If you're like just about every other loan officer I've met, you believe you have unique qualities that would appeal to potential clients (or Realtors or other referral sources) – qualities these people could only discover by getting to know you. If that Realtor or that person shopping for a loan really got to know you, you're confident they would choose you to be their lender, right?

But if they haven't had the opportunity or taken the time to get to know you, there's no way they would know about these unique and attractive qualities of yours, and as a result, they are likely to see you as pretty much like any other loan officer. Which is why everybody is always asking you about your "rates".

This is a problem for you, because if you don't stand out in the crowd, you'll never get the chance to show them all the really important reasons why you would be the "right" loan officer for a potential client or Realtor partner.

Most loan originators try to solve this problem by using e-mail marketing, developing a website, and/or using social media or other types of marketing in order to build name recognition and a reputation in their local markets. The various technologies involved can seem somewhat daunting at first, but for most of us, the learning curve is not that difficult. So you can set up an e-mail marketing account, a website, Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, and so forth, with a little bit of time and not too much trouble.

The hard part is coming up with things to say that people would actually want to read, or listen to, or watch.

Many loan officers would rather spend the afternoon in a dentist's chair than sitting in front of their computer writing something for other people to read. Once you get something down on paper (or pixels), your Inner Critic takes one look at it and tells you it's complete rubbish.

Other loan officers don't even get that far – writing anything, let alone something that would be informative, useful, and interesting, just seems like way too much trouble.

Whichever group you happen to belong to, you might end up buying canned content from one of the many providers out there -- people who know that there are a lot of you will pay good money to get something – anything – that you can use to feed your e-mail campaigns, website pages and blogs, and so forth.

The only problem with this approach is that it brings you right back to the problem you started with: you started with a desire to show potential clients and referral sources that you have unique qualities that would make you a better choice than any of your competitors. But now, because you're using the same content everyone else is using, you still sound just like everyone else.

And you have blown your chance to distinguish yourself in your market as someone unique and worth getting to know.


How to Solve This Problem

As you know, I coach mortgage professionals exclusively. I also limit the number of people I work with to no more than 20 full-time clients at a time. Among other services, I help my loan originator clients create their own unique content that they can use in their local markets to reach out to consumer (home buyer) leads, existing clients, Realtors, and other referral sources. We start with material I have written for this purpose, and then we work to personalize it for you and your market. And because I never work with more than 20 clients at a time, you can be confident that the content we create together will not only be interesting to your readers, it will be new to them.

If you'd like to find out more about how I can help you build your reputation in your local market, and if you've never had a free coaching session with me, please go here and request a free, personal, one-hour coaching session at no obligation.

In future posts, I will be sharing some of the things I've learned about creating content that is interesting, useful, and builds your reputation as a trusted expert in your field. Stay tuned.

It may seem like a flash of the blindingly obvious, but it's interesting and potentially useful information for loan originators who focus on building purchase business in their local markets: Inside Mortgage Finance recently commissioned a national survey of real estate agents, and found that Realtors express a clear preference for local lenders over call centers.

Why Do Realtors Prefer Local Lenders?

Delayed Closings. According to the survey, delayed closings are much more common when the buyer is not using a lender with a local office. You know from your own experience that Realtors get very nervous when it begins to look like the closing may be delayed because the lender has not obtained a final approval from underwriting. 

Lack of Accountability. A home sale with a $250,000 purchase price is worth $7500 commissions to each of the Realtors in the transaction. With that much money on the line, they don't like surprises, and they especially don't like having to deal with a contact person in a faraway city that doesn't rely on the Realtor for their business and is in no way beholden to the Realtor for the current transaction. It is almost impossible for a Realtor in this situation to get a straight answer from anyone in authority at the out-of-town mortgage center. And if there is a problem at the closing table after office hours, there is no one the Realtor can call to get the problem resolved.

