Real estate is a tough business to make a living in. And I don’t care if you are the agent, the loan officer or the title person. But I have empathy for the loan officers more than the other participants. Theirs (yours) is a far more cut-throat business than mine.
I drive around with my clients. Or I meet them at several houses. I spend hours with them on the phone or in my office or at their kitchen table. At some point loyalty begins to set in. Sure, I’ve had a few jump ship in 6 years. But amazingly few. Most will stay loyal to me and my services because they realize the value that I bring.
But for loan officers the road seems much tougher. There isn’t, seemingly, the time to develop a “loyal” client. Let me give you an example.
I have a client that just finished negotiating on an investment purchase. All through the negotiation period he spoke with and received numbers from Loan Officer “A”. And Loan Officer “A” did everything expected of a professional. Even went the extra mile a time or two. But as luck would have it rates jumped over the weekend. Nobody’s fault. They just did. So the buyer decides to check out the rates a couple other places.
And wouldn’t you know it he found one 3/8 of a point lower than Loan Officer “A”s current rate. And with mortgages creeping back up decided to lock in with Loan Officer “B”.
Now to be clear, I probably would have done the same thing. And when it comes to that kind of savings many of you would do the same, as well. But wow. All that work by Loan Officer “A” down the tubes.
I guess you could say “Win some. Lose some.”
I’d love to hear the thoughts of the loan officers out there.
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Tony Gallegos // Jan 29, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Chris - It is a rough business for all of us. That’s why it’s so important we treat our good clients like gold during and after the transaction closes. Building customer loyalty is the key to building a long term sustainable business.
Great post!
2 Chris Lengquist // Jan 29, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Tony - hard to argue. Thanks for commenting.
3 Anthony // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Chris, that’s like you showing them multiple homes and then the client bumps into an old college buddy who happens to be an agent and they sign an exclusive buyer agency agreement with them! It’s wrong not to offer him a chance! They could have went back to LO A and had him match the rate! Freaking rates changed four times in one day with my corporate office last week. He would have probably beat LO B’s deal if given the chance.
Unfortunately people don’t care about service much. Tell L.O. A to start hosting regular home buying seminars. They produce the most loyal clients ever. FTHB’s usually stick with the lender who taught them about the home buying process. I think it’s key to prevent getting shopped to death. Happy Home Selling!
4 Chris Lengquist // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Hey, it happens. It’s happened to me. And this lender “A” said it was the best rate she could give.
I don’t like it. But I don’t blame the consumer, either. I don’t even blame the LO’s. Thanks for commenting.
5 Anthony // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:20 pm
In the past I wanted to offer a meet or beat type of deal…but karma is a beast. I would hate to work hard and then all of a sudden lose a client because of $200 on a gfe or .125% on a floating rate!
What state are you in?
6 Chris Lengquist // Jan 30, 2008 at 7:10 am
Kansas/Missouri
7 Jeff Brown // Jan 30, 2008 at 10:47 am
Over time one learns the long view is best, especially with lenders. As a young agent I was frustrated often by lenders with slightly lower rates or points not performing or ’surprising’ me at the end with the same deal the other guy had in the first place.
Go with the trusted guy who tells you what the real scoop is. Our clients almost always come to trust our lender because he always gives them the straight facts — then performs.
8 Chris Johnson // Jan 31, 2008 at 7:07 am
Good post, as usual. The deal is this: you’re building a business that has transactions, and you’re mesasuring your success in the long term. Like one hand of poker, anything can happen with any deal. You wanna minimize variance and ensure that you’re well ahead of the game.
I would say that a healthy business has something like 50-65% existing clients and direct referrals, and the rest is new growth, prospecting.
The other thing I noticed was that you didn’t talk about how much work LO-A put into the deal; having done work on spec entitles you to squat.
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