Hi Brian,
I was going to write this as a private email to you, then the thought occurred to me that it might stimulate some interesting discussion here on Active Rain.
Anyway, a bright young loan rep called on my office today, all ready with her company spiel about her lender's sign rider with an 800 number lead capture system.
I told her it against my policy to advertise any lender on our listing signs, and I didn't want the public to think we were in bed with any one particular lender.
As the conversation went on, I also told her that the only things that mattered to me were a). the lender performs on time and as promised, and b). that the lender knows their sh*t.
I asked her that if a client were to ask her advice on whether or not to lock in a rate today, what would she answer. Luckily for me, she was a little uncertain on that one, so I didn't have to come up with any other questions. A question about YSP was knocking at the back of my mind, but I realized I'd have to go back and re-read your YSP tutorial before I opened my big mouth.
Which brings me to the purpose of this little memo.
Brian, could you come up with some "talking points" that a real estate broker (or agent) could ask a potential lender about... for the express purpose of determining if the lender knows their sh*t?
And some commentary about each point? I'd bet I'm not the only person here that would find it useful.
I am a huge fan of Brian, and agree I would love to hear his take on this, Cheryl. I have often said that Realtors who do not take the time to know their loan officers should not complain when things go wrong. You appear to have a sincere desire to make certain a loan officer knows their stuff, and for that I compliment you.
Since you have asked Brian and not me, I will refrain from answering.....but I will keep this in mind for a future post. As a former Realtor, I am always interested in improving the working relationship between mortgage professionals, and Realtors.
Check out this link:
http://www.corp.ca.gov/outreach/resource_pubs/mort20quest.pdf
As a Loan Officer and a REALTOR, I feel that these are the best questions for the "client" to ask a potential lender... Notice I said, "client". Too many agents try to get involved in the financial end of the real estate transaction although they are not licensed to act on behalf of the "client" in the financial end of a real estate transaction.
Janet, When you write your post, please do come back and add a link to it, I'm really interested in what everyone has to say....
Billy, I'm thinking of general type questions to interview potential loan reps to see if they understand their market and know what they're doing, not the financially specific questions that would be appropriate for a client to ask.
Talking points for Realtors is such a good idea. Colorado has new contracts this year, stipulating the buyer can "opt out" if the financing terms aren't to their liking! Dealing with this shall be an interesting turn of events. Listing brokers are going to push for early completion of loan commitments.
Guess the best solution is for the buyer to have a LOAN is place before they even START looking for a home.
BTW, I'm glad you turned down the "call capture" riders. Tacky, tacky, tacky.
kk
Cheryl, Good for you for turning down the riders.
Hey Cheryl:
I think I covered most of what you seek here:
http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=810
A snippet:
What a great question and what a great resource the article is! Here on Active rain...ask and ye shall receive, huh?
Thanks for your post