I find myself working so hard these days to gain people’s trust so that I can do their mortgage. I find the obvious sense of professionalism I bring to any encounter is lost on most people; they’re looking at me doubly-distrustfully.
I may be thick in the head but I didn’t realize until reading the following quote from an article in today’s NYTimes.com how much my own personal reputation has been affected by the mortgage meltdown. Not only that, but I didn’t realize why I was having so much difficulty gaining a new client’s trust.
I have never minded working hard to gain the trust of a new client or referral source. I have always felt that I walk in the door at a disadvantage because there are so many people of less-than-stellar-character working in my industry. So my presentation—including this website—is designed in such a way as to overcome that initial doubt in the mind of any client. I think once I open my mouth and begin talking, the client is more than a bit relieved; they know they are in the presence of a trustworthy professional.
But that whole process has become more difficult of late. And I guess I wasn’t making the connection, either how much more difficult it is or the reason why.
I remember my wife, The Realtor, once said about a year ago, “Everyone is a real estate agent these days!” She was right; even the young woman who cuts my hair told me she was thinking of getting her real estate license. Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact the young hairdresser at the next chair said she already had her real estate license!
And, back then, everyone was in the mortgage business, too. I remember sitting with a client at his house at 9 o’clock at night to write the loan application. He was referred to me by his long-standing tax accountant. He was a business owner and a smart homeowner who had owned his home for quite a while and only refinanced once before. I was sure he would be impressed by my professional demeanor and my solid financial advice. Of course, I was recommending what I always recommend: the thirty year fixed rate mortgage.
The interview was going well until he said, “My business partner’s son is in the mortgage business and he recommended I refinance into the Option ARM loan.” Hooboy. There goes trust and reputation and experience right out the window. I wrote and closed the loan but it was a struggle all down the line. All the time that “son in the mortgage business” lurked in the background attempting to get “my” loan.
Today’s NYTimes.com article presents yet another face of the foreclosure mess. The article’s perspective is how other areas of local economies are affected by the mortgage meltdown.
The sentence from the article that struck me was the one regarding referrals. I read over it and then it hit me and I had to go back and read it again, and again for it to sink in. Then it hit me and I knew why I was having such a hard time of late.
Here’s the quote:
“This is not an easy time of year, as people trudge into Ms. Ortiz’s office carrying sheaves of financial documents. Sometimes the tears come before the words. Often, the story is the same: A friend from church or work suggested they refinance their home, or insisted they could help them buy their first home. Within a few years, they are facing Ms. Ortiz, frantic and frightened.”
Ms. Ortiz is a housing counselor for a non-profit group trying to help people stave off foreclosure. The people facing her “frantic and frightened” are homeowners soon to be in or already in foreclosure.
The part that struck me and made me realize how the era of solid referrals and the trust clients put in me are over is that bit about “friends” suggesting they could help refinance the home or buy their first home.
Was a time those “friends” were recommending the clients to professionals like me. I got those referrals from having done the right thing, having done a good job, and having helped someone realize their dreams of homeownership or from refinancing them out of financial difficulty. The referrals came to me because of the quality of my professionalism.
In the past few years these “friends” stopped referring me. Instead, they, as my wife pointed out, were “all in the business.” And what the hell did they know about the business? Nothing beyond the ability to sweet talk someone into signing and buying something they couldn’t afford.
There was nothing professional about the friends, apart from possibly a business card from some now defunct mortgage company. There was certainly no reputation; these were, after all, friends.
And where the hell are those friends today? You can be sure they’re not practicing the profession of originating mortgage loans. Nor are they selling real estate. The quick buck is no longer there to be made so those friends have returned, no doubt, to peddling cosmetics or household cleaning supplies or life insurance through those ridiculous multi-level marketing schemes. You know, living room parties on a Tuesday evening where you’re walking out with an armful of resealable kitchen containers that you neither need nor can afford.
Those “friends” took that concept to a whole new level and now it’s costing people their homes.
Meanwhile I’m left out here standing with the smoke clearing and still trying to do what’s right. It’s hard to to do and I know I’m up the challenge, but, boy, I sure miss the days when getting a referral wasn’t so filled with mistrust and such hard work.
Here’s the article:Holidays Find Loan Crisis Spreading to Businesses and Neighbors