Customer Service or Lack There Of!

If you have read my previous posting on Manufactured Housing you may be aware of the challenge that I had getting the appraiser to put the Make, Model, serial number and year manufactured on an appraisal of a Manufactured house. The appraisal form clearly states that this information is needed, yet the appraiser we chose to use could not find the information on the property and thus felt it was not his responsibility to locate. Over a 2 week period my assistant requested the information be added to the appraisal and each time she was told he didn’t have it or have access to it. Since this was one of my first challenges working with this assistant I let her attempt to handle the situation until it became a crisis. I recognize I should have stepped in sooner, but until you see someone perform under fire you don’t know how good they are.

At the eleventh hour I went to the internet and found the source of the information within 10 minutes. Prior to doing that I sent an e-mail to the managing partner of the appraisal company that was very direct and to the point, see the following:

We have a challenge. As you are aware, we have asked the appraiser to supply the Manufacture’s serial number, name, trade/model and date manufactured for the property on Lynch road. At this time this is the only item I need to get a clear to close, however we will not close until we have it. In the appraiser’s defense, the realtor and her clients went through the entire house tonight and could not find it. However, since there is the HUD certification label #RAD730051 as per his appraisal, this should be the basis to track down the required information. If the realtor manages to find this information then the appraiser looks bad. If we manage to find this information, then the appraiser looks bad. If HUD provides it, he still looks bad, but not as bad. If he finds it, then he gets off the hook. See the challenge? I realize that this is extra work and frustrating for everyone. However we have a client who is trying to purchase a home and helping them achieve their goal is what we do.

Feel free to call me if you have any questions or comments.

I have inserted “the appraiser” and “realtor” where the names were in the correspondence. I received no reply to this e-mail from the appraiser and when I was contacted that day by the appraiser to review the value on another property nothing was mentioned of the e-mail until I brought the situation up. The defense of the appraiser was that no other lender had ever requested this information and he felt it was not his responsibility. I reiterated that the underwriter requested that the appraiser complete this section of the appraisal, therefore at that time it becomes the appraiser’s responsibility. He continued to contend that since he couldn’t find it then it wasn’t his job to get it. When I explained how easy it was for me to obtain, he asked why I didn’t do that sooner. It became a circle of discussion with me telling him what I expected as the client and him saying that he wouldn’t do it. Later that day I addressed the situation with one of the other principals at the company whom the e-mail was sent to and he defended his partner. Going further to say that we didn’t know what we were doing.

I appreciate a business partner defending his associates, but at the point that you have a client telling you that you screwed up and that what was being requested was not out of the ordinary for out industry this is not the stance to take if you want to keep the relationship. As the lender I have a choice of the appraisers I choose and the stance this company took will keep them from getting any more of my business.

For questions or comments on this post, please contact Chris Scheer at cscheer@cornerstonestl.com or 314.223.9824.

Manufactured Housing

So why is it so hard to get a loan for a manufactured house? Over the past month I have had the opportunity to work a loan that was on manufactured house that had been repossessed by HUD. The client came to me saying they wanted to buy this house without having sold their current home so they could have time to fix it up before moving in. The borrower was self-employed and he felt his tax returns would not support him owning 2 homes. Based upon his excellent credit I told him we had a way to do the loan if he put 10% down. We would allow him to state his income and then when he sold his current home and was ready to pay down the mortgage on the new home we would refinance him. Things were going along swimmingly until the file hit underwriting. Even though the guidelines I had for the investor said they would do a conventional loan using stated income on a manufactured home, the information the underwriter had said otherwise. At this point most loan officers would take a pass and deny the loan. I chose to switch the loan to an FHA loan and ask the borrower for the documentation to support the income needed.

When I met with the client and reviewed their tax returns I found that they did indeed have enough income for two houses. I will be the first to admit that I made the mistake of not taking charge initially and getting all the documentation upfront and being the expert. Instead I let the client lead me down a path that was a dead end. We switched the appraisal to an FHA appraisal and requested that the realtor change the contract to an FHA contract. The listing agent, being a representative for HUD said that if the loan went FHA a work escrow would be required to repair some items they had found when they did their walkthrough after repossessing the house. The work escrow seemed minimal and the client agreed to fund the work escrow themselves.

In the meantime I contacted our investors to see who would purchase an FHA loan on a manufactured home. I found one of our investors that were willing to purchase the loan and then we sent it to their underwriters. As luck would have it, they denied the loan because it had a work escrow. Now we were in a quandary, we couldn’t do an FHA loan on a HUD repo because there was a work escrow required and we couldn’t go conventional stated with the first investor because they wouldn’t do a loan on a manufactured home. So now, I am sure most loan officers would have told the clients that they could not help them. However, I realized that the realtor involved was counting on the commission from the sale and the borrowers were truly buying a great home for them to retire to. There had to be a way to get the loan done!

