| Mortgage Minute Newsletter From Sam Thompson, your mortgage advisor. July 2007- Vol 1, Issue 8
|
| In This Issue |
| Utililizing the Herd Behavior |
| Cool Website Development Stuff for your website! |
| Weekly Tip - Closing Gift Ideas |
| Weekly Market Commentary |
|
Quick Links
|
| Dear Sam, |
Ditech loses another one to PHH Mortgage!
That's right! We just registered a $204K loan that
we were competing against Ditech. Don't believe all that hype in their
annoying TV commercials that come on all the time! Think about all of
the millions of dollars that they are spending to promote themselves
and how that might affect their rates.
And the reason the buyers called us is because they had
their initial mortgage with us and loved us and wanted us to keep their
business!
Sam Thompson
PHH Mortgage
Senior Mortgage Advisor 843-230-7929
|
|
Taking Advantage of the 'Herd Behavior'
|
 Are you taking full advantage of the 'herd
behavior'? This is a trait that you can take advantage of to increase
your business if you use it correctly. People make decisions based on
the fact that others have already blazed that trail so their risk is
greatly reduced.
Following the herd takes out much of
the risk-taking from things that they are not very familiar with and
since most adults don't do many real estate transactions in their whole
life, this is a very critical thing to know.
Here are a few examples of how you can take advantage of this to help your sales in real estate:
And you can tell
your buyers, when recommending us, that we are the mortgage engine
behind many leading banks and financial institutions, including Merrill
Lynch Credit Corporation, Provident Bank, UMB, Bank Atlantic, Charles
Schwab, American Express, Met Life, Banco Popular and the Realogy
Franchise Group of Real Estate Companies.
So, put on your thinking cap and think of other ways
that you can take advantage of the herd behavior and you are soon going
to be the one that everyone will be flocking too!
|
| Cool Website Development Stuff |
Looking for ideas to grab attention on your website?
Here are some really cool things you can do!!
|
|
Weekly Tip - Closing gift ideas...
|
|
Do
you give a gift to your buyers at closing? It's a great way to show
them how much you appreciate their business and will help them remember
how nice you are. And hopefully, this gester will encourage them to
call you again and refer their family and friends o you for years to
come.
Here are several good websites for closing gift ideas...
For an easy gift basket search, try searching 'closing gift baskets' on Google Images and when you see one you like, click on the link.
Selecting an appropriate gift for your buyers has got to be one of the hardest things you do and especially if you hate shopping like I do. In my opinion, most people just appreciate the thought and the effort that you put into it more so than the money your spent.
Just
so you know, the above basket is available online for $167 and will
make an impression and might be appropriate for your buyers that just
bought a big house from you. But that is a lot of money and a Lowe's
gift card is hard to beat, especially for the young first-time home
buyers that need so many things to turn their new house into a home.
