Monday, February 2, 2009

Mortgage marketing

By reklicom

Now is not the time to sit and wait for the best possible price. Have a serious talk with your real estate agent. Having experienced buying/selling transactions in your area, he or she can help you price your home accordingly. He or she can also help ensure that your buyers are pre-approved and stay pre-approved throughout the entire transaction.

Update your database information, Critique and improve your web page, Write a few "Thank You" notes or cards, Write a mortgage article for your website, Review and improve your advertising copy, Create a new direct mail piece or marketing flier, Write and send your press release to a media outlet, Schedule a lunch or two with your mortgage contacts, Write a mortgage "white paper" to be used as a give away.

Unfortunately, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. According to the latest estimates, over 2 million subprime and Alt-A adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) holders will face payment increases of up to 30%-100% when their loans reset in the next 2 to 18 months. These loans make up less than 40% of the total mortgage market, but the negative effects, as we have seen, of increased foreclosure activity can have a ripple effect throughout the industry and around the globe.

Thou shalt dedicate thyself to becoming the very best Mortgage Professional you can be. Thou shall be a virtual sponge and soak up everything related to your knowledge and improvement of your Mortgage Business. The more you learn, the more powerful you become, and the more powerful you become, the more effective you will be at originating mortgages.

Thou shalt continue to feed thy prospect list. Suspects most surely become prospects, who then become your mortgage customers. Your mortgage customers then generate referrals that create more prospects and the cycle begins anew. For thousands of years, this marketing process (also known as prospecting) has governed all types of marketing activities, and it will continue to do so for another thousand years.

Thou shalt create and maintain a detailed Mortgage customer, prospect list, and contact list. Thou shall allocate time each week to maintaining and updating thy lists. For it is these lists that hold the customers that will be in your next mortgage pipeline and your pipeline for years to come.

Thou shalt view all Mortgage Marketing material from the reader's point of view. It does not matter if you personally "like" what you have created. If your prospects do not respond to your ad copy, it is not doing what it should be doing. Always think like your prospects and give them what they want. Thou shall purge your marketing material of the old and the out dated, and replace it with the new and the refreshing concepts.

Thou shalt set aside time to build a web presence and spend a little time each day promoting your site and building your Mortgage Business. The Internet has come of age and you can either join and prosper as a result, or be left behind to ponder your demise.

Yes, I'm very much a believer in continuing education and self improvement. There's no doubt you need to allocate time every day to do these things too. But, this 30 minute block of time we are scheduling is your "marketing time" and has a direct bearing on your loan originations, your pipeline and your bank account. Start this little program today, your mortgage marketing success depends on it.

Buyers: Get pre-approved by your mortgage professional. While there are a lot of great deals out there, getting credit is becoming tougher and tougher, and it's taking longer and longer to complete a transaction. Remember, what you qualify for today could change tomorrow in a volatile market. For those looking to refinance, keep this in mind. There is no time to delay! Communicate with your lender. Don't do anything that could negatively affect your credit, and make sure you get all your documentation in on time. - 15224

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