to offer their customers residential loans while sticking to the common-sense lending principals that have always been the hallmark of community banks,” said Terry Jorde, chairman of ICBA Mortgage and president and chief executive officer of CountryBank USA in Cando, N.D. “We are extremely excited about the launch of ICBA Mortgage Solutions and our partnership with ICBA Mortgage to bring this offering to community banks,” said Rick Seehausen, president and chief executive officer of LenderLive. “We feel strongly that the recent changes in the mortgage industry represent a tremendous opportunity for community banks to grow market share in mortgage lending and stabilize the primary origination market with high-quality loan originations.” For more information, visit www.icbams.com.
The Seven Keys to Building Successful Relationships By Louis Tesoriero
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
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Despite all of the books and articles writ- ly. In addition, mortgage professionals ten on building successful business rela- often represent the only source for peotionships, every author expresses essen- ple outside the industry to gain an tially the same message by focusing on understanding of relevant procedures seven key characteristics. This article and expected outcomes. In fact, profesaddresses them as they relate to the sionals of all industries seem more willmortgage industry, but they are found in ing than ever before to introduce their clients and business partners to estaball successful business relationships. Of course, no list can claim to be all- lished mortgage professionals. encompassing, yet seven clearly distinguishable traits show up again and again, and by 1. Commitment enumerating them clearly with comple- Commitment undergirds all successful mentary action, this article will help you relationships. Developing relationships takes time, energy and achieve key goals in an easydedication. You should to-follow approach. In fact, schedule follow-ups with all of our relationships can others, as well as on your be deconstructed into these own calendar, and try to key characteristics and maintain weekly commuimproved through tangible nications with your key coland simple suggestions. leagues and clients. A simBusiness relationships ple phone call to say hello, have become more impordropping a letter in the mail tant now than ever before or a quick e-mail will yield and can be easily cultivated significant dividends. You because people are sharing should avoid taking your and helping each other during these difficult economic “Relationships require relationships for granted. Of course, all relationtimes. In the past three commitment and take ships will undergo cyclical years, the growth of social time. Always be genpeaks and valleys, perhaps networking Web sites such uine and deliver value due to a challenging transas LinkedIn, Facebook and without expecting an action or a difficult busiTwitter have led to more immediate payoff.” ness cycle. However, if you business relationships than remain vigilant and try to during any other time during my 12 years as a mortgage professional. foster mutual commitments, the impact In addition to social networking, a of changing circumstances will be diminrenewed enthusiasm for traditional ished and any stress on your relationnetworking has emerged, and technol- ships will decrease. ogy has facilitated the initiation, development and maintenance of many 2. Authenticity relationships. A renewed energy for Authenticity provides a key indicator of interpersonal activity has taken hold in long-term success for mortgage and any our industry, and, if you are commit- sales professional. You must constantly ted, you can build great relationships. remind yourself to be real and sincere. With the challenges of increased regu- Working with people you enjoy helping lation, mortgage professionals need to will result in mutual success. Avoid cooperate to survive; thus, competition false friendships and alliances simply to has diminished amid the necessity for make a quick sale or get what you want. Authentic people will see right professional relationships. The mortgage industry has been sub- through you. Everyone wants to work jected to tremendous change, and the with authentic people because you frequency and accuracy of internal always know where you stand and thus communications has grown according- a more productive relationship ensues.
3. Add value Adding value gives people a reason to associate with you. You should always offer to give more than you expect to receive, without any consideration of what you may get in return. Offer your expertise; contribute to someone else’s success. Boost their marketing efforts; write a guest column for their blog or newsletter. Apply to become a guest speaker at their next sales meeting or networking event; share your industry perspective as a subject matter expert without self-promotion. The more value you provide, the stronger your relationships will become. Your industry knowledge will serve as a valuable resource for business partners and clients alike. Providing leads represents one of the most powerful actions you can take, and by introducing others to people in your network, you can win long-term allies. This strategy has become essential to the success of LinkedIn and can take you a long way. Sometimes, your network may represent your greatest resource.
4. Think long-term Think long-term; forget about the sale; it will come. If you try to move too fast, you will look desperate. Relationships take time to develop as you need to develop trust and mutual respect. Often, relationships lead to more relationships and a single relationship may open up an entirely new network. You never know how a relationship will impact your business. Remember, ongoing opportunities to offer your services trump achieving a single sale.
5. Confidence Instill a sense of confidence in yourself. Be proud of what you do despite the negative publicity about the mortgage industry. We provide an essential service by helping homeowners and investors reach their goals. Share your industry knowledge with enthusiasm and conviction. Keep current with industry changes; stay sharp: Knowledge and preparedness contribute to your confidence as a professional. You will receive more referrals and introductions if you proceed in a confident manner because your relationships will, in turn, feel more confident about introducing you to their network.
6. Professionalism Professionalism and consistency build relationships because they testify to your ability to get the job done. Be considerate of oth-
ers’ time, interests and needs. Be deliberate; explain exactly how you can help people grow their business and how they can help you grow yours. A mutually-beneficially relationship is the best kind. Be on time and prepared for meetings. Be honest, set realistic expectations and deliver information with integrity. Communicate good news and bad news in a timely manner. Approach conflicts and challenges head on; address pertinent issues and offer simple solutions.
7. Maintenance Once you have initiated a relationship, you must nurture it and make it flourish. All relationships require maintenance, and this brings us back full circle to our first item, commitment. You must commit to staying in contact and to constantly add value. Relationships must be refreshed with new ideas and ways to help each other grow. Stay committed to making new introductions to your exiting relationships. Maintenance separates the professional from the amateur. An abundance of technology can help you stay connected. Invest in a CRM tool and use it to maintain contacts and consistent communications. Follow due diligence when investing in technology because complicated tools may generate more work than they save. Try to keep your enthusiasm level high in order to maintain relevance.
Conclusion Remember, relationships often fail to provide measurable value, but you should consider each relationship an opportunity to practice and improve your relationshipbuilding skills. Sometimes, you must give to receive, and relationships can lead to powerful introductions. Of course, you should always treat everyone with respect, and keep in mind that you will reach your goals when you help others reach theirs. Relationships will fade if you neglect to stay in touch and can take more time to rebuild than to create if you must repair damage. Relationships require commitment and take time. Always be genuine and deliver value without expecting an immediate payoff. Surround yourself with professionals, and their success and expertise will continue to enrich your life. Louis Tesoriero is business development manager for Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company. He may be reached by phone at (914) 696-3400 or e-mail ltesoriero@ghmc.com.
FHA Insider: Build Relationships Through FHA Updates By Jeff Mifsud
simple FHA update. Prepare, Promote and Present, and make it a habit. Go FHA! Jeff Mifsud is founder of Michigan-based Mortgage Seminars LLC, a former FHA underwriter with 15-plus years of experience originating FHA loans, an FHA expert for LoanToolbox.com and creator of The FHA Originator, a monthly FHA newsletter. Jeff may be reached by phone at (248) 403-8181 or visit www.MortgageSeminars.com. Visit author Jeff Mifsud’s Web site at http://mseminars.com for tips and information on FHA loans and details from some of the nation’s top FHA specialists.
