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nmpNEXT is the future of corporate storytelling. It melds the sponsored content that publications depend upon with the editorial focus that lends credibility to the sponsor's most important stories. In Next, NMP editors will look at what's just around the curve by telling stories about the ﬁrms that are leading the way. A variety of sponsorship levels allow advertisers to balance budget with reach and puts marketing managers in control of one of the most powerful channels available for advancing their brands. nmpNEXT is a monthly feature in National Mortgage Professional Magazine. Don't miss this opportunity to brand your company, products and leaders as progressive & forward thinkers.

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A Special Section in National Mortgage Professional Magazine

N A T I O N A L

M O R T

Building a Better Defense for a CFPB Audit By Todd Boehler

M A R C H

32 Getting Ready to Use the New EAD Portal By Vladimir Bien-Aime

2 0 1 6

V O L

A SPECIAL FOCUS ON “IT’S ALL ABOUT MARKETING” Marketing, Mortgages & Money By Jarred Bonica ......................................52 Making a Splash With Your Marketing Without Drowning By Laura Martell ..............................................................................................54 Six Strategic Tactics for Marketing Your Mortgage Loans By Tom Pasckvale ..........................................................................................56 Social Networking for Your Database By Nikki Groff..................................58 It’s Better in a Group By Ralph LoVuolo Sr...................................................59 No Marketing Budget? No Problem—Spend Time, Not Money By Elizabeth Morales ......................................................................................60 The Mafia Shakes Down a Dinosaur By Eric Weinstein ..............................61 It’s All About Prospecting! By Adam P. Smith..............................................62

36 NMP Mortgage Professional of the Month: Shaun Hamman, EVP of Wholesale and Correspondent Sales, American Financial Resources, Inc.

Marketing Holds the Key to Success in a New Outpost By Kristi Howard ..............................................................................................64 Facebook Marketing for Mortgage Industry Professionals By Lisa Coleman ..............................................................................................67 Make Your Employees Your Brand Champions By Andrea Obston ..........68 Back to the Future By Brent Emler................................................................70 Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Direct Mail Yields Powerful Results for Lenders By Michelle B. Peel ....................................................................71

FEATURES Mortgage Fraud Phishing Scams Are Now Spreading Throughout the Industry By Andrew Liput ..........................................................................8 The Elite Performer: Content Marketing By Andy W. Harris, CRMS ............8 Recruiting, Training and Mentoring Corner By Dave Hershman ................10

48 Lykken on Leadership: Five Ways to Prepare for the Unexpected By David Lykken

V I S I T Company

Web Site

O U R

A Page

American Financial Resources Inc. ...................... www.afrwholesale.com/nmp ..............................Back Cover Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions ............................ www.angeloakms.com ..................................................13 Assurance Financial............................................ www.lendtheway.com ....................................................49 Brokers Compliance Group.................................. www.brokerscompliancegroup.com ..................................88 Caliber Home Loans.............................................. www.caliberwholesale.com ..............................................11 CallFurst.com ...................................................... www.callfurst.com ............................................................66 Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC ...................... www.carringtonwholesale.com ..............................29 & 61 Citadel Servicing Corporation .............................. www.citadelservicing.com ..............................................47

74 Three Reasons Why Lenders Won’t ‘Catch Their Limit’ By Chris Backe

Comergence Compliance Monitoring, LLC ............ www.comergencecompliance.com ..................................69 Document Systems, Inc./DocMagic ...................... www.docmagic.com ........................................................7 First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. ............................ www.fgmc.com ..............................Inside Front Cover & 68 Flagstar Bank .................................................... www.flagstar.com/ae ......................................................9 HomeBridge Wholesale ...................................... www.homebridgewholesale.com ....................................17 Lykken On Lending ............................................ www.lykkenonlending.com ............................................62 MBS Highway .................................................... www.mbshighway.com/MNN ..........................................23 Moneyhouse U.S. .............................................. www.moneyhouseus.com ..............................................57 Mortgage News Network (MNN) .......................... www.mortgagenewsnetwork.com ............................38 & 39

T G A G E

U M E

P R O F E S S I O N A L

N U M B E R

The Commercial Corner By Mike Boggiano ................................................16 Google Slashes Its Ad Space Worldwide ....................................................18 NAMB Perspective ........................................................................................20 Streamlined Systems for Third-Party Compliance By Corey Hulbert ........28 Time Traps By Dr. Kerry Johnson ..................................................................34 Take the Lead By Laura Burke ......................................................................42 Sub-Prime Sees a Surge in Volume By Tom Hutchens ..............................46 The Long & Short: The Business of Short Sales By Pam Marron ..............50 Hey Mortgage Brokers … Here Are Five Ways to Help Your Lenders Achieve More By Bubba Mills ........................................................76 MBA’s Mortgage Action Alliance: A Message From MAA Chairman Fowler Williams ..................................................................77 OrigiNation: By Originators, For Originators By Andy W. Harris ................78 Keys to Peer Leadership: An Unlikely Source By Kevin E. O’Connor, CSP ............................................................................80 Industry Announcements: March 2016 By Melanie A. Feliciano Esq. ........82 Step Inside Ginnie Mae By Ted W. Tozer ....................................................83

COLUMNS New to Market..........................................................................................12 News Flash: March 2016 ........................................................................14 Heard on the Street ................................................................................40 Outstanding Places to Work ..................................................................84 NMP Calendar of Events ........................................................................85 NMP Resource Registry ..........................................................................86

D V E R T I S E R S Company

Web Site

Page

MortgagePlannerMarketing.com.......................... www.mortgageplannermarketing.com ............................63 NAMB+ ............................................................ www.nambplus.com ......................................................27 NAPMW ............................................................ www.napmw.org ....................................................52 & 81 NAWRB ............................................................ www.nawrb.com ............................................................75 New York Community Bancorp, Inc. .................... www.nycbmortgage.com ................................................19 Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Inc. ...... www.prmg.net ..........................15, 73 & Inside Back Cover REMN Wholesale ................................................ www.remnwholesale.com ......................................OH1 & 5 Residential Home Funding Corp. ........................ www.rhfbranch.com ......................................................55 Residential Mortgage Servicing Rights Forum ...... www.imn.org/msr16 ......................................................53 Ridgewood Savings Bank .................................... www.ridgewoodbank.com ..............................................65 Secure Insight.................................................... www.secureinsight.com ..................................................33 Silver Hill Funding ............................................ www.silverhillfunding.com ............................................31 TagQuest .......................................................... www.tagquest.com ........................................................51 The Bond Exchange............................................ www.thebondexchange.com ..........................................64 The National Real Estate Post.............................. www.thenationalrealestatepost.com ..............................41 United Wholesale Mortgage ................................ www.uwm.com ........................................................44-45

MARCH 2016 Volume 8 • Number 3 FROM THE

Focus on marketing and change

1220 Wantagh Avenue • Wantagh, NY 11793-2202 Phone: (516) 409-5555 • Fax: (516) 409-4600 Web site: NationalMortgageProfessional.com STAFF Eric C. Peck Editor-in-Chief (516) 409-5555, ext. 312 ericp@nmpmediacorp.com

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ADVERTISING To receive any information regarding advertising rates, deadlines and requirements, please contact VP-Sales & Marketing Beverly Bolnick at (516) 409-5555, ext. 316 or e-mail beverlyb@nmpmediacorp.com.

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publisher’s desk

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 Consumer 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.

With the spring homebuying season on the horizon and approaching fast, we couldn’t have a better Special Focus for our March 2016 edition than marketing. We stand behind the marketing manager who exclaimed, “It’s All About Marketing!” Of course, many of our readers have traditionally been on the origination side of the business, and while that is changing as the stories we cover continue to attract readers from all over the industry, loan officers will be the first to agree with this sentiment. We are proud to bring you this issue, packed full as it is of great marketing insight that is bound to make you better at what you do, whether you’re selling to borrowers, lenders, servicers or anyone else in the real estate value chain. Are you harnessing the power that search engines offer you? Are you making the most of your direct mail, mining your referral database and tapping into social networks? What about advertising, sponsorship and pay-per-click? All of these tools can be powerful if used correctly. In this issue, we share some of the best thought leadership on these issues and all things marketing. As many of the stories in this issue will make clear, marketing is changing as quickly as every other facet of our financial services business. There are new tools to exploit for key message sharing, as well as old tools that are becoming more powerful by the day. Our own sister company, Mortgage News Network, is a strong testament to the power of video and we hope you’re tuning in. Like most of the changes we’re seeing in our industry, compliance is a strong driver. Our marketing departments have always been subject to banking regulations that impact how we share information with consumers. Keeping up-to-date on the rules has never been more important than it is today, given the frequency with which our primary federal regulator engages in enforcement action. That’s why I’m so excited to announce the launch of NMP University, coming in April. NMP University is the result of a new alliance between NMP and powered by Mortgage Educators and Compliance (MEC), a trusted education provider for the industry. NMP University will offer online self-study, instructor-led and live classroom formats. Now with the power of NMP and Mortgage News Network, it will offer so much more. I cannot wait to show it to you. Constant change is the only thing that will stay the same as we move deeper into 2016. That’s why our next announcement is so exciting to me. Whenever we see change, we see industry leaders moving bravely forward, blazing a path for the rest to follow. How these leading companies respond to change is both a lesson and inspiration for the rest of us. That’s why our next section, starting next month, will focus on what’s coming next. NMP Next will focus on the change that’s coming and tell the stories of the companies that are embracing it, for their benefit and the benefit of the borrowers they serve. Contact us for more information about having your company featured in this exciting new section. And now, let us dive into our March issue and talk about all things related to marketing! Sincerely, Joel M. Berman, Publisher-CEO l NMP Media Corp. l joel@nmpmediacorp.com

MARCH 2016 n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n

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NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE’S

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Featured Editorial Contributors Rocke Andrews, CMC, CRMS

Editorial Contributors Chris Backe

Andy W. Harris, CRMS

Vladimir Bien-Aime

Dave Hershman

Todd Boehler

David Lykken

Michael Boggiano

Pam Marron

Jarred Bonica

Ted W. Tozer

Lisa Coleman

Brent Emler

Andrew Liput

Kevin E. O’Connor, CSP

Melanie A. Feliciano Esq.

Ralph LoVuolo Sr.

Tom Pasckvale

Laura Martell

Michelle B. Peel

Kristi Howard

Bubba Mills

Adam P. Smith

Corey Hulbert

Elizabeth Morales

Eric Weinstein

Tom Hutchens

Andrea Obston

Fowler Williams

Nikki Groff

RENO STRIKES BACK

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n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

NAMB The Association of Mortgage Professionals

National Association of Professional Mortgage Women

2701 West 15th Street, Suite 536 l Plano, Texas 75075 Phone: (972) 758-1151 l Fax: (530) 484-2906 Web site: www.namb.org

2015-2016 NAPMW National Board of Directors

NAMB 2015-2016 Board of Directors OFFICERS Rocke Andrews, CMC, CRMS—President Lending Arizona LLC 3531 North Pantano Road l Tucson, AZ 85750 Phone: (520) 886-7283 l E-mail: randrews@lendingarizona.net Fred Kreger, CMC—President-Elect American Family Funding 28368 Constellation Road, Suite 398 l Santa Clarita, CA 91350 Phone: (661) 505-4311 l E-mail: fred.kreger@affloans.com John Stevens, CRMS—Vice President Mountain West Financial 380 North 600 East l Pleasant Grove, UT 84062 Phone: (801) 427-7111 l E-mail: johngstevens@gmail.com Rick Bettencourt, CRMS—Secretary Mortgage Network 300 Rosewood Drive l Danvers, MA 01923 Phone: (978) 777-7500 l E-mail: rbettencourt@mortgagenetwork.com Andy W. Harris, CRMS—Treasurer Vantage Mortgage Group Inc. 16325 Boones Ferry Road, #100 l Lake Oswego, OR 97035 Phone: (503) 496-0431, ext. 302 E-mail: aharris@vantagemortgagegroup.com John Councilman, CMC, CRMS—Immediate Past President AMC Mortgage Corporation 10136 Avalon Lake Circle l Fort Myers, FL 33913 Phone: (239) 267-2400 l E-mail: jlc@amcmortgage.com

Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS—NAMB CEO American Midwest Bank 200 Medical Drive, Suite C-2A l Carmel, IN 46032 Phone: (317) 575-4355 l E-mail: donald.frommeyer@gmail.com

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DIRECTORS Kimber White l RE Financial Services Inc. 1620 West Oakland Park Boulevard #201 l Oakland Park, FL 33311 Phone: (954) 306-3553 l E-mail: kimber.lmt@gmail.com Olga Kucerak, CRMS l Crown Lending 328 West Mistletoe l San Antonio, TX 78212 Phone: (210) 828-3384 l E-mail: olga@crownlending.com David Luna, CRMS l Mortgage Educators and Compliance 947 South 500 E, Suite 105 l American Fork, UT 84003 Phone: (877) 403-1428 l E-mail: david@mortgageeducators.com Linda McCoy, CRMS l Mortgage Team 1 Inc. 6336 Piccadilly Square Drive l Mobile, AL 36609 Phone: (251) 650-0805 l E-mail: linda@mortgageteam1.com Nathan Pierce, CRMS l Advanced Funding Home Mortgage Loans 6589 South 1300 East, Suite 200 l Salt Lake City, UT 84121 Phone: (801) 272-0600 l E-mail: npierce@advfund.com Valerie Saunders l RE Financial Services 13033 West Lindburgh Avenue l Tampa, FL 33626 Phone: (866) 992-0785 l E-mail: valsaun@gmail.com Robert Sweeney, CRMS 600 East Carmel Drive l Carmel, IN 46032 Phone: (317) 625-3287 l E-mail: bob.sweeney46@yahoo.com Michele Velez, CMC 1300 South El Camino Real, Suite 505 l San Mateo, CA 94402 Phone: (650) 409-2850 l E-mail: shellvelez@gmail.com

1851 South Lakeline Boulevard, Suite 104, Box 303 Phone: (800) 827-3034 • E-mail: napmw@napmw.org Web site: www.napmw.org

National President Kelly Hendricks (314) 398-6840 president@napmw.org

Treasurer Judy Alderson (918) 250-9080, ext. 300 nattreasurer@napmw.org

President-Elect Nikki Bell (678) 442-3966 preselect@napmw.org

Parliamentarian Frances Reinhardt (678) 331-1384 freinhardt@firstservicetitle.net

Vice President Cathy Kantrowitz (845) 463-3011 nvp1@napmw.org

Vice President Laurel Knight (425) 412-6787 nvp2@napmw.org

Secretary Windee Falla (281) 556-9182 natsecretary@napmw.org

National Consumer Reporting Association 701 East Irving Park Road, Suite 306 l Roselle, IL 60172 Phone: (630) 539-1525 l Fax: (630) 539-1526 Web site: www.ncrainc.org

2015-2016 Board of Directors William Bower President (800) 288-4757 WBower@continfo.com

Mike Thomas Director (615) 386-2285, ext. 285 MThomas@CICCredit.com

Julie Wink Vice President/Treasurer (901) 259-5105 Julie@DataFacts.com

Dean Wangsgard Director (801) 487-8781 Dean@nacmint.com

Mike Brown Ex-Officio (908) 813-8555, ext. 3020 MBrown@CISinfo.net

Delia Zuniga Director Delia@AdvantagePlusCredit.com

Mary Campbell Director (701) 239-9977 Mary@AdvantageCreditBureau.com

Terry Clemans Executive Director (630) 539-1525 TClemans@NCRAInc.org

Matthew Carpenter Director MCarpenter@Sarma.com

Jan Gerber Office Manager/Member Services (630) 539-1525 JGerber@ NCRAInc.org

Maureen Devine Director (413) 736-4511 MDevine@StrategicInfo.com

Scott Ledbetter Director (214) 783-3315

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

www.DocMagic.com

1.800.649.1362

Mortgage Fraud Phishing Scams Are Now Spreading Throughout the Industry By Andrew Liput

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Back in October, I wrote that Wells Fargo Bank and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had issued separate alerts throughout the industry regarding settlement agent wire fraud. The reports provided details of a widespread scam whereby criminals are hacking attorney and title agent e-mail addresses and changing wire instructions prior to closing. When the new instructions are not validated the criminals make off with the mortgage proceeds. Despite these warnings, this crime scheme is spreading as title agents, lenders, attorneys and the consumers they serve are finding out to their great harm. According to Wikipedia, Phishing is defined as “The attempt to acquire sensitive information such as user names, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.” Although the FTC, through the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have broadcast the need for data security and privacy measures to protect consumer Non-Public, Personal Information (NPPI), many banks either are unable or unwilling to implement the steps required to root out and block criminal enterprises in the US and overseas who are busy hacking into e-mail accounts. Several incidents around the country in the past few months have reflected a similar theme. Hackers accessed a lender’s e-mail, either through a borrower’s address, a loan officer using a personal e-mail domain not protected by a lender’s network or an attorney’s e-mail. The scammers then sent an e-mail, either to the title agent, attorney or to the closing department of the lender, including revised wiring instructions. The wires were then sent to the criminal’s bank and not the intended recipient. In one case, which is now the subject of litigation in Florida, a title company is accused of neglecting to conduct appropriate internal data security measures after it received a bogus wire instruction and sent it off to a consumer who then wired the seller’s proceeds to someone else. With the money long gone, the seller is seeking recovery against the agency and the buyer for their alleged negligence. Affirmative measures to combat this crime are being implemented by many in the industry. For example many lenders are taking an extra step and checking the ABA routing number and bank account number with the Federal Reserve Web site to verify that the account is actually at the bank indicated. Others are sending a verification of trust account to the settlement agent’s bank to verify that the account is truly a trust account in the name and for the business of the title agent, attorney or other closing professional. Most title agents are now sending lenders and attorneys their title reports with cover letters containing language in red or bold black print with instructions such as: We no longer send wiring instruction by e-mail, please call our offices to verify the proper bank information! Phishing is not a new problem. In my research, I found articles dating back to 2005 warning consumers and lenders about e-mail phishing schemes designed to access and steal NPPI. It is clear that this is a serious problem that is getting more serious as technology has advanced and criminals have become more resourceful and bold. Today, with the CFPB taking very firm positions on lender obligations to protect consumers from harm due to data security breaches, every lender is on notice that they very well could be the next victim of a scam, followed by the subject of an audit and/or enforcement action. Andrew Liput is CEO of Secure Insight, a risk analytics firm offering vendor management services addressing settlement agent risk. He can be reached by e-mail at ALiput@SecureSettlements.com.

SPONSORED EDITORIAL

THE

elite performer Content Marketing By Andy W. Harris, CRMS

ontent marketing is a term we have heard used often in the last several years and a growing trend online and with social media. Content marketing is simply creating, publishing or sharing content in your related field in order to acquire or retain customers. This content is usually something a perspective or existing client can relate to or closely mirrors their needs in information. It comes in all formats and is usually sent often through social media, e-mail, podcasts, video, e-books, white papers, blogs, etc. When considering writing content, it’s important to use strategies that generate the best results and highest views, directly to those that you’re targeting. Here are a few things to consider when writing new content:

l Keep it original: Make sure to write your own content and don’t get into the habit of just sharing or copying others. Provide something no one else has and be unique. You will find that it attracts more people. l Keep it simple and focused: Don’t lose your reader. Help them understand your message by being clear and direct. Make it simple and short if needed, but leave them thinking about it. l Motivate sharing and include hyperlinks: Remember to link your content back to your target site. Backlinks are vital when sharing to help your page ranking and the more relevant the content, the better the chance you’ll see social sharing. l Create and promote: Don’t just develop the content … deliver and promote it. Don’t sit on it, send it to the world, post it on social media, run ads, etc. to test the response. l Be impressed by your own reading: This is a big one. If you can go back and read something you wrote when in “the zone” months or even years later and be impressed or influenced by your own content as though someone else wrote it, you’ve won. Companies are spending billions of dollars on content marketing. The crazy part is that results vary greatly on the return they see from this form of marketing with some succeeding and some utterly failing. It’s such a broad category of marketing and many go through trial and error periods. Tracking the response, views and success of each campaign is important to plan for future content marketing goals. Remember, if you keep it original and relevant, you’ll find many people in your target market interested in what you have to say. Andy W. Harris, CRMS is president and owner of Lake Oswego, Ore.-based Vantage Mortgage Group Inc. and past president of the Oregon Association of Mortgage Professionals. He may be reached by phone at (877) 496-0431, e-mail AHarris@VantageMortgageGroup.com or visit VantageMortgageGroup.com.

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n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

Recruiting, Training and Mentoring Corner Assessing the Marketing Skills of a Rookie Candidate

By Dave Hershman nless you are hiring for an inhouse loan officer position in which you are providing leads to the loan officers, one question in the forefront of the mind of the mortgage company is: Will this person be able to bring in business? This is a really good question. How many times have we hired rookies and even experienced loan officers and they could not bring in business? Thus, we should spend some significant time trying to assess the marketing capabilities of this candidate. The issue is, we are not trained to assess many factors which will contribute to their success, including their marketing prowess. What characteristics may contribute to their success within this area? This calls for a close look at their experiences and attributes as it relates to marketing:

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l Previous sales experience. Does the candidate have sales experience in the financial services or related sectors? Were they responsible for the self-generation of leads and from what type of target? For example, if they were a vendor selling to real estate agents or loan officers, this experience would have a higher level of relevance as opposed to other types of sales such as car sales or pharmaceutical sales. Not to say that these other types of sales would not be a good benchmark.

l Have they owned a business? Street loan officers are building a business, even if they work for a large bank. The experience of running a business would be extremely relevant to being a loan officer. Their interaction with other business owners within the Chamber of Commerce or other organizations, will also be helpful as well. But one must go back to the question: What did they have to do within the marketing arena to build that business and what was the clientele? Did they put up a storefront and advertise or did they network? l Do they have a track record of a high income earner? Employment as a loan officer can bring a high six figure income to those who are successful. It is unreasonable to expect that someone who is used to making $24,000 per year will transition from one income level to the other seamlessly. There must be a need, desire and some know how to reach these lofty levels. l Do they have a sense of urgency? Related to the earnings level is a sense of urgency about their earnings. Those who are successful carry a sense of urgency about success. Those who don’t share this sense lay back and wait. Perhaps they are satisfied with a certain level of income. This sense of urgency also makes the loan officer more effective with their time. Just seeing how loan officer reacts to having a guarantee paint a major picture

“Loners who stay away from social situations and/or groups are not right for the position of loan officer, or at least one in which they have to generate their own leads. How large is their sphere of influence?”

as to their urgency. Do they wait until their guarantee runs out before they get serious? l Lack of call reluctance. Everyone has some form of call reluctance. Of course, some are more reluctant that others. To be successful, they have to be able to make the calls. And it is not only making the calls, but the overcoming the reluctance to ask for referrals or closing prospects. There are many who will make the calls, but never realize success from their calls. l Are they a social animal? Loners who stay away from social situations and/or groups are not right for the position of loan officer, or at least one in which they have to generate their own leads. How large is their sphere of influence? How many real estate agents and other professionals do they know well? Do they have large Facebook and LinkedIn followings? Are they used to keeping a database, and if they have one, how large is it? l Communication skills. There is no doubt that top-notch communication skills are a requisite for successful

marketing. The need for great communication is wide-ranging, from one-on-one communication skills to public speaking skills. Follow up and writing skills are also important. Does this candidate come with a polished communication package, or are their writing skills limited to texting such as “LOL?” While this list is not exhaustive, you can see how important these skills, attributes and experiences are with regarding to assessing the marketing potential of a candidate. This is true whether they are a rookie or a veteran. You cannot afford to hire those who cannot market. The cost is too high in terms of your most previous resources which are money, time and energy. There is no foolproof formula, but wouldn’t you rather be right 75 percent of the time, instead of 25 percent? Dave Hershman is a top author in the mortgage industry with seven books published. He is also the founder of the OriginationPro Marketing System, and currently the director of branch support for McLean Mortgage. He may be reached by e-mail at Dave@HershmanGroup.com or visit OriginationPro.com.

Caliber Whol Wholesale esale finished Wholesale esale Lender Lender 2015 2015 as the #3 Whol 2015, 15, w we e ion.* During 20 in the nation. 77.5% 7..5% .5 ffunded unded $8.35 billion - a 77 from om our 20 2014 14 increase fr increase figures. ffunding unding figur es.

where closing exceeding broker associates’ expectations are two wher e cl osing lloans oans on time and e xceeding our br oker associat es’ e xpectations ar e tw o facets model. major fac ets of our daily business mod el.

To T o learn learn mor more, e, www.caliberwholesale.com visit us online at www .caliberwholesale.com or send an email tto o NMP@caliberhomeloans.com. NMP@caliberhomeloans.com.

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*Rankings *Rankings Source: Source: Inside Inside Mortgage Mortgage FFinance. inance. Caliber Home Loans, Inc., 3701 3701 Regent Regent Boulevard, Boulevard, Irving, Irving, TX 75063 75063 (NMLS # #15622). 15622). 1-800-40 1-800-401-6587. 1-6587. C Copyright opyright ©20 ©2015. 15. All Rights R Reserved. eserved. Equal Housing Lender. Lender. For For real real estate estate and lending lending professionals proffe essionals onlyy a and nd not ffor or distribution tto o cconsumers. onsumers. This ccommunication ommunication ma mayy ccontain ontain information information that is privileged, privileged, cconﬁdential, onﬁdential, llegally egally privil privileged, eged, and and/or d/ /or e exempt xempt fr from om discl disclosure osure und under er applicabl applicable e la law. w. Distribution tto o the g general eneral public is prohibited. prohibited. Caliber Home Loans is an Equal Opportunity Opportunity Empl Employer. oyer.

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

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DocMagic Unveils Guaranteed TRID Compliance Up to $5 Million

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DocMagic has announced the development of an extensive set of new reps and warrants for its calculations, documents and data, which provides peace of mind to lenders when it comes to compliance with the TRID rule. The greater risk of civil liability under the new TRID disclosure requirements means lenders and investors may face liability for incorrectly completing various sections on the TRID disclosures. With DocMagic’s TRID-ready systems and now the Premium Compliance Guarantee, DocMagic has implemented a solution that mitigates lender risk of non-compliance. With the Premium Compliance Guarantee, the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure are guaranteed to be accurate and complete. Additionally, the Premium Compliance Guarantee ensures timely electronic delivery of initial disclosures, compliance with federal and state high cost/HPML laws and accurate document selection logic resulting in compliant loan packages. The Guarantee also ensures that all other compliance and data validation audits will trigger at the appropriate times during the loan process, providing critical warning messages to help lenders stay in compliance with applicable laws. The offering is backed by a $5 million dollar guarantee (up to $50,000 per loan) and DocMagic customers will enjoy a 36-month claim filing period. Beginning Feb. 15, 2016, all new DocMagic customers will automatically receive the new premium rep and warrant offering. Existing DocMagic customers will be given the opportunity to protect their future loan files for an additional fee. “Now more than ever, our clients need assurance that they are operating in full compliance at all times,” said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. “That is why we invested in developing and integrating the Premium Compliance Guarantee into DocMagic’s suite of products, including the TRID-based SmartCLOSE collabora-

tive closing portal, for every user on every transaction.” “Long before the initial Aug. 1 TRID effective date, DocMagic’s industryleading compliance, legal and technology teams proved that their systems were fully TRID compliant,” said Rich Horn, the former CFPB attorney who led the TRID rulemaking. “This enabled DocMagic to provide an insurancebacked guarantee on their products and services, including TRID disclosures prepared using SmartCLOSE, which speaks volumes about the confidence they have in their solutions.” “With the integration of the Premium Compliance Guarantee into DocMagic’s suite of services, significant lender risk is virtually eliminated,” said Melanie Feliciano, chief legal officer at DocMagic. “DocMagic has developed the most advanced and effective compliance solution in the industry–and we’ve backed it with a solid guarantee we are proud to offer our clients.”

Global DMS’ Global Kinex Now Integrated With the FHA’s EAD Portal

Global DMS has officially integrated its Global Kinex application with the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) new Electronic Appraisal Delivery (EAD) portal, providing its clients with direct access to the administration’s new appraisal submission tool. The EAD portal will allow up to 10 appraisal files per submission, and also allows the submission of up to three appraisal files per loan. Appraisals submitted through the EAD are always subject to an FHA compliance review, and the new portal will return both overridable and non-overridable hard stop messages when appraisal data falls outside FHA requirements. Accepted Forms/Data Types include: The Mismo 2.6 GSE Extended format (Uniform Residential Appraisal Report [FNMA Form 1004; FRE Form 70] and Individual Condominium Unit Appraisal

Report [FNMA Form 1073; FRE Form 465]); Mismo 2.6 Errata 1 (Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report [FNMA Form 1025; FRE Form 72], Manufactured Home Appraisal Report [FNMA Form 1004C; FRE Form 70B] and Appraisal Update or Completion Report [FNMA Form 1004D; FRE Form 442]). Global Kinex’s direct integration with the new EAD portal allows users to manage their EAD credentials, upload up to three appraisal files at a time, and manage the EAD submission process to address hard-stops in realtime—offering automatic hard-stop overrides when available. All EAD submissions through Global Kinex are searchable, and the app will also upload the EAD SSR file as an attachment to the appraisal order when applicable. In addition, EAD submission automation is available via eTrac’s Workflow Engine app to help streamline the process even further. Announced by the FHA in 2015, the new EAD portal is a free Web-based technology system that enables mortgagees, or their designated third-party service providers, to electronically transmit appraisal data and reports to the FHA prior to loan endorsement. This process will become mandatory on June 27, 2016, in which lenders will be required to use this new portal to submit all their FHA origination appraisals. The new EAD portal is designed to make appraisal submission more efficient and to promote higher quality appraisals by flagging potential errors upfront. In addition, because the EAD will eliminate most paper-based FHA appraisal reviews, turn-times are expected to decrease post portal implementation.

Mortgage Market Guide Announces New Tech Design

Vantage Production LLC has announced its plan to release a new design of its Mortgage Market Guide

(MMG) technology for users of its market knowledge platform. “MMG provides thousands of originators with trusted, reliable information and speed-to-market features lenders rely on to increase productivity and close more loans,” said Sue Woodard, president and chief executive officer of MMG. “Our new release will be packaged in an all new, state-of-the-art online and user-friendly format that enhances sales engagement more than ever, which today’s originators need. Our clients will be given a new competitive edge. MMG’s new design will offer an enhanced Rate Alert page that is intuitively designed, providing an organized approach to data, advice, sales, marketing intelligence and guidance they must have to compete— along with practical and actionable business-building resources necessary for today’s top performing MLOs.” Lenders and originators subscribe to the Mortgage Market Guide service for critical and timely market news in order to find accurate market answers, expert advice and to stay abreast of significant shifts in the fast-paced financial world to effectively close more loans. “The new MMG will provide continued focus on our exclusive spot-on content that users deem most valuable, while offering live chat features with bond experts anytime throughout the day,” said Shalisa Mohamed, Vantage Production’s chief information officer. “The all-new MMG dashboard immediately presents the most important information, advice, guidance and news that lenders and originators need every day to present to clients, prospects and referral partners. MMG’s new look is completely designed with customers in mind. We surveyed our clients, then developed the tools for the new platform based on what they deemed valuable to conduct daily business at lightning-fast speeds. Our Live Market Information screen will allow users to demonstrate credibility of expertise to clients at a pace unheard of before.”

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orporate offic e, 3060 P eachtree Road NW 30305. Loans Loans in TTexas exas off Angel Oak M ortgage Solutions LL C NMLS #11 60240, C © Angel Mortgage LLC #1160240, Corporate office, Peachtree NW,, Suite 500B, Atlanta, GA 30305. offered ered through Angel Oak M ortgage Solutions LL C and is not intended to impl Angel Oak H ome LLoans oans LL C, NMLS #685842. This ccommunication ommunication is sent only only by Angel Angel Home LLC, #685842.This Mortgage LLC implyy that any of our loan offered by or in conjunction conjunction with HUD, HUD, FHA, FHA, VA, VA, the U.S. U.S. government government or any ffederal, ederal, state or local g overnmental body. body. This is a business-to-business products will be offered governmental communication and is intended for for licensed licensed mortgage mortgage prof essionals onl ibuted to the cconsumer onsumer or the general general public. Ang communication professionals onlyy and is not intended to be distr distributed Angel el Oak Mortgage Solutions LL C is an Equal Oppor tunity Employer and does not discriminate discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, race, gender, gender, ccolor, olor, religion, national or Mortgage LLC Opportunity origin, igin, age, disability law. 3-2-16 3-2-16 ANR/MBC age, disability,, veteran status or other classification protected by law.

