Community Commentary

Mortgage Industry Leads Accountability and Transparency Reform

Frank Ceizyk — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:12:00 GMT

Transparency is the new buzz word in the financial world, especially in the mortgage industry. W hile government officials and financial pundits pay "TRANSPARENCY" plenty of lip service, those of us working on the front lines of origination live with it on a daily basis. I would go as far to say, from a point of sale perspective, MORTGAGE ORIGINATORS HAVE QUICKLY BECOME THE MOST ACCOUNTABLE MEMBERS OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY. Imagine the potential protection consumers might benefit from if all commission based financial services professionals were forced to follow in our crystalline footsteps, conducting every aspect of their businesses in the spirit of undisguised disclosure, in an environment of extreme accountability. Perhaps it would seem fit to start with car sales? Suppose...(read more)

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Social Media Marketing - Using Twitter & Facebook to Grow Your Business and Maintain Relationships

David Bayer — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:48:30 GMT

"Social media marketing is here to stay" could very well be chalked up as the understatement of the year. Social media marketing has been on the rise for the past several years. Unfortunately, many small businesses, corporations, and independent freelancers have been slow to get on board the social networking train. Saying "no thank you" to social marketing opportunities reminds me of the new commercial out for PS3. The advertisement begins with a disgruntled girlfriend who can't wrap her mind around the fact that her boyfriend has indeed purchased PS3, but will not (for whatever reason) proceed to the next logical step: connecting to the internet. The girlfriend is speaking to a technical advisor with PlayStation who brings to her attention the fact that without connecting...(read more)

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Top 5 SEO Strategy: Getting Your Website to the Top of Google

David Bayer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:56:50 GMT

Most search engines provide two different unpaid areas where your business can appear: local business listings and web page results. Having a search engine optimization strategy that gets your business exposure in both of these areas will help you maximize your internet marketing efforts. Here are the top five no-nonsense ways to get you there: 1. Domain Name Your domain name is your little piece of web real estate. Choosing a local domain name, such as www.chicagomortgage.com will provide tremendous value in your ability to rank in search engines for highly searched key phrases. If you already have a domain name that is not a highly searched term, you can still give your site a boost by purchasing local domain names launching microsites that represent your business, product or service. You...(read more)

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Better Mortgage Origination: Financial Planning and Home Ownership Go Hand in Hand

Jeff Wirsing — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:58:00 GMT

I recently attended an event called the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour , featuring former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, an individual who I’m convinced has the most realistic and rational view of the U.S. economy. The event educates and informs people about the state of our country’s finances. Suffice to say we’re not in good shape. I highly recommend visiting their website where you can access easy to understand and simplified details of the U.S. budget, how we have created future debt obligations that are unsustainable and why we are on track to rocket past historical trends and create massive debt burdens and higher taxes for generations to come. What I found interesting about the event was that all of the solutions that were offered, (none of which are easy or palatable...(read more)

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Juicing up Your Local Online Presence

David Bayer — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:57:21 GMT

Why Local? Local is one of the top three areas of online marketing that my clients ask me about, along with search engine optimization and social media marketing. The interesting thing about local is that it is the yin to the global yang that we thought the Internet offered. While global connectivity is a result of the web, we now understand that more than 35% of all searches included some sort of local keyword phrase or intent. This fundamental understanding of how we search plays a significant role in how to effectively target local customers on the web. “Local Search” Local search is a broad reaching concept that refers to several key aspects of today’s online marketing opportunity: Searchers use local keyword phrases in their search queries (i.e. Orlando mortgage broker...(read more)

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How I Got to #1 on Google for ‘Mortgage Brokers'

David Bayer — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:13:00 GMT

Effective Internet Marketing Strategies – Overview As you can imagine – a lot of people ask me how I got my site to #1 on Google for a term like ‘mortgage brokers’ not to mention thousands of other high volume keyword phrases. It’s a process that anyone can achieve, but that requires more than a simple blog post to explain. I appreciate your interest in wanting to use the web to grow your business and hope my experience can help you achieve the same success that I’ve been fortunate to have. Unlike several years ago when mortgage brokers had a hard time keeping up with servicing borrowers who flocked to the nearest local lender, today’s most successful brokers are using a variety of marketing tactics to drive new business. The Internet affords the single...(read more)

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Enhancing Your Social Media Presence With Email

David Orsini — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:53:45 GMT

One simple step everyone can take to make their email efforts more compatible with their social media efforts is to link all of your emails to your social networking profiles or blogs. Most of us already have email signatures , so why not add these links right there with the rest of your contact information? Since most of the well known social media sites (which is where you should be focusing your efforts anyway) have well-recognized logos, I think it is a great idea to use those logos/icons as the hyperlink vs. just a plain text link; that catches the eye of the reader a little better, plus it is more visually appealing. So the way I have done it is I have a link to my FaceBook, LinkedIn, and Twitter profiles as well as a link to my blog. If you don't have profiles on any of these networks...(read more)

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MBA Proposal Makes No Progress

Jeff Wirsing — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:40:20 GMT

On September 2 the MBA released " MBA's Recommendations For The Future Government Role, In The Core Secondary Market ". After reading this short 12-page report I found myself wondering if the MBA is taking the right approach. The first sentence of the report reads , "The importance of housing...warrants a federal Government role ..." I can't help but wonder if they are looking for a solution based on an incorrect premise! I'm not suggesting that the Government should be excluded from any solution...clearly it serves a purpose. The GSE's absolutely did their job of creating liquidity for the mortgage industry. Where they failed, (by not adequately creating stability), was when their role in buying and owning securities became too large. But to begin the restructuring...(read more)