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DECEMBER 2010
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One of the most common questions relationship-building opportunities. loan officers ask is, “How do I get in Please note that I used the word front of more Realtors?” “habit,” because when lead generating One answer in today’s market is by actions become habitual, then you doing Federal Housing Administration know it will get done on a consistent (FHA) presentations. According to a basis. The greatest challenge of an MLO Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) (or any salesperson, for that matter) is survey conducted this past October, to make the most productive behaviors FHA mortgage applications jumped habitual. How much time is wasted 17.2 percent, and given the changes to doing what I call “spin tasks,” that don’t our industry, FHA is likely to remain a do anything to move you closer to your significant percentage of loan produc- goal? For example, how much time do tion in the coming years. you spend checking In the last three years unnecessary e-mails or alone, there have been visiting Web sites that are approximately 650 changes time-killers? The most to FHA programs. It’s hard valuable thing you have enough for mortgage loan is time, so how do you originators (MLOs) to keep use it? up with the changes, so you can imagine how The 30-day much real estate agents challenge actually know about FHA. Over the next 30 days, And yet, many of these FHA make a commitment to changes are really imporprepare a recent FHA tant for real estate agents update that is relevant to “The greatest to know about. This creates challenge of an MLO real estate agents. Give the a wonderful opportunity presentation a catchy title (or any salesperson, for you to take this inforlike “How FHA Has Become for that matter) is to mation into real estate Even More Affordable for make the most offices throughout your Your Clients and More productive behaviors Profitable for Realtors” and area! habitual.” One of the greatest promote the presentation challenges a real estate until you get appointments broker has is providing quality training with 10 real estate offices. You’ll likely to their agents. I have always found need to make about five calls to get one great success in getting into real estate appointment, so be prepared to make a offices and putting myself in front of total of 50 calls. Make sure you speak with many agents to generate loans. When I authority and passion about the topic in think of why I was able to get in front order to get them excited about bringing of more agents than your average MLO, the information to their agents. Now you I think it comes down to two funda- are ready to present. The goal of your mental reasons: Knowledge and pas- presentation is not only to give them the sion. It’s one thing to have the knowl- valuable information, but to present your edge, but if the passion is not present, content in a way that engages them and you will not be able to inspire others to elicits questions from the audience. I rectake action. ommend just using a simple flyer as the presentation tool, since this will force you The “Three P Strategy” to connect with the audience. As a public Over the course of my career as an speaker, I have to work much harder to MLO, I developed a simple strategy that engage the audience when I use a I have used to build great relationships PowerPoint presentation, because people with real estate agents through short sit and watch the screen, creating a barriFHA presentations. I call it “The Three P er between you and the audience. Strategy,” which stands for “Prepare, At the time of the presentation, be Promote, and Present” (FHA guidelines sure to have everyone sign a registration can be really boring so I make these lit- form that collects their e-mail addresstle strategies to give more meaning to es, and let them know that you will what I do). Use this strategy as a means keep them updated on news that affects to get yourself in the habit of taking their business (make sure you respect FHA updates and turning them into this and do not spam them). After the
presentation, stick around to answer questions and build rapport with the agents. During this time, you will connect to certain agents and it’s these agents with whom you will want to make follow-up appointments to get to know them better and establish a more meaningful personal relationship. After about 10 presentations, you should have increased your core of solid potential referral sources by at least 15 agents. From here on out, you have to maintain the relationship and grow it; new referral sources take time to develop. A goal of closing two transactions per year with each of these agents will give you an extra 30 loans per year. If your average commission is $1,000 per loan, that’s an extra $30,000 from a
Strengthen Relationships With Social Media Making profitable connections is easier than ever before By John Seroka
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
34
The social media phenomenon has cer- before our eyes. It’s a fundamental shift tainly produced its share of dizzying from the way mortgage marketing was statistics. There’s the one that notes done even as recently as five years ago. that if Facebook were a sovereign nation, its 500 million users would A new way of marketing make it the third-largest country in the Mortgage professionals traditionally have world. There’s the fact that one busi- directed their marketing efforts to two ness executive sets up a audiences: Consumers and new LinkedIn account real estate professionals. every second. And how This marketing is designed about the two billion to build awareness of who times that people log in to you are and what you offer watch YouTube videos so that when consumers every day? are ready for a mortgage, Given these astronomiyour name comes to mind. cal levels of popularity, it’s A range of advertising, only natural that mortgage marketing and public relaprofessionals would be tions messages are used to interested in ways to leverreach both groups. age social media in their Traditional media “Consider that a marketing. They underallows you to reach a mass stand that tapping into the audience with your mesrecent survey found popularity of user-generatsage, but it also is limited that 78 percent of ed content can help them because it is strictly oneconsumers trust the establish and maintain way messaging. And any peer recommendarelationships with current mass media message, no tions they see on and potential customers. matter how targeted, will social media sites. So they get on LinkedIn, end up going to a large set up a Facebook page, That’s more than five number of consumers who times as many as and maybe even Tweet a are either not ready or not few times on Twitter. The those who say they interested in receiving it. question is … what hap- trust what they see in In contrast, social media pens next? enables lets you engage in an advertisement.” That depends on you. two-way conversations with Anyone can set up an consumers who are already account, but to utilize social media interested in the mortgage products and effectively, you need to grasp the ways customer service that you offer. Posting that it is changing marketing right information on Facebook, a personal blog,
Web: www.appraisalsanywhere.com
or on YouTube allows you to position yourself as a friendly, knowledgeable expert who can provide valuable information to interested consumers. It also invites those consumers into a conversation where they can ask you questions, contribute ideas or testimonials, offer praise or criticism, and share the information with their friends. How important is that? Consider that a recent survey found that 78 percent of consumers trust the peer recommendations they see on social media sites. That’s more than five times as many as those who say they trust what they see in an advertisement. As the numbers cited at the beginning of this article reflect, consumers are turning to social media with more and more frequency. Internet users who participated in another recent study said that on average, they are logging into social networking sites twice every day. (Parents of teenagers and young adults will doubtless find that number laughably low.) The bottom line is social networking is a convenient and cost-effective way to get people interested in you, talking about what you do, and spreading the word to others.
Facebook also lets you build relationships with potential customers and increase brand recognition or sales through targeted advertising. On Facebook, you can segment your audience in any number of ways: By age, gender, location, language, hobbies and interests, and more. Having so many options allows you to test your target list along with the advertising offer and the creativity of the image and text. As with YouTube, you can set the ads’ parameters so that it specifically targets consumers and real estate agents living in your city or region. Facebook offers two payment options to advertisers: Cost per click and cost per thousand impressions. If you are interested in simply raising brand awareness, then cost per thousand impressions will be a better value. If the purpose of your ad is strictly to generate direct responses and drive immediate business, then cost per click is the best option. When clicked, the hyperlinked ad can direct a consumer to a Facebook page or to a website landing page.
Nurture relationships Target your message You might choose to start by writing regular blog or Facebook updates that include tips for consumers or post a series of educational videos on YouTube. These videos could spotlight industry trends like changing credit score requirements, loan guidelines and documentation requirements. Address common customer questions like what can affect their credit report, where interest rates are heading or when is the right time to refinance. You also can offer people a glimpse into a slice of your day, such as when a question came up about an appraisal, or how you responded to a potentially deal-breaking situation in a way that made everyone a winner. Don’t be afraid to be specific—it shows the public that you’re in the know (of course, while being mindful of the confidentiality of your customers). Consumers who read these messages or view the videos can then follow up with you with their own particular questions. They’ll start to view you as a trusted authority they can turn to with confidence. Another benefit of social media is that it allows you to categorize your postings for greater relevance. For example, YouTube allows you to tag your videos so that viewers can easily search for what they’re looking for. That means you can target potential customers by location as well as subject matter, attracting those consumers who are most likely to do business with you.
Speaking of company Web sites, yours should engage consumers and encourage them to make use of your services. As with other vehicles like Facebook and blogs, this means inviting them into a conversation where they can ask questions and get answers on mortgage-related topics. Continue to nurture relationships by asking past customers, particularly repeat customers and those who have provided referrals, to write a brief testimonial about the high quality of service they received from you. Give testimonials a prominent place on your Web site, include a “Reviews” tab on your Facebook page, and ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn. Constantly be looking for ways to connect with other professionals and establish profitable partnerships. There are many options for staying proactive, like sending a Tweet congratulating a real estate broker on a recently closed deal or linking to an agent’s new YouTube posting. Ask them to do the same for you. While you always want to be professional in your presentation and in the quality of information you provide, remember that these new media represent a seismic shift in our approach to marketing. Steer clear of hard sells, industry jargon and business-speak. Instead, use a more relaxed tone that focuses on honest answers to real questions. Let consumers know you are ready and will-
ing to help. They are more likely to take you up on that offer if they’re not leery of getting an aggressive sales pitch when they contact you. Experienced public relations and marketing professionals can help you with all of these efforts. They understand social media vehicles and know cost effective ways to maximize your investment for the greatest impact. They also can help you develop a strategy that uses social media to complement your traditional advertising and public relations campaigns.
Social media will never be your one and only marketing vehicle—it was never intended to be used that way. But it can be an important part of a successful overall strategy to build and foster relationships with your customers—past, present, and future. John Seroka is vice president of Seroka, a full-service branding, advertising, marketing and public relations firm. He may be reached by e-mail at john@seroka.com, call (866) 379-0400, online at linkedin.com/in/johnseroka, twitter.com/johnseroka, or on Facebook.
What Could be Better Than Zero-Cost Marketing? By Adam P. Smith
basics and use that “antiquated” telephone you are way ahead. Whether you make one call a day or a million calls a day, the cost is exactly the same. Schedule time for calls and believe that many of them you may not want to make. Sooner or later, they do pay off. Call in the morning when people are still in a good mood and your time is more productive. Return every single call—you never know what’s waiting behind that message and you never want to be known as the person who doesn’t return their calls. You want people to call you back, don’t you? Have casual conversations, for you will make friends before you make clients. Listen carefully and make notes about family, occupation, recreational interests, education and their dreams. Nothing makes a person feel more important and respected than knowing someone is interested in their life. Pay it forward by connecting your contacts to each other. You’ll be a hero. Be able to apologize if you’ve been so busy you’ve neglected someone and let them know why. Give no excuses … just explain. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, either. It’s alright to ask if they know anyone who needs your expertise. Above all else, listen carefully and completely and take thorough notes. It’s hard work. But, it works. You have no added expense: you are already meeting people and networking; you already have a CRM package; you already have a phone, and you already have email and the internet. You’ve talked to your leads before or at least a friend or relative and you have some background information. So, use the tools you already have, don’t spend any more money, and build your repeat and referral business. Adam P. Smith is president of The Colorado Real Estate Finance Group Inc. He may be reached by phone at (866) 423-0564, e-mail adam@corefinancegroup.com or visit www.corefinancegroup.com.
