February 2014

Service First Mortgage V O L U M E

February2013

The Annual Kickoff Was Great!

Now What?

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I S S U E

2

N E W S L E T T E R

"The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership."

- Harvey Firestone,

Now What?

1

Listening

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Rent to Own

3

Time Limits

4

Spike in New Home

5

Top Producers

6

Anniversaries

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HR Corner

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March Birthdays

9

Public Speaking

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Colors

13

8 Ways to Thrive

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Six Habits

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Time Blocking

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Corporate Roster

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NAR Stats

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I think we all agree that the annual kick off was an incredible event this year.

Not that it hasn’t been wonderful in years past; but this year had an excitement about it that has set it apart from 2013 and 2012.

D A T E

By Jim Berkley

Another reason I think this year’s event was so energetic and captivating was the message of the speakers. Our speakers this year were so moving in the general sessions.

Les was so eloquent in how he celebrated the successes of 2013. Our guest speaker captivated us as she told us of all the obstacles she overcame to be a woman fighter pilot. She spoke of her time on the aircraft carrier, and how the ship had a single purpose- to launch and re-capture aircraft; and that was accomplished by thousands of people on Caption describing picture I think all of these things were greatthe vessel most of whom had jobs that or graphic. and definitely added to the ambiance of had nothing directly to do with the sin“Wow, something exciting is happening gle purpose of the ship, but had everyhere!” but I don’t think they were the thing to do with the success of the ship thing that was different about this at doing just that…. Launching and reyear’s rally. I think WE were different. capturing aircraft.

Was it all the cool visual items, the banners, the slide show, or the social media photo feed? Was it the venue, or the incredible video that opened the day? Was it the shirtless dancer? Was it the informative and fast paced breakout sessions?

We were different because we had Shawn was almost hypnotic as he disgrown so much during 2013. Not just in cussed the importance of “what we sheer numbers of associates at Service stand for”; NOT “what we do”. Shawn First Mortgage, but we had grown in our stated simply that Service First stands skills and our processes. WE handled for “Meaningful Lending for the commore than 6 months of incredible mon good”.

That was a powerful growth over 2012 numbers. WE created statement to me. It was incredibly movnew processes, procedures, and proing to hear that message, and yet it was grams to handle that business growth. not foreign at all.

WE have always WE learned to take the lead that Shawn stood for “meaningful lending”. We as and Les handed to us all… and it fit 75-125 Thismake story can words. did way, thejump headline willsub-prime help you a company not into happen. WE did that TOGETHER! keep the story focused. when it was the hot thing in the market Your headline is an important and seemed of allpossible the money was part of the newsletter andwhere should it Examples headlines The “Better Together” slogan was not being made at the time.

WHY? It be considered carefully. include Product Wins Industrydid only a motto to cheer Service First not fit with Service First’s valueswas Award, New Product CanitSave accuMortgage to where we want Intoa few go, words, but it should not “meaningful lending for the common Time!, Membership Drive ratelywe represent contents ofEven You it was a celebration of where are the good”. thoughGoals, as a company we Exceeds New Office thehere story TOand draw readers intodefined those 6 and and how we got here, we got had not words as the Near You. the story. Develop the headline of Opens GETHER! statement what we stand for; Our before you write theactions story. This as a company were defining that Continued on page 15

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Effective Listening Listening to what people are saying to you is vital to establishing rapport as well as understanding their needs properly. Too often we make the mistake of taking over the conversation, talking too much or thinking of what you will say next. We need to be cognizant of what is being said and practice listening.

The next task is to process what you have heard.

This means that you must understand what is being said and keep track of the conversation. It is often helpful to repeat a point back to the consumer to make sure you understood correctly.

The third set of behaviors involves responding to indicate that you have heard everything that was said. You can do this by verbally responding, asking clarifying questions, or paraphrasing important points. Overall, it is important to recognize the multidimensionality of empathetic listening and engage in all forms of behaviors. Among its benefits, listening builds trust and respect, enables people to reveal their emotions, including tensions, facilitates openness of information sharing, and creates an environment that encourages collabora-

tive problem-solving.

Beyond exhibiting the behaviors associated with good listening, follow-up is an important step to ensure that others understand that true listening has occurred. This assurance may come in the form of incorporating feedback and making changes, following through on promises made, summarizing the meeting through notes, or explaining any issues that may have arisen.

The ability and willingness to listen with empathy is often what sets a successful person apart. In a recent interview, Paul Bennett, Chief Creative Officer at IDEO, advises to listen more and ask the right question. Bennett shared that “for most of my twenties I assumed that the world was more interested in me than I was in it, so I spent most of my time talking, usually in a quite uninformed way, about whatever I thought, rushing to be clever, thinking about what I was going to say to someone rather than listening to what they were saying to me.”