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EWSFLASH l MARCH 2016 l NMP NEWSFLASH l MARCH 2016 l NMP NEWSFLAS Secure Insight Survey Gauges Industry Reaction to TRID Adjustment

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Secure Insight has announced the results of their latest mortgage industry survey, gauging the impact of TRID and the new Closing Disclosure on their lending business. The survey was conducted March 7-14 of 1,342 mortgage industry executives nationwide. The overwhelming majority of executives we polled were prepared for TRID, and have trained their office staff to support the completion and delivery of the new consumer disclosures (93 percent), although the fact that seven percent of those polled were “not aware of CFPB TRID obligations” and “not full TRID compliant at this time” was somewhat surprising several months after the new disclosures became mandatory throughout the industry. The impact of the new Closing Disclosure (CD) on lender-settlement agent business relationships, something the survey focused on, was positive. Respondents rated their experience working with settlement agents on the disclosure roll-out as generally very good. More than 80 percent of the poll respondents indicated that they had created specialized training programs for their agent partners to help ensure a smooth transition to the new disclosure form. The biggest complaint lenders had was centered on increased operating costs. More than 57 percent of respondents have experienced “significant operational cost increases” while 36 percent saw some increase. These costs are impacting budgets, staffing needs and consumer rates and fees. Unlike the poll of agents, however, lenders seemed to feel the new disclosures have had a positive impact on the consumer experience, with 82 percent stating that they felt the CD had a “positive impact on the overall transparency and efficiency of the closing process.” This result is counter to some reports early on that the overall impact

was negative, and may reflect the passage of time, as well as internal operational adjustments. This survey is one of a continuing series of industry polls conducted by Secure Insight over the past few years to gain the pulse of the industry on issues important to escrow and closing services regarding compliance and overall risk management.

Credit Plus Begins Testing Trended Credit Data

Credit Plus has announced that it is currently testing trended credit data within its platform to meet Fannie Mae requirements and expects the availability of trended credit data reports beginning April 1. Fannie Mae is currently incorporating trended credit data into its Desktop Underwriter (DU) Version 10.0 and will be implementing it during the weekend of June 25, 2016. “With a more comprehensive depiction of a borrower’s approach to credit management, lenders will be better equipped to make a more accurate assessment of the applicant’s creditworthiness, thereby minimizing their risk,” said Greg Holmes, National Director of Sales and Marketing at Credit Plus. Trended credit data is a two-year historical perspective on a consumer’s utilization of credit accounts, giving lenders a means to better analyze borrower behavior and extract more meaningful statistics. With the availability of this new data, lenders will be able to determine if a borrower tends to pay off revolving credit lines each month or if they tend to carry a balance month-tomonth while making minimum or other payments. In addition, seasonal and sudden changes in revolving credit behavior will be revealed. The trended data will be included on virtually all active tradelines, not just revolving accounts, and will include credit cards,

Home Equity Lines of Credit, student loans, car loans and mortgages. Credit Plus is partnering with Equifax and TransUnion to provide comprehensive trended credit data via highly customizable reports. Lenders will be able to choose from almost 100 attributes. While each of the three national credit bureaus currently offer trended credit data in some format, only TransUnion’s CreditVision and Equifax’s Dimensions trended credit data sets will be required by Fannie Mae in June. Experian’s trended credit data is currently not part of the Fannie Mae rollout, but could become part of the requirements at a later date.

NAMB Applauds Congressional Flood Insurance Initiative

NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals has commended the House Financial Services Committee for taking up HR 2901, the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act of 2015. Sponsored by Reps. Dennis Ross (RFL) and Patrick E. Murphy (D-FL) HR 2901 affirms and clarifies Congress’ intent in Section 239 of the BiggertWaters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 to encourage a vibrant private market in flood-insurance products that would compete with the taxpayersubsidized offerings of the National Flood Insurance Program. “Whenever private parties are allowed to compete, the consumer wins,” said NAMB President Rocke Andrews, CMC, CRMS. “Allowing private flood insurance companies to compete for flood insurance business will bring more options to the consumer and should drive down costs.” HR 2901 amends the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to make technical amendments to requirements for

flood insurance under either the federal program or private flood insurance. Private flood insurance shall include, in addition to a policy issued by a company licensed, admitted or otherwise approved by the state (as in current law), any policy issued by an insurance company eligible as a non-admitted insurer to provide flood insurance in the state or jurisdiction where the property to be insured is located. The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 was amended to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to consider any period during which a property was continuously covered by private flood insurance to be a period of continuous insurance coverage. “The ability for a consumer to choose a service provider is a key component in developing a healthy marketplace,” said NAMB Government Affairs Committee Vice Chair Valerie Saunders, CRMS. “The NAMB Government Affairs Team commends Reps. Ross and Murphy for championing a bill which provides options.”

Google Shuts Down Mortgage Comparison Service

Three months after it entered the U.S. mortgage market with the launch of Google Compare for Mortgage, Google has abruptly announced that it will shut down its comparison shopping site next month. The Wall Street Journal, citing a corporate e-mail from the Google parent company Alphabet, is reporting that Google Compare will go offline on March 23. The service, which was available in the U.S. and U.K. only, allowed consumers to comparison shop for financial services products including credit cards and auto insurance. The company cited unspecified disappointment in the service’s results and will shift its focus to AdWords and other marketing strategies.

Google Compare for Mortgages was announced last November, but was only available for California-based homebuyers. Despite some sensationalist mainstream media coverage of Google’s potential encroachment into the mortgage space, industry experts were skeptical of what Google was offering. “The unfortunate side is the rates quoted are highly misleading since no loan program or term is listed,” said John Councilman, CMC, CRMS, immediate past president of NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals and president of Fort Myers, Fla.-based AMC Mortgage Corporation. “The APRs listed clearly do not reflect the most common mortgage product, the 30year fixed. Based on what I see, they look like rates for a 3/1 or 5/1 ARM.”

ing current sales conditions was also unchanged in March at 65, while the index measuring sales expectations in the next six months fell three points to 61. The only component to uptick involved buyer traffic, which increased four points to 43. On a regional level, confidence was down in the Northeast and West, unchanged in the South and up by a single point in the Midwest. “Confidence levels are hovering above the 50-point mid-range, indicating that the single-family market continues to make slow but steady progress,” said NAHB Chairman Ed Brady, a homebuilder and developer from Bloomington, Ill. “However, builders continue to report problems regarding a shortage of lots and labor.”

Survey: Consumers Have Mixed Feelings on TRID Changes

The new TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule has been in effect for five months, and consumers feel the operational changes brought by this new rule have solved some problems while creating new ones. According to a survey of 1,000 repeat homeowners by ClosingCorp, a San Diego-based provider of residential real estate closing cost data, 64 per-

cent of respondents said it was easier getting a mortgage prior to the implementation of TRID, while 57 percent said it took more time under TRID than it did previously. Furthermore, 51 percent of respondents complained about an increase in “unexpected costs, fees and surprises” in their most recent experience under TRID, although 68 percent said the new forms did a better job preparing them for the closing costs and 65 percent of the respondents admitted that the costs and fees were “explained better” in their most recent homebuying experience. And 63 percent claimed that new “Know Before You Owe” forms for loan continued on page 16

Most Homebuyers Seeking a Single-Family Suburban House

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n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

The ideal residence for most Americans is a single-family house in the suburbs, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Housing Opportunities and Market Experience (HOME) Survey for Q1 of 2016. The new HOME Survey found 85 percent of current homeowners and 75 percent of current renters expressing a preference for a suburban single-family house, with 15 percent of homeowners and 21 percent of renters aiming to buy a residence in an urban area. But time might not be on the side of potential buyers: The HOME Survey found 56 percent of current homeowners believed it is a good time to sell their house, compared to 61 percent during the fourth quarter of 2015, while 48 percent of all surveyed households felt the economy was improving, down from 50 percent in the previous quarter. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, stated that home builders need to start focusing on building more singlefamily houses. “The American Dream for most consumers is not a cramped, 500-square-foot condo in the middle of the city, but instead a larger home within close proximity to the jobs and entertainment an urban area provides,” Yun said. “While this is not a new discovery, supply and demand imbalances and unhealthy levels of price growth in several metro areas have made buying an affordable home an onerous task for far too many firsttime buyers and middle-class families.” But builder confidence in the market for newly-built, single-family homes is not rising. The latest was National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for singlefamily housing was unchanged in March at a level of 58. The HMI component gaug-

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Three Steps to Uncovering Commercial Leads

Grow your small-balance commercial business through existing residential channels

By Michael Boggiano So you are interested in diversifying your brokerage business with small-balance commercial loans, but are not sure where or how to find commercial leads. The truth is many potential commercial clients and referral sources can be found within your residential network. You just need to know where to look. Take the following three steps to leverage your existing client base and marketing efforts for commercial opportunities. 1. Build your commercial brand First, develop your brand to include small-balance commercial loans. Add commercial mortgage messaging to your marketing and advertising materials. For example, business cards, voice mail, an e-mail signature block, on-hold messages, collateral and advertising in any medium should announce that you are now offering commercial mortgages.

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2. Capitalize on existing relationships The borrowers you know and do business with—from small-business owners to first-time and seasoned investors—are oftentimes the very same borrowers in need of small-balance commercial financing. Review your closed loan files for information that may indicate a commercial need. Keep an eye out for doctors, lawyers, dentists and other individuals who may be interested in purchasing space for their practice and search for commercial property owners in the real estateowned (REO) section of the 1003 (the standard Residential Loan Application). Just as you’ve done with your residential business, build on your strategic partnerships with pros such as real estate agents, property appraisers, CPAs/accountants and financial advisors. In addition, consider forming new relationships that align with a commercial need—including, but not limited to, commercial contractors/developers, banks, credit unions, investment clubs and related associations (apartment owners, small-business owners, etc.). 3. Create your action plan Engage in marketing and develop a plan to promote your commercial offerings. Here are a few ways to reach prime prospects: l Direct mail such as postcards, letters and informational flyers can be an effective way to educate prospects and build your brand as a commercial mortgage broker. l E-mail marketing can help you stay in touch with existing clients and reach out to potential business partners. Use e-mail to announce that you are now offering small-balance commercial loans and that you are able to meet a wide range of their mortgage financing needs. As you build your e-mail database, be sure to follow the regulations laid out in the Federal CAN-SPAM Act. l Face-to-face visits show you take a personal interest in each and every commercial mortgage you work with and give borrowers more confidence knowing you understand their business needs. Additionally, you can read the body language and attitude of prospects to gauge their interest level. l Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook give you an opportunity to connect with potential clients from all over the country. Instead of trying to be everywhere at once, pick one or two social networks and focus on building your reputation and engaging with others in your industry. With a smart plan and follow-through on your part, it won’t be long before you’re sourcing and closing small-balance commercial deals. Michael Boggiano is national sales manager for Silver Hill Funding, a small-balance commercial mortgage lender offering nationwide financing from $250,000 to $1 million. He may be reached by phone at (888) 988-8843 or e-mail MikeB@SilverHillFunding.com.

SPONSORED EDITORIAL

nmp news flash continued from page 15

estimates and closing disclosures were easier to understand than the pre-TRID paperwork. “There’s been a lot of speculation about TRID’s impact and its value to consumers,” said Brian Benson, CEO of ClosingCorp. “Our new study of consumers who have bought homes and gotten mortgages both the new and the old way suggests that TRID is making it easier for consumers to understand the costs and fees that they’ll face at closing. But at the same time, the new rules are adding time and anxiety to the closing process and more than half of the respondents still said they encountered ‘unexpected costs, fees and surprises’. The findings suggest that our industry has more work to do to get comfortable with the TRID forms and processes, and to educate consumers and their advisors.”

Guardian Mortgage Raises Funds for Flint Water Crisis

In honor of its Michigan roots, Guardian Mortgage Company is making efforts to aid the Flint water crisis this February through its monthly casual dress donations and a matching gift from the company itself. Guardian Mortgage Company was launched in 1965 in Grand Blanc, Mich., just seven miles south of Flint. Though the company’s headquarters moved to Richardson, Texas, the Grand Blanc office is still in operation, serving homebuyers throughout the greater Flint area. To serve its longtime Michigan community, Guardian Mortgage locations throughout the country are raising money to aid the Flint water crisis all month long. Employees are given the opportunity to donate $5 for a casual dress week or $20 for the entire month. Once all donations are raised and totaled at the end of February, Guardian Mortgage will make a 100 percent matching donation as well. These donations will go toward the Community Foundation of Greater Flint’s Safe Water Safe Home Fund, which works to repair homes with damaged lead plumbing and service lines in the area. “We have a long and storied history in Michigan, and when we heard about the water crisis in Flint, we knew we had to act,” said Russell Anderson, president and chief executive officer at Guardian Mortgage. “We only hope our efforts are able to make a small impact on the people and children of that community.” Guardian Mortgage Company also operates a community outreach program called Guardian Gives Back in each of the cities it serves. The Grand

Blanc, Mich. office is currently collecting plastic water bottles to fill with homemade laundry soap–dubbed “Hope Soap.” Employees will spend a Saturday making the soap and filling the bottles. The soap will then be dispersed to those in need by the Catholic Charities of Genesee County’s Community Closet.

W.J. Bradley Shuts Down

W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, a Centennial, Colo.-based lender, has posted a message on its Web site announcing that the company is closing. “After consulting with its advisors, the company determined that an orderly wind-down is in the best interest of the company, its creditors and other stakeholders,” the message stated. “The company ceased operations and stopped funding new loans on March 13, 2016. It is hoped that undertaking the wind-down through this orderly process will reduce costs, avoid additional liabilities, minimize the impact on existing customers and maximize the value of the Company’s assets.” The company was founded in 2002 and was licensed in 48 states. As of last summer, it operated approximately 80 branch locations and employed more than 1,000 people. W.J. Bradley was named to Inc. Magazine’s 500|5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in 2013, placing at number 972 among the top 5,000 companies and at number 62 among the Top 100 Financial Services Companies. The company originated $43.3 billion in residential mortgages during 2014, and last year it announced that had “allocated significant capital to growth through acquisition in 2015 and is regularly seeking quality origination outfits in exchange for premium valuation opportunity.”

Homeowners Remain Optimistic on Equity

The power of positive thinking appears to be in overdrive, according to new data presented by the Irvine, Calif.based lender loanDepot LLC that found 46 percent of all U.S. homeowners with a mortgage are expecting an increase in their equity this year, while only three percent expected a decline in equity. This optimism comes about even continued on page 50

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Google Slashes Its Ad Space Worldwide On Feb. 19, 2016, Google confirmed that it’s changing up how it shows text ads on desktop searches by cutting text ads shown by more than 35 percent. How will this impact your advertising? Removing all text ads from the right-hand side of the page on desktop searches and putting them only on the top and bottom of the search results will result in more traffic for top ads and more competition to get top placement. What does this mean for marketers? Showing only one to four paid ads above naturally top-ranked results will increase demand for those placements. The rest of the ads will appear at the bottom of the search engine results page. Why change the most profitable marketing strategy in history? A lot of speculation, but according to The Media Image (one of the first sources to break the story) it’s because “Google has determined the average click-through-rate for Right-Hand Side Ads is poor” across all verticals. And “The expected CPC inflation from this major change is projected to more be profitable in the long run.” More profitable for who? A fourth additional ad will be placed at top for “highly commercial queries” (well-paid searches) such as hotels, car insurances and etc. There are two exceptions to this rule: Google’s Product Listing Ad (PLA) boxes and ads that show up in the knowledge panel. These will reportedly still show on the right. It’s designed to be a triple win … for Google, for the advertisers, and for the consumers.

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18 What are the benefits? More relevant results equal more traffic which equals more conversions, which in turn, equals more profit for Google and advertisers while also providing an improved shopping experience for buyers. Less tricks available to “trick” your way to the top and more credible results overall. What problems could we be facing? Cost per click will almost certainly rise drastically. Competing with large companies could be almost impossible unless you know how to get creative. Quality scores will now be a MAJOR factor with ad placement. Background According to Search Engine Land: Google has been testing this concept for years (we’ve read they have been testing this concept as far back as 2010) in other countries around the world. It’s shown to work better for both consumers and advertisers by eliminating the advertiser’s ability to sneak up to the top and delivering more relevant results for buyers consistently. Based in Medford, Ore., TagQuest Inc. is a full-service marketing firm developed throughout the ever-changing mortgage industry. Utilizing industry knowledge, marketing expertise, and technology we implement any or all aspects of your marketing and/or advertising campaigns. With a proven track record, more than 10 years in business, and decades of experience TagQuest knows what it takes to produce unprecedented results in today’s fast-paced mortgage environment. For more information, call (888) 7178980 or visit TagQuest.com.

IMAGINE • INNOVATE • SUCCEED SPONSORED EDITORIAL

new to market continued from page 12

Guardian Mortgage Launches New Web site Guardian Mortgage Company has announced the launch of its newly designed Web site, GuardianMortgageOnline.com. The site was designed by Guardian’s internal Web and information technology team, and coordinated by Anisa Johnson, vice president of marketing and communications; and Trinity Lancione, marketing coordinator in Guardian’s Grand Blanc, Mich. office. Will Stokes, senior vice president of Information Technology, handled the back-end development. “We’re very proud of how the new site has turned out,” Johnson said. “We feel it offers our customers a more userfriendly, interactive and easy-to-use tool that can help them on their homebuying journeys.” The site, which presents a green and white design, boasts added features like banner videos, interactive loan calculators and integrated social media feeds. The online application also includes a new, streamlined look, and regular readers of Guardian’s weekly blog, which offers information on homebuying and selling, mortgage application tips, DIY projects and even local market insight, will notice a more graphically appealing layout. “All the design changes were devised to make navigating, using and studying our website easier on the user,” Johnson said. “We can only hope the new site achieves this, and we look forward to hearing our customers’ feedback moving forward.”

Calyx Enhances Its Product & Pricing Engine

CalyxSoftware has announced that it has developed separate versions of its Pricer Product & Pricing Engine for portfolio lenders with their own rate sheets (Custom Pricer) and originators looking for investor pricing supplied by Calyx (Investor Pricer). Both versions are used seamlessly with Calyx Point, eliminating multiple logins, loan program templates, and the need to rekey data. The bidirectional data flow simplifies processes and improves accuracy and efficiency. Users can locate the best deals for their clients, see the street price for borrowers, and lock or float rates and their loans—all online within the software they use every day. “Having all loan products in one place, with the ability to check the loan levels for each and see any adjustments, keeps our team on track at all times,” said Bob Dougherty, vice president of

Mortgage Operations for Merchants Bank NA. “Pricer has sped up production and reduced errors, which helps our originators be more efficient and profitable.” Loan originators can price scenarios instantly and correctly in both versions without using paper, and only eligible rate cards and programs are visible to users. Rate and fee information, including Loan Level Price Adjustments (LLPAs), are automatically imported into loan files. Pricer also sends, tracks and preserves every rate quote and lock request. “The latest enhancements to our Pricer solution are designed to better match the specific needs of both buyers and sellers in today’s more complex, post-TRID, post-QM market,” said Dennis Boggs, executive vice president of CalyxSoftware. “Our product and pricing engine gives originators the broadest view of what is available.”

Premium Title Announces Integration With Mortgage Builder

Premium Title has announced its integration with the Mortgage Builder Loan Origination System (LOS). The integration provides customers with the ability to share data and documents between systems, auto-populate title fees on a loan estimate and place a title order directly from within the Mortgage Builder LOS. Lenders on the Mortgage Builder LOS can automatically receive a quote for title services and a compliance certificate guaranteeing those title fees, which populates into the Mortgage Builder LOS. The loan estimate or any adjustments in fees associated with the loan are also maintained in the system, ensuring TRID compliance and faster disclosure timelines. “Our integration with Premium Title represents our continued commitment to our customers to automate all aspects of the closing process,” said Larry Alston, general manager of Mortgage Builder. “By continuing to integrate with industry leaders, we provide our customers the means to close more loans at a lower cost and higher quality, helping ensure full compliance throughout the process.” “We are pleased to enable our clients with the capability to order title services from Premium Title within the Mortgage Builder LOS,” said James A. Weld, president of Premium Title. “Our integration with Mortgage Builder makes it easier to bring our quality title services and solutions to customers. We are receiving great feedback from our beta customers regarding the integracontinued on page 49

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NAMB PERSPECTIVE The President’s Message: March 2016 We Ask You to Support The Mortgage Fairness Act The Mortgage Fairness Act, HB 3393, and its companion Senate Bill are being supported by NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals to alleviate some issues in the enforcement of the DoddFrank Act that are hurting consumers and small business originators. The Mortgage Fairness Act will remove the compensation from the lender to the broker from the three percent calculation. By removing the compensation from lender to broker, it will make loans more affordable for lower income and rural areas. Currently, brokers are unable to do these loans due to these

restrictions, which will make the wholesale lender increase fees or rates on small balance loans or even institute minimum loan amounts. Brokers must often turn these loans away and the borrower is forced to go to a depository who will do the loan without having to disclose their back side premium, but increase the rate often by 0.75 percent to one percent over the prevailing rate. Many times, this increase in rate will make the borrower unable to qualify or pay substantially more over the life of the loan. Brokers are unable to get enough borrower credit to keep the fees below the three percent limit. Small business originators have greatly increased operating costs due to new compliance concerns and their

The CEO Perspective A Message From NAMB CEO Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS

MARCH 2016 n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

20 Have you ever wondered why people join their association? Have you ever thought why not? I know that I have written about this over and over again, but it still bothers me that people don’t join for the stupidest reasons. I was talking to a “non-member” from a Midwest state, and I point-blank asked him if he was a member and he said no. I asked him why and he replied, “Well … the cost is too much, and I don’t get anything from it.” I asked him

how much he thought the dues were and he said he thought they were $1,000 per year. I could barely get the words out of my mouth fast enough to tell him that he could be a voting member of NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals for just $120 per year or just $10 per month. What you get for your membership is topnotch government affairs, education opportunities, Webinars and many different products from NAMB+ that save you money for just being a member. I have to tell you that I have been a

The Importance of Lobbying and Being Prepared By Valerie J. Saunders, CRMS NAMB–The Association of Mortgage Professionals 2016 Legislative & Regulatory Conference will be held from April 9-12, 2016 in Washington, D.C. An important part of our annual trek to the nation’s capital is meeting with the representatives and senators from our home state. A face-to-face meeting with your legislator has the biggest impact on successfully championing legislation that you and your industry supports. The key to a successful visit is to be prepared. Get

to know your legislator before an important issue needs to be addressed. It’s important to establish a good working relationship with your legislator. When meeting face-to-face, be prepared to effectively and clearly communicate a timely and specific message. The following is a list of “Dos and Don’ts” when preparing for your lobbying meeting:

Do l Make an appointment in advance: Time is a premium in a legislator’s office. Contact the legislator’s scheduler in advance to arrange a

margins are insufficient to survive when making smaller loans. They are also on unequal footing with banks when trying to recruit and keep loan originators. Mortgage banks are not required to include their yield spread in the three percent and can operate at higher margins resulting in greater pay and benefits to loan officers. The long-term effect is higher costs to the borrower and decreased accessibility for lower income and urban borrowers who have less access to credit. Brokers have historically been the ones to deliver education and mortgage products to many of the unbanked in the United States. Dodd-Frank never intended for the lender to broker compensation to be included in the three percent calculation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) included it during their busiest times of writing regulation, and now want Congress to correct this. The Mortgage Fairness

Act will accomplish this and benefit small business originators, as well as a multitude of smaller loan balance borrowers. Help NAMB pass this important piece of legislation by asking your elected officials to support HB 3393. Visit them in their offices, and call and e-mail them. Your officials will react to requests from their constituents. NAMB’s Government Affairs team is able to assist you with questions or talking points. Together, we can get this bill passed and bring affordability back to lower-income borrowers and increase the small business originators ability to compete with the big banks. Sincerely,

member for 25-plus years with NAMB, and what I get out of my membership has paid for my membership more than 10 times over. It is not only about what you get, but what you put into it. I love the fact that I get to talk to my peers across the nation at all of the conferences and hear what they are doing to expand business and become more successful. I get information to actually put into play with my customers and referral sources. And it’s value is well beyond the $10 I pay per month for membership. So, if you are still wavering on joining, or you know somebody who is not a member of NAMB, explain to them that not only is it about supporting an organization that fights for you to stay in business, to having regular meetings with regulators and the Consumer

Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and just about everyone that you need to get information from, but we go out of our way to try to make you successful by putting on conferences and having speakers that make you better. So what are you waiting for? Go to JoinNAMB.com now and become a member. And let me be frank … we need you, so come help us to become a part of a great organization that believes in you and what you do. No questions asked!

meeting. It is best to make your meeting request in writing and follow up with a phone call. Be clear as to who will be attending the meeting and provide the specific reason for the meeting. Legislative schedules can be unpredictable, so don’t be surprised if you have to meet with a staffer in lieu of your elected official. l Your homework … prepare carefully for your meeting: NAMB provides those planning on lobbying a list of talking points and spends time the day prior to our lobby day discussing advocacy preparation. l Stay “on message:” Effective legislative meetings should be narrow in scope. Stick to the talking points provided and make a definite request for action. l Follow-up: What happens after a

Rocke Andrews, CMC, CRMS, President NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals randrews@lendingarizona.net JOINNAMB.com

Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS is chief executive officer for NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professional. He may be reached by e-mail at NAMB.CEO@NAMB.org.

meeting is almost as important as the meeting itself. Send a “thank you” letter after the meeting that not only expresses appreciation, but reinforces your message and any verbal commitment of support made by the legislator or staff. The follow-up is important, even if the legislator does not agree to support your request because you are building a long-term relationship.

Don’t l Go “off-message” or discuss unrelated issues: You must deliver a unified message during your meeting. Sending different messages or discussing unrelated subjects undermines your ability to secure support. It is important that your message and request be clear and uniform.

NAMB PERSPECTIVE l Be late: Time is a valuable commodity for legislators. Punctuality conveys professionalism and demonstrates your commitment to your issue. Arrive early, and if you are meeting as a group, allow time to make a final

review of your talking points and message. l Get too comfortable: As a constituent, you will be given respect by your legislator and their staff. Don’t let the comfortable nature of the exchange

Competitive Markets Put Consumers at Risk By Valerie J. Saunders, CRMS & Michelle Velez, CMC Volatile and competitive markets today are putting consumers at risk because they are being forced into agreeing to real estate contracts that do not include contingencies. For example, California, specifically Northern California, is in the middle of an extremely competitive market. Many houses on the market close so quickly that they hit the MLS listings, have a broker tour day and

possibly two weekends for open houses before they set an offer date. The majority of these listings have more than one offer … sometimes seven or 10! Because of this, both buyers and real estate agents have to be much more creative to get their offers accepted. In order to compete with the many “all-cash” offers, buyers need to have their loan fully underwritten by an underwriter before they start shopping. In this market, sellers want to close escrow as quickly as possible. Many sellers also ask for a seller rent back, sometimes up to 60 days. Usually, a real estate agent will

l NAMB Testifies Before Congress l NAMB Works With the CFPB

discuss the possibility of no contingencies with the loan officer. It is usually quite daunting knowing that we, as mortgage professionals, allow our clients to make the biggest purchase they will make in their entire life with no contingencies? Even if the borrower is pre-approved, what if the house doesn’t appraise? Or, what if do a home inspection and there are major repairs that need to be done? Sometimes, the buyer is purchasing the home “as is,” but what if the buyer didn’t get to do the inspections? What if the buyer closes, moves in and finds something the seller did not disclose is wrong with the house? What is going to happen? It is very important to allow the buyer time to have the property inspected. This can be done in as little as one or two days. This will allow the buyer the peace of mind, knowing they have been able to make the

largest purchase in their lifetime, without having buyer’s remorse. Real estate agents may not realize they have a personal liability in cases where there are no contingencies. Education is the best way to change the seller’s views on having contingencies. People do not sell their home every day, but agents have the expertise. If the seller felt comfortable that contingencies are a normal part of the selling process, they would accept purchase contracts with contingencies.

Are You an NAMB Lending Integrity Seal of Approval Holder? (No additional costs to NAMB members)

How to Apply for your National Lending Integrity Seal www.lendingintegrity.org Click on EARN the Seal NAMB members ONLY–Log in to the Lending Integrity site with your NAMB User ID and Password (If you do not know your User ID and Password, type in your e-mail and click log-in and the system will send you a password. If you have any issues, please call (972) 758-1151 or e-mail membership@namb.org).

Lending Integrity Requirements

l NAMB Participates in Multiple Regulatory/CFPB Panels l NAMB Webinars l Full-Time NAMB Lobbyist on Capitol Hill l NAMB Protects Your Business l NAMB Forms Industry Coalitions l NAMB Education

For detailed information, visit www.namb.org.

Michelle Velez, CMC is Government Affairs Committee co-chair for NAMB— The Association of Mortgage Professionals. She may be reached by phone at (650) 409-2850 or e-mail ShellVelez@gmail.com. Valerie Saunders, CRMS is NAMB Government Affairs Committee co-chair and may be reached by phone at (866) 992-0785 or email Valsaun@gmail.com.

l l l l l l l l l

The Lending Integrity Seal of Approval is awarded only to mortgage originators who meet specific requirements. To earn the privilege to display the Seal, mortgage brokers and loan officers must: Be an NAMB member Meet the requirements of the SAFE Act Pass a national criminal background check Attend eight hours (or equivalent) of professional development education each year Attend two hours (or equivalent) of ethics training every other year or each license renewal cycle Provide professional references Subscribe to NAMB’s Best Business Practices Agree to NAMB’s Code of Ethics Must be renewed annually

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

www.namb.org … JOIN TODAY!

Valerie J. Saunders, CRMS is Government Affairs Chair for NAMB— The Association of Mortgage Professionals. She may be reached by phone at (866) 992-0785 or e-mail Valsaun@gmail.com.

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Why Do I Need NAMB?

deter you from discussing your talking points and making your request. l Forget to follow-up: Immediately send a thank you letter. Stay informed on your issue and track how your legislator responds.

NAMB PERSPECTIVE

getting toknow Olga Kucerak Director of NAMB B Y

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When National Mortgage Professional Magazine approached Olga Kucerak for an interview, she was apologetic. “I’m not a very good interview,” she claimed, adding that the staff at her San Antonio-based Crown Lending Inc. was goodnaturedly amused to learn that she would be sweating through a media inquiry. But Kucerak was being hard on herself. As an entrepreneur within the mortgage profession, she is one of the most interesting success stories that the industry has to offer. In her work with the Texas Association of Mortgage Professional (TAMP) and NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals, she is a high-profile leader that has worked tirelessly for her peers and the customers they serve. Indeed, her work has been notice: in 2013, she was named NAMB Mortgage Professional of the Year. And at the risk of editorializing, this writer can affirm that Kucerak is one of the most delightful conversationalists to appear in our spotlight. How did you get into the mortgage profession? And was this your original career choice?

P H I L

Originally, I had a real estate broker license. I enjoyed the mortgage part of the business—I found it the most interesting aspect of real estate. When I moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1985, I went to a temporary agency and asked them if they could put me in the mortgage industry. I then started to take courses because I needed to understand the whole dynamic to learn about the whole industry. Within the mortgage profession, I started as an originator. I was at a mortgage banking company at first, but I decided in the 1990s that I wanted to be a mortgage broker in order to give my clients more options. In August 1999, at the advice of my mentor group, I opened my own company, Crown Lending. What makes Crown Lending stand out from its competition? We listen to our clients. We’re not order-takers. In running your own company, what have been your greatest challenges and greatest triumphs? My greatest challenge is making sure that I stay educated on all of the changes that are taking place in the

H A L L

industry, and in making sure that we can be the best we can be. As for a triumph, that would be our referral business. There is nothing better than attending a closing and hearing the client say, “Thank you.” How much of your business comes from referrals? Pretty much all of my business is referral-based. We don’t do marketing. During your career, you have been prominent within state and national mortgage trade groups. Let’s start locally … how and why did you get into TAMP? I originally took out membership with TAMP in order to give back to industry and help other people in the industry grow. As mortgage professionals, we value what we’re giving to or customers: A business insight, if you will What positions have you held in TAMP? At TAMP, I served as a board member, I was in charge of the Membership Committee, I was a vice president, and was president from 2009-2010.

What brought you to NAMB? I love to say that NAMB is fighting the fight for the rights of the consumer. While I have been at NAMB, I have been in charge of the Membership Committee, the Government Affairs Committee, and with special activities to help with the convention. As a current NAMB board member, I am thrilled that I am able to help our industry grow while we provide services and options for consumers. I am also the co-chair, with Valerie Saunders, of NAMB’s Legislative & Regulatory Conference in D.C. this April. What will be new and different at this year’s Legislative & Regulatory Conference? There are a couple of things that will be different this year. We will have a mortgage loan officer career enrichment session to help with the production side of the business. We also have a Certified Residential Mortgage Specialist (CRMS) training session. And we will have input from the credit reporting agencies that are involved with the important changes coming in June. Why should mortgage professionals be involved with

NAMB PERSPECTIVE NAMB at both the state and national levels? The state level handles statespecific industry issues. There are some rules locally that are not necessarily in effect nationwide. The state groups also work with state legislators make sure things take place in the legislative session that benefit the consumers. With NAMB, the national issues affect everyone. We need to have a strong voice that represents the industry and is willing to speak directly and frankly with legislators, regulators, the media and general public about the role that mortgage professionals play in the overall economy and in the lives of millions of Americans. Without NAMB, who is going to be our advocate?

