Mortgage Insider

– Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Arizona is waking up to the fact that fraud in its mortgage industry is taking a significant toll on its real estate value. The large number of cash-back deals of late has induced a state legislation, which if passed, will make mortgage fraud a felony. The bill, introduced by Sen. Jay Tibshraeny of Chandler, seeks to punish offenders with up to 10-year sentences.

Cash-back deals are swindles that work by obtaining mortgages that are much more than the actual values of the houses; the difference from the real value is pocketed as profit. This scam pushes up the values of all other homes in the entire neighborhood, with homeowners left to bear the negative effects associated with overpriced homes. AZ Central reports:

Only two states, Colorado and Georgia, have laws specifically regulating mortgage fraud. Most states, including Arizona, must try to prosecute the crime under general fraud laws, which make convictions difficult and less of a deterrent.

I just finished speaking at back to back annual conferences in Dallas for both Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. and Benchmark Mortgage.

While at the Benchmark conference, the following question was posed to me by one of the attendees:

“I just bought Mortgage Coach. What should I do first?”

The answer is one that many of you can benefit from, and I want to share it with you.

But first, I’d like to say thank you to two great industry organizations and Mortgage Coach customers: Fairway and Benchmark. These companies are leaders that represent excellence in the mortgage industry. Fairway is a world-class organization with a value-focused leader, and I was impressed with Benchmark’s values and how hard they work to live by them. Both firms are awsome role models for all loan officers and industry leaders to follow. During the Benchmarking event, their values were referenced and demonstrated several times:

Benchmark’s Values > Relationships > Dynamic > Excellence > Success > Positive

Now, on to answering the question: “I just bought Mortgage Coach. What should I do first?”

First, it’s a GREAT question. Below are the action steps that I think all Mortgage Coach users should do in the first 30 days after acquiring the Mortgage Coach system:

1. First and foremost, create a simple high-level plan of action with 3-4 milestones. This shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Attached is a sample Mortgage Coach Quick Start Plan. I also highly recommend that you schedule tasks in Outlook with alarms so you don’t forget each action step and milestone.

   One of the biggest mistakes most people make when starting to use new technology and/or software is they think they can establish best practice habits in a few months or weeks. While it only takes a few focused days to learn how to use MC proficiently, it does take consistent usage over time to become a master in every module, every mortgage strategy and every situation.

   Another important message when it comes to mastering new technology like the Mortgage Coach is that incremental levels of success can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual commissions. I highly recommend that you watch “212 The Extra Degree,” a 3-minute video by Simple Truths, to inspire yourself about the concept that “a small change can make a huge difference”.

2. Next, start with yourself: Do a Total Cost Analysis, Equity Repositioning Analysis, Freedom Point Review and/or Recast Point Review on your own mortgage and your own scenario so you can: 1) see for yourself the benefits you bring to the table with these reports; and 2) familiarize yourself with these reports and get used to positioning them properly.

   If you are having challenges intuitively figuring out how to use Mortage Coach, then I recommend that you watch the most relevant training videos that best apply to your situations.

   Go to: www.mortgagecoach.com/learning_center/training_videos.aspx. Here you will find 26 different training videos. Each video is approximately 5-15 minutes long and you can stop, fast forward or rewind to ensure you absorb as much as possible from them. You don’t necessarily need to go through all the videos at once. Rather, choose the modules you would like to learn first and concentrate on getting through those videos before going through them all.

3. Now, repeat the process for your 5 most recent loan files. Again, if you are having challenges, watch the most relevant video to solve that specific situation. Remember, if you focus on taking baby steps over several days, it will be much easier than attempting to master Mortage Coach in one day or even one week. Pop quiz: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” : )
4. For one of the biggest and fastest value drivers in MC, import all your past clients into our Mortgages Under Management (MuM) system so you can start sending out RateWatch Reports ASAP. There is even a strong argument that this should be the first thing you do after you create your action plan. However, I personally like recommending to new users that you do a few of the easiest action items before tackling a harder one. This might take some time, depending on several factors, including: a) the type of CRM program you use; b) the quality of your database; and c) how much internal help you have. The level of detail required will be entirely based on your unique circumstances.

   I highly recommend that you make this one of your absolute highest priorities in your entire business given the tremendous financial reward. Even if you have to personally input each and every client into the MC database by hand, you will get the best return on your investment of anything else you could be doing. Just set a goal for yourself, such as 100 a week (and yes, schedule a reminder for yourself in your email or online calendar). The sooner you start getting RateWatch in the mail, the sooner your phone is going to ring with new opportunities.

   If you run into challenges importing, don’t hesitate to contact our customer service department and someone from our help desk will assist you in formatting your database and importing all your customer records into Mortgage Coach. For customer service information on our website, go to:
   http://www.mortgagecoach.com/about/contact.aspx?support

   If you have any questions about the breakthrough success you can achieve with RateWatch, I highly recommend you: a) listen to my audio Conference Call with Dylan Kramer, b) listen to my 5-minute audio Strategy Alert with Brian Holiman, and c) read the attached feedback from users of MC who use the RateWatch. These are not minor opportunities I’m talking about — this is a career-changing strategy that every mortgage professional should be implementing regularly.

5. Commit yourself and your team. “Make a decision and then make it right”. Another way of saying this is, make the decision that you’re going to start using Mortgage Coach today. For every loan you produce, make sure there is a Mortgage Coach report on the left side of the loan file. (For more on this topic, read my blog post “Listen to One of the Industry’s Most Successful Producing Managers” featuring an audio Strategy Alert with Brian Koss.)

   This is also a great strategy for managing others and/or managing yourself. The right side of the loan package is for the transaction and the left side is for the relationship. Implementing this strategy also helps you coach others on the best mortgage programs and strategies for each unique situation. Once again, be sure to listen to my 15-minute Strategy Alert with Brian Koss.

6. Finally, starting to use Mortgage Coach shouldn’t be viewed as an event — it is actually the beginning of a long-term commitment. So don’t wait until everything is perfect or until you have time to read all the manuals and/or watch all the training videos. I’m a big believer in learning as you go. Dive in. Start playing around with MC and using it. As situations come up or you hit a roadblock, then you can look things up or watch a video. But in the meantime, basically “JUST DO IT”. “Make the decision and then make it RIGHT”.

   However, when you hit a wall, I do recommend that you watch a video and reference the user manual.

For those of you reading this who are seasoned MC users, what did you do in your first week? How did you get started? We’d like hear from you, and so would your peers.

Link to my presentation from the Benchmark conference: http://themcweb.com/Benchmark.ppt

Link to feedback from Mortgage Coach users about RateWatch: http://www.mortgagecoach.com/marketing/MCResourceCenter/MCUserReferrals.pdf 

Link to sample planning template: http://themcweb.com/MCQuickStartPlan.doc

Link to the Brian Koss blog post: ttp://davesavage.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/11/listen_to_one_o.html

Link to the “RateWatch” Conference Call with Dylan Kramer: http://www.mortgagecoach.com/learning_center/calls/conference_calls.aspx?call=10062005

Link to the Strategy Alert with Brian Holiman:
http://www.mortgagecoach.com/learning_center/strategy_alerts/0001.htm

Link to “212 The Extra Degree by Simple Truths:
http://www.212movie.com/

Affordable mortgages are turning the winter into a good time to buy or refinance a home.