Slowing down, engaging with others rather than endlessly debating, taking the time to hear and learn from others, and asking brilliant questions are ultimately the keys to successful listening.

VA Deposit Verification VA has a very short policy on Verification of Assets: VA Handbook, Chapter 4, 4.b: Verify all liquid assets owned by the applicant or spouse to the extent they are needed to close the loan.

In addition, verify any liquid assets that may have a bearing on the overall credit analysis – that is, significant assets.  Use VA Form 26-8497a, Request for Verification of Deposit, as appropriate, OR  original or certified true copies of the applicant’s last two bank statements, OR

 the borrower’s bank statements available to them by internet or faxed from the depository directly to the lender. In cases where the lending institution uses internet-based verifications, ensure the URL appears on the document.  Verifications must be no more than 120 days old (180 days for new construction).  VA is specific but investors may put additional requirements in place. Check with your underwriter if you have questions.

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FHA Rent-to-Own Guidelines There are very specific guidelines that a buyer and seller must follow in order for FHA financing to be an option.

Landlord/Tenant Sales Transactions 

Rent-to-Own Agreements and Rent Credit Rent credit for down payment granted by a landlord to tenant facts:  Cannot exceed the difference between monthly rent and market rent. (Ex: Landlord collects

 

$1,000 per month and market rent is $800. Only $200 can be applied toward down payment for future purchase.)

Market rent is determined by appraiser Rent to own agreement must be provided to lender

Loan amount will be limited to 85% LTV if there is a family or business relationship between the parties unless:  Tenant has rented for at least 6 months 



(Lease or other occupancy verifications is required)

Sales contract is not dated prior to completion of 6 month rental period Maximum financing (96.5%) is available for landlord/tenant transactions with no family or business relationships with no restrictions on previous rental period.

We Are Better Together!

Stop Using Your Inbox as a To-Do List Do you leave emails in your inbox so that you remember to read or tackle them? If so, you’re using your email to manage your tasks—and those are actually two very different things. Using your task manager and the Outlook Calendar with your email, can help you spend less time sifting through your inbox, and more time getting your most important work done.

Why do you need to separate these activities out? If you’re using email as your task management, then you are making the job of simply communicating– reading and replying to your messages. It gets bogged down by all the emails you leave sitting in your inbox simply so you won’t forget to address them. (And there are probably a few to-do reminders in there that you sent to yourself!) This approach also makes managing your to-do-list problematic: when you need to quickly identify the right task to take on

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next, nothing slows you down like diving into your inbox to scroll through old messages.

The reason so many of us fall into the trap of mixing our email and task management is that email is inextricable from much of what we do in work and in life: many of our tasks arrive in the form of email messages, and many other tasks require reading or sending emails as part of getting that work done.

By using your task manager and calendar in Outlook you will have a single place to search. They will provide you with a single place to capture the tasks you need to get done; they also make it easy for you to add tasks. You will be able to track things like what is complete or incomplete, when each task needs to get done, what project a task is related to, or where you need to be in order to do it.

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Mixed Use and Dual Dwellings In order to qualify for an FHA loan, homes that have a commercial space or two houses on one lot must meet certain criteria.

Mixed Use  No more than 2% of total square footage can be for non-residential use  Use of property as residence must be legal or legal non-conforming  Predominately commercial areas or excessive noise is not acceptable Two Dwellings on One Lot  FHA will allow two separate dwellings on a parcel, they would call it an accessory unit  You must clearly identify the accessory unit’s use and purpose (Guest home, rental, etc.) so the appraiser can use that information when making a

valuation, pulling comps, and checking zoning for legal conformity.  Both dwellings will have to conform to FHA minimum property requirements.

Reg B Notice - Time Limits in writing, that if you do not have the necessary components to make a decision within 10 days, effectively giving them a Notice of Incomplete Application (NOIA) you will withdraw their application on a certain date and send them a notice indicating same.

Remember to follow the same practice on all of your loans to demonstrate that you have a consistent process for ECOA and HMDA.

There are times when you have loan applicants that want you to hold off on processing their loan for one reason or another. Is there a time limit for sending out a “Notice of Incomplete Application” or a “Credit Denial Notice”?

As long as you have a complete application, but have not submitted to an underwriter (presuming a credit report was not run), you can treat this as a lead for HMDA reporting purposes.

For ECOA, however (again, presuming a credit report was not run), you could set a timeline for the applicant,

If credit was run, then you have to report HMDA because the loan is no longer in a lead status. For ECOA, you have an ability to review their credit profile to find out if they could qualify based on the income figures they gave you during the interview process to create an application, run them through an AU system, and then you are 'on the clock' for the NOLA or Notice of Loan Application within 30 days of receiving a complete application to inform the borrower of your decision, which could include a NOIA as in the example above, giving a definitive time that they must respond.

