Updates, Thoughts, and Contemplations...

This Alert was originaly sent to a select group of my clients in April of 2009.

Obama Says Timing Right For Millions to Refinance!

Dear Friends, Family, and Neighbors,

If you have been wishing you could take advantage of the record low mortgage rates, only to be told that you don't have enough equity to refinance, now is the time to take action!

I've spoken to many of you who make your payments on time and have good credit, but have watched the value of your home decline over the past two or three years.  I have been discouraged by not being able to help you...until now!

 The Obama administration is serious about getting relief to as many homeowners as possible in this national financial crisis. There is a new opportunity for millions of people in this country to take advantage of mortgage rates, rates that have not been this low since before the industry began tracking them in 1971!

"The main message we want to send today is there are 7 to 9 million people across the country who right now could be taking advantage of lower mortgage rates," Obama said in a photo opportunity in the Roosevelt Room. "That is money in their pocket."

Last month, the Obama administration launched a new plan to provide billions of dollars in incentives for the mortgage industry to help homeowners with little or no equity to refinance. The program is called the Home Affordable Refinance program.

This program allows people to refinance their mortgage even if the loan is more than the value of the home. Millions of people will be able to qualify for this program but there are a few restrictions:

Your loan must be owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.

You must have a good payment record.

Your new loan balance, including closing costs, must not exceed $417,000.

Your new loan balance cannot exceed 105% of your home's current value.

Income documentation waivers are available on Freddie Mac loans. Appraisal and minimum credit score requirements can be waived under some circumstances. 

Consider this program if you have a fixed interest rate and would like to lower it, if you have an interest only loan or an adjustable rate loan.

To find out if you are eligible for this new program visit www.freddiemac.com/mymortgage or www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup to find out if your loan is Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae owned.  Then immediately give me a call take advantage this new and amazing program.  This program is going to cause a huge increase in loan applications all over America and it is important to get in early.

Lets Get Motivated and Get Better!

All sales people sometimes have challenges staying motivated. Those of us in the real estate and finance industry have had a number of motivational challenges to deal with over the past couple of years. It is no secret that the housing and finance industries have been beaten and bruised for awhile now.

So it is always a pleasure to me to see people that consistently choose to see the glass half full. Even better is when they see it running over. No matter the challenges, they are always able to count their many blessings and help others to see the opportunity that is all around them, even in adversity.

It isn't that they are blind to slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, for we have indeed endured drastic change in our industry. It is that they see the challenges, the changes, and they embrace them. They figure out the ways to adapt and to excel in the new environment that they find themselves in. They truly understand that it's not what happens to us that determines our success, it is what we do about it.

One such person is my friend Fred. Today in a sales meeting, he shared a sports analogy with us that made me think about the need to always have goals to strive for and to continually review our actions and results in relationship to those goals.

Fred asked each one of us in the room think about our favorite sport. A couple of people said they don't like sports so he asked them to think about a vocation that they are passionate about. Fred used the example of baseball. He talked about the levels of the sport, starting with Little League moving on to High School ball, College ball, into AA, AAA, and up to Major League. He asked us to think about the level of expertise, dedication, and commitment it takes to progress from one level to the next.

He asked us to consider our career and where we would place our expertise and commitment. Would we make the team? Would we be able to keep from being cut? Would we be an All Star?

Where would you be in this exercise in your career? Do you have the commitment to become the best in your industry? Or are you buffeted along by the winds of change with periods of accidental success between periods of struggle, restarts, and trying to get back to basics?

If you are not where you want to be in your career right now, are you willing to do something different? Are you willing to push yourself beyond what is currently comfortable? Because as sales people, we already know that this is what it takes.

There is a Japanese word that describes a principle that I strive for in my life. The word is Kaizen. It means continual improvement and a reduction of overly hard work. It means small incremental improvement over time. Just a little bit better every day. It does not require a drastic overhaul in the way we do things. We just need to find little ways to improve...consistently for a period of time for a cumulative impactful effect.

Imagine, just making five more calls today, and then next week adding an extra five more handwritten notes for the week. Just incremental changes that will have a cumulative effect. How much better would you be in your career at the end of a year? Would you be ready to move up from AA ball?

My commitment in these posts is to always give you practical resources to help improve your performance or enhance your quality of life. This time I would like to share with you personally a tool for adding value to your client and sphere of influence relationships. Give me a call and I will show you a way to continually give your clients something they will appreciate and it will cost you absolutely nothing.

Happy New Year!