We then switched back to a conventional loan and found just 1 of our investors that would purchase a conventional loan on a manufactured home. This investor had some strict guidelines on the information needed on the appraisal, including the HUD Plate and the Manufactures serial number, make, model and year manufactured. In reviewing the appraisal we found that the appraiser did have the HUD Plate information but was lacking the rest of the required information. For 2 weeks we kept asking the appraiser for this information. He continually said that it was not available. The night prior to the loan closing I googled the term “HUD Plate and on the third website showing in the search I found the information for the IBTS, a company that who will get the information for you that was needed if you have the HUD Plate information; http://www.ibts.org/faq_consumer.htm. They charge a $50 fee for normal processing or for a rush they charge $75. We faxed them the form and had the information within 2 hours. We then gave the information to the appraiser for him to add to the appraisal. By 1:00 that day we were clear to close and the borrowers had their new home.

If you can tell me why a home that is manufactured but is permanently attached onto a foundation with a basement is any different than the quickly built subdivision houses that are thrown up across the country I would be happy to learn. Contact Chris Scheer at cscheer@cornerstonestl.com or 314.223.9824.

The Newspaper Game!

Have you ever looked in your local paper or looked in the Sunday Newspaper to get interest rates for mortgages? After looking did you take the time to call some of the lenders? What did you find? I will be that 99% of the time if you called you found out that the interest rate was not available. Or that the rate was available if you were willing to pay the points listed in the paper. If I am the consumer I am thinking what kind of game is this?

When you look at the rates posted in the paper I break them down into 3 classes; Liars, honest but trying to look good, and I don’t care I am spending the company’s money. I will work backwards on this list. When I managed a branch for a large corporation, part of their business plan was to be in the newspaper. Their rates were not competitive and when I would have discussions with my boss he would say “don’t worry about putting a rate in there, just make sure our name and phone number are in bold print.” Their philosophy was that their name alone would get the business and that they viewed the paper as another place to advertise their name. Never mind that people were checking rates, just get the name out there in one more place. These are categorized by higher than average interest rates or the famous “Call for rates.” An interesting marketing strategy, but it would cause the question from the consumer, what is your rate? This was all the company was trying to do, get the phone to ring.

Then you have the honest but trying to look good. I will place the company I work for now in this category. They use the put a low rate in with points trick. This is where they put a rate in with 1 origination and 1 discount point so that the rate seems as low as the others. If you were to equate that rate out to a 0 point loan then it would be rate we could and would honor, but the rate in the paper will be expensive. At least we let you know how expensive it will be.

Lastly, we have the liars; these are the guys that use the famous bait and switch tactic. They put a rate in that is well below market, usually .25% or more and then when you call them they say that the rate was there last week but the market has moved or worse they tell you they can do that rate and then when you get your application you have charges that equate to 1 or 2 points. Again, it is the concept to do anything to make the phone ring and then get the borrower to commit. Once you have them committed you can usually coerce them or fast talk them to the closing table.

So what does the rate table in the paper do? Well I would personally use it as a guide to where interest rates are. Look for the middle of the rate scale and that is a good chance that you will be able to get that rate without excessive fees or expense.

For comments on this please contact Chris Scheer at cscheer@cornerstonestl.com or 314.223.9824.

All I Want For Christmas

So imagine if you will; you are one of the many mortgage originators who have managed to stay in this industry through the last 3 years of cutbacks, layoffs, companies going out of business and income less than you have seen in a long time. Over the last 2 ½ weeks you have seen the 30 year fixed rate drop below 6% more than once and actually get to 5.75% for 24 hours before heading north again. You have glimmers of hope of making money again; real money! Not just closing enough loans to pay off your draw and keep your job, but enough money to justify all the pain and heartache you have experienced lately.

Wall Street is in your corner. They are pushing for the Fed to continue to lower short term interest rates. They need the lower costs of money to offset their huge losses in the Subprime Mortgage fiasco that they created. Your consumers are clamoring about the most recent Fed rate cut “does this mean that my interest rate dropped?” Instead of being able to say yes you have to say no and then spend 10 minutes on economics, Wall Street, mortgage backed securities and Japanese candlesticks to try to get them to understand the difference between short and long term rates and that one moving doesn’t mean the other will move.