If you know their income or credit will not approve them based on lending standards, then of course you would decline for ECOA and report appropriately for HMDA coding.

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Spike in New Home Sales A survey of loan application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders across the country suggests sales of new homes experienced a substantial leap in January.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Builder Applications Survey indicates new home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 543,000 last month, reflecting a month-over-month increase of 35 percent.

On an unadjusted basis, the group estimates there were 38,000 new home sales in January, a 36 percent increase over December.

“While the big jump may appear to conflict with other data, such as MBA’s purchase application index and NAR’s [the National Association of Realtors’] existing home sales data that point to a weak market for existing homes, our Builder Application

Survey estimate is consistent with reports of homebuilder sentiment that show strength in the market for new homes,” said MBA chief economist Mike Fratantoni.

“It is also worth noting that the significant January increase also followed a particularly slow pace of sales in November and December,” he added.

The group also reported a 27 percent (unadjusted) monthly increase in loan applications for new home purchases.

Conventional loans accounted for 69.4 percent of last month’s new home applications. Applications for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accounted for 15.9 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively, while applications for mortgages backed by Rural Housing Services or the U.S. Department of Agriculture composed 1.3 percent.

Ribbon Cutting for Greenville Branch 

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February Top Branches Units

Volume

1. Metro East

1. Metro East

2. Arlington

2. Arlington

3. Longview

3. Richardson

3. Legacy

4. Legacy

5. Richardson

5. Austin

5. Garland Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman - not the attitude of the prospect. ~W. Clement Stone

“People forget how fast you did a job – but they remember how well you did it” ― Howard Newton

February Top Loan Officers

Units

Volume

'

1. Tom Holyfield

1. Natalee Davenport

2. Linda Davidson

2. Tom Holyfield

3. Natalee Davenport

3. Linda Davidson

4. Joanna Camposano

4. Jeff Brooks

5. Jenay Bowen

5. Jenay Bowen

5. Joe Jackson 5. Dina Pierson

Great Effort !

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March Anniversaries Name Linda R Scott

Length of Service 1 year

Job Title Loan Officer Asst

Location Arlington

Christina Tovias

1 Year

Receptionist

Arlington

Kristina V Garza

1 year

Loan Officer Asst

Arlington

Carlos Garza

5 Years

Loan Officer

Arlington

Lucia G Perez

5 years

Loan Officer

Arlington

Jill Jimenez

2 years

Loan Processor

Austin

Georgia R Hart

6 Years

Compliance Auditor

Corporate

Marshal L Reinhart

5 years

Loan Officer

Covenant

Lori Redd

14 years

Loan Officer

Garland

Claudia E Cervantes

1 year

Administrative Assistant

Legacy

Jordan C Johnson

1 year

Loan Officer Asst

Longview

Stephanie N Aleman

1 year

Administrative Assistant

Metro East

Martha Miramontes

1 year

Loan Processor

Plano West

Michelle Sherrill

1 year

Loan Officer Asst

Plano West

Tristan Sherrill

1 year

Loan Officer

Plano West

Rebecca C Alvizures

1 year

Processor Assistant

Richardson

Natalee Davenport

4 years

Branch Manager

Richardson

Holly M Murdock

2 years

Servicing Specialist

Corporate

Christopher J Smith

1 year

Warehouse Collateral Specialist

Corporate

Home Prices See Greatest Yearly Gain Since 2005 S&P Dow Jones Indices released Tuesday its S&P/Case -Shiller Home Price Indices for December, showing national prices up 11.3 percent as of year-end, a slight pickup over the previous quarter’s annual improvement of 11.2 percent. The national index covers all nine U.S. census divisions.

“Recent economic reports suggest a bleaker picture for housing,” he said, citing weak numbers in existing-home sales and new construction. “Some of the weakness reflects the cold weather in much of the country. However, higher home prices and mortgage rates are taking a toll on affordability.”

While prices were strong in Q4 compared to the previous year, they were down relative to Q3, dropping 0.3 percent.

For just December, the smaller 10- and 20-city composites were little changed, with only the 20-city index showing a minor decline.

“The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index ended its best year since 2005,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“However, gains are slowing from month-to-month and the strongest part of the recovery in home values may be over.”

Year-over-year, the 10- and 20-city indices posted gains of 13.6 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively, approximately 30 basis points lower than their November increases.

Blitzer also pointed out there are other factors to consider when looking at the big picture.

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As of December, average home prices across the United States were back to mid-2004 levels, remaining down about 20 percent from their peaks in summer of 2006.

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HR Corner

By Mark Resmini

terest from starting to save early is huge.

As an example, if you start saving $5,000 per year in a 401(K) at age 25 and earn a 6% annual return on your investments, you would reach age 65 with a nest egg of $798,741. If you wait until age 40 to begin saving $5,000 per year and earn the same return, you’ll reach age 65 with just $283,161. In fact, even if you save $10,000 per year beginning at age 40, you’ll still end up with significantly less money ($566,315) than if you started saving $5,000 per year in your mid20’s.