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From experience, I can tell you that The bottom line still is that people do building a repeat and referral business business with people they know and can be done with virtually no cost and like. who wouldn’t want that? Zero is cerSo, what does work? What about tainly the right price. By using the right your contact database management? tools, you can build a tremendous mar- Are you gathering contacts? Are you keting or prospecting building that database? base with virtually no He who has the most additional expense except friends wins and every singood effort. In these ecogle person you come into nomic times, you are contact with is a potential almost negligent if you’re client, advocate or referral not using creative marsource. Your neighbor has keting ideas. a friend who wants to refiYou probably do your nance. Or perhaps a past marketing now in some client refers a prospective traditional way like new one. Every social gaththrough flyers, postcards, ering and networking Internet leads, telemarketevent has tremendous ing or even hard advertispotential. Charity events “He who has the most ing in print or perhaps on are key because all attenfriends wins and the radio. All of these dees share a common every single person methods certainly have ground or interest. Don’t benefits that lead to higher you come into contact forget to strike up a convolume exposure, but they with is a potential versation with the guy sitcome at a cost … a very ting next to you at a footclient, advocate or real, very simple and often ball or baseball game, or referral source.” a very high cost. Passive the man sipping a beer marketing doesn’t use your time because next to you at a bar. Unless you are living you’re not working for it, of course, but in a cave, you have limitless potential if you might get better exposure. Your logo you just look around. becomes more commonly exposed and What do you do with all of these new familiar, and your smiling face means contacts? You only need a customer relavisual recognition. Your phone starts ring- tionship management (CRM) software ing and your e-mail inbox fills and that’s package that controls the three basic terrific. necessities: Contacts, calendar and notes. I However, these methods are expen- have used ACT! Gold Mine, and others, but sive from printing costs of flyers and keep coming back to old faithful, Outlook. mailings, to buying leads, to telemar- Again, you probably already have it and I keting and advertising. The results may stress … at no additional cost. yield more cold contacts, where you Expanding your contact database just have no background or rapport, which takes a little practice. Everyone you meet means a much tougher sales process. or hear of should go into it. There is
always the “My friend Bob needs a mortgage” category. All of your family members, from your twin brother to your longlost great aunt Tillie, should be in your database. Any and all former, current or future colleagues should in your database. How many have gotten out of the business in recent years that still need these services? Information on old friends can be easily located via social networking Web sites. Many sites offer lookup features for individuals and public records are just that—public—and are available through county assessors’ and records Web sites. You can build a rapport before you ever make a call. Creative thinking counts and pays off. The fact gathering is the easy part. Managing your database takes some work and you need to invest some of your time into this task. You have to change the oil in your car, too. Simply run through the database alphabetically when you have the time. Check your contacts and be sure that no one is falling through the cracks. Keep it current by adding and subtracting events, always watching for the possible future strike and removing those events where the contacts are stagnant. Keep a personal calendar for your contacts and check it regularly. The “how” is easier. The devices you take for granted are your personal goldmines. Your mobile device contains everything you should need and it should be with you everywhere you go at all times. Within that small electronic wizard, you have all your contacts, all your calendar entries, all of your important information regarding timelines like the last time you spoke with a contact, and you can make calls without your computer. That means you can wish Joe Smith a happy birthday on a Sunday and be very sure you do it every year. All of that is the upside. The downside is the work involved. It takes diligence and a whole lot of it. If you go back to
Relationship Speaking: The New Secret Ingredient By Laura Lynn Burke, EA
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
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“Who’s on your team?” is a phrase with multiple core individuals believing coined by a good friend and fellow in you, referring you business. Your busiassociate of mine, Emily Ferguson. ness will explode. Soon, you will have Networking and building relationships your own “private-label” sales team, and has been written and spoken about for- all you need to do in return is refer them ever. I hope this is telling you some- and be their salesperson. This is where it thing, it has told me … it gets tricky. You cannot do is important and a big key this with just anyone, you to success in any business need to build a bond, a or endeavor. It has withrelationship, create a held the statue of time. team. The creation of the In today’s fast-paced, team will create synergy. Internet-connected socieI have spoken in the ty, you need a team of past of choosing your partpeople working with you. ners wisely. The people I’m going to throw a new you create bonds with will mix in the pot … diversibecome a reflection of ty. Diversify yourself to you, who you are and how success. We all know that you operate. This is key doing the same thing when building a team. “Just imagine how repeatedly will produce The second part of your business would the same results, good or diversity, is adding a new change with multiple bad. Change what you are product or service that core individuals doing and add diversity complements your current into the mixture and believing in you, business. This is now somevoila, you have the secret referring you business. thing you do rather than ingredient. refer another person. I Your business will You know how just chose to become an explode.” that little “pinch” of salt, enrolled agent, a practisugar or spice can make a tioner who has technical dish sizzle. That is what diversity will expertise in taxation, has successfully bring to your marketing and relation- passed three levels of tax exams by the IRS ship building skills… sizzle! and who is empowered by the U.S. Diversity can have multiple mean- Department of the Treasury to represent ings. Let’s look at the first meaning I am taxpayers before all administrative levels speaking of. Diversify your core and inner of the Internal Revenue Service for audits, networking group. Do you meet the same collections, and appeals. Therefore giving group of people day in and day out? Do you an-in depth knowledge of tax prepayou attend the same monthly networking ration and business entities. breakfast meeting? Do you attend the I choose this field because it was an same after hours meet and greets? Step interest I had, and a great cross-over outside of your comfort circle, and seek business. If you are preparing the tax out and join a new group, club and returns of your clients, it is easy to sugorganization. It can even be online. gest a refinance to lower their rate, pull Check out LinkedIn if you are not yet cash out for other investments. It also connected. It is the Facebook for busi- flips well as my mortgage clients know ness professionals. You might want to I already have their tax returns, I know reach out to a different area or outlet, so all about them, so why not use me as diversify yourself when joining new their tax professional as well? groups. Obviously you wouldn’t want to This is just one way, as there are a join a group you would have no connec- multitude of other ways, marketing tion or relevance to. But by adding new relating products such as a bi-weekly groups and new encounters, you are mortgage products, mortgage insurbound to connect with a new person you ance, hardwood flooring, closet organhave some strong connection with. All it izing, house cleaning … the list contintakes is one core person who aligns with ues. It is what you have an interest in or you, and believes that you are a person previous knowledge of. If you have an of value. When this happens, that person interest and no previous knowledge, will become your salesperson. Just imag- take a class as you can learn and grow. ine how your business would change As excerpt from my new book,
Stepping Stones to Success: “New ventures are becoming commonplace in today’s marketplace. It is not uncommon to end one’s career and start or add a new one. Open new doors. You are smarter, stronger, less stressed, and more experienced than you were when you first started. Your focus is sharper. Many Americans are planning to work well into their 60s; some are even keeping positions during their 70s. We experience paradigm shifts in the 90s, relating to living and working longer. We now have new career paths as we age.” We have now looked at two uniquely different ways of diversity, by diversifying your core networking group, and by adding another complimentary product. The third way to diversify is really twofold. Diversify your marketing and sales plans. Some synonyms for diversify are: Changing, specialize, broadening your horizons and branching out. I will suggest you not only adapt new marketing ideas and campaigns, but to also diversify who you are marketing too. Utilizing new sales and marketing ideas, such as online marketing, the use of e-mail drip campaigns, asking for referrals from other associates you are in contact with are just a few differing marketing campaigns. I personally am not fond of Facebook. In my opinion, Facebook is a social gathering where often people tell too much online. If you like it, then use it. For work and professional business, I like Linked In. I am part of the language of luxury LOL, a high-end Realtor connection and Plaxo. This is a good way to connect to business associates and potential team members. You can see what they are doing, what they have done. This works well with account executives, Realtors, builders, attorneys, insurance agents, tax professionals such as CPAs. It allows you to have a connection, but not be too personal, again, like Facebook. Facebook is for your friends and for you to be yourself. I hope I am not offending any Facebook lovers out there, as I am sure there is someone out there who feels differently and may have a great success story to share with us. This is my opinion only. I am a true believer in a mission statement. Create your own mission statement and know it. The worst thing you can do is stumble when telling someone what you do or even ramble on. It was Dr. Ivan Misner who once said, “Practice it and practice it until it rolls out of your mouth with ease.” Once you have this down you can be standing in line to purchase groceries, rent a DVD, see a movie and in minutes (under two) you can tell someone what you do. Give them your business card, two to be exact, one they can keep and one they
can give away. As a mortgage professional you should have a team of other professionals you work with. If not, create a team. It is okay to have multiple teams, for example. I have three key Realtors that send me purchase clients. All three are in different areas geographically. Each Realtor has an attorney that they choose to refer business to. I work well and like each one very much; therefore, when I refer a client not coming from the Realtor to a real estate attorney, I typically will choose the one located closest to the new client, but will often give them two names to make a choice from. We all have different insurance reps we refer, and I have one builder who knows how to do 203Ks and we will use him with all three. I became friends with one Realtor from a referral from an attorney I work with in taxation. She, in turn, invited me to host an open house for Realtors. I joined her at the open house, bringing in some food never hurts! But, that is where and how I met the second Realtor. The second Realtor started sending me quite a bit of business before the first one I had the open house with did. Then, the first one with the open house started referring clients as well. I think there is plenty of business to go around. I, in turn, refer each Realtor clients in their area as I get them. So this goes back to, “Who’s on your team?” The more people you know, the larger your team will become. I hired a someone to help me with my marketing. She sends out my thank you cards, and congratulates homeowners on their new home, reminders about low interest rates, and other personalized “real mail.” My husband is a retired postal worker, and I just would hate to see the post office go out of business, and my clients like the fact that I thought enough to mail them something. You can sign up for an e-mail marketing campaign that allows you to design specific messages and send them to specified targeted groups. You can set the time and day the e-mail is to go out, how often. This opens a whole can of worms; however you must have e-mail address permission and opt-in and opt-out rights. Diversify and multiply! Laura Lynn Burke, EA is an author, trainer, speaker, loan officer and enrolled agent, “permitted to practice by the IRS.” Burke works for Mid-Nation Mortgage Company as a loan officer, she owns Professional Tax Masters Inc. and Footprints International Training Company. She may be reached by e-mail at llynn145@aol.com.