You are exhausted and leave the office to try to find a real estate agent to talk to in hopes of getting a deal from them only to find that you either can’t get into their office or the agents you can find spend the entire conversation telling you how bad the real estate market is and no one is doing any business. You grow weary of bad agents and bad attitudes and get back into your car only to find that no matter what radio station you turn on you hear a commercial for a mortgage company, one of the “Dark Side” lenders who continue to prey on the unknowing and confuse most of the average and below average consumers with their lies and misleading information. Thoughts of George Bailey jumping off the bridge in “It’s A Wonderful Life” dance through your head. As you think of that you realize that the story ends happily and George gets to live his life with happy endings. Where are your happy endings?

They are right where they should be! This career, this job you have chosen to continue to pursue is your Christmas wish. It isn’t about the money. It isn’t about confused borrowers. It isn’t about competitors that don’t play the game fairly. It isn’t about realtors who let others control their minds and outlook on their career. It isn’t about whether the Fed lowers or raises interest rates. No it is about each and every borrower you do get to help finance or refinance their home. Not house, but home! You get to help people live the American Dream. It is about being the person who touches the lives of everyone you meet in a positive way. You can only be measured by how you made the lives of the people around you better. Accept that as your calling and reap the rewards of a life worth having and living!

Happy Holidays!

For your questions or comments please contact Chris Scheer at cscheer@cornerstonestl.com or 314.223.9824.

FollowThe Bouncing Bond Market!

For those that take the time to check this blog often, you will notice that over the last two weeks we have had the past two Mondays highlighted strong buying on the bond market which has driven the 30 year fixed interest rate to 5.875% and then 5.75% this week. However as you will now see, in both cases that rate did not hold through the week. On Thursday and Friday of this week Wall Street came to the conclusion that they were not going to get the .50% rate cut from the Fed that they wanted. Once that happened the blood letting began on the bond market and the 30 year fixed that was once at 5.75% is now at 6.125%. For all those inexperienced loan officers, the look on their faces as they watched the rate changes occur almost every hour for 2 days straight was priceless. Actually there was a price, it was the price that they had to pay to honor the locks that they had committed to and had not taken the time to lock with the investors.

So what does all this volatility mean to the homeowner? The millions of Americans who are looking for some relief from their mortgage payment; what do they do? Maybe the ones who were aggressive and took out 3 or 5 year adjustable rate mortgages in 2002 and 2003 and now those A.R.M.’s are going to start adjusting. They had a chance to lock in over the past two weeks at less than 6%, but only if they were on top of what was going on or their loan officer was. I know I personally talked to 10 people over the past two days that I had called on the previous 2 Mondays but they didn’t bother to return the call until yesterday or today. For them, all I could do was tell them they missed out and offer to get there information ready for the next time rates drop. But will there be a next time?

We will find out more this week when the Fed meets. At this point my crystal ball points to a .25% rate cut. Given the swing on Bonds Friday this may push the 30 year back to 6% or maybe slightly below. After that I think the Fed is going to hold steady and not do anything for another 60 days.

For your comments or questions, please contact Chris Scheer at cscheer@cornerstonestl.com or 314.223.9824.

Here We Go Again?

Another hectic Monday on the bond market; today was not so much a flight to safety as it was Wall Street trying to paint the Fed into a corner and force them to lower interest rates. See Jim Jubaks article about forcing the fed to act here:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/FedWallStreetArePlayingChicken.aspx.

Then you have the proposal by U.S. Treasury’s Henry Paulson to help put a freeze on the rate changes for millions of American’s facing rate hikes on their adjustable rate mortgages:

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20071203&id=7888024.

Any time someone mentions the challenges facing homeowners and their ability to handle their mortgage payments Wall Street jumps on that as the reason why the Fed needs to step in.

What am I missing here? Who created this mess? Wasn’t it Wall Street that took all these high risk loans and split them up into various mortgage backed securities and promised great returns with little risk? See the following:

http://www.stroock.com/SiteFiles/Pub533.pdf

So now Wall Street is trying to force the Fed into saving them by lowering short term rates which will make it easier for the banks to carry the loses or hide them by borrowing money to cover the shorts while they work to get the loans moved off of their books or into another larger block of securities to offset the poor performing ones. We could sit back and watch our entire economy crumble if the Fed calls Wall Streets bluff and holds rates steady. But then if the Fed lowers rates and the major investors stop buying our securities and invest their money overseas and in other opportunites, our ability to continue growing our debt; (The U.S. national debt is expanding by about $1.4 billion a day -- or nearly $1 million a minute) will cease and then we will see our economy fail. Ben Bernanke walks a fine line as we move into this next year which is an election year.

I hate to be the bearer of bad timings as we enter the Holiday season, but my only advice as of now is try to take advantage of the falling rates. We may not see these rates again for many years if ever in our lifetimes!

For questions or comments, please contact Chris Scheer at cscheer@cornerstonestl.com or 314.223.9824