Blog of the Mortgage

This one was brought up by my counterpart Terri. But it was furthered by both a re-post on Blownmortgage.com and a CAMB meeting I attended Wednesday in San Francisco.

In the last couple of months I’ve personally lost (by way of your losing) loans to retail organizations: CW, CITI, BofA, etc. it might seem like they’re not that competitive (which they’re not) but they have been killing us in rate/price on some products and also doing things us in wholesale (that’s you and me both) wouldn’t be able to do.

For some background: I’ve come from being a processor, loan officer and multi-branch manager on your side of the fence. I went to wholesale after 2003.

I’ve fought for these loans as a broker and I’ve given guidance to many a newbie loan officer being in Wholesale. What is interesting is that up until Terri mentioned it I had completely over-looked one of the best competitive advantages that loan officers have in the marketplace, it was solidified by what another veteran brought up today.

It’s the Service and knowledge aspect of what we provide to our customers. As loan officer’s we’re far more local than many of the over the phone retail outfits that our customers might encounter (the DiTechs/CW service centers etc.). We really, really know our market. We know our customers, their economic concerns, their neighborhoods, schools and other tangible/intangible aspects to their life.

As loan officers we have an abundance of options available (even though we sometimes get caught up in the he’s got/I’m missing game). This means we can choose between lenders, credit suppliers, appraisers and the like. We also, by extension, have truly service oriented partners (that’d be myself and my team) to stand behind you when you’re working on your loan for funding.

The thing we need to remember is that now, more than ever, our clients need to have us around as our experience and understanding of their specific marketplace will help them to make sound financial decisions going forward in working through this tumultuous time. I’ve heard from various sources that in the last year some where between 40-60% of the loan officers/originators that were around are no longer in the business. That means that there are more home owners than ever before (we were @ 69% ownership rate nationwide by end of ’06) and fewer loan officers than ever before to handle this business.

There is opportunity out there available and we have to remember that we are as much our clients (past or potential) resource as we have ever been.

Our value is not in the final rate we deliver. Our value is found in our local understanding and the lending environment expertise that we bring to each transaction and also the guidance we deliver going forward to our customers.