As the shift to a purchase origination market takes hold, mortgage lenders are retooling their customer acquisition strategies to put more emphasis on
For the past few years, lenders
"Whether the rates are 2% or 20%, if you have a sound and solid operation, that is what wins the day in a purchase market. You can fumble your way through refinances, but you can't fumble your way through purchases," says John Walsh, president of Total Mortgage Services.
TMS, an independent mortgage banker based in Milford, Conn., focuses on the operational side of originating loans as its chosen method to create additional production.
"In a purchase market, you have to have a sound, responsive operation with quick turnaround times. The best operation in the business will win the purchase market," says Walsh.
Mortgage originators need to make sure
Refinancings can close at any time, but purchase loans need to be ready in order to meet a strict timetable. Buyers and sellers both already have all their belongings in the moving trucks, "so service becomes paramount in the purchase business," he says.
Having the right workflow in place and getting loans closed in a timely fashion leaves a better impression with customers and referrals than any advertising or branding effort. "It is easy to say you're great, it's harder to be great," Walsh says.
"So I have always worked very hard and focused on the operations side of the business. We've been able to hold our own from the production side of things. We've actually picked up a fair amount of displaced originators," he adds.
TMS is also expanding its wholesale business, hiring a regional manager and seven account executives from Mortgage Services III, which exited wholesale at the start of this year. The move adds a team was responsible for $1 billion in production last year.
Product variety and knowledge will also be important in a purchase market, Smith says, but so far this year, TMS is seeing 70% purchase originations, compared with 50% in 2013 and 25% in 2012.
W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, based in Denver, has come out with a set of new jumbo products, says Howard Michalski, managing director. The rollout started in the fourth quarter last year and continued into the first quarter.
"Whether it is jumbo, whether it is various flavors of conforming loans with enhanced execution, part of the challenge is guideline and part of the challenge is price. And you have to be relevant in both," Michalski says.
But it is in the non-qualified mortgage products "that a lot of folks, including ourselves have some energy. When it comes to product competitiveness and relevancy, the guys who are successful in rolling out non-QM are probably going to win," he says.
The QM/non-QM designation has some merit, but in reality, the real factor is the ability to repay requirement. "We're working aggressively to continue to offer some unique product that still has a good solid ATR rating, if you will, that gives our guys some differentiation on the product side," Michalski says.
The whole intent of the regulations is to make sure people are placed into suitable loans. When lenders apply a comprehensive approach to underwriting, the non-QM market is not the same as the subprime market during the boom.
W.J. Bradley looks for compensation factors, such as a higher net worth, a larger asset base or more reserves for the non-QM loan, so these loans are generally safe.
"We haven't gone aggressive in going down the credit spectrum in terms of borrower credit quality. And I don't think many people have. Government lending is a nice solution for those borrowers" with lower credit scores, he says.
In today's market, originators have to concentrate on creating sales opportunities because refinance customers are no longer beating down the door.
"We're focusing quite a bit on technology and tools to support enhancing our sales peoples' efficiency in soliciting and finding the business," says Michalski.
For example, W.J. Bradley rolled out a "robust sales and marketing platform" in the first quarter," he says, which has two purposes: to make sure the company is effectively communicating with its past clients, and to make certain that communication is done in a compliant manner.
"The range that you'll see across LOs about how well they tap into those past clients to get referral business and subsequent transactions, it is what you would expect from any population," Michalski says. "There are guys that are religious about it and are very good and disciplined. There are guys that aren't."
Providing the technology that lets LOs communicate with past clients makes them more efficient, adding to W.J. Bradley's value proposition when recruiting new sales people and also ensuring there is consistent branding for the company in each message. The platform also enhances the experience for both the borrower and the real estate referral source.
The system adds various messaging and communication points. When someone applies for a loan, the prospect receives a series of emails from W.J. Bradley. Those emails could include a link to a topic-specific video, such as one on the appraisal process.
"It's an efficiency play. The more time I can get my LOs focusing on harvesting new business, the less time they have to spend managing the deal they have. I want to have them to have the free time to manage the consultation with their borrower, but I don't want them to be burdened with the mechanics of the process. I want them out hunting and getting more deals," says Michalski.
"Any loan officer that says they don't need help with business generation is probably in denial," he adds. And many of things LOs should be doing are already at their fingertips, like mining the past client database and creating referral relationships in their communities.
Another organization being proactive in its efforts to create new business is Chase Mortgage. The company has run television ads to promote its "My New Home" app. The app is available for iPhone and Android smartphone users; this past summer it added an iPad compatible app.
Consumers can use the app to search for a new home. Once they find a property, there are calculators that let them figure out monthly payments and they can take pictures of the home and record notes, says Lisa Foradori, head of marketing and product for Chase Mortgage.
There is also a My New Home YouTube channel the consumer can access through the app. The videos feature consumers who have been through the home buying process. Viewers also come across videos featuring some of the service providers like real estate agents and title agents, among others, she notes.
"People are very digital, they want to be looking at things on their time," she says.
The app also connects the consumer with a Chase loan officer. In the app, the consumer can search for a property in a number of ways. If they find a property they like, the app provides the listing information. There is also an online prequalification tool for the consumer to fill out and loan officer can make contact with them for the formal loan application.
And even if they are not ready to do a prequalification or application, there is a link in the app that allows the consumer to have an initial conversation with the loan officer, Foradori notes. In the testing it did for the My New Home marketing campaign, Chase found consumers want the capability to do things online, but they also want to be able to talk with a live person to answer questions along the way, she adds.
The app has been downloaded more than 379,000 times. Chase doesn’t have any formal numbers on how many people who downloaded the app end up getting a mortgage. However, the bank's loan officers are reporting that they are having conversations with customers around the app.