Also, are you taking advantage of the Lowes Realtor Benefits program to market you and your agency to perspective buyers and seller? If not, you should consider creating your Realtor account and upload your database. When you join the Lowes Realtor Benefits program you are given the chance to have Lowes send out related personal direct mail, client gifts/coupons, special announcements, and more with your picture and contact information on each marketing piece. The Lowes program is another way to remain in contact. So, being able to add a client or lead another "Keep in Touch" campaign works really well for the agents. Not only does it keep your name in front of the buyers and sellers, it also provides helpful ideas such as those found in the Creative Ideas for home and garden magazine that is delivered every other month. Below at some of the different items your buyers, seller, and leads will receive from the Lowes Realtor Benefits program. This information was retrieved from the Lowes Realtor Benefits Website. For Your Sellers Selling a Home
For Your Prospective Buyers Introduce Yourself
For Your New Homeowners Buying a Home
Closing Gifts Celebrate With Your Client
Relationship Building News You Can Use
|
| Weekly Mortgage Market Commentary |
||||||||
| Don't let the financial markets squash your clients and your transactions! Stay informed by reading my new daily "Daily Rate Lock Commentary" or just call me to find out what is going on! If you want to be included in this distribution, just call or email me. Remember, knowledge is power and the more educated you are in your industry, the higher quality buyers you are going to attract and that means easier closings, bigger houses and more money in your "hip national bank!" And since rates are still climbing, call us to get your clients in our 90 day rate protection as soon as possible!  Rate Lock Advisory - Sunday Jul. 22nd
This week will be interesting for the bond market and mortgage rates. There are six economic reports scheduled for the financial and mortgage markets to digest, with all coming the middle or latter part of the week. In addition, one of the reports is considered to be of extremely high importance to the financial and mortgage markets. This makes it quite possible that mortgage rates will show noticeable movement again this week. The Federal Reserve will release its Beige Book report Wednesday afternoon. This report is named simply after the color of its cover, but it is considered to be important to the Fed when determining monetary policy during their FOMC meetings. It details economic activity and conditions by region throughout the U.S. With Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony last week, I don't think we will see any significant surprises in this report, and therefore will likely not cause much movement in mortgage rates Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning's economic data will come from the Commerce Department when they will post June's Durable Goods Orders at 8:30 AM ET. Current forecasts are currently calling for a gain of 2.0% after showing a sizable loss in new orders during May. This data gives us an indication of manufacturing sector strength by tracking orders at U.S. factories for big-ticket items. These are products that are expected to last at least three years. A stronger than expected number may lead to higher mortgage rates Thursday morning. If it reveals a smaller than expected rise or a decline, mortgage rates should drop Thursday morning. Friday morning brings us the release of the single most important report we see regularly. The quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is considered to be the best indicator of economic growth. It is the sum of all goods and services produced in the U.S. and usually has a great deal of influence on the financial markets. Current forecasts are estimating to see a 3.2% pace. A larger increase will probably hurt bond prices, leading to higher mortgage rates. But a smaller increase would likely fuel a bond market rally. Also being released Friday is the final revision to July's University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment. Unless we see a drastic revision to the preliminary estimate of 92.4, I think the markets will probably shrug this news off due to the importance of the GDP. The week's data is rounded off with two housing sector related releases Wednesday and Thursday, but I don't think they will have much of an impact on the bond market or mortgage rates. June's Existing Home Sales will be posted Wednesday while New Home Sales will be released Thursday. I would expect that other reports or factors will drive bond trading and mortgage pricing much more than these will. Overall, this is another fairly significant week for the bond market and mortgage rates. If we get weaker than expected economic results, we may see mortgage rates make another leg lower. However, stronger than expected results will likely lead to higher rates for the week. With the bond market just recently falling below the important 5.000% threshold, I am holding the float recommendations, but if the yield does not continue to move lower, I likely will be shifting to a lock recommendation. If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Float if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers. |
||||||||
Let
me know if I can take an application for you anytime! And, please let
me know if you like the format of this email service. I hope you are
reading these so you can stay up on your profession and so you can make
more money too!
*Also, I am available to do a "Hit the Ground Running"
seminar with any agents interested in learning tons of things they can
do to help them succeed in Real Estate. Call me to schedule this. I
need at least 5 agents, brand new or experienced, looking for some
motivation to put this on for you that will take 2-3 hours, depending
on the involvement!
If you don't get at least 10 great ideas that can really help your business, I'll take you to lunch and give you a few more!
|
|
I hope you have a great week this week in real estate. Call me if I can help you with that!!
Sam Thompson - "The Jumbo Guy" One more thing. We recently made some very aggressive pricing changes to secure more JUMBO loans so call me with your J U M B O
loan buyers! And, with our smooth and easy closings, we are going to
make sure you close them for your commission too! If I can't give them
a better scenario, you can rest assured that my competitor is going to
have to really improve their rate to keep them so they are going to be
much better off, either way.
Be a hero with your JUMBO buyers and get me involved!
843-230-7929
|