these designations once industry-specif- the NMLS, prove successful completion of ic standards have been met. The mort- 20 hours of pre-education, prove the pasgage industry is now at a time to allow sage of the national and state tests, mainits professionals to promote their tain their licensure through completion of accomplishments. Not only will these continuing education courses and provide designations instill pride in the mort- results of their background check. It is an gage professional, it will add a conversa- all-encompassing designation that allows By Lance Cassell tion piece to introductions with borrow- mortgage professionals to promote their ers, increase credibility and cultivate compliance with the recent federal mandates. CMB offers two types of designaWith the intense licensing and educa- ing; and lending standards for the non-tra- confidence in the minds of borrowers. The Licensed Mortgage Various organizations in the mortgage tions. tion changes the mortgage industry has ditional mortgage product marketplace. been faced with over the past two Education is one of the most valued industry have integrated designations into Professional (LMP) is for mortgage loan years, it is time for mortgage profes- accomplishments throughout every indus- their membership programs, education originators who work for non-depository sionals to take a closer look at how try in our country. Patients, customers, stu- programs and internal corporate advance- lenders, mortgage bankers and brokers. these changes can positively impact dents, clients and borrowers alike strive to ment programs. These designations prove The Registered Mortgage Professional valuable for segmented (RMP) is for mortgage loan originators their relationships with current and work with and select the accomplishments through- who are employed by a depository instipotential borrowers. most educated counterout various careers in the tution regulated by a federal banking In 2008, the Secure and Fair parts to help them through mortgage industry, but agency, a subsidiary which is owned and Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act every transaction they purnone are comprehensive. controlled by a depository institution (SAFE Act) embedded new licensing sue in a lifetime. Licensed None speak to the mean- and regulated by a federal banking requirements and considerations into mortgage professionals are ingfulness of the financial agency, or an institution regulated by our professional culture. Previously now more educated and and time-intensive invest- the Farm Credit Administration. state-mandated, these licensing stan- more prepared to serve It is essential to build strong relationment of meeting the new dards are now set and overseen by fed- their borrowers so promote federal mortgage licensing ships quickly and remember to contineral entities through the Nationwide that fact. ue to stay “in front” of your clients at all standards. Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS). Licensed mortgage loan All industry designation times. Clients should know that you Requirements include registering on originators have also passed programs allow for mort- know more about their mortgage than the NMLS, completing background a national and state test (at checks, passing national and state tests, least one). With national “It is essential to build gage professionals to estab- they do. They want a reputable, trained lish relationships and build professional, who invests in themselves and completing pre-education and con- average pass rates for these strong relationships upon the initial request or and their craft. Designations offer an tinuing education courses approved by tests hovering around the quickly and rememthe NMLS. 70 percent mark, passing ber to continue to stay service. There are, and have opportunity to stand apart from the been, a few successful mort- crowd. Use them on business cards, Web The SAFE Act stems from commend- these tests is a notable feat. ‘in front’ of your gage designations, such as sites and marketing materials and able efforts to elevate the mortgage Not only have the licensed clients at all times. the Certified Residential explain their significance to potential industry from its disastrous downfall, individuals studied the releClients should know Mortgage Specialist (CRMS) borrowers and colleagues. As the mortincrease borrower confidence and help vant course topics, they that you know more and Certified Mortgage gage profession takes the turn to a more restore the financial markets. It’s now have proved the proper Consultant (CMC) from the respected, credible and accountable time for the mortgage professionals applicability of the content about their mortgage National Association of industry, you should take advantage of who have complied with these require- in a testing environment. than they do.” Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), the accomplishments already achieved ments to sharpen their perspective on Passing background not only what these mandates do for checks is another important aspect of as well as the Certified Mortgage Banker and place them strategically in your the industry and the economy, but the new licensing requirements that (CMB) with the Mortgage Bankers marketing arsenal. what these mandates do for them. has many advantages in the eyes of a Association (MBA). The Consumer Mortgage Mortgage professionals across the borrower. After being inundated with Bureau (CMB) takes a comprehensive Lance Cassell is the managing director of country are constantly faced with the prime-time news stories about approach to its designations. Designations the Consumer Mortgage Bureau (CMB) challenge of finding new ways to build unscrupulous financial services profes- are only offered to mortgage professionals and vice president of TrainingPro. For business and build relationships with sionals, borrowers are skittish and who have a unique identifier with the more information, call (410) 845-3640 or new borrowers. Referrals, direct mail, skeptical of who supports them in these NMLS, have been approved and listed on visit www.consumermortgagebureau.org. advertisements and online promotion financial transactions that are, oftenhave been staples in marketing strate- times, the most important transactions ATTENTION AGENTS, INVESTORS & DEVELOPERS!!! gies to help differentiate products and of their lifetime. services from the competition. These These incredible and marketable are all time-tested and solid tech- attributes are already in the back pockniques. Now is the time to use recent ets of each licensed mortgage profesfederal requirements to their advan- sional, but the majority of borrowers tage and maximize the additional steps are not aware of it. Why not capitalize Then try PB FINANCIAL GROUP that have been taken to do business as on the time and money you have We have proven closing records a mortgage loan originator. invested in becoming a licensed mortSPECIAL INTEREST: Educated. Tested. Checked. These gage professional? A borrower wants • Loan amounts from $100,000 to 2 million • N/O/O SFR, 1-4 units and apart – to 60% LTV IO / terms may vary qualities speak to credibility in and of and needs to know their mortgage loan • Commercial & Industrial – to 50% IO with terms up to 3 yrs themselves and offer an opportunity originator is educated, tested and com• NO Doc and SISA available on n/o/o & invest. Properties for individual promotion that may not plies with all of the standards set by • Purchase Money and Refinance transactions • Fico Problem – No Problem, We Are EQUITY BASED have existed prior to this year. federal legislators. Licensed mortgage loan originators One simple way to do this is through IF WE CAN’T DO IT WE WON’T WASTE YOUR TIME!!! FAST, STREAMLINED PROCESS have successfully completed 20 hours of industry designations. Designations pre-education, approved by the NMLS. flourish in many industries, including CALL NOW!!! (323) 935-5555 This includes rigorous instruction on fed- accounting, financial planning, writers, Visit our web site: www.PBFinancialGrp.com eral mortgage laws; ethics, including teachers, doctors and lawyers. E-mail: info@pbfinancialgrp.com fraud; consumer protection and fair lend- Professional societies typically offer
Building Borrower Relationships Through Industry Designations
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and effort by never having to leave the familiar Mortgage Builder environment and in essence, already know how to use the new leading-edge capabilities. Mortgage Builder was among the first LOS systems to provide basic electronic document management functionality, but the new platform integrates the most advanced digital image and document handling automation available anywhere, according to Keven Smith, Mortgage Builder’s chief executive officer and president.
Mortgage Builder is setting an entirely new standard for built-in LOS document management,” Smith said. “Users create electronic loan folders in seconds and automatically build the file with required documents within the system, never leaving it. When documents arrive via e-mail, fax or uploads through Mortgage Builder’s privately-labeled lender portals, they flow directly into the appropriate loan’s electronic folder and automatically enter the loan’s workflow.
Incoming documents are recognized and classified without requiring separator sheets or bar codes, a great time saver all by itself. And they are immediately ‘teed up’ for action in the right person’s queue. It’s a quantum leap in electronic document management.” With investors increasingly requiring electronic loan delivery in specific stacking orders, electronic document management is rapidly becoming a must-have for lenders, many of whom are currently using costly third party services to deliver electronic files. Paper, famously expensive and easy to misplace, becomes a thing of the past and is replaced with greater security and vastly reduced costs.
Call FURST Conferencing solutions for Mortgage Companies
CallFURST Audio Conferencing enables your mortgage company to communicate immediately. We have a versatile suite of products that can support meetings of any size. We offer Reservationless Audio Conferencing, Operator Assisted and Event conferencing all with 24 x 7 x 365 live help available.
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How mortgage companies are using CallFURST Audio Conferencing I Branch manager meetings I Sales training and coaching I Addressing problems with active loans in the pipeline
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
CallFURST Web Conferencing can be used to conduct live meetings, perform training, provide remote help or give presentations via the Internet. In a web conference, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. CallFURST live help is available 24 x 7 x 365. How mortgage companies are using CallFURST Web Conferencing I Borrower presentations I First time homebuyer webinars I Software and systems training for employees We offer:
CallFURST Video Conferencing supports features such as Video Reservations, video streaming and the latest technology allowing you to connect with end users regardless of their platform or technology. Video conferencing is key to keeping business connected as travel budgets tighten and the time we have to get things done is ever-decreasing. Using Video Conferencing, you can be sure you have access to more personal attention and training through our team of video experts, the latest in product innovation and proven service and reliability to ensure your message is successfully communicated. How mortgage companies are using CallFURST Video Conferencing I Presentations to large groups Lowest Pric I Educational programs for branch offices e Guarente I Software and systems training for employees e If we can't m eet or beat y conferencin our g servicing For more details on how CallFURST Conferencing p ri c ing, I will give you a $ 10 Starbuck s gift card. helps to improve your company's communications,
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“The office supply vendors aren’t going to be happy about this,” Smith said. “Every digital loan means a ream of paper saved and represents a file that isn’t going to be repeatedly copied, moved around the office and ultimately stored in a box somewhere. With millions of loans going digital each year, entire forests, landfills, watersheds and energy resources will benefit.” For more information, visit www.mortgagebuilder.com.
