Are you ahead or behind the market?

We are at the midpoint of February and already people are well ahead of their first quarter projections! Are you taking full advantage of these incredible opportunities?

Here are some really great numbers:

• Mortgage rates are 1% or more lower than this time last year.
• Purchase business is up more than 16% over last year.
• Refinance business is up more than 200% over last year.
• Equity levels are at all-time highs.
• People can sell and move to a more expensive home for the same or slightly higher monthly payment.
• First & last month’s rent and security deposit can help get into a new home; add in an income tax refund and you are on your way!
• The possibility of lower rates and equity and eliminate MI as well as possible debt consolidation to further reduce monthly obligations!

With all of these opportunities, you should be setting personal production records!

How are you doing with the 50 refinance challenge? Will you get your 50 refinances closed by April 30^th? Many in my group are using this challenge as a way to stretch personal expectations and reward themselves for the commitment to do what they once thought impossible!

If you’re not closing five to eight loans a month, or haven’t closed 25 units since last October, what is holding you back?

We are here to help you!

Questions or comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com

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Knowing The Numbers

What a great start to 2020! Everyone seems to be firing on all cylinders and both the purchase applications (highest number in 10 years) refinances (up 100% over last year and 60% of loan volume) have made this an exceptional beginning!

With loan rates just below 1% lower than this time last year, the opportunity for buyers to buy that home or make the cost of where they live more affordable is very real! The strategies for FHA and Jumbo loan conversions to conforming loans are really seeing favor with customers. Accountants and financial planners are also jumping into the mix to help their clients benefit from this market!

Another piece of information that came out was some data from Wakefield Research that showed that 60% of consumers felt their real estate agent went “above and beyond” the scope of their duties during their transaction; it also showed that 34% of people would not rehire that same agent!

This is disturbing to me because in the past few years, NAR has published that 78% of people would be happy to refer the agent they used to someone else. Now for those who want to split hairs, there is a difference in a real estate agent and a “Realtor®”. Not all real estate agents are Realtors®, I get it, but the numbers are at least important enough to take a good look at. It would be important to know and share this, at least from a conversational point of view.

With all the online competition for lenders, listings, and buyers, we need to be aware of how much quality of the experience matters in our world!

Questions or comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com

The October Push

October is moving along and it’s time to be sure we are executing the plan we have talked about. By now, we should be wrapping up all of our accountant contacts using the “Tax Extension Strategy” and working on those refinances and purchase loans. This is also a good time to record a couple of joint videos!

We also need to continue working the “Refinance Strategies” with all of our closed clients, especially those in FHA loans and those who closed last November through February when rates were at recent high levels. Queue them up and make those calls, e-mail won’t do as well as the call! (Look for the new financial planner strategy inside the website this weekend)

Time has come to connect with our Realtor® referral partners and work on a joint connection with those they have closed in the past five years using the “Forever Home Strategy”. Be sure you also use this during your refinance conversations, nothing like finding a new listing/buyer for your agents!

With October being “Business Planning Month”, it’s time to start putting together your numbers year to date and projected totals for the year so when we do the business planning call, or you attend a live Business Planning 2020 event, you can get the most out of it and project your targets for next year with confidence!

We need to be finalizing all of the Halloween event plans in the next few days and get busy sharing the news with your clients and referral partners!

Last but not least, you need to be sure you have registered on the www.IMTcoaching.com website for you spot on the Crossroads Event Call on October 22^nd 2019. This is a free event, open to everyone associated with real estate sales and finance!

As always, questions and comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com

Rate Rollercoaster, The Trend Is Your Friend

If you have been following these blog posts you have seen me urge caution and patience when working within the rate environment. I have spoken about getting information you can verify and share. I have urged you use caution and judgement when talking about rates, and I have wanted you to know the facts and share them with your clients and referral partners.

