Do you put 110% into your clients, yet you don't feel appreciated at times? Do you get beat up in this business? Do you feel like you spin your wheels, especially in today's market place? Overall, does your pain show, even when you think you have your happy face on?
Well, in the last 2 weeks, this has all happened to me one way or another. This post is not to brag about my ethics, how I treat clients, and that I feel that I am better than most when it comes to mortgages. But more so a form of therapy for me, which I wanted to share.
How many wear your heart on your sleeve? How many of you have a heart larger than life? How many of you have passion for what you do?
It was rewarding the other day, while speaking to a potential borrower, that she could tell that I have passion for what I do. But why the gloomy face in recent weeks? Feeling like I am lifeless, that I have lost that passion just recently. And because of this, I haven't blogged in the last 10 days or commented in the last 5 days. And because of two specific transactions, I haven't spelt well nor have I eaten as much. Yes people, I take this more than as a job, but as a part of my life. I love helping others, and even though some things happen out of my control, I feel like I have failed. Here are my reasons to why I have felt like this in recent weeks.
- I have a borrower that was suppose to have closed on May 27th, 2009. We ran into an appraisal issue that had an AVM fail, not pass. This property is in a declining market. I called everyone, even the listing agent, on the 20th of May to tell them to schedule it for that Friday, the 29th. I have been doing this for over 16 years, and I believe in communication, even if it's bad news. Of course people were going to be mad, and that there were 3 other transactions involved. They finally agreed to this on the 22nd, but we still were having problems with the AVM. Let's define what an AVM is first.
AVM stands for Automated Valuation Model. It calculates value of a property, just like an appraisal does. It uses the MLS to find other properties that are related to the suject property. Many investors and warehouse lines are requiring AVm's now, especially in declining market areas. The problem with AVM's are that they aren't always as accurate and several of the properties are not tagged properly.
In any case, we even missed the 29th and I told them that I don't stop until a solution is figured out. As it stood, they would have to put down an additional 5%, which would have been $30,000 that they didn't have. I reached out to a few of my lender contacts and had someone that could help them. But they decided to use the listing agents recommendation. But as I mentioned, I still don't stop. As of Friday, we finally got the AVM overturned, after several reviews. The buyers decided to come back to me, because rates have climbed drastically. And even though I was 1/2 percent better, I didn't use this against my borrowers to charge them for what it cost me to extend their current rate of 4.75%. And this cost me a pretty penny, even though I am still making something on them. But I didn't use all of this to my advantage, so I would lose this money. My integrity and referrals means more. The overall picture? A happy client at the end.
- My other closing? Another AVM issue that was on a property in Florida. The good news is that it's a Fannie Mae owned property. The property was originally being sold for $186,500, and was reduced to $170,000 by the AVM. Fannie Mae came back and accepted this price, which is even better for the buyer. But again, I had to extend the rate lock and I didn't charge the borrower for this.
Summary : Overall, more lessons were learned and it won't compromise my work ethics and how I treat people, even though I was yelled at and talked badly about. The first client, I was yelled at by the realtor for not returning a phone call the night before at 8 pm. Yes, these people involved where use to me calling and accepting calls at 10 pm. I do go beyond the call of duty. Yet, I can't be there 24/7... I do have a life and things do happen. If I don't pick up, it's for a reason. The example of the 2nd client? The realtor that was referred to me, who was in Arizona, because his wife had a co-worker that needed help in Florida? He e-mailed me, telling me that he was disappointed, because we had a closing issue. But the funny thing is that he jumped the gun, thinking that it was my fault. People, in both cases, these were issues not in my control. It wasn't a credit issue... it wasn't a credit issue. It wasn't a problem created by Jeff Belonger or Infinity Home Mortgage. I take too much pride in what I do to have those problems occur. But the bottom line, both deals are still closing.
Question to all of you in real estate and mortgages.... How do you set yourself apart from others? How do you handle adversity? I feel like I should be making $1,000,000 a year, because of my worth to my clients. But we all know that is not how it works in this business. I know a few loan officers that have tripled my income this year, and they truly suck at their job. But I can sleep at night. But as I mentioned, I didn't sleep for many nights, because I do care. Maybe too much... and it showed, because I had co-workers and friends bring this to my attention. Yes, I have a job to do, but I also have pride. And I don't accept failure, no matter who is at fault. Overall, I truly try to set clients expectations to a certain level, which I think is underrated when it comes to mortgages and how others make promises or guarantees, just to appease the people involved. Or, when a problem occurs, that it's not mentioned until the last minute. These are things that you won't get from me. That is my only guarantee......
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Experience & Knowledge at its BEST !!!
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For more information on FHA loans, please go to this link. The FHA Expert
For more information about the 2009 Tax Credit for First Time Homebuyers : 2009 Tax Credit
For important mortgage insight to watch for, please read : Consumers need to be aware of these Red Flags !!!!
Copyright © 2009 by Jeff Belonger
This is a great program, if you ever get a chance to participate, you should! The materials were very well labeled, lesson plans laid out and easy to use. 