Wolters Kluwer launches new OneFile Web-based solution Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has announced the launch of its Web-based OneFile mortgage processing solution. OneFile allows lenders to replace the cumbersome paper-based origination process, helping them improve productivity, lower costs, grow their portfolios and improve borrowers’ customer experience. A survey of more than 600 lenders in April 2010 by Wolters Kluwer found 76 percent were still relying on an inefficient paper-based method to process mortgages. The top reasons lenders had not implemented an electronic solution were security of borrower data, high implementation costs and the potential impact to lending workflow. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services’ OneFile solution helps lenders overcome all of these obstacles. Built in conjunction with mortgage lenders, OneFile offers a centralized source for loan documents. The solution allows lenders to create a single electronic loan file for each borrower, providing everyone involved in the origination process, including third parties, with simultaneous access to the file and documents wherever and whenever they need it. It also integrates to Wolters Kluwer Financial Services’ Secure Document Exchange (SDX) solution to help lenders securely and electronically deliver disclosures to borrowers. All of this helps lenders process and underwrite loans more quickly, eliminate printing and mailing costs, and respond more rapidly to borrower questions. “In today’s volatile marketplace, mortgage lenders are seeking to retain a competitive advantage by reducing cost and making the origination process faster and easier for their borrower,” said Jason Marx, vice president and general manager, mortgage, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. “OneFile allows them to do all of this with flexible workflows while maintaining compliance with an increasingly-complex set of regulatory requirements.” OneFile is a transactional content management system that has been designed for mortgage origination. It offers pre-built mortgage file workflow, embedded document capture functions, and document review features that help continued on page 40
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enforce compliance with lender processing and underwriting guidelines. OneFile also helps lenders dramatically reduce the inherent risks that accompany paper mortgage files. These include poor disaster recovery, business continuity, and security issues surrounding confidential borrower information. OneFile uses secure data centers that have undergone an SAS 70 Type II review. The solution also encrypts the sensitive information while at rest and in-transit. For more information, visit www.onefilenow.com.
Veros adds Appraiser Panel Management capability with module for its VeroSELECT platform Veros, a provider of collateral valuation technology, enterprise risk management and predictive analytics, has launched Appraiser Panel Management, a functional component within its VeroSELECT platform giving lenders the flexibility to include appraisers from their own approved panels while remaining compliant with
Dodd-Frank and FHA appraiser independence rules. The VeroSELECT platform intelligently routes and returns appraisals and other valuation products, including appraisals ordered through appraisal management companies (AMCs), broker price opinions (BPOs), automated valuation models (AVMs), and automated risk, fraud, and data products, for lenders. With its connectivity into investor portals, it can assist lenders in meeting investor compliance requirements and identify potential valuation concerns. VeroSELECT enables lenders to achieve regulatory compliance through its flexibility to route valuation orders across multiple service sources, while tracking all transactions and data
Consumers want to work with people Consumers want to work people they can trust and believe. they can trust and believe. starts by setting higher Trust starts byTrust setting higher BROKER standards for the mortgage industry. standards for the mortgage industry. ER
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elements in a real-time, fully auditable reporting module. It also maintains all data points from the valuation source, including a first-generation PDF of the entire report. With the Appraiser Panel Management functionality, lenders can use VeroSELECT to electronically invite appraisers to join their network and directly send appraisal orders. This gives lenders the advantage of guaranteeing local proficiency, while staying compliant with appraisal regulations. By being able to create and maintain their panels of approved appraisers as part of their ordering list, lenders can reduce their dependence on single vendors, keep response times high and reduce costs over the long term. For more information, visit www.veros.com.
Field Asset Services releases REO and short sale management tool Field Asset Services (FAS), a provider of field services to the real estate-owned (REO) industry, has announced the availability of FAS Direct Services, a new service solution for larger real estate firms, based on FASâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revolutionary Collateral Command concept. An integrated suite of services, FAS Direct Services eliminates the hassles of property management for local real estate agents and brokers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;FAS understands that the goal of real estate agents is to move properties fast and not be held back by the time-consuming tasks associated with property management,â&#x20AC;? said Dale McPherson, president and chief executive officer of Field Asset Services. â&#x20AC;&#x153;FAS Direct Services was created to offload the burdens of property management by providing real estate agents with a dependable solution that delivers the services they need, when they need them and in a recurring business model. By leveraging our more than 15 years of experience providing property management services to the lender community, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been able to build a robust solution for the agent community that eliminates property management challenges and enables them to focus on their job of selling and marketing properties.â&#x20AC;? FAS Direct Services is an integrated suite of services created to streamline the management of REO and foreclosed properties for real estate agents. Centrally managed by FAStrack, FASâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s state-of-the-art workflow management system, FAS Direct Services enables FAS to deliver agents consistent and high quality service and predictable pricing with a three-day turn around on initial services. Through FAS Direct Services, FAS is able to efficiently oversee all aspects of property management activities from utilities to compliance and proposal while providing real estate agents with an easy way to order, inspect and review preservation and recurring services. In addition, through FAStrack, FAS continued on page 42
• Multiple National Lenders • RESPA/Compliance Training
• Weekly Production Training • Multiple Warehouse Lines
“My experience with Frost Mortgage has been “as advertised.” Our recent MasterMind Meeting in Albuquerque was one of my best learning experiences I’ve had since entering the mortgage business.” - Loren Winzeler - Santa Rosa, CA
“I made a bad move to a small net branch company with terrible service. The Frost team jumped in, got my loans processed, approved and closed on time. Great service and great pricing.” - Todd Crampton - Farmington, NM
“We gained multiple lenders, great pricing, timely underwriting and closing. They also answer the phone and call us back. Works great for me.” - Kevin Hodge, Abingdon MD
“Greg promised to put an Underwriter in my office when I hit my numbers. I did, he did, and we couldn’t be happier. This local decision making ability gives my team a decisive advantage over our competition.” - Robert Shaffer, Lancaster, CA
"We were plugging along at $1.5M a month for years. Greg offered to help me recruit and has joined me in Nashville for several days in the the last few months. Our branch production is up 300%." - Shane Atwell, Nashville, TN
“I joined Frost Mortgage and immediately saw my revenue get back to what it used to be. I now have the tools I need to be successful in today’s market place.” - Bill Morris, Lancaster OH
A PRMI Company
If you would like to learn more about our BranchPartner business model, please inquire:
http://FrostMortgage.com/NMP Regulation and Licensing Department, Financial Institutions Division #621 • Branch License #00621
new to market managing in the brave new world of mortgage finance attend the 28th Annual Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations March 15 - 17, 2011 Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, Atlantic City, NJ For The First Time: The Residential Program Will Include A Commercial Track So That Attendees Will Have A Choice As To Which Sessions To Attend. Both Cocktail Receptions And The Exhibit Hall Will Be For Both Residential And Commercial Programs.
Tuesday Opening Residential Networking Cocktail Reception in the Exhibit Hall
Wednesday General Session Topics The Future of the Securitization Market, Risk Retention, TBA Market, Reforming the GSE’s, Government Guarantees & More MBA’s Report on Current Legislative/Regulatory Issues Banks in the Mortgage Market How to Use Social Networking: Facebook, Twitter, LO Websites, Blogs
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Exhibit Hall with Lunch Afternoon Session Topics LO & Broker Compensation Labor Law Issues (LO Overtime, Department Of Labor Opinion, Minimum Wage) Mortgage Bankers & Financial Institutions Panel: Independent Mortgage Bankers Mortgage Brokers (FHA Business, Use Of Compare Ratio’s, Etc.)
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
Regulators Roundtable Regulators from NJ, PA & NY Mortgage Fraud Panel: How To Detect And Avoid Mortgage Fraud Networking Cocktail Reception
Thursday Critical Issues Day An in Depth Look at Financial Regulatory Reform LO Compensation Risk Retention Ability To Repay CFPB Regulations Fed Reserve Rules SAFE Act And Related Issues
continued from page 40
can enable QA inspections and online tracking. For more information, visit www.fieldassets.com.
LPS Applied Analytics announces Realtor Valuation Model Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), a provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries, has announced the release of the Realtor Valuation Model (RVM) from its LPS Applied Analytics division. The LPS RVM is the only automated valuation model (AVM) with duly licensed multiple listing services (MLS) data drawn from the Realtors Property Resource (RPR). The RPR is a parcel-centric information database launched by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), covering all of the more than 147 million property parcels in the country as a resource for NAR members. By leveraging this information for the development of the RVM, LPS Applied Analytics expands the reach of traditional automated valuation, bringing listing and pending sale data into the equation. “With the introduction of the LPS RVM, users now have housing supply information at their fingertips,” said Robert Walker, managing director, valuations, for LPS Applied Analytics. “By factoring listings and pending sales in the report, it becomes easier to better understand the external factors impacting the value of a specific property.” In testing, the LPS RVM has proven extraordinarily accurate when compared with other comparative AVMs. In a sampling of Maricopa County, Ariz. (Phoenix) properties, for example, the LPS RVM correctly predicted the selling price of a property 72 percent of the time. According to Walker, this high accuracy is the direct result of the addition of MLS data fully licensed by RPR. For more information, visit www.lpsvcs.com.