Psychology? Why that? While a lot of what we do involves being able to understand guidelines, we also need people that are able to understand the people we are dealing with. It is important to have that extra caveat to see big picture of what goes on. Looking back on your mortgage career, what has been your

You seem more than a little busy. What do you outside of your mortgage work? I’ve served on several non-profit boards, and I am currently on the boards of the University of the Incarnate Word and Downtown Residents Association in San Antonio. I love to travel and spend

quality time with family and friends. I live downtown in San Antonio, and I like to help people find things when they’re walking around our city. You never stop helping people, yes? Yes! Phil Hall is managing editor of National Mortgage Professional Magazine. He may be reached by email at philh@nmpmediacorp.com.

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n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

Speaking of Millennials, how can the industry get more young people into mortgage careers? My company has sought out interns from colleges. It is important to get them before they get out of college. Once they get their degree, they go for the job that pays them $80,000. And a lot of our interns went on to great jobs. One went to work with a large bank to oversee foreclosures, and another oversees a call center. When I look for interns, I connect with college finance and psychology departments.

What is your goal for this year? To be able to work more efficiently. I don’t have a dollar amount of loans

that I am aiming for … it is about the quality.

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

What do you see as the near-term future for the mortgage profession? For many years, a lot of people in the industry had their own broker company, but they left that and went to work at a bank or another company. But now, they are coming back as a broker. I am seeing more and more people changing from mortgage banker to mortgage broker. I get calls from people in the industry—including a lot of Millennials—who are working at a bank and they say, “Hey, wait, I can do something on my own. But I need more training.”

greatest accomplishment to date? Helping people. I’ve had opportunity to work with clients several times or with their friends and kids. Now I see clients of mine that are parents becoming grandparents and downsizing—their lives are coming full circle.

NAMB PERSPECTIVE

Wednesday-Friday, March 9-11, 2016 Westin Hilton Head Resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

NAMB East 2016 Recap NAMB East: Coast to Coast Representation

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NationalMortgageProfessional.com

The grounds of the host hotel, the Westin Hilton Head, during NAMB East 2016 By Fred Kreger, CMC I am writing this as I make my way on Monday night to NAMB East in Hilton Head, S.C. NAMB is about to embark on a new chapter in its life. We have seen over the last couple of years that our industry and association rise, if you will, like the Phoenix from the ashes. Now I know that seems a little dramatic, but think about where we were just a decade ago. We were all running on full steam and everyone was happy and making money. Then, a reality check hit the world, the country, the finance industry and our association (NAMB and our affiliates). We now are back again in the resurrection of the industry and the health of the association that indeed, represents all originators in the United States. I use the phrase “Survive to Thrive” to represent our attitude

and core nature of us as originators. Let’s face it … it sucks to live life surviving. We all want to thrive, and it’s about time to enjoy this next chapter together. As I make my way from the left to the right coast for NAMB EAST in Hilton Head, I am full of true optimism for us as an industry. We want to give you the tools to thrive and not just survive. So, here we go … And now here we are … we just completed NAMB East and it did not disappoint. We had great attendance, enthusiasm and fun. What a great successful show. I am truly blessed that I have fellow NAMB board members whom I call my friends. We are hard-working and have such a great commitment to the originator. This was what I had hoped for as I made my way to Hilton Head on Monday night. Everyone should be congratulated on a job welldone. Our speakers and panels were top-notch. This

was a fully-packed show, and the vendors gave us some great feedback. I am glad that we now have more wholesale lenders join us at NAMB’s Wholesale Summit that will meet this September in Las Vegas during NAMB National. Thank you to everyone who I spent a truly wonderful time with this last week. I always learn from everyone I talk to at our shows. See you all next month in D.C.! Fred Kreger, CMC is branch manager at American Family Funding, a Division of American Pacific Mortgage. He is a past president for the California Association of Mortgage Professionals (CAMP), and currently president-elect and Government Affairs Vice chairman for NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals. He can be reached by e-mail at Fred.Kreger@AFFLoans.com or call (661) 505-4311.

NAMB PERSPECTIVE

Wednesday-Friday, March 9-11, 2016 Westin Hilton Head Resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

NAMB East Concludes in Hilton Head Regional conference a success in inaugural outing

I am finally on the airplane, headed home from the inaugural NAMB East conference with the feeling that NAMB East was a great success. I was proud to serve as the Committee Chair for this first-of-its-kind event for NAMB. We started planning this event at the Wholesale Summit in Dallas last September. There was a great deal of excitement at the thought of having a conference in the East, but also much apprehension about whether or not the conference could be pulled off on such short notice. This was a little scary for the NAMB board, because we are responsible to the membership for everything that we do. We had less than six months and were unsure if could we pull this off or would we be setting the association up for disaster? We estimated how much it would cost and how many people we could expect to attend for a brand new conference in the East. We also wondered if Hilton

Head, S.C. would be a good location. Once you take the leap, you have to make it work. The weather turned out to be perfect. We had 83 golfers who enjoyed a round of golf, while getting to network on a casual, friendly level with old and new friends alike. We had nearly the entire hotel booked, and with around 900 attendees registered, the service was excellent. We had great food, a packed Exhibit Hall, wonderful speakers, along with highly informative classes. The Exhibit Hall opened along with classes and speakers in the morning. The Keynote Speakers included Chip Cummings, Lisa Myers and Sam Wyche. We got a lot of great ideas, words of wisdom and food for thought from this trio of respected individuals. They covered good business practices, politics and how to just keep aiming higher so you will be a winner. The afternoon was left open for attendees to do whatever they liked. Some had meetings with vendors, some went bike riding, some took an afternoon dolphin tour, sunbathed, went and enjoyed shopping, while others just rested in their room getting ready for the evening’s

receptions with more networking in the Exhibit Hall. The evening cocktail hour consisted of food, drinks and people visiting with the vendors finding out what they had to offer. I had several tell me that the relaxed feeling was one of a big family. NAMB is your business family, and we want you to be able to express yourselves, share ideas with each other and become better mortgage professionals. The last evening, we had the pleasure of having the band, “The Headliners,” led by Larry Perigo, play for a party by the pool. They were fantastic and it could not have been a more perfect evening. I would say that Hilton Head was a great place for our first conference in the East. I hope that NAMB’s members and attendees enjoyed the event as much as I did. Linda McCoy, CRMS is broker/owner of Mortgage Team 1 Inc. in Mobile, Ala., a member of the NAMB Board of Directors and serves as NAMB East Committee Chair. She may be reached by phone at (251) 650-0805 or email Linda@MortgageTeam1.com.

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

By Linda McCoy, CRMS

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Members of the NAMB board gather for a photo in Hilton Head, S.C.

NAMB PERSPECTIVE

Wednesday-Friday, March 9-11, 2016 Westin Hilton Head Resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Scenes From NAMB East 2016

Art “Ski” Swiatkowski with Keynote Speaker Chip Cummings prior to Chip’s presentation, “Breaking the Boundaries of Success”

Golfers line up their carts for the NAMB Legislative Action Fund Golf Tournament

Mike Boggiano, national sales manager for Silver Hill Funding, delivers his presentation on small-balance commercial loans

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NationalMortgageProfessional.com

The crew from REMN Wholesale were on hand to discuss their product offerings

NAMB Vice President John Stevens enjoying the Golf Tournament in Hilton Head

Tabatha Addison of American Advisors NAMB Director David Luna and Treasurer Andy Harris chat Group (AAG), presents her session with exhibitors “Moving Forward With Reverse”

Andrew Berman (right) interviews Mike Boggiano from Silver Hill Funding for Mortgage News Network

NAMB Director Olga Kucerak at the registration table during the Legislative Action Fund Golf Tournament

NAMB+ is an independent, wholly-owned, for-proﬁt marketing subsidiary of NAMB, The Association of Mortgage Professionals. Dear Mortgage Professional, Thank you to all of our NAMB Members! Hopefully you are taking full advantage of the huge money-saving discounts and offers that are available to you through NAMB+. If you are not a NAMB Member, and I know that the majority of you reading this aren’t, I’m not going to try and persuade you with the same old rhetoric. I won’t tout that NAMB is the only national trade association dedicated to representing the individual mortgage loan originator. I won’t remind you that NAMB has a lobbyist working for you in Washington, DC everyday. I will even skip the fact that NAMB offers countless educational and compliance webinars and maintains a strong relationship with the CFPB. Instead of trying to convince you to Join NAMB for all of the “right” reasons, I will simply break it down to economics. For as little as $50 or $120 per year, you will

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NAMB Members will receive a Twenty-Five Percent (25%) discount off of the regular price with their NAMB Membership.

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NAMB members receive a discount off Brokers Compliance Group compliance support programs.

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m a e r t S

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Systems for

Third-Party

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By Corey Hulbert

y now, every lender and servicer is well aware that, in the eyes of federal regulators, any compliance error on the part of a third-party working for a financial services firm will be treated as if the error was perpetrated by the lender or servicer itself. This isn’t conjecture. It’s a fact. In the spring of 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a bulletin which made clear its intention to hold financial institutions responsible for the actions of their third party service providers.

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In its bulletin, CFPB said it expected the firms it regulated to create processes for managing the risks inherent in all third-party relationships. Unfortunately, the Bureau didn’t tell the industry what it expected to see, though it did provide some guidelines. While many of National Mortgage Professional Magazine’s readers are engaged on the origination side of the business, these guidelines apply to both lenders and servicers. First, all parties are expected to perform thorough due diligence to ensure that the third party understands and is capable of complying with the law. While that may seem an insurmount-

able task, the CFPB goes on to suggest “a review of the service provider’s policies, procedures, internal controls, and training materials to ensure that the service provider conducts appropriate training and oversight of employees or agents that have consumer contact or compliance responsibilities.” The Bureau goes on to suggest detailed contracts that contain clear expectations about compliance, as well as appropriate and enforceable consequences for violating any compliance-related responsibilities and the establishment of internal controls and ongoing monitoring to determine whether the service

provider is complying with the law. Finally, and perhaps the best advice offered in its bulletin, the Bureau suggests taking prompt action to address fully any problems identified through the monitoring process. So, about that monitoring process …

Acting like a bank auditor Thus far, we haven’t read about any CFPB enforcement actions against lenders or servicers for specific compliance violations perpetrated by thirdparty vendors. Still, it’s just a matter of time. If you want to avoid the pain, you need to gear up at least part of your

Consequently, buyers are putting more time and effort into the construction of good Requests for Proposals that get to the heart of the new vendor’s capabilities and compliance readiness. Asking the right questions and then checking the veracity of the responses will uncover many potential future problems. Unfortunately, none of us has a crystal ball and so we cannot know whether a new vendor has what it takes to provide fully compliant services. It’s often easier to judge a vendor’s compliance advisors than it is the vendor itself. What resources, attorney firms or trade organizations is the new vendor counting on to remain compliant? Good legal advisors built their reputations on their

ability to keep their clients on the straight and narrow. What your own third party vendor quality assurance program will look like will depend upon many factors and nothing in this article should be taken as legal advice in this area. What we can say for certain is that the CFPB has been very clear about expecting lenders and servicers to know more, much more, about the vendors they work with. Getting as much information as possible as affordably as possible will be a competitive priority. Start every new relationship with a detailed RFP and extensive due diligence on not only the vendor, but also the vendor’s compliance advisers. Then, act like an auditor. Set up an

audit checklist for third-party vendors and work down it on a regular basis. These simple steps will carry you a long way toward meeting your federal regulator’s third-party compliance requirements. Corey Hulbert is associate vice president and head of sales for SmartProp at ATPR Inc. ATPR provides technology based solutions for the real estate lending and settlement services industry. SmartProp is a next-generation search product delivering a range of property reports. It is backed by a nationwide abstractor network and a strong customer service team to manage your requirements better. He may be reached by e-mail at Corey.Hulbert@ATPRInc.com.

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© Copyright 2007-2016 Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC headquartered at 1600 South Douglass Road, Suites 110 & 200A, Anaheim, CA 92806. 800-561-4567. NMLS ID 2600. Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) Consumer Access website: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. AZ: Mortgage Banker BK-0910745. CA: Licensed by the Department of Business Oversight under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act, File 413 0904. CO: Check license status of your mortgage loan originator at www.dora.state.co.us/real-estate/index.htm. GA: Georgia Residential Mortgage Licensee 22721. IL: Illinois Residential Mortgage Licensee. KS: Supervised Loan License SL.0000313. KY: Mortgage Loan Company License MC21112. MN: This is not an offer to enter into an interest rate lock agreement under Minnesota Law. MS: Licensed by the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance. Mortgage Lender License 2600. MO: Missouri Company Registration 14-1746-A. In-State Office: Missouri Residential Mortgage Loan Broker License 14-1746-A1. 251 SW Noel, Lees Summit, MO 64063. NV: Mortgage Broker License 4068 (Residential Mortgage Lending). NH: Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department. NJ: Licensed by the N.J. Department of Banking and Insurance. NY: Licensed Mortgage Banker—NYS Department of Financial Services. New York Mortgage Banker License B500980/107664. OH: Ohio Mortgage Broker Act Certificate of Registration MB.804213.000; Ohio Mortgage Loan Act Certificate of Registration SM.501517.000. OR: Mortgage Lender License ML4886. PA: Licensed by the Department of Banking. RI: Rhode Island Licensed Lender, Lender License 20112809LL. VA: Licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission MC-5382. NMLS ID 2600 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). WA: Consumer Loan License CL2600. Also licensed in AL, AR, CT, DE, DC, FL, ID, IN, IA, LA, ME, MD, MI, MT, NM, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, UT, WV, WI and WY. NOTICE: All loans subject to credit, underwriting and property approval guidelines. Offered loan products may vary by state. There is no guarantee that all borrowers will qualify. Restrictions may apply. This is not a commitment to lend. Terms, conditions and programs are subject to change without notice. This information is for mortgage professionals only and is not intended for distribution to consumers. Carrington Mortgage Services is not acting on behalf of or at the direction of HUD/FHA or any government agency. All rights reserved.

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business to look and act more like a bank regulator than a traditional financial services company. Make no mistake, the CFPB is handing off the monitoring responsibility to you, so you need to take it seriously. But that’s not to say you have to do it the hard way. There are streamlined approaches to everything. In past enforcement actions, it’s been clear that federal regulators were looking for patterns of behavior and systemic problems that allowed for repeat offenses. Even a rudimentary monitoring system will help avoid the appearance of gross misconduct. Not that there are any guarantees. So what constitutes a rudimentary monitoring system? It starts with routine audits. Your internal compliance department likely already knows the rules quite well. They also know what you need from your third party vendors in order to remain in compliance. Your monitoring system should check for that periodically. What will you be checking for? That will depend upon your specific business, the products you deal with and the consumers you work for, but best practices are generally available. One example comes from The American Land Title Association (ALTA). This trade group has already developed a set of best practices to help its members, mostly title agents, highlight policies and procedures they should employ to remain compliant. While there has been some talk about a national firm that will certify that title companies have embraced these best practices, that hasn’t emerged yet, leaving lenders to deal with this on their own. But at least they’ll know what they are looking for. While there are doubtless other compliance concerns not addressed by ALTA’s best practices, financial services firms are encouraged to have their legal departments create their own sets of best practices and then audit third party vendors routinely for compliance. Don’t forget data security, insurance requirements and downstream vendors, all of which will factor into overall compliance. And don’t forget to check the products these vendors are returning to you. Because errors in the chain of title can cause problems for consumers, it’s in the best interests of both lenders and servicers to double check the reports they receive from title companies from time to time. Third party real estate information reports are perfect for this and are widely available from companies like ours.

Building a Better Defense for a CFPB Audit By Todd Boehler n the mortgage industry, the potential for an audit by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is often associated with either fear or uncertainty. The level of invasiveness and the intensity with which the CFPB expects to conduct its audit could cause concern, but at the same time an organization’s existing compliance framework should also be established in such a way that successfully managing a CFPB audit is considered standard operating procedure. At the root of a CFPB audit is the intent to determine if mortgage companies are complying with the federal guidelines designed to protect consumers from unfair lending practices. Central to ensuring adherence is a robust policy and procedure management framework that is designed to allow organizations to determine if their internal structure supports the requirements they are expected to uphold. That’s why in many ways the CFPB audit is as much an examination of adherence to policy as it is a thorough shake-down to ensure that internal culture reflects a consumer-first approach to lending practices.

So what can you do to prepare? Well, understanding the need to build a sufficient compliance infrastructure before the CFPB comes knocking is step one, and this article will take a closer look at how to not just survive an audit, but to build a culture that adheres to federal policy while making lending practices defensible and completely transparent to auditors.

Being prepared beats being aware In addition to the obvious goal of not falling out of compliance, adhering to established policy management practices is also vital for being prepared for an unexpected visit from the CFPB. Audits are announced with only a few weeks’ notice—if your house isn’t in order by the time the audit is scheduled, it’s likely too late to establish a track record of building internal policies that show evidence of protecting consumers and training employees to act in accordance with CFPB best practices. Auditors look for high comfort levels among employees of a targeted mortgage firm to determine if they convey a sense of familiarity with CFPB policies and an awareness of the regulations put in place to protect consumers when securing a mortgage. However, even as internal policies

are established, there’s still more to do to ensure compliance with CFPB guidelines. Third-party servicing operations must also be managed and aligned with the compliance footbridge due to the sheer volume of parties involved in servicing a mortgage. In today’s environment, the lender has been made responsible for ensuring that third parties are meeting the consumer protection guidelines established by the CFPB. While this may seem like yet another hurdle for mortgage firms to overcome, by applying the same regimented and organized approach used internally to third-party vendor relationships, an audit can be an entirely manageable process. Establishing a framework in the weeks leading up to an audit will inevitably cause panic, and delaying an audit can raise eyebrows. There is an inherent value in adopting a “strength through policy” attitude to ensure that a lender isn’t just surviving an audit, but also benefitting from having a reputation as a consumer-minded organization.

take that will help make the process less daunting and bring some perspective to what auditors want and why they need it when embarking on an audit. 1. Start preparing before the audit even develops: This is a critical first step in avoiding a mad scramble, stressful meetings, poor deliverables, angry management, bad findings, etc. The CFPB offers limited notice as to its intent to audit a firm, which means there’s no such thing as being over prepared. Ensure your executive team is bought into the investment and understands the value of preventive and not reactive compliance.

How to build a CFPB-ready culture

2. Start with a policy management program that includes comprehensive consumer coverage: Policies and other documents are typically requested before the CFPB audit team comes on-site. Having these materials organized, consistent and with documented review dates, changes, approvals, certifications and training is essential to getting started on the right foot.

Of course, building a framework to prepare for an audit is easier said than done. But below are some basic steps to

3. Make sure your procedures and department level activity is

aligned with your policies: Polices that don’t have supporting procedures that can be explained by the front lines (the business departments) are just shelfware risks waiting to be exploited. Know that you can answer the question of “how are you enforcing and executing this policy?” Being able to provide proof of both quickly can demonstrate you’re on top of the issues.

With the constantly changing regulatory landscape and the sheer number of relationships with partners, vendors and customers, corporate policies have never been so important. Today, policies not only guide how firms should operate, but have also become the primary means to evaluating an organization’s reputation.

4. Consumer data and flow of information is critical: Expect that an audit could “follow the data” from your organization out to any of the third-party services that are involved in mortgage transactions (escrow agents, title insurers, brokers, closing agents, etc.), or within other vendors like customer service centers. Your third-party monitoring is critical in the eyes of the CFPB to protect the consumer—which is why this should be a top-priority program to have running on all cylinders.

For years, even decades, enterprises have managed policy workflows, versions, certifications, changes and exceptions/incidents with manual tools and, more recently, passive document libraries.

5. Be effective at coordination, information gathering and explanation: Have a structured process for what to do when an audit happens, who will be the lead, how document requests to various groups will be handled and which reporting format will be used to present and detail the information. Having everyone know that “all hands on deck” are required and how to respond to inquiries is essential in showing the company’s internal strength in terms of execution, consumer protection and transparency within processes.

In a world where governance is stringent and policies can change in the blink of an eye, mortgage firms deserve every advantage they can find—and automating key compliance tasks to ease due-diligence response efforts gives lenders a major leg up. Todd Boehler is vice president of Product Strategy for ProcessUnity. For nearly 20 years, Todd has served in product management and strategy roles for leading technology providers. In 2003, his governance, risk and compliance (GRC) startup was purchased by Stellent, which was soon after bought by Oracle Corporation. Todd worked for Oracle for seven years before joining ProcessUnity in 2014.

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Silver Hill Funding is a Division of Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC. NMLS# 2469. 4425 Ponce De Leon Blvd. Coral Gables, FL 33146 Copyright 2015 Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC. SHF-0400-007. Silver Hill Funding programs are offered to qualiﬁed commercial lending institutions and are not applicable to the general public and/or individual consumers. This information is for lending institutions only, and not intended for use by individual consumers or borrowers. Programs may be cancelled or modiﬁed at any time without any prior notice. Programs may not be available in all jurisdictions. Licensing information may be found at www.bayviewloanservicing.com

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What the CFPB wants While an audit can become a significant time burden and quite invasive, it’s important to remember than unlike the IRS, the CFPB isn’t there to analyze your bottom line: They are acting on behalf of the consumer. This is why the CFPB’s Supervision and Examination Manual places an emphasis on inspecting a firm’s practices to determine if any violations exist that can potentially violate the law or cause consumer harm. Above all else, the CFPB wants to enforce uniformity among lenders— that is, to make sure every firm abides by the same federal requirements to adhere to fair lending practices and protect the borrower. As mentioned earlier, this commitment to protecting the consumer must be evident within third-party vendor relationships in addition to your own organization. By constructing a defensible policy framework and working with partners that support your internal procedures, it becomes possible to not only survive a CFPB audit but to effectively work collectively with auditors to demonstrate the impact your organization has on protecting the consumer interest when applying for a loan throughout the chain of parties involved in fulfilling it.

Automating for a better tomorrow

But as the body of regulations grows, changes become more urgent, and the number of interested stakeholders expands—which means static repositories are no longer minor annoyances, but a major cause for disruption. Today, new technology solutions exist that replace spreadsheets, network drives and intranets with a simple, standard process for administering policy lifecycles, certifying communications, assessing performance, and managing exceptions and issues. Cloud-based platforms can provide direct and immediate access to the policies and procedures your employees and vendors need to fulfill their obligations in accordance with your standards.

Getting Ready to Use the New EAD Portal BY VLADIMIR BIEN-AIMEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

ast June, the FHA began allowing lenders to log into its new Electronic Appraisal Delivery (EAD) portal to start familiarizing themselves with it so that when the mandated start date on June 27 of this year comes, approved mortgagees will be adequately prepared and ready to submit appraisals performed on FHA loans.

TRID adherence into their internal processes. That left those lenders playing catch up and ended up delaying closings. Further, there are still some post-TRID implementation issues for some lenders that are still being worked out. So let’s use TRID as an industry example as to why you should get EAD preparations started now. Since June of last year, mortgagees were able to work with the EAD portal directly at ElectronicAppraisalDelivery.com. Many appraisal software vendors have recently completed integrations to the EAD. Work closely with your vendor to

ensure that the adoption of EAD is added to your operational workflow in the best possible way. Every lender has a different method of handling their appraisal process. It’s important to start the implementation of EAD sooner than rather than later. June is right around the corner. You don’t want any surprises such as operational slips, prolonged turn times, noncompliance, etc. Get started now. Vladimir Bien-Aime is CEO and cofounder of Global DMS, a pioneer of Web-based appraisal process management software and a provider of

technologies used across the mortgage process. Vladimir is an appraisal compliance expert with specific knowledge of the most current federal, state and local appraisal-related regulations, including the Dodd-Frank Act and new Interagency Guidelines, as well as initiatives such as Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) and Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP). He has worked in the appraisal industry with Appraisal.com/Day One Appraisal Software as a systems engineer, and in information technology for the Department of Environmental Protection.

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n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

As we know, the EAD is similar to that of how the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) works, so there won’t be a big shift in the way appraisals are submitted for review and acceptance by the FHA. By going to the EAD Web site (ElectronicAppraisalDelivery.com), mortgagees can log in and easily upload appraisals. Up to 10 appraisal files per submission are allowed and it also allows the submission of up to three appraisal files per loan. Alternatively, and the more likely scenario, is that lenders will leverage integrations that their appraisal software providers developed. With a direct interface to the EAD, lenders gain quick and efficient access to the portal without having to leave the application they are accustomed to working in. Now, there are varying levels of integrations with the EAD. Ideally, you want to be able to use a single software platform that centralizes your entire appraisal process. This would entail being able to access both the EAD as well as the UCDP from the same interface. It’s an entirely different level of efficiency compared to old manual submissions or even visiting the EAD directly to upload appraisals for your closed FHA loans. One thing to look for in a software system that connects to the EAD is the ability for the interface to be utilized by any lender or appraisal management company (AMC), regardless of the type of software application they themselves or their appraisers are using. You want to be able to easily work with multiple AMCs from a single platform, many of which will likely have disparate technologies. In addition to our core valuation management platform called eTrac, at Global DMS we also offer a solution called Global Kinex, which provides a seamless integration to the UCDP that extracts data from the PDF, converts the PDF to the UAD format, validates that the appraisal is compliant, and then delivers it to the UCDP. We’ve now done the same thing for the EAD. Global Kinex can be implemented as a standalone solution or in conjunction with eTrac platform. Whether you elect to use the EAD portal to submit appraisals, an interface that your existing appraisal software vendor developed, or an intermediary solution, just make sure that you have thoroughly tested the solution well in advance of the June 27 deadline. Further, make sure you understand how the new FHA submission process could affect your internal appraisal workflow. We know that many lenders waited too long to work with their vendors and also adequately prepare to introduce

Time Traps:

By Kerry Johnson, Ph.D. ohn needed to process five more loans by noon and had another 10 issues to iron out in underwriting. He was falling behind in his client calls and couldn’t even get the standard paperwork done. His wife was getting ticked at him claiming he wasn’t the guy she married. He hadn’t spent more than 10 minutes with his kids in the last week. All this and he wasn’t even making more money. John was feeling more stressed as the week went on. It didn’t make sense. He should be able to coast a little after all these years. But the mortgage business was more demanding than ever and he was enjoying it less. There must be a business out there that wasn’t so pressurized. Maybe there is a course he could take that would teach him how to

cope. Could he? But John rationalized that where else could he make this much money? As if money made up for the stress. If you are like the majority of mortgage professionals, your company probably isn’t considering hiring staff to support you. In fact, they are likely thinking of who they can fire to increase return. Can they get another two percent output and make more money? The same goes for the support people you work with. They aren’t getting back to you in a few hours. It’s now days or weeks. There are two ways to cope. Take a course on coping with stress or learn some techniques on giving yourself more time to get things done. Have you ever said you don’t have enough time. I love talking to meeting planners who wait to book a speaker two weeks before the event and tell me they didn’t have time to coordinate all the details. When I arrive, the meet-

ing room is too small, the audio/visual equipment wasn’t ordered and the attendees feel like they wasted a week at an event that caused them to fall even more behind. We all have the same amount of time. We just choose to prioritize it differently. You make time to get done the things that matter. Saying you don’t have enough time is an excuse. You are really communicating that the person you reject due to time pressure isn’t important enough to give time to. Australians have a quaint expression, “I’ve got time for her.” This means that someone is important enough to give time to. The truth is that all of us have the same amount of time. Some of us just use it better than others. When time is lost, it is never to be used again. The Chinese demonstrated that to students in Temples during ancient times. Inventors of the first clocks, they would

dangle a rope from the ceiling rafters with knots representing hours. They would then light a flame at the bottom which would burn evenly indicating to the viewer’s duration of time. This representation would also show children once time was gone, it could never be recaptured. They burned a lot of temples back in those days. So the elders changed to measuring time using water buckets. Priests would punch a hole in the bottom of the bucket to allow water to pass. But then the temples got water logged. So the early clock inventors finally created the mechanical clock. We no longer have the sense of time escaping from a water bucket or being burned on a rope. But we feel the pressure of time as if we were being burned by it. You do have the same amount of time as your competitors and everyone else on the planet. But there are things you can do to maximize the time you do have

Coping With Time Demands in an “I Want It Now” Business to get more done. Here are seven techniques you can use today.

1. Stop fighting fires

Keep them on your desk in plain view. I have written often on the importance of always being proactive in your career. It is so easy to maintain your business. But I guarantee maintenance today will mean deconstruction tomorrow. By adhering to your goals daily, you will keep your business growing instead of dying. If this sounds trite and obvious, you’ve been jaded. The brokers and loan officers in this business who are regularly in the industry’s top five percent stick to their daily goals like glue. They review them in the morning before the day starts and plan out the next day before the current one is done always with the goal in mind. They also hold planning retreats monthly trying constantly to stay on

4. A messy desk is a sign of a messy mind If you were to clean your desk and find Jimmy Hoffa’s body, you may be wasting time looking for items you need

5. Stop sitting at your sit downs Have you ever noticed how much time is wasted at meetings you didn’t want to attend in the first place? Start holding them standing up. This is useful idea voiced a few years ago, but it still works now. Meetings stay on issue and end quickly when you don’t let people relax so much that they digress to other topics. Your meetings will end 50 percent more quickly if you keep those involved on their literal toes. Another good idea is to schedule appointments and meetings at odd times. If you schedule a meeting for 10:00 a.m., most people expect it to last until 11:00 a.m. unless otherwise stated. But if the appointment is 10:20 a.m. or 10:17 a.m., you are seen to be very busy, and I guarantee the meeting will have the expectation of being short unless you extend it. Also arrive early to plan your ideas. If you aren’t early, you’re late. If your mind isn’t prepared to start when your body is present, you are wasting time that could be spent doing more important things.

6. Make time to sell every day It is so easy to come up with excuses to avoid marketing yourself or your business. The sad fact is, the landscape is littered with mortgage brokers and bankers who think they are in the mortgage business instead of the sales business. There is a problem with underwriting, so you avoid making phone calls. A staff dilemma and you procrastinate setting an appointment with a referral source. Do that for few months and your business looks like Oprah Winfrey’s weight loss plan. A constant rollercoaster of up and down. Do you

sell when you are desperate and procrastinate making calls when business is good? A wise and wealthy mortgage pro loved to see his competition get too much business. This was his sign to sell harder, gaining market share which meant referral sources giving him business he didn’t have to pay advertising dollars for.

7. Don’t get trapped into Hurry Sickness Do you rush around even when you don’t have to. Do you become inpatient in lines even on Sundays? Do your thoughts turn to work on your time off? You are suffering from Hurry Sickness. Dr. James Dobson had a spot on his show a short time ago in which a prominent psychologist described this malady. He talked about a focus so intense that even your off time became on. This is “Type A” behavior pattern gone wild. Sam Walton of Wal-Mart fame stated on his death bed that he blew it. The employee listening to his last statements thought he was about to hear a scandal the dying chief executive officer regretted. Worse yet, a financial goal that went unrealized. Instead Walton said he blew it with his family. The only thing important in the final hours of one’s life isn’t the money or the conquests, it’s the people. Walton said he barely knew his youngest son. His wife stayed with him out of commitment. He even neglected his grandchildren. No one in the last stages of life has ever looked back to take stock and regretted not making more money. It is always the relationships they missed. You don’t need to learn more about the mortgage business. You need to become more effective at doing the things you already know. This means discipline, focus and most importantly making the time for the most important staff support group in your life, your family. You can do that and still earn a decent living. Dr. Kerry Johnson is a frequent speaker at mortgage industry conferences. He is the author of six books, including Mastering the Game: The Human Edge in Sales and Marketing, WILLPOWER: The Secrets of Self-Discipline and his newest book, Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes With Their Money. He may be reached by phone at (714) 368-3650 or e-mail Kerry@KerryJohnson.com.

