Brian's Blog

A House is not a Home...

I wanted to share with you a note I had shared with our company. It is not an ad for MNET but a position I am seeing held by this new generation of experienced mortgage banking organizations around the country. These regional firms have stayed true to themselves and built solid organizations that are coming out of their shells to seize today's opportunities. That being said companies like ours reflect those veterans who are the backbones inside them.

Just because the big guys got it wrong or brokers got squeezed out doesn't mean you can rest on your laurels. Survival isn't a validation of your way of business for the future, it just confirms you made the right decisions in the past. We must conitnue to ask uncomfortable questions of ourselves, our companies, and our industry, so we can feel comfortable later that we made the right decisions and are at home in our skin. 

 

It just keeps getting better! Our veteran team of employee partners, 36 of who have been more than 10 years with the company and sport some nice bling for it, are joined by solid industry veterans who themselves had spent more than 10 years at their companies. They didn’t want to leave their companies, but their companies left them by being sold, merged or just lost interest in the mortgage business.

For April we app’ed 1129 loans for $264M while funding 807 loans for $180M! That is our FOURTH MONTH IN A ROW OVER 1000 UNITS APP’ED and Second month of over 800 funded units and all more purchase than refi! We are moving above the 80% pull thru mark which means we should have at least two more 800+ funding months in May and June. Add on top of that 99% customer satisfaction and less than 40 days to close and the machine is unstoppable! When our loan officers are doing their homework, taking quality applications (not necessarily easy ones!) and being fully supported and balanced by an organized, service driven operations team, our service surpasses anyone in this industry. Where we don’t have that experience we all need to own that responsibility to get it right; because there is no excuse not to excel with the talents and tools at our disposal.

Because all of us see that the company is striving to do the right thing, we all  look out for the company so we can continue to have a home. A home is not a house, or necessarily big or beautiful; it is the right place for you and the place where you and those you consider family find yourselves the most comfortable. Home is where everyone does their part so it stays clean, safe and functional. Your guests (clients, customers, potential hires) all feel welcome and are happy to be back.

The house does not make the home, the people make the home. But the people put in the energy, creativity, and sweat equity that make a home special and unique.  It is typical that homes can suffer from deferred maintenance, become tired and too run down.  People can become too comfortable and lose perspective on their home. People stop visiting, self-justification takes over and excuses are plentiful.

Each one of us is guilty of running our personal business, desk, or position that way. We are guilty of it as a company. We have been blessed with refugees from firms who suffered from it. The difference is that we recognize it and will always hold the mirror to ourselves to be sure we never get too comfortable in our home or too uncomfortable being who we are to lose our identity of home. We can only ask you to do the same.

As I mention we are a fortunate union of MNET vets and Industry Vets, we realize there are a limited amount of good people who appreciate our home.... If we get it wrong, we know you will tell us or frankly vote that member out of the family.  But we also know we will have to grow our own from scratch as we did with many of you.

We are making the investment in MNet University to offer the training platform for a common curriculum that can ensure a standard level of education (which all of us can use continuing education as well!!). But the most important training will be from all of us, teaching beyond just the job skills but also injecting the culture and values that make this place a home for all of us. Again for our home to be able to live on under family control  we need to retain the best by taking care of the building and the people in it. We do this while breathing new life by adding other like-minded people and growing new generations who are chips off our old foundation, only better, and taught to learn from our mistakes.

 

 

 

Are You Willing To Look Into The Mirror?

We keep walking the same paths as humans that we don’t see the ruts in the earth we have created that become gorges that we can't imagine getting out of, or even acknowledge that we are in them. These are self-chosen and subconsciously enforced decisions made everyday that we will defend vigorously if challenged.

These are not addictive habits like smoking or alcohol but behavioral tendencies nurtured and reinforced over the years. They started with a mistaken belief or just a personal preference that has been fed and supported with good feelings and justifications.

We often discuss the Psychology of Sales but we rarely go deep enough in understanding the base issues. There is a very specific approach to tackling this process called CBT. As defined on About.com:

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps patients understand the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors Cognitive behavior therapy is generally short-term and focused on helping clients deal with a very specific problem. During the course of treatment, people learn how to identify and change destructive thought patterns that have negative influences on behavior.

Cognitive behavior therapy is often best suited for clients who are comfortable with introspection. In order for CBT to be effective, the individual must be ready and willing to spend time and effort analyzing his or her thoughts and feelings. Such self-analysis can be difficult, but it is a great way to learn more about how internal states impact outward behavior.

For those who were once successful, the memories of the handwork and painful experiences that created the success have long been supplanted by the good memories of the rewards and need to preserve and protect that way of life. Like a mother forgetting the pain of childbirth in order to conceive a new child, we bury the long hours and painful rejection that made us better.

Like a team protecting an ever shrinking lead in the fourth quarter, we simply react and defend in order not to lose. Yet aggressively executing a plan by making mistakes, getting knocked down, and then getting up and executing again or even trying new plans is the answer to succeed.

The only way to give the visibility to yourself is to be tracked and videoed like a documentary or reality show but since most of us can’t arrange that you can either record by journal or iPhone notes, every hour of a day to see where you spent your time. Then show that to a variety of peers, bosses and spouse and ask is this where I spent my time years ago? How many of these actions actually are revenue producing actions that create new revenue not try and preserve old revenue?

I have found that virtually all my Human Resource problems stem from someone who doesn’t “own a mirror” or at least one that is not distorted. My #2 Golden Rule is Be Honest with Yourself. You cannot be honest with your customers and your coworkers until you acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses.

Until someone is able to accurately view themselves and be willing to change, they are doomed to do the same thing over and over again yet hope for different results and that as we all know is insane.

It is taking that first step to want to go into Sales Therapy, and then be willing to truly participate by taking off the rose colored glasses and putting on the 2.25 readers to truly SEE what you have become. Then you can make the changes required to be the best you can be today, knowing what you know, in today’s world.

The Perfect Loan File - Forbes

The Perfect Loan File - Forbes.

This is a well-written article in non-mortgage-ese from the voice of one borrower to another on what to be prepared for in getting a loan. It nails the insanity of much of our daily lives and how institutional ass-covering has become common lending practice. 

Great to educate the masses and set the expectations...little by little the pendulum is swinging back to common sense. 

Also great article in today's front page of BostonGlobe "Mortgage rates may have struck bottom at last". It shows the rate chart since last fall and says you may have missed the bottom. It is basically telling people to not be lazy or greedy if you want to save money or buy. Again I think the public is hearing this loud and clear! Apps AND fundings are phenomenal, best in many years, with strong momentum to carry for a few more months. The smart people are moving now and multiple offers abound for well-priced homes. Finally confidence!