Issue 043 February 2011 TheNicheReport.com
Advertisement
Tips for Mortgage 30 10 Internet 20 Originators Wall Street Reform Leads FEATURE ARTICLE!
A revolution that needs a solution.
and Protection Act Title X: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
to Generate More Leads
Up 54 Bringing The Rear Tom Deutsch, Executive Director, American Securitization Forum.
Success
Relationship
Dynamic
Excellence
Positive Attitude
Success
Relationship
Dynamic
Excellence
Positive Attitude
CONTENTS
Issue 043
20
February 2011
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
NICHE REPORTS Agency & FHA
pg 45
HARD MONEY & NON-PRIME
pg 45
COMMERCIAL
pg 46
ConStruction
pg 46
JUMBO
pg 46
Service Providers
pg 47
Title X: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
Peter Hébert FOUNDER & PRESIDENT Robert Pegg robert@thenichereport.com CO-FOUNDER & PRESIDENT David Pegg david@thenichereport.com MANAGING EDITOR Stewart Mednick stewart@thenichereport.com
10
Internet Mortgage Leads
34
Rocky Foroutan CeO, Lender411 A revolution that needs a solution.
14
Characteristics of Top Producing Loan Officers Tim Davis Mortgage Marketing and sales coach Where do you stand?
16 30
Take My Lead Justine Assal certified Mortgage consultant
Tips for Originators to Generate More Leads Cathy Blaszyk Vice President of LEnder Services ClosingCorp
6
February 2011
Seven New Ideas for Winning Agent Referrals LaKrishia Armour Marketing Content Specialist a la mode
DEPARTMENTS
EDITORIAL / CONTENT MANAGER Kristen Moser kristen@thenichereport.com ACCOUNTING MANAGER Shawna Ingram shawna@thenichereport.com Advertising Director Jessica Grizzle Jessica@thenichereport.com Advertising sales Heather Bopp Heather@thenichereport.com
Editor's Forward
Production Manager Henry Suchman henry@thenichereport.com
37
TECHSPOT
Production Assistant Dawn Exner dawn@thenichereport.com
41
APPRAISER sound off
43
What's your mortgage IQ?
50
LENDER & RESOURCE DIRECTORY
54
BRINGING UP THE REAR
09
COLUMNISTS & Contributing Authors Martin Andelman LaKrishia Armour Justine Assal Cathy Blaszyk Tim Davis Karen Deis Rocky Foroutan Peter Hébert Bill McKnight Stewart Mednick Rick Roque
Get referrals from real estate agents or get your money back Mortgage XSite
Get a steady stream of agent referrals, and much more Get a Mortgage XSite and XSellerate, and you’ll be effectively marketing to real estate agents for more referrals — in just minutes. The Mortgage XSite is your professional website, stocked with pre-written pages for all niches, including agents. Most importantly, you can easily edit any page so you’re in control of your site with no webmasters or programmers needed. Make changes on the fly, fine tune your message, and get ready for the referrals. XSellerate is our automatic marketing machine that effectively reaches out to your agent contacts (and all your contacts)
with marketing that’s proven to work. The “set it and forget it” XSellerate sends our professionally written campaigns to your contacts consistently over weeks, months, or even years, with no extra work from you. You choose the ads from our vast library, choose the schedule, and you’re done. With an XSite and XSellerate, agent referrals are just the beginning. Target past clients, investors, attorneys, seniors, first time buyers and many more, to expand your business quickly and easily. Call us today to put them to the test. With our 100 day money back guarantee, you’ve got absolutely nothing to lose.
XSellerate
Niche readers only:
499
Only
$
$698 $698
per year
Unlimited usage, no hidden fees 100 day money back guarantee Free 24 x 7 x 365 live tech support You must mention this ad to receive the discount.
Call us today at 1-800-ALAMODE or visit www.alamode.com
Want to try it out free? Call 1-800-ALAMODE for a free trial. AD CODE: MANRXLMS0211 a la mode and its products are trademarks or registered trademarks of a la mode, inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All prices, terms, policies and other items are subject to change without notice. © 2011 a la mode, inc.