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

2. Write out your one-, three- and five-year goals

3. Sharpen your axe This is an era of constant improvement of both sales and systems. I spoke at the California Association of Mortgage Professionals Annual Convention a few years ago. Sally Ride, the first female astronaut in space, was the keynote speaker. My presentation was in the afternoon and I arrived an hour early that morning to a get a good seat in the auditorium of 1,500 plus. Only 150 showed up out of the 3,000 registered for the event. What does this person have to do to get an audience? Catch a bullet in her teeth? Compare that to the Life Insurance Industry’s Million-Dollar Round Table annual Meeting. I spoke at their meeting of 6,000. There were exactly 6,000 seats in an auditorium. If you weren’t there by 8:00 a.m., you didn’t get in. A few were late. There were none in the foyer chatting. No one stayed at the hotels enjoying late breakfasts. People came to learn, get an edge, and make more money. Incidentally, to be invited to the meeting, your income level had to be at least $75,000 in commissions. Obviously most in attendance made far more. Years ago, two lumberjacks started work one day with a bet. Each wagered that they could cut the most timber. Both started out well, but one clearly cut more wood at the end of the day than the other. The losing lumberjack accused the winner of cheating. He saw the winner taking a two-hour lunch and loaf for much of the day. The winner said, “What you didn’t see was me sharpening my ax.” The mortgage business is legendary for requiring brokers and loan officers to work extremely hard with dull axes that haven’t been sharpened for years.

right now. Much psychological research over the past decades has shown that we strive to be organized no matter how bad the mess. Has anyone ever straightened your desk slightly while you became upset that you couldn’t find anything? Even a mess is organized somewhat. The problem is that you are sacrificing time to look for things you should not take time to look for. Only handle messages once. Read an e-mail and file it, forward it or discard it. Take a sheet of paper and do the same. If you want to keep a paper, jot a post it note and stick it on the sheet, then file it. That way you won’t have to read it again.

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If you are spending more than 25 percent of your day fixing problems, you may be causing the difficulties in the first place. A few years ago, a broker called me to complain his business was hurting because he couldn’t spent enough time on gaining new clients. I analyzed his day, hour by hour, and determined that he indeed wasn’t selling, but was instead fixing computers, amending forms, and rectifying mistakes by staff. Surprised, I worked backwards and learned that he hired people, but only gave them about a day of training and then sent the new staff to the wolves of work. The problem was those same wolves came back to bite him daily. Poor training creates poor motivation. Poor motivation creates black holes of wasted money. When you hire, take 25 percent more time to train than you think is needed. Practice this plan. Tell your staff, show your staff, then let them show it to you. Wait a day and ask them to show it you again. Only then can you possess the ability to trust someone’s competence to get things done. Also, fight fires only in the afternoons. This may not work for problems that will stop your business cold. But it will train your staff to approach you only during certain windows of the day you are available. The alternative is to fight fires all day long. If they can come to derail you they will. I believe in O’Toole’s Law … O’Toole thought Murphy was an optimist.

track. This doesn’t mean they never derail. But when they do take a detour, it’s only a short distance back to the main track. It is often difficult to do less appealing activities even though you need to get them done. Helen Gurley Brown, founder of Cosmopolitan Magazine, said she always did the most unpleasant things on her list first to get them out of the way. Give the most undesirable jobs the highest priorities.

NMP

MORTGAGE

Shaun Hamman

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MARCH 2016 n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n

PROFES

EVP of Wholesale and Correspondent Sales American Financial Resources Inc. BY PHIL HALL

f you click on the Web site for American Financial Resources, Inc. (AFR), you will find a somewhat brief biography regarding Shaun Hamman, who serves as executive vice president of wholesale and correspondent sales at the Parsippany, N.J.based company. “Mr. Hamman currently works with the inside sales staff at AFR Mortgage in a management capacity, and is active with the senior leadership team,” according to the site. “Shaun is a mortgage industry veteran and has personally assisted hundreds of home buyers achieve their home financing goals.” But that barely scratches the surface. Hamman is an insightful figure within the mortgage

“We promote from within very often and many members of AFR’s management team have walked in the shadows of the people they are now managing. I follow a military mentality where leadership teams would never ask their subordinates to do something that they would never have done themselves.”

profession, and his enthusiasm for bringing out the best in his team is contagious. In this interview with National Mortgage Professional Magazine, Hamman makes it clear that no obstacle is insurmountable when ensuring the company and its clients achieve their respective goals.

How did you first enter the mortgage profession? Was the mortgage profession your original career choice? My first career choice was with the Marine Corps, so I went directly out of high school into the Marines where I was an intelligence analyst. I had always been interested in the

financial markets, so after the Marines I initially worked in New York City for Bloomberg Financial, and eventually migrated to Champion Mortgage. How did you come to work at American Financial Resources Inc. (AFR)? About 13 years ago AFR was a very small company with about 1820 employees. The industry wasn’t as “big bank” as there were a lot of smaller companies in the mix. Richard Dubnoff, AFR’s chief executive officer, is an inspiring person and after meeting with him, I thought AFR would be a great place to spread my wings. Thirteen years later, I am still happy with my choice. You are the executive vice

SSIONAL president of wholesale and correspondent sales at AFR. What is current state of the wholesale and correspondent sectors? In the last few years, the industry went through a large regulatory change and a lot of those changes were painted with very broad strokes. The industry is finally getting comfortable with its new regulations, especially where TRID is concerned. TRID will ultimately benefit not only the institutions, but also the borrowers because there is now a lot more clarity in the entire process. Over the last few years, technology has played an enormous role in allowing companies to grow by automating what used to be manual processes. Mortgage companies are using those technological advances to make the customer experience as smooth as it can be, which is not always easy given the regulatory environment we are currently in.

were born and raised in northern New Jersey, and we have plans this year to expand and open an operations center on the West Coast. We have around 300 employees who work out of our New Jersey locations in Parsippany many that work remotely. How many people currently work at AFR? We are just south of 500 employees as a company. We have 35 account executives in the wholesale/correspondent space. We’re a little unique in that our account executives can handle both wholesale and correspondent relationships. We allow our clients to deliver into either a broker channel or TPO-type channel, as well as into correspondent so that our clients have the flexibility to close loans and delegate transactions. One client can have three relationships with our company while having just one account executive and one team handling their process flow, which is truly unique. What type of person do you look for when hiring new staffers? For me, I look for an individual who understands our industry and that this is going to be a continual process in learning new regulations. I think the most important thing would be attitude and just being able to work with different individuals and personalities. The right person has the ability to deal with various personalities during the course of business, and providing the great client experience that we strive to give our clients. In our ongoing efforts to recruit and retain higher quality talent, we created our Finance Professional Training Program. This Program entails hiring recent college graduates who do not have any experience in the mortgage industry and are looking to begin a career. We essentially build them from the ground up through classes, comprehensive education and hands-on field training over the course of a year. We educate and

MONTH

prepare these professionals and over the course of their training, we collaborate with them and department heads in order to determine which role would best suited for them. We have found this to be the most advantageous way of bringing in new, motivated staff to the industry, who are educated in their space, happy with their choices and fast becoming a true asset to the company. As the business goes in more of a technical direction, AFR needs to bring new vision and creativity, while introducing new ideas into the industry. Again … we are looking for smart individuals who have a passion to grow within the company by starting at the ground level and working their way up. We promote from within very often and many members of AFR’s management team have walked in the shadows of the people they are now managing. I follow a military mentality where leadership teams would never ask their subordinates to do something that they would never have done themselves. Since you mention the military, can I ask if you are doing special outreach to hire veterans? Absolutely. It is one of our initiatives. As you can imagine, after serving in the military myself, I care a great deal about what happens to my fellow veterans. In addition to that, I do think that the discipline the military requires is one of the best attributes for new employees. We are in touch with local veteran organizations to let them know that we are looking for those individuals. Going back to your role within AFR … what are some of the greatest challenges in your dayto-day operations? I would say that it is between regulations and entrepreneurship. We have to make sure that any idea that would help our growth fits within the regulations and guidelines of the industry. We’ve been able to grow through a pretty treacherous time by doing the right thing and repeating processes which have yielded a slow and

steady growth of our organization. You mention “entrepreneurship.” Is this an industry that encourages entrepreneurial behavior? As an industry, especially from a sales side, the spirit of the entrepreneur is here. Sales personnel are always driven by the challenge of bringing in new clients, meeting the expectations of those clients and exceeding those expectations. I think where you see companies falter is when they lose sight of that. For me, I always look back on why I got into this industry … I like the idea of helping others. On the wholesale side, we’re only going to be as fruitful as the entrepreneurial spirit of the people we work with. What are your goals for 2016? For me, it is reaching out to new clients, expanding relationships with the clients we have and as the environment changes, interest rates rise and the business goes more to a purchase market. It is working more closely with our clients and finding how we can provide value. We never lose sight that people have options when buying a home, and it is our responsibility to provide those options to them and earn their business. There is no expectation of the next loan from the client. You sound pretty busy with your duties at AFR. How do you spend your leisure time? I love spending time with my kids. I joke with my wife that I like to have fun at work and fun at home, although I do wind up spending more time at work than I do at home sometimes. I have one beautiful wife and two beautiful girls at home who are eight- and five-years-old, and they do keep me busy with things they have going on. I also enjoy playing golf. Phil Hall is managing editor of National Mortgage Professional Magazine. He may be reached by e-mail at philh@nmpmediacorp.com.

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

What is AFR’s current footprint? AFR is a national organization. We

THE

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You mentioned TRID. How did AFR prepare and deal with the changes brought about by this new rule? We analyzed how the new regulation would affect our process flows, and then we analyzed the potential physical impact. As a company, we felt that TRID was not all that different from what was done before. In reality it simply made the process a little more regimented. Ultimately, we tackled TRID aggressively and we are closing TRID files in our wholesale/correspondent side in 15 days. We educated our staff throughout the entire process. Honestly, the change did not have a significant impact on our pipeline, turn times or production. I think it was because we were proactive and began research and training long in advance of the regulatory deadlines so that we were prepared. At this point, our process is actually sped up.

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Our Heard on the Street column is a chronicle of events, changes and passages in the lives of the people and companies shaping the mortgage industry.

United Wholesale Mortgage Parent Company Recognized With Prestigious Stevie Award

MARCH 2016 n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n

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United Shore, home of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), was presented with a Bronze Stevie Award for Customer Service Department of the Year among Financial Services Companies with 100 or More Team Members at the 10th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world’s top sales awards, business development awards, contact center awards, and customer service awards. The Stevie Awards organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards. “We are honored and proud to receive this award,” said Mat Ishbia, president and chief executive officer of United Shore and UWM. “Our company was built on a client service model because we believe that this is a true differentiator. A lot of lenders in the mortgage industry offer similar loan products and rates–and we saw an opportunity to excel and deliver exceptional service to help our clients win in the marketplace.” UWM was recently recognized as the number one wholesale lender in the nation by Inside Mortgage Finance. Adding to its arsenal of client service initiatives, United Shore recently launched its Pronto team, a solutionsfocused super-help desk aimed at providing the fastest and most streamlined client service in the industry. Pronto is committed to providing solutions to clients’ tough loan questions, resolving unique circumstances, and meeting high expectations in minutes. United Shore provides 36,000 hours of training

annually to its team members–marrying the art of customer service with the science of lending. “Getting a mortgage is typically one of the biggest investments a consumer will have in their lifetime. We want them to enjoy the experience,” said Ishbia. “From our Welcome Associates to our closing team, our goal is to take that loan one step closer to making the dream of homeownership come true.”

Castle & Cooke Mortgage Expands Its Presence With New Utah Branch

Castle & Cooke Mortgage LLC, with 43 locations across the United States, has announced the acquisition of the sales and operational staff of Sun Valley Mortgage and the opening of a second branch in South Ogden, Utah. Previous founder and President of Sun Valley Mortgage Dennis Porter will assume the position of senior loan officer and branch manager for the new branch, and he will be leading a team of 10 loan originators and related support staff. In a move described by Castle & Cooke Mortgage’s President and COO Adam Thorpe as “ideal,” this is the third new branch Castle & Cooke Mortgage has opened in 2016, on the tail of the nine it opened in 2015. With the company’s drive to offer its leading-edge lending services in more states in the continental U.S., it plans to reach a total of 15-20 new markets this year. Porter is an industry veteran who brings 22 years of experience with him to the position of branch manager in South Ogden. During the last several years, Porter has been responsible for the funding production of more than 150 loan originators in the region and is known for his consistency and business

integrity. Porter will continue to lead his seasoned team of lending professionals with the greater flexibility offered by Castle & Cooke Mortgage’s robust sales platform, including the company’s comprehensive suite of loan products, 24-hour turn times, and a commitment to provide its sales force with unparalleled sales and marketing support. This branch opening marks the ninth in the state of Utah and the 12th new branch for Castle & Cooke Mortgage in the past 12 months. “This was a monumental decision for Sun Valley Mortgage,” said Porter. “Fortunately, we found a good fit with Castle & Cooke Mortgage. The company is aligned with our core values and shares our philosophies. This move will allow us the freedom to focus on lending and client services and refine our professionalism with the support of Castle & Cooke Mortgage’s estimable marketing and administrative capabilities. We have always made a living by helping people accomplish their financial goals and by honoring our clients’ trust. I believe we are going to continue to do that while delivering a better and more complete product to the public.” “Expanding in South Ogden by acquiring the Sun Valley Mortgage team is an ideal situation for Castle & Cooke Mortgage,” said Thorpe. “Dennis Porter and his team will be a tremendous asset to our company. Their core values and work ethic are directly aligned with the culture and guiding principles that are so important at Castle & Cooke Mortgage. They understand their market and how to deliver superior consumer experiences with every loan they fund. Castle & Cooke Mortgage already has a strong presence in Utah, and I am confident that Dennis Porter’s experience and leadership, and the high standards of his team will further enrich the standards we are all dedicated to maintaining.”

NAMB+ Brings Ease to the Referral Process Via New Agreement With WhoHub

NAMB+ Inc., the for-profit marketing and communications subsidiary of NAMB— The Association of Mortgage Professionals, has announced a new partnership with WhoHub, a free marketing app for local real estate agents to introduce their clients to the best loan officers. WhoHub connects clients, agents and vendors by driving new leads, building and enhancing relationships between agents locally and nationwide. The WhoHub app allows users to manage both inbound and outbound connections from any mobile device, including homerelated service provider recommendations for clients, saving valuable time. WhoHub’s online dashboard allows users to add vendors, complete an online profile and view connections and contacts online. “NAMB members will have the ability to bolster their referral base via the WhoHub app,” said NAMB+ President Nathan S. Pierce. “By utilizing WhoHub’s technology, our members will have the ability to better manage their system of contacts, and keep track of their evergrowing network of real estate professionals. Through this app, NAMB members can focus on closing more loans and leave the organization of their referral partners to WhoHub.” NAMB+ connects NAMB members with an array of Endorsed Providers aimed at helping mortgage professionals gain a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace. NAMB+ brings everything from compliance, credit reports, lead generation, phone services, social media and custom canvas prints to NAMB members as part of the program. “NAMB members have to work harder than ever to grow their business,

replace MSAs, and stay abreast of new regulations, much less have the time or budget to stay in touch with their key real estate agents and brokers,” said Brad LaTour, co-founder and CEO of WhoHub. “WhoHub was designed to help the individual mortgage loan originator and their top real estate professionals stay connected and expand their business relationship. We are honored to be selected to help NAMB members overcome their marketing challenges with an easy, convenient and low cost way to connect with their real estate agents.”

Freedom Mortgage Launches Small Business Lending Subsidiary

Metro-West Appraisal has announced that the company has expanded its offerings to include commercial real estate

Guardian Mortgage Opens New San Antonio Branch Guardian Mortgage Company has expanded its footprint in the Lone Star State, adding a San Antonio location to its list of Texas branches. The new San Antonio office already has three permanent employees in place: Branch Manager Carlos Verduzco, and seasoned Loan Officers Margie Santos and Dan Minnich. Santos and Minnich bring with them more than 16 and 25 years of continued on page 46

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

Metro-West Appraisal Expands Into the Commercial Sector

The team of experienced Certified General Appraisers will have national coverage backed by a robust quality control and compliance team. Every commercial real estate report undergoes a rigorous internal review process, ensuring high accuracy for every assignment. Metro-West’s commercial valuation services include: Aggressive and competitive pricing; high-quality, fully compliant reports from experienced, licensed appraisers; quick turnaround times; wide range of cost-effective valuation services; and hybrid products for commercial property valuation ensuring lowcost, fast results.

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Freedom Mortgage Corporation has announced that it is expanding its services to include business lending to smalland medium-sized businesses nationwide. Freedom Small Business Lending BIDCO Inc., is an authorized Small Business Administration (SBA) lender and offers a unique transaction based model that includes SBA Guaranty on small business loans up to $5MM. Freedom Small Business Lending, which launched in August of 2015, helps position business owners as a driving force for economic growth by providing a full suite of products and services that can increase sales, save money, and reduce risk. Offering this type of small business lending allows borrowers the credibility of an established financial institution along with the backing of the U.S. government, but with the personalized customer service and flexibility of a small direct lender. The unit closed eight business loans in its first month of operation. “Homeownership and entrepreneurship are important to our nation’s economy. Freedom Mortgage will now be able to foster the American dream of entrepreneurship through Freedom Small Business Lending,” said Stan Middleman, president and CEO of Freedom Mortgage. Freedom Small Business Lending also plans to market its SBA loans through a Lender Service Provider agreement to community banks and credit unions all over the country. “We want to make our products and expertise available to local banks and credit unions that have established relationships with entrepreneurs and business owners in their markets,” Middleman said. “The banks and credit unions gain access to our size and network, while their borrowers obtain the capital they need.”

valuation services. Metro-West now provides commercial appraisal services for all real estate property types, including industrial, office, multi-family, retail and more. “Expanding our focus into the commercial real estate appraisal sphere is the next step in what has been a tremendous period of growth and evolution for MetroWest Appraisal,” said Brandon Boudreau, COO, Metro-West Appraisal. “For almost 30 years, our company has maintained an unwavering commitment to providing clients with access to industry-leading service and high-quality reports.”

take the

lead !

Do You Know What Your SEL IQ is Saying About You? BY LAURA BURKE, MBA, MS, MIS, CFE, EA

“Emotional intelligence” (EIQ) was first interpreted by Daniel Goleman, who refers to the term to mean one’s ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic. Research from Harvard Business School demonstrated that EIQ counts for twice as much as IQ (intelligence quotient) and technical skills in determining who will be successful! Without a strong Emotional IQ, could your Intelligence IQ be put to the test? Can a person with a genius level IQ begin locking in their intelligence by not having the social or emotional IQ to unleash their true potential? Numerous scientist and researches have determined that for

many reasons and a wide variety of abilities, people with high emotional intelligence tend to be more successful in life than those with lower EIQ even if their classical IQ is average. In addition to EQ and IQ, there is also your social IQ, and new to the scene is your Internet technology IQ; which relates to how savvy, and smooth your use of the Internet and social media is for work, play and education. I also believe outside environmental factors, culture and luck play a factor in EIQ as well as SIQ, like motivation, social status, wealth, education, class, parental status, other siblings, birth order amongst siblings, physical and mental wellness. Many of these factors we cannot control, but we do have control over our EIQ and SIQ. Therefore these two IQ’s can give us leverage when we need it, for example in mortgage sales. Good

salespeople understand the drives of emotional prospects. It’s like having a secret sales weapon, and those with more experience capitalize on this strength without thinking, its second nature, or quite possibly in bred. Emotional IQ selling isn’t new … it’s just been given a new title. We have always tried to win the hearts and approval of our clients and customers by appealing to their emotional or social needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in 1943 stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one’s need is fulfilled, a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. Isn’t this what we look to when we are selling on an EIQ level? Maslow believed that every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. Honing on these desires allows a concerned sales effort to be used to minimize a

client’s time toward selfactualization. For example, by buying a new house your client may be fulfilling their Maslow need to provide shelter for their family, which focuses in on safety, while also hitting on their selfesteem level to bring gratification of their new purchase. As a loan originator, selling to their EIQ you can be the catalyst bringing all these good, warm feelings together by choosing to utilize your services as an originator. You understand your client’s needs, desires and dreams for their family’s safety, their future success, and feeling good during a turbulent time of questions, paperwork and more questions. Now, if you’re really a savvy salesperson, you’ll key in on the social IQ aspects as well. What is Emotional Intelligence? During the 1990s, two prominent researchers, Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer, published an article on

“Emotional Intelligence,” where they defined emotional it as, “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action.(1990, Psychology.about.com). Whether you are relaying on Emotional, or social influences such as trust, competency, power, social status or elegance; one expresses these influences with body language, statute, posture, and facial expressions. What does your say about you? Are you warm and inviting? Are you a leader, will anyone follow you? In sales, will they buy from you? Are you likeable–like an old teddy bear or kitten? Are you perceived the way your mind thinks you are, kitten or tiger; friend or foe? Can you adopt new techniques to highlight your inner strengths? There are many theories related potential growth. The “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” was developed by Howard Gardner, Ph.D., a professor of Education at Harvard University, studied nine intellectual abilities. I’ve chosen to state six of them:

These types of bosses, have found your buttons. They are not looking out for you, your best interests or to mentor you. They will hide you, keep you in the dark, and make you out to be a problem employee. Until they need you, then they will suck you back in and be charming, complimentary, smart, clever, strategic, articulate, until just at the singular moment in time that you made him feel small, less than a man or less than worthy of his position. This will not only impact you in your current position but possibly others to follow. He will hold you back from growth and mobility in your current organization, but potentially how you feel about your capabilities in your next position. You are more that qualified to be where you are. And you are more than deserving to move to the next great opportunity. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that no amount of constructive complaining to HR could get rid of a poisonous boss. Oftentimes, he may have your senior leadership so bamboozled, they won’t figure out until you and others under his wrath have left. Only then will they figure out the “why” and deduce that the guy produced nothing on his own and it was your work all along. There are too many women with so many deep insecurities that they will believe what their supervisors tell them. You must believe in yourselves, do your own networking, and take every opportunity possible to shine; by showing off your own work and taking the credit. Be true to yourself and keep telling yourself that you deserve a better situation; in addition to a more productive, healthier way to make a living. Life is too short, if you can’t use your skills and prove your worth with confidence and integrity with supportive supervisors who want you to succeed, you need to move on! No job is worth the need for therapy or self-abusive behavior. Female treasurer from the Midwest What surprised me most during interviews early on in my career was the question, “Where does your husband work?” What could that have to with the job I was applying for or how qualified I was. I recall sitting in HR meetings discussing promotions and transfers.

If you were married, it was assumed transferring, even for a promotion was off the table. At my first officer’s retreat, I was thrilled to see a jewelry box placed in my room along with the standard company logo items. At dinner that night, a male VP asked all spouses to stand up and thank the CEO for their bracelets. I and the other female VP were quite surprised to hear the gift wasn’t for us. Our husbands got up as requested and clapped along with all the other spouses/wives. The truly sad part of this event is that the retreats were planned by the most senior female administrative assistants, who were quite aware of the female officers, just refused to acknowledge their presence or show them any respect. Maybe Madeline Albright is right. I have supported financial associations and felt that my career would benefit most from working with a professional peer group. It was a personal decision that my volunteer time would be best spent promoting my profession and career growth instead of my gender. The Glass Ceiling still exists, but I have seen steady progress. The financial services industry is one that has always been ahead of the curve in recognizing/rewarding talent and not gender. Take the Lead! It’s your turn now … join in our media discussion, via online connection to article, Facebook, Twitter and e-mail (TakeTheLeadNMPM@gmail.com). We want your voice to be heard. We will share your stories, ideas and suggestions; giving you credit for your participation … let’s grow together! Laura Burke, MBA, MS, MIS, CFE, EA is an author, and trainer with 20plus years of experience in the mortgage arena. She has been in the trenches as a loan officer, originating more than $35 million to becoming CEO of her own mortgage brokerage company. Laura specializes in federal tax law, compliance, fraud, data management, security, leadership, training and marketing. She was recently one of six members chosen for the IRS IRPAC Advisory Committee, where she will serve a three-year term. She may be reached by e-mail at LauraLynnBurke@gmail.com or TakeTheLeadNMPM@gmail.com.

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

We all possess a unique blend of capabilities and skills (intelligence) personifying our ability to understand “overall personality preferences and strengths. Individuals may have an attraction to one or more intelligences. Wellbalanced organizations, corporations and HR personnel are comprised of individuals with a multi-mix of different intelligences. Diverse groups will more accurately understand the different intelligences, learning methods and social behaviors. By Integrating key components of all three, Intelligence

“O“Numerous scientist and researches have determined that for many reasons and a wide variety of abilities, people with high emotional intelligence tend to be more successful in life than those with lower EIQ even if their classical IQ is average.”

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1. Verbal-linguistic intelligence (welldeveloped verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words). 2. Logical-mathematical intelligence (ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and capacity to discern logical and numerical patterns). 3. Spatial-visual intelligence (capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly. 4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (ability to control one’s body movements and to handle objects skillfully). 5. Interpersonal intelligence (capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others). 6. Intrapersonal (capacity to be selfaware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes)

IQ, Emotional and Social IQ and we will look at IT IQ in our next issue as we look at how social media and IT Intelligence is shaping our business networking capabilities. We invite you to share your comments, stories and experience with Emotional and Social IQ. If you have an idea you would like to share on IT IQ, send your comments to TakeTheLeadNMPM@gmail.com. In response to last month’s article, “The Crystal Barrier Rears Its Ugly Head” … I asked for men and women across the country to share their stories with our readers about their past or current experiences in relationship to the “glass ceiling.” We chose a timely month to focus on this current issue, as we celebrate Women’s History in March, as noted by our State Treasurer Michael Frerichs who invited me to attend a celebration for women that I regretfully was unable to attend. Our question was “How has the glass ceiling affected your career?” In today’s marketplace, it’s hard to imagine we are still feeling the effects of the old adage of the “the glass ceiling,” have you ever been held back for what you felt was due to gender or minority status? Our readers responded as we received many responses, and I will try to share the strongest feelings and comments of each with you. Laura N., a marketing professional, shared her thoughts with us as she feels there unfortunately, are numerous roadblocks women face while attempting to crash the glass ceiling—including, manipulative, insecure male and female bosses. She found that corporate survival of the fittest comes down to who has the most effective gift of spin, covering up incompetence. Call them magicians, posers, pied-pipers, politicians, narcissists or just plain ‘ole b-ssers. These types have the profiles of serial killers—charming, complimentary, smart, clever, strategic, articulate–but they can verbally punch you in the stomach or throw a verbally-insulting left hook when you least expect it. These are bosses who are only worried about their own climb up the ladder and will step on or over anyone who questions their thinking or insults their intelligence. No one will get in their way, including the most intelligent of female subordinates. They are easily intimidated and will not be shown up, made fun of or have the better idea. Over time, this emotional abuse makes you question every minute of time you’ve spent investing in your career. You second and third guess every recommendation, every email and verbal exchange in fear of that verbal lashing that squeezes every bit of confidence out of you.

UWM IS THE #1 WHOLESALE LENDER IN THE NATION. And you are the reason why. 44

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At UWM, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re driven by one purpose: to champion the success of brokers nationwide. We owe our success to you. From the technology and tools we develop to our constant drive to make lending easy, the team at UWM is dedicated to helping you build your business. Thank you for partnering with United Wholesale Mortgage. And thank you for making us the #1 wholesale lender in the nation.

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United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) ranked #1 wholesale mortgage lender in the nation for 2015 by Inside Mortgage Finance. This information is provided to mortgage and real estate professionals only and is not intended nor is it authorized for consumer distribution. NMLS #3038.

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YOU + UWM = YOUNITED | 800.981.8898 | UWM.COM

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Tom Hutchens is senior vice president of sales and marketing at Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, an Atlanta-based wholesale lender currently licensed in 24 states. Tom has been in the real estate lending business for nearly 20 years. He may be reached by phone at (855) 539-4910 or e-mail Info@AngelOakMS.com.

SPONSORED EDITORIAL

er’s overall experience.” “Today, eCN gives lenders the confidence to work with over 100,000 registered closing professionals, the largest verified network of closing attorneys, partners and agents,” said Andy Crisenbery, senior vice president of business operations for eLynx. “By incorporating Ernst’s closing cost data to eCN, lenders now have easy access to guaranteed accurate fees long before the deal approaches the closing table. This is a very strong alliance that offers significant benefits to loan originators and their partners.”

Mortgage Professionals to Watch

MAYHOOK

Up until a few years ago, most lenders would not finance a mortgage to anyone with a credit score below 620. Now, we are in the midst of a shift back to mortgage liquidity equilibrium. Sub-prime loans came back to the market about three years ago, and today, we are starting to see a surge in mortgages that fall outside of the restrictive qualified mortgage (QM) guidelines. In late January, Equifax supported this notion when they put out a press release citing data from their National Consumer Credit Trends Report. The consumer credit reporting agency reported that: First mortgage originations for sub-prime borrowers (consumers with an Equifax Risk Score of 620 or below) have shown steady growth from January to October 2015, with more than 312,000 new mortgages originated, totaling $50.7 billion. This represents an increase of 28 percent in the number of first mortgage originations and a 45 percent increase in the total balances from the same time a year ago. If we assume that this same growth rate held true and extrapolate through November and December, it translates to over 33 percent growth year-over-year, a massive increase in sub-prime issuance from 2015. The majority of that $50.7 billion in volume is attributable to Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loans, but we are seeing strong relative growth in all three silos of the mortgage market: Agency, government and private. The FHA understandably dominates this market, as the government entity will lend down to a 520 credit score and as high as a 96.5 percent loan-tovalue (LTV) ratio (3.5 percent down payment). However, Fannie Mae also loosened their credit restrictions last year with the new HomeReady product that allows borrowers to qualify for financing with credit scores as low as 620 and up to a 97 percent LTV. This growing acceptance of sub-prime within the Agency and government sectors has bled over to the private sector, which has helped drive notable growth for lenders willing to offer the products and undertake the necessary manual underwriting processes. What’s interesting is that the private lenders are employing much safer requirements than the FHA and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). For example, at Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, our portfolio of loans averages about a 73 percent LTV and 680 credit score, even though the loans are still considered non-QM. We have been witnessing this growth trend develop first hand in the private sector, despite having higher standards of lending. For the full year 2015, our volume was 2.5 times higher than in 2014. Volume continues to ramp up in 2016. In January, originations were nearly triple what we saw in the same month last year. We project approximately $1 billion in originations in 2016. We’ll be keeping a watchful eye on the sub-prime market as it continues to expand and develop, especially in the private and Agency sectors. There are sure to be more product developments across the board in 2016. We expect to see these numbers maintain their momentum, as public perception continues to soften on the sub-prime.

origination experience, respectively. “We are so excited to launch our newest office location right here in Alamo City,” Verduzco said. “We believe our hands-on services, expert team members and customer-driven focus can really be a help to homebuyers in the area.” In addition to the San Antonio location, Guardian Mortgage is preparing to open several additional locations throughout the U.S. in 2016. Proposed locations include: Park Cities, and Austin, Texas; Troy, Mich.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Denver, Colo. The next to open will be in Troy, with Park Cities close behind. “After more than 50 years in the business, we’ve served thousands of homebuyers over the years,” said Marcus McCue, executive vice president of business development at Guardian. “We can’t wait to serve thousands more as we expand our services across the country.” Currently, Guardian Mortgage has seven offices in operation. Those are located in: Richardson, Plano, El Paso and Arlington, Texas; Grand Blanc, Mich.; Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M.; and Scottsdale, Ariz.

l First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation (FGMC) has announced that Mark Mayhook has been named senior director of TPO Production.