Advantage Systems adds Clearing House feature to its accounting system
MI’s: Future Of The Private MI Industry Residential Mortgage Lending For Financial Institutions Subsidiary vs. Division Registration Of LO’s Obtaining HUD Approval Investor Approvals Underwriting A View From The Regulators: OCC, FDIC, State Reg
For Registration Information visit www.mbanj.com
Advantage Systems, a provider of accounting and contract management tools for the mortgage and real estate industries, has announced the addition of an Automated Clearing House (ACH) processing function to its Accounting for Mortgage Bankers (AMB) system. AMB is an accounting system designed for mortgage bankers to provide loanlevel detail of accounting transactions. The ACH application was created in response to the growing use of electronic payments. With the feature, lenders are able to cut costs by elimi-
nating check processing and postage fees. The payment file created by the system is generated in the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) format. As such, the file can be read by any bank supporting the NACHA format. Dallas, Texas-based PrimeLending, a PlainsCapital Company, is Advantage Systems’ first customer leveraging the application. “Lenders are seeking ways to decrease expenses in all areas of business, even in how they pay bills,” said Brian Lynch, president of Advantage Systems. “In speaking with customers, we found that some were spending significant amounts mailing thousands of checks each month. With the ACH application, they can easily send electronic payments and maintain security for all parties involved. We build each addition to AMB with our customers in mind, taking steps to increase their business efficiency and making accounting, which affects all portions of the company, as simple as possible.” The AMB system provides general ledger, accounts payable and report writing capabilities. A Web-based branch reporting module is also available for branch managers along with a module to calculate commissions, bonuses and overrides. For more information, visit www.mortgageaccounting.com.
NCS launches new employment verification solution NCS, a provider of income, identity and credit intelligence, has announced the launch of VOE CONFIRM, an advanced employment verification solution that enables lenders to better confirm potential borrowers’ ability to repay, helping to ensure overall loan quality. With VOE CONFIRM, lenders submit their employment verification requests through NCS’ secure Web site. Then, NCS conducts the necessary research and its staff of professionals makes personal phone calls to verify the employment information given by the potential borrower. Within 24-48 hours, the lender receives a VOE CONFIRM report that verifies whether or not the employment information provided is accurate. In addition to verifying the accuracy of the employment information, the VOE CONFIRM report also outlines the details of the steps involved in the accuracy determination process for audit purposes. The information in the report is delivered in an easy-tounderstand format that enables lenders to expedite the origination process. Further, the VOE CONFIRM report follows the guidelines established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “While employment verifications are not new to the mortgage industry, the demand for timely and accurate
employment verification that delivers the next level of quality assurance is very strong,” said Curt Knuth, executive vice president of NCS. “Whether trying to remain in compliance with the Loan Quality Initiative or identify potential fraud, lenders must be able to confirm the information provided on borrower applications. VOE CONFIRM supports that need and complements NCS’ extensive line of well-established verifications solutions, including those that confirm income, identity and credit.” For more information, visit www.ncstrv.com.
ISGN announces its Quality Assurance and Review service offering for servicers
continued on page 48
You've decided to look at Branching Opportunities! With all the NEW PLAYERS entering the market, it's not an easy decision. There are several options, but are they EXPERIENCED AT BRANCHING?
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WHO WOULD YOU TRUST WITH YOUR LIFE? BRANCH PROGRAM FOR PROFESSIONALS
IT'S ALL WE DO. EXECUTIVE OFFICES: 108 Corporate Park Drive, Suite 301 White Plains, NY 10604 CALL: Louis Tesoriero at (888) 329-GHMC ltesoriero@ghmc.com www.joinguaranteed.com Licensed in AL, AK, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV and growing
DECEMBER 2010
The Consumer Mortgage Bureau has announced that they have developed two new designation programs to define the mortgage industry in the wake of the SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008: The Registered Mortgage Professional (RMP)
means that the individual is a certified member of the Consumer Mortgage Bureau and has met all of the organizations qualifications and agrees to adhere by their strict Code of Ethics. The RMP is the mark of those who have met the following criteria: registered in the National Mortgage Licensing System with a unique identifier (starting January 2011); fingerprinted; background check; working for a depository lender, bank or credit union; education (internal); profile accessible at www.consumermortgagebureau.org. The Licensed Mortgage Professional designation was developed for mort-
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
Consumer Mortgage Bureau announces two new professional designation programs
mum national standards for testing and education. The Consumer Mortgage Bureau’s new designations give added credibility to the professionals, while giving consumers additional security, comfort and general “peace of mind.” The Registered Mortgage Professional designation is used by mortgage loan originators who are an employee of a depository institution (including credit union) regulated by a federal banking agency (OCC, OTS, FDIC, FRB, NCUA), a subsidiary-owned and controlled by a depository institution and regulated by a federal banking agency, or an institution regulated by the Farm Credit Administration. The RMP designation
NationalMortgageProfessional.com IDAHO
ISGN, a provider of endto-end technology solutions and services to the U.S. mortgage industry, has announced its Quality Assurance and Review services for servicers, mortgage insurance (MI) companies and investors. This product line, which covers all activities ranging from loan audits, underwriting review, loan modification review to foreclosure documentation, helps servicers prevent buy-backs, reduce future legal expense and ensure integrity throughout their processes. “This foreclosure crisis will have a huge impact on the housing industry,” said Chetan Patel, executive vice president for ISGN. “If there is even a limited foreclosure moratorium and loan ownership is being challenged, the REO market is going to see a major slowdown. Naturally, buyers and investors will be hesitant to purchase a property whose title is in question. The ripple effect and implications are massive.” ISGN’s Quality Assurance and Review services are standardized for consistency of process, and are carried out by trained and experienced professionals. ISGN has been providing loan origination and due diligence services for more than 10 years and clearly understands both GSE requirements and appropriate underwriting rigor needed to create a conforming loan. Services include file-level and workflow audits in addition to predictive analytics and portfolio surveillance. Servicers can choose to implement the service or services that best fit their objectives. The Quality Assurance and Review services can be implemented as an on or off-site outsourced solution. For more information, visit www.isgn.com.
and the Licensed Mortgage Professional (LMP). On July 30, 2008, President Barack Obama signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HR 3221) into law to stabilize the housing market and help alleviate the financial crisis. Title V of the Act, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008, is specific to the registration and education of mortgage loan originators across the country to aid with consumer protection and fraud reduction. The SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act mandates that all loan originators be identified through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry (NMLS) and establishes uniform mini-
Appraisal Management Company
Coester Appraisal Group 7650 Standish Place, Suite 107 • Rockville, MD 20855 www.coesterappraisals.com (888) 485-1999 Ext. 2 We are a premier National Appraisal Company since 1970. We have a complete product line for your entire organization. We guarantee HVCC and FHA regulatory compliance. Let our experience work for you. The way valuations should be.
Branch Manager
Closing Gifts
Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company, Inc. 108 Corporate Park Drive, Ste 301 White Plains, NY 10604 888-329-GHMC • www.joinguaranteed.com
Cruise4Two-Loan Incentives 1-866-541-8077 www.Cruise4Two.com
Find out what Guaranteed can do for you. Branch Program for Professionals. It's what we do.
Increase your Loans,Get the Edge & Generate More Referrals! Offer your clients a 5 Day 4 Night Cruise certificate for Two to Mexico, the Bahamas or the Western Caribbean (up to a $1798.00 value) only when they close a loan with you. Only $159.00 per certificate!!
Compliance Consultants StreetLinks National Appraisal Services (800) 778-4788 www.StreetLinks.com sales@streetlinks.com There’s only one avenue to guaranteed appraisal performance! With a commitment to doing business the RIGHT way, StreetLinks is bringing real value as a PARTNER, not a vendor.
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• We attract and retain the best appraisers – Our appraisers set their own fees and our peer-to-peer approach attracts appraisers that simply won’t work for other AMCs • IQ Select™ proprietary order assignment methodology assigns based on proximity, service and quality – not lowest fee! • 100% Manual Quality Control – every report is manually pre-underwritten by a USPAP certified appraisal underwriter • Certified compliance with appraiser independence requirements AND INTRODUCING SCORe™ - a revolutionary approach to appraisal validation. Credible 2nd opinions on comp selection from licensed, local appraisers. Stop Guessing. Start Knowing!
Inlanta Mortgage W229 N1433 Westwood Drive, Suite 103 Waukesha, WI 53186 www.inlanta.com • 262-513-9853 Established in 1993 and headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Inlanta Mortgage is a multi-state mortgage banking company committed to delivering superior service to our branch clients. For more information, call 262-513-9853 or visit www.inlanta.com.
LENDERS COMPLIANCE GROUP 167 West Hudson Street - Suite 200 Long Beach | NY | 11561 | (516) 442-3456 www.LendersComplianceGroup.com The first full-service, mortgage risk management firm in the country, specializing exclusively in mortgage compliance.
iServe Residential Lending www.iservelending.com afriedman@iservelending.com 415-298-2500 iServe offers a complete product mix - aggressively priced, with hassle-free service & turntimes. Branching & Loan Officer opportunities available nationwide. For a change, focus on production, quick closes & a good night's sleep!
United Northern Mortgage Bankers......888-600-8808
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
Branch Manager
Limited room available for established Team Leaders and Licensed Mortgage Originators. Become part of an established 30-year Mortgage Banker with a proven track record and success.