Published monthly by BODA Publishing, LLC PO Box 494, Bentonville, AR 72712 Phone: 866.964.2695 Fax: 703.991.2362 Email: info@thenichereport.com www.TheNicheReport.com
Leads
Marketing
Community
SUBSCRIPTIONS This publication is intended for real estate finance professionals. If you are a mortgage broker, lender, loan officer, or real estate professional and you do not currently receive The Niche Report, please go to www.thenichereport.com.
Boost Your Online Reputation!
An annual subscription is $47.95 (twelve months/twelve issues.) For additional copies being mailed to the same address please call 866.964.2695 or email us at subscriptions@thenichereport.com for multi-copy discount. Send address change requests to info@thenichereport.com. Remember to include the old address. To opt-out of receiving The Niche Report, please send your request, including name, company name, and address to opt-out@thenichereport.com.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Sign Up FREE!
To inquire about advertising in The Niche Report, please call 866.964.2695, or send an email to ads@thenichereport.com. Visit our website, www.TheNicheReport.com to download a copy of our Media Kit.
EDITORIALS / ARTICLES To submit an article for consideration in The Niche Report, please send an email to stewart@thenichereport.com or call 866.964.2695. We are interested in original writings relevant to mortgage brokers and other real estate finance professionals. If you have a comment or question about an article or editorial published in The Niche Report, or if you have a suggestion for a topic you would like to see featured in a future issue, please send an email to stewart@thenichereport.com.
THE NICHE REPORT POLICY The information and opinions expressed by contributing authors and advertisers within The Niche Report do not necessarily reflect those of BODA Publishing, LLC employees and should not be considered as endorsed or recommended by BODA Publishing, LLC.
Call Today!
(888) 333-6628
Editor's Forward
If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. This seems to be a saying that has held much merit over the years. In today’s economic environment, it seems to have some relevance as well. However, I want to put a bit of a different spin on this mindset. When I was in the Navy, I served under an officer that had an “opendoor” policy. Basically, if you wanted to ask, tell, or otherwise speak to him, just knock on the door. I did that once. The first time I did, I had a complaint about an operational procedure. The complaint was well received by the officer. Instead of praise or validation, I was rebutted with a statement that blind-sided me. “So, Petty Officer Mednick, what is your suggested remedy to the problem?” “Sir?” “Are you suggesting that you can just come into my office with a problem and expect me to remedy it for you or anyone else? I should allocate resources to perform a task that you are already well-versed and knowledgeable and you can just as easily provide a recommendation or action plan?” “I just wanted to bring it to your attention, Sir.” “Well, you have, now bring to my attention a plan of action to resolve this issue. And moving forward, don’t ever come to me with a problem unless you have also a recommended solution….” Wow. A life lesson learned. So, to this day, should an issue in life ever cross my path that I feel warrants resolution, I will have a suggestion for resolution to follow. Now, The Niche Report receives many letters from the readership, and many are complaints about a myriad of things in the national spotlight, local to the reader, articles in the magazine, etc. Here is my challenge for all you wonderful readers for 2011: complain ‘til your heart is content, then suggest a solution. In any facet of your life, whether it is business, raising the kids, or talking to the significant other, suggest a solution to a problem about which you initiated the conversation. You may find a new perspective to the problem when you attempt to figure out a solution. And that is what this issue is about: solutions. The theme for this month is lead generation, but that is a solution to the problem of lack of business, right? Rocky Foroutan is the CEO of Lender411.com and has a fine article about solutions to generating great internet leads. Bill McKnight writes an excellent column about the problems with the new appraisal laws and how his ethics may be a solution. Tim Davis offers seven characteristics of a top performing loan officer as a solution to poor performance. Peter Hebert continues his exploration into Wall Street reform as a solution to the debacle of the last three years. Lead generation, technology, and the new laws are also topics of articles by our usual suspects of columnists and columns. So roll up your sleeves and let’s get cracking! Cheers!
