First, I’m sorry…I know a lot of you have missed my writings the last week or two, I’ve been busy working on all of your clients and doing some extra work on our process to make it even quicker. One of the byproducts of you all making me so busy is that it’s hard to slice out a minute to send some general updates about the industry as a whole. I also want to take a minute to say thank you to those who have been helping the buyers we have referred to you recently; you have all made us look very good! If you aren’t currently getting qualified buyers from my office as referrals and have time to handle a few, please email or call me. On to today’s update; I wanted to take a minute to talk about why some loans take longer than others.
Most of you all know that the shakier the deal is, the longer to expect it to take.
But I’m here to tell you that isn’t true! Actually…it is and it isn’t...(clearly I was an attorney in a former life).
The answer to how long loans take comes down to 2 main things and the more you know/help with these things the better we all are;
The first thing is has the customer been responsive in getting us what we have asked for BEFORE the bid went in. The reason this is so important is that it gives the Loan Officer an opportunity to trouble shoot. A good Loan Officer will be on top of any documentation that a customer sends in, scanning it with a paranoid mindset. The way that underwriters are evaluating things these days, any 1 piece of paper can cause a complete rework of a loan, or have the potential be an un-overcome-able issue.
Most good Loan Officers (and any employee of Eagle Nationwide in Voorhees, NJ) will immediately review and determine proper courses of action for anything that has a potential to become an issue. It benefits all of us to help motivate the client to get anything we need to close the loan before they have even picked out a house.
In general, if you have a pre-approval from my office, all of this is already done, but I know that many times your clients are working with someone who may not be as proactive. You can make sure “their guy” does a great job…and therefore help ensure the transaction closes, by being on top of this important step. The most complicated deals can be closed in 48 hours if the work is done right before the bid goes in.
The second item that can move things quickly or slowly to a closing table is how well all of the professionals and clients are communicating and responding to each other. Once the bid is in and accepted, things tend to get a little different. All parties simply want nothing to go wrong, and sometimes a failure to return a call on time can make for a tense wondering of why the call wasn’t retuned.
Many of you know that I like to have a group email that keeps everyone on top of things throughout each home purchase process. This one simple group “respond to all” has proven to keep everyone accountable for their part and doing everything as quickly as possible. No one wants to be seen as the one holding things up. I’ve had times where I’ve had to ask for something more than once, but in a group setting its rare and even rarer is to ask a third time. Every time a delay happens it stands out so well, that all parties immediately know that something’s up, that alone makes this a great idea.
With the way the industry has changed we are all driven to be more perfect, to work harder, to know more, and to service our clients better. Stay paranoid, stay aware, and stay on top of the people you count on. The blessing in disguise is that everyday we are seeing our competition decide that they aren’t better, they don’t want to work harder, and they don’t feel like knowing more. Every time that happens, our own pieces of the pie get bigger. As always if there is something specific you would like me to cover please let me know. See you all soon!
--Keith
**If you know someone else who would benefit from these updates, please pass this link on to them http://www.realestatemortgagenews.com
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