A Professional's Guide

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For a further breakdown choose Profession

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The Loan Officer

Today's borrowers are more educated that borrowers in the past. These clients look for a lender who can offer them the best value, competitive interest rates, product features that suit their particular situation, a streamlined and hassle-free mortgage process, and most importantly a loan officer that knows the mortgage business.

The fact is, nothing builds a loan officer's expertise and success more than education and training. Managing the Mortgage Maze will lead you through the complete mortgage process in a simple and easy-to-understand manner.

How is it possible to do a thorough and professional job without any formal education or information on the mortgage process? Loan officers must get their training "on the job." They may be working with a lender who offers some type of training but is that training complete, unbiased, and up-to-date?

In my experience, there are few places mortgage professionals can go for basic information. There are very few elective programs offered. I have seen seminars and some educational material printed in trade magazines but no required courses on the mortgage process.

There is a movement by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers to offer classes; but as of his writing, these classes are not required to become a loan officer. Please check your area to see if there are any requirements needed.

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The Real Estate Agent

I have written this book particularly for the loan officer but I feel that there is much information included that will also be useful to the real estate agent. There are worksheets and questionnaires in the Appendix that can be used for qualifying and educating home buyers.

The trend today moves the Realtor away from being a "property shower" to becoming a "transaction manager." The agent's responsibility does not stop when the contract is signed. This book will enable real estate agents to keep ahead of the competition, build better relationships with their clients, and expand their referral base.

Having enough information to save a deal or at least make for an easier closing will put more money in your pocket and leave your clients smiling at the closing table. I also strongly believe that Realtors today must be as educated as many of their clients. Realtors in the past have not had much exposure to the process of mortgage lending. Today, the "information highway" is moving at top speed. All Realtors must keep on top of all that is happening in the world of real estate and mortgage lending.

• Real estate agents work very hard to make a sale. Why work so hard to put a deal together and then have it fall apart because it was too difficult to secure financing?
  
• A Realtor doesn't get paid until the deal closes. Why hand over your clients and your sale to a lender who may not be able or willing to help you complete the transaction?
  

Many Realtors have felt that once their clients signed a contract to purchase a home and went to get a mortgage, it was like sending them into a black hole and all they could do was hope their clients would come out on the other side with a mortgage and a closed sale! After reading and using Managing The Mortgage Maze, any realtor will be able to explain the mortgage process; will know where the "land mines" are; will know how to avoid them; and work with their clients to make sure their mortgage transactions go smoothly.

The information in this book will also help real estate agents build better relations with loan officers and lenders by speaking their language and understanding both the process and the difficulties a lender might have in processing loans.

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The Student of Real Estate

The third group of people that Managing The Mortgage Maze was written for are students in real estate training courses. I realize that every state has different requirements for their classes, but from my experience there are many people, established Realtors as well as new students of real estate, who never felt they learned the practical information needed to understand mortgages.

I was a real estate broker with my own company for eight years, selling in the downtown and near north areas of Chicago. I also taught a real estate licensing class for a local college. There was required information presented in this class regarding financing, but my students found it confusing and impractical in the everyday world of mortgage transactions.

I offer this book as an auxiliary text for anyone looking to real estate as a career. By learning and incorporating the information presented here, you will be light years ahead of many of your peers in the real estate industry.

This book is written in easy-to-understand language. I have emphasized both practical and important information you can use today with any of your clients.

Finally, no matter what area of mortgage lending you may be involved in, I offer this book to assist you in expanding your professional skills. It is my hope that this book helps you in some way to reach the level of success of which you dream.

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