If someone offered you free money, would you refuse it? Probably not, but that’s exactly what you’re doing if you don’t contribute to your 401 (k). There are 3 compelling benefits to contributing part of your salary to a 401(k): You get an immediate tax break because contributions come out of your paycheck before taxes are withheld.  You get the matching contribution from SFMC…..25% of your contribution, up to 6% of your total wages for the year.  You get tax-deferred growth….meaning you don’t pay taxes each year on capital gains, dividends, and other distributions. 

In spite of these benefits, the percentage of employees participating in our 401(K) plan has been historically low. The good news, however, is that we’re starting to see the participation percentages steadily increase over the last several months. Although retirement may be the farthest thing from your mind, putting off saving for retirement can take a big bite out of your retirement savings. Beginning to save for retirement at a young age makes it easier to save enough to retire comfortably, and the value of compound in-

All full-time employees are eligible to participate in the SFMC, LP 401k plan after completing one month of service. Our plan is administered

by Fidelity Investments, which is among the most diversified financial services companies in the world. Fidelity has $4.6 trillion in assets under administration, including managed assets of $1.9 trillion, as of December 31, 2013. You can access their website at netbenefits.com.

If you haven’t started contributing to your 401 (k) yet, I’d encourage you to start now. It’s never too late to start contributing and even if it’s only the minimum, the important thing is to get started…if you delay starting, the next thing you know, months and even years have gone by and you’ve made it harder to get your retirement savings on track. If you’ve already started, I’d encourage you to work on increasing your contribution to at least the 6% level so that you can receive the maximum company contribution, if you’re not there already. Our Fidelity representative is willing to come out and speak to us about 401(K) topics, so please let HR know about any topics you’d be interested in, as well as any questions you may have in general about the 401(K) plan.

“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies.”

– Lawrence Bossidy, GE

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March Birthdays Name

Birthdate

Locations

Position

Sylvia, Janice

3-Mar

Mansfield

Loan Officer Asst

Brooks, Kimberly

4-Mar

Corporate

Underwriter

Johnson, Tina

5-Mar

Arlington

Loan Officer Asst

Miramontes, Martha

5-Mar

Plano West

Loan Processor

Cruz, Kimberly D

8-Mar

Garland

Loan Processor

Hoyle, Geneva

9-Mar

Corporate

Accounting Specialist

Tully, Carrie

9-Mar

Garland

Administrative Assistant

Hamlin, Jennifer

10-Mar

Legacy

Loan Processor

Wang, Yi

12-Mar

Garland

Loan Processor

Touchston, Tina

12-Mar

Longview

Loan Officer

Wisdom, Nash

13-Mar

Austin

Loan Officer

Smallwood, Candace

13-Mar

Corporate

Appraisal Coordinator

Benjamin, Betty

13-Mar

Corporate

Underwriter

Vazquez, Aracely

16-Mar

Corporate

Receptionist

Brown, Philip

20-Mar

Legacy

Loan Officer

Terito, Whitney

22-Mar

Legacy

Loan Processor

Baker, Todd

22-Mar

Legacy

Loan Officer

Streng, Pilar

24-Mar

Metro East

Jr Loan Processor

Wommack, Eric

27-Mar

Mansfield

Loan Officer

Gonzalez, Garrett K

27-Mar

Plano West

Branch Manager

New Hires in January Name

Position

Location

Lisa McCown

Marketing Assistant

Covenant

Belinda Turk

Loan Officer Assistant

Covenant

Rosaria Miniscalco

Receptionist

Covenant

You know you're getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It's like, 'See if you can blow this out.' ~Jerry Seinfeld

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Public Speaking What makes a great public speaker truly great? Fortunately most important presentation skills can be learned. From slowing down the pace of speech to eliminating "ums" and "ers," there are plenty of tricks to help you speak in front of an audience.

Here are a few tips: 1. Record yourself and play it back.

The first step to becoming a great speaker is learning how you sound to other people. Thanks to smartphones, computers and other technology, this is easy today. You might consider making a video of yourself speaking. Hearing yourself gives you really good feedback.

2. Identify and correct your bad habits.

Once you've made the recording, you should listen to it carefully and identify all the things you dislike about how you speak. Two of the most common issues are filler words ("um," "er," "uh") and trailing off at the ends of sentences, which make you seem less confident. To break these habits, write the bad habit on a note card, strike it out with a line and place the card on a desk, near the telephone and in other places as a constant reminder.

3. Be aware of your body language.

Assess your body language. Often speakers will fidget, shift their weight uncomfortably and generally behave in ways that show they're nervous or defensive. To fix this, try to find positions that look

natural and appear to be stances that you would use when you are comfortable and open. For example, speakers shouldn't cross their arms which is considered a defensive pose and are encouraged to use hand gestures for emphasis.

