Mortgage ramblings brought to you by Beth

I don't understand, I mean I really don't get it. The mortgage industry is in shambles. Lenders are going out of business, brokers are closing their doors, many many people are being laid off, the media and governments are in a feeding frenzy. None of this is a secret.

I speak to mortgage professionals every day. Many times a day. That's my job. Sometimes these conversations are purely about the business at hand "can this deal be done?" "should I lock?" "when is the file coming out of underwriting?" and those types of things. I am lucky that I also have conversations that are more personal. I love nothing more that telling war stories with my fellow mortgage professionals, hearing about their lives, their communities and families. Inevitably, somewhere in these conversations, someone says "well, at least all the people who don't know what they're doing are not in the biz anymore." "Only the true professionals are left" and other such self congratulatory comments. We hang up feeling smug that WE are still in the mortgage industry, which of course means WE know what we're doing and We are the true professionals.

That may well be true but I gotta tell you, there are still either really lazy or really sloppy people that are also in the biz. I guess this rant comes more from my operational background rather than my sales managing background but the two are so closely related in my mind that it's hard to tell.

The most basic document in any mortgage transaction, the bible, the basis for the whole deal is the 1003. That's right, the loan application. It's not rocket science to fill it out. It's only four letter size pages. A properly and fully completed application can make your deal and an improperly completed one can kill it. As a mortgage professional taking one of these completed applications should be something you could do in your sleep, on a bar napkin with no information missing. This is your interview with your client, this is your letter of explanation of the loan to your underwriter, this is what makes your deal close! All of the questions are there for a reason and I guarantee you that the underwriter wants the answers. Missing or inaccurate information sends up red flags. In this lending environment, flags are not good. Red ones that get your file flagged (pun intended) for audit which leads to white ones you wave after you're tired of fighting with the underwriting manager as to why your file is not fraud. I'm sure any mortgage professional reading this rant is sagely nodding their head, saying of course, everyone knows this.

I know, I know, none of you are guilty so I just want you to know that there are A LOT of people still, in-spite of popular opinion, in the mortgage business who do not know what they are doing and are not true professionals and are getting their clients deals turned down because they couldn't be bothered to do their job. GO TAKE THEIR BUSINESS FROM THEM! THEY DO NOT DESERVE IT!