Ernst Partners With eLynx on TRID-Compliant Closings Ernst Publishing Company and eLynx have linked their software systems to enable lenders and settlement agents to close mortgage loans more accurately, quickly and compliantly. The alliance creates a tighter integration between Ernst’s Settlement Agent Gateway, a collaborative fee management system that guarantees TRID compliant fees for both lenders and settlement agents, and eLynx’s Electronic Closing Network (eCN). eCN gives lenders transparency and control of the closing process while significantly reducing the risk of loss due to fraud and non-compliance. Both platforms were built according to Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) data standards. “This is a perfect fit for both companies and delivers a huge benefit to both eLynx customers and our own,” said Gregory E. Teal, president and chief executive officer of Ernst Publishing. “We’ve spent the last 26 years creating software and systems that provide guaranteed accurate mortgage closing cost fees to lenders. And eLynx’s eCN platform is one of the best vendor management systems for closing agents. Together, we now offer a complete solution that removes the compliance pain from the closing process at the same time it guards against fraud and improves the borrow-

VERDI

By Tom Hutchens

continued from page 41

BARBER

Sub-Prime Sees a Surge in Volume

heard on the street

l HomeBridge Financial Services has announced that Jessica Verdi and Sheri Barber have joined its growing office in Wilmington, Del. l New Penn Financial has announced the addition of Amy Brandt Schumacher to its senior management team where she will serve in a new role focused on aligning the New Penn customer experience with its technology. l Parkside Lending has announced that its CEO, Matthew Ostrander, has accepted an invitation to join Freddie Mac’s Regional Lending Advisory Board (RLAB). l Flagstar Bancorp has announced that it has named Flagstar First Vice President Don Bleuenstein to the position of Home Lending Eastern U.S. Division sales director. Additionally, Jens Lovell has joined Flagstar from BBVA Compass Bank as Flagstar’s Home Lending Western U.S. Division sales director. continued on page 82

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ODF / Outside Dodd Frank

LYKKEN ON

leadership

Five Ways to Prepare for the Unexpected By David Lykken ver the past few years in the mortgage industry, we have experienced quite a roller coaster ride. First, the housing crisis brought business to a near standstill as the wave of success we were riding finally broke and we all crashed— many of us struggling to survive. Then came the legislation. Regulators rushed to the scene, adding countless restriction to the industry that culminated in the TRID requirements. And, as we are coming up on the next presidential election, who knows what direction the next administration is going to take the industry? If all of this craziness has done one good thing for us, it’s this: We have been given a wake-up call. If no other part of history in the industry has done the job, the last decade has made it painfully clear that we cannot afford to “Fly by the seat of our pants.” In order to brave the next storm, whatever it may be, we need to have the appropriate systems and contingencies in place if we want to survive. And it’s not just economic and regulatory issues—it’s anything that could have a dramatic impact on our individual business. Fortune favors the prepared, and we need to place much greater emphasis on being prepared for the unexpected. Here are a few ways that we can go about doing just that ... First, as I’ve mentioned countless times before, we need to stay informed. We need to know what’s going on in the world, in the economy, in the industry, in the community, and in our own businesses. All of these things—from civil wars in the Middle East to proposed industry regulations to changes in local zoning laws—have some eventual effect on the way we are able to go about doing business. And, in today’s day and age, there is simply no excuse for being unin-

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formed about what’s going on in all of these areas. There is no right way to get your information—you simply need to find a system that works for you. The Internet is full of blogs, podcasts, news programs, and more that can provide you up-to-date and insightful information that make you aware of what is necessary to create a sound plan. In order to be prepared for the unexpected, you’ve got to be able to digest all of these information and use it to discern any patters that indicate what’s coming around the corner. Secondly, as a leader in your organization, it is important that you stay positive. Why? Because only if you can keep a positive attitude will you take positive action. If you are to be prepared for the unexpected, you need to believe that you actually have some control over the outcomes. Whether it’s reading a spiritual text, self-help blogs, motivation business books—whatever it is that inspires you, be sure that you are engaging with it on a regular basis. Rather than brushing off such content as “inspirational fluff,” recognize that you too are a human being in need of encouragement and support. It matters more than you might realize. Now, this point may seem to be a contradiction with the point before. With all the doom and gloom in the news, how can you stay informed and positive at the same time? It’s all about balance. For every minute of time you spend taking in negative information, take in two minutes of positive affirmations. Stay informed, but don’t let that information get you down. Continue to believe that you have the power to use the information to bring about success. A third way you can build a system that is able to endure when you encounter the expected has to do with the way build your team. One way to hire people is to look for people with very specific skill sets when you need a specific job done. Another way is hire people are competent in the work you need done but also pos-

sess a broad range of other skills relevant to your business. In order to prepare for the unexpected, I would suggest hiring more of the latter than the former. When you hire a person that is extremely qualified in one area but not very flexible in his capabilities, what do you do with that person if the situation changes and that work no longer needs done? However, if you focus your hiring on people who have several skill sets and are versatile, then your team will be able to adapt to the ever-changing environment that is the mortgage industry. Take a look at your team right now. If new legislation were to suddenly come into effect, dramatically altering the way you do business, would you present team with each member’s skill sets be able to adapt in order to get the job done? A fourth way to prepare for the unexpected also has to do with the way you manage your workforce. It is often assumed that the best and most efficient thing to do is to get all you can out of your team with they’re on the clock. Idle time is wasted time. You don’t want a minute to go by that some sort of work isn’t being done. Now, this wouldn’t be such a bad idea of we could ensure that we would have smooth sailing in our operations and we would never have to go off schedule. But, as we’ve seen, this is rarely the case in the mortgage industry. So, another way to plan for unexpected events in the industry is to actually allow employees to have idle time. How much time is up to you and your business model. It could be one to two hours each day—it could be three to four. But, whatever it is, you need to give your employees some breathing room. You need to allow some free time that can be filled when the environment changes. Will you lose out on some productivity? Yes, of course. But when big changes are made and you need to adapt, this idle time will prevent you

from dropping the ball on something extremely important and prevent future catastrophes from occurring in your business. One final way to prepare for the unexpected in your business is to keep a full pipeline of prospective customers. Are your salespeople only talking to people they’re hoping to close within the next month, or are they also talking to people who are six months out? It’s important for your to place as much of a sales emphasis on the future as you do on the present. A lot can happen in six months that can change your ability to find new business. You’ve got to have a steady supply of leads that you can nurture into customers. However you want to go about doing this is, again, up to you and your business strategy. But with the technology that exists today in email marketing and customer relationship management systems, there is no excuse for having an empty pipeline. If you aren’t taking advantage of these tools, now is the time. You cannot be prepared for the unexpected if you aren’t thinking of the future. In business, cash flow is everything. The question isn’t how much you’re anticipating bringing in next month—the question is how much you expecting to bring in six months from now. David Lykken, a 43-year veteran of the mortgage industry, is president of Transformational Mortgage Solutions (TMS), a management consulting firm that provides transformative business strategies to owners and “C-Level” executives via consulting, executive coaching and various communications strategies. He is a frequent guest on FOX Business News and hosts his own weekly podcast called “Lykken on Lending” heard Monday’s at 1:00 p.m. ET at LykkenOnLending.com. David’s phone number is (512) 759-0999 and his e-mail is David@TMS-Advisors.com.

new to market continued from page 18

tion and will continue to work to provide our customers with best-in-class features and services.”

United Guaranty Launches MI NOW Mobile App

Waterstone Mortgage Corporation has announced the introduction of its new Wealth Building Loan, based on the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) program. Waterstone Mortgage is making the Wealth Building Loan available nationally, with branch locations in more than 18 states. Developed by Stephen Oliner and continued on page 73

Working at Assurance Financial has been such a positive experience! I used to work for lenders where it was standard to be stressed and you’d have to quarterback your own loans. Here, I have my own processor. She handles everything so I can go out and sell.

Stacey McCrory Loan Officer Jackson, MS

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I’ve always wanted to be supported by a company that offers the best products and has the best reputation. Assurance Financial is tops. They’ve got operations down to a science and the leadership team is really forwardthinking. You truly have a sense of family. People are enthusiastic about coming to work. Jared Gary Loan Officer Baton Rouge, LA

The atmosphere here is great. The back-end support is awesome. The underwriters and the processors care just as much about the customers as we do. So we can go out and sell with confidence. I believe it’s the best mortgage lender around. Jennifer Hebert Loan Officer Lafayette, LA NMLS# 878214

NMLS# 88626

CoreLogic has announced that the CoreLogic Credco Instant Merge credit report is now available on LendingQB, a provider of 100 percent browserbased, end-to-end loan origination software. The inclusion of Instant Merge credit reports joins the previously available Flood Determination services from CoreLogic in a series of planned product integrations on the LendingQB platform. Available through more than 60 mortgage technology platforms, the Instant Merge credit report provides specific demographic information, current and historical tradeline details and public records and inquiries with additional features such as identity verification,

Take your career to the next level. We’re hiring branch managers and loan originators for retail branches throughout the Southwest and Southeast. Join our team and we’ll help you thrive. TRID-ready best-in-class processing, underwriting and closing support—with a commitment to always close loans on time* Excellent compensation, great rates and competitive closing costs

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Contact Paul Peters, CMB at (225) 239-7948 or email PPeters@LendTheWay.com today. www.LendTheWay.com

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CoreLogic Integrates Its Credit Services With LendingQB

The folks that run Assurance Financial make you feel like you matter. They do what they say they’re going to do, and they work hard to do it. People are really pulling for you to do well, including the underwriters. Everybody truly tries to help each other. These are great people to work with, which makes a huge difference in the long run.

Waterstone Mortgage Adds Wealth Building Loan to Its Offerings

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United Guaranty has announced the introduction of its MI NOW mobile phone app—the fastest way to get a rate quote with the benefits of Performance Premium pricing. The free download for iPhones is now available to United Guaranty MI Guide users at the Apple App store. United Guaranty worked with loan officers to incorporate a host of flexible features within the MI NOW app, including: Providing a rate quote with six required fields (and the flexibility to submit additional information); users can edit their current rate quote on the mobile app or access their submitted rate quotes through MI Guide to submit a new application. “Today’s loan officers are working with borrowers in their homes or at a favorite coffee shop instead of at a desk, and we created the MI NOW app specifically to provide mobile freedom in combination with the certainty of Secure Quote and the advantages of Performance Premium risk-based pricing,” said Joe Weider, executive vice president and chief business officer, United Guaranty. “MI NOW is convenient, fast, and leverages Performance Premium to generate an individualized price for each loan—allowing for a wider credit box and the ability to reward strong borrowers with better pricing.”

multiple scoring options and detailed creditor contact information. Lenders can request an Instant Merge credit report and find all of the most up-to-date borrower information available from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). “Providing our clients with seamless integrations to our vendors is key to the Lean Lending Strategy,” said Binh Dang, president of LendingQB. LendingQB is a software system that consolidates all aspects of mortgage lending into a single, fully integrated platform. From loan orig-

ination to funding, LendingQB is an endto-end system that leverages the power and cost-efficiency of web-based computing for a smoother, more efficient mortgage lending workflow. “In the current lending environment, one thing we can all agree on is that more information can help both lenders and consumers make more informed decisions. With this integration, clients can now access credit data from CoreLogic through a top Web-based loan origination system,” said Steve Stein, senior vice president, Market and Client Strategy for CoreLogic. “We’re excited to add Instant Merge to LendingQB and to help ensure that even more lenders have access to as much decisioning data as possible.”

The Long & Short:

nmp news flash continued from page 16

The Business of Short Sales

Underwater Homeowner Problem Surfaces Again An alarming number affected are the elderly By Pam Marron

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The housing crisis seemed to start overnight, going from good sales through December 2006 to no sales abruptly in January 2007 when the bottom fell out. The first calls received were from elderly underwater homeowners. Many were in trouble with risky refinances that were often done for the purpose of helping their kids. The elderly are commonly more cautious when it comes to home financing, but a huge number had mortgaged their homes with risky interest-only first and second mortgages and portfolio conventional mortgages, convinced by their lenders or their own children that these loans would be paid back with escalating equity. And then, the escalating equity stopped. In April 2008, a plea was made to a HUD official to increase the 110 percent maximum combined loan-to-value (LTV) available for the FHA Secure Mortgage, the first refinance for negative equity property. Little did we know that 110 percent was nowhere near the common 200-300 percent negative equity that was 50 soon realized. It took months to help an elderly couple through the FHA Secure Mortgage, and the attitude changed from excitement of getting folks into a new home, to helping people stay in their homes. These stories became commonplace starting in 2007. An economic event combined with an increase in mortgage payment, and then the shock of having no ability to refinance even when payments were on time simply due to having negative equity (commonly referred to as being underwater) became a toxic combination for millions. Those of us in the mortgage industry who enjoyed the challenge of being able to figure out a mortgage solution for homeowners with a need were shocked to find there was no refinance solution for millions of underwater homeowners. Over the next six years, it was an uphill challenge to get help for underwater homeowners. I bartered with those helped … If I can help, you need to come forward and tell the real story. To my surprise, this was something many just could not do. The disgust targeted at underwater homeowners who were classified en masse by the press as “strategic defaulters” covered up a little-known fact that lenders required a mortgage delinquency first in order to give short sale approval. Even though this was opposite of what the government agencies were being told, many affected homeowners were reluctant to publicize this, fearing backlash from those who assumed their short sale was a strategic default. Fast-forward to 2016 … An alarming number of underwater interest-only first mortgages and even more home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) that have been unable to be refinanced over the last five to eight years are resetting to fully-amortized payments. There is still no refinance option for a huge number of the 6.4 million underwater homeowners across the United States, and many of them include the elderly population. Ironically, there are two ways to help underwater homeowners with U.S Treasury Hardest Hit Funds. One of the options can be done now. The other will require an extension of two programs, and making an exception. Both of these options will allow underwater homeowners to stay current on their mortgage until equity returns. Stay tuned. Pam Marron (NMLS#: 246438) is senior loan originator with Innovative Mortgage Services Inc. (NMLS#: 250769) in Tampa Bay, Fla. She may be reached by phone at (727) 375-8986, e-mail Pam.M.Marron@gmail.com or visit HousingCrisisStories.com, CloseWithPam.com or 8Problems.com.

though 60 percent of homeowners acknowledged that equity in their homes already increased during the last three years. Among those that anticipated more equity this year, 85 percent predicted as much as a 10 percent spike, while 27 percent forecast a six-to-10 percent uptick and 58 percent had relatively low expectations of a one-to-five percent rise. “Homeowners who bought during the housing boom are regaining equity many thought was lost forever, yet too many are not aware of the equity they have gained or they are unclear about how to determine changes in their equity,” said Bryan Sullivan, chief financial officer of loanDepot LLC. “People who bought after the housing boom when prices were low are realizing homeownership can be a great investment and an asset that they can now leverage through equity to realize many dreams. Whether they choose to leverage their home equity now or reserve it for future needs, millions of homeowners have choices today not available just a few years ago.” Separately, new data on home equity released by CoreLogic determined that lenders originated 976,000 home equity lines of credit (HELOC) during the first three quarters of 2015, with combined limited in excess of $115.8 billion. This represents the highest level of HELOC activity for this three-quarter period since 2008. However, the HELOC market is still far below its 2005 peak when originations totaled $364 billion.

Zillow: Illegal Immigrants Keep Construction Costs Down

In a data report that lands squarely in the center of a political debate on how to handle the nation’s illegal immigration problem, Zillow has released a study claiming that a continued decline in the number of illegal immigrants working in the U.S. will result in a spike in construction labor costs. According to the latest Zillow Home Price Expectations (ZHPE) Survey of more than 100 housing experts, 85 respondents answered a question about how illegal immigration might impact the housing market. From that number, more than two-thirds said a slowdown in illegal immigration would drive up construction labor costs, while roughly 43 percent said this would create more construction jobs for U.S.-born workers and foreign-born workers that were in the U.S. legally. Furthermore, 40 percent said higher labor costs would force builders to con-

centrate on high-end (and high profit) construction projects, while more than 30 percent predicted that the number of new homes built will remain lower than historic norms. “While housing policy hasn’t been a big talking point thus far in this election cycle, immigration policy certainly has, and immigration plays a big role in housing,” said Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell. “The supply of homes for sale isn’t keeping up with demand— especially among entry-level homes that first-time buyers want. New-home construction has been sluggish, and homes that are getting built are aimed at a higher-end clientele. If builders hire relatively more expensive U.S.born workers, they may continue to focus on the more profitable higher end of the market.”

Trade Groups Seek Congressional G-Fee Protection

A coalition of 17 financial and housing trade associations has called on House and Senate leaders to include language in the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget to prevent efforts to use guarantee fees (gfees) collected by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for non-housing purposes. In a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Banking Committees, the associations expressed dismay at previous efforts to redirect g-fees into endeavors where they were not intended. “Our organizations were deeply troubled when g-fees were raised by 10 basis points for 10 years to fund a twomonth extension of payroll tax relief back in 2011,” the letter said. “That increase harmed homebuyers and consumers—and continues to do so during the duration of the provision’s 10-year lifespan. Since then, whenever Congress has considered using g-fees to cover the cost of programs unrelated to housing, our organizations have united to emphatically let lawmakers know homeownership cannot, and must not, be used as the nation’s piggybank. Yet the threat remains very real – in fact, just last year, the Senate attempted to use these fees to replenish the Highway Trust Fund. By preventing g-fees to be used as a funding offset, this budget point of order gives lawmakers a vital tool to prevent homeowners from footing the bill for unrelated spending.” The letter was signed by the American Bankers Association, American Land Title Association, Community Home Lenders Association, continued on page 77

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“Smart advertisers know there are many ways to get a message out into the world, smart marketers also know trying to do all of them at once is a recipe for disaster.”

Marketing, Mortgages & Money The foundation of society? By Jarred Bonica No, it’s not the punchline of a witty joke, although I am sure some people in the industry could tell you a few stories. Some would argue those three words together are the foundation to society, I could possibly see how but that’s another topic all together and with this political race boy would it be a funny one. I

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did, however, put them in a certain order for a reason, none could exist without the other and in my opinion it all starts with how good your marketing is. This could prove to be true regardless of your industry, without a clear understanding of how to reach your targeted demographic or ideal client, you can spend all the money

you have but the results will not follow. Business owners know this fact, that’s why a good marketing manager in a company is worth the financial investment. The return-on-investment (ROI), a competent that a marketing person can deliver, especially long-term, is well worth it. The question I am often asked is how someone can be successful in reaching new targeted paying clients without spending a lot of money. I will let you in on a big secret and if you take away anything from this article this should probably be it. Sales is inspiring people to take action on their dreams. Sales is not about YOU, it’s about the customer’s vision. When speaking to a customer irrelevant of the industry or product, you are trying to sell keep these simple five questions in mind and make them part of a conversation naturally. 1. 2. 3. 4.

What’s your vision? What’s most important to you? What’s stopping you? What’s it costing you not to take action on your dreams? 5. How committed are you to solving this? When it comes to helping someone get a mortgage. this is a perfect outline when speaking with someone personally or you can incorporate it into your online and offline marketing pieces. Also, when it comes to marketing and spending money look at it as an investment. Many people fall short because they try the latest fads, go for the cheapest clicks and don’t understand the mindset of investing money to make more back. To use a simple real estate analogy it’s like flipping a house. You buy a foreclosure, invest a lot of money into repairing it and make it appealing to your end buyer. When you sell it, you make all your money back and a profit. There is no difference when marketing online, however, I see many people get consumed by the thought of spending instead of investing. The quicker you have the correct mindset that frees you up to be more creative and focused on quality instead of ways to cut corners to hopefully get a return. Consider the Internet a casino, the house always wins if you just throw your money to chance.

Smart advertisers know there are many ways to get a message out into the world, smart marketers also know trying to do all of them at once is a recipe for disaster. One area you may want to focus on is effectively harnessing the power of search engines in your marketing plans. Also known as “SEO” or search engine optimization this is a scary process for most people if you are unsure of your skills. However, it really doesn’t have to be, I will let you in on the key foundations of SEO that when done correctly will produce the results you desire. Most people who do SEO work fall short because they only focus on one area maybe two and hit a plateau. First part of the foundation and good SEO work is called on-page optimization. You see the Internet and the human eye both “read” or scan a Web site. However, they obviously both interpret it differently. Good on-site optimization needs to make sure both have a clear understanding quickly and easily what the Web site is about. For example, for a real-life person visiting your site, make sure you have important information above the fold on the site. Your message is quickly and clearly conveyed to the person as to just why they are there and what you can do for them. The site should load quickly and be clean, easy to navigate with clear call to actions for them to contact you throughout the site. The biggest priority should be how relevant your information is to solving the question of what they are looking for. If users are searching for a “Philadelphia FHA Mortgage,” you need the page to be mainly about that topic. Don’t talk about the other 50 loan options you offer all on the same page. People don’t hang around long, so make it easy for them to get what they need and contact you. Now regards to how a search engine “reads” your Web site, it is called indexing and cache. The Internet robots scan your site and when set up properly they are able to tell what that site or individual page is about. They will then save it in a huge filing system, and when someone searches for a topic, Google instantly opens and scans that filing system finds the most relevant answer what they are looking for and it appears in the search

key part to that success. So you kill two birds with one stone, you spread the word about your mortgage company and also start to improve your SEO as people like and share your company page and post. Another bit of advice … if you are running paid ads only use Desktop Ads for now. Promote your page by advertising for likes and focus on narrowing down your demographics by interest groups one at a time. If you need more help with this feel free to reach out to me. Also, don’t boost your post—that is basically throwing money out your office window. Remember, clients buy things from people they like. Engage creatively with people on social media, build that relationship and fan base so you can continue to connect with them. Offer high value content that is useful and interesting and you will see the results.

Always keep in mind that if you want to close more mortgage loans and make more money, inspire people to take action on their dreams. Sales is never about you. Ultimately, they could care less who you are and how many recommendations you have or how many loans you closed last month. They want to know if you understand their vision of needing a mortgage and what you can do for them now. Incorporate that into every aspect of your company mission and marketing and you will be far ahead of the competition! Jarred Bonica is marketing manager for Parsippany, N.J.-based Residential Home Funding (RHF). He may be reached by phone at (973) 975-0011, ext. 1002, e-mail JBonica@RHFunding.com or visit RHFunding.com. 53

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out to colleagues, industry partners and just ask. Provide them with high-quality content, maybe a great video or something useful they can put on their site and link back to yours. More advanced methods you can actually build your own and even buy them. If you wanted to know more feel free to contact me I can provide them for you. Lastly, social influence is a key foundation piece of SEO work. Up to now, we talked about on-site and off-site optimization, but now is how you look socially to the world. The Internet wants to see that real live people are talking about your social media posts, liking them, commenting and sharing them, etc. All your social sites link back to your main Web site, hopefully! So the Internet is putting more weight on your social influence. Get people talking about you and interactions. A word of advice … make your posts engaging, don’t just say you are the best mortgage company in the world contact us now type of deal! If you incorporate on-site off-site and social influences into your SEO work as a whole, you will have a fantastic foundation to work off of and will start to beat your competition. To expand on social media marketing a bit further, always keep engagement in your mind. Facebook marketing is so dynamic right now you have more power than you probably even know, but that also means many ways to waste money. If you are ever struggling for good content or want to know what is popular, head over to Buzzsumo.com. This site ranks the most widely popular and most shared content in just about any niche. Check this out: I searched for the term “Mortgage Rates” within the past six months and it pulls up all the content ranked in popularity. You can see the first one was shared on Facebook almost 13,000 times, so that would be a great article you know people liked seeing and you could use that on your page or maybe the second one shared more than 4,000 times is relevant to what you want to talk about. Obviously, an article about mortgage rates hitting a record low is something buyers want to see and best of all you don’t have to write the content. You can make a post out of it add your contact information in it. When people start liking and sharing it, your information goes along with it, which is what you want. Also, go back to the SEO rankings, and keep in mind that social influence is a

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results. The most relevant articles that answer the question the best of what the person is searching for gets the best spots. Just like real estate, the Internet is all about location, location, location. If your company site is on page 20, that is basically like having a home on the edge of a sink hole with a freeway running by the front of it backed up to a prison yard. You are never going to sell your house, and nobody is going to find your site. Optimizing a page so the Internet can find you comes down to proper keyword selection, correct URL structure, and the correct internal linking on the pages. Meaning does one page link to others. It consists of properly optimizing the images on your site with correct keywords and file names. Many people make the mistake of uploading images and graphics to their site with the file saved as 123pic.jpg or some random text. The Internet doesn’t see images the same as a human, they scan it and basically see the text version of it. So the file name should read something like: Parsippany-NJ-Mortgage.jpg. Include your keywords in the file name and make sure you put in alt tags and descriptions when you upload them for best optimization. Also try and keep relevant text close to the image so the Internet knows what the picture is about. You should also have outbound links to an authority site like Wikipedia or somewhere else. And the most important, have quality written content with images. I like to see all content 1,200 words or more. A good idea is to put yourself in the shoes of the person searching for your topic, answer all the questions they would have in your article written around a core group of short and long keywords and that will be relevant to both the Internet and the person reading. The second part of the foundation is off-site optimization, there are many aspects to this, but I will keep it simple. Get high authority backlinks from other sites linked to yours with proper anchor text. What is high authority backlinks? Consider it the Internet’s way of rating the trustworthiness of a site. The better the page and domain rank of that site, the more powerful the backlink from it will be to your site. What that means is the Internet sees a great informative site linked to yours and you get juice which helps you move up in the rankings. Of course you are thinking how can I get these backlinks, well you can just reach

“… marketing is great, but to survive in this business, you need to be able to close loans.”

Making a Splash With Your Marketing Without Drowning By Laura Martell Building a well-rounded marketing plan consists of taking advantage of both digital and in-person marketing tactics. While this sounds like a monstrous task, there are several time-savers and automation tools you can utilize to make it more manageable. After all, marketing is important, but it’s second-

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ary to actually closing loans. A wellthought-out marketing plan is not set in stone, and should be analyzed quarterly to measure results and be re-tweaked as necessary to ensure success. Henry Ford said it best when he stated: “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.”

To build a well-rounded marketing natural strengths, assess and then build plan, we are going to look at the follow- from there. ing areas: While the opportunities are vast, it is important to find ways to minimize the l Digital marketing: What mediums amount of time you can spend on these are out there and how to minimize platforms (or risk being stuck in a the time commitment it takes to run Facebook/YouTube vortex and getting them properly? nothing else done). Tools like Hootsuite, l Hands on or in-person marketing: Social Oomph and others can help you In a digital world, small additions to manage and engage with multiple social your in-person strategy can have a media platforms at once. Consider time huge impact. blocking once a week to pre-schedule your l Determining the right fit: A comcontent, ensuring your platforms always prehensive marketing plan can have fresh content without having to include intentionally leaving out devote time daily, leaving you free to focus marketing channels or activities that on the engagement and responses as necdon’t fit with your business model or essary. While most would say it’s important target market. to have multiple social media channels I l Measuring for success: Re-analyzing would argue that it’s more important to marketing activities and their success only have as many as you can manage or pitfalls allowing you to re-tool. well. A social media platform that is not regularly updated can look neglectful and Digital marketing is incredibly popular actually leave a negative impact on your in today’s ever-changing world and it audience. This also leaves the opportunity should be. For a minimal amount of time to do so impromptu posting as you are at and money, you can reach new audiences new events, or there are urgent updates and spread your messages faster than that need to be released. Remember that ever before. The typical digital marketing content can be written, produced and plan can consist of Web sites, landing shared amongst multiple channels. For pages, social media, contact manage- example, a written or video blog can be ment, search engine optimization (SEO), posted to your Web site, an e-mail blast blogging and digital ads. These online can be sent out from your CRM, and then platforms have many benefits including shared onto multiple social networks. This that they can easily be scaled up as you has multiple benefits including reaching grow your digital footprint and possibly difference audiences and driving all of the your budget. The difficult part is deciding traffic from those different sources back to which of these you should devote your your site. time to. Consider starting small and as Your online presence should be an you continue to measure your results, extension of you. From reinforcing your add or develop those outlets. business standards, to targeting niches and Social networking is important for your positioning yourself as a leader within your business because it’s an easy way to get in market, having a well-rounded online plan front of many people outside your sphere is important, but it’s equally important to of influence. According to Wishpond, blog- pair that with a well-thought-out in-person ging is a critical part of your marketing or “belly to belly” marketing plan. This can strategy because it helps drive traffic back be a combination of homebuyer workto your website, increases SEO, helps posi- shops or trade shows, networking events, tion yourself as an industry leader, and lunch & learns with real estate agents, can even help you develop better cus- open houses, and more. Using the skills tomer relations. If you’re not a strong that you’ve developed and honed online writer, consider publishing video blogs can open up opportunities to become a instead. Well-placed digital ads can help value add for your real estate agents and you reach a specific market. These initia- clients. We all know getting past the gatetives can be tackled by an individual, a keepers can be a challenge. However, team or a company. Start small by picking think of it like playing a game of Battleship one or two things that fall in line with your … hit the wrong square and you’re left

with a miss and sent packing. Hit the right square, and it may need to be followed up with additional hits. Eventually, you can sink that ship, so break down that wall, and start developing relationships and earning business. Becoming that value-added partner has changed over the years with RESPA regulating how and when you are able to contribute to marketing efforts without them being a kick-back. Think of activities you like and do well. Do you like database mining? Social media? Homebuyer seminars? Building landing pages? Take what you enjoy and do well, or something that you know your partners are lacking or may be weak in, and let it help transform you from just “another lender” to a partner. Lunch and learns do not need to just be about products or selling yourself. They can become fun and engaging forums to teach strategies, new trends or even to set challenges that you can help

become an accountability partner. Real estate agents know exactly what you do and what you offer, right? Possibly. Let’s not take for granted that they have their own businesses to manage, rules and regulations to learn and clients to work with. If you assume everyone knows the variety of products you offer, as well as your strengths and value without you reminding them, I’m afraid you run the chance of limiting yourself. Finding low-cost, catchy or even cliché things can help you stay top of mind. Mortgage marketers like Karen Deis, Bliss Saywer, Bill Hart, industry magazines and your company or lending partners provide tons of resources for leave-behinds that help keep you in the forefront. Help your referral partners grow their business and you will reap the benefits. No marketing plan is truly thought out or successful without the use of measuring your results. Keep in mind that you

may measure success differently depending on the platform. Using some of the tools we looked at earlier, like Hootsuite, other social media management tools, or even built-in measuring tools within each social media platform, makes it easy to see growth with the numbers of followers, likes, re-tweets, shares, comments, etc. For any Web presence, an analytics tool like Google Analytics can be a simple view into the amount of traffic your site, blog or landing pages bring in. Your referral partners can be measured by categorizing your referral sources into A, B and C Categories, and tracking the amount of leads, and the type of leads that come in. Are they closable clients, or are they second hand clients who were turned down somewhere else or were only given to you because of a certain product. The more you measure these and start to see trends, you can also see where and who you need to spend more of your time and resources

with building out long-term strategies and supporting your business. After all, marketing is great, but to survive in this business, you need to be able to close loans. Building a strong plan that consists of both digital and belly to belly marketing, time blocking these activities into your calendar, and taking the time to measure your results will help you take huge leaps and bounds in the marketing realm and still allow plenty of time to focus on closing home loans. Laura Martell is the marketing manager at Mountain West Financial Inc., where she oversees all print and digital advertising, recruiting material, Web sites, online advertising, social media, public relations and brand development. She earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design from Cal Poly Pomona. She may be reached by email at Laura.Martell@mwfinc.com.

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“Mortgage brokers must unleash the power of their connections by taking advantage of opportunities to grow your business, build relationships, share strategies and drive solutions.”

Six Strategic Tactics for Marketing Your Mortgage Loans By Tom Pasckvale

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The human touch cannot be replaced by technology. A personal approach is the leading factor that drives success in the mortgage industry. Building trust and offering an exceptional level of service are important traits for growing. In addition, a good marketing strategy should be drawn from market research and focus on the right product mix in order to achieve the maximum profit potential and sustain the business. As a new owner of an independent mortgage company, I know how critical it is to develop relationships and maintain a connection with our clients. It is important as mortgage brokers that we understand each potential touch point has the opportunity to extend and build our brand identity. Simple tactics such as thank you cards, surveys, rate postcards and loan anniversary e-mails, can go a long way. Timing is everything. Sometimes it takes several touches to achieve the return-oninvestment (ROI). These soft touch points will deliver more sales than a

hard sell approach. Soft sells have a greater likelihood of creating a loyal customer base. By principle, the soft sell avoids being intrusive. By acquiring your customer base through inbound marketing techniques, you will make your soft sell more effective. The soft sell requires personality and patience, but it can be extremely effective. On the flip side, in an industry where there is so much competition, the hard sell might make a sale once, but prevent the customer from returning. Rather than interrupting the daily lives of your customers, customers will find you because of their existing wants and needs. If you have knowledge of the customer’s values, not to mention great communication and listening skills, then you are well on your way to success. To effectively administer the soft sell, you should develop and implement a clearly-defined marketing strategy, which relies on valuable information to enhance customer awareness of

nmp nmpNEXT gives you a look beyond the horizon. We’re looking for the firms that are leading the way to the future. A variety of sponsorship levels allow advertisers to balance budget with reach and puts marketing managers in control of one of the most powerful channels available for advancing their brands. To participate, e-mail Scott Koondel at 516.409.5555, ext. 324 or e-mail ScottK@NMPMediaCorp.com.

your company and your offering. Here are the best ways to market your mortgage loans …

1. Social media Get online and start communicating your message through the various mainstream channels. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for example, allows us to provide timely and relevant messages to our clients and potential customers. With so many audiences at your disposal, mortgage brokers need to break down their messages and filter them through to the right audience through the right channel. Segmenting your content will force you to use better data/analytics when choosing the right groups to target, which also allows you to tailor messages with greater relevancy/specificity for your audience. One of the most powerful outcomes of social media marketing is seeing those who have refinanced or purchased a home through you share their personal experiences with your service, too.

2. Real estate agents Developing and maintaining relationships with real estate agents is an important way to generate business. Establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with leading agents who are on the frontlines, guiding homeowners through the process is paramount to sustainability. They are entrusting their clients in your hands and want the comfort of knowing their most prized possession, their clients, are working with skilled, talented and professional brokers. They can be your biggest influencer, and with each smooth closing, you are earning their trust, respect and hopefully, their future business. Don’t neglect the opportunity to capitalize on those relationships. Although they are still in a transitional year after merging with Trulia, Zillow offers a useful opportunity to target its users by partnering with real estate agents. The spring market is underway, and we are able to be there with our customers during their home search.