I wanted to put some things into perspective for you and get an idea why you need to be aware of what is going on. For the sake of this demonstration, I am using the closing numbers from the UMBS 3% 30yr as my example for pricing purposes. Remember, price goes up, rates go down. Prices go down, rates go up! Take a look at the following:

• November 8^th 2018 – 93.90
• April 8^th 2019 – 98.42
• May 20^th 2019 – 99.06
• May 31^st 2019 – 100.40
• July 29^th 2019 – 100.73
• August 5^th 2019 – 101.73
• September 4^th 2019 – 102.25
• September 13^th 2019 – 100.54
• September 24^th 2019 – 101.45
• October 2^nd 2019 – 101.70

While it being quite the wild ride, today we are near the same levels we were at on August 5^th when everyone was euphoric about rates! Yes, we are still a little bit away from the September 4^th high water mark of 102.25, but we are almost 800 bps better than the low of last November! 800 basis points!!!

As I have said before, I believe the trend is lower and that we can reach or go past all-time lows in the not too distant future. I also think this volatility is going to continue along with this trend. Barring a real trade deal with China, or some other major event, you have to follow the information and the sources of that information. I follow MBS Highway pretty closely and a few other independent channels, but you have to find your place you are comfortable trusting, and then position yourself as a resource.

It’s always a good idea to lock your client if they are nervous or a jump in rate could blow out their deal. It’s always good to lock near emotional numbers like rates near either a whole number or half number. 3.99% and 3.49% are much different to your consumer than 4% or 3.5%. It just is the way that goes!

Be sure to have the rate and volatility talk with your customers. Show your clients the difference in payments and pricing. Listen to them when they are talking about payments and rates! Share with them a rate/point relationship!

Experts have verified information, share and educate their clients, and provide the options so that the client is making an informed choice about financing their property!

Be sure to go to the website and register for Crossroads 2019! www.IMTcoaching.com

As always, questions or comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com

Deja Vu All Over Again

A couple of weeks ago we ran into a buzz saw in the MBS markets. We spoke about the five fake news stories that pushed the bond market lower and drove rates higher. This week we’re following through on solid gains the end of last week, and we hear that there is a possibility that a trade deal with China may happen “sooner than you think”, which sent the stock markets higher and bond prices lower! So pay attention to the markets the next few sessions to see if we keep falling lower, or we recover and start to retrace our steps. I still believe that the longer term trend is lower rates and continued volatility, but you do have to keep your eye on the stories and the trends and keep yourself and your people informed!

I was up in Indiana this week spending some time with a great group of mortgage professionals at Ruoff Mortgage. One of the things I really like about this group is there commitment to the customer experience, and to each other. It’s not often you see the operations team being committed to the sales team, understanding that the sales team is their customer. On the same token, the sales team and those managers watching over the sales team, working hard to do really solid preapprovals and submit really clean files into the operations team. This kind of mutual support helps everything work much more efficiently and helps provide a great experience for everyone involved. As the mortgage and real estate industries allow themselves to be taken over by the large internet and call center based companies. It will be those people, like the people at Ruoff, who work hard to be the true experts in their field and keep the person in the process!

The “Crossroads 2019” event on October 22^nd is now posted on the website homepage. You can just go to www.IMTcoaching.com and register. It’s a free webinar that will be Tuesday, October 22^nd at 1pm eastern. You should be sure not to miss it, and it may just be a good idea for you to invite some of your better Realtor® referral partners to sign in as well. Realtors and lenders are facing the same enemy! Together, we can continue to provide an exceptional experience for those who have real estate and real estate financing needs.

Special shout out to a couple of my newer clients who took the leap of faith and went live on Facebook Live®. For some people, it is really hard to get in front of a camera and speak. To make the choice to overcome those issues and make it happen makes me prouder than anything else I do as a coach! For another new client, his first video coupon resulted in four loan applications in the first 24 hours! As I have said all along, these strategies will work for you if you just try! So congratulations! You guys are the reason I continue to love doing what I do!

Questions or comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com