Lack of Experience with Local Lending Laws. You know your state's laws as they apply to mortgage lending. According to the Realtors who were surveyed, Call Center companies that loan in all 50 states make more mistakes that can lead to delays or worse.

The Inside Mortgage Finance survey (conducted by Campbell Research) was apparently focused only on Call Center lenders, but many of the complaints voiced by Realtors about the call centers also apply to the nationwide megabanks. My coaching clients have frequently told me that Realtors are constantly complaining about the big banks, as well as the call centers, but they are often reluctant to say anything about it to their buyer clients. They don't want to appear to be trying to influence the client as to their choice of lender, and ultimately they're afraid of losing the client altogether. In many cases, the Buyer has already gotten "preapproved" online by the call center or the big bank before they even approach a Realtor. From the Realtor's point of view, it's hard to un-ring that bell.

Suggested Action Step: Every time a Realtor tells you about a negative experience with a Call Center or mega-bank, take down enough information from the Realtor so that you can construct a narrative of what happened. Collect as many of these as you can, and put them together into a report that you can circulate directly to your own clients and prospects. You can also make these reports available to your Realtor Partners for distribution to their clients and prospects. Remember: nothing beats evidence. (In assembling the stories for your report, be sure to quote the Realtor who is telling the story, and get permission to use their name. Avoid directly naming the call center lender or the mega-bank in question. Use as much detail as possible, including dates, numbers, specifics of the transaction – especially specifics on why the loan was held up or declined – but don't name the consumers involved unless they have given their permission.)

As you probably know, I've been presenting a series of free monthly online seminars on how to develop your purchase market business.

The latest of these seminars, How to Give Effective Presentations to Realtors, presented on Sept. 19th, is now available for you to view on the website here. You can also access previous seminar videos here

I will be traveling some in October, so the next online seminar -- How to Develop Solid Realtor Partnerships -- will be on Thursday, November 14th at 11:00 Eastern Time (12 Noon Pacific). If you were registered for the last seminar, you're automatically enrolled in all future seminars in this series. But if you haven't registered yet, you can do that here.

For a preview of what will be covered in the new seminar, please go to the Seminars page

In the movie "Jerry Maguire", there's a famous scene at the end, where Jerry expresses his love in a long-winded speech to the Renée Zellweger character.

At some point, she interrupts him and says, "You had me at hello."
Unfortunately, when it comes to "courting" Realtors, you hardly ever have them at "hello". And if you don't establish enough productive, mutually beneficial relationships with Realtors in your market area, you're entering the purchase market race with one leg and both arms tied behind your back.

Loan officers tell me that one or more of the following things prevent them from getting enough purchase leads and referrals from Realtors:

• "I don't know enough Realtors."
• "I can't get Realtors to talk to me."
• "Realtors tell me they will send me business, but they don't follow through."
• "Most of the Realtors I know are too high-maintenance."

In addition to these obstacles, here are some of the things you have probably heard Realtors say -- mostly as a way of getting rid of you:

• "I already have a lender (I'm happy with)."
• "My office has an in-house lender that we have to use."
• "Most of my buyers already have a lender."
• "I'm a listing agent; I don't really work with buyers."
• "Sure, I'd be glad to talk with you, but I'm busy right now; can you call me sometime next week?"

If you've heard these kinds of responses from Realtors (and let's face it, you almost certainly have), you know how discouraging it can be.

So we need to figure out why you keep running into these obstacles when you try to get leads and referrals from real estate agents.

If you want better results with your Realtor outreach, there are a few things you will want to understand about them. Read the full article here.

With interest rates up above 4% for the first time in a while (since August 2011, I think), a lot of mortgage loan officers are starting to think about rediscovering the existence of a purchase market.

Better late than never, as they say.

One of my clients (who has not been neglecting the purchase market) recently asked me for suggestions on topics and subject areas that would make good, relevant content to help him further build his visibility and credibility among the Realtors in his marketplace.

See my recommendations here.