Melissa Breeland

Well, well..well...perhaps our collective housing and economic fears are beginning to ease a bit. We just learned today that PMI (and possibly other MI companies) will once again offer MI for 2nd homes at 10% down as long as the buyer has a minimum credit score of 720. Still sounds a bit harsh but for the last 6 months it was 20% down or nothing.

They also withdrew several states from their "Declining Markets" list. (Only 5 states remain, AZ, CA, FL, MI, NV).

This may be just a small move in the right direction but I feel good about it. I for one don't ever want to see the crazy free-for-all lending practices that got us into this mess return, but I would like to see a little more common sense. 10% down with a 720 credit score is almost a sure thing.

Melissa "The Mortgage Maven" Breeland

Would you like to see the coolest web site ever (that is not a FaceBook virus)? Here it is... http://www.screaltors.com/focus/

I'm excited to hear all the blogging and tweeting from the Expo events in Columbia. Come on Realtors..let's hear from you.

When is your competitor your friend? This is an age old topic that many have pondered, and discovered the value of, from "Michael Corleone" in The Godfather Part II (1974), "My father taught me many things here - he taught me in this room. He taught me - keep your friends close but your enemies closer.", to the BMW and Mercedes-Benz Alliance of 2009.

As a Loan Officer I understood early on that my job is to close profitable loans and to take business from my competitors. Those who were naturally aggressive and greedy took this to extremes...perhaps it added to the "sub-prime mortgage melt down".Close loans at any cost any way possible! That was the cry in the wind. We've all seen the YouTube videos and heard the horror stories. Many of the ring leaders are serving time...many more should be.

To day we live in a new world...most of us (Loan officers) that are still standing are doing what professional lenders have always done. We show up to work in the morning and then we work all day. We return calls and muddle through the problems that come up (problems always come up) until we get it fixed. We care about our clients and try to do the best we can to offer fair terms, fees and rates based on risk and qualifications. Not very glamorous and we probably won't become filthy rich.

That being said...we rarely collaborate with our competition - especially our local competitors. We don't socialize or chat-up each other on social networking sites....much. We mark our territories and growl when approached by those that might take money out of our pockets. Survival of the fittest!

This thought process may be coming to an end for more and more of us. I think our chosen profession is feeling the call to bond together more now than ever before. We need each other. There are some great groups that work to foster alliances, provide continuing education and work to improve our public persona. Here are just a few.

•· The National Association of Professional Mortgage Women(NAPMW) is a community of professionals who engage in the mortgage/banking industry.

•· The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry, an industry that employs more than 280,000 people in virtually every community in the country.

•· The Real Estate Services Providers Council, Inc. (RESPRO^®) is a national non-profit trade association that unites providers from across the home buying and financing industry towards one common goal: A business and regulatory environment that better enables all of our members to efficiently offer affiliated services through subsidiaries, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships.

So, to sum this up...yes, I think our competitors can be our friends and most of all I think clients (the home buyer) will benefit. I'm actually having lunch with another Loan Officer on Friday who works at a near by bank (Which shall remain nameless..lest I accidental give them some extra publicity). We are going to chat about how we might be able to help each other by sharing program information, passing on referrals for folks who might need a loan program unique to our respective companies, and will be giving each other a "heads up" about local schemes (those participating in short sale fraud) and other unsavory characters in our market. Perhaps being a part of the lending community will help us all. I'll let you know how it goes.

At your service,

Melissa "The Mortgage Maven" Breeland

As a Mortgage Loan Officer I really shouldn't be obsessed with dilapidated houses..but guess what? I AM!

I took this photo downtown Charleston over the weekend.