What Are You Doing Differently To Stay In Business?

The number of licensed mortgage brokers, lenders, and loan officers is a fraction of what it was five (5) years ago. If you are still working in the mortgage industry, you are serious about your business. But, the industry has changed and is still changing. What worked in the past is not a viable business model anymore. You are (hopefully) doing things differently to stay in business. Do you have a strategic plan for surviving and then growing your business? Can you afford not to?

There is a lot more regulation about licensing. Every state requires that mortgage brokers, lenders and loan officers be licensed. The exceptions to licensing that used to exist if you did only a few loans in a state are largely gone. So, what are you doing to ensure that your new loan officers get licensed?

Fraud played a large enough part in the mortgage meltdown to push states to enact new laws and regulations that require licensees to create fraud prevention programs. What have you done to ensure that your employees are complying with your procedures?

The number of new loan applications is down sharply from even the start of the housing bubble. Do you have a plan that you are following to get a steady stream of real estate agent referrals, other referral partners, past and present customers, and internet leads? Do you track from where you are getting your leads so you can do more of those actions? Do you know which marketing strategies are not working enough to justify spending much time on them?

Are you training your staff so that they know what your vision of your business is and how you want them to implement that vision? In addition to the required continuing education, do you offer in-house education on new laws, new products, the best ways to get iffy borrowers approved for their loans? Those loan officers who are still in the business want to work for the best companies.

Borrowers want their loans approved faster and want to close their loans more conveniently. Is your technology able to provide your customers with the best loan application experience? Do your employees also add to the loan application process or are your borrowers ready to complain to their friends, family, and state regulators how much of a hassle working with your company was? Do you even survey your customers to know what they liked about working with you and what they hated about their loan application process?

What the industry will look like in the next five (5) years is only everyone’s guess. To stay in business, you need to adapt your procedures, work with the current regulatory environment, and use it to your advantage, wherever possible. Make a plan to use the best ideas out there and then keep testing to see what works.