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Housing Professionals Reluctantly Joining Labor Organizations

Moshe Cohen PhD — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:26:00 GMT

Appraisers in NJ and other states are discussing the possibility of joining an organization to oppose HVCC, declining fees and the dominance of "big business" AMCs. Most appraisers have an independent spirit and the idea of an appraiser union is not very appealing to them. I suppose that the same applies to Mortgage Brokers. It certainly feels like both groups have been under attack recently and at least some appraisers are becoming more receptive to the idea of a union. They are attempting to organize as the American Guild of Appraisers, part of the Office & Professional Employee International. Mortgage brokers can be represented by the same umbrella organization. This is not something that anybody would have imagined few years ago, but both groups have been squeezed to the limit...(read more)

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Making Obama's Foreclosure Plan Work

Steven Gillan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Since March 4th 2009 when the Obama Administration announced the "Making Homes Affordable" (MHA) program, we have all been waiting for the plan to be implemented in a manner and scale that would have a positive impact on stabilizing real estate values. As was seen from the release of the GAO report in August, lenders/servicers have not been, or in some cases have been unwilling to provide the relief that the program can offer in order to have a major impact on the foreclosure crisis. We all must remember that the MHA program and other efforts put forth by the Treasury Dept and GSEs to stabilize real estate values are the key to the Administration’s overall economic recovery program. If we fail to do what is needed to reduce inventory of below market properties, and do not provide...(read more)

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Is the FTHB Tax Credit Stealing From Future Demand?

Winston Smith — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:49:00 GMT

From Thompson Reuters.... WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Low interest rates and tax breaks are giving the U.S. housing sector a jolt but, like the "cash-for-clunkers" program spurring car sales, the recent spurt in home sales is taking an advance on tomorrow's demand . Thanks to Washington, 2009 has become a tempting year to purchase a home. First-time buyers may receive an $8,000 tax credit and mortgage rates are invitingly low as the Federal Reserve fulfills its promise to buy nearly $1.45 trillion in mortgage-related securities this year. The real estate industry is lobbying Congress to extend the tax credit beyond its planned November expiration. But there are concerns the program's benefits may be short-lived, uneven and could undercut future sales. For observers like...(read more)

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Real Estate Agents: Still A Valuable Source Of New Business

Brian Brady — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:49:32 GMT

Solid real estate agent relationships are the cornerstone of any professional loan originator's business plan. While the mortgage industry has done an excellent job at consumer direct marketing, home buyers still consider the real estate agent the "gatekeeper of the transaction" and even rely on them for advice on financing. This is especially true in the first-time home buyer market. The value, however, of each individual agent relationship has waned in the past 6-7 years. When I first started originating, each agent in my "Rolodex" averaged three transactions annually. An originator looking to close 100 purchase loans annually needed to be marketing to about 30-35 agents. Fifteen years ago, the primary method of marketing was to show up at the agent's office and...(read more)

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The Way of the Guerrilla Mortgage Warrior

Brian Brady — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:12:00 GMT

Q: What do HVCC, HERA, and mortgage brokerage fee agreements have in common? A: They make our job a lot easier..BUT we're screaming about it ..and that makes us look anti-consumer. Here's my dirty, little secret: HVCC is working out well for me! I have NO control over the appraisal process so REALTORs can't badger me like they have in the past. No more double-apps and borrowers paycloser attention to mortgage rates . I'm no longer the "market-maker", I'm a consumer advocate. New TILA disclosures? I embrace them. I don't tell consumers that their closing is going to be delayed, I inform them that it MIGHT be delayed if they don't sign and return the loan disclosures in a timely matter. I get to cite transparency and consumer protection as my compass. How...(read more)

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Discussing Calls for Leadership in the Mortgage Industry

Bill Berliner — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:36:00 GMT

I read the recent discussions and proposals for changes in the mortgage industry (from Jeff Wirsing and Brian Brady) with great interest. One doesn't have to agree with any or all of the proposals to appreciate the effort and thought that went into their articles. While I'm not a direct participant in the mortgage market, I have some thoughts on the matter. It's important to think about the unique nature of real estate in peoples' lives. To varying degrees, buying a home is a combination of purchasing a consumer durable and an investment vehicle. Consumers have a number of conflicting forces pulling at them. Typically, homebuyers are looking to buy the most house they can "afford" at the lowest "cost." The quotation marks highlight the subjective nature of...(read more)

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Proposing Real Change in the Mortgage Industry

Jeff Wirsing — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:49:00 GMT

In the past year most of us have listened to, or expressed our views, on the need for the mortgage industry to make changes. Why has so much collective interest in making something happen failed to produce any meaningful results? I am inclined to think that in many ways we are making things harder than they need to be when it comes to effecting change and fixing the systemic problems in the mortgage industry. Imagine a car manufacturer who determines that the public is asking for certain things in a vehicle and as a result, builds a mini-van. But when completed, the public looks at the mini-van and says, "That's not what I wanted (or needed). I really want a motorcycle." Is it better for the car manufacturer to try to make changes to the mini-van or should they start from scratch...(read more)

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