By Mark r. chaffee
Vice president and
regional manager
Mortgage Financial Inc.
8 Tips
for Better
Business
don’t neglect these oft
overlooked strategies
Some of the most successful mortgage brokers and origina- tors cite great customer service
and low rates as two of the secrets of
success in this industry.
The problem, however, is that all clients expect great customer service and
can almost always find a competing broker or banker with lower rates than yours.
With that in mind, what are a few of
the most significant additional ways
to succeed as a broker or originator? If
strong customer service and low rates
aren’t delivering the business you
expect, consider the eight following
strategies to increase your volume.
Some of the most vital tactics for suc-
cess are some of the most basic —
and easy-to-forget — concepts of loan
origination.
1. invest
Try to invest, at minimum, 10 percent
of your income into your business
each year. This money can be spent
on an assistant, advertising, website
maintenance or any number of additional upgrades or marketing efforts for
your company.
Never underestimate the value of
advertising. For instance, think of the
top realtors in your market and try to
visualize their faces. Did you remember
their faces from the last time you saw
them or from their advertisements?
Chances are, you visualized some form
of their advertising.
Successful mortgage professionals
know that they won’t remain on top if
they don’t promote themselves — and
do so with frequency. Invest in yourself
and success will follow.
2. educate yourself
Do you receive and read daily e-mail
updates and publications related to
the mortgage industry? You should; if
you don’t educate yourself, your clients
will be left to their own devices when
it comes to educating themselves and
staying on top of industry changes.
3. Be confident
accomplishing this particular task
may be difficult, but it’s one of the
most crucial aspects of any business.
Successful brokers and originators
conduct their business in myriad ways,
but they all have one thing in common:
They present themselves and their
products with confidence.
a client can tell when brokers or loan
officers seem unsure of themselves and
will take advantage of this perceived
weakness. This could entail a variety of
actions — from disputing the terms of a
given deal to simply choosing to work
with a competing originator or business.
4. Stay in touch
How hard is it to turn a cold call into a cli-
ent? This is more difficult for some origi-
nators than it is for others, although it’s
always significantly more difficult than
turning a client into a repeat client.
5. expand your network
Effective networking isn’t just about
getting other mortgage professionals to refer clients to you. It’s equally
important to have a network of quality,
trusted professionals to whom you can
refer your clients.
continued on page 64 »
Mark r. chaffee has been a loan originator,
regional manager and vice president at Mortgage Financial Inc., a New England mortgage
company, since 1993. He was listed among
the top 50 loan originators in the nation by
most loans closed in Scotsman Guide’s 2009
and 2010 Top Originators rankings. a founding member of the Vermont Mortgage Bankers association, Chaffee has served as an
officer and board member. reach Chaffee at
mchaffee@mfsinc.com or (802) 658-5599.
By divina K. Westerfield
President
National Note Association
A Quiet Battle
quiet title actions may allow your
clients to avoid foreclosure
quiet title action works like this. First,
the firm will perform a title search in order to determine who appears on public
record. This will produce the public list
of defendants that will be sued in quiet
title. Following that, the firm will perform
what’s called a mortgage securitization
Many mortgage originators have worked with clients who are facing the following dilemma: They’re upside down on their
mortgages, yet their servicers refuse
to pursue a principal reduction or even
a short sale. In these cases, it may
seem that your clients have no other
option than foreclosure. Brokers and
originators can help, however, by suggesting that their clients undertake a
quiet title action.
a quiet title action essentially is an
action against all parties that may have
an interest in the given property. This
course of action states that the property’s lien holders need to provide documentation that shows they, indeed,
have a right to a lien on the property. If
they cannot prove that they have a right
to a lien on the property, the mortgage
that may have once appeared on the
property will be wiped out. In this situation, the note or debt still may not be
eliminated, but the property would no
longer have a lien.
If a mortgage was created within the
past 10 years, it’s likely that it was a securitized mortgage. In other words, it
was supposed to have been transferred
to a trust, which, in turn, was supposed
to sell security certificates to investors.
The problem, however, is that many
promissory notes and mortgages were
not transferred to trusts and thus
were not properly securitized. Instead,
the Mortgage Electronic registration
Systems (MErS) kept the mortgages,
and credit agencies named MErS the
mortgagee and didn’t record any other
transfers.
as a result, quiet title actions are becoming increasingly common in today’s
courts. In effect, homeowners essentially are gaining free and clear titles,
which simply need to be pled in order
to have the liens officially wiped out.
For many law firms, the process of a
“The note or debt still
may not be eliminated
[by a quiet title action],
but the property would
no longer have a lien.”
procedures act and the Truth in Lending
act also may be involved in the action.
Ultimately, the law firm will attempt
to gain sufficient leverage against the
lender to either obtain a significant principal reduction for the homeowner or, in
lieu of that, a complete quiet title.
as mortgage-related lawsuits continue to grow in prevalence, brokers
and originators should stay up-to-date
about specific legal activities within the
industry. all in all, familiarizing yourself
with quiet title actions can help you
better advise your customers if and
when they’re facing foreclosure and in
this way, can help you retain the future
business of those clients, as well. •
audit, locating the trust that holds the
mortgage. The firm will then determine
the numerous entities that were supposed to have held the note and mortgage through the securitization process.
This creates another list of defendants,
ones who were never of public record.
With that, the firm will have its list
of defendants — both public and private — and the quiet title action will
be underway. Violations of consumer
laws like the Fair Debt Collections
practices act, the real Estate Settlement
Disclaimer: The above is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
divina K. Westerfield has been a practicing attorney in the state of Indiana since
1984 and is a licensed real estate broker
and mortgage loan originator in the state
of Florida. She is president of the National
Note association, a Nevada corporation that
offers securitization litigation packages
through affiliates across the United States.
reach her at www.Sue TheBanker.com or
www.NationalNoteassociation.com.