4. F i n d your "optimal pitch."

You may feel insecure about your speaking voice because of its pitch. You think it's too high or too low, or somehow doesn't feel right. Everyone has an "optimal pitch" that should be used for your natural speaking voice. To find it, make the "mmhm" sound of agreement. The pitch you strike in that is the same register you should speak in most comfortably.

5. Speak at the "rate of no mistakes."

Many novice speakers will rush through their words, making them hard to understand. Generally, speech coaches advise people to slow down, but there's no word-per-minute count they recommend as the ideal pace. Rather, try to speak at a "rate of no mistakes." The exact speed will differ on an individual basis but should be considered a rate at which you can communicate without errors, stammers or filler words and keep the flow of speech continuous.

6. T a k e advantage of pauses.

Vocal coaches agree that repeated and filler words such as "um," "er" and "uh" find their way into speech, because people fear letting silence interrupt their phrases. But West says that silence and pauses are one of the best-used tricks of great speakers. Rather than lose the listeners, a wellplaced pause can give your audience a chance to process what you've already said and pique their interest in what you'll say next.

7. F o c u s on continuity of phrase.

How do you know where to place those pauses and when to draw breath? Think in terms of phrases.

Continued in page 11

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Pictures

The Laredo branch is celebrating 5 years with Service First Mortgage. Carlos Garza was the top producer for the branch in January.

Doug Edwards Manager of Greenville office received the BAM award for the Riverside branch in February

Public Speaking Continued from page 10

Â

Think about speaking from one punctuation mark to another. Figure out where the commas, dashes, periods and other break marks would fall in your transcript. And then make sure your audience knows they're part of your delivery.

8. R e m e m b e r t o b r e a t h e .

Almost every common public speaking problem is linked to lack of breath. Most often, people get nervous talking in front of a group and hold their breath or tighten up. Both of these things are very bad for the voice. It's best to breathe deeply into

the diaphragm, which gives the greatest resonance and power to the voice.

9. L e t your enthusiasm show.

The previous tips won't mean anything if you don't bring passion and enthusiasm to your speech. The best public speakers are confident, relaxed, and interesting that's why we like to listen to them.

Ironically, it's those qualities that make public speaking so difficult for many successful people.

The best way to sound like you know what you are talking about is to know what you are talking about. ~Howard Mackay

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Greenville Chamber Meeting

Linda Scott and Jacque Murley Â

Doug Edwards

Jacque Murley

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I Wish I Had Known This When I Started….  Make lead generation a daily habit.  Ask an experienced processor to teach you how to process a couple of loan applications so you understand what goes on.  Start a database and update it on a regular basis.  Nobody cares more about your “deal” than you do.  If you know a deal is not going to work, let everyone know right away.  The longer it takes to get a deal done, the more likely the loan won’t close.  Return telephone calls the same day.  Always ask for referrals.  Learn from a pro: Pay attention to what other successful loan officers are doing.  Save for a rainy day.  Change is inevitable.  Know when to say “no” to a deal—even if the real estate agent or client begs you to give it a try.  The bad news about interest rates and the market should not affect your ability to bring business in the door.  Try to meet with clients and agents face-to-face to establish a deeper relationship.  Keep your real estate agents updated on files at least once or twice a week.  The truth is always easier to remember!  Learn your mortgage products.  Always know what your competition is doing – then figure out how you are better or unique.  Always make friends with the underwriters.  Last, but not least: If you have to eat a frog, don’t look at it too long.

Colors Affect Purchases I’m sure you’ve always suspected this, but marketing experts say that people subconsciously associate specific colors with specific “messages.” Retailers have picked up on this and carefully choose colors in an effort to get you to spend more money.

Here are 9 colors may affect your purchasing habits: Blue – It’s the color of “trust” and you’ll find banks and financial institutions use blue in their logo. It makes you feel secure and improves loyalty. Shoppers are 15% more likely to return to stores with blue color schemes.

Black – It’s the color of “high-end” products (little black dress, tux, watches, high-end liquor, etc.). The item could be inexpensive but when packaged in “black,” it seems more upscale and you may pay more.

Green – Used to attract eco-minded shoppers or nature lovers.

Orange – This color means fairness and affordability – think Home Depot and Payless Shoe Stores.

Pink – If it’s the shade of bubble gum, the color means “calm.” Feeling calm and relaxed makes it less painless to part with your money.

Red – Think stop signs here—marketing experts say it’s a color that warns you to think twice about spending your money. Good for you—not so good for retailers.

Continued on page 18

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8 Ways to Thrive Every one of us has occasional bouts of self doubt. Remember it is in times of greatest uncertainty that offer some of the greatest opportunities. The following ten strategies will help you transform negativity and unpredictability into opportunities for growth and achievement.

