I recently started with a well known and highly reputable company in Northern Virginia. I have been in the business going on three years now but this is my first time as a loan officer. Walking in on realtor is harder than some may think around here with all of the competition.

Other than ability to call back and being reached at any hour of the day, making sure the loan approval holds ground and having the GFE accurate; what are other things a realtor are impressed with when it comes to a loan officer?

Thanks for any help.

Matt

Make a Friend.........I believe this is the most important part of the process of getting referrals business from Real Estate Agents. They want to know who you are and that they can trust you to take care of their clients.

A few of the reasons I use one loan person/company over the other:

Referrals - Mortgage people who send me business, get my referrals in return. No referrals to me, no business from me. If the customer is already doing business with someone who doesn't refer me, I of course do nothing to sabotage their relationship (just wanted to put a disclaimer there in case it sounded harsh. Well it is harsh, it's business). This is number one for me!

Time to pre-approval - The faster the better. Some of my customers don't want to wait 2 days for pre-approval. I give preferential treatment to those that can get me pre-approvals in less than 1 hour. It's up to the mortgage person to make sure they keep the customer.

Open Houses - Mortgage people that are willing to help me advertise and sit an open house with me are right up there on my list! If they can't get me the approval quick enough but are willing to do the open house, they get good recommendations from us. Most of these also send me referrals as we build a working relationship.

I don't take much with the friend thing myself (no offense meant).

The bottom line for me is:

It's business. They help mine, I help theirs. I am not very generous when it comes to making mistakes, ie., delaying the closing because they didn't get the file to the underwriter in time, things like that. I understand some things are beyond the control of my contact, but if they drop the ball, I won't work with them again. Like I said, it's business, nothing personal. That's why I leave friendship out of my business dealings. ALWAYS!

IMO: If we have a good working relationship, friendship may develop over time.

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Jessie: Panama City Beach Real Estate, Panama City Real Estate and Panama City Beach Condos

SPAM removed.

Jessi's point is very valid. I work with many new loan officers and they think that they can get Realtor business by walking in with donuts, handing out rate sheets and telling everyone how low their rates are and how great their service is. As if the last person walked in and complained that their rates were too high and their service was lousy?

You need to bring something to the table. One tool that I offer Realtors is my First Time Home Buyer seminar on CD. It is co-branded with the loan officer's info and that of the Realtor. The Realtor can make unlimited copies of it and give it to their prospects. Now, if you do somethng like this, think you will get contacted by these prospects about getting pre-qualified? You betcha. Plus, you can work with the Realtor to do a live version of this seminar, which is in PowerPoint format.

You can learn more about this program at http://LoanOfficer101.net

- Joe

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