3. Drip marketing campaigns Set it and forget it with these easy, automatic and personalized campaigns that are sent to your clients, prospects and referral partners. By using today’s advanced technology, marketing e-mails will be sent out automatically on a schedule. They are efficient, cost-effective and designed to deliver maximum results. Whether it is celebrating a holiday, informing them about current rates or acknowledging their loan anniversary, you can nurture your contacts with each touch point. By triggering these types of thought leadership techniques, your contacts are sure to recommend you to their friends and associates.

4. Networking events By getting involved and attending intimate gatherings with other professionals, you have the opportunity to increase your visibility and network with other like-minded people. Starting and fostering these relationships will lead to strategic referrals, alliances and joint ventures over time. Take advantage of your local chamber of commerce and attend some of their events or visit the annual Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) trade show in your state to stay abreast of industry trends. Networking events are the best place to practice, refine and hone your marketing message.

5. Advertising By carefully targeting your audience, you have the opportunity to build your brand. This tactic can help you in so many ways. Whether you are introducing a new product in the market, fighting competition, enhancing good will or simply trying to originate more loans, advertising in the right places, digitally or in print, can be instrumental. Your local newspapers, church flyers, coupon mailers are just a few ways to get your name across. Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising online is another form to consider. You only pay when someone interested in your brand clicks on

your ad. It’s easy to use and you can set a budget for each day. Good PPC advertising takes skill, and great PPC takes strategy, a thorough understanding of the advertising platforms, a solid knowledge of rules and guidelines, and a little creativity and marketing sense. When you start a small business and have a limited marketing budget, focus your marketing dollars on a campaign that will deliver results in a cost-effective manner. A single entry in a printed or online directory will continue to reach potential customers who are searching for a product or service that you offer. If you advertise in newspapers, you may have to spend more to run a series of advertisements that raise awareness over a period of time. Consider this an investment in your company, but remember to track any and all results for a better understanding of where

your marketing dollars should be allocated.

6. Direct mail Utilizing Vistaprint and other similar resources gives you the chance to create your message and mail to a new targeted audience. There is a plethora of collateral available online that are ready to send and require minimal effort, freeing you up to focus on delivering loans. Professionally designed templates are made available quickly and then you can simply purchase a targeted list right through the site by filtering through demographics, hobbies, locations, etc. No matter where you start, setting professional goals for yourself is a great way to begin. Time and effort are required to develop strategic marketing plans which resonate with your

intended audience. You have to get this part right, or your time and expense will be wasted. It takes a person approximately seven to ten times seeing your brand before they can recognize it. Research proves messages are more effective when repeated. In fact, today you might need more than those ten times just to be heard through all the clutter in people’s newsfeeds or fields of vision. What you say in these messages matters. Whatever you do, be sure to analyze the results and test various messages so you can improve upon your marketing. Marketing in the mortgage world is nearly the same as any other industry. Mortgage brokers must unleash the power of their connections by taking advantage of opportunities to grow your business, build relationships, share strategies and drive solutions.

Optimize your campaigns to get the best results. Maintaining contact with your client base throughout the customer lifecycle will not only help you nurture relationships but also will enhance your pipeline. The more relevant contact you have with customers and prospects, the easier it is to develop and sustain sales relationships and ultimately, close more deals. As with anything else in life, mastering the marketing formula will take time, but with so many recipes to choose from, you may as well have fun getting there. Tom Pasckvale is a managing partner at Top Vine Mortgage Services LLC in Watchung, N.J., licensed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Virginia and Florida. He may be reached by phone at (844) 545-9251, email TPasckvale@TopVineMTG.com or visit TopVineMTG.com.

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“Customers pay attention to the items on social media that are relatable and useful to them. How do you know what to provide them if you aren’t listening to what they want?”

Social Networking for Your Database By Nikki Groff

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Technology has changed how consumers think and act, and to remain competitive, it’s clear that companies need to change too. Social media is getting bigger every day and approximately 70 percent of users check social media daily. It is a large sphere of influence, and it also holds a lot of information about consumers, tracking their interests, activities, likes and locations. The information is endless. To truly understand a target market, a company has the ability to comb social media and other online data to more accurately predict what a customer actually wants. Online feedback influences a consumer’s buying decisions considerably. Positive recommendations are important and reach a wide audience. Reviews about products and services are at a consumer’s fingertips. Consumers now look to the World Wide Web to make many decisions about products or services which makes it more important than ever to have an online presence. It’s not enough to just have a Web site, but having a presence on

social media is also important. My company, Wallick & Volk, follows its clients on Facebook or asks them to “Like” our business page. Are we following our clients on Twitter? What if we did? What would that look like? What would be the added value to them? What would be the return-on-investment (ROI) to us? There are statistics that show the timeline with the amount of monthly active Twitter users worldwide. As of the fourth quarter of 2015, the microblogging service averaged at 305 million monthly active users. However, there are many Twitter users who don’t actively blog or send tweets, but they are still looking at Twitter and taking in all of that information of the people and businesses that they follow. There are so many users on social media and a majority of them are checking social media daily or even multiple times a day. The difference between helping and selling—these two words make a world of difference in the mortgage industry. Information that is helpful is a utility. It is marketing that is so useful that the customer would be

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willing to pay for it. Selling isn’t selling at all if it is something that the customer needs and wants. This has value to them and you are just helping them to see that value or provide with information to make an informed decision. As author Jay Baer said in his 2015 book, Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is About Help Not Hype, “If you sell something you can create a customer today. If you help someone you can create a customer for life.” Twitter is about asking questions and getting answers. Because of this, Twitter makes eavesdropping easy. It gives us an opportunity to help and to offer options and opinions when they need it. It is a utility. Twitter users, like most everyone else, love sharing their opinions. So why not utilize your past client database and give them a chance to share with you? All you have to do is become a follower on their tweets. You most likely already know that simply sharing links isn’t enough to really engage your social media followers on any social media site. Ask yourselves: Are you more interesting than your clients’ spouse, friend or family member? That is what you are competing against on social media. “You can try to compete against this ‘kitten video’ or you can be useful,” said Baer. Helping others with honesty and integrity will help you reach success. Even if your help is just giving information on the mortgage industry, they will remember you when it is time for them to purchase their next home. That information will become relevant to them. What if when they tweet a question, we are listening? They have given you permission to respond with advice. “I am traveling to NYC, what restaurants would you recommend in the city?” “Looking for a fun place to take my teenagers on vacation over spring break … any ideas?” You also don’t have to be the source, but the source of the source if it is not in your wheel-

house. This is just another way to connect with the consumer on a more personal level. It allows them to view you as someone other than a salesperson. Connections are important to differentiate yourself in a world of technology and smartphones where everyone texts instead of picking up the phone and social media where everyone connects more and more frequently in a virtual world. “Content is fire. Social media is gasoline. You will always be better off to use social media to promote your utility first and your company second,” said Baer. Most of us look at social media and the world of press releases. It is way too much about “US” and way too “LESS” about helping them, our customers. Customers pay attention to the items on social media that are relatable and useful to them. How do you know what to provide them if you aren’t listening to what they want? Social media isn’t just another way to reach your clients, but is also a way to find out more information about your database. When you follow your database, you will have an insight into what your clients really need and what is important to them thus allowing you to provide information that will help them and make them a client for life. What are you doing with your database? Got Twitter? Nikki Groff, chief marketing and business development officer for Wallick & Volk, has been a loan originator for more than 15 years and has a team of three licensed loan originators in Flagstaff and Scottsdale, Ariz. She was a successful branch manager in Flagstaff for several years, but decided that she preferred to focus on originating loans, and has been one of the top loan officers at Wallick & Volk year after year, achieving the “Top 1% Mortgage Originator in America Award” in 2014. She has also been a nationally-recognized speaker on loan production and mortgage production systems.

“Marketing is not advertising … at least to me. I see them as two very distinct actions. Advertising is letting people know you exist. Marketing is attempting to have someone reach back the company or person doing the marketing.”

It’s Better in a Group By Ralph LoVuolo Sr. Marketing/advertising/spreading the word. The ideas that came from the groups were incredibly creative, especially when all of the participants left their ego’s at the door. This is a key ingredient to a mastermind meeting.

A coloring book?

We came up with two workable ideas First, the coloring book can be from four to 20 pages, depending on the budget and the marketing strategies of the company. The cover, front and back, inside first and last page is an advertisement for the mortgage com-

Ralph LoVuolo Sr. has more than 50 years in the mortgage Industry, with the last 30 as a coach. He is past president and founder of the New York Association of Mortgage Brokers, and long-time member of NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals. He can be reached by phone at (917) 576-1230 or email Ralph@MortgageMotivator.com.

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One of the meetings was to decide what to do with the coloring book (other than use it as a mortgage application package) that I had picked up at a non-mortgage meeting in New York City. A radio station had made up the coloring book as a marketing piece. The book is about 20 pages of commercials, commercials for the advertisers of the radio station. I picked up the coloring book about three months ago, and this was the first chance I had to really investigate its use. I had, at the request of the president of one of my client mortgage companies, called together some of the sales staff to come up with ideas for marketing. I passed around the coloring book and let the ideas flow. Maybe we could make one up about the benefits of working with our company and give them to our real estate agents? Maybe they would put them in their waiting area? Maybe we could give it to our applicants? Maybe it’s a good idea to ask our wholesalers to make them up about our company? Maybe we could use it in our state mortgage organization? Maybe we use it for ourselves? But how? For what?

Marketing is not advertising … at least to me. I see them as two very distinct actions. Advertising is letting people know you exist. Marketing is attempting to have someone reach back the company or person doing the marketing. Here is an example. If you’ve watched the Rose Bowl parade on New Year’s Day, there are a whole bunch of floats that companies decorate to let the public see something beautiful. There are many ads on TV that merely let you know a product exists but doesn’t ask you to do anything. There are ads that become actionable, as I call it, where the watcher or listener is asked to call, ask for, order online or to the “operator standing by.” This is marketing. Most mortgage people and companies need to be marketing. Ask for the order. It is one of the ways I’ve been asking you to do every day when you visit your referral sources.

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Meetings of peers are sometimes the most dreaded task that action people can endure. “I’m too busy; too busy to sit in some bland room, devoid of my precious phone, and not doing something. Talking about the business I am in is so tough, because I’m so busy. Talking is not doing. I like doing … I hate thinking, taking orders from bosses or suggestions from peers. I know what I’m doing, just let me do it!” This is no longer the wail I hear from most of my clients! It certainly was for more time than I would like to believe. “There’s no-one who can help me with my problems. I’ll talk it over with my husband or wife and figure it out.” What has changed is the proof that planning meetings have a very positive effect on business. Groups of people, sitting around talking are more than capable of addressing and solving the most complicated problems. I have become intrigued by the thought of spending time with people whom I respect, talking … just talking about the business I love so much. I’ve noticed that when the talking takes the path of problem solving, free thought produces the most wonderful results. Napoleon Hill, in Think and Grow Rich, written in 1937 wrote of the Sixth Sense, the Invisible counselors which allow the mind free thought. And as he writes further, the use of the Master Mind, which he says is “coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people for the attainment of a definite purpose.” I was recently asked to participate in two brainstorming sessions, both which took place for the purpose of investigating CHANGE. The goal was to increase business.

pany. Each page would contain an advertisement for various suppliers of services to the public, like title companies, surveyors, attorneys, etc. The book can be given out to real estate agents for use in their waiting areas. It can be given to attorneys, physicians, and financial planners. Be sure to supply boxes of crayons. Our sales staff will take them on their weekly visit to the realtors’ offices they service. It’s also a great door opener for new contacts. All of the people named above need something to keep children busy during office visits. Too often, while taking a mortgage application, I handed a child a pad and pencil to keep them busy and never got them back. We discussed defraying the costs by asking vendors who want us to use their service to help out by contributing to the cost. Second, with a similar sized book, it can be used as a promotional item for wholesalers to give out to their mortgage broker/banker clients. It can be put in mortgage company’s waiting area, taken home for the children, or taken to the clients of the mortgage company to be used for the same real estate agents. Ideas like this come easily to those who work at it. Even if there was only a monthly brainstorming session, the results can be amazing.

“Look at your competitor and see how many reviews he has, then set the goal to triple that number for your product or service. This is one of those instances where more is better.”

No Marketing Budget? No Problem— Spend Time, Not Money By Elizabeth Morales

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If you are caught with no budget for marketing, rely on your reviews, referrals, e-mail blasts, social media and blogs … all are free options and can become great revenue contributors. In an era where we trust complete strangers and their yellow stars, it is imperative that you send your existing customers a request to leave a fabulous review about your services. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want when you know you have given great customer service. People like helping other people and your customers will love helping you. Let them know you are trying to build an online presence and their opinions can make a difference between 10 customers per month to 25. Look at your competitor and see how many reviews he has, then set the goal to triple that number for your product or service. This is one of those instances where more is better. The more reviews, the better you look. Also, please ask that the review gives examples and detailed information. Think of when you are researching an item or service, the more examples, the clearer

picture you form in your head of this place/person you have never done business with. Examples and detailed info is what you want when people are reading a review of your services.

Referrals Referrals require a little bit of money, but it is not a full marketing campaign where thousands of dollars are coming out of your budget. Let your customers know you have a referral program in place. Don’t make the referral program too complicated. Make sure if there is fine print, customers are aware of it and they see referring someone as a simple process with a gain at the end. Plus, they are going to feel good about helping you as well.

E-mail marketing services Sign up with an e-mail marketing service, there are hundreds of places where you can take your business. These places will give you analytics on every e-mail you send. Some of these companies even have their program for free depending on how many e-mail

You can’t be ready for what you don’t see coming.

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addresses you upload or how many emails you send per month. Remember the old saying of “You cannot improve what you don’t measure?” The same applies here. Once you send that email, look to see what the open rate and click through rates are. They will compare that to industry standards and you will know if your campaign needs some tweaking. In the end, what you are looking for are leads that become sales. Your e-mails should be short and to the point. Always include a picture. Yes, a picture still speaks a thousand words, and even louder speaks a video. If you can make a short video explaining your product, offer, service, people will watch a 15-sec. video. But before that, what is the most important part of the e-mail? The Subject Line. Why? Because if it is not enticing enough, it doesn’t matter what you have in the e-mail, the open rate is going to be extremely low. Don’t use too many exclamation points or all caps, as it may get looked at as a SPAM, will never reach the intended recipient or will go into the junk folder. Not where you want to be. Brainstorm with your team about the e-mail and the Subject Line. Remember, the answer is always in the room. No team? No problem. Ask family members or friends to give you their opinion. You will be surprised at the many different views everyone has on something as simple as a Subject Line. Don’t want to do that just yet? That’s okay. Go through your own e-mails and see which call on you to open and ask yourself why.

The big paradigm shift of social media marketing Who would have thought that word of mouth would work? Wait … it always did. Now you get to do it at a much faster pace through any of the different platforms. The reason why you want to have a social media presence is the same reason you got a cellphone when you finally did. Everyone was doing it; it was convenient, now you can’t survive without it. Well, same with social media. In this space, make it a total inclusion experience with all of your

customers. Everyone checks people and business’ Facebook accounts. If people see you have a page that constantly gets updated with pictures and latest news, they are going to want to be in one of those pictures at some point. After all, they have helped you build your business/reputation. Give them something back. Tag them on a picture, ask them to share on their own page and perhaps other will also end up liking your page. Four likes on your Facebook Page: Your parents, aunt and uncle hit like. Forty likes on your Facebook Page: Your family friends and some customers hit like. More than 400 likes on your Facebook Page: That’s what you want. No one questions that number and people feel it is a place they can trust. Of course if you wanted to set aside some money and advertise with Facebook, it is relatively easy. On your page, top right corner, click on ‘Create Ads’ and follow the prompts to get more likes on your page, have more views on a video, raise attendance at your event, get your product in front of the right set of eyeballs, etc. If you didn’t have time or the desire to do any of the above mentioned, then blog. Blogging can bring people to your page organically. Don’t know what to blog about? Simple. Think of the three questions you ask your prospects and the questions they have for you. Answer those questions and start becoming the authority on the subject. People will eventually know the information on this blog comes from a reliable source and from a connoisseur in the topic. The more traffic you have to your page, the more leads will come in, and the less money and time you spend in marketing. More time for great customer service: Your number one marketing plan. Elizabeth Morales is business development director for Long Beach, Calif.based Applied Business Software Inc., creators of The Mortgage Office and The Loan Office Software. She may be reached by phone at (562) 279-7424 or e-mail Elizabeth@ABSNetwork.com.

“…I don’t want to pay for advertising when I don’t need it. This is starting to feel like a shakedown from the Mafia.”

The Mafia Shakes Down a Dinosaur By Eric Weinstein

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costs always seem to be split down the middle, But, if I avoid the joint advertisement, she will find another loan officer who will. She is a good person. Of course, she would have to send her business to the other loan officer. It’s a moral obligation and I would expect no less from her. Where does that leave me? Happy for her success, but denied all her deals. So I want to keep her business, but I don’t want to pay for advertising when I don’t need it. This is starting to feel like a shakedown from the Mafia. I really have no choice but to pay tribute to her. I am sure this is absolutely not her intention, my real estate agent is a wonderful person who would never hurt anyone. Still … the effect on me is the same. Pay up or my storefront window gets shattered from a lack of business from her. To me, this is really a no brainer. I have to do it. So I rubbed my neck, shrugged my shoulders and wrote a check with a broken smile. Chalk it up to the cost of doing business. Well, it just goes to show you why dinosaurs are now extinct. The advertisement turned out to be a huge success. While business was good before, you can never have too much money … it is great now … I am loving it! My agent is happy, I am happy and my boss is happy. Of course, I can imagine all the calls and e-mails now after this column is published. “What is the advertising source, Eric?” I will tell you my response right now: “None of your business.” If I tell you, I have to tell everybody and then it will not work anymore. Sorry, I love you, but business is business. Now, for the moral of the story … Is it, don’t be resistant to

Eric Weinstein worked in banking, on the commercial real estate side until 1991, when he fell in love with residential lending. In 1995, he started a small mortgage company in his basement called Carteret Mortgage Corporation, which in 2003, grew to one of the largest mortgage broker companies in the United States. Eric is semi-retired, doing mortgages by referral only. He may be reached by phone at (703) 505-8692 or e-mail eweinstein4u@gmail.com.

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I am a dinosaur in the mortgage industry. I have been in the industry more than 20 years. I am too old to blog, use Facebook and tweet on the Twitter. My business comes from real estate agents I have known for 25 years, who think I do a good job and refer me to their clients. I tell people I am “By Referral Only,” but the truth of the matter is, I am too cheap to pay for advertising. Why pay for it when I can get it for free? One of my best real estate agents is a woman I have known for 20 years. Heck, I helped her study for her real estate classes and practically did her first real estate contract for her. She absolutely adores me and sends me all of her buyers. You could not ask for a more loyal, trustworthy honest person in the world. She is a saint. So, she comes to me and says she wants to do some joint advertising. What do I do? I really don’t need the expense of an advertising campaign. My volume is not killer, but I do well enough for my personal expenses. I know how it goes. Before you know it, you are not getting much business from it, but you are tied to a huge monthly expense you just can’t get rid of. The advertising game can become a money pit. Advertisements never work. If they did, everyone would do it. Now, I am not just being a cranky old man, an allegation I do not actually deny, but I have been down this road before. I have tried all sorts of advertising, alone and in conjunction with various real estate agents. Maybe it is me, but the cost never outweighs the benefit. At least not for me. Remember, the agent makes about three times as much on a deal as I do, but the

change? Is it, the universe has a plan for all of us, so let events sweep you wherever they may? Is it, don’t let your pride stop you from being successful, take advice from others? Is it, Eric, you were just incredibly lucky this time that stuff never usually works? This is what I think. There is no moral. It is just something that happened to me when the Mafia shook down this particular dinosaur. Not every story has to have a moral.

“The first piece of the contact management, referral base model is of course, contacts! You need them. So, where do you get them? Everywhere!”

It’s All About Prospecting! By Adam P. Smith I hate marketing. To me, marketing implies dollars. And lots of them … lots and lots. More importantly, marketing is something I see being done by personal injury lawyers and cut rate dental offices and the real life Phil Dunphys of the world. I represent people in the largest investments of their lives. First-time homebuyers with a $60,000 condo. Real estate investors

buying a high rise apartment building. It doesn’t matter. Still, their purchase represents the largest investment of their lives. I don’t want the clientele that bus benches, billboards, midnight terrestrial radio and low-end cable television advertisements are going to bring. When I am looking for a specialist in one of those aforementioned fields, I am looking to friends, family,

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clients and colleagues to help me find true professionals who are going to take very good care of me and mine. This is how repeat and referral businesses are built, and it is certainly how I built mine. That being said, let’s talk about prospecting: Finding and making contacts. Using a solid contact management system, staying in front of that audience and making sure that you are the one who pops into people’s heads when their cousin or co-worker mentions wanting to refinance or purchase a home. Is this making sense yet? Is your business strictly repeat and referral now? Not to worry. I will go into a little bit of it step by step. The first piece of the contact management, referral base model is of course, contacts! You need them. So, where do you get them? Everywhere! I am not just talking about your circle, although that is important, but you need to expand way beyond that. I have something like 7,000 contacts in my database, and I assure you that a fraction of those are the usual friendsand-family, circle-of-influence, starting-out-in-sales career, nonsense that we are all taught at inception. So, break out of that mindset and make sure to include your past clients, advocates, leads, neighbors and so on. What do you like to do when you’re not reading trade or profession magazine articles? Do you go to networking events? That’s fine … do that. But are you really using those events to make contacts? Are you putting those contacts into your contact management system? I hope so. Otherwise, what a waste of time unless they have a great caterer and an open bar, of course. I had the privilege of attending one of those types of events last week. I saw a few people I already knew and like and are already in my contact management system. I saw a few people I know and dislike that I have removed from my contact management system. But I mostly spent the time with a client and colleague, who already refers me a ton of business, eating great food and drinking free drinks.

Social gatherings are great, too. Got kids? Do they have friends? Do they have events like birthday parties and that kind of thing? Are you socializing with other parents? You should be. If you have to suffer through the world’s worst pizza, the noise of those crappy video games and a giant automated rat, then you should be getting something for you out of it. You already have something in common with those other parents and that makes for a great baseline rapport. Do you do any charity or community service work? Anything like the Rotary Club, Lions Club or Kiwanis Club? Here is another group of people you already have something in common with if you do. If you don’t, then find something you care about or are passionate about and go volunteer. You’ll do some good in the world, and meet some new people that you have something in common with that you can start to build relationships with. Like sporting events? Have a favorite watering hole? Look around you … contacts are everywhere and you likely already have something in common with these people. I have a client whose only connection to me initially was that his hockey season tickets were right in front of mine. When you see somebody a few dozen times a year, every year, you had better be building a relationship. Okay, so now you have all these contacts. What are you doing with them? Well, you need a contact management system, of course. It doesn’t have to be fancy and it certainly doesn’t need to be expensive. It just needs to give you the ability to stay in front of people. I use Outlook. It was likely already on the computer, so why not take advantage. It helps me keep in touch with my contacts via the calendar. It helps me keep track of when I do make contact via the notes function. And of course, it helps me keep all the contact information intact. That’s what is really does, anyway. That’s really all you need from a CRM for that purpose; a calendar, the ability to take notes and a way to store the contact information. I’ve seen and

used other high-end CRM systems and not one of them has been worth the exorbitant cost that goes along with them. So, now you have to actually contact these people. This is actually the hardest part of the whole process. It was really tough at the beginning. Why am I calling? What am I going to talk about? Are they going to remember me? Are they going to hang up on me? I am not calling them to sell them a mortgage, or a house or a new retirement plan. I am calling them to chat. Just to build a relationship. Remember, people are going to work those they know, like and trust. Building a relationship does just that. I think the old adage is that you need something like a dozen interactions with a new prospect or lead to prove that you have the competency to do the job and the character to be

entrusted with it. There are ways to accelerate that, like video blogging, but that’s another article. I like the phone. Not that it’s the be all, end all, but I have one, and so do you, and whether I make one call a day or a million calls a day, it costs me the same. You may as well take advantage of what I am already paying for. So, I call these people. A lot of them 100 a week actually. My calendar has 24 five-minute phone calls scheduled every day, from 8:00 a.m.10:00 a.m. in the morning, Monday through Thursday, every week. So, it’s not quite 100, but you get the drift. Now, that doesn’t mean I always make 100 phone calls a week, because I don’t. Sometimes it’s an email, not a call. Sometimes it’s a social media post, not a call. But I reach out to 100 people a week whom I am not already working with. I know

that sounds like a ton of work. And I make or take another 100 phone calls or more every day just to deal with the transactions I am working on, so I know it’s a ton of work. And when I do call, I get a ton of voicemail boxes. I do not care! I like getting voicemail boxes. It takes me a lot less time to leave someone a message than it does to get dragged into a conversation by one of my old clients who wants to talk about her cats and their follies for 30 minutes. Many of those messages I leave never get returned. That one I care a little more about, but not completely. I assume they are at least listening to their messages and heard my message and they heard my subtext in the message. You know, the subtext that says: “I am still around and I am still in mortgages.” That subtext. That way, when their cousin or co-worker mentions wanting to refinance their

house next week, they will remember that message I just left. So, that’s a short and sweet look at some mild prospecting that you can implement to help towards a repeat and referral business without spending any additional dollars. This is a tiny, little, miniscule segment of what kinds of contact management stuff is out there for you, though. We barely scratched the surface of social media, video blogging, e-mail, the Internet and so on. It’s a great big, free, global network out there. Well, no less free than what you’re already shelling out to get it now, anyway. Adam P. Smith is president of The Colorado Real Estate Finance Group Inc., a commercial and residential real estate finance firm. He may be reached by phone at (303) 770-2262, ext. 112 or email Adam@CoreFinanceGroup.com. 63

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Marketing M arketing Strategies S s A Touch h Above Th The he Rest...

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Mortgage Planner Marketing

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every month that you ignore your database could be costing you thousands of dollars in new business.â&#x20AC;?

Marketing Holds the Key to Success in a New Outpost By Kristi Howard

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With large commercial banks expected to retreat from residential mortgage lending this year, even as purchase mortgage originations are forecasted to jump to nearly $1 trillion, many lenders are eager to fill the void and increase their market share. Many will be doing so by expanding into new territories. But thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot more to it than renting out office space and waiting for customers to start calling you. This will be a particularly challenging endeavor for smaller, regional companies that are not household names outside their current geographical footprint. How do you succeed in a new market where nobody knows your name? Hiring the right branch manager

and loan officers is certainly the first step. While the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name may not be familiar to prospective borrowers and referral partners like real estate agents and builders, talented branch managers and LOs with a past track record of success in the area will be. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be on the frontlines of helping to market the new companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand.

Marketing support is critical But they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to do that without a lot of help from their corporate partner. No matter how talented and plugged in to the local real estate market they may be, they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t continue to succeed without a lot of support. Without that, even

the most talented LO will fail. And the most critical element in that regard, especially at mortgage companies looking to expand into new markets, is marketing support. Talent and energy can only take you so far. The single most important success factor separating the best LOs from the rest is effective marketing.

Create a marketing strategy first But while having the right tools is important, developing a well thought-out marketing strategy needs to come first. An effective marketing plan enables loan officers and branch managers to generate more production with far less effort. There are plenty of tools at their disposal, but developing a good marketing approach is a key component to success. Fortunately, this strategy need not be difficult to implement. There are many factors that go into creating a marketing plan. The first thing to do is to decide what your objectives are.

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If your goals are to enhance customer outreach or to improve longterm customer retention, then you might include email marketing in your strategy. If you are looking to target a specific audience, such as Millennials, then the best avenue to reach themâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;in this case, mobile technology and social mediaâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;would be at the top of the list. Other goals might be creating more awareness and recognition of both the company and the individual loan officer, converting prospects to applicants and maintaining contact with both prospects and applicants.

The well-equipped toolbox Once youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve determined your plan of attack, management must provide to each and every LO and branch manager the sales tools necessary to ensure their success. That includes state-of-the-art marketing and technology support. Some of the most important elements are: l Personal branding: At a minimum, each LO should have their own website to promote not only the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand but also their own individual identity. Complementary marketing materials such as advertising, brochures, postcards, e-mails and social media postings should also be LO-branded. These materials should be provided and produced by the company, not the individual LO. That ensures the messages going out to consumers are not only compliant with all state and federal regulations but also with company policies. It also ensures that LOs are spending their time originating mortgages, not writing marketing materials. l Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software: Having a good CRM system is a must-have, not a nice-to-have, in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business. Lenders are under

increased scrutiny by state and federal regulators to ensure that every message they send out–no matter in what format or channel–doesn’t mislead or deceive customers, even unintentionally. Partnering with a reputable third-party CRM provider to create and vet your messages will ensure they are accurate, consistent throughout the organization and compliant. While there are lots of CRM programs and vendors available, it’s important for your company to have one designed specifically for the mortgage industry, with a huge library of different messages and formats. That will reduce startup time and increase efficiency rather than using generic software and con-

verting the messages to the mortgage market. l Technology: Mobile device apps are another increasingly valuable tool in the marketing kit. Our mobile app, for example, allows borrowers and Realtors to calculate mortgage financing scenarios anytime and anyplace. The app also allows our loan officers to cobrand with real estate agents and their other referral sources, thereby strengthening their relationships with them. LOs can share a co-branded version of the app with their partners which they can in turn send out to their customers, giving them greater ease to contact them.

l Social media: Use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for getting in touch with clients, but not selling. Invite and encourage existing and potential clients to interact with you as neighbors who live in the same community and have the same aspirations and concerns. Use social media to celebrate their victories, like getting a mortgage and buying a home. And if their experience is positive, they’ll be happy to share that with others. l Traditional advertising: Don’t forget old-fashioned advertising. Billboards, bus and bench ads, and print ads that publicize the loan officer’s photo, name and phone number can be a big differentiator from the competition.

While LOs at many companies incur this expense themselves, some companies help out by deferring or subsidizing the cost. l Community involvement: This is probably one of the most overlooked aspects of marketing, but it’s also one of the most important, particularly for a new branch. One of the best ways to succeed in a new market is by becoming a contributing and vital part of the community. After all, that’s where your business is going to come from. Participating in neighborhood events and community organizations is not only fun and rewarding but enables LOs to reach out continued on page 66

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to potential customers and referral partners. When your friends need a mortgage or know someone who does, they’ll know whom to call. Homebuyers will more likely make an investment in the community if they know you’ve done the same thing. l Your Rolodex: Just because you’re representing a new brand doesn’t mean you should be focusing exclusively on new customers. Studies show that it costs five to 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to market to your existing clients.

Plus it’s a lot more work for the same payoff. Your best asset is your existing customer base and referral network. You should be in regular touch–once a month or quarterly isn’t too often–with your customer base, whether it’s through a newsletter, e-mail, regular mail or a phone call. Every month that you ignore your database could be costing you thousands of dollars in new business. But just as important to contacting your existing clients is how you do it. Consumers today aren’t looking to be sold some-

thing; they want you to build a relationship with them. So make it personal. Keep track of what your contacts like, such as their favorite sports teams or restaurant, then send them a magnet with the team’s schedule or invite them to dinner. Going the extra mile with those personal touches will help your clients remember you when it’s time for their next mortgage transaction, or when they’re asked by friends or relatives for a referral. That’s when your marketing efforts really pay off. l Customer service: Of course, don’t forget that the most effective aspect of marketing is providing a great customer experience.

Pretty much every lender has the same rates and fees. What will differentiate you from the pack, and cement your reputation in a new area, is always providing the best service. Make sure you’re supported by a company whose every employee shares your passion for always closing loans on time, every time. Kristi Howard is the marketing manager for Assurance Financial in Baton Rouge, La. She has more than 15 years of marketing leadership experience, and assists the company’s branches and loan officers in their marketing and advertising efforts. She can be reached by e-mail at KHoward@LendTheWay.com or by phone at (225) 239-7148.

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www.callfurst.com

“Facebook provides a space where it’s easy to reach a large and diverse audience without going overboard on expenses.”

