MortgageOnlineBlog.Com

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:38:47 -0600

Owen Raun with Onlinemortgageblog.com interviews Glenn Houck, Co-Founder of LeadQual. Glenns company works with lenders and lead providers to scrub leads purchased by the lender. LeadQual calls the leads within 30 min (usually within 2 min actually) as a representative of the lender and makes initial contact with the consumer. If the consumer answers the initial questions from LeadQual per the lenders instructions the consumers get transferred to a waiting loan officer at that lender. I found LeadQual could make lead sources I have shied away more attractive to me. With LeadQual, loan officers would work with actual consumers that had passed our pre-set filter questions rather then spending time chasing bogus or less likely to close consumers. LeadQual has only been in existence 2 years and works in other internet based sales industries.

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Thu, 27 Dec 2007 10:46:51 -0600

Owen Raun interviews David Schneider, Founder and CEO of Zipsearch. David shares his experience and thoughts on mortgage lead generation and the evolution of the industry. David is passionate about the business and maintains Zipsearchs focus on producing quality leads for their clients. Founded 12 years ago, David and Zipsearch at one time generated over 1M leads per month and has spent an estimated 200M in marketing for Zipsearchs clients.

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Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:35:50 -0600

Owen Raun with Online Mortgage Podcast interviews Rob Chrisman, Director of Capital Markets with NL Inc holding company of Residential Pacific Mortgage based in Walnut Creek, CA.. Rob has spent the previous 22 years in various Secondary and Capital Markets functions within the mortgage industry. I found Rob when one of his newsletters was forwarded to me by a friend. Rob offers great insight into the current mortgage situation and sheds some light on what might be ahead for us in 2009. He also gives his take on current pending legislation, Bushs sub prime bailout plan and goings on with Fannie, Freddie and HUD loan limits.

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Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:59:12 -0600

Owen Raun with Online Mortgage Podcast interviews Amy Bohutinsky, Director of Communications with Zillow.com. Only 20 months post-launch, Zillow.com is a Web 2.0 site that facilitates the interaction of consumers, realtors and lenders around the always popular topic of local real estate. Zillow has over 4 million unique visitors each month, of whom 90% are homeowners and 70% plan to buy or sell Real Estate in the next 2 years. Amy discusses how Lenders and loan officers can currently interact on the site but also briefly hints at the next big thing on Zillow which will center around the lender to consumer interface due to be launched in the Spring of 2008.

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Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:56:57 -0600

Owen Raun with Online Mortgage Podcast interviews Kim Clay, Broker Associate of Star Crest Realty in Houston, Texas. Kim is on the front line of this years Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis. Kim works with 6 banks in listing and selling their foreclosed properties. She shares experiences in dealing with these lenders as well as the home owners who are facing the reality of being a foreclosure statistic in the Mortgage Crisis of 2007.

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 Sun, 04 Nov 2007 12:28:49 -0600

Owen Raun with Online Mortgage Podcast interviews Morgan Brown, Chief Operating Officer of New Day Trust Mortgage and founder/creator of Blown Mortgage Blog and Podcast. I first found Morgan via a search for mortgage in the itunes podcast directory. Morgan creates podcasts and maintains a very active and interesting blog called Blown Mortgage, which can be found at www.blownmortgage.com. In this discussion with Morgan, he shares he ideas, experiences and successes in the mortgage industry and with his blog. His blogging is a marathon, not a sprint quote is especially encouraging to those of us just starting with this medium. Morgan was also named to the Inman News top 25 most influential bloggers list for 2007.

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Fri, 26 Oct 2007 03:10:19 -0500

Owen Raun with Online Mortgage Podcast interviews Bob Harris, President and Chief Operating Officer with Lendingtree.com. Bob moved into the President and COO position with Lendingtree.com in the spring of 2007. Prior to that, Bob was instrumental in building Lendingtree’s brand and marketing Lendingtree on TV, Radio and more recently into the on line advertising world. Bob reflects on gradual as well as recent changes at Lendingtree and how these changes have and will affect their consumers and their lender partners. Bob also comments briefly on Lendingtree Loans and Realestate.com.

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 Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:27:28 

 Owen Raun with Online Mortgage Podcast interviews Russ Capper, President of Prudential Real Estate Service Co and host of The Business Makers Radio Show and Podcast. Russ tells us of his extensive and varied experience in the Residential Real Estate industry. Russ joined eRealty in 1997, where he helped expand eRealty from an idea to being active in 14 markets and eventually to being purchased by Prudential Real Estate. Currently at Prudential he is carrying the eRealty concept into over 450 Prudential franchises and 300 MLS systems. Russ’s insightful perspectives come from his many years of working in the web based real estate and dealing with rookies and veterans in that space. He shares his frustrations and his optimism about on line real estate and shares his thoughts about on line lenders.

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Over the past few years, consumers have become much more reliant on doing research on the Internet.

As a function of increasing the quality of service we provide, and understanding a consumer’s needs, we survey all of consumers that we see who shop for mortgages online.  We survey both consumers that we closed loans for and ones that choose to go elsewhere. 

The results of the 2007 survey told us that of the loans we closed; only 6% said a Realtor had any influence on their decision.  Of the consumers we did not close a slightly larger 20% said their Realtor did have some influence their decision. 

Also in the survey, consumers (closers and non closers) said that the #1 “trait” in the lender they chose (us or someone else) was the rate and cost offer.   

If we take the widely held number that 70% of consumers shop online for a mortgage then this tells me that like it or not the rate is the most important factor and that Realtors do not have as much influence as they did in the past. 

So my tips for Realtors faced with an unfamiliar lender are to first; call the Loan officer.  Tell them you have not heard of him/her and that you would like to feel more comfortable about your client’s choice in a lender.  Then do the following steps:

1 - Go to bbb.org and look up the company,

2 - Do a Google search for the name of the loan officer and the company.  Maybe the Loan Officer has a profile on Linkedin, or Facebook that might tell you more about them.

3 - If you are in a state where loan officers need to be licensed see if they are licensed and for how long?

4 - Call the loan officer and ask for their contact information (get it all) ask for the loan processors contact information (just in case).

5 - Ask for referrals of consumers and agents.

5 - Ask them who their back up is or who you would talk to should an emergency arise.

There are good lenders and loan officers out there that maybe you have not heard of yet, so for starters please assume the best.  If the answers and response you receive do not calm your nerves, then bring up the subject with your buyer.   Tell them you are worried for their sake and that maybe they should check around a bit more and offer suggestions.

Sound like a plan?

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:01:53 -0500

Owen Raun with Online Mortgage Podcast interviews Todd Carpenter, Head Honcho of Mariah.com. Todd is one of the original mortgage industry bloggers and recently was named to Inman 25 Most Infuential Real Estate Bloggers list for 2007. Todd gives his perspective on successful blogging, how his work fits into the blogesphere and also announces a new blog to go live on Oct 10th. He entered the industry as an originator, then worked in wholesale and also spent time working at Myers and LionInc before starting his blog in early 2005 as a way to maintain contact with 54 previous strong clients. Now his site generates thousands of visitors each week.

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