Housing News
How to overcome frustration with mortgage lenders
Dealing with big box mortgage lenders in any capacity can be frustrating, but armed with these four tips, you’ll improve your chances of seeing progress.
Common Irritations with Big Banks
It doesn’t matter whether you are a real estate agent, a home buyer, a home seller, or a mortgagee, almost everyone has had or read some sort of negative story about a nightmare experienced at the hands of one of the major lending institutions.
Most experiences aren’t nearly as bad as the experience of a borrower who, making mortgage payments in a timely manner, woke up as a victim of foreclosure. The majority of complaints seem to be about long hold times, inefficiency, poor processing, unqualified employees, and inability to obtain accurate information.
You may be thinking that the easiest and most obvious solution to this problem is to deposit your money or obtain your mortgage from a small local lender. But, even if you do that, who is to say that they won’t transfer the servicing or sell your mortgage to a large lending institution? So, chances are that no matter what you do (unless your money is in your mattress), you will be forced to deal with one of the major lending institutions at some point in your life.
4 Ways to Overcome Frustration with the Big Banks
- Be cognizant of gatekeepers. While it is possible that you are calling about something simple (such as a fax number, a mailing address, or a loan balance), often times the first tier of customer service—the individuals that answer the telephone—do not have the knowledge necessary to address your concern, yet they answer your question anyway (often incorrectly). Consider whether your question or concern should be answered by a gatekeeper or escalated to a particular department head or manager and make the appropriate request to be allowed through the gate.
- Never call on Mondays. If you are frustrated by long hold times, my best advice to you is to avoid calling lending institutions on Mondays. Everyone that received mail over the weekend and has concerns makes those calls on Mondays. The phone lines are usually extra busy on Mondays.
- Take names and contact information. Always take note of the name of the person that assisted you and his or her contact information. Note the date and time that you spoke and the information that you gathered. In this way, if you have a concern that needs to be escalated to management, you can provide the information from your log. (Also, when a person knows that you have taken his or her name, s/he knows that this means accountability. Just asking for this information may compel the employee to do a slightly more diligent job in assisting you.)
- Follow up. If you are told that you will receive an email in two days or a letter in four days, and you do not, then you need to follow up. Don’t just wait patiently and expect that things will happen because they may not. Follow up the very day that you were supposed to receive the material, and (by all means), try not to follow up with the gatekeeper.
In order to overcome some of the frustrations experienced in dealing with lenders, you need to adhere to a “take no prisoners” philosophy. Literally, “take no prisoners” means killing the opposition, and I am not advocating that. What I mean is this: In order to deal with large institutions and their countless employees, you need to be persistent (almost ruthless) in your ability to obtain the answers that you desire.
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
Click here to continue reading this story…
Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
…Click here to continue reading this story…
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Fred Glick
June 11, 2013 at 1:06 pm
Also, go to a branch and have the branch manager call the mortgage side. Sometimes, they know someone there.
If you are looking for a new mortgage, use a licensed mortgage broker, not a bank. Brokers are now the most checked out loan originators on the planet and can shop multiple lenders to get the best deal.
Additionally, the broker goes through a wholesaler that sells to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA just like the big banks do. Big banks don’t lend their own money, they sell the loans!
Good luck, all!