1. Forget about yourself and focus on helping others. Expand your connection to others and focus on helping them transform their negatives into positives. You will become a source of confidence to everyone.

2. Forget about mortgages and focus on your relationships. In uncertain times the strategy is to disregard mortgages when trying to establish a relationship and focus on deepening the power and possibility of all your relationships. Every time you strengthen a relationship, the value of your mortgages will increase.

3. Forget about the sale and focus on creating value. Most people don’t like being sold.

They tend to turn off, hang up or slam shut.

What people want is value creation. Solutions that help them eliminate dangers, capture their opportunities and reinforce their strengths.

4. Forget about the deal you may have lost and focus on your opportunities. You lost a loan, get over it. A better strategy is to find an

5.

6.

7.

8.

new loan. Use new ideas, new energies, new tools, and new resources.

Forget your difficulties and focus on your progress. Because of some changes, things may not be as easy as they once were. New difficulties can either defeat you or make you stronger. The “muscles” in your mind, your spirit and your character will grow when they meet resistance just like your body’s muscles do.

Forget the future and focus on today. The only future that matters is the one you continually create for yourself through each day’s achievements and results.

Forget about what used to be and focus on what is now and who you can be. Take your cues from your heart, your dreams, ideals, values and operating principles. Become selfdirected, self-managed, and self-motivated.

Forget about events and focus on your responses. When things are going well, we think that we are actually in control of events. That is why we are so disappointed when things go bad. The most consistently successful people in the world know that they can’t control events. They continually work toward greater control over their creative responses to events. Focus your attention and energies on being creatively responsive to all that lies ahead.

Second Home Requirements People can buy second home for a variety of reasons. Contrary to popular assumption, they are not all located in resort/vacation areas. Simply wanting to be closer to family and friends is enough to justify. It is not terribly difficult but there are several things the borrower needs to know.



Restricted to one-unit dwellings.



Must be suitable for year-round occupancy.



Second Home Requirements  Must be located a reasonable distance away from the borrower’s principal residence.

The borrower must have exclusive control over the property.



Must not be rental property or a timeshare arrangement.

Must be occupied by the borrower for some portion of the year.



Cannot be subject to any agreements that give a management firm control over the occupancy of the property.



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What Now? Continued on from 1

belief.

I realized that day, sitting in that banquet room, just how amazing Service First really is, and just how fortunate we are to have leaders like Shawn and Les- the visionaries - setting us on the right course for continued prosperity.

The notion of “What we stand for being more important than what we do” has changed my point of view as a leader of people and manager of the underwriting function. It started me thinking about my team and my department.

“What does the Underwriting Department” stand for as opposed to what we do”. Every mortgage company has an underwriting department and all of them perform the same function… the “what they do” is almost universal in our industry.

It is the “what we stand for” that will resonate and when lived up to will cause our team to rise to excellence rather than contribute to the average.

One of my favorite quotes is from Roy Disney; “If your values are clear to you, your decisions become easy”. I think the same would be true as well for a statement of “what we stand for” . If what we stand for is clear, our decisions become easier.

As a department we have defined what we stand for: We stand for Fairness, Trust, Consistency, and Flexibility: We stand for YOU. The words each have such importance and while on their own they appear to have little to do with underwriting, in reality they have EVERYTHING to do

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with how we underwrite for Meaningful Lending for the common good.

We are measuring our performance every day against this belief. We are retrospectively reviewing every situation where things don’t go as well as we would hope for a file, a transaction, or a branch- and examining our role and determine if our performance in that moment live up to our statement of what we believe in. We then discuss within our team how do we ensure that we do better the next time we are faced with a similar challenge. That process, and staying true to our statement of what we stand for, will elevate us to excellence as a team and help us provide excellent service for our internal customers.

The messages and excitement of the annual kick off did not end for our department on the 21st or 22nd or It has moved our team to beeven 30th of January. lieve we can achieve a higher level of excellence because we KNOW what we stand for.

I hope that each of you, in your teams and departments, are thinking about what YOU stand for and that you are keeping the message and the excitement of the annual kick off alive. Use it to elevate your teams to achieve excellence rather than contribute to the average. There is nothing AVERAGE about Service First Mortgage. There is nothing average about any of us; and there is certainly nothing average about our collective genius.

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Six Habits That Can Hurt Your Business people keep interrupting you, decide if that’s what you want—or would you rather concentrate on one thing and get it done? Same goes for family or personal time. If you take business calls during family time, is that okay with you?

4 – The Habit of Waiting for the “Best Time” – While you’ve heard the saying “timing is everything,” it also means that when the time is right, you are PREPARED to pull the trigger. The reasoning “Now is not a good time…” can mean anything from not calling on real estate agents, to not attending an event, to not writing content for your blog. If not now, when? The key word here is to be prepared when the time is right.