Pioneers in outsourcing solutions for mortgage compliance. Our Compliance Team Will: Leverage your existing employees. Improve your productivity. Collaborate on projects. Make the most of your current technology. Bring innovation to your company. Be a strong cultural fit. Free you to focus on your core competencies. Give you access to world-class expertise. Lower your total operational costs.
Brokers United ........................................877-710-0948 Consulting & Branch opportunities. Exclusive opportunities with a top Federally Chartered Bank, Mortgage Banker and/or Mortgage Banker/Broker Platform. Email Jeff Flees at jeff@brokersunited.net.
Contact Management/CRM Branch Recruitment RealEstateBestJobs.com ....................201-489-0256
Freedom Mortgage Corporation www.fmbranch.com info@fmbranch.com 800.220.9498
Currently working with various bankers & federally chartered banks. Seeking established, new branches & Loan Officers Nationally. We are a top recruiting firm handling all types of mtg positions.
WorkCenter CRM ....................................877.498.6888 A CRM & contact management solution designed for mortgage professionals. Automated campaigns & LOS synchronization make WorkCenter an intuitive timesaver for staying in touch with clients.
Continuing Education
Freedom Mortgage Corporation, The BEST Branch Solution, Period.
Church Financing
GSF Mortgage 15430 W Capitol Dr. Brookfield, WI 53005 1-877-494-4448 www.gsfprobranch.com Be in business for yourself, but not by yourself. Join GSF Mortgage's Professional Branch Network. Enjoy freedom and stability and reap the rewards. Signing bonus for Branch Managers, retain 100% of your commissions. Absolutely NO files fees, NO splits
CONCORD CHURCH FINANCE NATIONWIDE FINANCING FOR CHURCHES ONLINE Pre-qualify@ConcordAcceptanceCorp.com 800-926-0399 • Fax: 858-756-8108 • Church Purchase & Construction • $100,000 to $2,500,00 • Church Refinance & Cash Out • Churches all 50 states • 75% of Appraised Value • 20 Yr. Fixed Rate
Abacus Mortgage Training and Education PO Box 780 Summerfield, NC 27358 888-341-7767 • www.GetYourEd.com NMLS approved 20 hour Prelicensing Education NMLS approved Continuing Education Live Classroom Instruction, Web Delivery and Private Events The SAFE-Smart ExamCram, Powerfully Innovative Test Prep
Continuing Education
MSS Learning Center (800) 963-1900 www.MortgageSuccessSource.com Email: info@MortgageSuccessSource.com Time is running out...are you ready?
Document Preparation
Mortgage Banking Systems - ProClose 1360 Beverly Rd. Ste 200, McLean, VA 22101 800-783-2283 · sales@proclose.com www.ProClose.com ProClose provides compliant closing documents and software for Residential Mortgage Lending. Created with closers in mind, we help make a lender’s staff more efficient and supported.
Events
NYC Real Estate Expo LLC Anthony Kazazis - Director apkazazis@optonline.net • www.nycrealestateexpo.com
646.210.2545 • 914.763.8008 “The Expo for Real Estate Professionals" For ongoing Networking Events throughout the year please visit www.nycnetworkgroup.com.
Pass the S.A.F.E. Act Test, meet your 20 hours of Pre-licensure, and complete the 8 hours of Continuing Education you need • The Ultimate Test Prep Kit and Test Prep Boot Camps – Cover everything to pass the S.A.F.E. Act Test — on your first try. • 20-hour Pre-licensure - Packed with everything to successfully complete your pre-licensure requirements. • Continuing Education - Exciting, NMLS approved courses that meet your Continuing Education needs and build your business.
Robertson | Anschutz 800-343-7160 sbertrand@radocs.com www.radocs.com/info.html
Hard Money/Private Lending
Mortgage Loan Closing Document Preparation & Compliance Services Fulfillment Services Including Pre-Funding Review & Post-Closing Interfaces with Leading Loan Origination Software Systems Foreclosure – Loss Mitigation Services
ACC Mortgage, Inc. 932 Hungerford Drive #6 • Rockville, MD 20850 240-314-0399 • 240-314-0336 fax WeApproveLoans.com
Direct Mail Best Rate Referrals ............................................800-811-1402
Document Preparation (SaaS)
We are doing traditional subprime lending, fix & flip lending and hard money lending.
Mortgage marketing company with decades of combined experience providing quality leads, mailers, lists and dialer products. www.bestratereferrals.com & www.mortgageleads.org
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Windvest Corporation ............................877-285-0777
Your Complete Mortgage Marketing Solution. Call Us Today! (800) 922-9860 www.envisiondirect.net/catalog/mortgage.htm
Mortgage Loan Closing Document Preparation & Compliance Software Loan Documents and Compliance – Web-based/SaaS – Easy to Use Intuitive – Secure and Reliable – Integrates with Leading LOS Free Setup and Support – Extensive Compliance Audits
Education Doc Management
Errors and Omissions Insurance CB Malaga Insurance Services LLC ......877-245-5887 Insurance broker providing errors & omissions (E&O) insurance to mortgage brokers and bankers. All loan types. Available in 22 states. www.CBspecialty.com
Advanced Data is a leading national provider of data services, streamlining income and employment verification with proprietary software. Clients can submit 4506-T directly through Encompass360. Also ask about our AVM and flood services!
Platinum Credit Services, Inc.................631-299-2084 Tax return vertification (4506 tax transcript done in less than 24 hours in most cases). Call Lorenzo Pugliano, President and CEO at 631-299-2084.
Bookmark this! Access these listings online at nmpmag.com/directory_list
DECEMBER 2010
DocVelocity is an end-to-end paperless solution designed to simplify the loan origination experience. Imagine having all your documents in the loan process as electronic files, all online, from preapproval to closing. DocVelocity provides: Fast and easy loan delivery to any lender … Automatic doc sorting, naming and filing … Real-time online document sharing for anyone you choose … Friendly and intuitive user interface … No start-up fees, and free training and support. DocVelocity addresses important compliance issues while giving your office the competitive advantage of being paperless. It streamlines all aspects of the mortgage process and most important, it does so in one easy-to-use and inexpensive package. Its newest version, DocVelocity 2.5, adds over 50 new features and enhancements to make the best paperless office even better. DocVelocity is the flagship product of Paperless Office Solutions, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Flagstar Bancorp. Visit www.docvelocity.com to find out more.
North Lake College - Specialized Education In Mortgage Banking. Earn An Associates Degree in Mortgage Banking From the First Fully Accredited Mortgage Banking Degree Program in the U.S. For Information About Our 30 Year Program email:kbaker1@dcccd.edu.
Advanced Data (800) 537 - 0458 www.advanceddata.com verifications@advanceddata.com
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
DocVelocity www.docvelocity.com (877) 362-8356 sales@docvelocity.com
North Lake College 5001 North MacArthur Blvd, Room T-231-C Irving, TX 75038 (972) 273-3467 • http://www.northlakecollege.edu/
Income Verification Services NationalMortgageProfessional.com IDAHO
• Specializing in Official Snap Packs for Greater Open Rates • Envelope Mailers, Business Reply, Postcards and Much More • Targeted Mortgage Lists with Many Selects • Complete Design, Printing and Mailing Services
Docs on Demand 800-343-7160 stephen.bertrand@docsondemand.net www.docsondemand.info
Specializing in rehab loans for property investors in So. CA. Up to 60% ARV, 12.99% fixed rate, 3.5-5 points, 1 yr. term. Fast & professional service since '94! Visit windvestcorp.com!
Loan Management Systems
Jumbo
Retail Branch
Xetus ....................................................877-GO-XETUS XetusOne is a powerful, easy-to-use loan management system that streamlines loan processing. Our affordable SaaS applications are lenders #1 choice for origination, subordination & modification.
Sign up with the Premier Jumbo Lender www.ingloans.com 877.464.0555, option 2 Move your Jumbos to a better neighborhood. ING Mortgage is your home for Portfolio loans up to $3,000,000. We offer aggressive pricing and simple guidelines in all 50 states. Big Loans. Low Rates. Great Value.
Leads AAA Refi Leads.....AAA Refi Leads.....AAA Refi Leads Learn how I went from failure to success by mailing cheap refi letters from home, closed 71 loans & made $248,954.62 last yr. I’ll show you exactly how I did it. Go to: www.Refi-Leads.NET
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Internet’s Leading Consumer Mortgage Marketplace Attracting over 7 million unique consumers every month www.Bankrate.com • 561-630-1257 Reach affluent and creditworthy consumers who are in-market and ready to transact. Bankrate is a consumer direct Web site, NOT a lead aggregator. Qualified leads for every sized budget, and pay only for performance. No set up fees! No contracts! No risk!
Calyx Software 800-362-2599 sales@calyxsoftware.com www.calyxsoftware.com Calyx Software, the #1 provider of mortgage solutions is dedicated to offering reliable and affordable software that streamlines, integrates and optimizes the loan process. Find out how PointCentral can streamline your business and create compliant processes today.
Mortgage Builder Software 24370 Northwestern Highway, Suite 200 Southfield, MI 48075 800-460-5040 • www.mortgagebuilder.com End-to-end LOS system for multi-channel lending. PreQual thru Interim Servicing. Includes all back-office functionality; Underwriting,Secondary Marketing,Post Closing and much more SaaS, ASP and Client Server delivery options.
