Mortgage brokers turn to technology and innovation to stay competitive

The mortgage industry has changed quite a bit in recent times and there are many mortgage network branches and wholesale lenders that have “fallen by the wayside” in the last couple of years. With all the changes that are happening, it is no longer the days when a lender only focuses on refinancing or buying transactions. Now, many companies have branched out and also offer programs such as loan resolution and short sales, as well as debt settlement programs.

Real estate agents have also been forced to ‘switch gears’ In the heyday, a typical real estate agent would partner with a mortgage broker and the two would network to nurture each other’s business. Then, when home prices started to fall two years ago, the average real estate agent decided that he or she needed to be a little more involved in the entire transaction and would “wear two hats” in originating the mortgage in addition to being the agent. real estate. real estate agent. But with the influx of FHA programs that have become so popular over the past year, the real estate agent can no longer wear two hats, since the Federal Housing Administration prohibits a licensed real estate agent from participating in the mortgage originating part of the loan transaction.

Social media has also started to come into play for many of the mortgage brokers and lenders, as new technology has allowed many of these companies to become more innovative. Apex Lending, Inc is a mortgage lender based in Clearwater, FL and recently created a web page on the popular social networking site Twitter. Steve Hays, company president, said: “We want to be more transparent and Twitter allows us to stay in touch with the mortgage broker community as well as with our own clients. What Twitter allows us to do is constantly post what we’re doing.” . “, “We publish conference calls, training sessions, new lenders and general announcements. With the advent of technological devices like the I-phone, mortgage professionals can follow us and stay updated with new information.”

Mortgage fraud has also become a major problem for mortgage companies. If you don’t catch it, it could be devastating. There are many new services available online that can help prevent fraudulent activity. One site is known as ‘Fraud Guard’, which is a division of SARMA, a background check company based in San Antonio, TX. ‘Fraud Guard’ is a service where a mortgage broker or lender can pay a small fee to check all participants in the loan transaction against a national database. It prevents fraud because it compares all the information with existing national databases.

There are also many mortgage broker community forums available on the Internet. The average mortgage broker can get involved in the community by posting industry related issues and other mortgage brokers or lenders can help resolve the issue by responding or responding to the issue with a possible solution or comment. Many other community participants can read both the question and the comments and learn from them, as well as formulate their own opinion. Helps the broker or lender get new information and stay informed about lenders, title companies, and appraisers. A recent post on one of the most popular forums had a broker having a problem with an appraiser. Other mortgage professionals were familiar with the problem and posted their comments and opinions on how the mortgage broker should handle the problem. The broker ended up solving his problem within a few days and quickly credited the mortgage broker forum for helping him. Is it possible that the appraiser was also reading the forum? Who knows? The good news is that the issue was resolved and many other mortgage professionals were able to follow suit and learn from the experience. This is technology that simply wasn’t available ten years ago.

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