So many of us are coming off of a 3 day weekend and getting back in to the grind of it all. Why is it always so hard to get going again after having a long weekend? It really doesn't matter because we have to get back at it and do what ever it is that we do.
I have been doing this a long time...way too long when I think about it sometimes but none the less I do something that I enjoy and that provides a service to many. When I first started in the business getting a mortgage loan was worse then getting a physical. It was more intrusive and the questions that we asked were worse then any probing one might take by a doctor. By the time we were done it seemed like we knew every intimate detail about a customer. But with the privacy act this information was and still is privileged information for the purposes of obtaining a mortgage. What was really odd is that in many cases because of what we had to do we formed friendships with many of our customers and as a result if we handled them correctly they were a great source of referrals. Much like a doctor our desk side manner dictated how the process and the end result would go and if we would deal with the customer again.
Well then of course all the new fangled loan programs started to come out and it got easier and easier for a customer to not only do a loan application but have less information required to get a loan and the process became quicker and easier then before. It was so easy in fact that now look at how many mortgage companies are gone and how many homes have lost value and how many have lost their homes.
Now I am not saying that because it got easier that this is why this all happened...it was all the funky new products that required no income or no assets and of course nothing for a down payment. This resulted in a lot of greed and this resulted in the mess. There were still many good loans made during this period of time but we lost track of financial responsibility to the consumer.
With this period of time loan officers lost their desk side manner. They forgot what to ask for and how to ask for it and explain why it was needed. The customer was in total control because the loan process was so simple.
I had always prided myself in the thought of simple-fast and hassle free for the loan process; not just for the customer but for the loan officer/company as well. It has become much harder to do this now then it ever was. But if the expectations are laid out for the customer and things can be explained then the process can still be smooth. Unfortunately many customers still remember how easy it was and have a hard time with how it has become again.
That is what it comes down to these days....expectations. A good loan officer is going to lay out what is needed in detail up front and what to expect as the process flows. The hard part is that no matter how good the loan officer is they can not 100% guarantee that what they ask for will be all that is needed or that the process will flow exactly as the expectations that they lay out. Why you might ask? Because every day or business is changing and new things are added or taken away. The secondary market and the investors that buy the loans are constantly changing the rules and lenders are constantly trying to keep up with them. Add to that each individual lenders level of risk and they may have some of their own quirks. This is not done to make the consumers life miserable but to prevent further melt down for the real estate and mortgage industry. We will all admit that sometimes what makes total sense...may not matter.
What is happening now is that when the loans are sold to the secondary market....the investors are looking for reasons to not buy the loans. 5 years ago they hardly looked at them but now it is as simple as a middle initial for a customer is missing. Mortgage companies are not looking to buy back their loans as they make their money when they sell them.
So what this comes down to...is that the mortgage industry and the loan officer are just doing their jobs...the question is how well they do it is what will make the difference of your experience. he other piece is that you have to forget how that loan process went before and how easy it was. Or for the person that never had a loan before...forget what you have heard. Like I said previously every customer/loan situation is different and what is needed can and will be different.
Again the idea that I am trying to do here is to give information to those that seek it and if you have comments or questions...please do not hesitate to toss them out there as I will read them and answer them if need be. Right now I am trying to figure out how to put an actual facebook follow button on this page or else find a new way to blog that allows me to do so. So for now I will continue to email this out and post it to my facebook page. For those of you that have a gmail account you can follow via the google follow feature.
My hope is that I am able to answer some questions and shed some light on a few things...and every once in a while I might ramble about something totally useless to all of us.
Have a great week...
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