Marketing With Content
We have plenty of inventory (homes for sale), significant downward pressure on prices, historically low interest rates, and mortgage financing that is still available to all but the least credit worthy. To give you an idea of how cockeyed our world has become, just imagine if I came to you in 2005 and told you that in five years, interest rates would be aaround 4.25%, we would have more than a year's worth of inventory, and that housing prices have dropped by about 30% nationwide. Wouldn't you think that those conditions -- which are incredibly favorable to home buyers -- would constitute an enormously strong incentive for those who did not already own a home but wanted to -- to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy one?
There are hundreds of thousands -- perhaps millions -- of Americans who are in a position to take advantage of this remarkable “perfect storm” of conditions that strongly favor the home buyer. And they are holding back, waiting, afraid to move forward -- in part, because of a misinformed and economically illiterate media that appears bent on convincing all of us that the sky is falling.
Somebody needs to start providing prospective home buyers with more accurate, financially sound, and economically literate information.
Let's define the problem that we're trying to address: the problem is that as a result of media hysteria and misinformation, people who want to own their own home, and are financially qualified to do so, are hesitating or being scared away from taking any action that might lead to the purchase of a home. This is happening in spite of the fact that current market conditions are better for home buyers than they have been in many years -- arguably, conditions are better than they have ever been.
Your job as loan originator is to find and help inform and encourage the people who have the imagination and intelligence and potential to do what the smart money is doing.
As a loan officer, you are in a unique position to help people in your community achieve their dreams of homeownership -- and to do so in a way that is most likely to simultaneously help them build wealth.
One reason you are in a unique position to do this is that the general public tends to perceive mortgage lenders as being more neutral about whether or not a particular consumer decides to buy a home. People have that perception of you, in part, because they know they will have to meet certain qualifications before you would loan them the money to buy a house. Your perceived neutrality gives you the potential for greater credibility.
You can assume the role of a sober and trusted financial advisor, willing to talk honestly about both the pros and the cons of buying a home in today's market.
You see, you cannot overcome people's fears by ignoring them. You have to help your clients articulate and face their fears with facts and eyes wide open. Today's market is an unprecedented opportunity for people who want to own a home. There are also pitfalls which must be avoided -- it is entirely possible for an uninformed buyer to make some very expensive mistakes in today's real estate market. So as your client's trusted financial advisor, you owe them a balanced analysis that allows them to fully understand both the risks and the rewards of buying a home in this market.
How Marketing with Content Helps You Grow Your Origination Business
Using a series of free Special Reports (which you can personalize with your picture, logo, name, contact information, and your own testimonials from clients) that cover the fears and concerns that are keep homebuyers on the fence today, you provide useful information and rational perspective that accomplishes the following:
- People can see that you understand the real estate market
- They see that you understand their fears and concerns
- They see that you are providing them with solid information for free, and with no strings attached
- They begin to see you as an expert they can trust
- You offer them a chance to meet with you for a Personal Strategy Session, where you will take on the role of their Home Buyer Coach, and help them come up with a plan for buying the right home at the right price. Handling their financing, at this point, is a given.
Here’s how the process works: