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Graham
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6 months ago
in louisgray.com: Resume Donkey: Don't Donkey Around With Your Resume on louisgray.com
Mike:
We really appreciate the support.
The first 5 people who sign up as a fan of our Facebook group http://snipurl.com/8p1oc and send us a message with "Mike F" in the subject line will get a free review!
Thanks again,
Graeme
We really appreciate the support.
The first 5 people who sign up as a fan of our Facebook group http://snipurl.com/8p1oc and send us a message with "Mike F" in the subject line will get a free review!
Thanks again,
Graeme
1 reply
1 year ago
in Zillow Mortgage Launches - How do you rate? on Blown Mortgage
So I am prepared to get slammed by some for this, but this model while a GREAT step in the right direction, doesn't change the CONSUMER mindset (which is at least half of the problem.) Consumers still don't know what they are talking about, and yet armed with the bankrate.coms of the world, think that they do. How does a borrower know that a 2 point buydown is a terrible idea, or that taking a free loan (ysp paid) is a better one. If you have ever seen the newspaper rate advertisements, it is as confusing as ever.
Mortgage shoppers often look at mortgages as commodities. I spent countless hours fielding calls and explaining my track record, education, references, etc. Guess What? Nobody cared. It was whomever could do it cheapest. Or it went to the guy who lied. Nothing that Zillow can do to make people SMARTER or more business savvy. They will continue to take the lowest cost, lowest rate. Sad but true.
The best part about this is that the phone will stop ringing. The worst part? NOw they are choosing between LOTS of quotes.
Mortgage shoppers often look at mortgages as commodities. I spent countless hours fielding calls and explaining my track record, education, references, etc. Guess What? Nobody cared. It was whomever could do it cheapest. Or it went to the guy who lied. Nothing that Zillow can do to make people SMARTER or more business savvy. They will continue to take the lowest cost, lowest rate. Sad but true.
The best part about this is that the phone will stop ringing. The worst part? NOw they are choosing between LOTS of quotes.
1 reply
Alan
I agree with what Graham said about the consumer mindset. I think this is a huge step in the wrong direction. While there are of course many sleazy lenders out there it is also true that people who can follow and catalog the results of every American Idol episode simply cannot be bothered to spend a little time getting to understand the details when they want to borrow $500k to buy a house. Yet every time there is a situation like this it is always the lenders who didn't put people in the right loans. Just once I'd like to see someone say that educated, adult, 21st century Americans can be treated like grown-ups and expected to invest some tiny portion of their American Idol time into learning a little about the biggest financial transaction most of them will make.
And this industry has an inferiority complex that feeds this. We can talk on here all we want about consultation and educating clients and all the rest. But we don't really believe it. If we did then some portion of this lead generation industry we support would be based on promoting something - anything - other than the pure, raw, lowest commodity pricing possible.
The one message that the millions of dollars of advertising that generate the leads sends is that mortgages are a complete commodity. That the reliability, service, support, honesty, etc. of the lender are irrelevant. Now, on top of that, a good lender who provides great service is supposed to quote a loan for a borrower whose name he doesn't even know, to whom he has not spoken, with whom he has had no chance to discuss options.
What if I want to propose putting 10% down instead of 15% as stated in the lead form and use the rest to pay off debt nd get him into a better program with good ratios? What if I want to discuss some credit items I think can be quickly addressed? Will the Zillow lead form tell me a first time buyer can provide 12 month's rent checks or a professional VOR? Or do I just assume they can and then have to change the program for the borrower later when I find out they cannot?
I could give 50 examples. This is just another situation where we are saying consultation in meaningless, all borrowers are totally defined by a few numbers, and lenders add nothing to the mix with their experience and expertise.
Can you imagine a web site forwarding a lawyer legal questions for answers with no name of the client? Or a doctor getting medical records for a diagnosis with no name or direct consultation?
You want an industry that provides service, education, and support to clients? Then stop treating it like a commodity and stop accepting and paying for advertising schemes that treat you like the only thing of value you have to offer is rock bottom pricing.
You want clients to stop being barraged by dozens of calls? Then enforce the industry's stated number of lead recipients. The phone rings 20 times because a lead that was supposed to be sold 3 or 4 times got sold 20 times.
And remember that if you want a client to be treated like a client and receive any kind of service at all then the phone HAS to ring at least once.
This kind of thing will only encourage participants to offer very low rates that are dubious at best. They can have whatever rules they want - the truth is that lenders will have a million legitimate reasons why the rate changes later - didn't have all the info because there was no consult, market changed, etc. But we all know that if you throw a truly honest price into a pure price competition where you didn't even have the chance to talk to a client you will lose to someone who lies. We all see it every day. And honest lenders fight it through honest consultations with clients.
And this industry has an inferiority complex that feeds this. We can talk on here all we want about consultation and educating clients and all the rest. But we don't really believe it. If we did then some portion of this lead generation industry we support would be based on promoting something - anything - other than the pure, raw, lowest commodity pricing possible.
The one message that the millions of dollars of advertising that generate the leads sends is that mortgages are a complete commodity. That the reliability, service, support, honesty, etc. of the lender are irrelevant. Now, on top of that, a good lender who provides great service is supposed to quote a loan for a borrower whose name he doesn't even know, to whom he has not spoken, with whom he has had no chance to discuss options.
What if I want to propose putting 10% down instead of 15% as stated in the lead form and use the rest to pay off debt nd get him into a better program with good ratios? What if I want to discuss some credit items I think can be quickly addressed? Will the Zillow lead form tell me a first time buyer can provide 12 month's rent checks or a professional VOR? Or do I just assume they can and then have to change the program for the borrower later when I find out they cannot?
I could give 50 examples. This is just another situation where we are saying consultation in meaningless, all borrowers are totally defined by a few numbers, and lenders add nothing to the mix with their experience and expertise.
Can you imagine a web site forwarding a lawyer legal questions for answers with no name of the client? Or a doctor getting medical records for a diagnosis with no name or direct consultation?
You want an industry that provides service, education, and support to clients? Then stop treating it like a commodity and stop accepting and paying for advertising schemes that treat you like the only thing of value you have to offer is rock bottom pricing.
You want clients to stop being barraged by dozens of calls? Then enforce the industry's stated number of lead recipients. The phone rings 20 times because a lead that was supposed to be sold 3 or 4 times got sold 20 times.
And remember that if you want a client to be treated like a client and receive any kind of service at all then the phone HAS to ring at least once.
This kind of thing will only encourage participants to offer very low rates that are dubious at best. They can have whatever rules they want - the truth is that lenders will have a million legitimate reasons why the rate changes later - didn't have all the info because there was no consult, market changed, etc. But we all know that if you throw a truly honest price into a pure price competition where you didn't even have the chance to talk to a client you will lose to someone who lies. We all see it every day. And honest lenders fight it through honest consultations with clients.
You are both very welcome. I wish you the best of success with the service. I think you guys have a solid product, and one that everyone can use especially in this uncertain economic climate. Please let us know how the service does, keep us informed with any updates.
I might be sending my resume over shortly for a touch up as well. In the past I have looked at these services, but the cost was ridiculous. I'm glad you made it affordable, that says a lot
Thanks,
Mike