Stewart Mednick Managing Editor
Official
MEMBER
TheNicheReport.com
9
Internet Mortgage Leads A Revolution that Needs a Solution
by rocky foroutan
L
eads are the life blood of the mortgage industry. We all know it. Leads are what facilitate the connection between borrowers and lenders, and without the right information, you have got nothing… a few word-of-mouth referrals, maybe, but no dependable flow of fresh business. In my years as an internet marketer, I have seen a massive shift occur in the way prospecting is pursued in the mortgage industry. Postcards and cold calls were the name of the game twenty years ago, but these tools do not cut it on their own anymore. A full 85 percent of mortgage originations start with an internet search; with a borrower shopping online for the right mortgage. Marketers have spent the last decade and a half developing websites and online tools to enable consumers to match with lenders on the web. This was the genesis of the internet lead industry, and today, internet leads have become a standard asset; a necessary part of any lender’s marketing arsenal. However, as internet leads grew in popularity, more and more marketing companies tried to dip into the pot. As is the case in every rapidly growing market, fly-bynight operations spurred up, trying to take advantage of this increasing demand and started focusing on one thing only: generating more and more revenue. In some cases, it was no longer about connecting borrowers with the right 10
February 2011
lenders. Dubious practices artificially inflated the lead pool with phony information and scammers, and good leads were oversold. Lead quality, overall, plummeted. I talk to a lot of mortgage professionals in my line of work, and I hear much the same story from a lot of them, “Internet leads are a waste of time,” they say. “Internet leads are spam. They don’t convert.” I have come across three recurring reasons for the majority of this skepticism. • Greedy vendors. Leads are sold too many times. By the time you, the lender, contacts the lead, fifteen other lenders have already called. • Poor quality. Consumers are incented to fill out lead forms for all kinds of silly reasons (e.g. contests, sweepstakes, ...) and in some cases the forms have nothing to do with mortgages. • If the lead has disconnected his or her phone by the time you call or has given false information out of suspicion—which is well warranted these days— refund is unlikely from the company you bought the lead. I spent some time working with a few of my mortgage friends to brainstorm and develop solutions to each of these problems. The answers we discovered are not necessarily revolutionary or brilliant. They just make sense. And we think they might change the ways leads are bought and sold on the internet. In order to be effective, leads must be generated and sold through a platform built on three principles— transparency, quality, and support.
bankofinternet
Exceeding Expectations
ThE VAlUE oF A PArTNErShiP wiTh BANk oF iNTErNET liES iN oUr FlExiBiliTy AND crEATiViTy To crAFT
Jumbo / Super Jumbo Loans to $5 Million
morTgAgES wiTh AFFlUENT cliENTS’ FiNANciAl mANAgEmENT NEEDS iN miND. ExPANDiNg yoUr ProDUcT PorTFolio wiTh oUr iNNoVATiVE liNE oF JUmBo Arm SolUTioNS iS yoUr oPPorTUNiTy To ExcEED ThE ExPEcTATioNS oF ThiS groUP oF ExPEriENcED homEowNErS.
Portfolio Lender • Jumbo / Super Jumbo loan amounts – High and Low rise – No HUD Approval required
• Foreign Nationals – No credit score required
• Unique property – Excess Acreage – Hobby Farms – Co Ops
• Asset Depletion Underwriting – Amortized to age 85 or term of loan (30 yr) – Assets verified not pledged
• Pledged Asset Program – Allows for dollar for dollar pledge if funds transferred to BofI – Funds in cash accounts 1:1 Borkerage accounts 2:1
• Vesting in Entities – Trusts, LLC’s Partnerships, S-Corp
Contact: Darin Judis Vice President, Wholesale / Correspondent Lending
888-833-0555 ext 1508 www.bofilendingpartners.com
Full digital copy available only to premium subscribers. For full access please subscribe at http://thenichereport.com/subscribe-to-magazine/ If you are already a premium subscriber and haven’t yet seen or read the digital copy, please send us an email at info@thenichereport.com. Include full name and order number.
Subscribe Today
for $19.99* (reg. $47.95) per year! The first 5,000 subscribers will receive the following:
• The Niche Report Magazine Receive each month thru 2011!
• A Facebook Business Page by Blitzlocal ($199 value) Attract Realtor partners or potential local borrowers to fan your page. We’ll be providing Facebook ad dollars later in the year! First 5,000 subscribers only.
• The Super Star Audio Interviews ($47 per month value) ALL subscribers get access to interviews of high performing loan officers by Mortgage Marketing Animals marketing guru Carl White. * Use discount code tnr1999 to receive discount.