I couldn't agree more. As a Realtor, I find it tough keeping up with just the real estate side. I don't know how these one stop people can have enough knowledge to do both properly.

I couldn't agree more. As a Realtor, I find it tough keeping up with just the real estate side. I don't know how these one stop people can have enough knowledge to do both properly.

1.Who will price out the loans for my customer? You are on the right track if they will do this for you or if they provide you with software that will.

2.Who will run the loan through the automated underwriting system once the application has been taken? The mortgage company you work with should always do this for you because learning all the different systems is tough and must be done correctly upfront.

3.Who will send out RESPA documents to the customer? Make sure the mortgage company you work with understands how you acting as both the agent and loan officer must be disclosed when sending out the documents and ensure they have a document specialist sending them out.

4.Who will process the loan? Most mortgage companies have their loan officers process their own loans and you don’t want to waste your time with this. Make sure they have a processing staff to handle your deals.

5.Who sends out closing documents for the closing? The mortgage company or the company they brokered the deal to may handle this. If they are a correspondent lender, make sure you are not required to prepare the docs.

Now for some general tips if you decide to become a agent/lender.

1.Get set up with a company that handles almost everything for you so that you don’t need to be an expert to give your customers great service.

2.The more investors or banks a mortgage company works with the better the odds are that they will be able to provide your customers the best deal possible.

3.Correspondent lenders generally can close loans faster than companies that broker their deals out. This can be important if you have a rushed closing that needs to take place.

To address conflicts of interest. Both the agent and the loan officer already have the same goal which is to get the loan closed so what is really the difference? There will be an underwriter that reviews the file one way or another and their job is to try and catch fraud and ensure the deal is good based on the product’s guidelines. I would say that any company who has agent/loan officers should have somebody else order the appraisal. Past that the loan is based on income documents, asset statements and credit reports which despite what you may think are very hard to forge well enough to trick an underwriter. I won’t get into details about how to check and see if documents have been foged or not for obvious reasons but this is something they are trained on.

Questions or comment? just post

One Stop Shopping doesn’t just breed incompetence, it breeds reverse competition. If the client has one stop shopping, I believe that they are far less likely to shop and compare. When competition has no competition, prices go up and quality goes down. Its a basic monopolostic principle.

In addition, one stop shopping in any form removes the checks and balances so necessary for vulnerable real estate consumers. If the title company, inspector, or appraiser works for the real estate firm, exactly how many red flags can they throw out there before they kill the deal and lose their referral business? Who do they really work for – the client or the real estate firm?

So, when it comes to home inspections, loans, title and real estate, avoid the conflicts and don’t do it yourself. Better yet, don’t use anyone affiliated with your firm either as that has the appearance of a conflict of interest (at the very least) and removes the most important checks and balances that independent servicers provide.

Remove conflicts (even appearances of conflicts) from the transaction and consumers will perceive a much higher level of professionalism from all the players.

I also prefer to recommend clients to excellent lenders that I know will take care of them and get them the best deal on financing.

What’s also interesting is that many in the business fail to realize the opportunity that exists by practicing both, not only from an income perspective, but also from a professional development perspective. Before I started practicing mortgage origination, I was ignorant of the lending process and couldn’t help myself or counsel my clients or at the very least get them prepared to obtain a loan, which is a tool that requires some aspects of financial planning in order for borrowers to truly reap the benefits of it.

And the sad reality is that not all practicing mortgage professionals are adept at their craft despite the fact that that’s all they do. In many instances, mortgage professionals receive limited or no training at all. So, to conclude that it is reprehensible for a real estate agent (who does get the initial training and continued training) to also practice mortgage origination is truly a misjudgment.

Obtaining mortgage training contributes to a practitioner’s financial knowledge tremendously to the extent that one becomes appreciative of the value that financing provides. Additionally, the RESPA laws only pertain to residential real estate, not commercial. So, commercial real estate practitioners can also originate commercial loans on behalf of their clients’ interest and manage the real estate activities all within the same transaction which translates to a benefit that many investors and commercial users/clients are able to enjoy, and that is – convenience!

Real estate is a relationship business and let’s face it clients like to do business with advisors they’re already comfortable with. Personally, when I’m acting in the real estate agent role on a residential transaction I work with other mortgage professionals who handle the role of financing or loan originator. However, from a business perspective, there’s nothing wrong with growing ones business through lateral expansion or adding value by obtaining new skills in an allied area that will enable a practitioner to serve his/her clients in a new and improved way.

In my opinion, that is just good business.

I have a real estate website that has been online since 2002. I would like to exchange links with your website and know it would be mutually beneficial.

Here are two real estate web sites that have automated link directories. You may add your links at any time you like if you’re interested in getting traffic from us.

Here are the real estate sites:

USPropertyAdvertiser.com
FreeRealEstateAdvertiser.com (On this site you can add all your real estate listings for free too).

I wish you the best in 2008!

Sincerely,
Edward