 Well...here we are, already a couple of weeks into the New Year. I hope by now that you have done your business plan and set your goals for 2011. However, if you are anything like most people, you may not have completely finished your plan yet, or maybe you have not even started one. 

 It is not breaking news that the past couple of years have brought significant changes and challenges to the real estate and lending industries. The good news of course is that change and challenges bring opportunity to those that keep their head up and their eye on the ball.

 Both real estate and lending have suffered horrible attrition of ranks and it is not over yet. It is estimated that 70% of the loan originators that were in the business in November of 2006 are gone. Another 20% of those left are expected to leave the business this year. I suspect there are equally startling statistics on the numbers of Realtors left.

 So the good news with this is that if you are still in this business, then you are a survivor. You may even be thriving as your competition dwindles away, leaving you with a bigger share of a shrunken market.

 For most of us change is not easy, but if we shift our perception of it, if we embrace it, we will find ourselves adapting quicker and succeeding faster than those that are still reeling from the turmoil. A friend of mine in the business told me just a couple of days ago that embracing change makes it easier. For some that may sound elementary, for others it could sound like insanity! I clearly saw the wisdom of what he said. Isn't it another way of politely saying "Quit whining and do something about it"?

 Another good thing about all the change is that it is raising the level of professionalism in the lending industry. Changes to regulations in 2010 made loan originators register, test, and obtain licensing on a par with the securities industry. With the exception of loan originators that are employees of federally chartered banks, loan originators now are required to be licensed and keep up continuing education requirements that truly hold them to the standards of a financial services professional. I have been registered in the securities industry since 2001 and can testify to the fact that it is not easy to obtain and keep that designation.

 For more about how bank employees are exempted from this licensing requirement you can see the article on the Safe Act on my website. This really is an odd twist of the law and means that the loan originator at a bank is likely to be less educated and in many cases less experienced than a loan originator working with a mortgage banking or mortgage brokering company.

 So...change is here. Those of us that embrace it will do better than those that ignore it. Let's embrace the change and tell a story of optimism to our clients, our families, and each other.

 One more thing. I want to share with you a source of practical knowledge for our industry and a great coaching resource that I have been using since 1999.

 Joe Stumpf's By Referral Only organization has been a great help and inspiration to me over the years. Here is a link to his blog. www.byreferralonly.com/mybro/ It is called Joe's Journal. It is free to access and it has a lot of great ideas for Realtors and loan originators. Check it out...it may help you with that business plan you haven't finished yet.

 To your success and a Blessed 2011

Safe Act Does Not Apply to Bank Originators?

In 2008 Part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act gave us the NMLS and SAFE Act.

The Government Alphabetical soup: 

NMLS: Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System

SAFE: Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act

What does this entail? Well, for 2010 all MortgageLoan Originators, except those working for banks, need to be licensed by both Uncle Sam and the States that they work in, all in all that is not a bad idea. (more on that below)

To be licensed you need 20 hours Class time for the Federal license and then have to pass a Test. For the State Test, there is another 4 hours of class time and another test.

The Federal test is not an easy one. When it first came out the failure rate was 70%, Since everyone learned about the difficulty of the test and started studying for it, that failure rate dropped to about 30%. You need to get a 75 or better to pass the National test. The NMLS Data is also a public record, you can view individuals that are licensed, and even see their work history.

The SAFE Act not only requires class time, passing the test and continuing education moving forward. It also requires Criminal Background checks, Credit reports,and finger printing.

Here is the fun part of it all, and to me it seems to conflict with the Secure and Fair piece of the act.... If you work for a Federally insured bank you do not need to do any of this, No class time, No testing, No Credit report, etc...  How is that Secure and Fair?

This means that your Mortgage Bankers, and Mortgage Brokers will have more education than people working at banks. They also will have more expenses, and a License that is NOT required for mortgage guys/gals that work for banks.

Federally Chartered Banks have always been able to Trump State Laws.  For example, a Federally Chartered Bank can charge a prepayment penalty in NJ even though prepayment penalties are illegal in NJ. This made some sense to me since The Federal Government is bigger than the State Government, and the big guy always wins.  Now as I try to apply this to the new NMLS andSAFE act I just do not understand how Federal can trump Federal? How is this good for the consumer?

It is clear to me that the cream of the industry will end up working for Mortgage bankers and Mortgage Brokers, while many that can not "cut it" any other way might just end up working for a bank - Aren't banks screwed up enough already?

I just thought the world may want to know that the world is unbalanced right now, and if you see people jumping ship to go work for a bank it might just be because they couldn't afford the classes and tests, or worse... They couldn't pass the test, or the background checks.

As a consumer, who would you choose for your mortgage?