Saturday, November 24, 2007
Job crashes
My first time blogging: I read a lot of stuff about lending--who did what to whom and whose fault it is that our economy is tanking meanwhile, me and my buds (loan reps) are struggling to stay afloat and not to have to take a Mc Job or sell saws at Home Depot! If you have read my personal stuff you know that I have seen it all! This is the WORST I have ever seen our business! I am keeping my eyes open for ways to make the business work because I am too old to be retrained!! You 30 somethings can still get a gig selling copiers, pills, or cars but I can't leave! For those of you who want to stay in this biz, dialog with me and other bloggers. I have some suggestions and ideas and sources to help, so come back often-let's network!!
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3 comments:
I want to try something new for all of you brokers and lenders out there. We all know that the current market sucks but just how bad? Please let me know what kind of business you are doing (if any)or if you have left lending entirely what are you doing now?
I have read reports that upwards of 40% of all employees in real estate have left the business. What are they doing for work today? The same reports show that there is approximately 15% less business than there was 1 year ago. If those statistics are even remotely accurate, there is more business for those of us remaining in the business than there was a year ago. There are there real estate agents, loan officers, processors, title and escrow employees singing The Clash song, “Should I stay or should I go now?” This business has never been uncomplicated but, in the past it certainly was much easier to fund loans. There has been a complete rewriting of underwriting guidelines and underwriting in general has become a huge roadblock. Guidelines continue to change daily as the secondary investors remain nervous to buy loan paper. Every file is scrutinized to a greater degree than ever before and that has slowed down the loan process.
Loans that used to take 2 to 3 weeks from start to finish, are now routinely taking 30 days. It has always been difficult for the average client to understand why there is so much paperwork and how come the loan process works so slowly. The wait in line can be worthwhile as rates are very good, that is if you come to the party with the right credentials. Bring high credit scores, large reserves, low loan to value and by the way, most loans written today require full documentation. So many loans that are on the books of the secondary investors are stated income loans and many are or will end up in foreclosure. Bottom line is this, if you have a solid loan package, there are good loan programs available, if not, wait a while longer. There will be some loosening of guidelines. It will become necessary to curb the great percentage of foreclosures.
New Blog---
It's been a while since my last blog and the business has deteriorated even more. Here is what I am seeing now--Amerisave a well designed retail shop out of Atlanta was providing many leads to former call center reps. They are working very hard and funding very few. i.e. one funded 3 loans last month with incoming calls. I was an outbound rep and out of $500
worth of leads funded one loan and took 3 months to close. Point: leads are useless. I am now moving to a loss mitigation company who charges $3500 to pull delinquesnt mortgages out of the fire, though no guarantees = tough sell. I also tried working for AFLAC, one step above MLM, and also tough. I would like to hear from those who have made lending work, or what your plan "B" is.
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