We all have habits, some of which we are aware and others, not so much. You may do some of these things or maybe none of them. However, just in case, we want you to look at these listed below.

1 – The Habit of Not Knowing What to Do Next – Whenever you start something—have an idea of what you’re going to do next! So, let’s say that you decided to hold regular home buying seminars. About a dozen people showed up. What are going to do after the seminar is over? Think about planning that for each “something” you do, you have at least three “next” – action steps to follow up.

2 – The Habit of Being Cheap – Yes, there is a difference between being cheap and being costconscious. In this context, “cheaping out” means going the cheap route, instead of the quality route. Yes, you may never have enough money to do everything you want to do, but it’s all about reallocating the money that you do have to go with quality instead of cheap.

3 – The Habit of Not Setting Boundaries – This habit is about focusing on what’s important to you—and it doesn’t have to be only on your business. If you are creating a marketing plan and

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5 – The Habit of Not Making Decisions – There are two parts to this habit—the first would be to make a decision, and the second would be to make the decision to implement it. Making a decision means that you’ll have to take the next step. That something is going to change. You’re going to have to do something. Yes, NOT making a decision is also a decision—but then nothing happens and your business suffers.

6 – The Habit of Waiting for Information – The marketing campaign you’ve been working on is stalled because you are waiting for some information. Or you are waiting for someone from the company to call you. During your “waiting period,” ask yourself—what information can I find out on my own? Who can I call who would also be an expert? Or, if I HAD to make a decision within the next 3 hours WITHOUT the information, what would I choose to do?

Sometimes “waiting for information” is just a reason “not to do anything right now” where you could have easily found the information yourself.

We are not here to judge whether these habits are good or bad. We just wanted to bring them to your attention because some of them just might be what keeps you from your production and income goals.

Time Blocking Can Help

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least 3 times a week for 2 to 3 hours and write down the strategy for that day. It might be that on Tuesday, you call 10 past clients. On Thursday, you email your database on the latest home sales in your community. On Saturday, you prepare flyers or mail outs.

Do you have trouble accomplishing all the things you need to do? Blocking your time , even a year in advance can help you get it all done. Your Outlook calendar has the ability to schedule events far into the future so you don’t have to insert the same task or event more than once.

This is a list of items that you can pop into your schedule now to make sure you take advantage of every opportunity.

4. Follow up on Leads – This should be about 30 minutes a day. This could be leads from Realtors® or referrals that you got from past clients or friends. Or eve people you met last week.

1. Events – You pretty much know ahead of time when the next annual company meeting will be held, all the monthly association meetings or even continuing education classes you need to take. Enter those dates first.

5. Your Weekly Appointments – Take control of your time. Suggest several times that you can meet with them. Be sure to schedule enough time so they won’t feel rushed.

2. Personal Time – This could include gym time, spiritual time, personal time, vacation time and time with family and friends. This is important. A balanced life is a happier life.

6. Other Things – Non-dollar-producing activities like creating marketing materials, mailing post cards or entering info in your database might be 1 hour every day. While it’s not “mandatory,” it’s critical to keep those leads coming in the door.

3. Lead-Generation Strategies – Are you a morning person, or a late-night person? Schedule time at

Disclosure Tolerances

Under the current Regulation X, there are set tolerance levels for amounts listed on the good faith estimate (GFE). The tolerance is the maximum amount that an actual charge can exceed the amount estimated on the GFE. Regulation X provides three tolerance buckets that charges fit into: zero percent, 10 percent and charges that can change by any amount.

The zero percent bucket is where the lender’s costs go, including processing, underwriting and origination fees, along with transfer taxes. If a charge falls into the zero bucket, it means that the fee cannot increase from the amount that was estimated to the consumer, and if it does, the lender owes the consumer the difference between the estimated fee and the higher fee.

The 10 percent bucket is for lender-required settlement services where the lender selects the provider, lender-required services and title services when the SERVICE

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borrower uses a provider identified by the loan originator, and government charges. These are services the borrower can’t shop for, like the appraisal, credit report and flood determination fees.

In the final bucket go all other settlement services charges included on the GFE. These charges can change by any amount and would include escrows and homeowner association fees.

