Chad McDowell

We go over it on the phone. In Person. On Email. Again and again we state unquestionably "I need you to fax me the following items: Last two years W2's, your last two pay check stubs, your homeowners insurance information, your most recent mortgage statement, a copy of your drivers license, and send that back to me along with the application and disclosures you have signed".

Now...if I just said that one time, I could see how someone could miss something here and there. But I have them write down EVERYTHING I say to email/fax and read it back to me AND I email them a second time with the exact same information again, AND STILL I am sitting here putting together a file that includes SIGNED DISCLOSURES AND A DRIVERS LICENSE!

Ever tried to calculate an annual income and debt ratio from a drivers license?!?!

Ok, so I had some traveling to do over the last thirty days, and in that time I have been in four states...my home state of Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.

Now...let's start with Iowa. I was born and raised in rural Oregon and now live in Tennessee, far be it for me to have the audacity to make fun of anyone elses state...but WHAT DO Y"ALL DO IN IOWA?!?! Everyday I had a 40 minute drive into where I was working. My drive was...cornfield, cornfield, cornfield, silo, barn, cornfield, tractor. AND apparently this is OFFseason for corn, so it wasnt even pretty cornfields(which I'm told are considerably more interesting)it was miles of burnt cornfields! Say what you want about Tennessee but Iowa is as COUNTRY as anything I have seen in the South without the accent!

Now...if you think I am just going to continue on about "I" states that I dont ever want to visit again...you are WAY wrong. Trip number two was Chicago, Illinois. And all I can say about Chicago is that it may very well be my new favorite city. Well...maybe behind Nashville and Seattle...but definitely high on the list. What an amazing town! No cornfields, just incredible skyscrapers, Wrigley Field, 312 Beer, the "El" train and kick ass pizza! Now THAT is a town worth going back too! Well done Chicago!!!

And the last stop...Evansville, Indiana. Really, there are no words.

But its good to be back in Nashville, a town I have grown to love and call home. Next week is Southern California, a place I used to call home. And who knows after that. This country has some unique places, and even if I make a joke or two about parts of it, I look forward to continued travels and seeing what else is out there!

But its good to be home for now.

Have you ever had it hit you right between the eyes that you arent as young as you used to be? It happened to me last night.

After work I went grocery shopping. And as I went through the meat department I discovered that my FAVORITE chicken was marked down on the manager special! At $3.88 for 2lbs of chicken breast, I bought all of it that they had on special! And my freezer is now stocked with dinner for a week! I could not have been more thrilled with my purchase.

At 33 years old, I still feel like a kid half the time. But long gone are the days when I would come into the office with bachelorhood stories about wild nights, wild women, wild parties, and gallons of flowing drinks. Now, all it takes for me to have a memorable night...is a good sale on chicken?!?

I remember when I was a kid, every time I would hear adults in a conversation it seemed like they discussed the most uninteresting things imaginable. Now I understand why. Because when you get older, boring things are exciting. And a good deal on meat seems like something for discussing.

So, never mind the wrinkles. Or that the clothes you wore in high school are back in style. Or the fact that sitting can somehow make your shoulder hurt. You REALLY know youre old when "going out" means to the supermarket and a great night can be found in half price chicken!

A month or so ago I posted about a conversation I overheard from two loan officers. http://activerain.com/blogsview/967221/Please-Tell-Me-I-Did-NOT-Just-Hear-That

The premise being that one loan officer sent a client an offer that was LOWER then what he even thought he could do AND his offer got under cut by another loan officer. His response...under cut the under cutter! Even though he KNEW his original offer was too low to be able to honor.

Look, I dont want to pre-judge anyone, especially since I have been on both sides of the fence. I spent the first few years of my career calling Internet leads and made a decent living doing so. But building a business in this industry by buying and soliciting Internet leads is, I believe, one of the reasons that we enjoy a stellar reputation right up there with used car salesmen.

Leads cost money, and there is a definite pressure to close those deals. What there is NOT, is any kind of relationship building. Its strictly a transactional process, one in one out, on too the next deal.

I dont recommend anyone finding their mortgage consultant on-line, you can never be sure who you're talking too. But, if you are going to go on-line mortgage shopping, here's a quick tip...a bank, is a bank, is a bank. Especially now more then ever! With Sub-Prime loans no longer available, almost everyone out there has access to the same rates, same loan products, etc. So, if something sounds too go to be true...you know the rest.

When it comes down to it, there's nothing wrong or dishonest about Internet leads or lenders...its all about who you get on the other end of the phone and their integrity level. But I'm concerned that the "when banks compete, you win" philosophy, encourages the competitors to say what needs to be said to get you in the door.

So...how do you find an honest lender? Ask around! Its not that hard! You'll take the time to go on-line, shooting blind and hoping for the best, but you wont ask some of the people in your life, church, work, or neighborhood, who they used for their last mortgage and whether they would recommend them?? We are talking about your HOUSE, after all.

It's not an exact science, I suppose...but it stands to reason that a Mortgage Consultant that relies exclusively on referrals, is likely to handle your transaction in a way that would encourage your referrals.

This is definitely a bumper sticker for the times!

Dean Jackson, marketing extraordinaire, sent that too me this morning. I hate bumper stickers and would NEVER put one on my car...but that one may make me change my mind.

What else can you do but find the humor in the stressful times, right?!?