Mortgage Pricing Update: 1/29/2008

You are going to hate me or love me for today’s lock or float suggestion.  However, before I get into that, let’s take a look at what is going on today.

 

I started writing today’s update at about 10:30am, and it is now 11:45 am.  Throughout the past hour and fifteen minutes, the market has gotten much worse than it started.  Early this morning, the MBS was approx. 16 bps down from yesterday’s price.  Currently, the MBS is 28 bps under yesterday’s day end price.

 

The 10 Year Treasury is doing much of the same.  It started out this morning about 48 bps under while, right now, it is almost a full 100 bps under.  The DOW is currently up by almost 70 points.

 

The Durable Good report indicated that businesses are coming up from last month’s debacle.  This is going to encourage a stimulated stock market throughout the day today.   The FOMC meeting results and policy are set for release tomorrow afternoon.

 

So, my thought for today as of right now and seeing this morning’s shift (coupled with the economic releases scheduled) is to lock.  Pricing will get worse by about .5 this afternoon as banks will most likely jump the gun on the reports and releases (pulling the trigger too early forces other banks to do so as well).

 

As a side note…ending this report for the day at 11:50, the MBS has dropped to 31 bps down while the 10 Year is at 94 bps down.  Good luck to you all, and make sure that you get the Free E-Mail Updates for Mortgage Pricing.

 

Pre-Qualification 2.0: Follow Up Schedule

We’re coming to the conclusion of the Pre-Qualification 2.0 process.  The initial relationship building and client retention activities should take somewhere around an hour per client.  If you have been keeping up with the series, you know that you have done several things that will help you rise above the competition.  Let’s go over what steps were taken to establish that relationship and what will keep your client with you:

• You have overcome the first objection
• From there you went right into selling emotion
• After you sold emotion you talked about their employment and income
• You moved right into the retirement/financial goals and assets
• You’ve gotten through discussing liabilities
• And you have passed closing the call
• Finally, in the last 30 minutes you have contacted real estate partners

Again, everything that you have done thus far has differentiated you from the other Loan Officers out there in today’s market that are looking for the quick application, or the ones that don’t have comparable relationship building skills.

So, how do we maintain that relationship with our clients and the other Real Estate professionals involved (primarily the Realtor)?

We have to make sure that we follow up and demonstrate a strong base of customer service.  That means that we have to create a follow up schedule and stick to it.  While doing this, I make sure that my client knows that I will be following up with them every week at a specific time. 

With that in mind, my pre-qualification clients are called either Thursday or Friday of every week.  I spend about 10 minutes with each client when I call just checking in to see if anything has changed and how their home search has been going.  Also, just after I talk with the client, I call the Real Estate Agent to make sure they know that I am in constant contact.  I always ask if there is anything that I can do to help with the process as well.  This lets the Realtor that I want to make this as simple as possible and help them out as well.

 

Another way that I keep in touch with my clients is having them on an automatic market update e-mail.  This is similar to what I have done here with the Mortgage Pricing Updates, but is more clientele centered.  I suggest whether to try and lock/float as well as let them know what factors they should be looking for in today’s market (news articles, etc).  I also put the Real Estate professionals on the e-mail list as well.  That way they have an idea of the current market and allows me to get a step above the competition with gaining their future business as well.

That being said, I am not saying that my system is the best system or the only system.  However, it is a follow up system that has worked for me in the past and has really helped develop a referral base as well as develop a networking relationship with the agents and other professionals involved.

 

I would definitely like to hear any other ideas that you all might have on following up with your clients throughout the pre-qualification period while you wait for your client to make an offer on a home.