Mortgage Professionals, Keep Your Heads Up!

The current state of the Mortgage and Real Estate industries is taking quite a toll on many mortgage professionals. Business has slowed for loan officers and mortgage brokers alike, and because of the current lending environment, fewer and fewer homeowners and potential homeowners are able to qualify for any mortgage whatsoever. My company’s business has taken quite a hit, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel and a major opportunity for those who are willing to stick it out and make the best of a bad situation.

Benefit From Less Competition

First of all, there is less competition out there. The current market is forcing out all of the amatuers, leaving all of their past clients open for a new mortgage adviser. Nonetheless, you’ll still need to set yourself apart from the competition that is left in a bigger way than before. Why? Because the average homeowner’s view of mortgage professionals has been jaded by the now dwindling hordes of amatuers who got into this business during the recent refinance boom as a way to get rich quick. A lot of them did, but at the cost of America’s trust in the real professionals in this industry. So what’s this mean for you and me? We need to find unique ways to market ourselves that are focused more on building trust than anything else. We need to show potential clients that we are different from what they’ve come to expect from other mortgage professionals.

Start Building Relationships With Referral Partners

It’s not just mortgage professionals who are feeling the pain of the current market, Real Estate Agents are in a similar situation, perhaps worse. I have no doubt that many Real Estate Agents are scrambling for new business right now just like a lot of mortgage professionals. Why not show them how you can help them increase their business through a referral partnership? I’m sure you could find a lot of excellent Real Estate Agents out there who’s mortgage partners have recently been victims of the times. What does that mean? If you work to build strong partnerships right now, when the market turns around you’ll be primed to really benefit from the relationships you’ve built. You’ll have a leg up on the competition that will certainly flood the market when the next Real Estate boom comes. Until then, if you can bring real value to your referral partners, they’ll appreciate you that much more when the market changes.

Branch Out And Learn New Things

No, I don’t mean go into another line of work, although that may be necessary for some. What I mean is take this time to increase your knowledge and really become a Mortgage Adviser as opposed to a Mortgage Salesperson. Model yourself after the practices of other business during down markets and increase the time and energy you put toward your education. During down markets, many companies actually increase spending on marketing and expand product lines. The reason is they’ll be so much more poised to strike when the market turns back in their favor than the companies who decreased spending on marketing and cut product lines; when the market turns, they explode out of the gates. You can do the same thing; even though a lot of your efforts may go unrewarded for a few months, if you remain persistant, think of the advantage you’ll have over your competition in the future.

Learn To Generate Referrals From Past Clients

Although this tip applies to any market condition, there’s no better time than now to start working at this. Call all of your past clients for a brief financial review and ask for referrals. That’s right, I said ask for referrals. I’ve gotten referrals from every single one of my past clients, but guess what, all but one came from asking. Don’t be afraid, tell your clients how much you value their business and ask if they know anyone who may be able to utilize your services. If you’ve treated them well in the past, they’ll be happy to tell their friends and family about you, but, in most cases, they won’t think about it unless you ask.

The Real Estate landscape has changed my friends, it’s sink or swim, and drowning’s no fun, so get out there and make it happen.

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Mortgage News - Afternoon Edition - Monday, August 11^th, 2008