Facebook Marketing for Mortgage Industry Professionals By Lisa Coleman

Lisa Coleman is the communications and public relations coordinator for Norcom Mortgage. She graduated from DePaul University in 2015 with a BA degree in communication and media. Lisa joined Norcom Mortgage shortly after graduation, handling social media, copywriting, blogging and public relations responsibilities for the company.

www.mortgagenewsnetwork.com

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munication open with your audience. Engaging with clients as they interact with your posts can help them to trust you, as you’re being more transparent. This also helps with creating brand loyalty. One of the main goals of marketing is to expose your company exposure to as many relevant audiences as possible. By posting creative content and getting your clients to engage with it by sharing, liking and commenting, you are being proactive towards this goal. Having the resources to assess your audience and your content is just another benefit of creating a Business Page. Under Insights on your page, you are able to view stats about your “Likes” and your content, to see which information and posts peaked your audience’s attention. Knowing these stats can help you better understand your client’s interests and you can adjust your strategy or content accordingly. Other Insights you have include watching how your competition is doing and how you are comparing to them on Facebook. This can help you to understand what content is working and how to differentiate yourself from the competition. Another advantage to marketing yourself or your company on Facebook is being able to advertise without a huge expense. Instead of traditional advertising where your target base is broad, Facebook lets you cater your ad towards whichever demographic you would like to target, only showing your message in newsfeeds that fit. For example, if you would like to advertise a new loan product towards established and affluent individuals in New Jersey, Facebook allows you to be incredibly specific when choosing your demographic. You can narrow your audience down to men and women; ages 40-65; homeowners;

and attentive online, they will trust you to uphold those same practices offline. Marketing isn’t just exposing your brand to whoever will listen, it’s about showcasing your value to those who need your expertise and building client relationships that will help benefit both parties in the end. Facebook provides a space where it’s easy to reach a large and diverse audience without going overboard on expenses. After setting up a Business Page free of charge, you are able to connect with current or past clients, while gaining credibility that will attract new clients. Facebook advertising is done based on your own budget, target demographic and goals, which is a great way to reach specific audiences and market to their needs without breaking the bank. Using these methods on Facebook also allow you to see results that you may not get through other forms of marketing without extensive research and data collecting. Through trial and error, you are able to find out what’s working well with each demographic and maximize the impact you or your company have the public. Market your company online and you’ll be taking a giant step towards achieving your goals.

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Marketing yourself online is a smart move for any mortgage industry professional. One of the first moves that any consumer makes when they are interested in a service is research. Most individuals will form a decision based on what people they know have to say about it. Many will still choose to go online and do further research. Utilizing Facebook for marketing purposes can take you one step further in maintaining current client relationships, developing relationships with new clients, and building further credibility. Facebook provides a multitude of ways that you can promote yourself and/or your company. You have the ability to set up a Business Page for free, create Facebook advertisements, and easily engage with an audience you may not have been successful reaching previously. Setting up a Business Page on Facebook is setting you up for success. Whether you have a company Facebook Page or an individual one, a Business Page is essential for reaching a vast pool of potential clients and connections. Facebook can be considered the reigning king of social networking sites with one billion-plus users logging in and spending an average of 40 minutes online each day. Having the chance to expose your business to a large audience has become easier than ever before. Having a Business Page also allows you to show off your professional knowledge and expertise to your connections or “Likes.” This not only will help you develop credibility, but can also influence future clients to positively view you and your company. Posting content that you believe your clients will benefit from, while showing your personality, can help them to feel connected. You can use your Business Page as a way to keep com-

individuals who have a bachelor’s, doctorate, masters, and/or professional degree; interested in boating, luxury goods, real estate and golf; or located in the top five wealthiest zip codes in the state. By Facebook allowing you to get specific with your target demographic, you can be confident that your message is reaching your target demographic. You also specify your budget. You can choose to either pay for impressions or pay for link clicks, but you set your budget and the length of the campaign. When your ad campaign is over, Facebook keeps track of the data, which provides a nice visual to determine if the campaign was successful or not in the demographic selected. For example, if you set up an advertisement wanting to build your “Likes” on your Business Page, you are able to set up a campaign and find out how many people were reached and their gender, how many of each gender liked your page, the cost per page like, their ages, and where on Facebook they viewed the advertisement. This is all useful information that can help your company or your page gain brand awareness. Marketing yourself on Facebook can help you build your audience and your clients. When your audience interacts with your page by liking, sharing, commenting on content, writing a review or tagging you in their own posts, it’s important to engage back with them. By providing your audience with content they want to engage with, you are providing them with a service and forming a layer of trust. If people can trust you to be responsive, consistent,

“Build your own social media army by giving employees the encouragement and information they need to post about company developments through their personal social media activities.”

Make Your Employees Your Brand Champions By Andrea Obston Employees are your brand ambassadors. They are its communicators, defenders and protectors. They give life to your brand. And, like ambassadors to foreign lands, they have the power to bring your message to the locals. When your marking efforts include

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employees as a critical part of the mix, they understand their role in the process. And they feel empowered to live your brand in every customer interaction. When you empower your employees to hand-carry your brand to the world– through their social media posts, contact

with customers and interactions with the community–they give your marketing more traction than any other vehicle. Think about it: who is more credible when it comes to talking about your brand, a hired celebrity spokesperson or someone who interacts with your customers every day? Interestingly enough, your employees are a more trusted source of brand information than your own CEO. According to the Edelman’s Annual Trustbarometer Study, the everyday employee is two times more trusted than a company’s CEO. In that case, who better to carry your brand into the marketplace than your employees? The people who walk through your front door every day need to live and breathe your brand in everything they do at work. With the right culture, they will be there because they want to. Because they believe in your brand. Employees who feel a sense of pride in their companies are more likely to share those feelings through their own social media channels; to work harder for customers and to leverage any marketing campaign better than anything else. In his book Delivering Happiness, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh explains that the best way to protect a brand is to make sure it’s an integral part of the employee culture. If living your brand comes naturally to your employees, wherever they come in contact with your customers–on a sales call, during a face-to-face retail transaction, on the Web or in an e-mail— they will represent your brand authentically. “You can’t anticipate every possible touch point that could influence the perception of your company’s brand,” said Hsieh. That means that every customer interaction must be consistent with the brand you’ve crafted through your Web site, your PR and your online and traditional advertising. Ignoring this will inevitably turn those employees into “Your most likely Brand Assassins.” That’s a great line I had to steal from Mark W. McClennan, senior vice president of MSLGROUP. He adds that: “100 years of trust can be broken by an intern or an hourly employee.” Zappos gets this. Despite the fact that most of their transactions are online,

their employees are the primary focus of their marketing plans. Zappos employees live their company’s brand. Wake a Zappos employee up at 3:00 a.m. and they’ll be able to spout the company’s 10 core values. And when they get to work, living those values plays out in in every interaction they have with customers and with each other.

How to build a brand ambassador Businesses that want to create their own corps of brand ambassadors need to start by creating an authentic brand. One that honestly reflects the value the company and its products bring to the marketplace. One that mirrors the company’s core values that underpin their culture, their products and the way they treat their customers. Then, it’s a matter of hiring employees who are comfortable with that brand. After that, it’s all about encouraging those employees to carry the brand to the outside world. Here are a couple of ways to do that: l Educate your ambassadors: It’s important that every employee be on the same page when it comes to your brand. Make sure they understand your brand’s goals and strategies. Consider your employees as one of your most important target audiences. Rolling out a new product? Employees should see it first. Whenever Disney World opens a new park, the employees see it before it’s open to the public. Introducing a new iteration of your Web site? Make sure everyone in-house gets the first look. Opening a new branch? Your employees need to see the press release as soon as it’s public. l Celebrate your employees’ role as “Keepers of the Flame:” Emphasize the importance of each individual’s role in safeguarding the brand. Let them know that they are the keys in what you are trying to accomplish. Help them to understand how they add value to the company and why they are a critical part of its success. l Make employees your brand champions on social media: Employees

who are inspired by their work and active on social can help a brand build an emotional connection with customers. Build your own social media army by giving employees the encouragement and information they need to post about company developments through their personal social media activities. With their help and enthusiasm your brand can potentially reach thousands of individuals without spending a dime. Adobe created an online brand ambassador program in 2014. Their Corporate Reputation Team brought together 21 employees from seven different locations to take part in Adobe’s Brand Ambassador Program. These employees were already active on social media and Abobe asked them to help tell the company’s story. The group is routinely pre-briefed on Adobe announcements before they

become public and are given the chance to be the first to share this information through their own social media. Two of these employees, who went to Adobe’s annual creativity conference, MAX, shared what they learned and what happened at the conference through their own social media. They generated 5.5 million impressions in their five days at the conference. The Adobe Life blog, by comparison, generates about two million impressions per month. l Connect constantly: Make sure you give employees the information they need to carry your brand forward. Give them early information about upcoming promotions. Give them information and content that they can share in their social circles and in their daily interactions with customers. That might be through your

intranet, through regular e-mail blasts or through staff meetings.

encourage others to follow in their footsteps.

l Reward enthusiastic brand ambassadors: Employees who take up the charge to carry the brand forward deserve recognition. Acknowledge their efforts. It could be something as basic as a congratulatory email or handwritten note or a unique item that can be displayed in their offices. I once worked for an ad agency that gave out hockey sticks for employees who went above and beyond. Every one of their employees who earned one of those hockey sticks proudly hung them on their office walls. Or you might recognize superior brand ambassadors with a public shout-out in your employee newsletter or at an employee function. How about a spot on your Web site for enthusiastic brand champions? The idea is to

The bottom line is this: the best way to amplify every marketing effort is to make the best use of your most important marketing asset, your employees. The great ad man David Ogilvy once said: “My most important asset goes down the elevator every night.” Arm those assets with an understanding of your brand and empower them to deliver it. You’ll be mobilizing your most powerful resource to build and maintain market share. Andrea Obston is president of Andrea Obston Marketing Communications LLC, a firm that builds, enhances and defends reputations that lead to business success. She may be reached by email at AObston@AOMC.com or call (860) 243-1447. 69

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“Advertising clutter is a function of marketers focusing too much on impressions and not enough on quality.”

Back to the Future By Brent Emler

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You have thousands of customers in your database. These are real people who made a decision to buy from you when they were faced with the largest financial transactions any of them will likely make in their lifetimes. That customer trusted you with their social security number, their tax returns, their bank statements, their W-2s, and essentially anything else you asked them to tell you about their personal financial lives. Mortgages are the type of transaction that people used to have with their local stores. Before the advent of big box stores littering the land with nameless, faceless transactions, the seller-buyer relationship was, in a word, intimate. Purveyors of products and services took the time to get to know their customers. They inherently understood the value of customer lifetime value and the importance of loyalty. Somewhere along the line, we all became a number, didn’t we? We became a statistic, not an intimate relationship. To compound the issue, e-mail marketing is a medium that allows marketers to send out thousands of marketing pieces without an apparent direct cost. In 1759, Samuel Johnson wrote, “Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is therefore become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises, and by eloquences sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetic.” Imagine what he’d say today! Advertising clutter is a function of marketers focusing too much on impressions and not enough on quality. There are countless studies about the number of marketing ads consumers see on a daily basis. Some say as many as 5,000, but most hover in the 500 range. Regardless of the exact number, it is clear that consumers are presented with too many “magnificent and sublime” advertisements every

day. To combat all of these messages, consumers have developed what many in the advertising world refer to as “marketing armor.” Getting through to the hearts, minds and wallets of consumers is more difficult than ever before. If sending more emails and spending more on ads to maximize impressions isn’t the answer, what is?

One-to-one marketing One-to-one marketing, sometimes described as “personalized marketing,” is an extreme form of database marketing. Mass marketing aims to differentiate one product from another by maximizing the number of recipients in a campaign, whereas one-to-one marketing aims to drive content engagement through personalization. The goal of one-to-one marketing is to pierce through the marketing armor by tapping into the strongest emotion available to marketers: Trust. I spoke to Joe Puthur from Mortgage Coach about his take on the power of one-to-one marketing. Mortgage Coach provides an industry leading presentation tool that allows loan officers to provide easy to consume, easy to share, visualized mortgage advice. The platform offers a litany of terrific sales tools, but I was most interested in discussing how Mortgage Coach Presentations give loan officers an incredible leg up on the competition from a marketing standpoint. Joe immediately provided a terrific example of one-to-one marketing’s power. “If you were the consumer, what would you rather receive: A nice annual mortgage review postcard with a recommendation to give your loan officer a call, or a postcard with some basic information about your property and an offer to view a personalized loan scenario based on your current mortgage information and current mortgage rates on your mobile device? What if that presentation on your mobile

device provided a quick, narrated video directed at you specifically? Something like, ‘It’s been a year since you purchased your home. I hope it’s everything you had hoped for. I am providing this presentation to show you that you can sit tight; there’s no advantage to refinancing. If you know anyone who needs a mortgage, I hope that you will forward my information.’” Isn’t that incredibly powerful? Combining 3D marketing with digital marketing, and providing a highly connected experience for the consumer, makes them feel human again. Moving your marketing communications from product-driven to people-driven deepens relationships. The more targeted, specific, and personal marketing is, the more likely you are to not only get eyeballs (views), but also the hearts and minds behind them. Technology, like relational databases, APIs, and Web services, offers the ability to programmatically tap into LOS, CRM, MLS, pricing engines, Zillow, and Mortgage Coach data to provide incredibly rich action inducing content. Effectively, you can have the best of both worlds: intimate relational contact with consumers but on a massive scale. Automated, but intimate … scalable, but personal.

Does personalized marketing work? To answer that question, look no further than one of the most successful marketing companies on the planet: Coca-Cola. In June 2014, Coca-Cola launched its “Share a Coke” campaign with tremendous success, achieving a two percent increase in soft-drink sales. The campaign, which encouraged consumers to not only buy a Coke for themselves but to also share one with a friend or family member with their name on it, was attributed with growing sales for the first time in 10 years. Reportedly, the campaign moved sales from 1.7 billion servings per day to 1.9 billion servings per day! I experienced a great example of personalized marketing while on Facebook recently. I was quickly scrolling through my Newsfeed and noticed

a picture of a young guy wearing a sweatshirt with my very unique last name on it. I was immediately drawn to the image. At first glance, the image was confusing. Who was this unknown character wearing a sweatshirt with my last name on it? Come to find out, it was a company who was selling personalized sweatshirts. Through the power of variable merging, they were able to put my last name (presumably pulling it from my Facebook profile) onto a sweatshirt in an advertisement. I didn’t buy the sweatshirt, but I seriously considered it (and I have more sweatshirts than I know what to do with).

Personalized marketing 2.0: Behavioral marketing What’s the next level of personalized marketing? Personalized marketing humanizes the communication and makes it significantly more effective, but behavioral marketing drives a sale. If you consider the previous scenario where a personalized and narrated loan-specific presentation is viewed on a mobile device, it’s an amazing marketing impression, right? But what if it could be more? What if the opening of that presentation triggered an event in the CRM where the loan officer is prompted to call the client and then additional follow up phone calls are queued up for the originator when the presentation is viewed again or shared? In the past, direct marketing was either deep or broad. You were either able to connect with consumers on a human level, or you were able to send massive quantities of collateral. It was either quality or quantity; having both was too much to ask. Using today’s technology, savvy marketers are able to have the best of both worlds. Scalable relationship marketing is the future and the future is here. Brent Emler is director of sales and marketing at Velma.com, a customizable marketing software provider exclusive to the mortgage industry. He may be reached by e-mail at Brent@Velma.com.

“Make your mortgage acquisition direct mail efforts more effective so your next offer stands out in the mailbox, gets opened and receives a powerful response.”

Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Direct Mail Yields Powerful Results for Lenders By Michelle B. Peel Did you know there is one marketing channel that outperformed all digital channels last year by nearly 600 percent? And that the average return-oninvestment (ROI) for this channel was between 15-17 percent? And that the cost-per-acquisition for this channel was less than $20 per acquisition? Want to know which marketing channel delivered such powerful results? Keep reading.

According to the 2015 DMA Response Rate Report, direct mail outperformed all digital channels by an impressive

Direct mail and the mortgage industry According to market research firm Mintel Comperemedia, total direct mail volume for the vertical markets tracked increased by an impressive 4.66 percent from 24.6 billion pieces in 2014 to 25.8 billion pieces in 2015. Marketers continue to include and expand direct mail in their marketing budgets and, as a result, direct mail spend continues to increase. Direct mail spending is pre-

dicted to increase to $47 billion in 2016, an increase of 0.4 percent over 2015’s spending according to Winterberry Group.

How the mortgage industry uses mail Mortgage acquisition direct mail offers for 2015 totaled more than 852.1 million pieces of mail. This was 19.9 percent higher than mortgage’s 2014 annual acquisition mail volume of 710.4 million pieces of mail. The top mortgage acquisition direct mailers for 2015 were identified as Embrace Home Loans, Freedom Mortgage, NewDay Financial, Quicken Loans, and Third Federal Savings and Loan. Of the total mortgage acquisition direct mail volume for 2015, 76.3 percent was classified as Standard Class Mail and 77.5 percent were letter packages. One of the mortgage acquisition direct mail trends identified by market research firm, Competiscan, was strong incentives. For example, Fifth Third Bank offered current Fifth Third clients continued on page 72

It keeps subscribers informed of the regulatory and legislative updates, latest industry happenings and breaking news about the mortgage technologies and services.

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NMP Daily is the mortgage industry's source for news, insights, trends and tips.

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The power of direct mail: Value of direct mail and how it drives results for lenders

600 percent. Direct mail achieved a 3.7 percent response rate with a house list and a one percent response rate with a prospect list. All digital channels combined only achieved a 0.62 percent response rate (mobile 0.2 percent; email 0.1 percent for a prospect list and 0.1 percent for house list; social media 0.1 percent; paid search 0.1 percent; display advertising 0.02 percent). Direct mail also offers a strong ROI. In fact, it provided the same ROI as social media (15-17 percent). Cost-per-acquisition for direct mail is very competitive. At $19 per acquisition, it compared favorably to the digital channels: Mobile and social media (both at $16-18), paid search ($21-30), Internet display ($41-50)

and e-mail ($11-15). Direct mail creative formats have an impact on response rates as well. According to the study, oversized envelopes had the best response rate at five percent, followed by postcards at 4.25 percent, dimensional mail at four percent, catalogs at 3.9 percent and letter-sized envelopes at 3.5 percent. Multi-channel marketing continues to be embraced by marketers with 44 percent of respondents using three or more channels for their marketing efforts. The most popular channels tended to be e-mail, direct mail and social media.

signed, sealed and delivered continued from page 71

a free mortgage analysis and savings up to $800 for setting up automatic monthly mortgage payments. Capital One offered mortgage loan offers for pre-selected Capital One customers, including a bonus of $1,000 off closing costs. Quicken Loans offered a free 43inch, flat-screen TV as an incentive for closing on a reverse mortgage loan. Nationstar Mortgage and Popular Community Bank offered a cash incentive if offer guarantees were not met.

Mortgage industry cross-channel marketing Direct

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mail

optimizes

response

across channels when used in conjunction with other digital marketing tools, such as e-mail, Web sites, social media and mobile. Many mortgage marketers are taking advantage of the benefits of crosschannel marketing by using direct mail and e-mail together in a campaign to enhance response rates. Examples of direct mail and email cross-channel marketing efforts include Capital One e-mails with messaging that complemented their direct mail campaign promoting $1,000 off closing costs when prospects refinance their mortgage

with Capital One. Direct mail and email campaigns from Bank of America targeted existing customers with offers focusing on promotional rates and variable APRs for their home equity line of credit product. Freedom Mortgage’s direct mail offer used the teaser, “Breaking News” to alert prospects that interest rates were still low, encouraging them to streamline their mortgage to a low fixed-rate with an 800number as the call-to-action (CTA). Freedom Mortgage’s e-mail offer encouraged prospects to call an 800-number soon as interest rates are beginning to rise. You don’t need to launch an email acquisition mortgage campaign to engage in cross-channel marketing. You can integrate other channels by offering multiple response avenues. For example, simply direct applicants to your call center by highlighting a toll-free number, or use a pURL to drive them to the mortgage loan page on your Web site through the CTAs on your direct mail piece.

What’s working in the mailbox for lenders With the majority of 2015’s mortgage acquisition direct mail volume being Standard Mail Letter packages, lenders need to find ways to have their mortgage acquisition direct mail stand out in the mailbox, get opened and receive a response. To have your communications stand out in the mailbox, consider the following techniques: l Use a uniquely sized outer envelope. l Select a textured envelope paper stock. l Include a heavy stock insert or plastic card to heighten interest for the potential applicant. l Add a personalized tag line on the outer envelope or that can be seen through a window on the outer envelope such as, “John, Your Mortgage Information is Enclosed!” Once you have the potential mortgage applicant’s attention and they have opened your direct mail package, you need to keep their

attention so that they respond to your offer. One method used to increase response is to affix a card that contains your toll-free number as a CTA. You may also want to include an expiration date to create a sense of urgency. Personalize the card specifically to the prospective applicant so they feel they are getting a special offer. Or affix a personalized post-it note with your toll-free number as a CTA, “Jane, call today to lower your monthly mortgage payment! 1-800-5555555.” For qualified applicants, consider using a “pre-approved” message with a check format that includes the dollar amount of the potential mortgage loan. Mortgage lenders know their customers will likely shop around for the best mortgage rates. Including a competitor comparison table that highlights the best attributes of your offer will make this comparison process easier for the potential applicant. Use a prominent offer and CTA. Lower interest rates, lower down payments or no closing costs are strong offers currently being used by top mortgage lenders. Place the offer in a clear and prominent location and include the CTA in multiple areas on the mail piece. The sidebar and the P.S. are prime real estate areas on the letter to feature the prospective applicant’s specific qualifying APR and mortgage offer. Direct mail delivers powerful results for today’s mortgage lenders. Make your mortgage acquisition direct mail efforts more effective so your next offer stands out in the mailbox, gets opened and receives a powerful response. Even if you don’t see large increases in your mail responses, studies show response in other channels also benefit from your direct mail efforts. So invest your marketing dollars in the channel that has proven time and again that it’s worth the effort. Michelle B. Peel, marketing services specialist at IWCO Direct, has more than 20 years of direct marketing industry experience. She may be by e-mail at re a c h e d Michelle.Peel@IWCO.com or call (610) 562-1065.

new to market continued from page 49

Edward Pinto, co-directors of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) International Center on Housing Risk, the Wealth Building Loan is a program unlike many others. “Steve and I developed the Wealth Building Home Loan to provide homebuyers a way to build equity faster and achieve sustainable homeownership,” said Pinto. “Waterstone Mortgage’s national rollout of its new Wealth Building Loan is a strong validation of market interest.” Designed as an equity-creating mortgage option, the Wealth Building Loan requires no downpayment and offers eligible borrowers a 7-1 adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) with a 20-year amortization. The Wealth Building Loan also eliminates monthly mortgage insurance (MI) payments nearly four years sooner than a 30year conventional loan with a three percent downpayment. “The Wealth Building Loan is an important addition to Waterstone Mortgage’s wide array of loan products,” said Waterstone Mortgage President and CEO Eric Egenhoefer. “It fulfills an essential role in our product lineup because it caters specifically to savvy homebuyers who are interested in building equity quickly. The addition of the Wealth Building Loan will also help Waterstone Mortgage achieve our overall goal of serving as many potential homebuyers as possible.”

M O R T G A G E

P R O F E S S I O N A L

see page 85

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ATPR Inc. has announced that it would bundle related offerings into suites of products to better serve mortgage lenders and servicers. The new offerings provide mortgage originators and loan servicers with easy and affordable ways to get critical information they need to make better decisions. “Our intention is to maximize the value that we’re bringing to our clients, regardless of what part of the industry they are working in,” said Alok Datta, president of ATPR. “The products we’ve been offering to the Title industry for some time have been extremely well received. Now, we want to bring the same flexibility and utility to originators and servicers who need fast, lowcost access to critical real estate information. The new offerings make that possible.” With the new offerings, lenders interested in pursuing HELOC loans, for instance, would be able to take advantage of ATPR’s SmartProp (nationwide property reports) to confirm property ownership before utiliz-

calendar of events N A T I O N A L

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ATPR Launches Product Bundles for Lenders and Servicers

ing SmartVal (technology based broker price opinions) to verify the current property value, all quickly and affordably. The suite is available for individual properties or entire portfolios. Likewise, servicers working portfolios of non-performing loans can combine SmartProp for ownership and lien verification with SmartVal for pre-foreclosure property valuations. The company’s nationwide tax certificates (SmartTraK) and Municipal lien certificates can be added to either bundle. Datta calls these customized bundles

hybrid offerings that will allow ATPR cus- announcement related to the introduction tomers to save time and money while still of a new program, to the attention of: receiving the information they need to New to Market column make sound decisions. The customized Phone #: (516) 409-5555 product suites are available now. E-mail: Your turn newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com National Mortgage Professional Magazine invites you to submit any infor- Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are premation promoting new “niche” loan pro- ferred. The deadline for submissions is the grams, new products or any other 1st of the month prior to the target issue.

Three Reasons Why Lender

Sport fishing provides ap

rs Won’t ‘Catch Their Limit’

pt metaphors for today’s mortgage sales professionals By Chris Backe

An angler can have the best equipment in the world, but won’t catch a thing if they are fishing where the fish aren’t. Of course, most anglers do research by asking each other where the fish are biting, or by going online to read fish reports, or by simply asking the guy at the bait shop. Mortgage lenders, on the other hand, generally do not change where they “fish” for borrowers very often. Many work the same lead sources over and over, and loan officers typically focus on a single geographic area. Like fish, however, the behavior of mortgage borrowers—at least as a group—are constantly shifting. With low rates, a much-improved economy, rising home values, and an increasing pool of potential buyers, there are more interested borrowers than there have been in years. An interesting para-

borrowers. And like the anglers who use sonar and other technologies to locate fish, lenders and loan officers can also use technology to target their marketing and sales efforts on audiences that are most likely to yield results. continued on page 79

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Fishing in the wrong spots

that the majority of buyers now find their lenders online. While traditional marketing is still important, as time goes on, it will account for less new business. Fortunately, just as more borrowers are using the Internet to find lenders, lenders can also use the Internet to find

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You don’t have to be an angler to know that fishing is pretty hot nowadays. Cable TV shows like “Deadliest Catch” and “River Monsters” attract millions of viewers. Globally, commercial fishing and fish consumption are all at all-time highs. In the U.S., sport fishing in particular is experiencing a remarkable resurgence. According to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, more than 33 million people fish recreationally and more than $90 billion is spent every year on poles, bait, tackle boxes, licenses, and brimmed caps adorned with spare Eagle Claw hooks and lures. Professional sport fishermen haul in the big bucks from prize money and huge sponsorship deals, like NASCAR drivers but with much slower conveyances. Right now, a similar revival of sorts is happening in the mortgage industry. As summer approaches and millions of homebuyers look to take advantage of an improving real estate market, tens of thousands of lenders and loan officers are doing some fishing of their own. Millions of dollars are being spent on advertising, marketing materials, and automated marketing providers, as mortgage companies hope to maximize their haul of closed loans. For some, it will be great year for lending. Many others, on the other hand, are bound to hit disappointment, and there are three reasons why. I believe the fishing boom provides a number of interesting and instructional metaphors.

digm shift has occurred: lenders, not real estate agents, are now the most likely first point-of-contact for the majority of homebuyers, as consumers now realize they cannot buy a home unless they’re first able to qualify. Yet many lenders have not adjusted their business models to account for the fact

Hey Mortgage Brokers … Here Are Five Ways to Help Your Lenders to Achieve More

By Bubba Mills “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”—Napoleon Hill ou may know the name Napoleon Hill as the author of Think and Grow Rich, the book that has sold more than 20 million copies. But he also wrote a book called The Law of Success, and in that book, he shared what he called his golden rule and true secret of success: “Only by working harmoniously in cooperation with other individuals or groups of individuals and thus creating value and benefit for them will one create sustainable achievement for oneself.” Bottom line … if you want to be successful, think outside of yourself and about others. If you’re a mortgage broker whose goal is to be successful, I would suggest becoming a student of Napoleon Hill

and his theories of achievement. I’ve been in this business for most of my life and I know he’s hitting on the absolute bedrock of success when he says it’s all about helping others succeed. I’ve seen it day in and day out for my entire career. So how can you help your lenders achieve more in their work? Here are some tips I hope you find useful: 1. Involve your loan officers in the business. How do you think some football players would feel if they were excluded from the huddle? Not very valued, that’s for sure. Loan officers who feel involved in the business and who are allowed to offer ideas, opinions and suggestions will feel valued and engaged. And engaged employees become devoted to the organization and its customers. When you have happy, engaged employees, guess what? You’ll have happy customers.

2. Think R & R. No, not rest and relaxation (although make time for that, too), but Recognize and Reward. Another “R” is Research, and it has shown the best way to make employees feel appreciated is to recognize them in front of their peers. The best brokers take time to do this at least annually. And rewarding hard work, whether with raises, bonuses or time off, is a proven way to make lenders feel appreciated and needed by the company. 3. Adopt a servant’s heart. The author Pearl Buck once said, “To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.” The truth of the matter is this: Mortgage lending is a service business–yes, certainly for borrowers, but also for brokers serving their lenders with the tools they need to do their jobs. Without delivering knock-your-socks-off service to lenders, your business is sure to fail.

4. Make tools and training plentiful. Let’s face it, humans love their tools. From the earliest stone tools to cut meat, to Windows 10, tools make us more efficient: Smartphones, tablets, digital recorders, cameras, etc. And by letting lenders attend professional development courses, you’re telling them they matter. 5. Manage, but never micromanage. Many wise leaders in business have said they hire the right people and then let them do their jobs. Sure, you must manage, give direction and assistance, but you also have to trust and give freedom, too. Micromanaging is not only detrimental, it’s belittling. Bubba Mills is CEO of Corcoran Consulting & Coaching Inc. He may be reached by phone at (800) 957-8353 or visit CorcoranCoaching.com.

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Community Mortgage Lenders of America, Consumer Mortgage Coalition, Credit Union National Association, Habitat for Humanity International, Independent Community Bankers of America, Leading Builders of America, Mortgage Bankers Association, NAMB— The Association of Mortgage Professionals, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, National Association of Home Builders, National Association of Realtors, The Realty Alliance and U.S. Mortgage Insurers.

Bankers’ Study Finds TRID Creates More Problems Than Solutions

A new study by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is disputing some of the popular stereotypes of Millennials avoiding homeownership and seeking out urban settings for their residences. According to NAR’s 2016 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study, the share of Millennials buying in an urban or central city area decreased to 17 percent from last year’s level of 21 percent. Ten percent of surveyed Millennials purchased a multifamily home compared to 15 percent a year ago. But one stereotype about Millennial homeownership was affirmed: This youthful demographic was most likely to cite student loan debt (53 percent) as the debt that delayed saving, while credit card debt was indicated more by Gen X (44 percent) and younger Baby Boomers (36 percent). Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, noted that even if Millennials were eager to buy an urban home, their selection was not bountiful. “Limited inventory in Millennials’ price range, minimal entry-level condo construction and affordability pressures make buying in the city extremely difficult for most young households,” he said. “One of the many reasons housing supply has been subdued in recent years may be because a segment of homeowners have decided to delay trading up or moving down in order to pay down their debt, including from student loans.”

Americans Are Flipping Houses Again

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he Mortgage Action Alliance (MAA) scored a key victory recently when the Financial Services Committee unanimously approved the SAFE Transitional Licensing Act, which grants loan officers who move from a bank to a non-bank lender “transitional authority” to originate mortgages while they work to meet the SAFE Act’s licensing requirements. The Committee also approved Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)supported legislation that would promote the growth of a private flood insurance marketplace. A Call to Action was issued to MAA members remember regarding HR 2121, an MBA priority and an important bill for the mortgage industry that would provide transitional authority to originate mortgages for individuals who move from a federally-insured institution to a non-bank lender while they work to meet the SAFE Act’s licensing and testing requirements. HR 2121 was approved unanimously by the House Financial Services Committee recently, thanks in part to a group of MAA members who are constituents of members of the House Financial Services and received a targeted Call to Action asking them to contact their representative in support of the bill. While this was a huge victory for the industry, it is important that we gain even broader support of the bill in order to ensure that is considered by the full House. The MAA recently sent out a letter asking its members about any personal relationships that they have with their elected officials. These relationships can be incredibly valuable to our advocacy efforts on behalf of the industry. Please consider joining MAA and helping us leverage your personal relationships to advocate on behalf of our industry. The industry’s ability to navigate and manage these policy challenges will be critical to our efforts to serve consumers and responsibly grow our efforts on Capitol Hill. Getting involved with MAA allows industry professionals to play an active role in how laws and regulations that affect the industry and consumers are created and carried out by lobbying and building relationships with policymakers. It only takes a moment to get started, and you do not have to be a member of MBA to enroll. The larger the group, the louder the voice! If you would like to run an MAA campaign, please contact Peter Shapiro at (202) 557-2933 or e-mail PShapiro@MBA.org to receive an enrollment campaign kit and learn more about how you can engage your colleagues and employees in MBA’s advocacy programs. Real estate finance industry professionals who wish to join or learn more about MAA can do so at Action.MBA.org. If you have any questions regarding MBA’s advocacy programs, please contact MBA’s Director of Political Affairs Annie Gawkowski at (202) 557-2816 or AGawkowski@MBA.org.

Fowler Williams is chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Action Alliance. He is also president of Atlanta, Ga.-based Crescent Mortgage. He may be reached by phone at (800) 851-0263 or e-mail FWilliams@CrescentMortgage.net.