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SFMC Corporate Roster Name Corp Name

Address

Phone

2105 Waterview Pkwy, Richardson, TX 75080 Title President - Regional Manager 3000

Email

214-576-2900 Phone #

E-mail Address

214-576-2972 214-576-2903

sbroussard@servicefirstmtg.com lodom@servicefirstmtg.com

214-576-2971 214-576-2939 214-576-2973 214-576-2912 214-576-2937 214-576-2968

sseaman@servicefirstmtg.com mresmini@servicefirstmtg.com swiley@servicefirstmtg.com jberkley@servicefirstmtg.com keames@servicefirstmtg.com rbescos@servicefirstmtg.com

214-576-2904 214-576-2957

dhoyle@servicefirstmtg.com lbaima@servicefirstmtg.com

214-576-2948 214-576-2967 817-330-0548 972-985-0000

mwilliamson@servicefirstmtg.com mroyal@servicefirstmtg.com jdonnelly@servicefirstmtg.com kgonzalez@servicefirstmtg.com

817-330-0545

scretsinger@servicefirstmtg.com

214-576-2975

drusso@servicefirstmtg.com

Jana Bishop

Reg.Oper.Mgr.Metro & Longview Closing Mgr for Luna & Luna

214-576-2929

jbishop@servicefirstmtg.com

Bryan Stuckmeyer

Closing Mgr. for McGlinchey

214-576-2950

bryan@servicefirstmtg.com

Shawn Broussard Les Odom Shelby Seaman Mark Resmini Sandra Wiley Jim Berkley Kayla Eames Robert Bescos Dee Hoyle Laura Baima Megan Williamson Matthew Royal John Donnelly Kurt Gonzalez Sonna Cretsinger Debbie Russo

Chief of Operations HR Manager HR Director Compliance Manager Underwriting Manager Accounting - Vice President IT Manager Secondary Marketing - VP Post-Closing Manager Director of Mktg. & Bus. Dev. Regional Manager 5300 Regional Vice President 8500 Regional Manager 7000 Reg Oper. Mgr. 7000 & 8500

Colors Continued from page 13

White – This u s u a l l y means simplicity, purity and honesty.

Over two-thirds of health and beauty products use mostly white packaging. Well, if you’ve ever been in an Apple store, you know what I mean.

Purple – People usually think of royalty, and

you’ll usually see that color dominant in stores that sell formal clothing, or in the beauty industry, like spas and salons.

Yellow – This color evokes energy and increases your appetite. That’s why you’ll see many fast food restaurants and food courts using that color to get you to spend more money.

So, the next time you visit a mall or a store, think about paying attention to the colors and think twice about why you are spending your money there!

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NAR Home Buyer and Seller Stats

Every year, the NAR provides a report on a survey they take regarding the “buying and selling” stats. What’s great about this survey is that most of the data is from the buyers’ (or sellers’) own experiences. This is from the “home buyer” section of the report from 2013.

Today’s Home Buyer  

    

38% of home purchases were from first-time home buyers 14% of home buyers purchased homes for “multi-generational” purposes (adult children or aging parents moving in with them) 66% were married home buyers 31 years old – typical age of first-time buyer 52 tears old – typical page of repeat home buyer $64,400 – average income of first-time buyer $96,000 – average income of repeat home buyer

Types of Homes Purchased      

 

16% purchased new construction to avoid renovation OR customize a home 1,900 square feet – typical size of home 1992 – average year home was built 3 bedrooms/2 baths typical 80% purchased single-family detached dome 14% senior home buyers bought a seniorrelated home either from themselves or a relative 73% considered commuting costs from home to their jobs 85% considered utility costs when buying a home

How Homebuyers Searched for a Home to Purchase 42% used the Internet as the first step in the home search process  92% used the Internet on an ongoing basis to continue their search  87% said the information from real estate agents was viewed as “helpful” 

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12 weeks – typical time when searching for a home  10 homes – average number of homes viewed during the search process  50% – finding the right home for them was the most difficult step in the home-buying process 

Working with the Real Estate Agent      

88% bought their home through a real estate agent 42% found their real estate agent through a referral from a friend or family member 12% repeat buyers who used the same agent they had used before 12% relied on on-line recommendations from others when choosing a real estate agent 66% interviewed only one agent 88% would recommend their agent to others

Financing the Home       

10% was the average down payment 86% were repeat buyers who took out a mortgage 95% were first-time buyers who took out a mortgage 24% said getting approved for a mortgage was more difficult than expected 43% said student loans made it more difficult to get a mortgage 38% said credit card debt made it more difficult to get a mortgage 31% said auto loans made it more difficult to get a mortgage

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Let us welcome to Pauline, daughter of Alex and Cathy Bernal in Laredo, Texas. She checked in at 6 lbs, 12 Oz and 18.5 inches. Brother Alex welcomed her too.

Linda Davidson, Matt Royal, and Ronna Smith

Staff of Garland Branch Les Odom handing out Hot Chocolate!

Ma Royal, Liz Hoyle, and Lori Redd

Carolyn Cantrell and Shawn Broussard

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The Metro East Branch Shelby’s 15 Year Anniversary

Olympic bobsledder, Johnny Quinn, puts a Service First bumper Sticker on the U.S. Sled at the Sochi Olympics.

Natalee and Randall Davenport

Service First Mortgage—Underwriting Department

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