MortgageLoan.com
SM
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
www.mortgageloan.com • 877-390-4750 MortgageLoan.com is the largest online directory for mortgage professionals and a favorite of consumers shopping for mortgage loans. Our network attract over one million visitors per month. Our paid lead program as well as our free lender directory will help you connect with targeted new consumer traffic from with high-intent consumers searching online for the right mortgage lender.
Cruise4Two-Loan Incentives 1-866-541-8077 www.Cruise4Two.com
(800) LOANS-15 www.mortgageconcepts.com Are you a broker/owner or current branch manager looking to expand your business into Mortgage Banking with FHA capabilities? Then our PARTNER BRANCH ADVANTAGE© program is perfect for you. We are offering you all the benefits of partnering with an established lender while still enjoying your independence. Mortgage Concepts is a nationwide FHA Direct Lender with a 16 year long reputation of excellence. YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR SUCCESS! For more information contact THOMAS R. SIRICO, Vice President of Business Development at (917) 923-1472 or email at tsirico@mortgageconcepts.com. We look forward to sharing our services with you!
Secondary Marketing Consulting Broker to Banker Services.com ..........(951) 746-3075 We complete your applications for approval Save the time and hassle contact: brokertobankerservices.com
Title Regulatory/Compliance
Try us risk-free! Call 561-630-1257 or visit www.bankrate.com/cpcprogram/ for more details.
DECEMBER 2010 IDAHO
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
• Reach self directed, highly qualified consumers that are actively searching for mortgage loans • Geo-targeting – reach the right consumers in the right markets • Our proprietary Advertiser Portal gives you complete control over your campaigns, budgets, and performance reports. • YOU determine your daily/weekly/monthly budget • Pay only for consumers who click on your listing • NO cancellation fees
Loan Origination Systems
Comergence Compliance Monitoring, LLC 630 The City Drive South, Suite 205 • Orange, CA 92868 Office: 714-740-9000 www.ComergenceCompliance.com Comergence Compliance Monitoring is the mortgage industry’s only Complete broker desk management software and outsource solution for TPO management and monitoring. We can supplement lenders inhouse management and monitoring resources departments.
Intracoastal Abstract Co. Inc.................516-358-0505 Privately owned & operated full service title insurance agency in NY, NJ and FL, with affiliates throughout the US & Canada. Escrow Agent in Florida. www.intracoastalabstract.com.
Wholesale/Correspondent BankFinancial ..........................................800-894-6900 We have money to lend for apartments, $250M to $2MM, up to 75% LTV. We offer competitive rates, fees & terms. We’re committed to helping you and your clients close the deal. Call us.
Loan Incentives
If your ad was here, you would be seen by 191,181 Mortgage Professionals looking for resources to help them in their business.
Increase your Loans,Get the Edge & Generate More Referrals! Offer your clients a 5 Day 4 Night Cruise certificate for Two to Mexico, the Bahamas or the Western Caribbean (up to a $1798.00 value) only when they close a loan with you. Only $159.00 per certificate!!
The Resource Registry is a directory of lenders (wholesaler or retail that are recruiting), affiliated services and resources that is seen by more than 191,181 active Professionals.
Call 888-409-9770 ext 4. to register your company.
Wholesale/Residential
Wholesale/Residential
Wholesale Reverse Mortgages
NATIONWIDE Equities Flagstar Wholesale Lending www.wholesale.flagstar.com (866) 945-9872 WLSC@flagstar.com Flagstar Wholesale Lending, a division of Flagstar Bank, is one of the nation’s largest wholesale and correspondent mortgage lenders, providing the technology, products, service and support that independent mortgage brokers, correspondents, and bankers need in today’s mortgage arena. In the ever-changing environment of mortgage banking, Flagstar takes pride in accommodating the specific needs of each customer. At Flagstar, we understand that you need every available advantage to stay ahead of the competition. This is why we provide multiple technology options to meet your needs to register, lock, underwrite, close, fund and deliver your loans. Our wholesale website (wholesale.flagstar.com) and the loan processing tool Loantrac provides our customers with the functionality that make it easier and faster to close loans, saving you time and money! Visit wholesale.flagstar.com to learn more.
Call 888-409-9770 ext 4. to register your company.
Terrace Mortgage 4010 W. Boyscout Blvd., Suite 550 Tampa, FL 33607 866-934-4631 • www.terracemortgage.com We offer competitive pricing and fast turn-times for FHA, VA, Conventional, and USDA programs without having a retail presence in the industry. We are a wholesale lender with 22 years of experience and believe in exceptional service.
Coming in 2011!
Nationwide Equities Corporation 201-529-1401 www.nwecorp.com For Licensed Mortgage Brokers in NY, NJ, CT, PA and FL No HUD Approval Required – Live Help Desk Will Provide Training at Our Office or Yours 48 Hour Underwriting - Get Paid Within 48 Hours of Funding
MORTGAGE
PROFESSIONAL .TV
MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2010
Sign-on weekly at nmpmag.com/lykkenonlending
NationalMortgageProfessional.com IDAHO
Lykken on Lending is a weekly 60-minute show hosted by mortgage veteran of 37 yrs, David Lykken, along with special guest Alice Alvey & Joe Farr as well as featured special guests. Each week we provide our listeners with up-to-the-minute information of what is happening in mortgage and housing industry.
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gage loan originators who work for non-depository lenders, mortgage bankers and brokers. Just like the RMP, the LMP designation means that the individual is a certified member of the Consumer Mortgage Bureau and has met all of the organizations qualifications and agrees to adhere by their strict Code of Ethics. In addition, all LMP’s are approved in the NMLS (National Mortgage Licensing System); possess a NMLS number (unique identifier generated by the NMLS); completed initial pre-licensing training; completed National and State examinations; participate in continuing education; fingerprinted; background check; profile accessible at www.consumermortgagebureau.org.
For more information, visit www.consumermortgagebureau.org.
Your turn National Mortgage Professional Magazine invites you to submit any information promoting new “niche” loan programs, new products or any other announcement related to the introduction of a new program, to the attention of:
New to Market column Phone #: (516) 409-5555 E-mail: newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are preferred. The deadline for submissions is the 1st of the month prior to the target issue.
To submit your entry for inclusion in the National Mortgage Professional Calendar of Events, please e-mail the details of your event, along with contact information, to newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com. JANUARY 2011 Thursday, January 13 Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals Palm Beaches Chapter 2011 Annual Trade Show “Mortgage Olympics: Are You in it to Win It?” Palm Beach County Convention Center 650 Okeechobee Boulevard West Palm Beach, Fla. For more information, call (561) 254-5379 or e-mail fambpb@bellsouth.net. FEBRUARY 2011 Sunday-Wednesday, February 6-9 Mortgage Bankers Association’s Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo 2011 Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego One Market Place • San Diego, Calif. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org.
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Wednesday, February 16 Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals 2011 Annual Trade Show The Broward Convention Center 1950 Eisenhower Boulevard Fort Lauderdale, Fla. For more information, call (954) 294-6360 or visit www.browardfamp.org. Tuesday-Friday, February 22-25 Mortgage Bankers Association National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center 1501 Gaylord Trail • Grapevine, Texas For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org.
Whether you’re actively searching for a new job or not, don’t miss what could be your next career opportunity. Post your anonymous resume now to start building a better career in the mortgage industry. Search the vast number of career possibilities available in the origination, settlement, secondary & servicing areas of the Mortgage Business or create a personal job alert to be notified of new jobs that match your search criteria. Be available for your next career opportunity. Post your resume at FindMortgageJobs.com where employers search for mortgage professionals.
Post your resume. Find a job.
Be happy.
MARCH 2011 Tuesday-Thursday, March 15-17 2011 Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations Trump Taj Mahal 1000 Boardwalk at Virginia Avenue Atlantic City, N.J. For more information, call (973) 379-7447 or visit www.mbanj.com. Wednesday-Thursday, March 23-24 Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Policy Conference Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill 400 New Jersey Avenue NW Washington, D.C. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. Sunday-Wednesday, March 27-30 Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference & Expo The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa 3555 South Ocean Drive Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org.
Sunday-Wednesday, March 27-30 Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Fraud Issues Conference The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa 3555 South Ocean Drive Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. APRIL 2011 Sunday-Wednesday, April 3-6 2011 National Association of Mortgage Brokers 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill 400 New Jersey Avenue NW Washington, D.C. For more information, call (703) 342-5900 or visit www.namb.org. MAY 2011 Sunday-Wednesday, May 1-4 Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Secondary Market Conference & Expo The New York Marriott Marquis 1535 Broadway New York, N.Y. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. Sunday-Wednesday, May 1-4 Mortgage Bankers Association’s Loan Production Conference The New York Marriott Marquis 1535 Broadway New York, N.Y. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. Sunday-Wednesday, May 15-18 Mortgage Bankers Association’s Commercial/Multifamily Servicing & Technology Conference Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile 540 North Michigan Avenue Chicago, Ill. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. Sunday-Wednesday, May 15-18 Mortgage Bankers Association’s Legal Issues/Regulatory Compliance Conference Boca Raton Resort 501 El Camino Real Boca Raton, Fla. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. OCTOBER 2011 Sunday-Wednesday, October 9-12 Mortgage Bankers Association’s 98th Annual Convention & Expo The Hyatt Regency 151 East Wacker Drive • Chicago, Ill. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org.