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One of the trends that dominated the housing world in the years leading up to the housing bubble is back. According to RealtyTrac’s YearEnd and Q4 2015 U.S. Home Flipping Report, 179,778 single family homes and condos were flipped last year, which totals 5.5 percent of all residential sales during the year. Last year’s number was slightly higher than the 5.3 percent share in 2014, and is also the first annual increase in the share of homes flipped after four consecutive years of decreases. Furthermore, the number homes flipped in 2015 saw year-over-year increases in 83 of 110—or 75 percent— of major metro areas analyzed for the report (75 percent). The states with the highest share of flips in 2015 were Nevada (8.8 percent); Florida (eight percent); Alabama (7.4 percent); Arizona (7.1 percent); and

A Message From MAA Chairman Fowler Williams

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Five months into the age of TRID and the nation’s bankers are still struggling with the onerous compliance burdens of this new rule. According to a survey of 548 financial services professionals conducted by the American Bankers Association (ABA), more than 75 percent of respondents acknowledged that TRID has resulted in delayed loan closings ranging from eight to 20 days. More than 90 percent of respondents said that their front-boarding and loan processing times have increased. And 25 percent of respondents stated that their banks no longer offer certain mortgage products because the TRID mandate “does not provide enough clarity.” Furthermore, 94 percent of respondents hoped that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) would extend its “good faith” grace period on TRID enforcement—the regulator has repeatedly refused to do this, despite pleas from the industry and legislators—while should be extended. Seventy-eight percent of respondents admitted that they have yet to receive system updates from their vendors and 83 percent are using manual workarounds. As for personnel costs, roughly half of survey participants said TRID compliance forced their bank to hire new staff to ensure the rule’s requirements are met. “It’s clear from this survey and our discussions with bankers that TRID compliance remains a significant concern,” said Bob Davis, ABA executive vice president, mortgage markets, financial management and public policy. “Consumers are seeing the greatest impact due to increased loan costs, fewer choices and delayed closings— and that’s not what this rule was intended to do. As we anticipated, our bankers are struggling to comply in part because the systems being provided by vendors are incomplete or inaccurate. The causes of many of these systems problems are ambiguities in the TRID rule that require resolution.”

Study Finds Millennials Prefer Suburban Homes

MBA’s Mortgage Action Alliance

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Mortgage Technology “You cannot replace all support staff in this industry of course, but you can certainly help make the job easier and handle more volume with technology.” By Andy W. Harris, CRMS

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’m a huge fan of mortgage software and technology. That is, technology that can make everything we do faster and easier. The more I can streamline the process and make a better experience for my clients, the faster I’ll pull out my wallet. My company has added a number of new technologies over the years, and we are always looking for that next wave of unique systems and ideas. It can take a lot of money to develop special software, so I believe feedback from the industry is critical to get it right. Each good form of technology I’ve either considered or even used seems to have everything other than a few minor (but vital) details. I question where the developers are getting their insight or ideas. Is it directly from the industry, or someone that used to work in the industry, possibly not cutting it, and now providing advice to or working for a tech company. Not necessarily the best advice if they were not a top performer and knowing what is needed for mortgage origination and operations. You cannot replace all support staff in this industry of course, but you can certainly help make the job easier and handle more volume with technology. Any time you can improve speed, compliance and processing, this is a huge value added proposition to a mortgage company. The most important thing these programmers and coders need (whatever you call them) is relative industry feedback from active, successful mortgage professionals. What is your favorite mortgage technology? Where have you found success in cutting costs or speeding up/improving the mortgage process? Are you an originator? Send in your stories! To have topics considered in future editions, please e-mail me with “OrigiNation” in the Subject Line at AHarris@VantageMortgageGroup.com. These can be confidential or your name and company can be referenced if you wish.

Andy W. Harris, CRMS is president and owner of Lake Oswego, Ore.-based Vantage Mortgage Group Inc. and past president of the Oregon Association of Mortgage Professionals. He may be reached by phone at (877) 496-0431, e-mail AHarris@VantageMortgageGroup.com or visit VantageMortgageGroup.com.

Tennessee (6.9 percent). The metro areas with the biggest year-over-year increase in share of flips were Lakeland, Fla. (up 50 percent); New Haven, Conn. (up 45 percent); Jacksonville, Fla. (up 41 percent); Homosassa Springs, Fla. (up 40 percent); and Akron, Ohio (up 37 percent). Among metro markets, the Miami area had the most homes flipped, with 10,658, representing 8.6 percent of all Miami-area home sales for 2015—a four percent increase from 2014. And what is the payoff for these flips? RealtyTrac reports that homes flipped in 2015 yielded an average gross profit of $55,000 nationwide, the highest level in 10 years. The average gross flipping profit represented an average gross return on investment of 45.8 percent, up from 44.2 percent in 2014 and up from a 35.3 percent in 2005. “As confidence in the housing recovery spreads, more real estate investors and would-be real estate investors are hopping on the home flipping bandwagon,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac. “Not only is the share of home flips on the rise again, but we also see the flipping trend trickling down to smaller investors who are completing fewer flips per year. The total number of investors who completed at least one flip in 2015 was at the highest level since 2007, and the number of flips per investor was at the lowest level since 2008.”

Multifamily Construction Spending Up 30 Percent YoY Spending on construction for multifamily housing far outpaced singlefamily housing in January, according to new data from the Associated General Contractors of America. Spending on multifamily residential construction increased by 2.6 percent for the previous month and skyrocketed 30 percent year-over-year, but singlefamily spending fell 0.2 percent from December while experiencing a respectable 6.6 percent increase compared to January 2015. Private residential spending was flat for the month but increased 7.7 percent compared to January 2015, while private nonresidential construction spending increased one percent for the month and 11.5 percent from a year earlier. “There were solid gains for both the month and year in apartment, non-residential and highway construction,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Although favorable weather may have boosted these results, demand for many types of projects remains strong despite worries that the overall economy has slowed.”

National Mortgage Settlement Monitor Concludes Servicing Oversight Another chapter in the aftermath of the 2008 crash came to a conclusion as the federal monitor for the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS) announced that his office uncovered no failed metrics by the original NMS servicers during the third quarter of 2015 and will now end the NMS rules imposed on those companies. In the report “Original Servicers’ Final Compliance Update” with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, NMS Monitor Joseph A. Smith Jr. affirmed that the remaining servicers under this authority—Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Ditech and Wells Fargo—successfully met their NMS mortgage servicing standards during the third quarter and are no longer in need of his oversight. “The Settlement has improved the way these servicers treat distressed borrowers,” said Smith. “The banks undertook more than 630,000 transactions and provided borrowers with more than $50 billion in consumer relief, and I believe the Settlement contributed towards the rebuilding of public trust and confidence in the mortgage market. I hope that it will inform future regulation of financial institutions and markets.”

New Report Finds Imbalance Between Renter Population and Affordable Units The renter population is growing in the 11 largest metropolitan areas, but affordable housing options in these markets are shrinking, according to the newly-released NYU Furman Center/Capital One National Affordable Rental Housing Landscape report. Using a definition of “affordable rent” to cover less than 30 percent of a household’s income, the report tracked housing trends in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., between 2006 and 2014. In all 11 metro areas, the renter population grew faster than the inventory of affordable rental units—and by 2014, the typical renter could afford fewer than 40 percent of the units on the market in the previous year in nine of those areas. In the Miami, New York, and Los Angeles metro areas, the typical renter could afford fewer than 25 percent of rental units. “This study shows that affordable housing is becoming increasingly out of continued on page 83

why lenders won’t ‘catch their limit’ continued from page 75

You’re using terrible hooks

While there are obvious similarities between fishing and sales, people aren’t as simple as fish due to a broad array of motivational and personal factors. So lenders who think of borrowers in an overly simplistic way aren’t doing themselves or their customers any favors. Still, to achieve success in either endeavor, the underlying dynamics are the same. One needs preparation, research, information, attractive offerings, timing and tools to get the job done. Interestingly, superstition plays a significant role both in fishing and in sales. Many lenders cast their nets far and wide and pray for the best. But as time goes on, there is a growing realization that this is not enough. Today’s sales game is less about guesswork than it is about science. Technology in particular is transforming the sales process through marketing automation, lead management, and telephony. By putting all these tools together, lenders should have no problem catching their limit this year. The funny fishing hats are optional. Chris Backe is the director of financial services at Velocify, and a sales automation expert with more than 20 years of experience offering technology solutions to multiple industries. Chris has spent the last 10 years in the financial services industry, holding various positions at industry leading technology companies including Ellie Mae and Salesforce. He can be reached by e-mail at CBacke@Velocify.com.

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Your fishing line is weak In fishing, it’s one thing to go where the fish are and use attractive bait and the right sized hooks. But it all means nothing if your line breaks. And in the mortgage industry, the proverbial fishing line breaks all the time. Let’s say you’ve got a borrower’s interest, and you’ve responded to that borrower within minutes and even have an application in hand. Think it’s a done deal? No way. Today’s borrowers are not just impatient. They’re often unfaithful. They will two-time lenders to make sure that they’re not only getting the best product and rate, but also to make sure they feel good. That doesn’t make them bad people or unworthy of your time. It makes them smart. A

Reeling it in

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As the homebuying season heats up, many lenders are flooding the market with sharp-looking e-mails, flyers and postcards, and spending large sums on print, online, and broadcast advertising. In fact, mortgage marketing is a burgeoning industry. Several large lenders have formed partnerships with automated marketing vendors to ensure their campaigns are flashy, consistent, and hopefully effective. Yet for many, the effort will be largely wasted. It’s not terribly difficult for lenders to make a fuss about themselves and get noticed by borrowers. The hard part is making a lasting connection with those prospects when they respond. Like the angler who relies on timing and hooks that are the right shape and size for their catch, so too must lenders know how to “hook” potential borrowers by getting them to fill out an application, locking rates, and start the loan process moving. Sadly, most lenders have no idea how to bridge the gap between their marketing and sales efforts. Even worse, many are letting quality borrower leads pile up in voicemail or their email inboxes. Maybe they’ll check these leads once or twice a day. That is, if they’re not too busy with (probably) less important minutiae. That might have worked 10 years ago, but not today. Today’s borrowers are different. Thanks to new technology and our increasingly “always-online” consumer culture, today’s borrower is more impatient than ever. When they want answers, and they want them now, and if they can’t get answers, they’ll go somewhere else. Unless lenders find the tools to “hook” prospects by responding to them as quickly—preferably in under five minutes—they may not be around very long. That’s because a growing number of savvy competitors will be beating them to the punch.

home is the most expensive thing they will buy and they have spent the past decade reading about how awful mortgage lenders can be. Borrowers want good service, and if they feel like they’re not getting it because they are not being listened to or because they aren’t getting answers fast enough, they will leave you for someone who can give them what they want. This is similar to the angler who experiences a snapped line and is suddenly back to square one after thinking he hooked a good one. So what makes a strong line in mortgage sales? The vast majority of customer complaints in the housing industry aren’t about whether borrowers felt they got a good deal, but how quickly, consistently, and completely their lenders communicated with them. Obviously, lenders should do these things, right? Well, no one is perfect, and when we have too much “stuff” on our plate, we can forget and become distracted. However, technology can be used to ensure that we get back to our customers as quickly as possible—and if we can’t do it ourselves, someone from our team can help.

Keys to Peer Leadership: An Unlikely Source By Kevin E. O’Connor, CSP s a small business chief executive officer observed a window washer at the Atlanta airport one day, she asked what she thought to be a straightforward question, “What’s the secret to window washing?” “No secret, ma’am,” the window cleaner said as he continued working. “I just focus on keeping on with my tools and my experience. I keep on going.” The master continued working with

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repeated, slick motions, his tool remaining fixed to the glass, and leaving not one smudge. Then, true to his word, he kept on going. When the CEO asked what was in the blue water, the cleaning professional smiled and said, “I can’t tell you that! If you knew that, you could do my job!” Then, before attacking another pane, he said, “It is very special, though.” When a professional window cleaner uses just the right combination of resources: Minimal tools, years of experience, a flowing and non-stop motion, and a secret concoction of suds, his or her work is efficient, engaging and

looks natural—perhaps easy—to those who observe. Unlike the window washer, many team leaders don’t find their work to be efficient, easy or appear natural. These leaders often do not have degrees in leadership. They are promoted because they are very good at their jobs. Their former colleagues and friends now report to these “peer leaders.” There is a skill to leading your former peers without encountering resistance, resentment and regret. When your toolbox contains a simple collection of thinking, communicating, and acting that is coherent, ordered and

intentional, your leadership appears as if it is natural. When you’re charged with leading a team of your peers or former peers, the right combination of resources makes all the difference. The following techniques should be at the core of every peer leader’s toolbox.

1. Minimal tools keep you focused The most effective leader uses only one tool: His or her personality. One great peer leader uses his thirst for understanding and information. When a member of his team enters his office, he asks that person to be the teacher

while he plays the role of student. “Any questions I ask are merely a student asking,” he explains. “Then, I never use the words ‘I’ or ‘you’…I only use the words ‘we’ and ‘us.’ I want them walking out of my office feeling better than when they walked in.” By using the mindset of education, the pressure is removed from his “teacher” so that no question is off limits. This philosophy sets the tone for education and teamwork. If, instead, he were to use his intellectual curiosity to demonstrate that only he knew the correct answer, he could face resentment. The best peer leaders learn to harness their personality to inspire trust and teamwork.

2. Experience gives you credibility

There are few things more beautiful than a leader who knows how and when to listen and where and when to speak; the times to agree and those to dissent; when to stay with the group and those other times when to go out on a limb. Just as the window washer intentionally follows a specific pattern, the successful leader never allows these moments to be chance events. Instead, they are always intentional. While employees sometimes want to be inquisitive, your peers want to be connected with you. With intimacy comes great trust and loyalty.

Famous chefs sometimes share their secret recipes, for they know what many of us have learned after carefully following the same recipe three times: There are just some techniques that can’t be explained with words. Food rarely tastes the same way twice and rarely as good as it does in your favorite restaurant! The window washer humorously refused to share the ingredients in his bucket for fear of being replaced. The best peer leaders are afraid that their talents and “secret concoction” may go unused, so they focus on how their team is furthering the company’s mission. When leading a group of your peers, you must have a firm hold on the secret formula that lies within you. Ask your team members what they believe to be your “secret sauce,” and be ready to listen without judging their responses. You may find that your team wants you to talk more at meetings, even though you might think you talk too much. Your team may want you to consult them but ultimately make a firm decision, while you may lead by consensus for you fear making decisions alone. When your team tells you what they want, find a way to do what they have asked! Dolly Parton said, “Figure out who you are and then do it on purpose.” All of what you do as a leader must be naturally intentional, obviously purposeful, yet elegantly skillful. Kevin E. O’Connor, CSP, is a facilitator, medical educator and author. He focuses on teaching influence to scientific and technical professionals who are charged with leading teams of their former peers. He presents and coaches more than 175 times per year around the world to corporations, individuals, associations and nonprofits about how to move teams from conflict to consensus. For more information, visit KevinOC.com, e-mail Kevin@KevinOC.com or call (847) 2088840.

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3. A flowing, non-stop motion is very intentional

4. Your secret formula keeps you ever useful

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Just as window washers have wellexercised wrists, your team wants to see that you still need and relate to them. While your team is working to create the next product, researching relevant case law, or driving across town at a moment’s notice to meet with a customer, they want to know that you’re there with them. Sometimes that means that they want your hands working alongside theirs, and sometimes it just means that they want to know that you understand their daily routines, frustrations and joys. Regardless of which approach your team members prefer, they want you to guide them in the next, and right direction. Your team will remember that you were there with them when you encourage. Today’s culture makes it easy for bosses to find faults, but you will have much greater influence when you frequently ask this question of your team members: “You know what I liked about what you did (or said)?” Be relentless as you look to find the ways that their input, skills and contributions have benefited the entire team. This is always of interest to the receiver; no one has ever responded, “No, I don’t want to know what you liked!”

A consistent engagement with your team on a personal level (within the business environment) turns your role from that of a boss to one of a fearless leader, mentor, and teacher. This intimacy comes when you go beyond their favorite sports team to learn about their childhood passions, when you understand their family’s immigration experience deeply affected their outlook on international business, and that their selfdirected nature comes from their Eagle Scout training. To the inexperienced leader, these characteristics are mere factoids. The best peer leaders know that an understanding of these experiences and traits lead to unbreakable loyalty, an impassioned work-ethic and—most importantly to the company’s owners— higher profits.

Industry Announcements: March 2016 By Melanie A. Feliciano Esq. CFPB corrects typographical error The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued a correction to the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Final Rule, correcting a typographical error contained in the Supplementary Information to confirm that prepaid property taxes, homeowner’s association dues, condominium fees, and cooperative fees are not subject to the zero percent tolerance category. This correction became effective Feb. 10, 2016. If property taxes, homeowner’s association dues, condominium fees, and cooperative fees are still categorized under the zero percent tolerance category, please update your systems or make sure that your loan origination system or document preparation provider has updated the programming on the Integrated Disclosures to reflect the above. New Jersey increases maximum principal loan amount subject to High Cost Act of 2016 On Feb. 17, 2015, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) published Bulletin No. 16-01, which provides the annual adjustment to the maximum principal amount of a loan that will be subject to the New Jersey Homeownership Security Act of 2002. For 2016, the maximum principal amount has been increased to $468,236.30. Loans with principal amounts exceeding this figure will not be subject to the Act's provisions. The revised amount is effective for all completed applications received by a lender on or after Jan. 1, 2016.

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FHA issues temporary partial waiver for missing paragraphs on FHA Security Instruments Since the effective date of FHA Handbook 4000.1, there has been some controversy regarding the exclusion of the “required uniform covenants including Paragraph 9—Grounds for Acceleration of Debt and Paragraph 18—Foreclosure Procedure” from FHA’s Security Instruments, as required by the Post-Closing/Endorsement Section of the Handbook. Contrary to what is provided in the Post-Closing/Endorsement Section of the Handbook, HUD’s Instructions for the Model Mortgage do not require the inclusion of Paragraph 9 and Paragraph 18. Many in the residential mortgage lending industry have complied with the Model Mortgage Instructions, believing that this was the authoritative set of documents to follow. However, the discrepancy between the Handbook and Model Mortgage instructions has resulted in many investors refusing to buy FHA loans if FHA security instruments do not comply with the Handbook by including Paragraph 9—Grounds for Acceleration of Debt and Paragraph 18—Foreclosure Procedure. Accordingly, the issuance of FHA Info #16-03 on Feb. 2, 2016, is welcome news, as it reconciles the discrepancy between the Post-Closing/Endorsement Section of the Handbook and the Model Mortgage Instructions. FHA Info #1603 provides for a: Temporary partial waiver associated with the requirements contained in the SF Handbook related to required paragraphs in the model mortgage notes that mortgagees must confirm are contained in the security instrument. The waiver covers portions of the SF Handbook’s Post-Closing/Endorsement Section in subsection II.A.7.b.iv, which reference obsolete paragraphs in the model forms. The temporary partial waiver became effective immediately and will remain in effect until FHA communicates any future changes. Melanie A. Feliciano Esq. is DocMagic Inc.’s chief legal officer and currently serves as editor-in-chief of DocMagic’s electronic compliance newsletter, The Compliance Wizard. She received her JD from the Georgetown University Law Center, and is licensed in California and Texas. She may be reached by phone at (800) 649-1362 or e-mail Melanie@DocMagic.com.

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heard on the street continued from page 46

l Stephen Bachman has joined Mortgage Network Inc. as a branch manager in the company’s Wildwood, N.J. office where he will be responsible for serving homebuyers and homeowners throughout the Philadelphia and Jersey Shore areas. Kristin Callahan has also joined Mortgage Network Inc. as a senior loan officer in the company’s Burlington, Mass. branch office. Veteran mortgage professional Ward Kerlin has rejoined Mortgage Network Inc. as a senior loan officer in the company’s Conshohocken, Penn. branch office, responsible for serving borrowers and homeowners throughout the Philadelphia metropolitan area. l radius financial group inc. has announced the hiring of David O’Connor as chief technology officer at the company’s corporate headquarters based in Norwell, Mass. l Churchill Mortgage has announced that Whitney Blessington has been named vice president of marketing. In this role, she will lead the continued development of its messaging and communication strategies across traditional and emerging digital channels. l Catalyst Lending has announced its further expansion in the state of Utah with the opening of several new branches. Brant Hayward has opened Catalyst Lending’s second branch in Ogden, Utah and is acting as the Ogden branch manager. In his new role, he will focus on driving growth in the Ogden market. Catalyst Lending’s third Utah branch in Sandy, has been opened by Jim Rogers. Jim will serve as the new Sandy branch manager. Rogers has been helping clients purchase or refinance their homes since 1986. Gregg Driggs has been appointed branch manager in Spanish Fork, Utah. Driggs has been in the mortgage industry since 1988 and is proud that the majority of his business comes from referrals. l Silver Hill Funding, a division of Bayview Loan Servicing LLC, has announced the addition of Juan Barcelo to the company’s sales representative team to further develop the company’s small-balance commercial lending in the Southeast Region. Silver Hill has also announced the addition of two new small-balance experts to the company’s sales representative team, as Kelly Smutek and William Martinelli have joined the company to further develop their growing smallbalance commercial deals in the Northeast Region. l Caliber Home Loans has announced that Bill Giandurco has joined the company as Southeast Divisional Builder/Business Development Manager. Caliber has also announced that Sanjiv Das has been appointed

l l

chief executive officer, succeeding Joe Anderson, who is retiring from the roles of chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors. Equity Prime Mortgage, whose operations extend to more than 45 states, has expanded its Wholesale Lending Division by hiring nine new sales employees: Lee Ann Casanova and Craig Chapman as regional sales managers, and Cathy Castle, Thomas Goguen, Ron Holland, Sara BjellosHood, Gianna Izzo-Stringer, Greg Kewin and Cynthia Perkins as account executives. Bay Equity Home Loans has welcomed back Todd Struyk as a loan officer in San Diego. LoanLogics has announced that Leah Fox has assumed the role of executive vice president of technology and services delivery. GSF Mortgage has added Melody Hanley as mortgage loan originator in Littleton, Colo., joining the company with 11 years in the mortgage banking industry. GSF has named Michael Benson as a new branch manager located in Richland Center, Wis., joining the firm with 13 years of mortgage industry experience. GSF has also announced the addition of Scott Finklea as branch manager in Mandeville, La., joining the company with 13 years of mortgage industry experience. GSF has also named James Estakhrian as branch manager in Irvine, Calif., joining the company with 25 years of experience in both the mortgage and construction industries. David H. Stevens, CMB, president and chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), has announced the appointment of Lionel Lynch as vice president of Strategic Member Relations. Docutech has announced the addition of Harry Gardner as its new executive vice president of eStrategies, where he will lead the development of Docutech’s corporate and product strategy toward fully integrated eClosing capabilities, as well as related advanced features and functionality using electronic documents and eSignatures. Inlanta Mortgage has announced multiple promotions in several key positions. John Knowlton, who started Inlanta Mortgage in 1993 with two branch locations, will leave his post as chief executive officer to serve as chairman of the board. Nicholas DelTorto will remain president and assume the role as CEO. Chris Knowlton, former vice president of marketing and information technology, will assume the role of senior vice president and chief information officer. Joe Ramis, former vice president of business development, is now senior vice president of loan

production for Inlanta. l Dart Appraisal has announced the addition of two national account executives for regions across Texas, as Timothy Coleman will cover south Texas, having previously served as an enterprise sales executive for AT&T, covering Houston, Texas, and Gary Hale to cover the north Texas area including Dallas/Fort Worth. Dart Appraisal has also announced the addition of Brian Killian as national account executive for the states of Missouri and Kansas. l Chronos Solutions has added industry veterans Matt Harrick as senior vice president of Middle Markets and Darcy Patch as vice president of Marketing, as well as title industry veterans John Macias as Western regional director of Title and Settlement Services, and Edward Gonzalez as team captain. l loanDepot has announced the launch of its consumer experience and product development team with the appointment of Tim Von Kaenel as chief product officer, Rick Medeiros as chief digital officer, and Helen Wang as head of consumer experience. l Home Point Financial Corporation has announced that Steven J. Sless has joined the company as branch manager of the Towson, Md. branch to focus on the continued expansion of their reverse mortgage channel. l Mid America Mortgage Inc. Owner and Chief Executive Officer Jeff

Bode has announced the firm has hired four new account executives in its Wholesale and Correspondent Lending Division: Kelly DahoodBondra, Susan Eiland, Mike Tackett and Gene Lanier. l Janell Downing has been promoted to the role of senior vice president, agency manager of the Midwest Region by WFG National Title Insurance Company. l ResMac Inc. has added three business development and sales executives to its Correspondent and Wholesale Channels: Paul M. Perez, vice president, regional sales manager (Chicago-based); Jay McArthur, senior account executive (Texas); and Reed Schenk, account executive (California).

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.

nmp news flash continued from page 78

General Electric (GE) has quietly announced that it is the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) probe regarding the sale of sub-prime mortgages in the period leading up to the 2008 crash. According to a Reuters report, GE acknowledged the DOJ probe in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission—neither GE nor the DOJ

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.

s the mortgage market has continued to evolve since the financial crisis, a lot has changed at Ginnie Mae. A major change has been the shift in the Issuer base from depositories to non-depositories, also known as independent mortgage bankers. Because of the flexibility and strength of our model, we were able to facilitate this shift almost seamlessly. In our continuing effort to be as customer-friendly as possible, later this summer, we will issue a new Pool-Type Code designed specifically for modified or re-performing loans. The pool will be non TBA eligible, and at this point, is primarily for exploration and price discovery. We’ll see how the pool performs, pre-pays and tracks over time. This experiment will help determine how the capital markets would price non-TBA pools made up of modified and re-performing loans. Our first release will be of loans on our balance sheets—primarily made up of loans from the Taylor Bean & Whitaker settlement. Eventually, we will share our price discovery with the industry and may, at some point, provide it as an option for Issuers to use in the future. This does not in any way change our current program, and it is not mandatory. Modified loans will still be accepted in Ginnie Mae II pools, and 83 we don’t see this changing. Our primary goal is to develop a way to re-pool performing loans already on our balance sheet. This is a good way to test the waters to see how this type of pool will trade and possibly, depending upon what we find out, expand our toolbox of offerings. We will be sure to update the industry as this initiative develops, so look for more on that in the coming months.

Ted W. Tozer is was sworn in as president of Ginnie Mae on Feb. 24, 2010, bringing with him more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage, banking and securities industries. As president of Ginnie Mae, Tozer actively manages Ginnie Mae’s $1.5 trillion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and more than $460 billion in annual issuance.

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

DOJ Subpoenas GE in Sub-Prime Probe

publicly announced the investigation. The probe, which began last month with the issuance of subpoenas to GE’s now-defunct WMC Mortgage Corp. and to GE Capital, focuses on subprime mortgages that were originated between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007. WMC is also being investigated for possible violations of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989. “We will cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation, which is at an early stage,” GE said in its filing.

By Ted W. Tozer

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

reach for many low- and even moderate-income renters in the nation’s largest metro areas—both in the central cities and their surrounding suburbs,” said Ingrid Gould Ellen, faculty director of the NYU Furman Center. “In all of the metro areas we studied, the renter population grew faster than the housing stock. As supply did not keep pace with this growth in demand, vacancy rates decreased, the average number of people living in a rental unit increased, and, in most areas, rents rose.”

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calendar of events N A T I O N A L

M O R T G A G E

P R O F E S S I O N A L

APRIL 2016

Monday-Tuesday, April 18-19

Tuesday, June 21

Friday, September 16

Monday-Tuesday, April 4-5

National Association of Professional Mortgage Women 2016 Annual Convention The Luxor Resort & Hotel 3900 South Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas For more information, call (860) 922-3441 or visit NAPMWAnnual.com.

Great Northwest Mortgage Expo 2016 Embassy Suites Washington Square 9000 SW Washington Square Road Tigard, Ore. For more information, call (860) 922-3441 or visit GreatNorthwestExpo.com.

OriginatorConnect 2016 Mohegan Sun 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard Uncasville, Conn. For more information, call (860) 9223441 or visit OriginatorConnect.com.

JULY 2016

Saturday-Monday, September 24-26

Monday-Tuesday, July 11-12

NAMB National 2016 The Luxor Resort & Hotel 3900 South Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas For more information, call (860) 719-1991 or visit NAMBNational.com.

New York Association of Mortgage Brokers 28th Annual Wholesale Conference & Trade Show Empire City Casino 810 Yonkers Avenue • Yonkers, N.Y. For more information, call (914) 315-6644 or visit NYAMB.org.

Monday-Tuesday, April 4-5 National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association Eastern Regional Meeting & Finance Investment Forum The Hotel Intercontinental New York Times Square 300 West 44th Street • New York, N.Y. For more information, call (202) 939-1784 or visit NRMLAOnline.org.

Tuesday, April 19 2016 Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals Suncoast Chapter Trade Show The Holiday Inn 6231 Lake Osprey Drive Lakewood Ranch Fla. For more information, e-mail MartyRemillard@gmail.com or call (941) 223-9416.

Tuesday, April 5

Thursday, April 7

National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association 2016 Western Regional Meeting The Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa 21500 Pacific Coast Highway Huntington Beach, Calif. For more information, call (202) 939-1784 or visit NRMLAOnline.org.

Tuesday-Friday, October 4-7

American Land Title Association Federal Conference & Lobby Day Renaissance Downtown 999 9th Street NW • Washington, D.C. For more information, call (202) 296-3671 or visit ALTA.org. JUNE 2016

American Land Title Association 110th Annual Convention Fairmont Scottsdale Princess 7575 East Princess Drive • Scottsdale, Ariz. For more information, call (202) 296-3671 or visit ALTA.org.

Wednesday-Saturday, August 17-20 Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals 2016 Annual Convention Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate 1500 Masters Boulevard ChampionsGate, Fla. For more information, call (850) 9426411 or visit MyFAMP.org.

Thursday-Friday, August 18-19 Louisiana Mortgage Lenders Association 2016 Annual Education Conference New Orleans Riverside Hilton 2 Poydras Street • New Orleans, La. For information, call (225) 590-5722 or visit LMLA.com.

Sunday-Wednesday, June 5-8

SEPTEMBER 2016

National Notary Association 38th Annual Conference The Hyatt Regency Orange County 11999 Harbor Boulevard Garden Grove, Calif. For more information, call (844) 466-2266 or visit NationalNotary.org/Conference.

Texas Mortgage Roundup 2016 DoubleTree by Hilton Dallas Near the Galleria 4099 Valley View Lane • Dallas, Texas For more information, call (860) 922-3441 visit TXMortgageRoundup.com.

Wednesday September 14

Mortgage Bankers Association 2016 Annual Convention Hynes Convention Center 900 Boylston Street • Boston, Mass. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit MBA.org. NOVEMBER 2016

Monday-Wednesday, November 14-16 National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association 2016 Annual Meeting & Expo The Swissotel Chicago 323 East Upper Wacker Drive • Chicago For more information, call (202) 939-1784 or visit NRMLAOnline.org.

Wednesday-Thursday, November 16-17 Mortgage Star Conference 2016 Canyons Resort 4000 Canyons Resort Drive Park City, Utah For more information, call (860) 922-3441 or visit Mortgage-Star.net.

Friday, November 18

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. * Looking for additional exposure at key industry events? Call 516.409.5555, ext. 4 to discover how to maximize your event coverage.

Sunday-Wednesday, October 23-26 AUGUST 2016

Monday-Wednesday, May 16-18

Saturday-Tuesday, April 9-12 NAMB 2016 Legislative & Regulatory Conference Hyatt Place National Mall 400 East Street SW Washington, D.C. For more information, call (860) 7191991 or visit NAMB.org.

OCTOBER 2016

Appraisal Institute 2016 Annual Conference The Sheraton Charlotte 555 South McDowell Street Charlotte, N.C. For more information, call (888) 756-4624 or visit AppraisalInstitute.org/AnnualConference.

Utah Association of Mortgage Professionals Expo 2016 Canyons Resort 4000 Canyons Resort Drive Park City, Utah For more information, call (860) 922-3441 or visit UAMPExpo.com.

n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

2016 Maryland Association of Mortgage Professionals Annual Conference Turf Valley Resort 2700 Turf Valley Road Ellicott City, Md. For more information, call (410) 752-6262 or visit MDMTGPros.com.

MAY 2016

Tuesday-Wednesday, May 10-11

Monday-Wednesday, July 25-27

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

2016 Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals Central Florida Chapter Trade Show The Hilton Orlando/Altamonte Springs 350 Northlake Boulevard Altamonte Springs, Fla. For more information, e-mail CentralFloridaFAMP@gmail.com or call (850) 942-6411.

Ultimate Mortgage Expo 2016 Hotel Monteleone 214 Royal Street • New Orleans For more information, call (860) 9223441 or visit UltimateMortgageExpo.com.

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n National Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH 2016

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NationalMortgageProfessional.com

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MARCH 2016 n Ohio Mortgage Professional Magazine n NationalMortgageProfessional.com