"Rates are still great," is what the mortgage broker said when I paused after he said, "Buyers don't shop for rates," then "Buyers don't care about rates when they get good service."
In my experience a buyer expects their real estate agent to direct them to a reputable mortgage broker who will provide great service and fair rates. When a trusted real estate agent recommends a mortgage broker most buyers trust their real estate agent so maybe they don't shop the rate with their bank or other banks. Everyone is really busy today and a home buyer is especially busy when they are buying a home so maybe home buyers don't shop the rate, but that does not mean that a buyer doesn't care what the interest rate is. Buyers do care how much they pay for goods and services.
Years ago I worked for a real estate company that had an in-house mortgage broker. Every time I turned in a contract the office manager would ask me if I was using our in-house lender. Everyone else in the office was using the in-house lender so what was my problem? The buyers that I sent to get pre qualified got an interest rate that was 1% to 2% higher than the interest rate with a local bricks and mortar bank. And it took a week to get a pre qualification letter for a buyer.
It's takes time and experience to put together a team of professionals who are going to take care of a home buyer or seller. One of my duties as a buyer's agent, and an aspect of providing excellent service to my buyer, is knowing who to send a buyer to so they get a fair interest rate.
I must be able to confidently recommend an excellent mortgage broker who is going to hit all of my service targets including interest rate. A buyer would be disappointed with me if I recommended a mortgage broker and the rates were higher than normal. I need for a buyer to get the same rate or a better rate from my mortgage broker than they would have gotten from their bank.
Mortgage Broker Service Targets
1. Interest rates, points and fees that are the same as, or lower than, the best interest rates on the island.
2. Provide a variety of loan programs to service jumbo loan buyers, FHA buyers, VA buyers, first time home buyers, investors, second home buyers, buyers who need to clean up their credit before they can buy, business opportunity buyers and commercial real estate buyers.
3. Work with a variety of underwriters. Know your underwriters and what they want and need to close. Know which loan and buyer to send to which underwriter so that our deal doesn't fall apart.
4. Qualify the buyer for the correct amount. Don't tell me we can buy a $500,000 home and then after the buyer has spent money on a home inspection, survey, elevation certificate and an appraisal tell me that we can only get $450,000. We have wasted the buyer's time and money, the seller's time, the home owner or tenant's time, the listing agent's time, the title company's time, and your time if our loan can not be funded. And if this is a short sale and the buyer has been waiting months, and the listing agent has invested 1,000 hours getting an approval from the seller's bank, expect listing and buyer's agent to be really unhappy. The same goes for most bank owned foreclosure properties which can take an extra 20 or 30 hours to get to contract because of multiple bid situations, bank addendums and the lag time in getting a response from the bank negotiator.
4. Answer the phone, call me back, text me or email me when I ask a question about a buyer or a loan program. It's frustrating when I leave a voice message, send a text message or send an email to a mortgage broker asking a question and the broker leaves a voice message asking me to call them back. If I ask a question then give me the answer in a voice message, text or email as soon as you can. Don't make me wait 24 to 48 hours to get the answer because you wanted to tell me in person over the phone the answer. The "call me back" voice mail message is almost as bad as the mortgage broker who calls me back a week after I left them a voice message, or sent them a text or an email, and acts like it's business as usual, tells me that they were on vacation or really busy. If you are on vacation give me a heads up with your voice mail greeting or an auto email responder. If you are going to take 24, 48 or 168 hours to call me back then give me a heads up in your voice mail greeting or get an assistant so you can keep up with your business.
5. Close on time. Order the appraisal today. Get the paper work you need from a buyer as soon as you can. I'll do my part and give our buyer a list of documents that they need and explain to the buyer how important it is to gather the documents we need after we get a pre qualification letter so that we can get a pre approval before we find the house we want to buy.
6. Care about my buyer and me. Do you care that we are happy and have what we need to buy a home? Do you care if we close on time? We can tell that you care if you keep your word and do what you say you will do. We can tell that you care by your voice, your responsiveness and your follow through. Get the job done. Show my buyer and me that you care through your actions.
If this were an SAT test a mortgage broker would be to a real estate agent what gas is to a car.
I must be able to count on you or I can't recommend you to my buyer.
Photo credit Scott Hudson AWAY.
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