Broker Magazine articles from March 2006

Broker Magazine archives from March 2006

Making the Right Call.
March 1, 2006... I am starting to get hyped about the upcoming baseball season and it's not just because I am a big fan of the game. A large part has to do with getting ready to umpire amateur baseball and softball games, something I have been doing for...

Having Customers Say "Wow!".
March 1, 2006... Greg Smith, the president of Chart Your Course International, tells the story about how exceptional customer service from an unexpected source turned what had been a bad experience into a good one. He flew to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, from...

How to Become the Best Public Speaker in the World.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Motivational speaker Paul Lawrence Vann was an introvert as he was growing up. His turning point occurred while he was in college and he heard Dick Gregory speak. Later he joined the U.S. Air Force and gave speeches to general officers at...

Avoiding Failure in Strategic Implementation.
March 1, 2006... More and more business owners are considering starting a strategic planning process. Yet many planning initiatives are doomed to fail, said Dom Cingoranelli, because the company fails to stick to the budget. He gives an example of two...

Regulatory Roundup: Updates on legislation from Colorado and Illinois.
March 1, 2006... COLORADO Competing Bills Introduced The Colorado legislature is expected to consider proposals to regulate mortgage brokers during its 2006 session. The Mortgage Broker Registration Act was recently introduced followed by...

Making Work a Vacation: New software technology is geared toward making the broker more mobile at work, home, or even on the beach while vacationing.(online software for mortgage brokers)
March 1, 2006... In a down market, the ability for the mortgage broker to originate loans anywhere, at any time, is crucial. New technology being developed by vendors, net branches and lenders is being designed to empower the broker to more seamlessly transact...

Title Seasoning Mess: The posters at www.mortgagegrapevine.com give some advice to a broker who has a deal with a title problem.
March 1, 2006... Robwestview: I've got a buyer who has 12 months cancelled checks, is in a lease-to-own contract to buy the house they are in from Will. Will is selling for $118,000 and giving a $2000 credit for CC's. So we send in the file to the lender, and...

Junk Faxes: More than a Small Claims Matter.
March 1, 2006... Given the competitive lending and title insurance industries, marketing one's business has become second nature. However, the means by which a company advertises its services and solicits business have at times become a multimillion-dollar...

Pipeline Software Tracks Process: Tired of dealing with lead generation firms, CitiPacific Mortgage has built a tool that will allow mortgage originators to track leads in an integrated sales and marketing approach.
March 1, 2006... As costs of lead management have increased, lenders without an integrated approach to sales and operations management find themselves hard-pressed to keep costs down and close loans faster with higher margins. As a result, pipeline software has...

Dear Brian: Industry expert Brian Sacks will be happy to answer your most pressing marketing questions each month in the Dear Brian column.
March 1, 2006... Dear Brian, I recently received a very difficult loan from a new Realtor. This is a Realtor I have been trying to get business from for the past nine months. The buyer had some serious credit issues and very little cash to work with. ...

Helping Brokers Through the Side Door: One wholesaler has created technology, which helps the broker do all the work in between customer acquisition and the secondary market.
March 1, 2006... It might be a lesson to wholesalers that do not give their brokers what they want. Lendia is a Worcester, Mass.-based mortgage banker that started out as a mortgage broker back in 1999. But it does not describe what is does today as being a...

Competing in a Market Slowdown: To succeed in 2006, loan officers are going to have to get back to basics.
March 1, 2006... Many loan officers are always a little nervous about the year to come. Will business be as vibrant as it was last year? I believe these concerns may have more validity this year then we have seen in the past few. Let's face it, we are in a...

The Future of Subprime: Our panel of experts at the SourceMedia Subprime Symposium in Miami Beach discuss the outlook for the business as margins start to compress.(Discussion)
March 1, 2006... BRAD: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the subprime business? KIRK: Shrinking margins. LESTER: For the mortgage guys obviously. Business prospects for the technology guys, things that are big issues to us are probably not...

Lending in the Land of Lincoln: Illinois is one of the leading states for mortgage brokers, along with California, Florida, Texas, Georgia and New York.
March 1, 2006... According to data compiled for the Broker/NMN/Loan Officer Compensation & Production Report, seven of the top 10 loan officers in Illinois did appear or if they had submitted data in time, would have appeared on the national list of top loan...

Top Loan Officers in Illinois.(Image)
March 1, 2006... Name Company Loan Volume # of Units Avg Ln Size Ken Perlmutter Perl Mortgage Inc. $95,000,000 308 $308,442 John Gillett Barrington Mortgage Corp. $77,000,000 210 $366,667 John Nickels ...

A Mortgage Broker Goes to Congress?: Florida's Nancy Detert is looking to use her industry experience in a run for the U.S. House of Representatives.
March 1, 2006... After more than 20 years in the mortgage industry, State Rep. Nancy Detert is using her vast experience as a mortgage broker to take her political career to the next level. Rep. Detert, a mortgage broker in Venice, Fla., who currently serves...

Augmenting Your Referral Network: New techniques for lead generation to stimulate growth in a challenged market.
March 1, 2006... As we come out of a rate market, there are four competitive advantages that brokers have to offer consumers over traditional lenders. First, with their breadth of product lines, brokers are in a much better position to find the right loan...

Upcoming Sales and Marketing Conferences - March to April 2006.(Calendar)
March 1, 2006... This calendar of events contains a number of key events worth noting: Several chapters of FAMB are hosting their annual tradeshows in the coming weeks. March 7 Southwest Chapter Tradeshow Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers...

Advertisers' Index.(directory of mortgage banks)(Directory)(Image)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... a la mode Business Development Cover 3 Aegis Home Equity 34 Aegis Mortgage Corp. 19 Argent Mortgage Co. 36, 37 Citimortgage 51 ConsultNet ...