February 2008

I love Kristen’s title at Building Champions; Coach. In one way or another, Coach is the type of leader I’m always looking for when recruiting contributors to lenderama. Some do it by sharing their experience, for Kristen it’s her primary job.

Kristen has a solid mortgage background and an experienced adviser. lenderama is quickly becoming a mecca for career development in the mortgage industry and Kristen is another solid piece to the puzzle. Please welcome her to lenderama.

When did you all decide it was OKAY to send a notary signing agent to the borrower in lieu of a mortgage originator?

Take a lesson from the title world. It ain’t a good idea.

These so-called “RESPA signings” fly under the radar of licensing and regulators and outside of the normal scope of reps and warranties.

It’s the fast track to cheapening the role of mortgage professionals in the name of economic rationality.

In the title biz, it facilitated entree of remote companies into local markets and disintermediated lots of independent agents. Substitute mortgage brokers and you see what I mean.

Large agents got the brilliant idea that they could save money by firing their closing staff and using NSAs. Substitute mortgage originator and you see what I mean.

Consumers in a closing or mortgage application situation expect a professional who can answer questions and who has significant knowledge.

Now, I know that there are a relatively small percentage of NSAs who have experience and knowledge. I argue that they should decide what business they are in and embrace it. You want to work in the title business? Get a license. You want to work in the mortgage business? Get a license. Step up to the freakin plate like the rest of us.

Sending a body with a notary seal to the door of a consumer is a cheap substitute for a qualified professional.

Real estate agents should keep their eye on this trend as I predict you are next.

Notaries are the human facilitators of commodity style providers. They are inexpensive and they are numerous. It’s the kind of competition you don’t expect. Eyes open.

As my business has grown and I am working more often with my marketing partners at Koi Marketing Group, I am listening to some very talented people who are either totally frustrated with todays environment and looking for a better direction or meeting some truly awesome people with a real vision for new opportunity.

What separates the two groups has very little to do with talent or experience, in fact some of the people I am talking to have been successful in our business quite a long time. What separates them is their attitude!

Confession here, as my company was one of those lost in the mortgage industry bust, I have been up and down in my own attitudes certainly! But what always amazes me is whenever I am struggling I seem to see or hear something that brings me back. This morning it was a young guy who wrote a book called Scratch Beginnings. I’ll give you the link to the Amazon book review . I haven’t read it yet so I can’t express how it affected me, but what did affect me was his interview that spoke about not being a victim and how you take what you have been given and basically make the most of it.

I see our current challenges just in that way. We can surely say there are victims in our current mortgage chaos, consumers, industry employees displaced, current industry employees struggling in a new environment that they don’t yet know what to do with, investors, etc…but without a review of our own ability to deal, we have no chance to succeed.

Check out the book and let me know if it has any validity to motivate. I’d be interested to hear what you have found that helps get you focused and motivated. Happy Tuesday! I know mine will be worthwhile…

Hello, I was working on a couple of assignments pertaining to bankruptcy filings and researching the new guidelines when I came across something potentially very scary.

One action that can prevent someone from being eligible to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection is “lying to creditors about income or assets on an application.” Does this mean that borrowers, especially the walking wounded subprime ones, could be denied relief because their loan applications will almost certainly not reflect their real incomes?!

If true, the implications are scary. Even if the lender in question (a secured creditor, after all) didn’t raise the issue, could a different, perhaps unsecured creditor–retaining the right to continue pursuit of arrearages? If so we haven’t even begun to smell the stink these loans are going to cause — and fresh air may be a long time coming…