Alabama | Home Loan | Mortgage | Refinance

Archive for February, 2010

Mortgage banks are the set of companies that sell loans to other companies and loan investors. They allow for mutually beneficial relationships between borrowers and lenders – the borrower gets money now, and the lender gets the interest that will accrue.

Mortgage bankers work by creating a huge resource base consisting of loans of various types. Loans may be serviced by mortgage bankers and most of them operate through wholesale lending departments. Most banks, non-banking financial organizations and loan investors pick up loans from the market. This is because loans are often considered long-term investments.

According to the performance of the economy, the fortunes of mortgage bankers vary. Most mortgage bankers buy out loans when the outlook of the economy is stable or is witnessing steady growth. In contrast, primary lenders often provide loans to customers when the economy is down, unemployment high, and there is demand for money in the market. This lender sells off these loans to mortgage bankers when the economy gets back on track. Often the primary lender charges a premium for each loan that he sells to a mortgage banker.

Some mortgage transactions may also involve mortgage brokers. These brokers often act as intermediaries in sale of loans to mortgage bankers. Mortgage bankers act as wholesale lenders and cater to mortgage brokers for obtaining loans from the primary market. Some mortgage bankers offer loans to brokers at below market rates. These brokers then lend the money to a customer and charge a fee in between. Thus the client ends up getting money at market rates.

First Mortgage provides detailed information on first mortgage, first mortgage loans, first mortgage options, first mortgage rates and more. First Mortgage is affiliated with First Home Buyer Mortgages.

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Debt management. To be sure, the phrase has been in use for some time now and the Federal Trade Commission reports that there is a fast growing area of complaint involving the so-called Credit Management or Debt Management industry. But what is debt management anyway? And why do people consider it as either potentially lucrative or downright hazardous path to follow?

Introduction

The term debt management is actually an umbrella for a large group of debt-environment functions and activities. Debt management involves one or all of the following: debt reduction, consolidation, negotiation, settlement, bankruptcy, credit repair clinics, and even deciphering credit reports. To have some inkling as to what debt management really is, let’s first define these few terms:

* Credit Repair Clinics — These are services offered by institutions that are said to help you fix your credit. Nolo Press and other notable consumer groups for debt management issues strongly advise against credit repair clinics. They say that a lot of these clinics are illegal. Some of their actions include stealing the credit files of folks under the age of 18 or the credit files of those who have died or live in far away places. Some have also been said to break into credit bureaus and change files. Still, others suggest you to start a new IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN) which is illegal and prevents you from earning Social Security benefits. But the bottom line of these so-called debt management operations is that they can’t do anything that you can’t do for yourself.
* Deciphering Credit Reports — It can be a bit intimidating trying to study credit reports. However, if you take it slowly, you can get through it. Debt management involves some bit of understanding of credit and credit reports. If you want to correct your credit, then you need to understand it first.
* Debt Reduction — Debt reduction is just that — reducing your debt. This is perhaps the most logical way to manage your debt. Reduce your debt so you’ll have little trouble with it.
* Debt Settlement and Negotiating with Creditors Yourself — There’s no doubt that debt management can be a daunting task. Although settling debts might be best relegated to professionals, there is still nothing like self-involvement.

Debt Management vs. Bankruptcy

The differences in impact between debt management and bankruptcy are debatable. Deciding which course of action is best for you can be very tricky. This is because there are so many factors involved and these are often dictated by external circumstances. In theory, we all know bankruptcy to be a method used by people when they are absolutely unable to repay their debts. However, we known that this is not always the case in reality. The idea therefore is to find out if it is a temporary or permanent problem. Then and only then can start deciding which is best: debt management or bankruptcy.

Interest rates shot up to as much as 29 percent. Bank advisor Ondine Irving was called in to restart the card program. “The members got upset,” says Irving. “The rates were escalating.” The credit union has capped its maximum rate … bad mortgage
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Her house was worth around $200,000, and she had only about $25,000 remaining on her mortgage. Along came three men who tricked her into signing her deed over to them, assured her they would sell her house back to her, charged her exorbitant payments …
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President Obama announces $1.5 billion in funding to help homeowners in states hardest hit by the housing crisis in a town hall meeting at Green Valley High School in Henderson, NV. February 19, 2010.
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A New York couple on a fixed income shows how they were able to salvage their home from the brink of foreclosure with the help of a reputable community foundation. Also, in tough economic times, a wide variety of people and organizations claim that they can help you get out of debt. We’ll help you distinguish those who can truly help you from those who may be looking to take advantage of you.
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Good day my friends. I wanted to take a moment and share some thoughts on the Portland home mortgage market and how we as local mortgage and real estate professionals need to get back to the basics of marketing.

My personal journey in this mortgage business started over 12 years ago and I recall a time when the telephone and a handshake was enough to secure a client relationship. The computer was used for generating marketing letters, FedEx was used for sending and receiving applications outside a 50 mile radius from the office, and cold calling was the art you had to master no matter how much it hurt.

There obviously have been many advancements in technology over the last 12 years and the internet and e-mail has changed our industry for the good and in some cases for the bad. You would be hard pressed to find any Portland home mortgage professional or real estate agent that thinks the old way is still the best way. We simply need these mediums for maximizing time and energy in our industry and this has taken “work smarter, not harder” to a new level.

The problem for me is I am constantly trying to figure out a smarter way of being smarter. This has taken me on a journey the last 3 or 4 years of spending way too much time and money trying to “buy” my client based and referrals. By this I mean I think there was a time before the major mortgage meltdown and industry collapse that I was searching for a lottery ticket and spending a lot of money trying to have someone else build my business. I think I had over 12 subscriptions to various internet lead sites, mortgage training sites, coaching, and mortgage self help sites with all the bells and whistles to help grow my business.

The big problem for me is that I thought “buying my clients” would help me avoid the dreaded cold calling and referral relationship building in the that is required for success in this business. Bottom line, I was looking for a quick fix and a simple way to sit at my desk and let only the technology build my pipeline.

When the big slowdown came last fall in the Portland home mortgage and housing markets, and money was extremely tight, the obvious thing to survive was to cut expenses. I was forced to scale back and cancel all my technology methods of buying a full pipeline.

In the last 6 months without all distractions I have had a realization. I was way to dependant on this type of lead generation to grow my business. I had gone away from the 50 cold calls per day, and realtor visits every Thursday. I had gotten away from the basics in this business that is required to build a long term established business. I only realized this when I tried to get a full pipeline again but didn’t have the resources necessary to buy my way back in.

The good thing for me is cold calling and referral relationship building is like riding a bike. After a month of establishing the old way of marketing, to my surprise, I had a growing pipeline and all I had to do was pick up the phone. THE PHONE in my opinion is the key to our business. I can send as many drip e-mails and market updates as I wanted but if I don’t make the calls I am not reaching my full potential.

I am not saying there is no need for technology and all the available fee based help in our industry because there are some great advancements out there available for loan officers and realtors. I am just saying don’t let it be the only avenue to try to build a long term business plan. Don’t loose site of the best way to build your business. YOU! Clients want to hear and see you. Let technology do some but I truly feel if you are not making the cold calls daily and occasionally getting hung up on… you will never reach your full potential out there in this tough business. Friends, all I am saying is lets get back to the basics in this Portland home mortgage and real estate market and if you make those calls every day the business will come. We are in a numbers industry and work the numbers to your advantage. Your pipeline will improve and your bottom line will look better financially by only subscribing to the necessary web help. Now go cold call! It feels refreshing!

http://myportlandhomemortgage.com

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